The ability to feed key security information onto a big screen dashboard opens up many new opportunities for managing the day-to-day security and maintenance workload as well as providing a useful method of highlighting new incidents faster than “just another email alert.”
The concept of configuration hardening has nice imagery to it. When we use it to describe battle-hardened soldiers who have been tested in combat, a grim, determined image invariably leaps to mind. The same thing happens when we speak of hardened steel that’s been repeatedly quenched and tempered or of hardened fortifications and bunkers.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone reading this article that there has been a major shift towards businesses hosting their critical applications in the cloud. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), as well as cloud-based servers from Amazon or Microsoft, have changed the way we build networked business systems for any size organization.
In the Godfather Part II, Michael Corleone says, “There are many things my father taught me here in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” This lesson Vito Corleone taught his son Michael is just as applicable to IT security configuration management (SCM).
Container security is not a unitary action but a multifaceted process. It involves securing the build environment using secure code control and other strategies. The procedure also necessitates securing containers’ contents via code analysis and unit tests.
It is a well-known fact that legacy equipment shall continue to play a crucial role in the continuity and stability of critical infrastructure, especially in industrial control systems. A recent Center for Digital Government survey found that 70% of respondent agencies depend on legacy infrastructure for their operations.
Back in the good old days, we used to have to order physical servers to run our applications. When servers became too expensive, we found efficiency in virtualization. Why have one box running one server when I could have 10 or more on a single box? Who would have thought I could simply push a button and have a server ready in minutes as opposed to weeks?
