Bridging the network security gap

IT managers are well aware of the threats to their networks, and have spent heavily on solutions to protect the corporate environment. Despite high expenditure on security software and hardware products, in today’s diversifi ed environment many organizations are not truly in control of their users. In the drive for more fl exible working, networks are opened to third parties, such as contractors, whose security applications are not subject to control by the organization. As far as direct employees are concerned, administration rights usually granted to to enable them to use their computers productively often compromises security by allowing critical security serices to be disabled.

However, the majority of organizations have no enforcement mechanism in place either to drive compliance or to report on results. This gap in corporate policy exposes the enterprise to a range of threats – not just from malware, hackers, and malicious users, but also to loss of intellectual property, and non-compliance with regulatory requirements.