Get Noticed in 2012

By: Dan O’Donnell

Remember Rodney Dangerfield, the comedian whose signature line was “I don’t get no respect.” Those with jobs in IT, Cyber Security, Networking and the like know the feeling. When things go right (which takes a lot of dedication, specialized knowledge and hard work) nobody notices. When things go wrong (which can happen no matter how hard you work to keep things humming) the entire company is screaming like a banshee on steroids. Suddenly, everyone knows your name.

Sales guys get noticed when they sell things. They get trips to Tahiti, awards and a lot of positive recognition. Marketing develops programs and ads that are creative and widely publicized. Engineering develops cool designs that turn into products everyone can see. Even the guys from Finance are always making charts and presentations to the CEO showing their ROI calculations and how to finance new projects.

How can IT and Networking demonstrate their positive contributions to the organization? The key is to look at your job in a new way. Categorize, quantify and report on your contributions. Network Security, for example, keeps bad things from happening that could ruin a company. Theft of confidential customer information, leakage of classified product designs, external hacks that slow or block system access are a few examples of bad things that the Network Security group helps prevent. When things go right these issues do not exist so it is hard to quantify the contributions. However, there are industry reports that track these trends that can be used to set baselines.

Using the Network Security example, a department head can develop a set of indices setting Key Performance Indicators based on industry norms for a variety of network and security metrics. Then correlate the economic impact of meeting and exceeding these metrics. What you will have is a report that shows the ongoing financial benefit that sound security practices and procedures can bring to the company every day. Remember, money not spent, is profit.

The idea here is to quantify and report on the positive contributions that are made every day. Take the technical jargon out of the reports. Resist the urge to discuss the benefits of dual stack routers for IPv6 conversion (save that for departmental meetings). The CEO is less interested in how you do it but keenly interested in the contribution to the bottom line. The CEO is a business person and his/her interest is shareholder return. Show that your ideas are necessary to protect the company brand, to create revenue, or to reduce risk and liability.

Finally, be proactive with these ideas. Develop your business oriented reports and ask for time to present. In 2012, resolve to take a quarterly trip in the elevator to the top floor. Show your value to the company. Perhaps, you too, will be on a plane to Tahiti with the Sales leaders.

Military Communications for Humanitarian Missions

By Dan O’Donnell

When you think about global military organizations what comes to mind?  The first thought is probably war.  Military organizations, however, are involved in much more than just bombs, bullets and battles.   At a high level, the military is an organization that is highly skilled in the rapid deployment of human and physical resources under harsh circumstances.

This expertise and training makes the military the logical and preferred choice for responding to humanitarian missions as well as battlefield operations.  We have seen the heroic efforts of military coalitions after the disastrous earthquakes in Haiti and Japan.  The foundational element to the success of these missions is establishing coalition communications.

The most immediate challenge when responding to a disaster or other joint services operation is communications.  Imagine a multi-national coalition arriving on the scene of a disaster.  A command structure must be established among diverse organizations from different nations and cultures.  Further, the local authorities and other service organizations such as the Red Cross need to be integrated into the effort.  Now, assume the likelihood of a severely damaged or non-existent communications infrastructure.

Execution of the mission plan is dependent on the rapid deployment of a communications structure among all the responding organizations.  This interconnection of resources requires a complex configuration of communication policies and procedures including:

• Data sharing across the federation
• Application of policies determining who can access what information from what sources
• Authentication of who is accessing information
• Protection of critical and often confidential information

In order to establish trust and an open flow of information among federation partners, it is critical that the communication infrastructure be monitored to protect classified information while allowing a consistent flow of mission critical information among all partners.  There is no tolerance for network downtime in critical response missions. Therefore, there must be a balance of highly available connectivity and by-pass options for sophisticated, software intensive appliances.

There are a variety of network appliances that help automate this process, secure communications links and manage the flow of information.  When installed in-line, however, software intensive appliances can cause network disruption.  Network Critical V-Line taps allow multiple appliances to efficiently manage and protect packet flow while maintaining high availability of links. V-Line taps provide a simple hardware connection to network links for crucial security and monitoring appliances and allow maintenance, upgrades and changes to occur without breaking the link or interrupting network operations.

Network Critical is a proud participant in the TM Forum multi-vendor technology demonstrator (catalyst project) titled Rapid Communications Deployment – Federated Service Level Management to Support Multi-National Preparedness in Crisis. NATO C3 Agency is the primary champion of this work.  According to the NATO C3 Agency, “NATO C3 Agency is strongly supporting this TMF DIG Catalyst and pleased to work with the industry on proving and maturing the federated service management concept that Nations shall be able to reuse.”  Other companies participating in this catalyst project include CA, Infonova, Layer 7, Progress Software and TNO.

