I recently traveled to Mexico City, in advance of Mr. Barack Obama, who arrived the next day with his entire presidential toolkit of vehicles, helicopters, Airforce One and related elements of world class travel. I was there on business, to foster the sales and marketing of my company's products with local partners and wholesalers. Mr. Obama was there to foster partnerships of a different nature, but I found some notable parallels. Bear with me as I mention a few, and how it might be worth considering for you or your company in today's menacing world of threats, spies and globalized communications and network connections.
Mr. Obama travels everywhere with a fleet of vehicles that is specially built to resist arms fire, bombs, chemical attack and who knows what else. His limousine is known as "The Beast" for its weight, girth and protective armor. He is safe from most any kind of threat while riding in this vehicle. He is, in effect, safe because of the protections provided to him in what we, at SonicWALL (my current employer), might called Unified Threat Management (UTM). By using the types of security protections that UTM offers, the president is sure to have no worries about his personal safety, when riding in the Beast.
At the same time, given Mr. Obama's penchant for staying connected to his loved ones and his inner circle via a Blackberry device, it stands to reason that he needs to be sure about his Email Security, so that no one reads his communications, nor infects them with viruses, spyware, malware or other dangerous worms that would compromise Mr. Obama's top-secret communications. This is another parallel with what SonicWALL offers --- a full suite of Email Security capabilities to protect email, which is today's most vital communications tool used by millions, if not billions of people around the world.
How about his remote connections to the White House, or to the Department of Defense data sources? How about the need for secure remote connections for his staff, the military and others, including Mr. Obama to data sources and servers that must remain off limits to all but those who are ID and Password-authorized to enter? This is where even a president would need a solution to provide SSL/VPN secure remote access capabilities from anywhere in the world to the data sources needed for day-to-day work and productivity. Notably, SonicWALL offers this, as well, and any of our customers can have presidential-quality connections this way, too.
Finally, if I'm allowed to draw the complete analogy, what does the President of the United States of America do for continuous back-up and business continuity? How does he handle it if an important speech he's working on for the Mexico City meeting or the subsequent Latin American summit in Trinidad and Tobago gets wiped out inadvertently on his PC? What happens if his hard disk gets corrupted and he loses everything, including multi-trillion dollar budget spreadsheets or top-secret secrets concerning what kind of dog his children will get? (This was a very closely-guarded secret, you know). He absolutely has to have a system that allows for a constant and seamless back-up of every creation and/or modification of data --- all words, numbers, photos, that are part of his important presidential duties. This we can provide as well, with SonicWALL's CDP product for back-up, recovery and business continuity. No missing tapes, no 13-minute blank spots (a la Richard Nixon) if you're using this type of continuous back-up technology.
So, even though my time and that of Mr. Obama was short in Mexico City, we both brought to Latin America our best arsenal of security practices. Each of us traveled with the tools needed to protect our communications, secure our connections, safeguard our email and back up our data, in case of some nefarious threat that might have compromised the free world. Each of us, I would say, arrived back in the USA, able to say, "Mission Accomplished" (apologies to George W. Bush).
Thoughts, comments or opinions? Interested in knowing more? Drop me a line or post a comment, and thanks for reading.
Other blogs of interest:
www.TopExec.org/TopExecBlog
http://sonicwallbrasil.blogspot.com/
http://sonicwallblog.blogspot.com/
©Daniel A. Cabrera, TopExec.org, all rights reserved, 2009.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Observations on Latin America and IT Evolutions
Having worked in Latin America for many years within the IT industry, I can honestly say, that much has changed. From the early days of the IBM compatible PC, to the Local Area Network (LAN) running Novell Netware, to Client/Server architecture, mainframes, databases and now, most recently “Cloud Computing” (also known as Software-as-a-Service), there have been many changes.
