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The article offers information about disk drives and bandwidth as trends that brought changes to backup technology in the U.S. Disk drives had higher storage capacity compared with other data storage, where it is capable to keep a gigabyte of data on disk once cost about 10 times as much as storing the same data near-line in a tape library. These technologies were also found to be capable of backing data as fast as the media server can deliver within the limits of the connective fabrics. Furthermore, several disadvantages on the adoption of these technologies were assessed like the rapid decline on disk prices and increasing problem of data security. INSET: BACKUP TECHNOLOGIES PAST.

The article provides an in-depth look at identity management (idM) tools and technologies. It offers views from information technology (IT) managers on how to evaluate the worth, the risks, and the challenges of idM. Data security manager Dan Ayala states that idM is the coordination of business, human resources, and IT. The article emphasizes that the key to idM is fostering partnerships across the industry and remaining open to new innovations. The benefits of effective idM are elaborated in the article.

The article presents information on the effectiveness of the computer security virtual appliance, VirtualShield, from Blue Lane Technologies Inc. VirtualShield is said to remove malicious content from network traffic before it reaches one's server. The company calls this technique inline patching. New vulnerabilities are guarded by this technique, which also lets IT safely run legacy applications for which patches may no longer be issued. VirtualShield is reported to be innovative and well-executed with the core functionality working as advertised. The risk of VirtualShield is that it doesn't protect virtual servers from one another on the same VMware host.

The article reflects on the May 2007 network access control survey of "Network Computing." The survey included 26 categories for an industry breakdown, among the largest was education at 15 percent. Thirty-six percent of the respondents were in IT management, 25 percent IT staff and 25 percent C-level executives, with the rest independent consultants or in other positions. It also states that respondents are in companies of all sizes, with 22 percent representing organizations with less than 50 employees and 19 percent at least 10,000. INSETS: ABOUT THIS SURVEY.;FOUR FOR FIGHTING..

The article presents information on the management of encryption to protect access to data. According to the author, Enterprise Key Management (EKM) suite should be adopted by business enterprises for data security. The author believes that EKM suite may be effective only after accomplishing hardware that can defend against side-channel attacks against cryptographic implementations. The author says that EKM suite should know how to turn human-language data-security standards into technical policies for each encryption mechanism. INSETS: GOING THE ALL-MICROSOFT ROUTE;GOOD CRYPTO, BAD CRYPTO.

The article offers information about data de-duplication technology from Microsoft Corp. It is stated that it lets you store more backup data on a given set of disks. It could also extend the period of keeping disk backups and reduce data center power and cooling costs. It is determined that de-duplication improves the backup process within the data center by reducing disk requirements and it provides the best solution yet to the always problematic remote office back up. However, there are some risks in using de-duplication. These include implementation of a new backup system that could cause minor disruption. INSET: DON'T FEAR COLLISIONS.

The article discusses how to have computer network security against computer viruses, malware, spyware, and instant message (IM) spams. To help prevent these threats, users must bring filtering, auditing, access control, and malware blocking software to public IM networks through a dedicated security appliance. These devices work by acting as IM proxy servers, applying policy rules to each IM conversation, logging all transactions, blocking unauthorized IM systems on a global or per-user basis, and scanning content for viruses and spyware.

The article discusses the assessment on the Windows Longhorn Server. It is a ground-up redesign of the Windows kernel and it offers significant security improvements in the areas of setup and configuration, operating system (OS), modularity and client health detection, enhanced firewall and new Internet protocol (IP) stack. It was observed the tasks were running, the server cannot be accessed through the network. It incorporates, Network Access Protection (NAP) technology to provide added security for remote-access connections. However, the NAP requires changes to existing desktops. Taking full advantage of this server will mean, upgrade to existing eXtremeProgramming (XP) installations. INSETS: LONGHORN: UP AND RUNNING;MICROSOFT NAP ARCHITECTURE SUMMARY.

