As global economies deteriorate, more responsibility is being placed on directors to protect their companies against the ever-increasing security risks. Company directors are forced, through new laws and good governance practices, to make sure they have preventative, quantitative and corrective steps in place to protect their organisation from risk.
Non-compliance can have dire effects, which include directors being held personally liable, or even jailed. Although there is a huge responsibility on company directors to ensure that governance, risk and compliance policies are implemented, most companies do not have clarity on who manages this critical area of the business.
J2 Software managing director John Mc Loughlin says fraud is the downfall of many businesses today, but it can be prevented with effective corporate governance policies and tools. “Governance, risk and compliance should be a real priority for company directors, especially considering the liability they face. With changing laws and governance procedures, more duty is placed on directors to protect against ICT governance and security risks.”
He says directors of companies have a duty to protect their information and also the personal information of their customers. “Without clear direction and accountability, these companies can be left exposed to a number of risks. There is no space for any ambiguities; the drive needs to come directly from the highest executive level. In many cases, there is simply not enough done to protect against all possible eventualities.”
Companies need to actively track, monitor and control what users do with the resources of the organisation. They also need to ensure that their rules and permissions are simply and proactively enforced.
Few IT administrators and business managers have the tools to determine what users are doing on the organisation's computers and on the network. Very little consideration has been given to providing solid management systems to ensure that the investment in technology delivers maximum benefit.
“In these tough times, it is extremely important that executives take corrective steps and ensure there are preventative measures in place for this,” he says.
SystemSkan is used to identify security risks within an organisation, and provides policy enforcement tools to minimise these risks. It also assists in setting the appropriate policy, and provides enforcement tools to protect company information.
As a total user management tool, SystemSkan provides business managers and IT administrators with the ability to view and record every user's actions on the computer network, including Internet and outgoing e-mail attachments. With SystemSkan, every user event is audited and can be controlled.
“With users being able to access the Internet, send and receive e-mail, and browse the local network, often in an unstructured manner, it is more important than ever that employees are monitored and kept productive. It is essential that access to information is managed, and users are accountable for their actions,” he explains.
SystemSkan will greatly increase the efficiency of network management and reduce the cost of administration services within the workplace. In addition, the product includes network utilities such as remote control administration, messaging and task scheduling. SystemSkan is a simple tool to enforce one's IT policy, increase productivity and cut bandwidth costs.
For more information, contact J2 Software on 0861 00 J TWO (5896) or e-mail john@jtwo.co.za.
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J2 Software
J2 Software is a leading South African information technology security company. While most organisations are now starting to realise the impact of data theft and abuse of IT resources by employees, J2 recognised the need to protect against this activity some time ago. J2 Software was born after the founders identified an opportunity in the information technology market in South Africa and the rest of Africa. They saw a growing need for information security solutions that were comprehensive, simple to deploy, easy to use and good value for money. After tireless searching and investigation, J2 Software was officially launched in 2006.
Shortly after inception, the customer list of J2 Software started to grow rapidly; and this continues to be the case to this day. J2 Software has provided services and solutions to numerous renowned, forward-thinking companies with sites running in South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
J2 Software provides solutions and services to various organisations that have a requirement to secure their sensitive information, as well as implement, monitor and enforce internal security policies. In recent times, organisations are placing a far higher priority on the security, accountability and control of their most prized asset - their information.
Adding to this is the ever-growing pressure being placed on companies and their directors to maintain the security and control of the sensitive data of their clients, as well as the necessity to conform to various local and international compliance regulations.
With the continued rise of identity theft and confidential data leakage, the need for J2's product offering is not only an advantage, but also an absolute necessity.
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