GUARDING THE ENTERPRISE

Abstract

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY security has traditionally been a matter of protecting computer systems from malicious hackers. However, given the rising flow of data through corporate IT systems—often via portable devices such as smart phones and laptops and increasingly within virtual cloud computing environments—it’s clear that IT systems are subject to a wide range of vulnerabilities. Nowadays, one of the biggest threats to IT security is the well-meaning employee who inadvertently triggers a data breach by e-mailing work to be done on a home computer over the weekend. The standard firewall around a corporate network is no longer enough to secure a company’s computers. Instead, IT managers are beginning to look more closely at the data within their systems, devising means of identifying and tracking the most sensitive data and implementing access controls. Although software products have been developed to assist in this endeavor, the job is largely one of IT department police work. David Kepler, ...