ISE® Central Schedule of Events 2010

The Dark Side of Industry Consolidation: Mapping a Safe Path Through Vendor Consolidation

Gene Scriven
Chief Information Security Officer and Vice President
Sabre Holdings
ISE® Southeast People’s Choice Award Winner 2008
ISE® Southeast Executive Award Finalist 2008

The security technology industry is consolidating due to mergers and acquisitions, resulting in fewer but larger players. While there are many drivers that attract one company to buy another, a common force currently driving consolidation is that larger vendors are looking for ways to provide broader, end-to-end solutions that go beyond what they can assemble in-house. Acquisition offers a way to leverage the trend toward a greater user preference for best-of-breed components while defending their positions as end-to-end solution providers.

While these are clear benefits, vendor consolidation is not without its dark side. What may happen to the acquired vendor and its technology is often an open question. Vendor consolidation impacts vendor relationships, technology direction and customer support; elevates concerns about the safety of existing and new investments; and adds uncertainty and risk that is best to be avoided.

Trends In Identity and Access Management: Transforming Security into an Enabling Function

Robert Pace
Director, IT Security & Support Services
Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co.

The digital world is dramatically altering the way business gets done, resulting in numerous security challenges for organizations. The internal corporate network is now a connected web of people and devices as more employees work remotely; and partners, customers and vendors are given access to corporate systems and sensitive data. This connected business model many times means managing access for users the company knows little about. To complicate matters, cloud-based applications are on the rise, bringing more challenges to managing user security. Layered on top of these business considerations is the requirement to meet industry-specific standards and comply with regulations such as HIPAA, SOX and PCI. Businesses must prove accountability around data access and management.

As businesses mature, they must be able to manage rapid change, establish effective formal governance, and provide accountability through transparency. Identity and access management and compliance solutions form the cornerstone of an organization's governance, risk and compliance strategy and serve as a basis for transforming security into an enabling function. Implementing these programs can be complicated and time-consuming, but enterprises may be able to simplify the process and make tangible contributions to enterprise business goals if they consider vendors that are developing ways to integrate IAM offerings with other compliance solutions.

Secure Social Networking: Is there an App for That?

Cynthia Whitley
Chief Information Security Officer
Allstate
ISE® Central Finalist 2008

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace. Love it or hate it, social media is part of the business world and it’s here to stay. Social media empowers businesses to build a brand, expand their reach, connect with customers and partners and facilitate the “flow of business.” While leveraging online communities presents great opportunities, many security executives express frustration over the dilemma of how to make social media available for business reasons without exposing themselves to unnecessary security risks.

Employees toggling between “friending” on Facebook and “businessing” on corporate systems  leaves a company open to the exposure of personal data in the workplace; the release of corporate data to the public; the risk of identify fraud; and a host of security, governance and compliance challenges. A perfect storm is brewing between the number of people using social media and the increasingly sophisticated malware attacks being launched to prey on the data. Now, with the proliferation of third-party applications for mobile devices, the complexity and diversity of security issues become even greater as users download unsecured applications and use mobile devices for personal reasons. Financial firm USAA, for example, allows customers to deposit a check from their mobile phones by using a "remote capture" of an image of the check.

Outsourced or Outsmarted: How to Avoid the "Gotchas" in Outsourcing

Brian Wrozek
IT Security Director
Texas Instruments Incorporated
ISE® Central Executive Award Winner 2008

It seems like a win-win: Outsource that non-critical function, save money, increase efficiency, tap into deep expertise and reap the rewards of having your IT teams focus on mission-critical work. But along with the benefits comes the need to provide outsourcers with access to sensitive corporate assets.

From offshore to near shore, front office to back office, network monitoring to HR, security challenges surface whenever business processes are moved outside of the confines of the firewall. Whether it be legal liability, compliance issues, brand risk or customer concern, the more eyes and hands you have on your data, the greater the risk of something going wrong. This problem is magnified by the fact that your data may be stored on many different computers and the people accessing your data may well be on the other side of the world.

Data risks and security challenges are an inherent problem for companies that outsource. While most outsourcing firms are trustworthy and responsible, some aren't. As the saying goes, “you can outsource anything except your liability.” So how do you align your outsourcing effort with business goals while protecting the data?

Securing The Cloud: Is it Possible?

Matthew Archibald
Managing Director and CISO
Applied Materials, Inc.

The benefits of cloud computing—accessing your data and applications stored on remote hardware by way of the Internet instead of keeping it all in your local workstation—still requires a leap of faith for many. But now that a workstation can go anywhere as a smart phone, a stripped-down Net Book or even an e-book reader, it's practically a virtual desktop operating in conjunction with a virtual server.  If the user can be anywhere, so can the source for data and applications.  Cloud computing represents a significant opportunity for enterprises to increase flexibility, gain access to best-of-breed applications, add capacity on demand and boost infrastructure resources – all at negligible cost.

As more information on individuals and companies is placed in the cloud, attention must be turned to how safe an environment it is and how we assess security and perceive risk. In the cloud, it’s difficult to physically locate where data is stored. While the cloud provider is the custodian, the data owner is still legally responsible for protecting the privacy and integrity of that data. Further, the “richer the pot of data,” the more attractive it is to cyber crooks. Security processes, once visible, are now hidden behind layers of abstraction. Even the most basic tasks, such as applying patches and configuring firewalls, may become the responsibility of the cloud operator, not the end user. While the intent of security remains the same - to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information - cloud computing shifts control over data and operations.