The point security product is doomed, to be replaced by the umbrella
coverage of an overriding security solution that protects not only the
network infrastructure, but data sources, PCs and everything in between.
At least, that's the future as foreseen by several of the major
hardware and software infrastructure vendors taking part in the annual
RSA Conference in San Francisco this week. Their vision, despite the
presence of literally hundreds of vendors selling single purpose
security products at the security industry's largest trade show,
appeals to both large enterprises dealing with hundreds of locations
and thousands of users and the small-market business (SMB), according
to vendor representatives.
The underlying problem, they said, is the all-too-obvious complexity of
existing security environments. Enterprises and SMBs are struggling
with how to deal with the issues associated with managing multiple
types of security systems.
Vendors hyping this view of the world at the show include
Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, IBM and consulting company Deloitte Touche.
They all seem to be in agreement that individual products can't begin
to cope with the problems facing enterprises today. In particular, data
loss protection requires a layered approach that only their integrated
suite of products can deliver, they said.
Cisco, for instance, said that because of the wide variety of places it
touches an enterprise it is a logical choice to manage multiple
security functions with its infrastructure products. The routers and
firewalls it sells are ideal junction points for managing a variety of
security problems, it contends.
Bob Gleichauf, a Cisco vice president and the chief technology officer
of its enterprise services and security group, like representatives
from HP, was in the umbrella camp, but only to a point. His take:
enterprises will actually support several security umbrellas spanning
multiple collaborative security domains, each managed by separate
vendors.
This collaborative security management environment will be driven by a
variety of standards, Gleichauf said. These include the OASIS
eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML), the Security Markup
Assertion Language (SAML), the eXtensible Markup Access Language (XML)
and the emerging Media Access Control Security (MACSec) standards –
802.1ae, 802.1af and 802.1ar.
Read the complete article by Jim Carr at SC Magazine.
