August 31, 2006 - #107

Good Morning:
Big Thursday. Almost ready for the long weekend, which will be nice. Hopefully my friend Ernesto [1] doesn't have other plans to wash away ATL this weekend. In security-land, once again data protection is front and center. People are starting to realize the potential security issues with SaaS (here [1]), and it's about time. We'll see if the application vendors can get beyond "Your data is secure. Trust me."

I also want to call out a big faux pas on the security marketing front. I call out Alert Logic (here [1]) for recycling almost the exact same announcement that competitor SecureWorks made about 6 weeks ago regarding SQL Injection. Yes, the summer is slow and yes my head has been elsewhere lately. But come on, you are going to have to work harder than that to pull one over on old Mikey! 

Finally let me point to a column by fellow NetworkWorld columnist Mark Gibbs about Vista's true impact on security (here [1]), and I have to say that Microsoft is in a no win situation. As Mark points out, some customers are going to turn off the additional security in Vista (like user access control) and they will remain no more protected than with XP. That is the user's problem, not Microsofts. I remember an old saying about a horse and water. How does that go again?

Have a great day.

Technorati: Information Security [2]

Top Security News

here [2]), this is going to present some pretty significant data security issues. It seems the rest of the world is starting to agree, as this InformationWeek article points out. Of course, it's not just that Web apps are "less secure" that is the issue. It's the fact that corporate data, consisting of both private and intellectual property is somewhere else beyond your control. Besides saying they have solid and secure data centers, none of the SaaS players have really talked much about DATA SECURITY. Feels like a bit of obscurity in play and as I mention below (here [2]) that will work for a short time. But now it feels like customers need to start challenging the SaaSy folks to clarify exactly HOW they are protecting their data.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192500179 [3]
Link to this [3]

http://www.varbusiness.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=192300805 [4]
Link to this [4]

http://tinyurl.com/h7s8f [5]
Link to this [5]

here [6]). I mean EXACTLY. I hope AlertLogic thought they were breaking new ground and perhaps they weren't aware of SecureWorks research, but get with the program folks. It's not too hard to track the 3-4 MSS competitors to see what they are announcing. It doesn't paint you as a market leader if you are regurgitating 6-week old news from one of your competitors.
http://www.alertlogic.com/news/press_releases/Alertlogic_Press_Release_08-29-06.php [7]
Link to this [7]

here [8]), but the Rip Van Winkle suit is definitely fitting Nokia like a glove. They've been milking their installed base for years without adding anything to the boxes and now that requirements are changing (either folks need more capabilities - UTM or they need bigger boxes), Nokia is exposed. The ISS deal from years ago didn't work out too well, and I think this will add some short term wind to Sourcefire since there are a lot of folks with Nokia boxes that need more than just Check Point and the channel loves to upsell. Since Check Point couldn't buy Sourcefire, which would have had the same net result (Sourcefire on Nokia hardware) - Sourcefire is taking things into their own hands. Good for them.
http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=102587 [9]
Link to this [9]

Top Blog Postings

http://technobabylon.typepad.com/tb/2006/08/the_security_in.html [10]
Link to this [10]

here [11]) and supports most of what Rich says, with the exception of the obscurity issue. Clearly obscurity is not a long term strategy, but it works great for a couple of weeks.
http://securosis.com/2006/08/29/the-3-dirty-little-secrets-of-disclosure-no-one-wants-to-talk-about/ [12]
Link to this [12]

http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/3353
[13]Link to this [13]

http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2006/082806backspin.html [14]
Link to this [14]

here [15]), but that's OK. Suffice it to say that a majority of these "reasons" are directly related to mismatched expectations between the users buying the products and the vendors selling them. And I manage to throw references in there to both Heidi Klum and Medusa, so it's all good.
http://securityincite.com/blog/mike-rothman/the-11th-and-most-important-reason-security-product-dont-work [15]

Keywords tell the story
You can learn a lot from what people are searching for. Just ask AOL. In this post, I look at some of the recent keywords that led folks to securityincite.com, and it's pretty interesting. You can get a feel for M&A in the pipeline, some perspective into the rumor mill, which vendors are competing against each other, and lots of other stuff. And don't miss the funniest search of all, it had me rolling on the floor.
http://securityincite.com/blog/mike-rothman/keywords-tell-the-story [15]

The downside of hosted environments
When you run a small business, there are always compromises to be made. There are lots of hosting options for almost everything, web applications, phone systems, conference calling, and most prevalent is email. But when you can't send out mail (because some other joker with your service provider ends up on SpamCop) it's a bit frustrating. But you do get what you pay for, and I'm not about to go build my own infrastructure.
http://securityincite.com/blog/mike-rothman/the-downside-of-hosted-environments [15]

Read yesterday's Daily Incite
http://securityincite.com/TDI-2006-08-30 [15]