Security From Symantec For Manufacturing Industry - Sujata Computers Pvt Ltd

Hi!

This is Pushkar Nath, Sujata's Data Security Specialist. This blog is for CXOs in Manufacturing Industry to understand what data security threats are around us and how to keep the data safe from the threats.

In today’s tech savvy world, where systems are getting automated, it is leaving vulnerable points which render an organization prone to data leak. We will do critical analysis sector wise to pinpoint the leak points and ways to plug them. Today I am picking up manufacturing sector for critical analysis

End Users – It can be anyone designing team, people from R&D department, data entry executive, receptionist etc. There is possibility of malware infection through internet and spreading it in local area network and crashing down the entire network. Apart from that it might be possible that they might try to send documents or critical organization data through USB, mails or web. This can be prevented by using Antiviruses, data loss prevention, web and Messaging gateway protection. Hard disc, file and folder and removable USB level Encryption

Accounts/Finance Department – This department handles one of the most critical assignments of an organization and that is to manage the entire financial dealing and transactions. Any leakage of financial details might prove detrimental to the organization. This department is prone to phishing attack. . Antiviruses, data loss prevention, web and messaging gateway protection, Hard disc, file and folder and removable USB level Encryption  endpoint to endpoint encryption with two factor authentication will provide adequate security to this department.

Human Resource department – Human resource department has under its possession entire record of the employees. As manufacturing sector is labour intensive sector so every company has long list of labours doing blue collar and white collar jobs.  Companies doling out financial services are always on prowl for these type of database.  Security becomes necessary. Antiviruses, data loss prevention, messaging gateway protection, hard disc, file and folder and removable USB level Encryption becomes critical necessity of this department.

Sales and marketing Dept. – This department generates revenue for an organization. They have data of their clients and their requirements. As personals from this department remains mobile. So BYOD is gaining currency among them. . Antiviruses, data loss prevention, web and messaging gateway protection, Hard disc, file and folder and removable USB level Encryption  , gateway to end point mail  encryption , mobile device management, mobile application management coupled with two factor authentication will provide adequate protection to the devices, application and data.

IT Department – This department manages the entire IT infrastructure of an organization. It has to manage server infrastructure, networking, end points of the users.  Its role becomes critical in the sense that if it gets down then functioning of the entire organization will come down to notch. The first product which is of extreme importance for them is back up software for end points and servers. Second is archiving and third is solution for hardware and software inventory management.

Top management – This level of management is privy to secrets of all the above mentioned departments. Any IT admin can’t stop them from accessing there date/mails etc from their own device or from home. Security becomes critical as any intentional or unintentional loss of data, documents can have a devastating effect on the entire organization. Antiviruses, data loss prevention, web and messaging gateway protection, Hard disc, file and folder and removable USB level Encryption  endpoint  to end point  mail  encryption , mobile device management, mobile application management coupled with two factor authentication will provide adequate protection to the devices, applications and data.

Let me know if you have any concerns around the data security or you can get a free check up of your IT infrastructure and processes set for accessing the critical data within your organization from me and my team in Sujata.

Regards,
Pushkar Nath

 

Why Traditional Firewalls And Anti-Virus Cannot Keep Up with Today's Threats - Sujata Computers Pvt Ltd

UNIFIED THREAT MANAGEMENT (UTM)

 

 

In today’s increasingly mobile world, networks change constantly posing new challenges to IT team and to the administration on how to control security and protect the data. New services, access methods, and even devices continue to show up in networks at a frenetic pace.

For years, you must have been told that you need antivirus or some piece of software to protect your computer. These antivirus or software are usually reactive and alert you once they discover something unusual on a particular computer and not in the network. Of course, they are helpful but they do not provide full-proof security to your data and to your network.

 

Users are accessing an increasing number of applications with a wide range of device types, often times to get their job done, yet with little regard to the business or security risks. Meanwhile, datacenter expansion, network segmentation, virtualization and mobility initiatives are forcing you to re-think how to enable access to applications and data, yet protect your network from a new, more sophisticated class of advanced threats that are adept at evading traditional security mechanisms.

 

Below are some challenges that are now concerns for Mid-size and Enterprise Businesses -

  

Challenge #1 : Employees bringing their personal mobile and tablet at work creates data security a concern for IT team
 

Who could have foreseen the impact of WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook,or iPads and Android smartphones and tablets, only a few years ago? Today, employees expect to use personal smartphones and mobile devices at work also known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), making data security a concern for IT teams.

  

Challenge #2 : New applications evade threat detection

Traditional or “first-generation” firewalls rely on scanning of port numbers or protocol that are used by applications to detect the  threat and to prevent any misbehavior or intrusion in the network.

Traditional firewalls cannot detect new applications that are accessed through web browser and do not use specific port number or prototype.
 
