PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
-
Upload
iljun-choi -
Category
Documents
-
view
213 -
download
0
Transcript of PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
1/80
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
2/80
http://www.supermicro.com/superworkstations -
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
3/80
Product Coverage Inquiries
(800) 247-4880
131 West Grand Drive
Lincoln, NE 68521
Circulation
(To adjust your bulk order or to
request racks.)
(800) 334-7458
Customer Service
(For questions about your sub-
scription or to place an order or
change an address.)
(800) 733-3809
FAX: (402) 479-2193
PC TodayP.O. Box 82545
Lincoln, NE 68501-5380
Hours
Mon. - Fri.: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (CST)
Online Customer Service
& Subscription Center
www.pctoday.com
Authorization For Reprints
(800) 247-4880
Copyright 2012 by Sandhills
Publishing Company.
PC Todayis a registered trade-
mark of Sandhills Publishing
Company. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of material
appearing in PC Today is strictly
prohibited without written
permission. Printed in the U.S.A.
GST # 123482788RT0001 (ISSN
1040-6484).
PC Todayis published monthly
for $29 per year by Sandhills
Publishing Company, 131
West Grand Drive, P.O. Box
85673, Lincoln, NE 68501-5380.
Subscriber Services:(800) 733-3809.
POSMASER: Send address
changes to PC Today, P.O. Box
82545, Lincoln, NE 68501
Scan this
QR Code
with yourmobile
smartphone
to see our
Web site.
Table Of Contents
ON THE COVER
Data In The CloudDaaS (data as a service) is
not a new concept, but along
with the boom in other cloud
services, including SaaS (sot-
ware as a service) and IaaS
(inrastructure as a service),
DaaS is enjoying an upsurge
in the enterprise. Turn to
the Essential Business Tech
department to fnd out more
about DaaS and how such a
cloud-based system can bring
order and consistency to the
data your company relies on.
IN THIS ISSUE
10 Essential
Business Tech
Technology
intelligence
or executives,
proessionals, and
entrepreneurs
38Mobile
Ofce
Highly useul
inormation
or conducting
business on
the road
64 Personal
Electronics
Electronics,
services, and
helpul advice
or home
and leisure
68 Business
Travel 911
Fast tech
support
especially or
traveling
proessionals
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
4/80
IN BRIEFTECHNOLOGY NEWS
the acquisition o Merced, NICE will
gain more than three dozen large
clients, including Bank o America,
BT, the Coca-Cola Company, and Mer-
rill Lynch.
SEAGATE NOW OWNSSAMSUNGS HARDDRIVE BUSINESS Seagate, a hard drive manuacturer
and storage solutions provider, has
completed its buyout o Samsungs
hard disk drive business. Completing
the transaction will involve bringing
certain Samsung assets, inrastruc-
ture, and employees under Seagates
wing in order to drive scale and
innovation, according to Seagatespress release on the matter. The
strategic relationship will open new
opportunities or the two compa-
nies by mutually complementing
each others creative technology so-
lutions or a broad diversity o IT
applications, said Oh-Hyun Kwon,
vice chairman o device solutions o
Samsung Electronics. Seagate, which
says the buyout will expand its reach
in Brazil, China, Germany, Russia,
and Southeast Asia, puts the com-
bined value o the acquisition near
$1.4 billion.
BEST BUY ACQUIRES ITOUTSOURCING BUSINESS Early in January, Best Buy com-
pleted its acquisition o the Wal-
tham, Mass.,-based mindSHIFT
Technologies. This move will comple-
ment the business support oerings
Best Buy provides through its Geek
Squad and Best Buy For Business
brands. With an eye toward the lucra-
tive MSP (managed service provider)
market targeting SMBs, Best Buy
will operate mindSHIFT under its
current name, management team,
and capabilities, according to a com-
pany press release.
NICE TO BUY U.S.PERFORMANCEMANAGEMENT COMPANY NICE, an Israeli workorce manage-
ment company, recently announced
its plans to buy the Redwood Shores,
Cali.,-based Merced or a total con-
sideration o approximately $150 mil-
lion and an additional $20 million
in cash, according to a statement
rom NICE. With specialties in com-
pliance recording and customer care
systems, NICE has an impressive and
lengthy client list that includes AIG,
Cigna, Fiserv, and US Bank. With
IBM BUYS CLOUDCOMPANY DEMANDTEC IBM and DemandTec
have reached an agreement
to merge. IBM will acquire
the San Mateo, Cali.,-based
DemandTec or a cash pay-
ment o $13.20 per share or
about $440 million. Demand-
Tec oers cloud-based ana-
lytics apps and consulting
services or retail and other
industries. Its products andservices are designed to help
companies improve their mer-
chandising, marketing, and
planning eorts. IBM plans to
old DemandTecs capabili-
ties into its Smarter Commerce
initiative, which IBM identi-
fes as a $20 billion market, to
develop more ways to deliver
product inormation to con-
sumers while theyre making
buying decisions. Bringing
science to the art o pricing and
promotion is a big part o [the
Smarter Commerce] strategy,
said Craig Hayman, general
manager o industry solutions
or IBM, in a statement, and
the combination o Demand-
Tec and IBM will help mar-
keting and sales executives
in retail and other industries
drive more revenue and in-
crease proftability.
ERICSSON GROUP GROWS WITH TELCORDIA ACQUISITION Ercisson Group, with a stated vision o being the prime driver in an all-
communicating world, has expanded its workorce by 2,600 employees with
its $1.15 billion acquisition o Telcordia Technologies. Based in Piscataway,
N.J., Telcordia oers OSS (operations support systems)/BSS (business support
systems) products or a variety o large-scale industries, including health care
and fnancial services. According to Ericsson, Telecordia will be ully inte-
grated into Ericsson in a series o phases throughout 2012.
Samsungs hard drive business is
now under Seagates wing.
4 February 2012 / www.pctoday.com
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
5/80
IN BRIEFTECHNOLOGY NEWS
HP ADDS BOXSTORAGE TO SELECTPC MODELS HP has worked out a deal
with online storage company
Box to bring Boxs cloud-
based content-sharing plat-
orm to HP Compaq 6200 and
6005 Pro Series PCs and HP
Compaq 8200 Elite Series PCs.
