Environment; Security Environment Importance And Trends - Compaq 108164-003 - ProLiant - 800 White Paper

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E C U R I T Y N V I R O N M E N T
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Computing security has always been critical to enterprises. However, in today's environment the
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components of the computing world have changed in ways that make computing security more
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critical and complex. In the past, computing security focused on protecting assets in a mainframe-
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oriented system. In the current, inter-networked environment, enterprises view security as crucial
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for two reasons: first, computing security measures protect against potentially devastating losses;
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and second, security enables businesses and opportunities to generate new revenue and reduce
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costs. Facing a growing variety of threats, losses, and intense market pressures, IT managers will
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propel the demand for practical, sound security solutions in the near future.
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Security Environment: Importance and Trends
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Several computing environment trends have changed the nature and challenges of computing
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security (see Figure 1).
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Computing Growth
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. . Networked Computing
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The most obvious computing trend affecting security concerns is the dramatic growth in the
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installed base of desktops, workstations, laptops, and PDAs in both the consumer and business
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markets. The simple impact of this growth has been to place more valuable enterprise, personal
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information, applications, and hardware assets in the hands of numerous people.
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. . The next trend is the importance of networked (client/server) computing, primarily in
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enterprises and small businesses. As this type of computing has become the dominant
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. . architecture, more people have networked access to significant enterprise information and
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applications than ever before. Some analysts estimate that 50% of the world's computers are
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. . networked in some way (LAN, WAN, etc.).
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The third trend is the emergence of inter-networked computing. In the last 2-3 years, more
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enterprises and institutions have connected from their internal networks to the greater networks
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of other businesses and consumers on the Internet. Inter-connected networks now enable more
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parties (business partners, customers, and employees) to gain access to crucial systems'
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resources across public, traditionally unsecured networks.
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Finally, the promise of Electronic Commerce is pressing businesses and computing vendors to
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find ways to securely conduct commercial and private transactions over public networks. In
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many cases, these transactions involve parties with whom they have no previous affiliation.
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Together, these trends have created a significantly different and more difficult computing
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environment for IT managers to secure. Previously, they could control the enterprise's information
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4
Internetworked Systems
Network A
Computing
Resources
Security
Electronic Commerce
Figure 1
Network B
Network C
Public
Network