Security and the Modern Data Center

Modern data centers are undergoing a transformation by supporting more services, users, and data than ever before. With new technology, come new risks.  As a result, IT architects must build proper security controls, policies, and processes to address and alleviate new threats. Below are three main data center trends and their associated risks:

Virtualization

It’s easy to understand why virtualization is one of the fastest growing technologies these days for businesses large and small. With the ability to cut power consumption, save space and make IT admin’s jobs easier, it’s hard not to love it. However, there are two sides to every coin and virtualization is no different.  Virtualization, although highly recommended, introduces new security risks, including:

• Blind Spots: Virtualization causes security analysts to lose visibility into communication between          virtual machines (VMs) on the same host.
• Lack of Separation of Duties: Virtualization makes it easy to move VMs to any host or establish connectivity between any VMs on the same host. Misconfiguration or lack of policy enforcement makes it possible to combine VMs containing sensitive data with other VMs on the same host or bridge two different networks that should never communicate with one another.
• VM Sprawl: The transmission of VMs without adequate coordination or oversight can make it difficult to locate critical servers and determine their state of patching and configuration. Security risks become more tangible because a VM that is not properly tracked and managed may not have updated patches or proper configuration control, leading to vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit.

Endpoint Proliferation

With bring-your-own-device or BYOD on the rise, personal and professional devices for today’s workforces are converging. In a surveycompleted by IDC and Unisys, Unisys Consumerization of IT Benchmark Study, found that 95% of workers report that they use at least one self-purchased device (smartphones, personal laptops, tablets, and other devices) for work.  With minimal visibility into personal devices accessing the network and no control over the security practices in place, the potential for increased risk is inevitable.

Increased Resource Requirements

Endpoint proliferation means increased resources and increased access to networks that won’t interfere with the performance of mission critical, high-bandwidth applications. The need for these larger networks often requires significant human resources to manage and maintain. With all this additional traffic coming and going it is almost impossible to effectively monitor and track everything for threats.  If the traffic can’t be monitored effectively, then unseen threats can potentially penetrate the network.

Being aware and understanding potential security risks can allow IT architects to transform their data centers with confidence.  Reduce costs, go green, offer more services, and support more users and growing amounts of data safely and securely by staying informed and having the right solutions in place. Convergent Technologies Group can be your trusted adviser to ensure you are always going down the right technology tracks. Call us today for a free consultation and we will help you get started. 

Why Cloud-based Email Archiving?

An enormous amount of information is being exchanged today via email, and this volume of emails sent and received is only growing with time. Organizations not only need a system in place to safely store these messages, but also a way to efficiently monitor and retrieve ones that may contain sensitive and confidential data. Then inability to do so can result in serious legal and reputational threats to an organization, should sensitive and confidential data get through the cracks.

Email archiving solutions allow organizations to store, monitor, and collect information exchanged by their users, ensuring compliance with internal policies and government regulations. In addition to email, most archiving solutions can also archive and manage other types of data, including instant messaging, web-based emails, calendars, contacts and files. If you are currently using an email archiving solution or are looking into one, cloud-based email archiving is something you should certainly consider. Here are a few reasons why:

1. No large upfront costs- you can avoid making a significant upfront investment by outsourcing. A typical email archiving solution can run you upwards of $100,000.That kind of initial capital can be difficult for small and medium businesses to fork over.
2. Smaller onsite IT staff- Since you are outsourcing with a hosting provider, your in-house IT staff can focus on other important tasks.
3. Strong security features- Hosting services often provide better protection of your archived data versus on-premises storage. Typically, all archived data is stored encrypted and the storage facilities provide multiple backup features to ensure preservation in case of power failure and other emergencies.
4. Higher up-time- When the solution is hosted in the cloud, instances that require going off line due to power failures, hardware malfunctions, and other unpredictable circumstances are highly reduced. To ensure hosting providers avoid interference in service delivery they use a combination of failover technologies and backup power sources, which keep your archived data up and accessible.
5. Unlimited archives- On-premises based archiving solutions require organizations to continually purchase new hardware in order to accommodate the growing number of messages. Cloud based archiving on the other hand provide unlimited amount of data and bandwidth per use for a flat rate, predictable fee.
6. Ensured compliance- Cloud based archiving ensures that not only is data stored and easily retrievable, but that the latest in regulatory compliance needs for messaging services are met. This can dramatically reduce resources and overall risk of the organization.
7. Predictable on-going costs- Typically, hosting providers will charge you on a per user/per month basis for archiving your data. This will result in a predicable monthly fee and a more accurate calculation of total cost per year.

These are just a few of the reasons why organizations are making the switch to cloud based solutions. Archiving in the cloud offers unlimited, secure archiving at a predictable fee with no large upfront investments required. Not only is cloud based archiving a cost effective alternative to on premises storage, it is also much more secure and the continuity archive solutions provide is unmatched. 

Are you looking to make the switch to cloud based email archiving for your organization? We can help. Contact Convergent Technologies Group for your free consultation.