Security, Privacy and Greenery

According to a survey from security firm Mocana Corp., a majority of IT professionals do not believe that their companies can adequately manage risks posed by smart devices. Meanwhile, Sens. John Kerry and John McCain proposed the "Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011," to protect people from the commercial data collection industry. Finally, Fujitsu Ltd. released the results of its sustainability study: “Green IT: The Financial Services Industry Benchmark."

Focal Points:

• The "Mocana Spring 2011 Device Security Report" surveyed 15,000 IT professionals, and found that close to half do not believe that their organizations could adequately manage the security risks posed by smart devices. Mocana defines smart devices as non-PC devices that connect to a network and are either directly or indirectly IP addressable, such as industrial control automation, machine-to-machine, medical and automobile electronics, smart grid technology, and smartphones. The survey also found that 64 percent of respondents said that attacks on smart devices already required the attention of their IT staff, or would so this year. Moreover, 63 percent of respondents reported that their organizations have already deployed smart devices, and 54 percent said that security issues around non-PC devices have already caused disruption to their networks. Mocana added that 73 percent of those surveyed believe that a significant attack on non-PC devices is imminent in the next 24 months. Despite this, a majority of respondents said that their organizations do not update or patch their smart devices against threats regularly.
• Sens. John Kerry and John McCain proposed a privacy bill of rights that would impose new rules on companies that gather personal data. According to the proposed legislation, data collection companies would have to offer people access to data about them or the ability to block the information from being used or distributed. Additionally, companies would have to seek permission before collecting and sharing sensitive financial, medical, and religious data with outside entities. The bipartisan proposal would create the nation's first comprehensive privacy law; current laws only cover the use of certain personal data. Also, the senators added an exemption to the bill for companies that gather data through others, but have an "established business relationship" with a customer. According to news sources, eBay Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), Intel Corp., and Microsoft Corp. have praised the bill.
• Fujitsu recently published its "Green IT: The Financial Services Industry Benchmark" study. The report finds that the "greening of" the data center has yet to be addressed since companies first focused on "quick wins," such as cleaner printing technology, desktop virtualization, PC power management, and shutdown policies. Furthermore, there had been a low level of effectiveness measurement capabilities; metrics had to be put in place first to establish a baseline. According to Fujitsu's analysis, the financial services sector is the most IT-intensive energy user, and provides the opportunity to achieve the most benefits of scale out of "green IT." The study found that the best-performing companies in Australia were those with 5,000-plus employees, and the best-performing companies in the U.K. were those with 500 to 1,000 employees. Meanwhile, in the U.S., financial companies are doing well on end-user measures, but are weak in data center efficiency. The report also finds that currently there is a combination of different technologies in different locations. Typically, customers are moving from a conventional, legacy data center to a sustainable center. As a result, they will reduce emissions by up to 40 percent, but will get cost savings of up to 50 percent.