Multi-faceted security

At the same time, small businesses may not be sure whether the information they routinely pass back and forth across office computers and laptops at home or on the road is safe from loss or theft. Many small businesses may think they are safe because they?re using an antivirus product. In reality, today?s security challenges call for a solution that protects them from more than just viruses, spyware, malicious Internet traffic, intrusions, infected content and data loss.

Global competition will force Indian small & medium businesses (SMBs) to form symbiotic relationships to improve efficiencies to access wider markets. The fact that SMBs in India had spent $291 million on security-related investments is indication enough that they are waking up to the need to protect their data (AMI Partners report, 2009). Though spending on standalone anti-virus solutions still dominates the SMB security pie, secure content management software solutions will account for a larger chunk of the spending.

Some may address this problem by cobbling together a patchwork of individual security products, often inadvertently creating more work in the process. Even in organisations with a plentiful supply of computer specialists, managing each tool can be burdensome and inefficient. For small businesses with few, if any, IT workforce, management challenges could create a barrier to data and system safety, while threatening productivity and causing downtime.

For small businesses, backup & recovery is both a challenge and concern. According to a recent survey of 1,650 SMBs and their customers, there is a large discrepancy between how SMBs perceive their disaster readiness and their actual level of preparedness. For the last two decades, information security has focused primarily on protecting information systems or devices rather than the information itself. That meant budgets, resources and technology advancements were focused primarily on protecting the infrastructure?deploying firewalls and antivirus on endpoints or PCs, securing networks and servers, reducing email spam, etc. But then, what about ?information??the most critical component of the whole setup?

The awareness needs to include the following basic points:

* Realising where your confidential data is stored and how it is being used. It?s vital to secure that information rather than being concerned about protecting the infrastructure;

* Using solutions that help ensure your data is secure and well-managed;

* People who have access to the data as well as their PCs, netbooks and mobile devices are now a prime target for criminals and, thus, can be an organisation?s biggest security risk; and

* An important part of information-centric security is the convergence of security & storage systems.

Traditional antivirus software still plays an important role in protecting small businesses. These products have typically used a signature-based approach to detect viruses, matching the digital fingerprint of a known threat to recognise and halt its spread. By putting antivirus software on the company network, businesses could be relatively confident that they were protected.

That?s not the case today. Hackers now launch attacks using malicious codes that have never been seen before. And these threats combine the characteristics of viruses, worms, trojan horses and other troublesome innovations that quietly make their way undetected onto the very servers, desktops, laptops and mobile computing devices that so many businesses have come to rely on. So, protection from such multi-faceted threats requires equally multi-faceted security.

What is the good news? SMBs now have solutions that stop security threats before they can penetrate the network. These solutions can be installed and set up quickly, saving significant time and money.

For example, a user can set controls to deny specific device and application activities that might be considered high risk. This can not only lead to greater security, but also fewer false alarms that might drain productivity and lead to downtime. In addition, it is noteworthy that the most advanced scanning systems do not interfere with the performance of applications and typical PC processes.

These scanning technologies may provide even greater protection by working together with other counter measure such as firewall or more advanced detection technologies to keep even the newest unknown threats from harming a system.

With email now recognised as a vital communication tool, messaging security has become a priority for companies of all sizes. Inbound and outbound email as well as instant messages must be safeguarded against viruses, spam and other threats.

To address these needs, new tools can help businesses keep spam and viruses out while keeping sensitive data in?from product plans to customer credit card information. Some solutions can be deployed both at the messaging server level?for example, on Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino?as well as at the gateway level in the form of an appliance. And they can be highly effective, with some solutions catching over 97% of spam with less than one in a million false positives.

Perhaps the most compelling feature of today?s advanced security suites is that they provide a full range of protection technologies integrated into a single software agent and a centralised management console. Implementation is simple, enabling the user to quickly deploy the suite with minimal disruption to their environment. Routine management tasks are also streamlined and learning curves minimised through intuitive management and user interfaces.

Integrated security suites also enable users to set and enforce security policies across the organisation to make sure critical information assets are protected. Moreover, comprehensive reporting capabilities provide the small business user maximum visibility of actions, events and status details from laptops to messaging systems.

With an integrated security suite, small businesses have an unmatched defence against malware, spam and data loss as well as a streamlined infrastructure for realising efficiencies in the way they operate. Better yet, an integrated, multi-layered approach to security ensures that small business assets remain protected even in an ever-changing threat environment.

The writer is director, channels and alliance, Symantec India