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Archive for the ‘Data Storage Security’ Category

Need DLP? How Does 80% Off Sound?

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

If you know anything about Zecurion, you know we are passionate about helping our customers protect their information and prevent data leaks. We work hard to help businesses understand that a data breach is much more costly than investing in data leak prevention and data protection tools.

At the same time, we appreciate that these are tough economic times and that many businesses simply don’t have the budget available to protect their data. We understand that the global economy is in a slump and that many IT departments are faced with dwindling budgets and forced to cut corners. We also recognize that protecting data and preventing information leaks are a top priority, and should not be overlooked to save a dollar.

Taking proactive steps to safeguard data and prevent leaks or exposure is significantly cheaper than facing the fallout when a data breach occurs. A data breach incident does irreparable harm to the reputation of the company, and may have legal and regulatory consequences as well.

To help our customers out, we are offering the Zecurion Economic Stimulus Plan for Data Protection for a limited time. Now through the end of 2011, customers who purchase a one-year support plan for a product will receive the product license free—an 80 percent savings.

With this Zecurion offer, organizations can do the right thing, and save 80% in the process. Companies can take advantage of this offer for any of Zecurion’s data protection solutions:

Zlock – an endpoint security DLP solution that provides IT admins the ability to secure, monitor, and control computer ports and external devices to enforce data security policies and prevent exposure of sensitive data.

Zgate – a network perimeter DLP solution that monitors all outbound traffic to ensure that confidential or sensitive data don’t get leaked across your network.

Zserver – secures and protects confidential information at the processing and storage level on corporate servers.

Contact Zecurion today to take advantage of this limited-time offer.

Zecurion Wins 2011 Golden Bridge Awards in Two Categories

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire – Aug 16, 2011) – Zecurion has earned the prestigious Golden Bridge Awards titles for its Zlock and Zgate DLP (data loss prevention) products. The coveted annual Golden Bridge Awards program encompasses the world’s best in organizational performance, products and services, executives and management teams, women in business and the professions, innovations, case studies, product management, public relations and marketing campaigns and customer satisfaction programs from every major industry in the world.

Zgate 3.0 was recognized as the most innovative product in the Information Leak Prevention category, and Zlock 3.0 was awarded most innovative product in the Data Protection category. Zgate and Zlock are a formidable combination designed to keep sensitive information from being leaked, exposed, or compromised.

More than 40 judges from a broad spectrum of industry voices from around the world participated and their average scores determined the 2011 Golden Bridge Business Awards winners. The winners were announced during the awards dinner and presentation on August 10, 2011 in New York attended by the finalists, industry leaders, and judges.

“It’s an honor to be named a winner by Golden Bridge Awards for this esteemed industry and peer business award,” said Alexey Raevsky, founder and CEO of Zecurion. “These awards are a testament to Zecurion’s innovative approach and commitment to helping customers protect data and prevent information leaks without impeding productivity.”

For more information, click here to see the full press release.

12 Reasons You Should Be Using Zserver Suite

Monday, August 1st, 2011

Even the best network security is not impenetrable, and despite your best efforts attackers may one day infiltrate your organization. However, just because attackers make it past the perimeter defenses shouldn’t mean they have free access to sensitive information. That data should be properly protected even on the internal network.

Zserver Storage not only prevents leakage of confidential corporate data, but actually hides the data’s existence from unauthorized access and personnel. The information is available only when a network administrator grants a user or application proper access rights to the protected data. Zserver Storage functions transparently for both network administrators and end users with the encryption of data performed in real-time as a background process.

To learn more about Zserver Suite, and why you should be using it to protect your sensitive data, read 12 Reasons Why Zserver Suite Is the Ultimate Data Protection.

True Statement–In Spite of the Source

Sunday, July 31st, 2011

Great advice is great advice no matter where it comes from, right?

A splinter or subgroup of the hacking collective known as Anonymous has hacked personal data of 214,000 Austrian television viewers and radio listeners. The group issued a statement explaining that it did not hack the data with the intent of doing harm to the individuals. It just wanted to demonstrate that the broadcaster had lax security and was not adequately protecting the data.

