GPU
MEMORY
MEMORY w/ NVLINK
RAY TRACING
CUDA CORES
TENSOR CORE
QUADRO RTX 8000
48GB
96GB
10 GigaRays/sec
4,608
576
QUADRO RTX 6000
24GB
48GB
10 GigaRays/sec
4,608
576
QUADRO RTX 5000
16GB
32GB
6 GigaRays/sec
3,072
384
Looking ahead to Future Urbanism
I
t’s that time busy time of year again where the excitement is building. The upcoming GITEX Technology Week is the UAE’s most awaited Technology Exhibition. With the biggest industry names to the newest starups and innovators all collected to celebrate the future of technology. We are looking forward to meeting and interacting with industry innovators and the next-generation of technology creators at Dubai World Trade Centre. The VAR team will be at Stand Number CC1-6 for all five days. In this Edition of “The Integrator” we bring to you insights about storage security. With the overflow of data being produced every second of everyday, there is a dire need for this data to be stored and protected. Our cover story for this month deals with this area of data storage systems and the protection of the data residing in them. Apart from gearing up for GITEX Technology Week, the wheels are in motion for our Choice of Channel Awards. Set to take place on the 14th of October, the first day of GITEX. We are all set to bring recognition to the very best in the industry across 30 categories. This year, we have added a special category to the Awards called UNEQ Products. This category celebrates products in the industry that have gone above and beyond usual expectations. To give recognition to the most outstanding products is why this category exists. The Choice of Channel Award is an evening where everyone from industry leaders, senior level executives to decision makers will all gather to celebrate, recognise and applaud. The nominations for the Awards have now ended, but the voting is live and still on. We are looking forward to votes pouring in from the industry and perhaps even break our voting record. See you all at GITEX!
Vivek Sharma Managing Editor
ontents
Editorial
Cover Feature
Total defense with storage security – 8
Feature Interviews
Take advantage of available technologies – 13
Enhance surveillance for greater security – 15
TechKnow
Bomgar announces acquisition of BeyondTrust to expand privileged access management offerings – 17
Hello help desk - is it time to step up service levels where it matters most? – 18 Dell EMC Launches PowerEdge MX – 28
Ring to showcase home security products at GITEX 2018 – 30
News In Detail
ServiceNow and Box Power the future of work for the enterprise – page 20
ESET, A Strong Performer in Endpoint Detection and Response 2018 Report – 21
Gartner identifies five emerging technology trends that will blur the lines between human and machine – 22
Insight
Hortonworks, IBM, Red Hat to Containerized Big Data – 23 Moving towards a cashless economy – 24
Commvault, Alibaba Cloud to Jointly Accelerate Digital Transformations - 25 Gemalto's Solution to Boost Cloud Security – 26
Published by: JNS Media International MFZE
Managing Editor: Vivek Sharma Art Director: Faiz Ahmed Sales Manager: Christopher David
P.O Box 121075, Dubai UAE, Tel: +971-4-3705022 Fax: +971-4-3706639, website: www.VARonline.com Sales Inquiries: sales@var-mea.com All other Inquiries: info@var-mea.com | Editorial: editor@var-mea.com Disclaimer: While the publishers have made every attempt possible to get accurate information on published content in this handbook they cannot be held liable for any errors herein.
News Bytes
A10 Networks’ Innovations at GITEX 2018
EMEA Employees Showing Security Fatigue, says Aruba Aruba’s latest study reveals that despite a clear understanding about security risks, its consequences, and legislations like GDPR, workers across Europe, Middle East
A10 Networks will showcase its innovations in its portfolio of solution including 5G mobile network security, cloud, DDoS mitigation and application visibility & analytics during the weeklong GITEX 2018 between 14 and 18 Oct 2018. A10 Networks will showcase its products and innovations through its partner Ingram Micro’s stand at the event. Visitors to the stand can learn about GI/SGI firewall protection for mobile networks while maintaining always-on network availability and the best possible subscriber experience. Visitors can gain insights about application environment management and analytics and Office 365 scaling and security. Talking about the company’s participation at GITEX 2018, Mohammed Al-Moneer, Regional Director - Middle East & North Africa at A10 Networks says, “GITEX offers a great platform for our company to expose our brand and showcase our products and capabilities to decision makers from various segments of the market that attend the event.”
& Africa (EMEA) have the worst cybersecurity discipline in the world, displaying signs of ‘security fatigue’. Some key security trends that the study revealed include cybersecurity being an afterthought with 55% of EMEA employees not thinking about cyber security regularly. Legislations fail to deter EMEA employees with 26% respondents believing cybersecurity is not important to them. Another emerging trend is the lack of responsibility among EMEA employees with 36% employees believing cyber security is not their problem. According to Morten Illum, VP EMEA at Aruba, this attitude could be due to ‘security fatigue’ brought on by over-exposure to security rules with little technical assistance. He says, “Employees in EMEA have been inundated with security messaging through their organizations, as well as the media. If employees understand the risks, but aren’t acting on it, the answer is not to provide yet more training, but to bring in enhanced technology that can provide the assistance and the protection workers need to do their jobs.”
