In recent conversations with vendors selling telephony and unified communications solutions, I get asked the same question over and over – can you recommend a great channel partner for our SMB products? The struggle stems from the benefits and new features available with VoIP and unified communications. Selling, installing and supporting IP-based phone systems require new skill sets that few traditional telephony resellers currently have. Data solution providers with experience in network and server support possess the technical ability but lack the sales experience and knowledge in telephony. Here is a great example, just last week I received a phone call from one of our telephony partners installing a IP PBX at a customer site. After 20 minutes of troubleshooting with the reseller, we realized that the technician had little to no knowledge of servers or hardware – we identified the problem as a faulty motherboard and had our vendor ship a new one overnight to the customer site. The technician then damaged the motherboard when installing the CPU chip causing a larger problem. We located another partner, a data solution provider that arrived onsite and resolved the issue in a matter of minutes. I think this summarizes the current state of the channel for voice and unified communications in the SMB market – telephony resellers will generate faster sales but data solution providers can deliver the support needed to keep customers happy. So who should vendors partner with, data solution providers or telephony resellers? Both. VoIP is a fast-growing industry that is currently underserved in the SMB market. There is an excellent opportunity for solution providers to secure first-mover advantage in many local and regional markets. If you are a data solution provider, it is worth the investment to train your sales team on voice and unified communications – consider hiring a sales representative with telephony experience that can share their knowledge with other members of your team. For telephony resellers, take the time to train your sales team on solution-selling and partner with a data solution provider that can fulfill your needs for network support. Resellers that focus on solution selling, offer network support, and have a working knowledge of voice/unified communications will have vendors knocking at their door with marketing dollars ready to spend. Trust me, they are already asking. Posted in Data Security, IP PBX, IP Phones, VoIP, Voice Over IP
Xavier Chaillot, Director of Marketing with Hummingbird - The Open Text Connectivity Solutions Group, discusses the dangers faced by companies using FTP and Telnet and how Connectivity Secure Server addresses these issues.
Q: What are the major security concerns for companies using FTP and Telnet? A: The main problem with FTP or Telnet is that they are fundamentally insecure protocols. FTP dates back from the 60’s when it was commissioned by DARPA and Telnet was created a bit earlier. That was a time when network security was not as much of a concern as it is today. Both protocols were designed with simplicity, versatility and flexibility in mind, but definitely not security. FTP is primarily used for transferring files between homogeneous or heterogeneous environments while Telnet is the de facto protocol for accessing text-based legacy applications or remotely managing servers and network equipment. Both FTP and Telnet have many security issues, but the most critical are:
There are more problems related to FTP and Telnet such as the many exploits available on the Internet or the fact that they don’t play nice with firewalls. Ultimately, these technical problems become critical business challenges which amount to two things: cost of a security breach and lack of compliance with industry standards.
According to a 2007 Forrester study, security breaches cost anywhere between $90 to $305 per record breached. As an example, the breach of a simple text file containing 5,000 names, addresses and social security numbers or credit card numbers would end up costing between $450,000 and $1,525,000. This is the kind of money that businesses can not afford to pay these days, especially when you realize that adequately protecting yourself against simple breaches like FTP or Telnet is going to cost you between 1% and 5% of that amount.
At the end of the day, it’s not about the technicalities of security, it’s about how much you are putting your business at risk by not taking care of basic things such as Telnet or FTP and what price you’ll pay for that.
Q: Do standard security platforms such as Trend Micro, Symantec provide security for FTP and Telnet protocols? Q: Do industry security standards such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPPA have compliance requirements for FTP and Telnet?
Q: How does the Connectivity Secure Server help companies protect their FTP site and assist in any regulatory compliance requirements?
A: Connectivity Secure Server is a high-performance network security system that allows organizations to encrypt, authenticate and guarantee the integrity of data being transmitted over a TCP/IP network. To put it in a nutshell, Connectivity Secure Server coupled with a secure shell client such as Connectivity SecureTerm will create secure encrypted tunnels between a user’s desktop and a server. Those tunnels can be used to pass any TCP/IP network traffic. Connectivity Secure Server is the ideal solution for companies looking to:
The interesting thing about replacing Telnet and FTP with Connectivity Secure Server and Connectivity Secure Term is that organizations will keep the same flexibility and versatility that they are used to with traditional Telnet and FTP, but in a much more secure environment.
The other thing is that this solution is not limited to Telnet or FTP but can be used to encrypt any TCP/IP communication from 3rd party application. Remember these legacy apps that are still around but you don’t want to touch because the people who made them are not around anymore? A solution such as Secure Server and SecureTerm can definitely help increase your level of security with minimal if no disruption to your application stability or your business processes.
Q: Can a company determine if their FTP site/server is at risk or if there has been a breach of security?
A: Network monitoring, breach discovery and intrusion detection systems are a whole world in itself. There’s no doubt that any company equipped with these kind of tools has a better chance of finding out whether something bad is happening on their network but the number of false positives sometimes returned by these systems make them less than perfect more often than not. According to a study led by Verizon in 2008, 75% of breaches were not discovered by the victims but by someone else. That number alone speaks volume about the chance that a company has of finding this out by itself. There’s no miracle: be proactive and cover the basics.
Q: How do companies find more information about the Connectivity Secure Server?
A: Connectivity Secure Server is available today from Softchoice and its partners. Companies who want more information can go to www.hummingbird.com/secureserver where we have datasheets, whitepapers and trial versions available. The trial version is a time-limited full functioning version of the product. Don’t forget to also check our client-side solution, Connectivity SecureTerm and our security add-on for Exceed, Connectivity Secure Shell.
Congratulations ScriptLogic! Not only did you win the coveted Triple Crown award, you won seven other First Place awards and one Second Place award (see the details below.) Eight awards in a single year, that is quite an achievement! We are proud to be partnered with a proven industry leader.
Read the full article: Redmondmag.com Visit the ScriptLogic website Posted in Authentication, Data Loss Prevention, Data Security, Reporting |
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