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Best DR Plan Can be Invalidated by a Wrong Hand-Dijkstra

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Marc Dijkstra, chief technology officer, Symantec in charge of the Emerging Region including Russia, the Middle East, Southern Mediterranean and Africa. He has an in-depth knowledge of the data management, storage and high availability landscape.  Marc worked with Computer Work Station Sales as a support engineer before he moved to VERITAS UK as a Storage and Availability Presales specialist before joining Symantec in 2007.  He spoke to emeka okafor.

Promoting Green IT

From Symantec perspective, being a software and infrastructure company and taking into cognizance that we are into storage and virtualization technology, promoting Green IT is something we are heavily into. We have a number of tools that help customers identify areas which they can actually save cooling and heating costs saving amount of storage that they use.  As an example, we have one of our products that can identify when you are underutilizing your storage. One of the biggest problems you can have is underutilization of your storage. When you have all these and they are not being used you still pay electricity bill as you need to cool the systems. . We can identify the storage that is not in use and try to drive utilization up by mopping the underutilization storage to the storage element we can identify. So every thing Green IT, we have a number of tools also as a consulting firm that can identify how much power we can save by dragging up utilization process.

Optimizing Storage Resources Utilization

One of the things we looked at when we started the standardization initiative was that it is part of our bold strategies to identify within the storage management brief. One of the things we did was to identify where we could save customers Tier One storage cost by moving data from Tier One storage to the secondary storage having the same data. We do that in subtle space.  We have a customer in Nigeria who is looking at ways to take their old data   from Tier One old expensive disc and put it on a cheaper disc. He estimated that he could save approximately 80 per cent of his storage disc by moving the Tier One disc into the Tier Two disc at a much lower price than the Tier One disc. It means that the customer doesn’t need to buy a new storage system .He can buy the cheapest disc and a recycle forward will be able to take that data and put it on to shape.

Overview of Products

Symantec has a number of products. I have lost count but I think it has close to 200 products. Symantec is storage and availability company as well as a security company. We have a very bold range of products from the traditional security products, back up products, duplication, archiving, enterprise desktop management etc, but the joy of Symantec is that we are a heterogeneous company and we have a very broad range of applications on storage. According to IDC Report (late last quarter) Symantec is now the number one leader in the storage management space and we lead significantly over the other competitors. The product I work more is on high availability and storage management space.

Guidelines for a Successful Storage Strategy

Testing, testing, and testing. We did a Disaster Recovery Report in 2008 and one of the problems we had is that people are not testing the disaster recovery strategy enough. People will do DR test once a year but it is not effective. It’s really not effective to cover all the bases. Two tests once every six months is ideal. There is need to do for instance virus test to ascertain what will happen if virus hits the system and that is very important.  Besides testing, DR is expensive especially if you are running critical operations like Telcos and mobile providers of the billing system. You cannot switch that system off otherwise you will be affecting the service of your consumers. So you have to balance how you are going to test your DR without affecting your customers, your bottom line, and your staff. I think the industry is thinking more along how to automate the testing without having disruption and Symantec has ways we actually allow you to automate DR tests without disrupting your actual application.
  It is one key word when it comes to disaster recovery- the planning. Having a good disaster recovery plan and doing your risk analysis is most important in DR strategy because whatever happens we make sure that it works.
  
Best Practice for Disaster Recovery
 
 It is firstly, the plan has to be in place. Be it internal plan or an outside consulting plan, the business has to have understanding of what the risk appetite is. What can they afford to do without and for how long? If it is a financial institution that is doing online trading, it can’t really be down. Government legislation in some cases will actually disallow that so your risk appetite has to be assessed before you can identify. So once your DR plan is actually in place and you have identified your risk appetite then you can identify the way you go. But remember how much you do it depends on cost as we have a sliding scale for various services I think the  most important thing when talking about best practice is that once you identify the risk appetite you must identify plan and once your plan is in place it must be assessed. We have a very interesting statistics that in 2007 we found 55% of our respondents at the C level were involved in DR planning                                                  process. Last year we found that it dropped to 33%. So one question is that has DR become little focused or was it a defect in the organization that it just had to happen? It’s a question I have asked in Nigeria. The people I have spoken to in Nigeria are very more executive level discussions. The C level is involved in the DR strategy, DR process and DR planning. Either that in your office you will have a DR strategy committee to discuss the most important issues on DR strategy and not doing it once and  leaving it because you need to continue with your testing on hourly basis and at the centre. One wrong man point can invalidate the whole outline

Focus of Symantec Products

It all depends. A lot of people even small to mediums are trying to locate their risks appetite, what they can do to keep their businesses up and running. From small to mediums if they lose their data could mean the end of the business. So you get to look at ways to do it. Small to mediums may not have DR strategy the way a financial house will have with gig net, internet. We play in all spaces, be it small to medium businesses, even to consumer.