DXC Technology Collaborates with Amazon Web Services DXC Technology and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced a multi-year, global agreement to build a new multi-billion-dollar DXC-AWS Integrated Practice. The new DXC-AWS Integrated Practice will offer clients secure, cloud-first solutions that combine the breadth and depth of cloud services offered through AWS with DXC enterprise services. This will enable clients to innovate in their industries, be more agile, and better adapt to dynamic market conditions “Today’s agreement combines DXC’s deep expertise in enterprise services and industry-specific IP with the power of the AWS cloud to speed our clients’ digital transformations,” said Mike Lawrie, chairman, president and CEO, of DXC Technology. Andy Jassy, CEO of AWS, said, “This agreement represents a commitment for both DXC and AWS to make it much easier to enable long-time and newer DXC clients to take advantage of the Cloud with the most functionality, the most innovation, the largest partner ecosystem, and the most experience at helping companies run at scale—all of which allows customers to access the best set of capabilities to evolve and differentiate their customer experience."
4 | September 2018
InfoFort at GITEX 2018 InfoFort, an Aramex company, will showcase innovative ways of digitally transforming organizations and catapulting them into the digital realm at GITEX Technology Week 2018. InfoFort will exhibit its capabilities in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), blockchain, paperless environments, digital workplaces, and other forms of digital transformations. It will display technological advancements and ways in which it helps organizations make best use of the most contemporary digital technologies. InfoFort will display solutions for automated, rule-based business processes that capture and interpret data, generate responses and communicate with other digital systems. Commenting on the company’s presence at GITEX, Abed Shaheen, CEO of InfoFort, said “We are absolutely ecstatic to once again be part of this very influential and key event in Dubai. With the significant progress and profound impacts that we’ve made, we have an abundance of new and enhanced solutions to share this year, including our e-signature solution. This has been integrated into enVision to simplify electronic signature processes, making them more secure and encouraging adoption of the technology in the region.”
Multifunctional bots becoming widespread: Kaspersky The latest Kaspersky Lab report reveals that in H1 2018, the share of single-purpose malware distributed through botnets dropped significantly compared with H2 2017. In H2 2017, 22.46% of all unique malicious files distributed through the botnets, were banking Trojans, which dropped to 13.25% in H1 2018. Spamming bots decreased from 18.93% in H2 2017 to 12.23% in H1 2018. DDoS bots also dropped from 2.66% in H2 2017 to 1.99% in H1 2018. The most distinctive growth was demonstrated by Remote Access Tools (RAT) malware. Since H1 2017, the share of RAT files found among the malware distributed by botnets almost doubled, rising from 6.55% to 12.22%. “The reason why RATs and other multipurpose malware are taking the lead when it comes to botnets is obvious: botnet ownership costs a significant amount of money and in order to make a profit, criminals should be able to use each and every opportunity to get money out of malware. With the ability to change its functions, it allows the owner to simply rent out their botnet to other criminals,” said Alexander Eremin, security expert at Kaspersky Lab. The only type of single-purpose malicious programs to demonstrate impressive growth within botnet networks were miners. Even though their per cent of registered files is not comparable to highly popular multifunctional malware, their share increased two-fold and this fits in the general trend of a malicious mining boom as seen earlier by Kaspersky experts.
Riverbed’s Invite for ‘Rethink Possible’ at GITEX 2018 Riverbed has announced its participation at GITEX 2018. The company will showcase platforms for digital experience management and next-generation infrastructure, including Riverbed SteelCentral, the digital experience visibility solution for end-to-end network, application and end-user experience monitoring, under the theme ‘Maximize Digital Performance: #RETHINKPOSSIBLE’. Riverbed will showcase its expertise in helping organizations maximize digital performance, enabling them to fully measure and monitor the digital experience and address the most critical network infrastructure requirements of the Government, Oil & Gas, Financial Services, and Retail sectors. “In the digital era, digital performance is business performance,” explained Elie Dib, Regional Vice President, Middle East, Turkey and North Africa (METNA) at Riverbed. “Riverbed has evolved its portfolio in the recent years with solutions that help organizations maximize digital performance across every aspect of their business, allowing them to fundamentally ‘Rethink Possible.
September 2018 | 5
News Bytes
Eaton Introduces 9SX UPS Lower Power Range Eaton has introduced lower powerrated models for its 9SX Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The Eaton 9SX UPS comes with high availability, flexibility and advanced protection for IT and small data center infrastructure, as well as for networking, storage, industrial, medical and telecom applications. The 9SX range builds on the features found in Eaton’s 9130 product family with added capabilities including: energy metering, improved LCD display, alert for battery replacement, automatic extended battery module (EBM) recognition. “The 9SX builds on the strengths of the 9130. We’ve taken a very wellbuilt, popular product and made it even better by adding new capabilities to support modern IT applications and infrastructure,” said Karim Refas, Regional Channel Manager, Eaton Middle East. “This is a really important transition for Eaton and our customers, especially as the 9130 is our bestselling online UPS, and now we’re providing an easy upgrade.
