May 2005 – CyberSecurity Institute

Grooming networks for VoIP

Posted on May 30, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

Computer Associates and Visual Networks have both released new VoIP management and assessment tools.

“Companies are spending a lot of money to do pre-assessments before they make VoIP deployments,” said Jeff Schmitz, senior vice president of marketing at Visual Networks. The Select VoIP MRI (Management, Reporting, and Integrity) module includes features that assess a network’s capability of handling planned VoIP rollouts, monitor VoIP traffic after deployment, and manage and report problems. The Select VoIP MRI also aids pre-assessments by providing information such as how many IP phones a site can handle.

Earlier this month, Computer Associates added a VoIP network performance assurance and assessment component to its Unicenter NSM (Network and Systems Management) software. CA integrated Viola Networks’ NetAlly RealTime with its Unicenter NSM to provide a single network-management console for VoIP and data management.

The U.S. VoIP market will hit $19 billion in 2009, up from $1.3 billion last year, according to a report by NewMarket Technology.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/05/30/22NNvoip_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/05/30/22NNvoip_1.html

US biometric ID request raises ID concern in UK

Posted on May 30, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

In 2003, it was agreed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) that the initial international biometric standard for passports would be facial mapping, although additional biometrics such as fingerprinting could be included. Currently, for example, all foreign visitors entering the US have their two index fingers scanned, and a digital photograph taken before they are granted entry. Most visitors are also required to obtain a visa.

Michael Chertoff, US Secretary of Homeland Security, last week said this the EU and US were close to a deal on the introduction of biometrics in passports for those seeking entry to the US, and urged the EU to ensure compatibility between EU and US biometric systems. According to press reports, Chertoff has also asked the UK to consider chip compatibility in respect of the proposed UK national identity card scheme. These decisions have been reinforced by a decision of the Council of Ministers of the European Community to introduce a common format passport for member states. The decision of the UK government to link the ID cards with the passport means that the UK’s ID card will be compatible with international passport standards.

The US had initially set 26 October 2004 as the date by which Visa Waiver Program travellers were supposed to present a biometric passport for visa-free travel to the US, but extended it for one year when it became clear that the 27 states that are eligible for the Program including the UK would be unable to comply. Biometric passports have been identified by governments throughout the world as a key factor in the fight against terrorism, and their implementation is being driven by the US. “By October 26, 2004, in order for a country to remain eligible for participation in the visa waiver program its government must certify that it has a program to issue to its nationals machine-readable passports that are tamper-resistant and which incorporate biometric and authentication identifiers that satisfy the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/30/us_eu_biometric_id_compatability/

Top Email Concerns: Corporate Policies and Security

Posted on May 28, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

A recent report, commissioned by ProofPoint, summarizes the company’s survey of 300 decision makers at large businesses, highlights the fact that businesses that protecting against leaks of proprietary information via email and ensuring compliance with corporate policies are the top email concerns among organizations.

The survey revealed that more than 33 percent of companies had email leak of confidential information, 88 percent of companies said they have acceptable user policies for email, 18 percent report that they have deploy technologies to enforce corporate policies, 25 percent of companies deployed monitoring software for web mail traffic and 70 percent said that they are concerned about web-based email systems and a conduit for the exposure of confidential information.

http://www.ebcvg.com/articles.php?id=740

Windows 2000 moves into Extended Support after June 30th

Posted on May 28, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

First, support for both IE 5.01 SP3 and IE 6 SP1 on Windows 2000 SP3 will expire.
Second, Windows 2000 SP4 moves from mainstream to extended support.

The key difference between mainstream support and extended support which he thinks is most relevant to this audience is this quote from the lifecycle site: “Microsoft will not accept requests for warranty support, design changes, or new features during the Extended support phase.”

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/05/27/422721.aspx

Compliance: Aligning IT and strategic goals

Posted on May 27, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

Luckily for financial services, one of the most heavily regulated industries, IT vendors are providing a competitive array of compliance solutions.

IT’s role in compliance is growing because regulation increasingly requires that business activities be monitored, audited, and scrutinised; this translates to the storage and retention of vast amounts of data — and only technology can handle that load. “The nature of IT’s role in compliance varies widely among companies, but it’s clear that growing regulatory requirements are giving IT specialists in companies a lot more work and bringing them into contact with different corporate departments,” says Nigel Holloway, director of executive services for the Americas at the Economist Intelligence Unit in New York.

However, just because technology can assist with compliance, does not mean that it comes cheap. And this is making for a further imperative: spending on compliance must be linked to the investment in wider business goals. For many, this is likely to be the only way they can justify the expenditure compliance necessitates.

According to the EIU, over half of the executives they spoke to said that the annual expenditure in this area of IT is expanding by over 10 percent a year.

http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020487,39200378,00.htm

683 mln e-mail users worlwide, 130 bln e-mails sent daily

Posted on May 27, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

According to the study, there are about 683 million email users worldwide, with nearly 1.2 billion active email accounts.

In regards to instant messaging (IM), the study shows strong growth in both corporate and consumer IM use. The IM Management segment of the market, which develops products to manage, archive and secure IM systems is poised for particularly strong growth, growing from $39 million in 2005 to $118 million in 2009.

http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=85246