‘Such sensitive data must not be stored over many years and must not be so easily available to everyone,’ the group said.

They have a point.

Protecting Your Data Is Easier with Zlock 3.0

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

With Zlock 3.0, Zecurion has added a variety of features that make it easier to deploy on remote machines. Zlock 3.0 lets IT admins monitor the installation process on remote PCs, and enables the installation process to be halted and resumed–even picking up where it left off in the event of a power outage. Zecurion has also added separate authentication for Zecurion Users for authentication in environments where the Active Directory is not available.

Zlock is an endpoint security DLP solution that provides IT admins the ability to secure, monitor, and control computer ports and external devices to enforce data security policies and prevent exposure of sensitive data. Zlock guards against internal data leaks that occur when confidential data is printed, or copied onto unauthorized portable storage devices through unmanaged USB, LPT, Serial, Firewire, or other ports.

Zecurion recognizes that there are legitimate reasons to print and copy data, though, and those solutions that simply disable or block ports impact productivity and the ability of workers to get the job done. Zlock gives IT admins the flexibility to implement policies at a group, user, or device level, or even to limit data activity to designated times or specific devices. Visitors can be granted one-time usage rights that expire when the device is disconnected from the PC.

“The main target of the new Zlock version was increasing of scalability and ease of use across the enterprise,” says Alexey Raevsky, founder and CEO of Zecurion. “That’s why we implemented not only Zlock Enterprise Management Server, but also added support of Oracle Database as an archive for logs and shadow copies and many other features that will make Zlock deployment and management easy and pleasant.”

Click here to learn more about the latest release of Zlock.

Prevent Network Data Leaks with Zgate

Sunday, July 10th, 2011

Your private and confidential data faces a real and growing danger of being leaked and exposed to the general public. Email, webmail, social networking, instant messaging, and other online channels provide ample opportunity for sensitive information to be compromised–whether intentionally or through honest error.

You need a gatekeeper–a tool that can monitor all of the various outbound network traffic and online communications to identify sensitive information and prevent it from leaving the network. Zgate is the tool you need, and an important part of Zecurion’s DLP (data loss prevention) solution.

With Zgate, data leaks are almost impossible. Zgate uses hybrid content analysis–combining digital fingerprints, Bayesian methods, and heuristic detection–to filter outbound traffic and detect confidential data with unmatched precision. Emails, social network posts, and other network communications with Social Security numbers, birth dates, and other sensitive information are detected to prevent it from leaving the network and being exposed.

Zgate also archives outbound data, providing you an opportunity for retrospective or forensic analysis. Zgate archives can help you understand which users are sending out sensitive data, what sensitive information is being shared or exposed, and where that data is heading. The Zgate archives can help you fine tune your data protection policies to prevent exposure of sensitive data.

The best part about Zgate is that it is the most cost-effective DLP solution when it comes to initial investment and deployment costs. Zgate offers a DLP solution that is easy to administer and maintain, at a price point that is within reach of even small and medium businesses that typically consider it too complex and expensive. For less than one percent of the costs incurred from an average data breach , your data can be automatically and completely protected.

Zgate is more than just a DLP product–it is cost-effective peace of mind enabling you to sleep soundly knowing that your sensitive data is safe.

Texas Making Data Breach Headlines Once Again

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Just a couple months after the Texas State Comptroller’s office disclosed that it had exposed sensitive data on some 3.5 million residents, Texas is making data breach headlines again–albeit on a much smaller scale. A blog post from Austin’s KUTNews site explains, “As many as 4,900 current and former employees of the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) may have had their personal information exposed in the latest data security breach involving state workers.”

Citing concern over interfering with the ongoing investigation by law enforcement, and not wanting to further compromise any data, the Texas agency is not yet sharing any details about how the breach may hve occurred, or–more importantly–what data has been exposed. From the perspective of the affected individual, there is a big difference between exposing only a name and address, or exposing more sensitive details like drivers license, Social Security, credit card data and such.