Honeywell is Maire Tecnimont Group's Best Performing Partner
Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) has been named the “Best Instrumentation & Electrical Material Partner” by global technology licensor and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor Maire Tecnimont Group. Honeywell was recognized for results across six areas of its work with Maire Tecnimont, which included early engagement, competitive total costing, risk sharing and impeccable execution. The award was presented to Honeywell at a ceremony during the SEENERGY event, dedicated to the group’s supply chain. “We are honored to be recognized as a valued partner to Maire Tecnimont,” said John Rudolph, President of HPS. “The award acknowledges the contribution of EPCs to our success in the market, and the consistent and excellent results our joint teams deliver.” “A new proactive and collaborative approach with businesses partners is a core part of our strategy and is already showing measurable results on our projects,” said Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO Maire Tecnimont
Fidelis Cybersecurity's Capabilities on Display at GITEX 2018 Fidelis Cybersecurity will promote its latest managed detection and response (MDR) service at the GITEX 2018. The 24x7 Fidelis MDR service provides a team of security experts, who analyze rich network and endpoint metadata, content, behavioral and asset characteristics, as well as enterprise IoT devices to aid in hunting and investigations. The main attraction at the Fidelis booth at GITEX 2018 will be the Fidelis Elevate platform. “A recent industry report found that Middle East countries, particularly Saudi and the UAE, face some of the highest number of cyber-attacks, globally. Couple this with the shortage of strong cybersecurity talent and it is easy to understand why security teams are overwhelmed. In fact, according to findings from a survey we conducted earlier this year, 83% of companies can’t triage half of their daily security alerts,” said Ivan Dolensky, Vice President, International Sales at Fidelis Cybersecurity. “To help mitigate these challenges, we are seeing more and more organizations turning to managed security service providers (MSSPs). But while these MSSPs can provide basic security capabilities, they do not necessarily have the expertise and/or the technology to detect and respond to advanced threats.”
6 | September 2018
Veeam to Share its Vision of the ‘HyperAvailable Enterprise’ at GITEX 2018 Veeam will share its vision on how to address the current challenges of enterprises in the Middle East specifically addressing the hyper-criticality, hyper-growth, and hypersprawl of data at the GITEX 2018. Visitors to the GITEX 2018 will learn about the need for hyper-availability in a data-driven world and how customers around the world can leverage the Veeam Hyper-Availability platform for intelligent data management to ensure business continuity, reduce risk, and accelerate innovation in an era where technologies ranging from IoT, AI, machine learning, and blockchain require a platform with massive scalability and ease of use for managing data. “Hyper-Availability is the new expectation for data in today’s enterprises, which enables faster reaction times to any business need, multi-fold improvements in efficiencies, and greater agility to shifts in customer demand. Together, with its ecosystem of more than 55,000 technology partners, the Veeam Hyper-Availability Platform is the most complete solution to help customers make the transition to Intelligent Data
Trend Micro Simplifies Advanced Threat Detection and Network Analysis Trend Micro has introduced Deep Discovery, an advanced analytics capability for its network security solution. In addition to detecting and analyzing advanced threats on the network, customers will be able to streamline investigation and response with
Trriple Spotlights FinTech Innovation at Arab Future Cities Summit 2018 Trriple, a UAE-based FinTech start-up, is the smart payment partner of the Arab Future Cities Summit 2018. At the Summit, Trriple will showcase its mobile wallet application, aimed to enable financial inclusivity for smart users. Tripple has also launched the mWallet and a loyalty program that rewards users in points that are redeemable for merchant vouchers. “At Trriple, our aim is to accelerate regional cities’ journeys towards an inclusive, digital economy. We are working hard to create an enhanced connected experience for our mobile wallet users, making technology an integral part of daily life”, said Paolo Gagliardi, Chief Executive Officer, Trriple. “The interest around – and commitment towards – a future in a Smart City is laying the foundation for significant innovation in solutions that will actually impact lives and business in these cities. We are proud to partner with the Arab Future Cities Summit to showcase our view of the future, and demonstrate what we have already built.”
automated analysis and correlation of network events, while maximizing organizations’ limited IT security resources. Deep Discovery also enhances sharing of advanced threat information or indicators of compromise (IOCs) by leveraging standards-based formats and transfers (STIX, TAXII, YARA). “Nobody likes to be blindsided. Security professionals need to be able to see what is happening across their network and respond quickly when needed,” said Eric Skinner, vice president of solution marketing for Trend Micro. “The new network analytics capabilities of Deep Discovery do just that, empowering organizations struggling with skills shortages to keep themselves protected and productive.” “Today’s organizations are being steadily submerged by threat alerts. Firefighting these individual problems means there is no time for the security team to focus on the bigger picture,” said Rob Ayoub, IDC Program
September 2018 | 7
Cover Feature | Storage Security
TOTAL DEFENSE WITH
STORAGE SECURITY A robust data storage security strategy enables businesses to not only scale storage in accordance with exploding volumes of data, but also build resilience against evolving cyber attacks
R
apid digitalization and technologies including Internet of Things (IoT) are leading to an explosion in the amount of data being created every day. The humongous amounts of data have translated into a need for efficient storage of this data. However, it is not enough to just store the data. This data— whether at rest or in transit—must also be protected so that it can be prevented from being used for fraud and other criminal activity. As a result, a specialized area associated with security of data storage systems and the data residing in them has gained signficance importance in the recent times.