The article discusses the incorporation of multiple computer software and hardware to build security policies in database protection. Built-in access control can generate logs that tell who is the user, however, it is programmatic, rights-oriented and sometimes subject to tamper. Web application that uses database login can find all known and unknown locations of data and can monitor for anomalies. The procedure is also powerful in keeping critical data in the hands of legitimate users. Placing the appliance that watches network protocols makes it difficult for malicious insiders to cover tracks and tamper log files.

The article discusses the implementation of business strategies for data protection without choking business processes. Data protection can be done through prevention of unauthorized access or use of information in databases, prevention of information from leaving through common channels and security for laptops and removable media. Business enterprises are suggested to review their business processes to understand risks for data exposure and loss that might exist. Companies must understand that the protection strategies they employ will meet regulatory and industry requirements.

The article discusses the methods of protecting computer data and allowing only authorized users to have access. It included encryption of selected areas like credit card information in the database. It could affect the database's speed performance, however, modern encryption and decryption technologies have improved. Another method is setting up databases on a subnet or virtual land area network (VLAN), providing connections with those on the same VLAN. A network intrusion-prevention system could be also applied to detect malicious flows before it can gain entry into a network.

The article focuses on the significance of merging the physical and logical access control, which increases the U.S. spending, across both the public and private sectors, according to the projection by Forrester Research. Although $ 691 million in 2005 to more than $ 7 billion in 2008, it is still considered not a huge number, but a large-scale U.S. government program called HSPD-12 suggests healthy growth will continue. Moreover, melding business processes with IT functions is an ongoing struggle, compounded by the addition of the facilities security group, which means to converge physical and logical access-control systems. Thus, it is suggested that organizations interested in convergence benefits should put applicability analyses on their road maps and adjust technology investments. INSET: DEFINING 'CONVERGENCE'.

The article reports that the Ulster Savings Bank has turned to network-access control (NAC) to protect its internal network and comply with the U.S. Federal Reserve security rules. Jim Hochstatter, the company's vice president of technology, has interpreted Federal Reserve security rules, and he felt a static Internet protocol environment was the best direction to go to help securely manage end points. The NAC deployment ensures that only authorized devices connect to the internal network and enforces security policies on those devices.

The article discusses the features and safety usage of a wide range of computer application programs including blogs, wikis, and podcasts. With the progressive growth of information technology (IT), it reminds of how personal digital assistants and instant messaging came into the business. It claims that the success of any new media initiative is dependent upon the building communities of producers and consumers. In a reader poll, several respondents said they have personal blogs. However, a weak blog can be easily syndicated, thus protecting confidential data is needed. It likewise added that IT departments must educate blog and wiki users about security issues. INSETS: YES, WE EAT OUR OWN DOG FOOD;READERSPEAK: NEW MEDIA;THE TOOLKIT;WHO ARE YOU?

The article focuses on identity theft in businesses and consumers in the U.S. and the ways on how to protect a user's data, staff and business. According to the Javelin 2006 Identity Fraud Report, the theft has caused users $56.6 billion in 2005. The challenge in protecting sensitive information is that most organizations do not know the precise number of data in their systems, how many copies of a given piece of data exist, who is using the data, what they are doing with it, even whether their users are authorized. The Federal Trade Commissions reached a settlement with ChoicePoint Inc., which allegedly allowed identity thieves to gain access to files of 160,000 consumers. The author suggests that a reinstall and restore can fix an infected system and nothing can retract lost data once it is in the wild. INSET: PROTECT DATA BY PROTECTING APPS.

The article evaluates five managed security service providers (MSSP) to defend NWC Inc., a fictional widget maker, from the threat of Web site defacement, computer viruses, and Dos attacks. It provides information about the service levels, technical support, security practices, and the environmental factors in the systems of the five MSSP. The use of an MSSP means giving up direct control over NWC Inc.'s security infrastructure devices. The author also discusses the benefits of engaging outsourcing security for business.