At the same time, it remains as important as ever, in this writer’s opinion, that Latin America gain access to and use the latest technology to leapfrog some of the challenges and disadvantages that have historically affected or slowed down the region’s progress. Even in the days of rampant software piracy (which remains a popular phenomenon today), when providers of PC software had no means other than police raids and legal lawsuits to attempt to slow down the pirates of the Caribbean and other parts of Latin America, it was always in the short-term best interest of economic and operational progress that IT solutions be brought to bear on the competitive and productive challenges present in Latin America economies. This remains true today --- for the short and long-term best interests of Latin America.
What has changed significantly in the past several years is the importance of and predominance of the connected computer and the networked user. This is probably the most important evolution in Latin America’s and the world’s use of IT solutions in the past ten years. In effect, it means that the typical user, at nearly any level of the organization, is far more productive when he or she is connected to the network and is able to fluidly interact with his or her colleagues and the critical data that moves commerce, politics, education and any number of other professions forward on a day-to-day basis. Without your network connection, your email, your web browser and your on-line data, how can you be productive and get all of your work done? This is all the more so, when companies and individuals rely on being mobile or connect via the “cloud” to complete their tasks.
But while this phenomenon of the Internet and the connected computer user is a fantastic advance for each of us, it also poses multiple risks, and cries out for companies, executives and individual users to change their habits, get educated on security risks and take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their organizations with best practices and best technologies for securing the network, while keeping it fluid and productive for all users. This is one area where Latin America seems to understand, but prefers to go slow when it comes to getting educated and taking the steps needed to protect their networks and critical data.
Is this meant as criticism of all of Latin America? Of course not! Is it meant as an indictment of all users in region? No, certainly not! But in the greater scope of the Latin American markets that I know so well, there is an urgent need for more education and orientation as to why security solutions are required --- not just for virus attacks or spyware, common-enough threats --- but also for the more pernicious and potentially damaging effects of people (inside the company) stealing trade secrets, or competitors infiltrating company data bases, or employees bogging down the system by clogging up the bandwidth with personal IM chats, video down loads or other unauthorized use of the company’s network.
It’s also a matter of explaining in black and white (or pesos or reais or dollars) what it costs when a network is off-line for any period of time, or when important data is lost and irretrievable, or mobile workers (salesmen, inspectors, auditors, etc.) are unable to get connected securely to the home office to input their results, download critical information or upload reports, as needed.
According to an article, “Make Your Business Safe and Secure”, by Amy S. Choi, from Business Week’s Small Business magazine, too many companies are careless about protecting their data. “Data breaches cost companies an average of US$300,000 in losses a year, according to the Computer Security Institute. So if you’ve got employees working remotely, make sure they use a virtual private network (VPN) and a strong password when connecting to your network.” http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/02/0213_security/9.htm Is that something that Latin American organizations can afford to ignore?
The bottom line is that this IT Evolution that continues to move forward in Latin America and the world will constantly put stress on networks and organizations to protect them securely while keeping them fluid and operational for day-to-day productivity. The speed of these challenges, just as the vicious economic and political cycles that all of us are confronting in 2009 and beyond, is something that makes it vitally necessary for security solutions to be at the top of the list for what gets taken care of BEFORE the problem(s) arises, not afterwards. Like riding a bicycle or motorcycle, you put on the helmet before you go out to ride, not after you’ve struck your head on the pavement. This is what security solutions are all about --- preventing the damage and making sure that your network and your data are protected always, at all times, well in advance of the emergency.
How do you see your organization confronting these issues? Does your firm protect its intellectual assets vigorously? Are your users and systems protected at all times? Does your IT staff protect the company from internal threats, as well as external threats? Do you think Latin America is ahead of or behind the curve when it comes to network security? Let me know, and thanks for reading.
Note: this blog posting was written for posting in Latin America in both Spanish and Portuguese. Interested in seeing them in “local” language versions? Then, check out these blogs, when you have a chance. It won’t be long till you see this posting there, as well.
http://sonicwallblog.blogspot.com/
http://sonicwallbrasil.blogspot.com/
© Daniel A. Cabrera, SonicWALL, Inc. All rights reserved, 2009.