What is Storage Security According to the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), storage security represents the convergence of storage, networking, and security disciplines, technologies, and methodologies used for protection and security of digital assets such as storage systems, infratsructure and the data. Storage security also includes parameters that allow availability of storage resources only to authorized users and trusted networks. These parameters may be applicable to hardware, programming, communications protocols, and organizational policy. Storage security, therefore, is an allencompassing term that includes manual and automated computing processes and technologies for stored data security and integrity. It also includes physical protection of the hardware on which the data is stored, as well as security software.
Securing Stored Data is Vital Organizations today have a variety of critical business information which is stored in an electronic format on their business networks. This information includes data about the business, customers, employees, and even classified information. It is likely that in some cases, it may not be mandatory to protect data, but in the other cases failing to protect certain data types may lead to non-compliance,
hefty fines, and even criminal lawsuits. Recent directives including the GDPR require organizations—that primarily deal with customer data—to employ data anonymization techniques and protect senstitive customer data. As such, it is essential for organizations to secure stored data not only to avoid data exposure and ensure business uptime, but also prevent reputational losses that are long term and irreplaceable.
Securing Data Stored in Cloud The break-neck speed at which organizations are migrating to cloud computing is opening up newer challenges for storage security. According to Statista, a statistics portal, in 2018 the storage capacity of data centers stood at 1450 exabytes worldwide. While cloud computing provides users with a convenient, on demand network access to the shared computing resources and the flexibility to add new resources and services, it has spawned issues such as data privacy, integrity and trust. In a cloud environment with larger attack surface, the threat of a potential data breach is much greater. In 2017 data breaches rose 44.7% over 2016, according to ID Theft Center report. And to make matters worse, 71% of IT security professionals worldwide find it difficult to protect sensitive data in the cloud using conventional security methods, says Gemalto's 2018 Cloud Security Research. Not only do organizations facing data breaches incur high clean up costs, they also suffer reputational loss and customer churn, resulting in loss of business.
Data Storage Technologies The choice of technology used for data storage largely depends on the size of the business. Small businesses use file servers while enterprises operate data warehouses. Some of the common storage technologies include: Direct Attached Storage (DAS): The disks are attached directly to the server, including
Gaining Competitive Edge In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, organizations are increasingly becoming data-driven. They are looking to harness data to gain competitive advantage. According to the Interop ITX and Information Week 2018 State of Infrastructure study, companies will need to invest in storage hardware and data centers in order to support their digital strategy. They will also store more data on cloud and explore software-defined storage technologies. The report further states that the rapid growth of data and data storage technology is the biggest factor driving change in IT infrastructure with 55% survey respondents choosing it as one of the top three factors, far exceeding the need to integrate with cloud services.
September 2018 | 9
Cover Feature | Storage Security
in an array (RAID). Network Attached Storage (NAS): This refers to a dedicated data storage system that runs a bare-bone operating system for storage using file-based protocols NFS or SMB/CIFS. Storage Area Network (SAN): Using protocols such as SCSI/iSCSI, fibre channel protocol (FCP), fibre channel over ethernet, and ATA over ethernet, remote storage devices are attached to the servers to make a local storage. Network Unified Storage (NUS): It is a combination of SAN and NAS and is useful in consolidating file- and block-based access in a storage platform. Virtualization: Storage virtualization is a new term in the storage arena which can be either host-based on network-based.
Data Protection Technologies Organizations must consider an appropriate storage security technology depending on the data storage technology chosen. In addition, it must be noted that stored data—data at rest—is different from data in transit and therefore, requires different protection technologies. From physical (locking the doors of server room), to hardware- and softwarebased protection technologies, there are numerous methods being currently used for storage security. Some of the popular methods such as data encryption, access control, protection from data corruption (from viruses, worms etc), physical/ manned storage device and infrastructure
10 | September 2018
Organizations must secure stored data to avoid data exposure, ensure business uptime, and prevent reputational losses
security, layered/tiered storage security architecture, auditing/monitoring, secure data destruction, and backup and disaster recovery, are being used to ensure protection from cyber threats and allowing access to authorised users. Of these technologies, encryption is the most popular method with the 2018 Gemalto survey revealing that 91% of respondents considered encryption becoming more important over the next two years. However, presently only 47% respondents use encryption to protect sensitive data in the cloud. On the software front, many protocols and algorithms—MD5 , RSA, PDP, PoR—
have been in use for storage security purposes. In view of greater cloud adoption, newer models using encryption and decryption techniques are being proposed. These models also propose inclusion of forensic virtual machine, malware detection, and real time system-monitoring for greater security. The Multi-Agent System (MAS) techniques are especially beneficial for security of cloud data storage (CDS). However, there's a sizeable chunk of organizations that is still to migrate to cloud and use storage devices to store data. Then there is also the hardware that stores data in the cloud. Therefore, storage security must begin with the hardware, where the data is resting. There are numerous hardware solutions that organizations can consider to bolster their storage security. Smart storage security solutions that have built-in security features may require no custom drives or dedicated firmware. They allow encryption after data is compressed, enabling organizations greater visibility throughout the storage stack and the ability to better protect data both in transit and at rest. Therefore, hardware solutions with built-in security capabilities, such as spam filtering and antivirus software, are especially recommended.
