Security focus shifts to information protection

The battlefront in security is rapidly changing from securing the perimeter to protecting the information itself.

That's the view of Rob Watson, Country Manager of RSA, the Security Division of EMC South Africa, who says enterprises are now global, virtual and dependent on dynamic information access. “Digital information is in constant motion throughout its life cycle, often leaving the secured network perimeter via laptops, PDAs, e-mail and backup tapes,” he points out.

“RSA has responded to this need with an information-centric approach to security that guards the integrity and confidentiality of information throughout its life cycle - no matter where it moves, who accesses it or how it is used. With information-centric security, organisations can be confident their information assets are protected, freeing them to explore new models, markets, partnerships and innovations.”

According to Watson, one of the largest trends in the security arena is the increase in issues relating to international regulatory compliance.

“Organisations worldwide face an avalanche of regulatory mandates and recommendations, which require more holistic protection of identities and information, and the ability to audit security information to demonstrate compliance. As the list of regulatory mandates and recommendations grows, more and more customers are seeking solutions that will enable them to leverage investments now and in the future,” he says.

Karel Rode, Principal Consultant of RSA, agrees, saying that one of the greatest challenges is education around security threats and risks. “Although we have a substantial knowledgeable community in South Africa, which is well versed in Internet banking, there is still a massive base of users who are largely ignorant. For example, many people are unaware that conducting banking transactions from a public facility such as an Internet caf'e is a high-risk activity,” he says.

The RSA security offering focuses on three main areas: authentication; secure information and event management (SIEM); and data loss prevention.

The RSA Identity Protection and Verification Suite offers a complete portfolio of strong authentication and anti-fraud solutions designed to secure organisations against the latest external threats.

“These solutions leverage RSA's deep knowledge of fraud trends, intelligence, forensics and modelling to help organisations provide end-to-end protection to their online users,” Watson says.

In the SIEM environment, the RSA enVision platform provides the power to gather and use log data to understand security, compliance, and operational status in real-time or over any period of time.

“The need to swiftly and effectively act on security challenges and address compliance regulations has never been greater, yet expanding enterprise networks and data traffic produces exponentially increasing log file volume,” Watson says.

“The RSA enVision platform provides the most efficient collection, analysis and management of an organisation's data from any IP device, in computing environments of any size, without filtering and without the need to deploy agents.”

The RSA Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Suite is an integrated suite of data security products that provides a proactive approach to managing business risk associated with enterprise data loss. This enables customers to classify their sensitive data, discover that data across the enterprise, enforce controls, and report and audit to insure compliance with policy.

“RSA's technology, business and industry solutions, coupled with professional services and third-party strategic partnerships, help customers put critical information into the hands of the people who need it, while protecting that information against unauthorised access,” Rode concludes.