Challenge #3 : Multiple Devices or Tools Addressing Incoming Data Security Threats

With the new challenges and threats, there is a need to have multi-level security and to do so, we do not recommend customers to buy different brands of traditional firewall, Data Loss/Leak Prevention (DLP), Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), filtering of websites and data traffic, malware screening at the gateway level and patch management in the network. Different tools create problem of managing them effectively and there can be a problem of compatibility. 

From a performance point of view also it is not recommended as each tool/device performs its own inspection of network data, which means that data is inspected multiple times by multiple devices and that create a time latency in data transfer.

In below image, you can see the flow of the data and the possible ways in which threat can enter into the network.

BOTTOM-LINE :

As a network’s complexity increases, so does the expense required to manage that network.

Every administrator should carefully consider the TCO of add-on security appliances versus an integrated solution like UTM or Next-Gen Firewall before making significant infrastructure solution commitments.

UTM should be flexible in terms of output, should be future-ready and should be powerful enough to support your requirement.

The application, content, and user—the elements that run your business—then become integral components of your enterprise security policy. The result is the ability to align security with key business initiatives.

• Safely enable applications, users and content by classifying all traffic, determining the business use case and assigning policies to allow and protect the relevant applications.

• Prevent threats by eliminating unwanted applications to reduce the threat footprint and applying targeted security polices to block known vulnerability exploits, viruses, spyware, botnets and unknown malware (APTs).

• Embrace mobile computing by ensuring devices are properly configured and that they are protected from threats.

• Protect your datacenters through validation of applications, isolation of data, control over rogue applications and high speed threat prevention.

• Secure cloud-computing environments with increased visibility and control; deploy and maintain security policies at the same pace as your virtual machines.

As we write this, the best UTM solutions for networks include the following core security functions / policies in their arsenals:

·         Network firewalls perform stateful packet inspection.

·         IPS detects and blocks intrusions and certain attacks.

·         Application control provides visibility and control of application behavior and content. 

·         VPN enables secure remote access to networks. 

·         Content filtering halts access to malicious, inappropriate, or questionable websites and online content. 

·         IPv6 support in all network security functions protects networks as they migrate from IPv4 to IPv6.

·         Support for virtualized environments, both virtual domains and virtual appliances.

They also include additional security technologies that organizations can choose to deploy, including

·         Data loss prevention that blocks accidental or intentional loss of confidential, proprietary, or regulated data.

·         Anti-virus/anti-spam protection that prevents malicious payloads or unwanted messages from entering networks.

·         Endpoint control that enforces corporate security policies with remote users and devices.

·         Integrated wireless LAN (WLAN) controller to consolidate all wired and wireless traffic through a single device, to simplify policy creation and enforcement while reducing network complexity.

SOLUTION TO CHALLENGES ABOVE :

 

UTM solution is integration of multiple security features like firewall, application control, intrusion prevention, VPN, reporting and other elements into a single product. There are multiple brands for which Sujata Computers Pvt Ltd has expertise in.  We can recommend you an appropriate brand and model from Fortinet, SonicWall, Check Point, Cyberoam, Juniper, Palo Alto, Sophos and Cisco depending on your use, industry, existing and future infrastructure, budget and skill-set available with your IT team. 

 In short, we recommend UTM that includes following features:

1. Firewall
2. Application Control
3. IPsec and SSL VPN
4. IPS
5. Web content filtering
6. Anti-spam
7. Data loss/leakage prevention
8. Anti-virus and anti-spyware protection
9. IPv6 native support
10. Traffic shaping and bandwidth control
11. Detailed reporting

and if you have no constrain on budget, you should opt for UTM that has independent processors for one-single activity (feature) i.e the more silicon is in UTM the better performance it will deliver.

We also take up responsibility of maintaining the UTM for its customers and help them implement it. We can sign an annual or long-term service and support contract for UTM and help our customers safeguard their infrastructure.

 

For More Information, Read:

 

1. 7 Tips for Establishing a Successful BYOD Policy - http://www.cio.com/article/2395944/consumer-technology/7-tips-for-establishing-a-successful-byod-policy.html
2. BYOD policy Template - http://www.itmanagerdaily.com/byod-policy-template/ 
3. https://www.avnotenough.com/

 

CONTACT SUJATA COMPUTERS PVT LTD (INDIA) FOR UTM

 

Dinesh Golecha | +91-8888165300 | dinesh.g@sujataindia.com

Paresh Lodha | +91-7276000222 | paresh.lodha@sujataindia.com

 

Beyond Heartbleed: Protecting Your Business with Symantec

The discovery of the Heartbleed bug in April, 2014 exposed a serious vulnerability in OpenSSL, an open-source cryptographic library often used with applications and web servers like Apache and Nginx. This latest high profile, targeted attack allowed infiltrators access to the memory of web servers running vulnerable versions of the library. Heartbleed quickly compromised the privacy for communications applications on the Web such as e-commerce, banking, email, and instant messaging, and opened the door to the interception of user information, passwords, and identities.