Need For Storage Security Strategy Storage security is often a neglected aspect of overall security strategy. However, it is these storage networks that ensure easy
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accessibility of data to authorised users. Organizations must therefore, place storage security at the center of their security strategy. For efficient storage security, organizations must look to secure the four touch points: access to data, data in transit, data in store, and the data being managed, through variety of technologies available. For example, access to data can be controlled using authentication and access control schemes. In addition to using protection techniques for network servers, storage networks may be placed behind application servers with a firewall or a filter for added security. An efficient storage security policy addresses specific issues pertaining to storage data. Therefore, organizations must create a storage security policy that can provide detailed guidance on the format for different types of data to be stored. For instance, the storage security policy can spell out the ways in which sensitive and classified data can be encrypted, e-mails can be stored as plain text, certain type of data can be encrypted with keys, passwords to be transmitted and/or stored in a specified encrypted format, for sensitive transaction each user, device, and application can be authenticated using twofactor authentication, and so on. The policy can also define the process of handling data in flight through the SAN.
Building Storage Security Strategy Building a robust storage security strategy is the first step towards securing the data residing in storage devices. While devising their storage security strategy, orgnizations can consider two points for guidance. First, the cost of the storage security system should be way lower than the value of the data it protects. Second, a potential hacker must spend much more time and/or money to steal the data than its worth. One of the most popular and cheapest ways to build resilience against attacks is through hardening of platforms. It requires disbaling the unnecessary services and applying the latest updates to the platform
as and when released by the vendors. It is estimated that about 80% cyber attacks occur by exploiting the known vulnerabilies in the operating systems that could well have been protected by applying these patches. It is crucial to define network access policies such that access and traffic can be segmented for better regulation. Virtual local area networks (VLANs) can be used to provide employees access to the resources they are authorised for. Organizations can consider providing role-based access to applications. This will prevent unauthorized access to unnnecessary applications and help identify a potential rogue internal threat. According to 2017 Verizon DBIR, 25% of the reported breaches were due to rogue employees. After implementing role-based access, organizations can consider taking the next step of multi-factor authentication. Organizations must also understand that storage security is as strong as its weakest link. It is therefore prudent to check the security features implemented in a cloud based storage architecture before committing. Also check how hardened the access policies are to get onsite. In addition, consider establishing separate data connections each for internet and to
Smart storage security solutions that have built-in security features allow encryption after data is compressed.
cloud-based assets. Regular penetration test, implementation of threat detection devices and regular updates and patches throughout the architecture must be followed to minimize risks.
Storage Security is a Process Storage security is driven more by the processes than the technology. And, storage security practices must evolve with the growth of the organization. Therefore, it is important to test the processes and ensure appropriate tools, technologies, and techniques are in place that can scale when needed. Once an end-to-end plan has been developed, it must be communicated to all stake holders—from business managers, IT security staff, to employees at all levels. The next step is execution and testing the process including backup and recovery, regularly. Organizations must simulate breach situations that can result in server and tape loss, network and device issues, data classification, or any other incidents that can adversely affect business continuity and availability of resources. It is essential to conduct regular drills to check efficiency of processes and upgrade whenever required. It may make sense to test with staff members who are not too familiar with the process in order to simplify the processes and make it easier for everyone to follow, thereby strengthening the security posture. That said, organizations must realize that storage security and thereby security of the data residing in them is not the responsibility of the security team alone. It is a collective effort and each staff member must be equally responsible for ensuring safety and security of data. Employees are the first line of defence and therefore, must be regularly educated about the security policy of the organization and how to use the network resources. They must be familiarized with the importance of hardened passwords and refraining from opening emails from non-descript sources.
Storage Security Best Practices Organizations can benefit from adopting September 2018  |  11
Cover Feature | Storage Security
storage security best practices to strengthen their defenses. They can consider the following best practices to ensure robust storage security: 1. Isolate traffic and systems using VLANs or Fiber Channel zoning. This will separate network traffic from storage traffic. 2. Keep hardware and storage devices in separate rooms to allow access only to authorized personnel. 3. Ensure fiber patch panels and switches are accessible only to authorized users. 4. Use intrusion detection systems to get alerts on unauthorized data access attempts. 5. Back up data regularly, store it off site, and physically secure the backup. 6. Encrypt data—whether at rest or in transit—and back up data with encryption keys stored separately. 7. Monitor logs and permissions. 8. Build multi-tenancy using logical layers. 9. Train the staff members.
