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Conficker, Cut Cables Show Digital World’s Fragility

In the last few days, a collection of events has spelled out how susceptible our data infrastructure really is. It all started with tales of the Conficker worm and has now come to a head with the reported sabotage of fiber-optic cables that blacked out much of Silicon Valley. Add to that the recent intrusions […]

Written By: Frank Ohlhorst

Apr 10, 2009

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In the last few days, a collection of events has spelled
out how susceptible our data infrastructure really is. It all started with
tales of the Conficker worm and has now come to a head with the reported
sabotage of fiber-optic cables that blacked out much of Silicon
Valley. Add to that the recent intrusions into the electrical
grid, spam-clogged communications and the growth of scareware-based fraud and
it becomes easy to see how vulnerable critical technology has become to
interruption.

While current security technology has
done much to protect critical data systems, it is clear that more is needed and
the combination of electrical grid intrusions and suspected sabotage in Silicon
Valley is sure to culminate in government intervention.

While some will wait for the government
to take action, most will realize that the time for action is now! But the big
question becomes what action to take and whom to turn to. Luckily, the answers
are surprisingly simple, at least when it comes to protecting your business
interests.

Click here to read more about the cut cables that caused a phone and Internet outage in Silicon Valley.

First off, businesses (and consumers)
need to invest in security technology that prevents malware from wreaking
havoc—luckily there are dozens of vendors in the market that make that simple.
But installing the latest anti-virus product isn’t going to be enough to
protect systems. Users will need to consider incorporating anti-fraud
technologies that include spam filtering, DLP
(data leakage protection), content filtering and encryption.

Content and spam filtering can go a long
way in preventing malware infestations in the first place, while DLP
can prevent personal or business information from being leaked out to
characters unknown. Encryption of critical files goes one step further by
protecting any data that may be leaked out.

The concept here is not new; it’s called
a layered approach to protecting data, and has been employed by large
businesses for some time. Even so, many small businesses and individual users
are unaware of the advantages offered by a layered approach and have resisted
investing in additional security technologies. For resellers, that means an
opportunity to assemble security technology into packages to meet those customer
needs. Those packages can consist of software-only solutions, or a combination
of inexpensive security appliances and software to provide protection.

Yet, the most important element here is
knowledge—users need to know that they are proactively protected from malware,
intrusions, malicious Websites, data leakage and fraud. Users should expect no
less from a security solution and those reselling the technology.

Conficker, Cut Cables Show Digital World’s Fragility

Frank Ohlhorst

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