At the same time, it remains as important as ever, in this writer’s opinion, that Latin America gain access to and use the latest technology to leapfrog some of the challenges and disadvantages that have historically affected or slowed down the region’s progress. Even in the days of rampant software piracy (which remains a popular phenomenon today), when providers of PC software had no means other than police raids and legal lawsuits to attempt to slow down the pirates of the Caribbean and other parts of Latin America, it was always in the short-term best interest of economic and operational progress that IT solutions be brought to bear on the competitive and productive challenges present in Latin America economies. This remains true today --- for the short and long-term best interests of Latin America.
What has changed significantly in the past several years is the importance of and predominance of the connected computer and the networked user. This is probably the most important evolution in Latin America’s and the world’s use of IT solutions in the past ten years. In effect, it means that the typical user, at nearly any level of the organization, is far more productive when he or she is connected to the network and is able to fluidly interact with his or her colleagues and the critical data that moves commerce, politics, education and any number of other professions forward on a day-to-day basis. Without your network connection, your email, your web browser and your on-line data, how can you be productive and get all of your work done? This is all the more so, when companies and individuals rely on being mobile or connect via the “cloud” to complete their tasks.
But while this phenomenon of the Internet and the connected computer user is a fantastic advance for each of us, it also poses multiple risks, and cries out for companies, executives and individual users to change their habits, get educated on security risks and take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their organizations with best practices and best technologies for securing the network, while keeping it fluid and productive for all users. This is one area where Latin America seems to understand, but prefers to go slow when it comes to getting educated and taking the steps needed to protect their networks and critical data.
Is this meant as criticism of all of Latin America? Of course not! Is it meant as an indictment of all users in region? No, certainly not! But in the greater scope of the Latin American markets that I know so well, there is an urgent need for more education and orientation as to why security solutions are required --- not just for virus attacks or spyware, common-enough threats --- but also for the more pernicious and potentially damaging effects of people (inside the company) stealing trade secrets, or competitors infiltrating company data bases, or employees bogging down the system by clogging up the bandwidth with personal IM chats, video down loads or other unauthorized use of the company’s network.
It’s also a matter of explaining in black and white (or pesos or reais or dollars) what it costs when a network is off-line for any period of time, or when important data is lost and irretrievable, or mobile workers (salesmen, inspectors, auditors, etc.) are unable to get connected securely to the home office to input their results, download critical information or upload reports, as needed.
According to an article, “Make Your Business Safe and Secure”, by Amy S. Choi, from Business Week’s Small Business magazine, too many companies are careless about protecting their data. “Data breaches cost companies an average of US$300,000 in losses a year, according to the Computer Security Institute. So if you’ve got employees working remotely, make sure they use a virtual private network (VPN) and a strong password when connecting to your network.” http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/02/0213_security/9.htm Is that something that Latin American organizations can afford to ignore?
The bottom line is that this IT Evolution that continues to move forward in Latin America and the world will constantly put stress on networks and organizations to protect them securely while keeping them fluid and operational for day-to-day productivity. The speed of these challenges, just as the vicious economic and political cycles that all of us are confronting in 2009 and beyond, is something that makes it vitally necessary for security solutions to be at the top of the list for what gets taken care of BEFORE the problem(s) arises, not afterwards. Like riding a bicycle or motorcycle, you put on the helmet before you go out to ride, not after you’ve struck your head on the pavement. This is what security solutions are all about --- preventing the damage and making sure that your network and your data are protected always, at all times, well in advance of the emergency.
How do you see your organization confronting these issues? Does your firm protect its intellectual assets vigorously? Are your users and systems protected at all times? Does your IT staff protect the company from internal threats, as well as external threats? Do you think Latin America is ahead of or behind the curve when it comes to network security? Let me know, and thanks for reading.
Note: this blog posting was written for posting in Latin America in both Spanish and Portuguese. Interested in seeing them in “local” language versions? Then, check out these blogs, when you have a chance. It won’t be long till you see this posting there, as well.
http://sonicwallblog.blogspot.com/
http://sonicwallbrasil.blogspot.com/
© Daniel A. Cabrera, SonicWALL, Inc. All rights reserved, 2009.
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