Protecting Backup Data Storage security strategy is incomplete without defining the processes for protection of backed up data. Backup encryption should be an important parameter in ensuring that the organization has a holistic storage security strategy. The storage security strategy for protection of backup data must include assigning accountability and dividing responsibility for highly sensitive data apart from maintaining logs of administrative operations to ensure traceability. Some of the best practices organizations can adopt for effective protection of backup data include: 1. Copy backup tapes and send a copy off site to eliminate the risk of single point of failure and ensure data is readable. 2. Implement a process to regulate action, handling, supervision and/or control of media or data in order to preserve integrity of resources. In addition, daily documentation of tapes sent off site, expired or destructed tapes must be followed. 3. Ensure security of the off-site location. Place media in locked containers
12 | September 2018
and trace them using bar codes. Consider electronic vaulting to eliminate the need for physical transportation of data that is distributed on file servers or computers. 4. Consider IP camera-based surveillance for site security. 5. Take care of factors such as temperature, humidity, dust as these can damage tapes and media. 6. Destroy obsolete or corrupt media by degaussing or through an organization that provides certificate of destruction. 7. Conduct a background check of the company that will store data. Ensure the vendor encrypts the data before transfer and it is at rest. 8. Communicate the process of storage security to the security staff. Educate business managers of the risks, counter measures and costs.
Security Through IP Cameras Physical surveillance of business sites is as important as securing digital assets. Evolution in technology has introduced IP cameras that have made physical surveillance of sites easier. IP cameras are an evolved version of close circuit television cameras (CCTVs) and are digitized and networked. This means the IP camera records the footage, which can be shared
on the internet. Depending on the response time required, IP cameras are categorized as centralized and decentralized. While centralized cameras have network video recorder (NVR) and are useful in taking real-time decisions, decentralized cameras are more useful when on-time response is not required. Organizations can choose the camera type depending on their response time needs. IP camera-based surveillance allows security teams to access images and recordings via internet on smartphones and from anywhere in the world. Although the access is internet-based, only authorized personnel can gain access using passwords, virtual private networks (VPNs) or company's intranet. Also, there is no limit to the amount of images or recordings that can be viewed except for the storage device. IP cameras have alarms and alerts that send an email to the registered email address whenever there is a disconcerting image or recording. Surveillance using IP cameras enables businesses to avoid investment in extra hardware or software. Yes, the initial costs are high, but there are no maintenance costs. Therefore, businesses can reduce costs of ownership.
Conclusion
While cloud computing provides convenience, it has spawned issues such as data privacy, integrity and trust
Storage security strategy allows businesses to ensure that the network is reliable, stable, and easily accesible to authorized users. To this end, organizations must make an effort to assess the risks and identify the data they need to protect and the threats it needs protection from. Sensitive data must be encrypted and attack surface area must be constricted by disabling unnecesary services. Operating systems must be kept up-to-date with the latest updates and redundancy must be built-in by mirroring the stored media. Storage security is a critical component of a holistic cyber security strategy of an organization, irrespective of its scale of operations. Therefore, the onus of ensuring storage security lies with both the vendors.
Interview | InfiNet Wireless
Take Advantage of Available Technologies Kamal Mokrani, Global Vice President, InfiNet Wireless tells The Integrator that to ensure safety of their networks, businesses must align their employees and management teams for simpler business operations and greater productivity by focusing on the core activities of their business.
How can businesses set up a smart, secure, and an always-on WiFi network? The crucial part in designing and setting up a wireless network, of any kind, is undertaking an initial survey. Not performing an actual RF survey for the location to be connected, will only result in a best-effort guess for coverage and capacity. Technical staff needs to use the latest planning tools and techniques to map out the RF coverage, accurately, for their specific working area. In addition to this coverage, and given the massive increase of connected devices such as laptops, tablets, smart phones and wireless printers, it is equally important to provide the right amount of capacity to allow each device to function well and enable its user to access or deliver the required services. A smart and always-on wireless network will need to take into consideration all of the following points: • Coverage - Is the coverage provided where it is needed and at all times? • Capacity - Is there enough capacity to handle the amount of data generated by all users? • Scalability – Does the design cater for existing needs as well
Kamal Mokrani Global Vice President InfiNet Wireless
