MC+A

Within the world today, it is essentially important to protect data that is being shared both across a network and externally. Loss of information can cost companies both financially and legally. Protecting data before a problem strikes is key to ensuring companies are adhering to both governmental and corporate regulations.

Recently it has come to national attention through a class-action lawsuit that was filed against the Veterans’ Affairs Department. The full article is outlined at Federal Computer Week. To outline the situation, the VA had gotten one laptop stolen in 2006 that contained sensitive individual data. The laptop was reported stolen from a VA employee’s home by vandals. Because of this event, the VA was concerned that the secure information that was contained on the laptop would be leaked to unauthorized individuals creating a serious security threat. It had been found, after authorities had retrieved the laptop, that the criminals were unable to access the data that was stored on the laptop. However, because the laptop with sensitive information was stolen, all veterans could have been affected. Lawyers said there could have been a loss of individual information including Social Security Numbers, medical histories, and other personal data. The US Attorney’s office conceded to the lawsuit and settled by paying $20 million to the affected individuals.

The most important aspect of this case is that this security threat was created by the loss of ONE laptop. Many state governments are cracking down on the enforcement of sensitive data policies. California, Nevada and now Massachusetts have passed new legislation that add significant prescribed security controls in support of their previous data privacy regulations. The new Massachusetts law has stringent requirements for corporations that process or store the personally identifiable information (PII) of Massachusetts residents.

The Workshare products can protect against data lost either by the before mentioned incident or from information being leaked out from email or instant message. Because governmental entities will be cracking down on personal information leaks of state residence, and because Workshare is the leader in protecting data, companies will need to recognize the value add of Workshare products. Governments will be cracking down much harder on sensitive data loss because it represents easy revenue from organizations they know will have to adhere to the policy.

Most likely, you have heard this saying before, but have you really thought about what it really means?

Quite frankly, there are times when I have felt like it would be better when I win and the other party loses. This may be true in cheering for your favorite sports team or even more so if you are on the team. However, in business, it’s different. Think about it. Do you really want the cheapest price? Or would it be more accurate to say you want the best value?

Before you answer, think about this.

Cheapest price = short term actual cash leaving your company’s balance sheet and going to the company you are buying’s balance sheet. If short term is ALL that you are interested in, then this may be a good philosophy. Granted, in business, the “what have you done for me lately” philosophy will always be a factor. But, more importantly for most of us, we want and need to be a going concern for the long term. With this in mind, my argument for having a win / win philosophy fits the business model more appropriately. Let’s say that your company can buy a widget from “The CP (Cheapest Price) company” or from “The BV (Best Value) company”. Buying from the CP company, like I mentioned before, means the least out of your Cash Account……for now. What about the support that you need later? Is it possible for a company to sell at the cheapest price AND to be able to pay a competent support person to provide you support later when you need it? Good luck, you’ll probably be on your own, wasting time and money. One step further, will they even be in business for you to contact them?

Let’s take your company’s need to implement a GSA, Workshare, or Connectbeam solution. That’s where MC + A becomes the BV company. You could buy the GSA, for instance, from a reseller and pay your IT professionals their salary (time and opportunity cost) to figure out a basically one time, one use implementation and not know if you are getting the full capability out of your GSA… or you could engage MC+A and have your GSA up and running, using very little of your own IT resources and know very confidently that you are making the most of your new GSA purchase in as little as a few days.

That’s win / win.

I recently attended a Workshare training/demonstration at Microsoft’s Chicago campus and was impressed with the product. The Workshare product suite is great for securing your company’s intellectual property and other critical data. Workshare just recently released a network appliance that is designed to sit between your company’s intranet and the Internet acting as a gatekeeper. It can function as a MTA or just passively monitor your network traffic.

The appliance uses policies, created by the admin, to determine what characteristics to look for in emails, IMs, data transfers, and more. If it finds any of these characteristics the appliance puts a halt to the transmission. I am excited that we have decided to partner with them. MC+A will be implementing Workshare across our network. You can find a little more information on Workshare and Information Leakage here:
http://www.workshare.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_loss_prevention_products