Given the relative ease with which hacking collectives like Anonymous and LulzSec are breaching networks and taking down Web servers, organizations of all sizes need to take a close look at their network security and data protection, and make sure it is locked down as tight as it can be. Employing tools to prevent sensitive data from being saved or transported on portable storage devices, or monitoring outbound network communications to ensure sensitive data doesn’t leave the network are crucial elements that organizations should employ to protect data.

The Hackers Are Making It Look Too Easy

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

When Anonymous took on the forces opposing Wikileaks, it had a sort of “Robin Hood-esque”, fighting for the underdog feel to it.

When Epsilon, and RSA Security were breached it was easy to write the attacks off as random, standalone occurrences.

When Sony got attacked–repeatedly–it was again easy to dismiss it as hacktivism.

Things have gotten out of hand. Between LulzSec and Anonymous, sites are being breached on a virtually daily basis. These hacking collectives seem to operate with relative impunity and make breaking into networks and servers look like stealing candy from a baby.

While it easy to condemn the actions of these groups, the ease with which they are hacking networks begs the question of whether or not there is more that organizations can or should be doing to secure their networks and lock down their data. There is no such thing as an impenetrable network. Given enough time, skill, and resources, attackers can find a way into any network. But, these attacks don’t seem to be taking the kind of time, skill, or resources that should be required for networks and data that are properly protected.

I do not condone the actions of the hacking collectives, but I do think they deserve some credit for poignantly demonstrating on a daily basis just how frail most network defenses and data security measures are.

If Bad Guys Steal Your Key, It’s Time to Change the Lock

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Earlier this year the network at RSA Security was breached and information related to SecurID authentication tokens was compromised. Since then, security experts have been waiting to see what the fallout would be, and now we know.

Lockheed-Martin revealed that its networks were targeted by attackers. The defense contractor has not specifically stated that the compromised RSA SecurID tokens were a factor, but clues support that conclusion. Thankfully, Lockheed-Martin was able to very quickly detect and identify the attack, and take swift action to protect data so that no sensitive information was compromised.

The situation basically amounts to knowing that a thief stole the keys to your house, but then not bothering to change the locks and hoping nothing will happen. In this analogy, Lockheed-Martin apparently had some well-trained attack dogs on the other side of the door to prevent intrusion. But, many companies of all sizes rely on RSA SecurID tokens, and not all of them have the security skills or resources of Lockheed-Martin.

Don’t just sit with your fingers crossed hoping the bad guys won’t show up. Change the locks. Make sure that the compromised RSA SecurID tokens can not be used to gain access to your network, and make sure you have tools in place to detect suspicious activity and prevent sensitive information from leaving the network.

Sony Still Under Seige from Hackers

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

Wow. Sony really pissed somebody off. It seems like every day there is news of another Sony network falling victim to attack.

Just in the past couple days one attack yielded 2,000 customer records, while another exposed 8,500 customer accounts. Of course, those are pocket change compared with the estimated 77 million accounts exposed by the hack of the Sony Playstation Network.

What is the lesson here, though. Is it that Sony pissed off the wrong hackers and other companies should try to stay more low profile so they don’t invite a similar wrath? Or, is it that Sony should have better network and data security so that hackers can’t just waltz in and take sensitive data?

I am going to suggest it is somewhere in the middle. Obviously, it is best not to poke the proverbial hornets’ nest, but you can’t let the possibility of offending cyber criminals dictate how you conduct business. That said, it seems equally obvious that Sony’s network defense and data protection is trivial for hackers to circumvent.

I think there is some danger for other organizations in assuming that the problem stems purely from Sony making enemies of the hackers in question–as if, had Sony not done that the data would be safe. Don’t assume that just because your network is not under seige like Sony, that it is impervious, or that your data couldn’t suffer a similar fate.

On the contrary, use this as a learning expeirence. To the extent you can–given whatever details Sony might reveal–assume that your network or data were under a similar attack and try to predict what would happen. Perhaps you can gain some valuable knowledge from the experience and put it to good use before your data gets exposed as well.