Storage security is a growing challenge

According to a new Yankee Group report, ‘The emerging storage security challenge,’ enterprises increasingly need to consider storage security in the design of storage networks, management strategies, and storage consolidation. Government mandates will also drive greater security requirements. Customers should evaluate which applications and data sets need more advanced security, and ensure that proper safeguards are in place to protect data.

"Network storage has changed the way enterprises manage their storage environments," says Jamie Gruener, Yankee Group Enterprise Computing & Networking senior analyst. "It is crucial to safeguard data, regardless of whether it is retained at-rest inside storage systems, or in-flight across the storage network, LAN or WAN. However, the significant complexity of deploying and managing storage networks makes security a fragile proposition."

Matthew Kovar, Yankee Group Security Solutions & Services director, says: "Gone are the days of the storage network as a closed network. In fact, the storage network is going through the same evolution traditional enterprise networks went through five years ago, when intrusions and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks were commonplace. Today, customers must consider security not only for the SAN, but also for business continuity, remote backup and tape operations, consolidation projects, and managed services."

Enterprises need to put security policies in place that meet requirements for specific business critical applications, disaster recovery and data protection. To comply with growing government regulations, enterprises must safeguard data, regardless of where it is.

‘The emerging storage security challenge’ report examines key security threats enterprises need to consider regarding storage, the top tactics to secure the storage network, which vendors currently offer products, and best practices in selecting products.

www.yankeegroup.com

•Date: 12th November 2003 •Region: Worldwide •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity
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