Box and HP are ocused on
helping redefne the way or-
ganizations manage and share
inormation in the cloud,said Box CEO Aaron Levie
in a statement. Together, we
can empower the next gen-
eration o knowledge work-
ers. According to Box, more
than 100,000 companies use
its service, to which Box has
recently added security, man-
agement, and other IT-
riendly eatures.
PATENT HOLDING COMPANY BUYS 4G PIONEER Patent holding company Acacia Research, based in Newport Beach, Cali., has
purchased the Dallas-based company Adaptix or $160 million. Founded in 2000,
Broadstorm was responsible or developing some o the early technology upon
which todays 4G wireless broadband technologies are based. Broadcom became
Adaptix and continued in the area o 4G development. Now, said Acacia CEO Paul
Ryan in a statement, Acacias acquisition provides our shareholders with a great
opportunity to participate in the worldwide growth o 4G wireless technologies as
Acacia continues to expand its patent licensing business.
Intel and Motorola Mobility have teamed
up or the development o multiple new
smartphones and tablets as part o a
multiyear deal.
with approximately 110,000 workers
around the world.
INTEL & MOTOROLA MOBILITYSTRIKE A SMARTPHONE DEAL Intel and Motorola Mobility have
cemented a deal that will put bothIntels mobile processor technology
and Motorolas device manuacturing
expertise on a ast track to market. The
two companies will work together as
part o a multiyear relationship that
will result in numerous new Motorola
smartphones and tablets using Intels
Atom processors and running the
Android platorm. Our long-term
relationship with Motorola Mobility
will help accelerate Intel architecture
into new mobile market segments,said Paul Otellini, president and CEO
o Intel, in a statement. Sanjay Jha,
chairman and CEO o Motorola Mo-
bility, added, With Android as the
leading smartphone OS globally and
advancements in computing tech-
nology we see tremendous opportu-
nity or the con-
verged devices
market.
APPLE CONFIRMS ANOBITACQUISITION With the $390 million buyout o
Anobit Technologies, Apple has con-
tinued its ongoing series o rela-
tively small acquisitions. Based in
Israel, Anobit manuactures the ashmemory component Apple uses or
its iPhone devices. In addition to the
manuacturing capabilities it gained
rom the deal, Apple gained a work-
orce o engineers. Aside rom con-
irming the acquisition, an Apple
spokesperson did not comment on
any other details o the acquisition.
GMAIL GETS MORE BUSINESSMANAGEMENT FEATURES
Ater acquiring Postini, an emailsecurity and compliance company, in
2007, Google began incorporating
some Postini eatures into its own
email service in 2011. Google recently
rolled out another set o Postini-related
eatures or Google Apps customers
using Gmail, mainly ocused on im-
proving compliance control and email
traic management. System admins
will be able to manage the new ea-
tures within the Google Apps con-
trol panel. Admins can, or example,
customize settings based on user
types and manage ooters. As part o
this rollout, GMS (Google Message
Security) will no longer be needed
or oered. In other Google news, the
company recently got a boost rom
State o Utah, which announced plans
to convert its productivity programs
to Google Apps or Government, and
(in Googles largest enterprise deal
to date) a contract rom Banco Bilbao
Vizcaya Argentaria, a Spanish bank
PC Today / February 2012 5
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
6/80
OUTBOX RAISESMILLIONS FOR DIGITALPOSTAL SERVICE BUSINESS Austin-based Outbox, a startup yet
to launch a website at press time, has
reportedly raised $2.2 million in seed
unding or its business, which aims
to digitize traditional postal mail and
deliver it to users tablets. Silicon Valley
venture capital irm Floodgate Fund
led the investment eort or Outbox,
which Harvard Business School grad-
uates Evan Baehr and Will Davis are
heading up. Statesman.com reported
that Outboxs service will accumulate
users mail at the post ofce, open and
scan it, and then store the mail in a
digital mailbox, all or ree. Revenuewould be raised via ad support. The
recent unding will go toward hiring
employees and fnishing product devel-
opment. Reportedly, Outbox will begin
testing the service this spring.
MAXYMISER ATTRACTS $12MILLION IN SERIES B FUNDING Maxymiser (www.maxymiser.com), a
provider o multivariate testing, per-
sonalization, and optimization products
aimed at helping businesses improvetheir ecommerce eorts, recently ob-
tained $12 million in new investments
rom Investor Growth Capital and its
Series A investors. The companys solu-
tions combine online testing and au-
tomated personalization elements into
a platorm that helps marketers make
appropriate changes to their websites.
The company stated it plans to continue
enhancing and broadening its opti-
mization solutions, as well as release
enhanced user interaces, including a
visual campaign builder.
CLOUDONS DOCUMENT-BASEDAPP PROVES TOO POPULAR The Silicon Valley-based startup
CloudOn (site.cloudon.com) recently
launched a ree sel-named app in
Apples App Store or the iPad that
enables owners to create, review,
and edit Microsot Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint documents. The app also
integrates with Dropbox to let users
save fles to a Dropbox account. Due
to the tremendous number o initial
downloads, CloudOn had to take the
app down. Shortly ater, however, it
relaunched the app and now has a
Status Page available to indicate the
apps download availability.
IN BRIEFTECHNOLOGY NEWS
STARTUPS
LITHIUMTECHNOLOGIESNETS $53.4 MILLIONFOR SOCIALSOFTWARE EFFORT Lithium Technologies (www
.lithium.com), a provider o so-
cial CRM sotware or busi-
nesses, has $53.4 million in
Series D unding. The com-
pany, whose oerings include
a suite o integrated tools or
monitoring, hosting, and man-
aging social communica-tions, stated it will use
the unds to increase
sales and marketing
investments in new
and existing areas, as
well as invest in engi-
neering, new product
development, and
service delivery or
current customers.
NEA (New Enterprise
Associates) led theunding, which in-
cluded participation
rom SAP Ventures. In
a statement, Lithium an-
nounced NEAs Pete
Sonsini will join Lith-
iums board o directors. Lith-
ium president and CEO Rob
Tarko stated, Its clear that
brands will continue to go
social in an even bigger way
in 2012 and beyond. Its equal-
ly clear that Lithium is incred-
ibly well positioned to drive
this transormation.SUVOLTA ACQUIRES $17.6 MILLION FOR CHIP TECHNOLOGY SuVolta (www.suvolta.com), the Caliornia-based developer o a low-power IC (inte-
grated circuit) technology called PowerShrink, secured $17.6 million in venture unds
recently. PowerShrink is touted as being able to cut a chips power consumption by 50
to 90% without sacrifcing perormance, losing unctionality, or having to migrate to
a more advancedand costlysemiconductor process node. Fujitsu Semiconductor
Limited serves as a development and licensee partner to SuVolta, which states that its
technology can cut in hal the active power consumption o 65nm process technolo-
gies as well as reduce leakage power consumption by 5X or more.