as future demands? • Security - Does the design leave the business vulnerable to attacks from hackers who want to steal valuable company data or customer information? • Redundancy – Has the network been designed with built-in redundancy to allow fall-back connectivity in case of a disaster? How are you addressing one of the biggest problems of last mile connectivity that most WiFi networks face? InfiNet Wireless is uniquely positioned to deliver the robust and reliable wireless networks through higher throughput and a wide range of frequency bands. By combining its advanced MIMO radio technologies with the best data management and transmission protocols available in the marketplace today, InfiNet Wireless allows its customers to benefit from a carrier-grade infrastructure for all their data requirements, supporting bandwidths from as low as 1 Mbps up to 1 Gbps on a “pay-as-you-grow” basis. How can multi-location enterprises create an infrastructure that connects all its branches amongst themselves as well as with the headquarter? Having multiple business locations is certainly a very good September 2018 | 13
Interview | InfiNet Wireless
indicator of a successful company, but such a company must take advantage of today’s available technologies to streamline its operations and create connected workplaces. Many technologies are available today—WiFi being one of them—that are constantly evolving to support growing businesses. It is no longer necessary to spend vast amounts of money on deploying physical, legacy infrastructure in each location. It is far too limiting, especially if an enterprise's management is still trying to figure out what its future growth projections will be for the business. To successfully deploy any wide area WiFi network, a multi-location enterprise must design a solution that among others, meets the following requirements: • Different users in different locations will have different access security requirements. A multi-location enterprise must ensure that its WiFi infrastructure supports access by employees and external guests, and configures the appropriate level of security for each. • Ensure the highest network availability possible, with an emphasis on reliability of each location’s connectivity to the centralized resources. • Secure WiFi: Multi-location companies need to set up reliable and secure networks for exchanging and saving their valuable data. Access to any distributed WiFi network must therefore be managed very carefully via authentication, authorization and accounting of all network access. With the rise of digital economy, what are the most pressing challenges that enterprises are facing around their networks? Whether it is implemented to enable employee access to specific centralised back-office applications, to foster customer engagement or to support employee and/ or guest internet access, the deployment of any new network poses a number of challenges to enterprises of all sizes. There is a general misconception that the first step to transforming any
14 | September 2018
traditional enterprise into a digital one begins with having the right equipment or network setup. In fact, it starts with aligning the company’s employees and management teams. Not only does such alignment simplify business operations, but it means that the staff will spend less time trying to solve the nuances from office to office and focus more on the core activities of their business. This is even more crucial for enterprises that operate across multiple locations, as they first need to standardize their processes and policies, allowing each remote location or branch to communicate and collaborate effectively with other users. This is the biggest challenge in today’s digital economy. On a more technical front, some of the key areas that a digitally-transformed company should standardize across each of the business locations include:
InfiNet Wireless is uniquely positioned to deliver the robust and reliable wireless networks through higher throughput and a wide range of frequency bands
• User equipment setup • Software applications and platforms • IT support • Ongoing technology training for all types of users What measures can businesses take to ensure safety and security of their WiFi networks? The WiFi technology has cemented its place in all sectors of the industry as a business-critical part of any modern enterprise. Unfortunately, many small to medium sized businesses lack the necessary resources and cyber skills needed to secure their wireless infrastructure properly, leaving their business vulnerable to cyber attacks. The main measures an enterprise must take to protect itself and its valuable data are: • Move all the wireless routers to physically secured locations, away for external walls and within restricted access. A locked cabinet or an office that is always locked, can be a very simple but effective solution. • Change all the routers’ default login information. Default usernames and passwords for various router models can be easily found on the internet. • Change the passwords on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly), and certainly each time an employee leaves the company. • Change the service set identifier (or SSID), the name which people search for to connect to your WiFi network. • Updates are an important security measure for all your devices and software, not just your router. Keep all web browser, firewalls and antivirus/anti-spyware software up to date. All such fixes are introduced by the hardware vendors to solve specific vulnerabilities. • Activate all available firewalls since most access points have a built-in firewall that can protect your internal network against external attacks.
Interview | Synology
Enhance Surveillance for Greater Security
Businesses of all sizes, as well as and households, can benefit from deployment of surveillance systems. Nick Jheng, Sales Manager at Synology Inc., tells The Integrator what factors must be taken into account while choosing the right surveillance partner. Nick Jheng Sales Manager Synology Inc.
