A growing number of enterprise decision makers are concerned that ubiquitous file sharing onto personal devices via the cloud needs to be controlled. We discuss the risks, offer recommendations, and look at the growing set of technical solutions offering mitigation, while maintaining productivity. Gartner customers can read this research by clicking here.
· How to Control File Synchronization Services and Prevent Corporate Data Leakage
Mobility and cloud computing are introducing exciting new directions for consumer and business technology and services. While this can significantly increases the utility and appeal of technology, it also dramatically raises the security risk as sensitive and personal data is shared across a network. Purpose built hardware can help deal with increasing network speeds and more complex threats. This is where semiconductor technology plays a fundamental role. Chip providers are developing business cases for implementing secure features on their products, and these are paving the way for new services for consumers and businesses. Gartner customers can view this latest webcast by registering here.
Tags: business, cloud, com, computing, data, direction, product, risk, Security, service, technology, threats
Vulnerability Management - Source (ISACA.org)
While there are different stories about what cloud computing “is”, there is one specific direction that virtualization is headed that could bring along with it some additional problems for the security industry. One issue I wanted to focus in on is centered around vulnerability management and how it is implemented in a cloud environment. Many customer’s are faced with the need to scan their cloud, but unable to do so.
Virtualization providers have been pushing their customers and hosting providers to adopt new infrastructure to automate the distribution of CPU processing time for their applications across multiple condensed hardware devices. This concept was originally conceived as “Grid-Computing” which was created to address the limits of processing power in single CPU systems. This new wave of virtualization technology is meant to automatically distribute processing time to maximize the utilization of hardware for reduced Cap Ex (Capital Expenditures) and ongoing support costs. VMware’s Cloud Director is a good example of the direction that virtualization is going and how the definition of “cloud computing” is changing. Virtualized systems are quickly being condensed into combined multi-CPU appliances that integrate the network, application and storage systems together for more harmonious and efficient IT operations.
The vulnerability management problem:
While cloud management is definitely becoming much more robust, one issue that is apparent for cloud providers is the management of the vulnerabilities inside a particular customer’s cloud. In a distributed environment, if the allocation of systems changes by either adding or removing virtual systems/instances from your cloud you quickly face the fact that you may not be scanning the correct system for it’s vulnerabilities. This is especially important in environments that are “shared” across different customers. Since most Vulnerability Management products use CIDR blocks or CMDB databases for defining the profile for scanning, you could easily end up scanning an adjacent customer’s system and hitting their environment with scans due to either a lag between CMDB updates or due to static definitions of scan network address space.
The vulnerability management cloud solution:
My belief is that this vulnerability management problem will be addressed by the integration and sharing of asset information between the cloud and vulnerability scanning services. Cloud providers will more than likely need to provide application programming interfaces which will allow the scan engines/management consoles to read-in current asset or deployment information from the cloud and then dynamically update the IP address information before scans commence.
Furthermore, I feel that applications such as web, ftp and databases will be increasingly distributed across these same virtualized environments and automatically integrate with load distribution systems (load balancers) to ensure delivery of the application no matter where the applications move inside the cloud. The first signs of this trend are already apparent in the VN-Link functionality release as part of the Unified Computing System from Cisco however adoption has been slow due to legacy and capital deployment on account of the world’s market recession. This may even lead to having multiple customer applications being processed or running on the same virtual host with different TCP/UDP port numbers.
This information would also need to roll down to the reporting and ticketing functionality of the vulnerability management suite so that reports and tickets are dynamically generated using the most up-to-date information and no adjacent customer data leaks into the report or your ticketing system for managing remediation efforts. Please let me know your thoughts….
Tags: able, alignright, application, applications, belief, CIDR, cloud, CMDB, com, computing, console, data, device, different, direction, end, ensure, important, industry, infrastructure, management, market, option, problem, process, processing, product, program, recession, ROC, run, scanning, Security, special, systems, TCP, technology, time, Trend, use, vulnerabilities, vulnerability, vulnerability management, widthDon’t get me wrong at all, I love Cloud computing and even invest in cloud computing companies but since cloud computing is becoming more popular than ever as more and more applications core to our businesses move into the cloud we need to consider some of our own risks. One thing I’m not sure if you or your business has thought of is availability on your own end (your internet connections). Availability is not just on the provider side which is normally fully redundant. Being that I am a CISSP, of course I know the clever Triad, but given that most of availability issues are still addressed by other parts of our organizations (network engineering, telecom etc). I know that I myself mostly focus on confidentiality and integrity related controls and not on availability. I don’t think I’m the only one in the security industry that is in this boat.