CloudOns recently released app enables users to work with Microsot
Ofce documents on their iPads.
6 February 2012 / www.pctoday.com
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
7/80
http://www.1and1.com/ -
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
8/80
GLOBAL PC SHIPMENTSINCREASE SLIGHTLY Comparing Q4 2010 with Q4 2011,
the research company Gartner ound
a 1.4% decline in worldwide PC ship-
ments. Gartner analysts cited a combi-
nation o reduced consumer demand
and increased prices (due in part to
hard drive shortages ollowing October
oods in Thailand) as probable reasons
or the decline in sales. Year over year,
however, global PC shipments were
up in 2011, albeit slightly; here, Gartner
reported a 0.5% increase in sales.
YOUR APPS &YOUR CUSTOMERS
I youre in the business o devel-oping smartphone and tablet apps
or your customers, keep in mind the
latest fndings rom Nielsen about cus-
tomer satisaction (or dissatisaction)
with mobile apps. In general, 51% o the
consumers Nielsen surveyed said they
dont mind advertising on apps as long
as they can access content or ree.
LTE TO SURGE,BUT HAS A LONG WAY TO GO LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the 4G
wireless technology that carriers have
been building into their networks in
earnest since 2010. Unheard o on con-
sumer devices only months ago, LTE
support is now making its way into
an increasing number o tablets and
smartphones (and even some laptops)
sold in the U.S., and LTE is now poised
or major growth. According to Juniper
Research, revenues rom LTE networks
worldwide will exceed $265 billion by
2016. Juniper says that high-end enter-prise users and other high-trafc sub-
scribers (such as those who requently
use email, Web browser, and video
applications) in North America and
Western Europe will drive the early
success o LTE.
IN BRIEFTECHNOLOGY NEWS
STATS
TABLET USERS TURNING TO WI-FI According to a recent report rom
Connected Intelligence, an analysis branch
o The NPD Group, tablet users showed a
greater reliance on Wi-Fi connectivity rel-
ative to cellular connectivity as 2011 pro-
gressed. Taking survey results rom April
and October o 2011, Connected Intelligence
ound that about 65% o tablet users chose
Wi-Fi as the primary means o connecting to
the Internet in October compared to about
60% in April. That puts current usage on par
with how laptop users connect.
HTML5 ISON THE RISE On the ull-sized
Webthat is, sites you
visit using a browser on
a desktop computer
the videos, slideshows,
and animations that
you encounter oten
have been created using
Adobe Flash. Flash is a
non-starter on mobile
devices, however, and in
November 2011, Adobe
halted mobile Flash de-
velopment. That brings us
to HTML5, which Appleand other developers
have heralded as the op-
tion o choice or similar
video and animation on
mobile devices. With
mobile Flash out o the
picture, HTML5 is be-
coming a hyper-growth
technology, according
to Strategy Analytics. A
recent report rom the re-
search company indicatesthat 1 billion smartphones
with HTML5 will be sold
worldwide by 2013.
HOW B2B MARKETERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA Since 2006, Sagerog Marketing Group has been checking in with B2B mar-
keting and management proessionals to fnd out about their tactics and plans.
According to the most recent Sagerog
report, rom August 2011, 40% o
those surveyed said their companies
will increase their marketing budget
in 2012. Those surveyed plan to use
a variety o social media tactics, but
blogs and social networks still top the
list o preerred tactics with 34% and
66%, respectively. Here is a break-
down o the B2B sites they plan to use:
Notebook
Tablet
Spring 2011
Fall 2011
Spring 2011
Fall 2011
Wi-Fi vs Cellular Adoption
Wi-Fi Only Wi-Fi & Cellular Cellular Only
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
OnlineCommunities
Other
58%50%
43%
19%11%
3%
8 February 2012 / www.pctoday.com
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
9/80
The Tech Info You Need, In Plain EnglishYou dont need to be an IT guru to buy and maintain computers and gadgets for your home or small office.
Smart Computingkeeps you up-to-date with plain-English articles that explain new technology and define
technical terms. Each issue includes news, tutorials, and step-by-step troubleshooting guides.
More than a typical magazine, Smart Computingis a reference tool. Benefit from the years of tech support
advice archived on our Web site as well as access to our Digital Editions from any Internet-connected PC.
Call (800) 733-3809 to subscribe!WWW.SMARTCOMPUTING.COM
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
10/80
DaaS (data as aservice) is ridingtechnologys coattailsto provide aster, moreefcient access to dataacross a wide range oneeds and disciplines.
DaaS provides not onlyace challenges o provid-ing clean, targeted data, butalso o educating potentialcustomers about the valueo the data and its deliverymechanism.
Granularity and otherimprovements thatboost the value odata delivery serviceswill continue to ex-pand the use andpopularity o DaaS.
Although most businessescan beneft rom DaaS, cer-tain business with specifcobligations around dataneed to be acutely aware othe circumstances arounddata delivery models.
KeyPoints
As A ServiceDaaS Grows With The Cloud
Data As the cloudslieline shits rom earlyevolution to businessrevolution, the question
is no longer i businesses
are using cloud services,
but how theyre using them.
ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECHEXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS
10 February 2012 / www.pctoday.com
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
11/80
ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECHEXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS
they need or a price that reects what
they actually use, Klopenstein ex-
plains.
MEETING THE DATA DEMANDInnovat ions in networking,
storage, and processing speed have
helped to create a nearly insatiable
demand or data that can be used
to help urther business goals. For
DaaS providers, this demand heaps
a virtual ton o challenges upon their
shoulders as they attempt to deliver
data quickly and accurately. Shion
Deysarkar, CEO and ounder o
Datainiti (www.datafiniti.net ), explains
that data storage, maintenance, and
deliverability all represent huge chal-
lenges or DaaS providers as data
volume expands and data consumers
Data, in particular, remains
as valuable in the enter-
prise as it always was, but
providers are discovering more
unique and useul ways to deliver it
through a service model. DaaS (data
as a service) is not a new concept, but
the clouds booming popularity is
helping to improve the DaaS model
to aid enterprises in their endless
quest or business advantage.
