Protecting corporate information and technology assets from intruders, thieves, and vandals is a significant challenge for most enterprises. Historically, investments in security technology were made by individual technology managers and business units in response to the specific threats they faced. CIOs are now implementing technologies that can support the centralized management and enforcement of security policy. As a result, the fragmented security market is coalescing around four primary solution sets: :

• Identity Management to authorize user access to system resources.

• Vulnerability Management to help uncover and remedy threats early.

• Threat Management to respond to intrusions and attacks on the network.

• Trust Management to securely exchange information over public networks.

Identity Management

Identity Management (IM) solutions are responsible for authenticating and authorizing the network-based users who need to use online services and resources. Identity Management solutions generally include:

• Provisioning. Provisioning is the process of granting and revoking the appropriate access rights and privileges to employees, customers, suppliers, and business partners.
  
  
• Web access control. Web access control products provide centralized and automated management to validate a user, and then permit the user to access resources in the environment for which that user has been granted permission.
  
  
• Single Sign-On authentication. Single Sign-On (SSO) allows a user to log onto every assigned system that user has access to once, using a single user ID and password combination.

Vulnerability Management

Vulnerability Management helps the enterprise identify vulnerabilities or weaknesses in the computing environment, and provide the infrastructure to eliminate them. Vulnerability Management solutions generally include:

• Firewalls. A firewall is a system or group of systems that enforces an access control policy between two networks. The firewall has a dual role as the mechanism that exists both to block and to permit traffic attempting to access network resources.
  
  
• Vulnerability assessment. Vulnerability assessment tools evaluate and monitor operating systems and applications for needed fixes to known problems, such as viruses, worms, unsecured backdoors, and security holes.
  
  
• Network vulnerability scanners. Network vulnerability scanning is the process of checking for all the potential methods an attacker might use to tamper with an organization's network by analyzing the types of software and system configurations on a given network.

Threat Management

Threat Management focuses on identifying and responding to anomalous and malicious events that occur throughout the network. Threat Management solutions generally include a combination of intrusion detection and security event management technology.

• Intrusion Detection. Intrusion detection systems monitor network traffic, verify the integrity of system files, monitor network event logs, and may also include deception systems to lure and trap hackers.
  
  
• Security Event Management. Security event management products actively monitor IT resources across an organization, filter and correlate events, and automate responses to security incidents.
  
  

Trust Management

Trust Management is the practice of protecting and enabling activities that are of high risk to the enterprise. These solutions rely on encryption and access control techniques to create a secure process for authorized individuals. Trust Management solutions generally include:

• Public Key Infrastructure. Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI) is the combination of encryption technologies, digital certificates, and certificate authorities that allows enterprises to protect the security of their communications and business transactions on the Internet.
  
  
• Virtual Private Networks. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a private data network that uses the public telecommunication infrastructure (as opposed to a system of owned or leased lines), maintaining privacy through the use of a tunneling protocols and security procedures.
  
  

For more information on choosing the right security solution for your company, please read our Security First Steps.

Go to Bitpipe Research Guide: Security.