Security planning should include storage systems
By Jim Fulcher, contributing editor -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 6/1/2005 6:00:00 AM
While corporations readily spend millions of dollars to secure the data they send out over the Internet and various other networks in the course of doing business, very few even think about protecting the data residing on their storage systems.
Industry experts say that's a potentially fatal mistake, especially for manufacturers.
"Just because storage sits behind firewalls, networks, and servers doesn't mean it's safe," notes Jon Oltsik, senior analyst, information security, at Enterprise Strategy Group, Milford, Mass. "In most companies, a malevolent individual with the right skills could easily interrupt business operations or steal intellectual property—resulting in millions of dollars of damage from a single event."
Doug Howard, VP of service delivery for Counterpane, a supplier of data security solutions and services, says manufacturers should be especially concerned about stored data because it often includes their most valuable asset—the company's intellectual property.
"It isn't wise to spend a lot of money on perimeter security, and then leave valued assets out in the open," Howard says. "Valued assets should be stored safely, and be surrounded by perimeter security as well. A good example is to think of a bank: it has good perimeter security, but there's also a safe to store the most valuable assets."
Adds Kevin Brown, a VP with storage security solution supplier Decru, "The growing trend to outsource design or manufacturing operations presents a huge security risk."
Electronic design files may be shared with a contract manufacturer, but they are critical to a company's financial profitability as well, Brown says. If design data about a new consumer electronics device, for instance, isn't stored safely and is somehow leaked to the press or given to a competitor, it could be disastrous for the manufacturer, he says.
"Manufacturers will soon start demanding that their intellectual assets are protected—wherever they are in the value chain," Brown predicts.
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