DaaS has changed with the amount
o computing power available, either
in the cloud or on premise, says Scott
Robinson, director o global data prod-
ucts at Pitney Bowes Business Insight
(www.pbinsight.com). Computing is in-
expensive and abundant, so as a rawmaterial or DaaS, its availability has
allowed data providers to make their
assets readily available in on-demand
environments.
The premise behind DaaS is su-
premely logical in the larger picture
o other cloud-driven services, such as
computing, applications, inrastructure,
and storage. I customers are turning to
cloud services to satisy those needs, it
makes sense that busi-
nesses would also turnto the cloud to access
datasuch as census,
geographical, or risk-
based datathat other-
wise is difcult to locate,
download, host, or even
analyze. Although
DaaS has been available
or years, changes are
helping it to approach
the popularity o its
cloud counterparts, in-
cluding those with more
amiliar initials such as
SaaS (sotware as a ser-
vice) and IaaS (inra-
structure as a service).
STEADY CHANGEAccording to Chad
Klopenstein, senior con-
sultant, SWC Technology
Partners (www.swc.com),
changes in the DaaS
model have been evolutionary or quite
some time. In act, the last revolutionary
change he recalls occurred in the 1990s
when he was working or an academic
library. A CD-ROM catalog vendor that
used to send 30-disc packages sent a
package containing only one discbut
the disc included instructions detailing
how to connect to the vendors online
resources.
R e c e n t l y , D a a S h a s b e e n
evolving in the direction o broad-
ening the population o both pro-
ducers and consumers. For many
years, DaaS was oten seen as most
valuable to organizations needing
access to massive amounts o statis-
tical or demographic data. The com-panies selling that data were strictly
data vendors, charging exorbitant
prices or a deluge o data. Slowly,
we are seeing that model change,
Klopenstein says.
For example, he notes that data mar-
kets now serve as a resource or smaller
or less-specialized companies looking
to realize the beneits o data in the
cloud. Businesses with useul data can
monetize it without signif-
cantly shiting the ocus otheir core business, he says,
while businesses with very
specifc data requirements
now have a place to shop
around, where providers
have already perormed
the work o collecting and
cleaning the data. Further,
he notes that companies
can now be more selective
about what they acquire
in other words, they can
pay or only the data they
want.
Regardless o whether
you are a data producer or
consumer, new channels
are becoming more and
more available that provide
the right amount o service
or any sized dataset or or-
ganization. Organizations
are inding it simpler to
ind the amount o data
Putting Data To Work
In an age where information is king,
todays businesses increasingly seek
solutions that can deliver targeted data
at a moments notice. A successfulexample of DaaS revolves around map-
ping and GIS (geographic information
system) data, which various companies
can use to improve their business pro-
cesses and gain tactical advantages.
Scott Robinson, director of global data
products at Pitney Bowes Business
Insight, sheds light on the types of
companies that can use such services.
Insurance companies that want to
underwrite accurately and that use
risk data (e.g., hurricane, wind, wild-fire, flood, and tornadoes) to precisely
rate risk for a specific address and/or
geographic area.
Retailers that want to open loca-
tions in international markets. For
example, they might want to know
the demographic profile of Monterrey,
Mexico, or they might want to gather
business location, competitor, and
traffic data for the UK.
Local governments might be inter-
ested in accessing parcel boundary data
to compare market versus assessed
land values in determining property tax.
Chad Klopfenstein
senior consultant, SWCechnology Partners
With so much com-
petition, successul
DaaS products have
to be marketed just
as well as they need
to be technically
architected. For some
companies that have
relied mostly on their
technical expertise,
this can be a difcult
hurdle to get over.
PC Today / February 2012 11
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
12/80
ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECHEXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS
speciic regulatory or
contractual obligations
surrounding their data
need to be intimately
aware o the nature o
data lowing into and
out o their systems.
Certainly, any mis-
sion-critical system that
relies on an external
data provider has the
potential or a disas-
trous point o ailure. I
have had many conver-
sations with potential
clients who are excited
about a cloud-based ap-
proach to one thing oranother until we start
talking about potential
outages and disaster
r e c o v e r y s c h e m e s .
I a business will cease to unction
without a certain data eed, relying
on the stability o an external pro-
vider can be risky, he says.
LOOKING AHEADF r o m t h e p e r s p e c t i v e o
TeamLogic ITs Plaza, current hotcloud services such as SaaS and IaaS
will continue to be the primary at-
tractions or businesses in the near
uture, though he suggests that ocus
could change in the next three to
fve years. Looking ahead, its dif-
cult to predict exactly how the DaaS
market will evolve, as Klopenstein
notes that theres no way to provide
an accurate valuation o one dataset
against another.
Defnitions o data completeness,
quality, or cleanliness are all based
on assumptions that both producers
and consumers bring to the table,
Klopenstein says. With no way to
establish a air-market value or a
specifc service oering a specifc set
o data, it eels a little like the Wild
West out there. When the dust settles,
data will cost what people will pay.
Until then, I wonder how new pro-
ducers and consumers will evaluate a
datasets value.
rising expectations
urther compounds
those challenges.
Its not enough to
deliver a bulk data
set, Deysarkar says.
It has to be seg-
mented to the exact
s p e c i i c a t i o n s o
the customer. New
big data technolo-
gies are helping data
providers meet this
demand; even these
require a lot o work
to meet expectations.
Our team, or ex-
ample, has invested alot o time in building
a ully searchable da-
tabase o business in-
ormation by taking
open source technologies and ftting
them to our exact needs.
DaaS providers also ace in-
creasing challenges as all things
cloud-related continue to proli-
erate, as locating customers that
can use their data can seem akin to
fnding needles in a mountain-sizedhaystack. Vince Plaza, vice presi-
dent o inormation technology at
TeamLogic IT (www.teamlogicit.com),
says it can be difcult to fnd target
customers and educate them on the
value that the providers data can
bring to the business.
The other challenge is to make
customers comortable that the data
[providers] are providing is good.
Convincing the customer to invest in
the development necessary to inte-
grate the DaaS into existing tools or
to use the providers tools are [also]
challenges, Plaza says.