The article discusses the use of enterprise rights management (ERM) in protecting digital information throughout the data's life. The policies, encoding and agreements covered by rights management in governing the lifecycle of digital rights are offered. The use of encryption in controlling data, the risks in rights management, and the importance of ERM in policy management, enforcement and compliance controls are also discussed.

The article reports on the development of security information management (SIM) products which are designed to help organizations cope with the increasing number of threats against enterprise data. Critical shifts which have occurred in the previous years highlight the importance of SIM initiatives and log management. Organizations are advised to implement an advanced log-management strategy, where copies of log entries are transmitted to another system or location. Companies defining SIM requirements also have to be realistic about their operational capabilities when determining how much focus should be placed on user interface, real-time feature sets and incident handling.

The article reports that the information technology sector is forced to defend the increasingly tangled environment of the Internet from security threats as enterprises move applications from the desktop to the Web in the United States. Concerns have been raised regarding the security of an Internet environment created from a combination of externally and internally developed applications with frequently changing codes. The nature and types of security threats against Web servers are also cited.

The article discusses the disaster recovery (DR) planning strategies of DR service providers in the U.S. which include EVault Inc., MessageOne and Pro-Softnet. The DR providers elaborate on how businesses could easily resume their corporate headquarters in times of risky situations. Each dealt the problem in varied ways which provide a swath of available services and tough illustrations in projecting to solve the given task. It was noted that MessageOne will keep constant customer-employees communication while Pro-Softnet provides a complete data-center replication and business continuity services. In as much, the offerings of Pro-Softnet is the most appealing among the service providers for it can act as a redundant data center in times of crisis. INSETS: RFI SCENARIO.;A SEMI SOLUTION..

The article discusses the possible outcome in the event of data center failure as viewed by most information technology managers in the U.S. Disaster recovery has been given emphasis in this information age wherein the top most concern is the possible disappearance of sales. Long before, companies kept redundant data centers, but in the late of 1990's corporate boards have come to realize that avoiding risk is not worth the investment and thus begun rejecting redundancies. Companies are confident that stored data without backup infrastructure are practical enough. INSETS: DISASTER RECOVERY.;DIY RECOVERY..

The article tests eight products that promise to keep business data safe from server crashes. It describes the key features of Symatec Backup Exec 10d for Windows Servers, TimeSpring Software TimeData 2.1, FilesX Xpress Restore, Xosoft WANSynchHA, Enterprise Rewinder, Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2006, LiveVault InControl, and the IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files 2.1.

The article discusses the importance of continuous data protection. It suggests that restoring from backups that are 12 to 48 hours old would not get a company back in the game. The article discusses the integration of continuous data protection in the information technology strategy of a company. The key factors to consider when designing a data-protection plan are discussed.

The article focuses on WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) that gives wireless networks both confidentiality and data integrity. It discusses the key features and benefits offered by WPA2. The article also discusses how combining WPA2 with the IEEE 802.1X port-based authentication protocol for access control can eliminate most security problems.

The article provides information pertaining to intrusion-detection systems. It discusses the ability of intrusion-detection systems to detect possible threats to computer networks but can't do anything about them on its own. It details the installation of IDS Policy Manager and the Honeynet Security Console from Activeworx on the Windows machine that will act as the management and analysis platform. The article also discusses the use of IDS for incident analysis and forensics investigation.

The article focuses on Kansas City, Kansas-based VSR Financial Services, a midsize securities firm. The company needs secure and always available data to serve its clients an expensive and work-intensive operation. Earlier, to fulfill its need, the company bought servers with lots of disk space, moved data between systems as access demands changed, and added disk drives as needed. But after some time, it decided to trade up to a storage area network to cost-effectively allocate storage and add capacity. Kevin Johannesen, assistant vice president and senior system administrator of the company, chose the EMC Clariion CX 300 networked storage system for its pay-as-you-grow pricing strategy. The company paid $72,000 for the CX 300, along with 800-GB SCSI and 1.2-TB Serial ATA, and $22,000 for the AX 100 with Legato RepliStor data protection and recovery software. According to Johannesen, the results of the new installation have been impressive. The new setup has also cut the company's cost for new servers effectively.