IT Risk Management

IT risk management from Symantec perspective, we do certainly get involved in IT risks assessment in understanding the risk appetite with the customer. From my perspective, IT risk management understands the risk of the business either from internal or external, hacking, be it data loss, natural disaster or whatever it could be and und a committee in change control. Remember if you don’t have a change committee you are introducing risk into your environment.

Customers in Nigeria

I met with a number of executives from finance a couple of months back and the interesting thing to me was that although this knowledge is special but what made clear to me at the moment is  that the CIOs  are certainly coming down the line. Nigeria seeing what is going on in the Americas, India, MEA and Europe, there is legislation about keeping your data available, there’s legislation about holding data especially in the finance industry so it is in their minds. I wouldn’t say from my experience in dealing with the people. Email availability all the time is very important to people, I have a very lengthy discussion with CIOs about a month ago around the six points and it is very much in the full front of their minds.

New Products

What you will see coming down the line in the nearest future is looking at ways of mitigating the risks to the business. We mitigate risk by automating processes and by doing correct testing. What we will be looking at in our new product is that we will be looking at ways to go and test the environment and do risk analysis on the environment, weigh and identify the risks and report home the risk before problem happens. High availability cost ream technology will do the risks of the strategy and help check analysis and find out where issues are. It is one of the control processes you can look at multi- faceted, if one of the PCs fails its all about mitigation of risks      

Energy Problem
 
   One of the things Symantec is driving for is to reduce the amount of heating in the environment. One of the things talked about in the DR report as well as the stage of the data centre report just released is that the strategy of the CIO data center manager is still around consolidation, virtualization and automation. These are the three key areas in the 2007 report that came up again in 2008. By going the virtualization route, you are driving down the electricity needs. The Green IT makes this strong. So if we can tie Green IT with the strategy of the data center we are driving down the huge need of electricity. With our technology you use less service and storage so we are helping the customer drive down demand for electricity used to cool and power the data center. Virtualization is one of the strategies from Symantec through which demand for storage electricity is reduced. With the cost ream technology you don’t need as many services so you are driving down the cost of electricity again.  There is electricity problem even in South Africa also. It is not just Africa that has electricity problem. There was a report in California running out of power. There’s a problem in Florida. Electricity  is a global crisis so Symantec and IT industry have to look at innovative ways to drive down need for this power.


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Microsoft Server Hack Likely Solo Actor, Thousands at Risk

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A widespread cyberattack targeting Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) server software used by thousands of government agencies and businesses for internal document sharing was likely orchestrated by a single actor, a cybersecurity researcher said on Monday.

Microsoft Server Hack Likely Solo Actor, Thousands at Risk

Microsoft issued an alert on Saturday warning of “active attacks” on on-premise SharePoint servers.

The company clarified that SharePoint Online, part of the Microsoft 365 cloud suite, was not affected by the exploit, which is considered a “zero-day” vulnerability due to its previously undiscovered nature.

“Based on the consistency of the tradecraft seen across observed attacks, the campaign launched on Friday appears to be a single actor. However, it’s possible that this will quickly change,” Rafe Pilling, director of Threat Intelligence at Sophos, a British cybersecurity firm.

That tradecraft included the sending of the same digital payload to multiple targets, Pilling added.

Microsoft said it had “provided security updates and encourages customers to install them,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

It was not clear who was behind the ongoing hack. The FBI said on Sunday it was aware of the attacks and was working closely with its federal and private-sector partners, but offered no other details.

Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Washington Post said unidentified actors in the past few days had exploited a flaw to launch an attack that targeted U.S. and international agencies and businesses.

According to data from Shodan, a search engine that helps to identify internet-linked equipment, over 8,000 servers online could theoretically have already been compromised by hackers.

Those servers include major industrial firms, banks, auditors, healthcare companies, and several U.S. state-level and international government entities.

“The SharePoint incident appears to have created a broad level of compromise across a range of servers globally,” said Daniel Card of British cybersecurity consultancy, PwnDefend.