So, if we take a moment and step back from our little paper cluttered desks filled with pie charts and excel spreadsheets of PCI or SOX controls and take a look at availability, we should ask ourselves these questions: Would our company function if we lost our primary internet connection? How about if we lost our internet connections entirely? How about if a global routing event or some other attack on the Root DNS servers was successful? hmm…
My 2 cents is that companies are relying very heavily on a mixed bag of routing protocols and interconnected networks who don’t always have your company’s goals at heart. I’d love to see a lawyer try and say that the company internet connection going down should be reimbursed to the level of reliance that has been placed on those same connections. So please please please ensure you have fully redundant internet connections and think this issue through. Keep in mind that you may have two circuits coming out of your data center but they often could go physically through the same single fiber connection at the Telco (a single point of failure). You should also consider financial risks associated with the 2nd and 3rd Tier cloud providers. Providers such as Salesforce.com and Amazon are best suited to provide you financial stability and fault tolerance, but startups often lack the resources or money to really cover all these availability issues effectively so be cautious and have a backup plan in place to address any of the issues that could arise.
More questions to ask….If your internet went down:
1. Would your helpdesk software work?
2. Would your finance portal work?
3. Would your out-sourced marketing work?
4. Would your advertising continue?
5. Would your paycheck administration continue?
6. Would your recruiting efforts continue?
8. Would your customers be able to buy from you?
9. Would your banks be able to communicate to you?
10. Would you be able to get updates for your operating systems?
The list goes on and on…. Think about it at least a little.
Tags: able, application, applications, availability, business, cloud, com, companies, computing, connection, connections, continue, data, end, ensure, Hmm, i'm, industry, Internet, just, Law, market, pci, question, Security, software, SOX, systemsJoin Silicon Valley and San Francisco ISSA and the Bay Area InfraGard for our annual Cornerstones of Trust 2009 security conference in Foster City, CA on October 14, 2009. The theme of this year’s conference is “Meeting Security Challenges in Changing Times”.
If you are in the San Francisco Bay/Silicon Valley area security community, Cornerstones of Trust 2009 is the place to meet top security experts from the business and technology communities and learn about real world solutions. Come and find out how other companies are effectively and successfully managing their security postures in these changing and challenging times.
Featuring Two Keynote Speakers:
Morning:
Mark Weatherford, Executive Officer and CISO of California Office of Information Security and Privacy Protection
“Security: From the Left Side of the Equation” Future threats, much ado about SOMETHING
Afternoon:
Pascal Levensohn, Founder and Managing Partner of Levensohn Venture Partners
“Why We Must Develop a New Model for Collaboration in Cyber Security: A Perspective on America’s Innovation Crisis”
Featuring Four Parallel Tracks (including both panels and individual presentations)
- The business side of security – becoming a business enabler and staying ahead of the curve
- Disruptive Technology – From Data Bits to Clouds
- E-Discovery and Digital Evidence
- Governance Risk and Compliance in today’s changing and challenging landscape
CPE credit
Earn 8 CPE credits when you attend
Exhibitors
- 20 + technology vendors exhibiting the latest security solutions
Food and Entertainment
- Great food (breakfast, lunch and snacks)
- Post conference vendor reception
Vendor Raffle Prizes
- iPod Gear
- Memory Sticks
Who should attend?
- CIO’s, CSO’s & CISO’s
- Information security managers and directors
- Security practitioners and specialists
Registration Costs
| Level | Pre-Pay | Day of Pay | Type |
| Member | $60.00 | $70.00 | ISSA & InfraGard |
| Associate Member | $90.00 | $100.00 | ISACA, ASIS, ISC2, OWASP |
| Non-Member | $120.00 | $130.00 | Any |
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Tags: able, america, business, California, cloud, com, companies, compliance, cyber, data, day, end, October, oh, Protection, Security, something, special, technology, threats, time, today, trust, vendor
