Overview

As organisations embrace the new e-business economy and global trading they have to open up their systems and provide electronic links with their prospects, customers, suppliers, and their own remote and mobile users.  With this has come a realisation that security is an increasingly significant factor in maintaining business continuity, productivity and competitiveness. There is therefore a risk that  mission critical data, applications and systems can be compromised by the very openness of this new environment.

It should be noted that Security, and particularly Network Security, is a management issue and not simply a technical one and that it is a continuous process rather than a single issue that can be addressed once and then forgotten.

Threats can come from many locations both internal and external to an organisation.  These fall into three main catagories, Unstructured Threats, Structured Threats and Internal Threats.

Unstructured threats typically come from opportunists who are seeking intellectual challenge, as opposed to industrial espionage or financial gain. Utilising generally available tools such as Malicious Shell Scripts, Password Crackers, Credit Card Number Generators, and Dialler Daemons to gain access to information.

Structured Threats are more dangerous. They come from highly motivated, technically competent, hackers, possibly working in small groups  Their aim is to gain information. These people understand and develop sophisticated tools and techniques to penetrate businesses, utilising the information gained for major fraud and theft and can be driven by blackmail, organised crime, industry competitors, and even, state-sponsored intelligence.

Internal threats account for a large percentage of security breeches. Disgruntled former or current employees typically have access to a wide range of information and can be perceived as more ominous than external threats.

A DTI Sponsored Survey conducted during 2000 provided some interesting statistics:

• 60% of organisations had suffered a security breach
• 43% suffered a serious breach on sensitive applications
• 1 in 3 businesses are or will utilise e-commerce in the near future of whom,
• Only 14% had security policies in place
• Only 37 % had had a risk assessment performed

Also, from the above survey, some organisations, although unwilling to reveal details, conceded that a single breach could cost over £100k.

Security Service Portfolio

Interchange has a number of Security Services on offer.  These are detailed below and should address many of the issues involved in developing and implementing a succesful Network Security Policy for an organisation’s enterprise networking infrastructure. Interchange can provide the following services independantly or as part of an integrated, flexible, tailored and cost effective solution.

Interchange Group are fully capable of supporting the following areas:

• Network Security Policy advice and production,
• Attack and Penetration Testing (Network Security Assesments)
• Firewall Design, Installation, Maintenance and Management
• Secure VPN Design, Installation, Maintenance and Management
• Intrusion Detection Systems
• Anti-virus scanning Services
• Active Content Management Services