EXPANDING POTENTIALTheres no doubt that todays
businesses treasure data that can
improve their market knowledge or
add value to existing or uture o-
erings. According to Klopenstein,
an increasing number o businesses
will be able to fnd this data as DaaS
solutions become more granular. This
granularity and other advancements
that ease DaaS use and integration
will help to expand the potential cus-
tomer base or DaaS providers.
Easy access to real-time data is
critical or managing a business,
and the best businesses use it tocreate competitive advantages,
Deysarkar says. Using DaaS, mar-
keters can identiy opportunities
and develop prospect lists on the
ly. Researchers now have access
to volumes o data with a query o
a database instead o conducting
months o custom research to col-
lect the appropriate inormation.
Security and risk departments can
use DaaS to track and create models
o the optimum and riskiest cus-
tomers and oer the appropriate
products and processes or pro-
viding their services.
Klopenstein acknowledges that
practically any business that has
customers or vendors could ben-
eft rom DaaS, assuming that most
commonly consumable data will be-
come easily available in the coming
years. However, he adds that DaaS
isnt necessarily a good ft or all busi-
nesses. For example, companies with
Shion Deysarkar
CEO and ounder,Datafiniti
DaaS levels
the playing field
when it comes
to analytics and
processingcapabilities or
businesses.
Vince Plaza
vice president oinormation technology,
eamLogic I
Te technology
behind the delivery
o DaaS has moved
orward, allowingor better adoption
in the enterprise.
Scott Robinson
director o global dataproducts, Pitney Bowes
Business Insight
Users can access
very complex inor-
mation that is critical
to business processesin a matter o
seconds, on demand.
12 February 2012 / www.pctoday.com
-
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
13/80
IT and data center technologies and trends change fast.
Make sure your company stays a step ahead with PC Todayssister publication, Processor.
While you get the executive overview version here in PC Today, your IT and data center
managers get the in-depth, detailed information they need in Processor.
Each issue contains
(800) 819-9014 | www.Processor.com
http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/ -
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
14/80
organized crime ring, or it can be the
product o simple carelessness, such
as an employee tossing out a data CD
without destroying it frst.
The risk o a data breach is well
known. According to igures com-
piled by Seattle-based Datacastle
(www.datacastlecorp.com), the average
cost o a data breach in 2010 was $7.2
million, working out to about $214
or every record breached.
KEEP DATA SAFEHow can you keep your data sae?
There are a lot o ways, many o
which have to do with using common
Its unlikely that you would
leave your businesss doors un-
locked when you leave or the
night, right? So why wouldnt you
do everything possible to protect
your data? Leaving it vulnerable is
worse than leaving your petty cash
and physical fles out to be pilered.
But there are ways to prevent data
breaches rom happening.
As the name suggests, a data
breach reers to the unintentional
exposure o private or sensitive in-
ormation to someone whos not sup-
posed to see it. It can be the result o
a malicious hack by an individual or
sense. A good starting point is to take
stock o your data and what is critical
to your operations.
The irst step every business
needs to take to protect themselves
rom data breaches is to sit down
and determine what critical inorma-
tion means or their business, says
Elizabeth Ireland, vice president o
marketing at nCircle (www.ncircle.com)
in San Francisco.
John L. Nicholson, an attorney with
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman law
frm in Washington, D.C., outlines the
our general categories o critical data.
The frst is credit card data, or which
Protect Your
Companys DataThe Facts About Data Breaches
The average cost o adata breach in 2010was $7.2 million.
Companies shouldidentiy data that needspriority protection.
Employees should betrained on how to protectsensitive data.
Most states have lawsregarding preventing andreporting data breaches.
KeyPoints
14 February 2012 / www.pctoday.com
http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/ -
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
15/80
ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECHEXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS
TRAINING IS IMPORTANTAter you identiy data that is cru-
cial to your company, youll want to
train your employees to protect that
data and to recognize and handle anysensitive data.
For those o us who live every
day in data security, this is a matter
o reex, but most employees who
are trying to add a new employee
to payroll, [signing] an agreement
with a partner, or working with
consumer data are just trying to do
their jobs, says Gunter Ollmann,
vice pres ident o research at
Atlanta-based Damballa (www.dam
balla.com). Most are blissully un-
aware o the risks o mistreatingthat data. The frst order o business
is to adequately train employees to
identiy and handle sensitive inor-
mation and, just as importantly, the
risks o mishandling it.
This task is complicated by the
act that some employees see secu-
rity training as an obligation. As the
owner, you need to impress on your
employees that a data breach can
mean the end o the company and,
thereore, their jobs.As employees have access to an
ever increasing range o devices capable
o storing large amounts o data, they
a company must comply with the
Payment Card Industry Data Security
Standard. The second category in-
cludes data covered by data breach
notifcation laws, which exist in most
states and address personal inorma-
tion, such as bank account or drivers
license numbers, in electronic orm.
These laws are intended to help pre-
vent identity thet, says Nicholson.
Some state laws also cover inorma-
tion on paper, and some cover med-
ical inormation, as well.
The third category is medical data.
I your company is covered by the
Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) or the
HITECH Act, there are speciic re-quirements or protecting certain in-
ormation and reporting breaches.
The inal category involves non-
fnancial, non-health related inorma-
tion such as user IDs, passwords, and
email addresses. For some smaller
businesses, such as those that de-
velop games or sotware or social
media siteswhere users purchase
virtual goods and spend moneya
breach o a user ID/password com-
bination can hurt customers becauseall o their virtual goods could be
sold o, according to Nicholson. For
others, the inormation about users
could be used to make phishing at-
tacks more accurate and convincing,
he explains.
Identiying where your data its
in those categories can help prevent
data breaches and equip you to re-
spond i and when a breach occurs.
Content management and knowl-
edge management systems oten a-
cilitate data classifcation, says Joe
Gottlieb, president and CEO o San
Francisco-based Sensage (www.sensage
.com). Data loss prevention and en-
cryption eorts oten lead to a better
understanding o and cataloging o
data relative to breach risk and sensi-
tivity. Also, known revenue produc-
tion servers are typically isolated orextra security precautions.
James McMurry, a CEO o Ful -
lerton, Cali.-based Milton Security
Group (www.miltonsecurity.com), ad-
vises creating a list o every category
o vital inormation and where its
stored. This allows businesses to
evaluate data storage that is many
times orgotten, he says. Email
communication internally to the com-
pany is one area that some frms do
not think is high on the priority list,yet it is used to send critical docu-
ments with data that is considered
high priority.
