Compaq 108164-003 - ProLiant - 800 White Paper page 3

W P
HITE APER
(cont.)
. .
. .
. .
. . I
N T R O D U C T I O N
. .
. .
Computing security is one of the fastest changing and most complicated areas in the information
. .
. .
technology industry today. Each day seems to bring another threat to the security of the world's
. .
computing resources. Recently, the Social Security Administration took its operations off line
. .
. .
because of privacy fears. In addition, Microsoft has had to re-tool its Explorer browser due to
. .
security concerns, and companies have reported a threefold increase in virus incidents over the last
. .
. .
year. These items follow the spectacular stories of hackers who broke into and modified the content
. .
of the CIA's and Justice Department's web sites, and of computing thief Kevin Mitnick, who
. .
. .
gained access to thousands of consumers' credit card numbers. These incidents represent only a
. .
subset of the wide variety of threats computer users and administrators must defend against.
. .
. .
Making this area even more complex is the confusing array of technologies and solutions, including
. .
encryption, firewalls, smartcards, and digital certificates, which are offered to solve these problems.
. .
. .
. . With the overall growth of computing, particularly networked and inter-networked computing,
. .
more resources and information are at risk than ever before, with new threats emerging daily.
. .
. . Independent research estimates potential losses from lack of security at between $40-80 billion in
. .
the year 2000. Enterprises abilities to protect their resources and capitalize on opportunities will
. .
. .
depend on the level of security they enforce.
. .
. .
Computing security breaches as well as the concerns of IT managers are rising, yet the deployment
. .
of security solutions lags. Over 75% of organizations responding to a recent poll reported a
. .
. .
significant computer breach over the last year: the subset of these organizations, which could
. .
quantify their losses (249 institutions), reported losses of over $100 million. While most security
. .
. .
problems remain basic, such as viruses, password exposure, and physical theft, to date most
. .
enterprises have employed only limited or point solutions for security.
. .
. .
. .
IT managers must design a practical roadmap to guide their enterprises through this tangle of
. .
information, threats, and solutions. In charting a course, they must incorporate the latest
. .
. .
technologies, adapt to new threats, and ensure that their solutions do not compromise performance.
. .
. .
The Compaq Enterprise Security Framework addresses enterprise security in terms of computing
. .
. . platforms, secure computing technology, and the objectives required of a strong enterprise security
. .
policy. The framework also describes solution sets for each platform in terms of "levels" of
. .
. .
security. Using the easy-to-understand framework and levels, enterprises can plan a security
. .
solution roadmap that meets their business requirements. Compaq's Enterprise Security Framework
. .
. . delivers the critical needs of IT managers and makes the process of securing enterprise computing
. .
as easy as possible.
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
3