Is this the IT Manager's Biggest Nightmare?

With so many devices now potentially tapping into a business’ network (some of them known, some of them completely unknown) the IT manager now has incredible demands placed on his or her shoulders.

Creating the right processes and working with people within the organisation is really key in order to create not only a secure business environment, but to stop the IT manager from going completely bonkers.

For our recent guest blog for Microsoft, it was great to see our COO Steve Cox pretending to be a hacker for a week.

Using various scenarios, disguises, and skulduggery, the point was to demonstrate the way a hacker’s mind works – in essence exposing a lack of processes, or the vulnerabilities (sometimes both) in an organisation, that can lead to serious breaches of IT Security.

Each day Steve appears to gain more in confidence as a hacker and creates increasing amounts of chaos – you can read the series here:

Day 1: Tape Gate

Day 2: The Case of Mistaken Identity

Day 3: I’m here to water the plants, honest…

Day 4: Social Engineering

We’re in an age now where businesses are really starting to consider Cloud computing as a serious infrastructure option, with many driven by the mobility it brings, as well as an option to opex IT spend. But security remains the most substantial concern for a lot of people when looking at Cloud technology.

It’s definitely true that careful planning is paramount when migrating data to the Cloud, and covering all bases when it comes to security has never been more important.

However, when it comes down to it, Cloud security is no different to any other type of IT security (which is the point Steve makes in his series of blogs) – you still need to create robust processes and ensure that all team members are aware of them, and follow them.

Otherwise you can spend a huge amount of cash on making your business militarily secure, and it would only take one person not following a process to start a domino effect that can bring the whole thing down – such as Steve’s Day 2 scenario when one person let an unknown device (a USB stick) plug into the business’ IT network, releasing a medley of computer viruses across the system.

Thinking about the massive role that people play in IT security, I came across this brilliant video from Sophos:

I wanted to share it with you as firstly, it’s very funny.

And secondly, this really helps get across the message that the IT manager has an increasing amount of demands to face.

And of course, make sure you speak to the experts who can advise you on the best security polices and deployment options for your business.

TSG are very proud to be among the few companies working at the top level with Sophos, sitting on their security council and bringing feedback directly from our conversations with customers (this Microscope article will tell you a bit more about this). This helps us influence a roadmap for the future of IT security, and makes sure that our end users get the best products possible.

For our next security council please let us know if there’s anything you would like us to bring to the table – by commenting on this blog or getting in touch with us direct.