Elizabeth Ireland
vice president o mar-keting, nCircle
Sit down and
determine what
critical inormation
means or
(your) business.
James McMurry
CEO, Milton SecurityGroup
Email is used to
send critical
documents with
data that is
considered high
priority.
Joe Gottlieb
president and CEO,Sensage
Data loss
prevention and
encryption eorts
oten lead to a
better understanding
o data.
Gunter Ollmann
vice president oresearch, Damballa
Adequately
train employees
to identiy
and handle
sensitive
inormation.
Vince Schiavo
CEO, DeviceLock
rusted insiders
can sit down at a
laptop and transer
whatever inormation
they have access to on
that workstation to
their iPhone.
PC Today / February 2012 15
http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/ -
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
16/80
ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECHEXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS
used in various combinations, they
can provide a strong line o deense.
And i a breach does occur? You
should have a plan in place that you
can turn to quickly to ensure damage
is minimal. Many states have laws that
require you to immediately inorm a-
ected customers o what personal data
has been compromised. The uture o
your company might depend on doing
this quickly and accu-
rately, and also being
available to answer
questions.
Should your com-
pany experiences a data
breach, youll also need
to notiy the inancialinstitutions that handle
your credit card and
other transactions, as
well as your companys
attorney so that youre
aware o any potential
liability that can stem
rom the breach.
McMurry recom-
mends establishing
a irst response team
that is made up o acompany-wide deci-
sion maker, a member
o the technical sta,
a customer relations person, and one
person rom each data group.
When a data breach occurs, the
irst response team will deploy
and investigate what inormation
was breached. It will secure the a-
ected systems to prevent continued
breaches and review interconnected
systems to ensure the data breach
hasnt progressed urther. Then, the
team will contact the authorities as
required by law and keep records o
all steps in assessing damage and the
results o those steps.
The key to protecting yoursel in
the event o an attack is preparation,
including developing and rehearsing
a data breach response process, says
Gottlieb. This will orce you to con-
ront the signifcant requirements or
proper preparation.
become custodians o potentially vast
amounts o sensitive inormation, says
Ollmann. The kind o awareness and
training that was acceptable fve years
ago is simply not suicient when its
possible to carry terabytes o storage
around in someones briecase.
The portability o data is another
signifcant actor in your exposure to
a data breach. Figures rom Datacastle
indicate that laptops, especially, are
a central part o data breach risk.
Consider that more than hal o laptop
thets or losses result in data breaches;
one out o 10 laptops will eventually
be lost or stolen; and only 8% o cor-
porate laptop data is ever backed up
to a corporate server.Thereore it is important to in-
struct employees on the importance
o diligence, not just in doing reg-
ular backups o their data, but by
also avoiding classic scenarios that
almost inevitably lead to thet, such
as leaving a laptop on a car seat. And
i clients, vendors, or others have ac-
cess to your data, make sure that you
protect anything sensitive with pass-
words, restricted administrative ac-
cess, or perhaps encryption.What many organizations still
seem to overlook is that in spite o
their very sophisticated and extensive
perimeter security barriers, trusted
insiders can still walk right in the
ront door and sit down at a laptop
or desktop computer somewhere in
the organization and transer what-
ever inormation they have access to
on that workstation to their iPhone,
iPad, USB stick, or other easily por-
table and concealable mobile de-
vice, says Vince Schiavo, CEO o
San Ramon, Cali.-based DeviceLock
(www.devicelock.com), which makes
data loss prevention sotware.
This opens up the enterprise to
huge risks o data leakage, both via
intentional malicious thet and via un-
intentional or inadvertent transer o
private inormation rom the endpoint
device to a mobile device, which can
easily leave the workplace and release
that inormation into the wild.
TOOLS TO PROTECTYOUR DATA
Aside rom encouraging best
saety practices among employees
and others who have contact with
your data, there are numerous tech-
nologies that can lessen the chances
o you experiencing a data breach.
Although theres no single solution
that will cover all your needs in this
area, a combination
o tools can provide
strong protection.
Among the tech-
nologies that can work
in tandem to prevent
a data breach are ire-
walls, antivirus sot-ware, and anti-spam
programs. Going a step
beyond those basic so-
lutions are intrusion
prevention sotware to
monitor network trafc;
network access control
to grant or deny access
to devices connected to
your network; and even
IP blacklists o mali-
cious IP addresses andwhitelists o sae IP ad-
dresses.
One fnal option or
protecting your company is one o
the most old-ashioned: purchasing
insurance. Cyber liability insurance
is a growing area o coverage that
can protect your company against
lawsuits resulting rom a data breach.
Nicholson advises shopping
around beore purchasing cyber li-
ability insurance.
Unlike typical general liability
insurance, the oerings or cyber li-
ability insurance vary signiicantly
rom company to company in
terms o coverage and exclusions,
Nicholson says. This is an area
where companies need an expert to
evaluate their current coverage, i
any, and competing oerings rom
insurance carriers.
None o these options by them-
selves will prevent a data breach, but
Consider thatmore than hal olaptop thets or
losses result indata breaches; oneout o 10 laptopswill eventually
be lost or stolen;and only 8%o corporate
laptop data is everbacked up to a
corporate server.
16 February 2012 / www.pctoday.com
http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/ -
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
17/80
ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECHEXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS
so employees cant install
applications.
McMurry says that com-
panies should always have
ully patched operatingsystems because they
have a ew built-in security
measures and general fxes.
A NAC (Network Access
Control) system is also im-
portant to see who is on the
network and where those
connections are coming
rom. And i your com-
pany regularly does online
banking, McMurry rec-
ommends booting rom
a bootable CD with Linux
distribution so your ac-
counts are isolated rom
potential threats.
ACT NOW, PREPAREFOR THE FUTURE
The key to securing your company is
to always be orward-thinking and on
the lookout or new threats. Constant
education is necessary to ensure your
company is prepared or the worst, and
taking advantage o the newest secu-rity solutions will help keep your com-
pany sae. Failure to mitigate risks now
means spending even more money later
on, or loss o the business itsel, says
McMurry. The real ROI or security is
preservation o the business itsel. Its
important to invest in long-term solu-
tions early on, so there will be more
peace o mind in the uture.
