Can your organization enter the cloud securely?
Published by Dave Murray on February 17, 2010 at 3:25 am. Filed under General
With each new wave of innovation there are opportunities for increased productivity and cost reductions. Unfortunately new risks often accompany these opportunities. The buzz around cloud computing is that it is a key technology that will allow your organization to aggregate costs with other companies and obtain a more cost efficient solution. What many organizations are not discussing are the security risks these solutions can introduce if you choose the wrong provider or implement a solution incorrectly.
When considering a cloud computing provider it is important that you ask some tough questions. Make sure to check these key points before engaging with any provider:
1. Make sure the solution was designed and implemented with proper security and human controls. Know who has access. Get as much information as you can about the people who manage your data. Ask for specific information on the hiring and oversight of administrators, as well as the controls over their access.
It is really important to avoid vendors that refuse to provide detailed information on their security programs and procedures. Your organization needs to make sure the provider has clearly thought through and validated the policies, risk-control processes and technical mechanisms that are in place. Verify that an adequate level of testing has been done to confirm that service and control processes are functioning as intended; and more importantly that vendors can identify unanticipated vulnerabilities.
2. Find out how your data is segregated from other customers. Data in the cloud is normally in a shared location. It is important to find out what is done to separate data. Encryption is usually a key component of this separation. Make sure that the data separation methods used has have been thoroughly tested. Your organization should evaluate the trade-offs made in this separation and make sure these trade-offs are ones your company is comfortable with.
3. Understand that any solution is only as good as its recovery. Make sure that an effective disaster recovery plan is in place. Preferably with data backed up across multiple data centers.
4. Understand who your organization is dealing with. Do not assume your provider is financially viable. The natural human inclination is to believe that any company providing an online service or application is both financially qualified and technically able to provide this solution. One of the hard lessons learned with ASPs (Application Service Providers) when they were introduced was that the financial viability of an ASP is a key security consideration. When many of these early ASPs abruptly closed their doors during the “Dot Bomb” they often did it with data that was critical to their customers. These types of scenarios are why it is important to verify that your provider is financially viable. It is also important to find out what contingencies are in place if the provider does somehow go broke, get acquired, or experience some other disruption. Ensure your data will remain available if any of these unexpected events occur. It is also good to verify that the data will be in a standard (compatible) format that is easily moved into another environment.
By following these steps you can ensure that your company has a safe entrance and experience in the cloud computing environment, and enjoy the benefits without the risks.
The good news is that if cloud computing is implemented properly with a reliable provider, cloud computing can also be a security enabler. The Executive Director of ENISA, Dr. Udo Helmbrecht, underlines: “The scale and flexibility of cloud computing gives the providers a security edge. For example, providers can instantly call on extra defensive resources like filtering and re-routing. They can also roll out new security patches more efficiently and keep more comprehensive evidence for diagnostics.”
To ensure your organization is safe Convergence extensively evaluates the companies, technology, security and internal policies of all the solutions we provide. Contact your Convergence representative to see if our secure cloud solutions are right for you.
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What is cloud computing?
Published by Dave Murray on January 6, 2010 at 2:26 pm. Filed under Cloud Computing
Convergence HDIT helps you utilize new technologies to help you decrease support costs, increase productivity and improve your bottom line. Cloud Computing is an exciting resource that you should consider for your company.
Cloud Computing allows us to centralize and consolidate resources to reduce costs, increase scalability, improve flexibility and manage risks. Cloud Computing has become so ubiquitous that you are probably using it and don’t even know it. Free on line applications like Google Gmail, and Yahoo Calendar, as well as paid applications like Salesforce, GotoMeeting, and QuickBooks Online are all examples of commonly used cloud applications.
There are several key reasons Cloud Computing is growing so rapidly:
- Cost: Can be greatly reduced. Capital Expenditures (CapEx) is converted to Operational Expenditures (OpEx). Pricing on utility computing applications like hosted Exchange is fine-grained with usage-based options and fewer IT skills are required in house.
- Agility: Users are able to rapidly deploy new services.
- Computer and location independence: Users are able to connect anywhere regardless of their location or device (smart phones as well as computers).
- Pooling of resources: The ability to share costs across a large pool of users providing a better ability to handle unexpected loads in usage and provide greater efficiency.
- Increased Reliability: By utilizing redundant sites continued operations are assured. This reliability is driving the fastest growing categories in Cloud Computing backup, business continuity, and disaster recovery.
- Scalability: Near real-time access to resources without having to engineer for unexpected loads.
- Security: If properly implemented the security of your organization can be increased.
- Easy Green IT: Sustainability is improved through resource utilization, more efficient systems.
- Support and Maintenance: Applications are easier to maintain, since they don’t have to be installed on each user’s computer. They are easier to support and improve because changes as well as updates reach each server and clients instantly.
As you can see there are a wealth of benefits when we considering the “Cloud”. Contact your Convergence representative to see if this is a good option for your organization. In the following posts we will explore each aspect of the Cloud and how you can use it to improve your company.
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Getting IT in HD
Published by Dave Murray on December 28, 2009 at 3:06 pm. Filed under HDIT
High-Definition television (HDTV) has brought a level of clarity, quality and reliability previously unavailable. Wow! What a huge improvement over standard TV. This whole notion of HDTV made me think about our “High-Definition IT” (HDIT). Like the HDTV revolution, Information Technology (IT) is experiencing some dynamic transitions as well. Convergence Networks utilizes the best available technology and embraces emerging technologies to provide High-Definition Information Technology (HDIT).
HDIT provides our customers with:
Clarity:
Our state of the art monitoring allows us to assist you in making proactive decisions rather than reacting to the “fire” of the day. Our team continuously monitors your network, servers, and workstations for alerts and potential disruptions. For example we routinely detect hard drives when they show the initial signs of failure before our users are even aware of a problem. By proactively replacing these hard drives we save our users from the frustration and expense of down time and data loss. By actively monitoring usage and service trends we are able to assist our customers in making clear decisions to drive growth and reliability.
Quality:
Our quality solutions for Desktops/Notebooks, Servers, VPN/Remote Access, Hosted Exchange, Email, Backup, AntiVirus, Firewalls, Wireless, and cloud computing make sure that your organization is operating on a reliable foundation. By implementing things correctly in the first place we ensure that your organization gets the maximum value and reliability out of your computers and network. As an organization we work with you to anticipate upcoming needs and implement innovative solutions to reduce costs and maximize your value.
Reliability:
Part of HDIT is making sure our customers are up-to-date and online. It is a proven fact that good maintenance will prolong the life of your car, reduce operating costs, and reduce the risk of being stranded. Computers and networks are exactly the same way. Regular maintenance and support does reduce operating costs and downtime. At anytime during the day we just want our computers to work! We make sure your computer is periodically scanned, defragged, and rebooted – either at night or over the weekend. These seemingly mundane tasks along with our proactive monitoring and quality solutions keep your technology infrastructure up and running reliably and consistently.
HDIT evolves your computing environment so you can rely on your computer and network day after day, anticipate and prevent potential outages and plan for growth, HDIT gives you the tools to maximize productivity and value as well as plan for growth.