“Taking an assumed breach approach is wise, and it’s also important to understand that just applying the patch isn’t all that is required here.”


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Flaw in Microsoft SharePoint Sparks Global Cybersecurity Concern

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A Microsoft SharePoint server software flaw is causing widespread concern across the global cybersecurity landscape, exposing thousands of organisations to hackers exploiting a new vulnerability.

This critical vulnerability exposes government agencies, universities, and energy firms who are at risk of cyberattacks. The flaw, now being actively exploited by unidentified hackers, allows attackers to gain deep, remote access to on-premise SharePoint servers.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that the vulnerability can enable malicious actors to access internal files, change configurations, and even execute remote code, effectively giving them high-level control over compromised systems.

Microsoft has also acknowledged the breach and released a security patch aimed at stopping the ongoing attacks. The firm urged users to apply the patch immediately, saying it is working to roll out additional protections, according to a statement reported by Bloomberg.

Despite these efforts, cybersecurity researchers warn that systems may remain vulnerable if attackers have already infiltrated networks, stolen authentication keys, or implanted persistent backdoors before patches were applied.

The United States hosts the highest number of these vulnerable systems, followed by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

The Washington Post reported that the breach has already impacted a range of institutions, including U.S. federal and state agencies, academic institutions, energy companies, and a telecommunications firm in Asia.

This latest incident adds to a growing list of cybersecurity challenges facing Microsoft. In March, the company revealed that Chinese state-backed hackers had targeted its cloud-based services to infiltrate both U.S. and international organisations.

Last year, the U.S. Cyber Safety Review Board sharply criticised Microsoft’s internal security culture as ‘inadequate’ after a separate breach compromised its Exchange Online mail systems and exposed communications of high-level officials.


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NIMC Enrolls 122m for NIN, Cuts Extortion by 40 Percent

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said that it has reduced incidents of extortion and unofficial charges in the identity enrolment process by over 40 per cent.

NIMC Enrolls 122m for NIN, Cuts Extortion by 40 Percent

Abisoye Coker-Odusote, director general of NIMC,

Abisoye Coker-Odusote, director general of NIMC, who disclosed this  at an event in Lagos at the weekend, attributed the drop to improved transparency in fee structure at the commission.

The CEO was represented by Lanre Yusuf, director, Information Technology and Identity Database, NINC.

The workshop, organised by the identity regulator in partnership with the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, focused on repositioning Nigeria’s digital identity landscape and combating misinformation.

According to Coker-Odusote, the sharp reduction in illicit charges is a direct result of reforms introduced by NIMC to curb racketeering and unauthorised payments, which have for years plagued the national identity registration process..

“Enrolment for the National Identification Number remains free. We have standardised modification and authentication fees, and these are publicly disclosed. Our enforcement of a transparent fee structure has resulted in a 40 per cent drop in extortion and unofficial charges,” the regulator said.

She explained that prior to her assumption of office, complaints about exploitative fees at enrolment centres were widespread, fuelling public distrust in the system.

However, she noted that the commission had since prioritised transparency and stakeholder accountability, ensuring that Nigerians no longer have to pay above the legally mandated fees. “We are addressing deep-rooted issues that once undermined public confidence in the enrolment process,” she said.

The NIMC chief added that the commission had introduced digital tools to reduce human interference in the registration process.

These include the NINAuth mobile app, the Self-Service NIN Enrolment and Modification app, and Contactless Biometric Solutions, all designed to make the system more efficient, secure, and user-friendly.

Coker-Odusote also reiterated the commission’s commitment to inclusion, stressing that no Nigerian should be left behind in the country’s digital identity transformation.

According to her, over 7,167 front-end enrolment agents and partners have been revalidated and retrained to serve the public professionally, with strict monitoring mechanisms now in place.

In addition, NIMC has deployed grievance redress officers across all 36 states to handle complaints from Nigerians about enrolment centres and agents, with a 24/7 toll-free line available to report any misconduct.

The reforms are part of broader efforts by the Commission to build a unified, secure, and people-centred digital identity system that facilitates access to government services, financial inclusion, social protection, and national planning.

Coker-Odusote called on media partners to support the Commission in disseminating accurate information, countering misinformation, and raising awareness about the benefits of digital identity.

“We are asking our partners in the media to help us combat fake news and promote transparency in the identity ecosystem. We need to ensure every Nigerian understands their rights and knows that their identity is key to accessing opportunities and services,” she said.


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