“Any breach of security can seriously impact an organization”

MUMBAI: The digital future is throwing up complex security challenges and it cannot be met through the use of technology alone. Most of the organizations today rely solely on IT solutions to help them make the systems secure, but there needs to be a change of perspective and high level of preparedness on the part of CIOs. This was the moral of the story, rather of the Enterprise Connect event hosted by CIOL & Microsoft in Mumbai on March 24. The event titled Digital Security & Privacy Compliance and the theme of event was “Innovation through technology.”

The seminar was kicked off by an address by Latha Chandradeep, editor, CIOL. She emphasized the need for greater attention to be paid to data security, privacy, and compliance. “We need content that can broaden CIOs views and make them aware of the latest technological and policy upgrades that can be implemented,” said Latha. She spoke at length on the different changes being made at CIOL. “There will be more and more segmented sites at CIOL catering to different audiences. White-paper downloads will provide consolidated data for trend analysis, etc. But M-Connect or Mobile Connect is truly an innovative initiative. Wait and watch for that space,” she added.

“Enterprise Connect was launched in July, 2002 and today boasts of a closed CIO of around 1000 CIOs. We have launched different initiatives like the Enterprise Connect Awards were launched in 2004 which are very popular in the industry,” said Latha.

The keynote address was delivered by S Hariharan, senior vice president, i-flex Solutions. In a lively session, he displayed how security needs and perception has changed by over the ages through a slide displaying Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru delivering a speech with no security at all and the former chief minister of Jammu Kashmir, Mufti Mohammed Syed delivering an address, cooped within a bullet-proof booth and surrounded by guards with carbines. “Data security & privacy compliance are very crucial issues. Any breach of security can seriously impact an organization. The data centers have complex architecture thereby being more vulnerable to malicious attacks,” said Hari, as he is popularly known at i-flex.

Hari spelt out the different aspects of information security framework, namely; organization policies, technology controls, compliance, audit & assessment issues. He highlighted the changing compliance related business environment. “Compliance requirements are becoming more and more stringent and businesses need to gear up for all the different policies and requirements,” he said. He also spoke about the e-security challenges and the lack of stringent cyber laws in India.

There were 3780 vulnerabilities reported in security software & equipment across all vendors in 2004. Phishing websites have increased by 28% per month in 2004, said Vineet Durani, lead (Integrated Marketing), Microsoft. He spoke at length on Microsoft's latest Trustworthy Computing Initiative. “The main features of this security related initiative can be summed up under the heading of security, privacy, reliability, and best practices. The focus areas are technical innovation, industry leadership, and customer guidance,” he said.

Vineet also detailed the different security measures and programs undertaken by Microsoft, like the Windows XP Service Pack 2, software update advancements, malicious software removal tool, Windows anti-spy ware beta security development lifecycle, etc. He also briefly dwelt on proposed launch of Microsoft Vista and the different measures being undertaken to make it robust and secure.

Bhaskar Ranjan Dass, regional manager, Universitas 21 Global, spoke about how organizations can prepare for security related issues through high-powered education programs offered by Universitas 21. “Due to the changing face of business in the twenty first century, businesses need to integrate technology in their processes,” he said.

The event was well-attended by high- profile CIOs and industry people.