As budgets cont inue to
tighten, companies are on
the lookout or new ways to
reduce expenses. Some companies
may see security as a good place tocut costs based on history or com-
pany size, but with ewer employees
and resources in place, security
threats pose an even greater danger.
Mosti not allirms believe
that a breach wont happen to them,
or that they are so small that there
is nothing o value to an attacker,
says James McMurry, president and
CEO o Milton Security Group (www
.miltonsecurity.com). Most small busi-
nesses and some midsize frms stick
to the belie that they are well pro-
tected because it has not happened
to them yet. Sooner or later, every
frm will be touched by the real and
growing threats.
According to McMurry, security is
one place where companies shouldnt
cut back. Instead, they should fnd new
ways to prepare or possible security
threats to prevent damage, data loss,
and higher security costs in the uture.
UNDERSTAND THE THREATSThe frst and most important step
in stopping security threats is to ully
understand them. Education and
knowledge seem to be the largest
issues in the SMB market, says
McMurry. Business owners and
managers dont ully recognize the
potential threats that exist and take
steps to mitigate them.
McMurry says that
companies must rec-
ognize botnets, key
logging viruses, and
other types o threatsand teach employees
how to avoid them. In
many cases, a virus can
gain access to a com-
panys network, and
eventually its internal
resources, through a
single computer. I your
entire workorce can
spot the telltale signs
o a potential threat, it
will be able to stop the
threat at its source.
KNOW HOW TOSTOP THEM
According to McMurry,
companies should take a layered ap-
proach to security and combine the
eatures o multiple solutions to ully
protect data and other assets. He rec-
ommends starting with a frewall that
determines what is and what is not
allowed into your network as well as
an anti-virus program with an extensivethreat database.
Encryption is the next consideration.
McMurry says companies should ini-
tiate ull disk encryption on all media,
put tight restrictions on email, and en-
crypt all email trafc. And to prevent
potential user error rom employees,
companies should remove local ad-
ministrator privileges rom computers
Help Your IT DepartmentFight Security ThreatsAdvice From Milton Security Group
James McMurry
president and CEO,Milton Security Group
Without any security
in place, you are wide
open. Here is an anal-
ogy: How oten do you
leave your car parked
with the keys in it and
the doors unlocked?Sooner or later that car
is not going to be there
when you get back.
Milton Security Group | (888) 674-9001 | www.miltonsecurity.com
PC Today / February 2012 17
http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/ -
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
18/80
to properly conigure the required
protection. As a result, such compa-
nies ultimately move data into the
cloud without proper protection.According to Norm Laudermilch,
chie operating ofcer o Terremark
(www.terremark.com), applications
in the cloud are running on virtual-
ized instances o the same operating
systems already in use elsewhere.
As such, these applications can all
victim to the same vulnerabilities and
attacks that have plagued businesses
or years.
Unpatched systems, weak au-
thentication, bad irewall conigu-rations, and running unnecessary
services can be just as big a threat
as the more sexy vulnerabilities like
zero-day exploits and advanced per-
sistent threats. On top o that, vir-
tualization introduces cloud-specifc
vulnerabilities like attacks against
the hypervisor, which could allow
one guest to compromise another
guest, or worse, the hypervisor
itsel, allowing access to all guests,
Laudermilch says.
Casual cloud observers might pointto high-profle breaches as examples
o the clouds inherent insecurity. But
Laudermilch says that rather than
considering cloud services unsae
Y
ou might expect sunshine to
poke through holes in a cloud
in the sky. But its a ar darker
situation when dealing with cloudservices in the enterprise, where
holes can allow devastating breaches
o data and privacy. Although cloud
providers continue to boost security,
adopters o these services nonetheless
need to be aware o potential security
holes and how to prevent them.
The intrinsic nature o the cloud
gives way to a certain level o
reedom between providers and
customers to ensure that services
are eective, exible, and efcient.However, as a skyrocketing number
o businesses begin to rely on cloud
services or critical processes, more
attention is being given to secu-
rity around these implementations.
Service providers are certainly
lending more resources than ever
to the security o their products, but
a good deal o responsibility can
also all on the shoulders o cloud
users themselves.
FAMILIAR FOESWhen Pierluigi Stella, chie tech-
nology ofcer o Network Box (www
.networkboxusa.com), started dealing
with cloud security about two years
ago, he said he elt as though he trav-
eled back nearly 10 years in terms o
how security was handled. A decade
ago, many companies used simplefrewall and antivirus technologies to
protect their workstations, Stella says.
Threat levels at that time generally
werent high enough to warrant more
stringent security measures, but Code
Red and other severe threats eventu-
ally emerged and began to change
the security landscape. Now, he says,
an average o 200,000 new zero-day
threats appear every day.
The unortunate discovery I have
made in dealing with cloud securityis that we seem to be stuck in a world
that has not truly realized all this,
Stella says. Unless some regulator,
auditor, or law tells me what to do, I
will do almost nothing at allthis is
the common approach. In the cloud,
this is accentuated by the act that
companies are moving there to save
money, and when they run into the
issue o having to set up a separate
virtual server to run a virtual security
device, they realize they had not bud-
geted or it, so they end up going orthe cheapest and simplest solution.
This solution is oten sel-man-
aged, he adds, even i the company
is ully aware that it lacks the skills
Overly inexpensive, simplesecurity methods arentenough to protect businessesagainst a security landscapethats changed greatly overthe last decade.
Many o the same secu-rity mistakes that doomtraditional computingdeployments can alsopose big dangers tocloud environments.
Because cloud servicesoten involve remoteconnections, securingdata ow through VPNsand other methodsbecomes paramount.
Cloud services typicallyaccommodate many cus-tomers, so its crucial toensure that sensitive dataremains protected byproper security devices.
KeyPoints
Bolster YourCloud DefensesHow To Prevent Cloud Security Holes
ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECHEXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS
18 February 2012 / www.pctoday.com
http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/ -
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
19/80
ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECHEXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS
CHOOSE YOURAPPROACH
The prevalence and
severity o cloud se-
curity holes can vary
widely depending on
the service, the service
provider, the imple-
mentation, and the
ability and/or practices
o the customer. Robert
Jenkins, chie technology
oicer o CloudSigma
(www.cloudsigma.com),
says that dierent cloud
implementations can
have dierent bound-aries in terms o client
and provider responsi-
bility and control.
For instance , i
a provider gives the
client complete con-
trol over the sotware
layer, the customer
be come s ab le to la rg el y manage
their own security, Jenkins says.