This article reports that the 2006 Winter Olympic Games IT security team is preparing to launch an enhanced network alarm-monitoring strategy when the games begin in February 2006 in Torino, Italy. The team has defined a way to filter network event alarms using more detailed and specific parameters. The new strategy will allow the team to focus its security efforts on actual threats at the Winter Games. During its first experience of the 2004 Summer Olympics IT team in Athens, Greece, the team concluded that the real threat was within the network, not outside. The perceived attackers were mostly authorized users unplugging the Olympics workstations and replacing them with their own laptops. The team's main concern is filtering through these benign threats to focus on attackers attempting to sabotage competition results and other sensitive information. Streamlining and improving alarm quality will help the IT security team more efficiently deploy its manpower at the Games. The 2006 Winter Games network consists of virtual LANs, wireless LANs and Cisco switches and routers. INSET: The Hard Sell: AN OLYMPAIN EFFORT TO WEIGH RISK AND COST..

The article presents a comparison of two data tape-encryption products including NeoScale Systems' CryptoStor Tape FC704 and Kasten Chase's Assurency SecureData host-based encryption system and offers information about their features. INSET: HOW WE TESTED TAPE ENCRYPTION..

The article focuses on the issue of outsourcing in the Information Technology (IT) industry. Some infosec professionals will argue against outsourcing, insisting that security should be a core competency. Yet for many firms, security is anything but. And regardless of company size, the IT landscape is changing too rapidly to go without a dedicated security resource. Make sure your hired guns are prepared to create and maintain detailed documentation on what they're doing. The key to deciding whether outsourcing security is right for your business is to understand both the risks and the benefits. Security can be effectively outsourced if done properly and with due diligence. Many businesses outsource the support and maintenance of perimeter security, such as the firewalls that exist between the internal company network and the Internet. With some homework and a solid plan, a shrewd manager can keep the network secure without worrying about another new employee-orientation day-and save money in the process. INSETS: MANAGED SECURITY SERVICES;AFFORDABLE IT TIPS.

This article focuses on the popularity of distributed wireless security monitoring. Unlike wired intrusion detection systems, where one can put a wired probe on each network segment and Internet uplink and depend on a well-defined signature set to find the bad guys, wireless security monitoring requires time-sliced behavior. Time-sliced because a wireless sensor or probe can listen to only one channel at a time, which means that if the sensor is set to scan 14 channels in the 2.4-GHz range, it will see only one-fourteenth of the wireless activity at any one time. A single snapshot of wireless traffic might be symptomatic of any number of attacks, which longer-term monitoring will identify. A recent review of enterprise WLAN vendors demonstrated that though some enterprise players, including Airespace and Aruba, have enhanced their offerings' security functionality in the past year, they don't offer the breadth of features found in point-specific products. Distributed WLAN monitoring systems are WAN-optimized for geographical and distributed operation and provide, at minimum, wireside and wireless rogue-device detection, intrusion detection, RF interference detection, user and group traffic monitoring, and performance monitoring in the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz ranges. INSETS: DOCTRINE OF CONTAINMENT.;GET HIP TO FIPS 140-2..

This article focuses on apprehensions of enterprise wireless holdouts for Wi-Fi. Even so, with the exception of ultrahigh-security installations, it's better to embrace WLANs than to fight them. Prohibiting Wi-Fi in an organization would require a bulletproof enforcement policy and monitoring tools to protect against rogue deployments. Gartner projects enterprise WLAN spending to hit $1.6 billion by 2009, assuming a compound annual growth rate of 12 percent from 2004 to that time. A properly engineered Wi-Fi security system can not only provide robust security for wireless users, it can also act as a platform to better secure wired network segments that have, for too long, relied on nothing more than physical security to combat abuse. Like any enterprise-class security system, an effective wireless security strategy must be multi-layered. Messages transported across wireless links must be protected by strong encryption. Even the most careful IT manager must accept that, for some wireless threats, there's no defense.

