Unisys has made five security predictions for 2008, including the increased use of mobile devices posing new security risks and challenges for IT professionals.
In the evolving world of corporate and government security, forecasting future risks and trends is essential to planning, preventing and managing risks that could compromise the integrity of an organisation's assets," says Tim Kelleher, VP of enterprise security at Unisys.
Emerging security threats, combined with the increased use of and dependence on new technologies, leave many corporate and government IT professionals with a degree of uncertainty in how to plan and forecast, he adds.
"Many organisations have a tendency to view security in the rear-view mirror - scrambling to find a solution to a security problem after it's happened.
"To combat new threats and to cater to the evolving demands of their end-users, IT professionals must convince their organisations to treat security as a core business function - one that anticipates user demand, predicts future risks and develops workable solutions to potential security events."
Unisys has identified the following security threats as being most likely to affect government organisations and corporations:
1. Protecting data on mobile endpoint devices will demand more attention and become increasingly difficult.
"Digital signatures and encryption are crucial to protecting data, but they must be woven into a holistic security plan that addresses issues such as whether and how the data can be transferred from one device to another," Kelleher says.
"Without such a plan, an enterprise will find that the data on its mobile devices are too vulnerable to potential breaches, or so secure that they become inoperable. Striking a balance between the two is necessary to devise a secure solution that still allows the user to be productive."
2. Banks will face significant challenges in protecting consumers' data and financial assets, as more clients turn to mobile devices to conduct transactions.
3. Organisations will seek continued convergence of physical and electronic security measures for enhanced protection against espionage.
"Convergence is one of the most efficient and effective ways to keep pace with security threats that are most likely to inflict harm on the people, data and physical assets that comprise the lifeline of any corporation or government organisation," says Kelleher.
4. Public and private sector entities will pay more attention to paper and electronic records.
"Many people would be surprised how often the wrong information ends up in the wrong hands because data is inappropriately shared, copied, printed or just forgotten on a portable drive or in a printer feed."
Kelleher predicts that in 2008, companies will be more diligent about setting more stringent controls over documents and data that are sent electronically or via mail. "This is likely to result in greater focus on encrypting information on shared portable drives and discs, and increased investment in enterprise rights management solutions. The latter enables content owners to encrypt sensitive data and control users' ability to print, forward, copy or amend a document."
5. Popular social networking sites will become increasingly vulnerable to privacy breaches.
"As these sites connect to one another, many will cross-reference a member's credentials. If a hacker can compromise one account, he could end up compromising many. And, because these sites are social in nature, the environment is conducive to divulging information - oftentimes, too much."
While 2008 will bring opportunities to leverage the communication and collaboration capabilities of the Internet and Web-enabled applications, Kelleher says: "The challenge, as always, will be balancing freedom of information exchange with protecting information and people's identity and privacy."
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