It becomes a much tougher job or
the provider i they take on the re-sponsibility o securing their clients
implementations, since the provider
may create rules that arent appli-
cable to every customer and may
actually interere with their com-
puting. Security is very dierent
rom customer to customer, and a
one-size-its-all approach doesnt
usually work, or is at least hard to
manage eectively.
Some cloud providers deliver a
secure path to their services and
leave the rest o the security con-
fguration and management to the
customer. For businesses with ca-
pable sta, this can be a preerred
approach, as it provides the lex-
ibility and power to control cloud
environments as desired. However,
businesses without sta trained in
security confgurations, or without
the manpower to handle these du-
ties, may preer cloud providers
that deliver end-to-end security.
across the board, con-
sider that the cloud
simply requires the
same security dili-
gence as non-virtual-
ized environments.
STAY SECUREKeeping cloud ac-
tivities secure requires
the constant reminder
that business data may
be leaving the prem-
ises. With this in mind,
strong remote com-
puting security prac-
tices apply to ensure
that eavesdroppers orother intruders dont
gain access to your
data. Stella recom-
mends using a strong
VPN (virtual private
network) such as a
certiicate-based, SSL-
protected VPN with
AES-256 encryption. I youre not sure
what kind o protection is oered by
your cloud provider when connecting
to its services, check with the providerbeore moving any data.
You should also investigate how
the hardware side o your virtual
environment is handled to ensure
that your virtual neighbors have no
accidental access to your data. I have
seen an MSP [managed services pro-
vider] set up a number o servers
on a virtual LAN [with] each server
belonging to a di erent customer.
So now you are in a situation where
I can log on to my server remotely,
and I am on the same LAN with
servers that do not belong to me. I
can use that as a bridge to attack all
those servers and steal their data,
Stella explains.
He notes that because businesses
dont know their neighbors in the
cloud, they should trust no one and
always ensure that their LAN en-
vironments stay exclusive to them.
Joseph Pedano, senior vice presi-
dent o data engineering at Evolve
IP (www.evolveip.net), adds that
when using public clouds, busi-
nesses should conigure a host-
based irewa ll, while users oprivate or hybrid clouds should use
both a frewall and an IDS/IPS (in-
trusion detection system/intrusion
protection system) to prevent or
mitigate security holes.
Pedano also advises against
opening yoursel to holes in the
irst place. For example, he says, i
someone is utilizing a public inra-
structure, are you comortable with
any o that data being advertised to
the public i it was compromised?
Regardless o the answer, sensitive
datasuch as database or transac-
tional datashould reside on hard-
ened machines behind proper security
devices, he says. Further, i server ac-
cess is granted as part o the inra-
structure, that inrastructure should
be patched and regularly scanned.
Pedano recommends considering the
placement o a DLP (data loss preven-
tion) program to understand whats
moving onto and o o the server.
Pierluigi Stella
chie technology ofcer,Network Box
Customers should
be more demand-
ing, should do due
diligence and test
the security o theirnetworks, and should
ensure that whoever
is in charge o actually
setting things up has
good knowledge o
what to do and how
to do it.
Joseph Pedano
senior vice presidento data engineering,
Evolve IP
Understand what your
security requirements
are and have them well
defined beore searchingor [cloud] inrastruc-
ture. Having so many
choices today will
only make the
matters worse i
your security needs
are not defined.
Norm Laudermilch
chie operating ofcer,erremark
he mechanics
o an attack
against a cloud
computing
inrastructure arealmost exactly
the same as weve
seen against all
o our other
environments over
the years.
PC Today / February 2012 19
http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/ -
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
20/80
Boasting a collection o hype
large enough to rival the Earths
largest cirrus ormations, cloud
services would appear to be ideal
solutions or all IT needs. Althoughthe cloud is well-positioned to serve
businesses into the uture, the con-
cept and its technologies ace their
Cloud CriticsAre Arguments Against Cloud Services Valid?
Security, privacy, andcompliance concernsrun rampant in the cloudsphere, but many problemscan be avoided with simplehomework and strong SLAs(service-level agreements).
Criticisms leveled againstcloud services stem in partrom problems with earlyadoptions, but cloud provid-ers have since vastly improvedboth the services and thetechnologies behind them.
Because some businessesthink they must trust all otheir data and processesto cloud services, certainpotential problems, suchas security, becomeoverly magnifed.
Cloud services sat-isy a wide range o ITneeds, but potentialcustomers shouldkeep in mind that theyarent a perect ft orevery organization.
KeyPoints
ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH
EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS
20 February 2012 / www.pctoday.com
http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/http://www.processor.com/ -
8/2/2019 PC Today Magazine Data in Cloud - February 2012
21/80
ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH
EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS
as security, privacy, and lack o con-
trolwere indeed prevalent as cloud
providers elt their way through this
new realm.
But in recent years, cloud providers
have worked diligently to improve
not only the perormance o their ser-
vices, but as well as the security and
share o criticisms that suggest the
cloud isnt all its cracked up to be.
But are these arguments against the
cloud valid?
TROUBLE AHEAD?By ar, one o the biggest arguments
against the cloud revolves around secu-
rity. Todays organizations struggle to
keep their data secure when its under
their own control, so how can they trust
a third party to ensure that data will
remain secure? A cloud service provider
might tout tight security, but thats not
necessarily a guarantee that strict pro-
cedures will be ollowed to protect data.
Related to security criticisms are
privacy concerns, because cloud pro-viders can have the power to mon-
itor the data being handled through
the cloud service. Both security and
privacy issues also combine to create
criticisms around the clouds ability to
satisy compliance requirements be-
cause certain regulations or certain
data types are strict and could prevent
companies rom, or ex-
ample, storing data in
the cloud.
While some SaaS[sotware as a service]
providers have entered
into specifc markets or
specifc application oer-
ings and are able to pro-
vide compliance or PCI
and other fnancial regu-
lations, global cloud pro-
viders have a signifcant
hurdle in providing all
the requirements across
email, data, and propri-
etary applications, saysJerry Irvine, chie inor-
mation oicer o Pre-
scient Solutions (www.pre
scientsolutions.com).
Yet another argument
against cloud services
is that SLAs (service-
level agreements) dont
cover what they should.
Mark Gilmore, president
o Wired Integrations
(www.wiredint.com