By Lisa Lorenzin

Trusted Computing Group Sets New Endpoint Security Standard

A primary goal of enterprise security is to protect the network environment from unwanted intruders, including unauthorized devices seeking inappropriate access and known endpoints which may be compromised or out of compliance with corporate policies.  Network Access Control (NAC) solutions today can interrogate an endpoint for information about user identity and endpoint health which can be used to dynamically assign access privileges as well as to quarantine non-compliant endpoints as needed.  However, this assumes that the endpoint is running some form of NAC client that can offer up the required information.  Not all endpoints are that cooperative - or that intelligent.

Leveraging a preventative email risk management approach to meet compliance mandates

According to a survey conducted in 2008 by Emedia Research, 94 percent of C-level executives believed they were powerless to prevent confidential or sensitive information being sent outside of the organization. The same survey also found that 32 percent were unaware if a data leak had taken place.  It is clear that the majority of companies do not have the necessary systems in place to protect data and are at risk of triggering a regulatory violation.

If you find yourself always repeating password protection to new employees, here's a tip sheet -- just hand it out and get on with the real work.

If security is deployed and users don’t accept it, are you protected? Well, are you? This is perhaps the most important question to ask when establishing a data security policy and choosing tools to maintain the confidentiality of your corporate data.

As P. T. Barnum might put it, there’s a sucker born every minute and a new net user every second. There is never a shortage of targets on a network of a billion users.  And the criminals have developed new scams to trap the net-savvy who won’t fall for the old “click here to verify your account” email scam.  Today, phishing schemes have gotten more sophisticated, and criminals have developed a “scam for every end-user.”

Lost or stolen data is probably the IT manager’s worst nightmare. The problems are real, the consequences are extremely serious, and if you do nothing about it, the likelihood of this happening to your company is increasing. Software-based approaches cannot provide the security required for a totally reliable protection. Hardware-based solutions used to establish a strong digital identity for both computer systems and users take security to a higher level.