BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY' DOMINATES THE IT SECTOR
When
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British scientist often described as the father of the internet, expressed concerns last week that widespread abuse could corrupt the usefulness of his invention, his words reflected an issue that is touching corporate boardrooms round the globe.
Information technology security has always been a part of the internet and its development.
However, a spate of recent deals and product launches highlights the extent to which the issue has come to the attention of company executives. The market for managed IT security services is growing fast and is now worth about $20bn, according to the IT Compliance Institute.
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Last month BT hired Bruce Schneier, an industry expert,, and bought his company, Counterpane Internet Security, for ￡21m ($40m).
IBM's answer to the challenge of overhauling its slow-growing services business was the $1.3bn acquisition last month of Internet Security Systems, which guards corporate and government IT networks.
In July, Surfcontrol bought BlackSpider Technologies, a managed security service provider which protects organisations from threats such as spam, viruses and spyware. Netstore is stalking larger rival ICM Computer.
George O'Connor, an analyst at UK banking group Shore Capital, says the IT security market is traditionally divided between consultancy work, software suites and managed services.
However, he points out that corporate users are moving away from buying separate security components from different sources, preferring instead one source that offers a whole suite of products.
Small suppliers, he says, now realise that they will have to be part of a suite of products or miss out.
John Redeyoff, director of consulting at NCC Group, the IT consultancy and managed security group, says safety has become “a unique selling point” for big companies. “Ten years ago it was about being ‘user-friendly'. Now it's about saying ‘our product is secure'.”
The market is regularly stoked by alarming news stories about online security at banks, credit card companies and retailers.
John Hughman, senior technology analyst at Ernst and Young, says there is a growing awareness of the need to be security-aware. “Just about everyone knows someone who has had their identity stolen now,” he says.
Mr Hughman says the increasingly commonplace use of business technology such as instant messenger, Blackberry, flash sticks and remote access makes security networks more complex to monitor. This in turn makes companies more aware of the need to protect their networks.
According to research from Symantec, the software security group, 54 per cent of businesses have no specific policies in place relating to the use and management of e-mail, instant messaging and voice over internet protocol.
Security has also been given a sense of urgency by financial legislation, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel and Mifid, which has ensured that companies maintain accurate audit trails and retain data.
Hacking, too, is “really stepping up”, says Mr Redeyoff. “It's not about happy hackers now. It's about organised crime, people making a living out of it. Criminals are hiring the geeks,” he said.
黑客“更黑了”
常
被称作“因特网之父”的英国科学家蒂姆?伯纳斯-李爵士(Sir Tim Berners-Lee)最近表示担心，互联网上普遍的不法行为可能会有损其实用性。他的这番话也反映了引起全球企业董事会关注的一个问题。
信息技术(IT)安全问题始终伴随着互联网及其发展。
但是，近来大量交易的达成和新产品的推出，突显出企业高层对这个问题的重视程度。IT Compliance Institute的数据显示，IT安全管理服务市场增长迅速，市场价值目前已达到约200亿美元。
上个月，英国电信(BT)将信息安全专家布鲁斯?施耐尔(Bruce Schneier)网罗到旗下，并以2100万英镑(合4000万美元)收购了他的公司Counterpane Internet Security。
面对彻底改革其低增长服务业务的挑战，IBM上个月以13亿美元收购了从事企业和政府网络安全维护的“互联网安全系统公司”(Internet Security Systems)。
今年7月，美讯智信息安全公司(Surfcontrol)收购了BlackSpider Technologies。BlackSpider是一家信息安全管理服务供应商，旨在保护企业免受垃圾邮件、病毒和间谍软件的威胁。Netstore正试图收购规模较大的竞争对手ICM Computer。
英国银行集团Shore Capital的分析师乔治?奥康纳(George O'Connor)说， IT安全市场传统上分为咨询、软件和管理服务三大块。
但是他指出，企业用户现在已不再从不同渠道单独购买安全产品部件，而更喜欢从一个渠道选择全套产品。
他表示，小供应商现在认识到，它们必须成为全套产品的一部分，否则就会被淘汰出局。
IT咨询及安全管理集团NCC Group的咨询业务主管约翰?莱德约夫(John Redeyoff)表示，安全已成为大公司的“一个独特卖点”。“十年前的卖点是‘用户友好'，现在则是‘产品安全'。”
银行、信用卡公司和零售商在网络安全方面不时传出一些令人担忧的消息，这些消息推动了信息安全市场的兴旺。
会计师事务所安永(Ernst and Young)的资深科技业分析师约翰?休曼(John Hughman)称，人们日益意识到需要注意安全问题。他说：“现在几乎每个人都认识某个身份被盗的人。”
休曼表示，即时信息软件、黑莓邮件系统、flash工具以及远程访问等商业技术日益普及，使得网络安全监控变得更为复杂。这反过来又促使企业更加意识到有必要保护其网络。
美国软件安全集团赛门铁克(Symantec)的研究显示，对于电子邮件、即时信息软件和网络语音通讯等工具的使用和管理，54%的企业没有制定相关的具体政策。
金融方面的立法也使得安全问题有了一定的紧迫性，比如美国的《萨班斯-奥克斯利法》(Sarbanes-Oxley)、巴塞尔协议(Basel)和欧盟的金融工具市场法规(Mifid)等。这些立法确保了企业保持准确审计记录并保留数据。
莱德约夫表示，黑客活动也“确实在加剧”。“现在不是快乐黑客的问题了，而是有组织的犯罪，有人靠它来谋生。犯罪分子纷纷雇用电脑奇才。”