The article focuses on the Web service protection from attack. As Web services become more pervasive, attackers are taking aim. Forum Vulcon, a subscription service offering notification of XML vulnerabilities using a Web services interface, is tracking more than 100 vulnerabilities. Because XML is a self-defining format, parser and content-based vulnerabilities are ever evolving and nearly impossible to predict. Therefore, a well-rounded XML security device not only must act as a firewall in the conventional sense-granting or denying access based primarily on Layer 4 information, such as IP address and port-it also must secure back-end services against threats specific to XML and against Web and database servers. Forum Systems cited scheduling conflicts, while Digital Evolution and Vordel both said they don't consider their products firewalls. Although most conventional firewalls can provide user-based authentication and authorization to services, they are rarely set up to do so, rather, these products control generalized access to services, and their packet-processing mechanisms are not data-aware. INSETS: XML FIREWALLS.;THE NAME GAME..

This article recommends antivirus solutions for information technology professionals. The solution lies in an assortment of tactics, technology and some long-term shifts. There is no shortage of technology to address the problem. There are lots of security product vendors touting their antimalware products. The conventional antivirus vendors include Bitdefender, Computer Associates and Eset. The adoption of the concept of mandatory access control outside of government and research circles is rare. It is often referred to as the opposite of discretionary access control, the method most mainstream computing environments are built. The most important technical step is that organizations must take a hard look at how they tackle their operating system and application permission challenges. When users have unnecessarily heightened permissions, they can log in as administrators. If applications are assigned higher permissions, they can run with unrestricted file access and services that are not always required. This stymies desktop-management teams trying to maintain controlled environments without restricting users and applications. Smart information technology teams will look to harden their applications and apply the concepts of least privilege to their desktop deployments. INSETS: DESKTOP DEFENSE;THE PROMISE OF MAC;PATCH THOSE APPS!.

This article looks at trends toward network security and protection in 2005. Security has become so critical to enterprise networking that it is developing along several different lines simultaneously. Like many migrations, these are spurred by outside forces ranging from increasingly active malware writers to regulatory pressure from industry-specific rules. Functions are migrating from passive to active. Controls are migrating from the individual, with each scrutiny function operating as an island, to the centralized, with access control and policy-enforcement frameworks linked to one another and to the remainder of the network infrastructure. As the concept of network perimeter loses its meaning, the most important method information that information (IT) technology organizations can use to safe- guard their network in 2005 is multilayer protection. Regardless of the specific piece of network protection taking most of IT organizations' attention in 2005, they should plan for it to be one of many layers of security, rather than a global network-protection cure-all. The good news is that most of these developments encourage the network to take a more active role in its own defense, while giving the administrator, more centralized control, more finely calibrated responses, and more information about what is going on with attacks and reactions. INSETS: Companies To Watch;Quiz.

The article offers some filtering mechanisms that can prevent spam messages. The only way to eliminate the costs is to eliminate spam. You can accomplish this typically by implementing one or more e-mail filters. Many options exist, though not all are viable for every organization or user. edge, while others require end-user manipulation. Broad-based edge filters provide the biggest savings, in that they are designed to keep junk mail from ever being received by your server. On the other hand, a customized user-based filter that examines each message in context can keep mailboxes remarkably clean with a small amount of false positives, but it uses the most system resources and causes the greatest productivity losses because it needs more administration. The best approach is to mix and match mechanisms. Edge filters reject obvious junk mail, while filters inside the messaging network act on user requirements. Layered installations can be fine-tuned to reduce false positives, while the elimination of obvious spam at the edge means fewer resources are needed to process the reduced number of messages inside. Filters use weights to void e-mail, so you need to examine how the weights are assigned. In simple terms, probability scores are useful whenever two or more tests must be triggered before a message can be reliably rejected. INSETS: Canning Spam;Planning for Throughput.

