End Point Security
We
live in an ever-changing world and the environments we work from are
also changing. Pressures from many parts of a business require
access to information for longer hours, from more disparate
locations. In summary, you may have one office in a business park
and a head office in a city centre location, but your business’s
electronic environment has the ability to be worldwide. In
delivering this, you MUST keep control of what data is allowed to go
where and how. Examples of these risks include webmail, push
e-mail, VPN, PDAs, Laptop/notebook computers, USB memory sticks, mobile
phones... – even iPods! Our systems can protect this data whilst
it is mobile. This is what the industry buzzword “Endpoint
Security” encompasses.
For
example, you are in a taxi on your way to a very important
meeting. You do what happens so often... with your mind on your
meeting, you arrive at your destination and leave the laptop in the
taxi. The taxi driver drives away taking your confidential
information with him. The problem is the data is at immediate
risk of compromise. The taxi driver is also a part time computer
geek. He takes your laptop home and plugs the hard disk into his
own computer... – and that’s it – he has immediate access to your
data. No passwords, nothing.
The loss of the laptop is unfortunate and at the end of the day,
laptops are just tin and plastic and can be replaced for $500.
But the loss of the data can be catastrophic – especially if you don’t
have a backup (but that’s another story!). We provide systems
that protect the laptop’s data through encryption of the hard
disk. As soon as the disk is put into a different computer, the
data is unreadable. Even trying to start a computer is not
possible without a password or a password token.
Other
possible areas for consideration are USB sticks. The two main
risks are stealing of data from your network (copying to a USB stick)
or virus infection (through using an infected USB stick). We can
provide solutions that prevent USB sticks from being used within a
business unless they have been electronically authorised for use.
Inserting a non-authorised device into a business computer (including
iPods, mobile phones over Bluetooth etc) is rejected. An
authorised device can be used by anyone within your business depending
on the policy you decide upon. If an authorised device is used in
(for example) a home computer, the data is unreadable as the computer
is unable to access the device.