The project participants will demonstrate how an Information Communications and Technology Network (ICT) can quickly be built, managed and secured in the most difficult of circumstances.  Network Critical taps will be used in the demonstration to connect appliances providing Quality of Service and Security enforcement on the network while maintaining failsafe, continuous operation.

The results of this project will be demonstrated at TM Forum Management World in Dublin, Ireland the week of May 23^rd, 2011.   Included in the demonstration is a Network Critical V-Line tap providing in-line link access to a CA Net QoS device monitoring a live video conference link.  The live link will be provisioned using an automated interconnection of a Layer 7 policy appliance and an SLA library that will provide the right amount of bandwidth to the right location at the right time.  The Net QoS device will manage and enforce the SLAs and SLA violations to Mission Command.

Click here for more information about this project.

For more information about TM Forum Management World 2011, click here.

How to Prevent your Company’s Data on WikiLeaks Website

By: Daniel O’Donnell and Ellen Carruthers

There are several key system network vulnerabilities that have been highlighted and become more apparent by the recent publication of many US State Department classified documents on the WikiLeaks website.  It is a troublesome situation to say the least not only for the US Government but for all foreign governments and commercial businesses dealing with sensitive data on their IT networks.

There are many issues now under discussion and review as a result of this incident.  Legal cases are being developed regarding punishment, if any, for the perpetrators.  Congress is in full PR mode making sure the finger of blame points anywhere but at them.  Media companies are wrestling with the ethics of what to report and what to hold as protected information for national security.  The website at WikiLeaks is currently under attack by multiple fronts.   A government IT security review is under way.  In fact, an AP/Huffington Post article states the Pentagon is establishing new policies that disable removable media and change the way in which information is moved between classified and unclassified computers.

Here’s an article from Federal Computer Week about the WikiLeaks Fallout: White House Orders Classified Data Security Review

There are three relatively inexpensive solutions that have the ability to secure your confidential information, allow access to authorized personnel while maintaining reliability. This approach includes a Data Loss Prevention appliance, a Policy Management appliance and a flexible, reliable, Smart Network Access device that connects the appliances to the network while providing protection to the network data in the case of a appliance error.

A Data Loss Prevention (DLP) can be implemented into a Network by installing the appliance virtually “in-line” on a network link.  All the Network data that passes through that link is analyzed and compared against a set of rules established by the DLP appliance. The objectives of the rules are customized by the Network Administrator and provide parameters for deciding what data is allowed to leave the corporate site, be downloaded to a portable device or be blocked.

One of the most valuable features of DLP appliances is the ability to send alarms to appropriate personnel when requests for the sensitive data are being received.  Websense is one of many companies that make DLP sensors.

Policy Management products provide authentication and access to various clouds and or servers within the network.  There can be many layers of policies set up to allow access to certain IT assets and deny access to others.  A sophisticated policy management plan and the right equipment to enforce the policies will allow access to authorized clients while blocking others.  Companies like Layer 7 are protecting corporate IT assets with a product array of in-line appliances.  These appliances are installed in the access link.  As data flows, certain authentication and authorization codes must be received before access to the cloud or servers will be allowed.

To be most effective, these appliances must be connected to the network “in-line” while maintaining uptime, reliability and availability.  This is where the Network Access device becomes crucial. These are Smart Access devices which allow multiple appliances to connect and manage information in-line while providing a “fail-safe” link operation if the appliance is compromised or goes off-line.

Network Critical provides an in-line Network Access device that connects to the data link and provides monitor ports to the appliances.  The modular SmartNA architecture allows incremental additions for multiple appliances while maintaining link uptime in the event of appliance failure, power disruption or off-line maintenance requirements.

Chances are there may be some areas of concern with respect to securing your network from outside attacks and inside threats such as seen with the recent US State Departments lose of confidential property.  Don’t wait for your own WikiLeaks scandal. Do not wait until you are called into the CEO’s office to answer this question, “How could this have happened?”

By installing relatively inexpensive appliances into your network architecture you can provide sophisticated access policy, manage threats from inside as well as outside your network by connecting it all through Smart Network Access devices.

Be proactive and lock down your confidential information from public view while allowing uptime and information to authorized personnel.  Don’t be another WikiLeak victim.  Be a security champion!

Click Here to learn more about Network Critical’s SmartNA System.

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