The article discusses the advantages of enterprise information integration (EII). From an information technology perspective, the application development, deployment of client-connectivity tools and increase in network traffic are major stumbling blocks when it comes to giving business users the powerful productivity boost that is ubiquitous, real-time data access. In addition, network traffic can he greatly reduced on local segments by the introduction of EII because large data sets are distilled to only the desired information on the server rather than on the client. A side benefit of EII is its role in regulatory compliance and data security. Sarbanes-Oxley, for example, has fascinating impacts on data access within the organization in certain situations. EII is a natural fit as both a tactical and strategic solution to such compliance woes. Because EII platforms typically are deployed in a gateway scenario, they stand between the user and the data like a medieval gargoyle, guarding and protecting the treasures hidden in various vaults within the data-center dungeon. In addition to basic logging and access control, some EII products can add security mechanisms, such as column- or row-level security that may not be supported directly by the vendor. INSET: ENTERPRISE INFORMATION INTEGRATION.

The scope of managing remote sites is all-encompassing and must systematically address almost all the functional IT areas. Remote support is complex and unique to infrastructure and systems. There are several steps to promote remote-support success. First, formulate and follow a road map detailing corporate system migrations, obsolescence and enhancements. Implement corporate standards. Remember that hidden costs will be directly inverse to the level of efficiency and standardization built into systems and infrastructures. Document, distribute, communicative and adhere to policies and procedures. Include remote site-support reviews in every IT decision. It is also important to communicate. The decision made in many areas determine how smoothly remote branches can be managed. Weave security and data protection into all aspects of planning. Plan for the high-profile costs of communications and staff. These must be planned up front, with detailed analysis and design considerations. Review geographic location with vendors and suppliers to determine available technologies and resources. Remote-site implementation must be well-thought-out. Take time to gather requirements and usage statistics from current systems and infrastructure. INSET: BRANCH-OFFICE MANAGEMENT.

This article reports that the University of Tennessee in Knoxville is set to begin using the emerging 802.1x wireless authentication and encryption standard, as of April 2004. The university will split the wireless local area network into a secure wireless segment and a gateway-controlled one for users with wireless devices that do not support 802.1x. It will not use digital certificates because it does not want to deal with encryption keys. The university will use Tunneled Transport Layer Security to authenticate the servers. The wireless local area network spans all 130 campus buildings and supports about 2,000 students, faculty and staff daily. More than 8,000 users are registered on the 802.11b network. Wireless users generally do not connect at the full data-transfer rate because the connections are shared and performance dissipates as users move farther away from access points. Wireless security breaches at the university have been similar to those on most campuses, a rogue wireless access point smuggled into a dorm, or an occasional war driver cruising campus. One popular method of hijacking the airwaves of the university is to tap into a wireless local area network leak from one of the university's buildings using a powerful antenna. INSETS: The Hard Sell;Philippe Hanset.

This article explores the subject of information security from an economic angle to help information security managers build their business credibility by demonstrating how the rules and measurements of financial economics affect information security budgets and investments. When it comes to recognizing the benefits of mixing firewalls with financial forecasts, the economists have taken the lead. There has been a growing stream of work by financial economists who apply capital budgeting and investment theory to business information security investments. Return on investment can not be applied perfectly to information security because often the return on information security purchases and deployments is intangible. Companies invest in some solutions that offer benefits beyond security and they can calculate the return on investment of indirect benefits. Computer security requires factoring in the expectation of loss. Statistically, some losses are expensive but unlikely to occur in any given year, so the expectation of loss over a period of years has to include years in which there is no loss. The accounting-based notion of return on investment does not take into account the economic theory, the time value of money.

