Locking down infrastructure is an important first step.[/caption] Eighty-eight percent of companies understand IT security is becoming more important, and have put a proactive strategy in place, according to a new study by new study by AT&T. AT&T surveyed 504 IT executives at companies with annual revenues greater than $25 million. But if "proactive" and "prepared" meant the same thing, that percentage of those with a strategy puts AT&T's respondents in a rarified category among U.S. companies. According to Kaspersky Labs' Global IT Risks Survey for 2012, 40 percent of businesses feel unprepared for digital security threats; only 44 percent protect sensitive data with encryption; 44 percent allow free access to corporate data with a laptop and 33 percent allow open access via smartphone. "The measures being taken by IT specialists are woefully inadequate," that study concluded. "Only a little more than half of the respondents believe their company is really secure." The real issue is the antiquated secure-the-perimeter approach most companies take, according to William Murphy, CTO and managing director of financial services firm Blackstone Group L.P. "Historically people have focused on building thicker and taller walls to keep people from getting into an environment," he said. "With the proliferation of mobile and social [networking] it becomes easier for the adversaries to target people individually. No matter how thick your walls are, if someone leaves open the castle door, you're stuck." Responsibility for business-continuity plans has always lived in the datacenter. It is only since the advent of heavily consolidated and virtualized infrastructures that security has moved in as well—as IT staffs consolidate and reorganize to match the newly datacenter-dependent infrastructures they support.
Is Your Company Prepared for Security Threats?
[caption id="attachment_10286" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Locking down infrastructure is an important first step.[/caption] Eighty-eight percent of companies understand IT security is becoming more important, and have put a proactive strategy in place, according to a new study by new study by AT&T. AT&T surveyed 504 IT executives at companies with annual revenues greater than $25 million. But if "proactive" and "prepared" meant the same thing, that percentage of those with a strategy puts AT&T's respondents in a rarified category among U.S. companies. According to Kaspersky Labs' Global IT Risks Survey for 2012, 40 percent of businesses feel unprepared for digital security threats; only 44 percent protect sensitive data with encryption; 44 percent allow free access to corporate data with a laptop and 33 percent allow open access via smartphone. "The measures being taken by IT specialists are woefully inadequate," that study concluded. "Only a little more than half of the respondents believe their company is really secure." The real issue is the antiquated secure-the-perimeter approach most companies take, according to William Murphy, CTO and managing director of financial services firm Blackstone Group L.P. "Historically people have focused on building thicker and taller walls to keep people from getting into an environment," he said. "With the proliferation of mobile and social [networking] it becomes easier for the adversaries to target people individually. No matter how thick your walls are, if someone leaves open the castle door, you're stuck." Responsibility for business-continuity plans has always lived in the datacenter. It is only since the advent of heavily consolidated and virtualized infrastructures that security has moved in as well—as IT staffs consolidate and reorganize to match the newly datacenter-dependent infrastructures they support.
Locking down infrastructure is an important first step.[/caption] Eighty-eight percent of companies understand IT security is becoming more important, and have put a proactive strategy in place, according to a new study by new study by AT&T. AT&T surveyed 504 IT executives at companies with annual revenues greater than $25 million. But if "proactive" and "prepared" meant the same thing, that percentage of those with a strategy puts AT&T's respondents in a rarified category among U.S. companies. According to Kaspersky Labs' Global IT Risks Survey for 2012, 40 percent of businesses feel unprepared for digital security threats; only 44 percent protect sensitive data with encryption; 44 percent allow free access to corporate data with a laptop and 33 percent allow open access via smartphone. "The measures being taken by IT specialists are woefully inadequate," that study concluded. "Only a little more than half of the respondents believe their company is really secure." The real issue is the antiquated secure-the-perimeter approach most companies take, according to William Murphy, CTO and managing director of financial services firm Blackstone Group L.P. "Historically people have focused on building thicker and taller walls to keep people from getting into an environment," he said. "With the proliferation of mobile and social [networking] it becomes easier for the adversaries to target people individually. No matter how thick your walls are, if someone leaves open the castle door, you're stuck." Responsibility for business-continuity plans has always lived in the datacenter. It is only since the advent of heavily consolidated and virtualized infrastructures that security has moved in as well—as IT staffs consolidate and reorganize to match the newly datacenter-dependent infrastructures they support.