While the world now knows of the widespread havoc Heartbleed has caused to both businesses and individuals, it begs the question, “What happens when the next Heartbleed (or worse) comes along, and what can an organization do to weather yet another chapter in an all-too-familiar string of debilitating attacks?”

As a worldwide leader in information protection, Symantec not only has a comprehensive suite of solutions to discover and remediate vulnerabilities today––no matter their origin––but also has the thought leadership and world-class expertise to stay ahead of the next “Heartbleed.” With industry leading security solutions coupled with a global team of security engineers, threat analysts, and researchers to safeguard businesses from malicious attacks, Symantec is poised to help protect organizations by helping them discover the vulnerabilities,remediating the damage through effective patching and repair, then helping to further protect critical data and resources from future incursions.

Symantec security solutions include:

• Symantec Control Compliance Suite

• Symantec Certificate Intelligence Center

• Symantec SSL Certificates

• Symantec Validation and ID Protection Service

• Symantec IT Management Suite powered by Altiris technology

• Symantec Endpoint Protection

Symantec has made available both a webinar recording and a white paper to help you better understand how to implement a ‘discover, remediate, and protect’ plan at your organization. Also, stay up to date on Heartbleed news from Symantec, and get at advice on how to limit your exposure.

(Blog by Sanket Kadam)

Symantec Expertise with SCPL

Specialized Competencies available with SCPL

We at Sujata Computers Pvt Ltd having more than two decades of experience in delivery and deployment of specialized IT Solutions like Information Security, Data Protection, Disaster Recovery, Storage Solutions and many more. SCPL is till date able to satisfy the IT needs and requirements of more than 3000 SMB and 400 Enterprise Companies.

SCPL Partnership with Symantec is now almost more than a decade old. In these years we have achieved number of certifications and awards. We have developed extra ordinary competencies in various verticals like

• Enterprise Security
• Data protection with Backup Exec
• Data Protection with NetBackup
• Small and Medium Business

SCPL has proven competency and expertise to deploy and configure various solutions like

·         Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1 :

Unrivaled security and blazing performance across physical and virtual systems.
Powered with Insight and Sonar to tackle targeted attacks and unknown threats.

·         Symantec Protection Suite 4.0 :

Symantec Protection Suite Enterprise Edition is powered with Symantec Insight and protects with the industry’s fastest, most-effective endpoint security, combined with industry-leading messaging protection and innovative web security.

·         Symantec Backup Exec 2014 :

Symantec Backup Exec delivers powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use backup and recovery to protect your entire infrastructure whether built upon virtual, physical, or a combination of both. 

·         Symantec Backup Exec 3600 Appliance :

Backup Exec 3600 Appliances eliminate risk by integrating Backup Exec 2014 software with purpose-built backup hardware to provide an easy, complete, and cost-effective backup solution.

·         Symantec NetBackup 7.6 :

The NetBackup Platform is a holistic backup and recovery solution that is optimized for virtually any workload, whether physical, virtual, arrays, or big data, and delivers truly flexible target storage options, whether tape, 3rd party disk, appliances, including the NetBackup Deduplication Appliances and Integrated Backup Appliances, or cloud

·         Symantec NetBackup 5230 Appliance :

The NetBackup appliances are ideal for customers looking for turnkey solutions for their organization. The appliances enable efficient, storage-optimized data protection for the data center, remote office and virtual environments.

·         Symantec Enterprise Vault :

Enterprise Vault, the industry leader in archiving, enables organizations to efficiently store, effectively manage, and easily discover and retrieve unstructured information as needed for business. As the industry’s most widely-deployed on-premise enterprise archiving solution, Enterprise Vault helps customers deduplicate information at the source to reduce operational costs, manage organization-wide retention and information governance policies, and control the costs of compliance and litigation support.

·         Symantec Drive Encryption :

Symantec’s encryption solutions enable organizations to deliver data protection with centralized policy management through the optional use of Encryption Management Server.

·         Symantec Data Loss Prevention :

DLP helps you protect your data from loss and theft, comply with privacy laws, and safeguard your reputation.

In addition to these solutions, we are closely working with Symantec Technical and Engineering Team for getting hands on skills for the upgraded and recent products launched.

Considering the growing competencies of SCPL, Symantec has been recently awarded as Best Emerging Partner of Year 2014-15.

For any Symantec related enquiries please feel free to contact me on sanket.k@sujataindia.com  or +91-9011017300.

Thanks!

Sanket Kadam

Product Manager-Symantec