New Dimension Data Service Identifies, Deals with Security Vulnerabilities

Dimension Data, the $5.8 billion global ICT solutions and services provider has announced the availability of its Technology Lifecycle Management Assessment for Security. 

The assessment helps organizations determine which devices on their corporate network require immediate attention over other devices, based on the network location and severity.

According to Dimension Data’s 2012 Network Barometer Report, two-thirds of all corporate network devices analysed in 2011 were carrying at least one known security vulnerability. 

And of the known security vulnerabilities discovered, four of the top 10 most prevalent were new, three of which had a high severity rating.

“These statistics should be a reminder to those in IT security to identify and apply security controls consistently across their organisation, or run the risk of security breaches that can severely impact business and damage brand reputation if made public,” said Matt Gyde, Dimension Data’s Group general manager, Security Solutions.

“In some countries, non-IT executives could even be held personally liable for security breaches.  Today, barely a week goes by without a global headline featuring cybercrime, data theft or information leakage. In fact, data leaks and non-compliance now rank right up there with market crashes and natural disasters on a board of directors’ typical priority risk list. In 2011, there were 14,215 regulatory announcements affecting businesses across all industries,” he added.

Gyde cites the Sony PlayStations Network incident- dubbed the ‘data breach of all time’ – where over 77 million PlayStation Network accounts were hacked.

“What’s more startling is the fact that, of the 77 million accounts affected, 12 million had unencrypted credit card numbers.  Not to mention the millions lost while the site was down for a month,” adds Gyde. And while the hacker – Cody Kretsinger – was earlier this month sentenced to one year in prison, plus house arrest and a thousand hours of community work, the damage to the Sony brand was massive, and the harsh criticism of its faulty security continues.”

While every organisation aims to achieve a high standard of security compliance and adaptive firewall policies that best protect their IT infrastructure from insider and outsider threats, this is often difficult for clients to achieve due to the proliferation of threats in the modern-day security landscape and increased pressure around compliance.

“With this Assessment, we can help organisations to proactively plan, design, and build security architectures based on changing business demands and their appetite for risk. This will in turn provide reduced operational costs, better budget planning and a more predictable operational expenditure.”

If you answer yes to one of the statements below, your business is vulnerable to the ever-growing number of security threats:

* Your organisation has little visibility of the security configuration of network devices.
* You are concerned about the state of the firewall infrastructure.
* Your organisation has widely distributed geographic locations.
* Your organisation has recently experienced a security breach or data loss.