Taking Defense Down to the Data
Companies are finding that securing the network periphery is not enough and are adding measures to directly protect data.
Computerworld - As an organization that is mandated by law to comply with data privacy and security regulations, The Henssler Financial Group has implemented all of the usual technologies, such as firewalls and intrusion-detection systems, to protect its perimeters and networks.
About two years ago, the Marietta, Ga.-based company decided to augment its security measures by deploying a data-auditing tool from Acton, Mass.-based Lumigent Technologies Inc. behind its firewalls.
Lumigent's Entegra product allows Henssler to monitor data access, changes and views, and modifications to its SQL Server database structure.
The tool is crucial to ensuring the integrity of the company's stored content, says Chief Technology Officer Tim O'Pry.
"As a financial services company, if someone does something they are not supposed to, we need to know that," O'Pry says. An auditing tool such as Entegra allows Henssler to detect all database-related activity "regardless of what someone might do" to conceal that, he says.
Increasing concerns over data loss and compromise are pushing companies such as Henssler to consider measures for securing hitherto unprotected data lying in storage networks and databases. The trend marks a shift from the traditional approach of deploying purely network- and perimeter-oriented defenses.
Driving the trend are privacy regulations that require companies to demonstrate due diligence when it comes to protecting data, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and California's SB 1386 database-breach notification law.
A less-stated yet equally important reason for the increased focus on data protection is that traditional network perimeters have begun to fade away. As companies use the Internet to link up with partners, suppliers and customers, the notion of a clearly definable network edge has fallen by the wayside. The trend is prompting greater scrutiny of technologies for protecting stored data.

Image Credit: Gina Triplett
Also fueling concerns are incidents such as the recent string of high-profile security breaches at ChoicePoint Inc., Bank of America Corp. and LexisNexis, each of which resulted in the compromise of large volumes of confidential data.
"There are massive piles of sensitive data in storage networks and databases that have gone largely unprotected," says Richard Moulds, a director at nCipher Corp., a vendor of encryption products in Cambridge, England.
Companies have myriad ways to try to protect such data, including measures for access control, activity monitoring and auditing, as well as encryption of sensitive information, says Richard Mogull, an analyst at Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc.
Prat Moghe, president of Tizor Systems Inc., agrees. "In terms of security technologies, there are many different approaches to this problem," says Moghe, whose Maynard, Mass.-based start-up offers a data-access auditing tool similar to Lumigent's.



- Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet
- Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.
- Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
- As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
- Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
- Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
- Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware
- Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
- X-Ray of the PCI Process-4 Proactive Steps
- This white paper from Forrester Research Inc., helps break PCI into understandable components. Security and risk professionals will gain knowledge and insight into...
- Identity Governance: The Business Imperatives
- This white paper describes the business challenges and opportunities that are driving interest in Identity Governance while discussing considerations your organization should make... All Security White Papers
- Live Webcast
Playing Defense: Staying on Top of Your Disaster Recovery Game - When it comes to disaster recovery, rapidly growing data volumes, distributed computing models, and new technologies all combine to present an ever-changing playing...
- Introduction to VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5
- Traditional disaster recovery solutions are often too expensive, complex and unreliable to meet business requirements. As a result, IT departments are hesitant to...
- The Top Ten Secrets to Avoiding SAN Performance Problems
- Maintaining peak performance while simultaneously addressing the root cause of SAN errors is challenging. Learn the most common SAN problems and explore new...
- Deduplication Without Compromise
- Go inside Quantum's scalable, high-performance, multi-protocol new DXi deduplication appliances, designed to make backup much more effective. Discover how the new future-proof DXi6700...
- Director of Disk Products Discusses DXi6700
- Discover how the new DXi 6700 series of deduplication appliances provide investment protection and a future-proof feature set, all while delivering fast, scalable,...
- Playing Defense: Staying on Top of Your Disaster Recovery Game
- When it comes to disaster recovery, rapidly growing data volumes, distributed computing models, and new technologies all combine to present an ever-changing playing... All Security Webcasts