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Four Security Areas Partners Can't Ignore
By
Prasanth Menon
Mumbai, Oct 15, 2007
In this era of cutthroat competition, channel partners won't survive on box pushing. Specializing or creating one's own niche will help partners survive and avail better profits.
Considering the boom in Small and Medium Business (SMB) vertical, channel partners can bank in on the promises offered by the networking security industry.
Following are the few sectors for channel partners that are worth investigating:
Core Net Security: One of the most critical aspects of any business setup is its core network and security. Most entrepreneurs are concerned with data safety and security.
Some of the important concerns while setting up a secure network are: issues related to compliance, file and printer sharing, usage of portable devices, encryption of sensitive information, etc.
To combat these issues, channel partners can offer security solutions related to network scanning, for intruders and vulnerable ports. This is a consolidated product and solution offering called Unified Threat Management.
Web Security: In this e-age, most tasks and communications are done via the electronic medium, routed through Internet that uses web servers. This segment is widely used to intrude, penetrate, and attack. The key here is to separate the local network from the Internet. Various solutions offered can do this without using additional resources. Most widely used product is a firewall.
If a firm has its own website and web server, as a solution provider, the channel partner can help the firm set up the web server, preferably on an ISP. However, several solutions are used to scan websites, maintain, and manage their security, data integrity, and uptime.
Wireless Age: With the advancement in technology and better connectivity, wireless connectivity is now considered an alternative. In firms with small infrastructure, the usage and deployment have increased over time. The prime reason is the relatively low cost incurred. However, there are serious security issues associated with this format.
Partners can specialize in solutions using Wi-Fi Protected Access v2 (WPA2) encryption. Apart from this, other methods used include Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), and Pre-Shared Key (PSK). Also, another new standard is Pairwise Master Key caching.
Secure the Prerequisite: In a typical office scenario, due to lack of awareness and vulnerable browsers, there are innumerable intrusions and attacks. These attacks include phishing, spoofing, destroying data, and attack on other computers. While email has grown prevalent and ubiquitous in the corporate world, it's also become increasingly vulnerable. Now, hackers circumvent perimeter defenses such as firewalls and attack the network interior directly, through the email architecture.
The risks are well known and serious: malware, spyware, adware, and spam are dangers that pose a threat to business, confidential data, and the organization's financial backbone. There's also an added risk of spreading to partners, vendors, and competitors. Most companies have basic security in place, such as firewalls and anti-virus scanners, but these don't protect the entire email infrastructure. The best solution is a layered one that adds additional protection by focusing on threats targeted at the email system.
Partners can achieve expertise in various solutions. These include hosted solution, software solution, and appliance solution. As per the requirements of the organization, the partner that's setting up the secured network must formulate a corporate policy that covers both email and Instant Messaging (IM) communications.
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