This article evaluates several patch management products, such as the Patch Manager 3.0 from Ecora, Patch Manager 4.0 from BigFix, PatchLink Update 5.0, St. Bernard UpdateExpert 6.1 and Gravity Storm Service Pack Manager 2000. To be eligible for testing, the products had to be able to deploy patches for Windows platforms and cost less than $50,000 for 1,000 workstations and 20 servers. The user interface of Patch Manager has a few quirks that kept it from taking first in the management category. The icons in the user interface indicate whether a patch has been successfully deployed or is needed. An interesting feature of BigFix Patch Manager is the ability to use retrieved properties for systems. Its deployment strategy has some advanced features that push it near to the top. Bandwidth management is handled through what it calls Temporal Distribution and the use of Relay Agents. PatchLink Update is still one of the more well-rounded entries. It is the only product that can patch a dizzying array of non-Microsoft operating systems. UpdateExpert is unique among the products reviewed in that it supports agent and agentless models. Its intuitive interface and solid bandwidth management features help ensure that patch installations would not clog networks. INSETS: HOW WE TESTED PATCH MANAGEMENT;MICROSOFT'S EVOLVING ROLE;PATCH MANAGER-DM INTERSECTION?.

This article discusses the importance of patch management, asset identification and management to mitigating computer operational risks, but only if information technology and security teams get their acts together. A single patch can render a transaction server worthless, down a cluster of mission-critical applications or muck up an embedded control system on a factory floor. However, not patching can be equally as crippling because it is only a matter of time before a system gets hit. On Microsoft platforms, there were 51 advisories released in 2003, and the frequency got as high as several critical flaws per week. To make matters worse, the interval between a vulnerability's discovery and the creation of exploit code is shrinking, narrowing the wiggle room organizations have to get their patching done. Microsoft is not the sole offender, members of the vulnerability research community continue to discover devastating software flaws in Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, Linux and other mainstream platforms. The entire software industry faces some serious challenges. Beyond frequency, companies wrestle with operational difficulties. For starters, system administrators struggle with the testing requirements of new patches. INSETS: PATCH MANAGEMENT;ROI: THE FISCAL CONSIDERATIONS.

Discusses the obstacles confronting Darwin's Groceries to develop a data-protection strategy. Development of a request for proposal with a data-protection setup for the retailer; Management of physical distance between original data and protected copies in the strategy; Categories of data-replication approaches. INSETS: RFP SCENARIO: DARWIN'S GROCERIES;VITAL STATS;REPLICATION AT YOUR SERVICE;TACIT'S APPROACH? WE APPROVE

Presents guidelines for coping up with data-protection strategy in an unplanned interruption. Basis for physical infrastructure protection and recovery strategies; Portability of removable media; Significance of disk-to-disk replication. INSET: DISASTER-RECOVERY SOLUTIONS.

Discusses the role and significance of network intrusion-prevention systems to computer security. Network intrusion prevention test setup; Suppliers of such systems; Details of system tests. INSETS: HOW WE TESTED NIP DEVICES;NIP LEASSONS LEARNED.

Gives advice on the selection of network intrusion-prevention systems. Solution to the fundamental problem of misconfiguration; Features of application-proxy firewalls; Advantages of firewalls over network intrusion-prevention systems; Methods used for detecting malicious computer activities; List of traffic-analysis intrusion prevention products. INSETS: NIP SYSTEMS;FOCUS ON THE ENDPOINT.

Offers tips on computer security policy monitoring. INSETS: SECURITY POLICY MONITORING;COMPLYING WITH THE FEDS.

Describes ways of securing business data on the Internet. Documentation process; Control of access to online data; Use of secure sockets layer to mitigate security risks.

Focuses on security-information-management (SIM) tools, which can help analyze data points to identify intruders, system weaknesses, and computer security priorities. Use of the tools by information technology workers; Combination of data aggregation with correlation technologies in SIM products; Belief that vendors will be faced with cross-platform, cross-vendor, and cross-device challenges.

Introduces an evaluation of ten intrusion-detection products for computer networks. Objective of the evaluation; Process issues encountered in testing the products; Details of the testing methods used. INSET: INTRUSION DETECTION.

Evaluates integrated computer security packages. Check Point OPSEC software; Computer Associates International eTrust software; Network Associates software; Key features; Pros and cons; Costs; Recommendations. INSETS: Security Frameworks;Shunning: Good or Bad?.