TDK manages security more effectively by outsourcing
Announcement posted by Zento 14 Nov 2003
Zento provides cost-effective, proactive 24/7 management and monitoring solution
TDK (Australia) has substantially improved security by outsourcing management, monitoring and reporting of its firewall to managed security services provider Zento.
TDK is a producer of advanced, high-performance data storage technology including cassettes and CDs, video tapes and camcorders, speakers and headphones, DVDs and flash memory cards.
We are a small company with a large public profile, so its important that we have security in place, said TDK IT Manager Sergio Malacaria. Until two years ago, we had no security, bar some anti-virus protection on desktops. This was not acceptable because in real terms anti-virus is just one part of the security equation. So we bought and implemented a NetScreen firewall and outsourced monitoring and reporting to Zento.
We got to the point, however, where we struggled to effectively manage the firewall in-house. Business was growing and we just didnt have sufficient time or expertise to continue reconfiguring the firewall to deal with constant changes to traffic, he said.
Malacaria felt he couldnt justify the expense of bringing a dedicated security resource in-house just for the sake of managing one device, so he has now also opted to outsource management of the firewall.
We needed a solution that was flexible, robust and not too expensive, said Malacaria. Although we evaluated a number of managed security service providers, Zento was the one that provided exactly what we needed. Zento helped us to formulate a clear plan of how to easily manage our security concerns. It was able to deliver on all fronts and tailor a solution for us.
For Malacaria, the key is not whether he could cut costs by outsourcing security, but whether he could manage security more effectively and provide the best solution.
There were really no time or cost savings as we didnt have a dedicated security professional in-house, said Malacaria. The real benefit is the peace of mind that we get from knowing that our security is being looked after by professionals.
Said Zento CEO Bosco Fernandes: Not only is software itself not enough to secure systems, but many companies, both large and small, just do not have the requisite in-house skills to ensure adequate security of their systems. Software aside, companies need well-defined management systems, and skilled staff who are able to manage and monitor the network on a 24/7basis.
This is borne out by the 2003 Australian Computer Crime and Survey Report, which found that despite high use of firewalls (95% of respondents), computer crime losses at AU$11.8 million were still double that of the previous year. Also, only 11% of respondents felt they were managing all computer security issues reasonably well.
We therefore advise companies to outsource areas of IT security that they aren't totally competent in when the cost of building that competence is higher than the cost of outsourcing, said Fernandes. Being able to increase operational efficiency and reduce operational costs means that managed services can also play an important role in driving business growth. They minimise the day-to-day work and defray the costs associated with security device management and monitoring.
Malacarias biggest frustration was trying to justify this to people who didnt really understand the technology or the possible threat to the company of having virtually no security. As security becomes a large part of total business strategy, more companies will need more help with this specialised field and companies that can fulfil this need will do well, he said.
About Zento
Zento (www.zento.com.au), which is Japanese for the road ahead, was established in March 2000 in Sydney, Australia. It is a leading provider of managed security services throughout the Asia Pacific region, offering proactive, independent, real-time IT security and performance monitoring of IT infrastructure via its 24 x 7 Security Operations Centre (SOC). Zento has built an Australian-designed alarm management and correlation system that enables it to manage firewalls, intrusion detection systems and anti-virus solutions from a single platform. The benefit to the customer is that non-justified alerts (false-positives) are removed and the real alerts are managed within service level agreement (SLA) parameters, giving clients peace of mind that their IT environment is being effectively monitored. All the technical people supporting Zentos clients have accreditations in the technologies the company supports, including Check Point, NetScreen, Cisco, Trend Micro, and Computer Associates.
TDK is a producer of advanced, high-performance data storage technology including cassettes and CDs, video tapes and camcorders, speakers and headphones, DVDs and flash memory cards.
We are a small company with a large public profile, so its important that we have security in place, said TDK IT Manager Sergio Malacaria. Until two years ago, we had no security, bar some anti-virus protection on desktops. This was not acceptable because in real terms anti-virus is just one part of the security equation. So we bought and implemented a NetScreen firewall and outsourced monitoring and reporting to Zento.
We got to the point, however, where we struggled to effectively manage the firewall in-house. Business was growing and we just didnt have sufficient time or expertise to continue reconfiguring the firewall to deal with constant changes to traffic, he said.
Malacaria felt he couldnt justify the expense of bringing a dedicated security resource in-house just for the sake of managing one device, so he has now also opted to outsource management of the firewall.
We needed a solution that was flexible, robust and not too expensive, said Malacaria. Although we evaluated a number of managed security service providers, Zento was the one that provided exactly what we needed. Zento helped us to formulate a clear plan of how to easily manage our security concerns. It was able to deliver on all fronts and tailor a solution for us.
For Malacaria, the key is not whether he could cut costs by outsourcing security, but whether he could manage security more effectively and provide the best solution.
There were really no time or cost savings as we didnt have a dedicated security professional in-house, said Malacaria. The real benefit is the peace of mind that we get from knowing that our security is being looked after by professionals.
Said Zento CEO Bosco Fernandes: Not only is software itself not enough to secure systems, but many companies, both large and small, just do not have the requisite in-house skills to ensure adequate security of their systems. Software aside, companies need well-defined management systems, and skilled staff who are able to manage and monitor the network on a 24/7basis.
This is borne out by the 2003 Australian Computer Crime and Survey Report, which found that despite high use of firewalls (95% of respondents), computer crime losses at AU$11.8 million were still double that of the previous year. Also, only 11% of respondents felt they were managing all computer security issues reasonably well.
We therefore advise companies to outsource areas of IT security that they aren't totally competent in when the cost of building that competence is higher than the cost of outsourcing, said Fernandes. Being able to increase operational efficiency and reduce operational costs means that managed services can also play an important role in driving business growth. They minimise the day-to-day work and defray the costs associated with security device management and monitoring.
Malacarias biggest frustration was trying to justify this to people who didnt really understand the technology or the possible threat to the company of having virtually no security. As security becomes a large part of total business strategy, more companies will need more help with this specialised field and companies that can fulfil this need will do well, he said.
About Zento
Zento (www.zento.com.au), which is Japanese for the road ahead, was established in March 2000 in Sydney, Australia. It is a leading provider of managed security services throughout the Asia Pacific region, offering proactive, independent, real-time IT security and performance monitoring of IT infrastructure via its 24 x 7 Security Operations Centre (SOC). Zento has built an Australian-designed alarm management and correlation system that enables it to manage firewalls, intrusion detection systems and anti-virus solutions from a single platform. The benefit to the customer is that non-justified alerts (false-positives) are removed and the real alerts are managed within service level agreement (SLA) parameters, giving clients peace of mind that their IT environment is being effectively monitored. All the technical people supporting Zentos clients have accreditations in the technologies the company supports, including Check Point, NetScreen, Cisco, Trend Micro, and Computer Associates.