Chip Gibbons, CISO at Thrive, cautions organizations to be more cognizant of where their data lives, no matter what industry they are in.
Financial institutions, law firms, health care providers, and other companies that deal with sensitive customer data should already understand that.
But even for those companies that aren’t typically managing lots of data, it’s crucial to know where your data lives and how to protect it, Gibbons said. Otherwise, the consequences could be grim.
“When important systems become unavailable due to infrastructure failure, human error, or a security breach, it can lead to unaffordable business interruption,” said Chip Gibbons, CISO, Thrive, a provider of managed services.
“The best way to ensure an organization is prepared is to have business continuity and disaster recovery plans on hand.”
Protecting data, whether in a database system such as Microsoft SQL Server, or in a file system, is becoming an ever more critical and complex endeavor. From high-profile data breaches, to the all too common experience of losing a hard drive, we are all aware that data can be suddenly and catastrophically lost. But many, even with information technology responsibilities in their jobs, lack the time, expertise, and budget to adequately protect their most critical data.
Outsourcing has been growing in popularity. It represents an opportunity for companies to expand, as needed, while cutting the costs associated with new technologies and services. Recent studies conducted by Computer Economics, Inc. showed outsourcing made up only 4 percent of IT costs in 2008. By 2009 this percentage increased to more than 6 percent. By 2011, outsourcing IT services made up more than 10 percent of the total IT expenditures, and this trend has only continued in 2012.
This means that choosing the right outsourced IT provider is now more important than ever. There is a lot at stake in terms of business continuity, company productivity, growth of revenue, and company expansion.
Part of choosing an outsourced IT provider is knowing what mistakes to avoid. Investing the time at the beginning means fewer headaches over the long term and minimizing the potential for unexpected costs as a result of making the wrong decision.
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Regardless of your industry, staying proactive with patch management can be a time consuming but extremely important effort. This is where a managed patching provider can be an invaluable resource.
If you were to conduct a survey of businesses to discover whether or not they are happy with their patch management strategy, the majority of them would likely say that they struggle with patch management processes and are overall dissatisfied with their patch management system. If you are one of the businesses that is constantly burdened by patch management, here are a few of the most common issues companies face and how a managed patching provider can help.
In the current economy, many businesses across the globe are seeking alternatives to costly data backup methods. A popular solution to costly backup methods is cloud backup, which works well as a strategy for business continuity planning and disaster recovery. Data backup and storage in the cloud means that the cloud service provider takes responsibility for costly backup hardware and redundancy methods. The company seeking cloud storage pays a monthly subscription fee, which is based on the amount of backup and storage which is required.
In order to successfully backup and store data in the cloud, you must choose a reliable provider that has a track record for using multiple backup servers, advanced security, and immediate access and recovery in the event of a disaster. A lot of companies prefer to pursue the best of both worlds by combining the speed of local backup with the security of cloud backup. This concept is known as hybrid backup and is more cost effective than tape methods and other offsite storage methods.
Quality network security is an essential part of the operations for your business and meeting data protection compliance and regulatory requirements. It sounds really simple to say you just want to “keep the criminals out” while keeping your business in productive mode. Unfortunately, with the increased demands for technology and information security, this can result in a significant time investment.
Network security is no longer about just deploying firewalls and an antivirus program. Regardless of the size of your business, the latest threats are very advanced. This is why many companies are opting to use enterprise-class network security protection services to increase protection while saving time and money.
If you have never used this type of service for your company or small business, here is an overview of the core levels of protection that a network security protection service can provide.
Every company is aware that the proper data protection measures are of utmost importance. Yet many businesses still utilize older methods of data backup such as tape systems, costly onsite backup methods, and offsite systems that may mean several days until recovery takes place. These methods consume resources and pose more risks of failure in addition to being complex, costly, and labor intensive.
New data backup and recovery technologies eliminate (more…)
Proper enterprise network security is of vital importance to data protection and the ongoing productivity of an organization. With the increased use of technology that helps enterprises to maintain the competitive edge, most businesses are required to employ IT security personnel full-time to ensure networks are protected from the rapidly growing industry of cyber crime.
IT security professionals are responsible for monitoring the network for security vulnerabilities on a daily basis. Vulnerabilities are holes in the network that hackers can use to perform exploits. An exploit can potentially cripple a network and bring down an organization for an indefinite period of time. To protect a network against unauthorized access you must use (more…)
There are many advantages to storing your data in the cloud. This is the primary reason that cloud storage has increased in popularity during recent years. Many businesses are realizing the benefits of cloud storage in terms of cost savings, convenience, and accessibility.
Like anything else, when it comes to protecting important data there are things you should consider (more…)