What are the various environments that surveillance systems can be used in? Surveillance systems can be used in home, small to medium sized business, and largescale deployments. For household, users can consider surveillance systems that support mobile devices. For example, Synology NVR turns users' mobile phones to IP cameras, allowing users to record anywhere and instantly send their recording back to Synology remote NVR for simultaneous viewing and storing. Households can also achieve surveillance on-the-go by watching multiple live view channels on mobile devices, adjusting camera angle, or browsing through recorded events. For large-scale deployment, users can consider surveillance systems such
as Synology Central Management System (CMS), scalable camera and storage capacity, and TV wall solution, that consolidate thousands of cameras and recording management in one place and provide advanced features. Why do businesses need surveillance solutions? There are many reasons business users can benefit from a surveillance system such as to improve overall safety, protect company assets by preventing theft, resolve business disputes by playing back the recording to a certain time, provide evidence for investigations, digitize video recording if users are still using analog surveillance system. Most digital surveillance systems are integrated with IO
model, door controller, and POS machine for diverse applications and efficiency. What are the various ways businesses can enhance their surveillance activities? A security personnel can miss most of the activity on a screen after viewing for a few minutes. No matter how many cameras you use, monitoring everything effectively presents a serious challenge. It would be great to have a live view analytic feature to help operators to monitor suspicious events with more than one option at a time. The system should be able to inform the user by the beep sound, alert icon flashing, or pop-up windows. Even if the user misses the real-time notifications, the security personnel should still have the September 2018  |  15
Interview | Synology
chance to find the event recordings for fast checking purpose. Searching through hours of stored video is difficult and time-consuming when looking for the correct data. Having a feature that allows search and collection of valuable information from each recording is important. The system should be capable to help the security personnel to find the event that matched for certain conditions in the recordings. The security personnel need to only examine the search results without viewing the full recordings. We focus on reducing the pressure on the security personnel, in charge of monitoring the surveillance screens, by helping them to spend more time on other tasks and respond only to important events. How can businesses ensure efficient monitoring in case of multi-site operations? We have successfully deployed 2,000 cameras in 350 stores across France for Chausson Materiuax. Another case is that of deploying 560 cameras for Holiday Inn Riyadh – Meydan, Izdehar, and Olaya. To enhance the efficient of multi-site operations, the above businesses used Synology Surveillance Station and below features: • Central Management System (CMS) With CMS, a host server can control other recording servers and thousands of IP cameras across different locations, so cameras, live feeds, and recording footage can be managed from a single interface, allowing security personnel to efficiently deploy and management surveillance systems of all scales. • Scalable camera and storage capacity An ideal surveillance system should allow users to add additional NVR servers quickly, so users can increase the number of supported cameras and storage capacity in order to meet their growing needs. • Efficient recording playback Monitoring large amounts of recordings in not easy. An ideal surveillance system
16 | September 2018
should allow users to playback recordings from various recording servers on a single browser and quickly sort them based on different attributes. • Get notified anytime Efficiently monitoring and spotting suspicious events from thousands of live view channels is difficult. An advanced surveillance system should be able to highlight events directly on an E-map or Live View panel, so security personnel don’t need to worry about missing any events when they leave their posts, as they can notice the camera and the location of the event straightaway when they get back. How can businesses choose the right surveillance solutions for their needs? Some of the measures that businesses can adopt to choose the right surveillance solutions include:
We focus on reducing the pressure on the security personnel, in charge of monitoring the surveillance screens, by helping them to spend more time on other tasks and respond only to important events.
• Choosing a single vendor Most surveillance systems on the market are not complete. Users have to source and purchase video management system (VMS), network video recorder (NVR), and storage from multiple vendors, which consume a lot of time and efforts. The real nightmare is downtime when users need to find multiple contact for help. Therefore, users should consider a single vendor who provides NVR, VMS, and storage all together in one box. There are only a few vendors on the market providing a total solution. Synology is one of them. • Choosing a vendor who updates it firmware/security patch frequently IP cameras are not safe at all. Cyberattacks results from IP camera vendors seldom updates their firmware and some users never change the default admin’s account and password. To increase the security level of users’ network and video footage, we recommend users to choose surveillance vendors who update their products’ firmware frequently. • Choosing a vendor who integrates the latest technology into its products AI is one of the hottest technologies. By leveraging AI and deep learning, digital video analytics (DVA) analyzes live video streams to quickly identify and examine potential issues or anomalies. Vendors design this kind of features to help organizations better leverage video to increase efficiency and safety. • Product and deployment o Make sure your IP cam, NVR, etc. is ONVIF compatible, which is a standard protocol in surveillance industry. o Estimate what's the required maximum internet bandwidth and storage capacity based on the amount of your IP cams and the corresponding recording parameter. There are tools such as Synology NVR Selector to help you to do the estimation. o A good solution won’t require you to replace existing facilities, it will blend into your current IT environment smoothly and compatible with your existing IP camera, e.g. Synology supports over 6,000 IP camera models.
TechKnow | Bomgar
Bomgar Announces Acquisition of BeyondTrust to Expand Privileged Access Management Offerings
Matt Dircks CEO Bomgar
B
omgar, a global leader in Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions, has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire BeyondTrust, a global leader in Privilege-Centric Security, from an affiliate of Veritas Capital. The combined company, which will be called BeyondTrust, brings together proven innovators with a shared mission of
securing privileged access and helping customers to defend themselves from cyber-attacks while increasing productivity. Bomgar secures privileged credentials, remote access sessions, and endpoints, while empowering users to be more efficient and effective. BeyondTrust offers the most extensible PAM platform that enables organizations
to scale privileged security as threats evolve across endpoint, server, IoT, cloud, and network device environments. These combined solutions will result in the world’s most comprehensive PAM portfolio, currently used by more than 19,000 customers worldwide. Matt Dircks, CEO of Bomgar, who will lead the combined company as CEO, commented, “We are extremely excited to build upon BeyondTrust’s Privileged Access Management leadership, and the significant benefits it will bring to our joint customers, partners, and people. Both organizations bring talented employees who are passionate about protecting organizations from attacks related to privileged access. The greater scale and resources of the combined company will allow us to accelerate innovation and deliver technology that protects our customers from constantly evolving threats.” Earlier this year, Bomgar was acquired by Francisco Partners, a leading technology-focused private equity firm. Francisco Partners’ Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dipanjan “DJ” Deb commented, “Both Bomgar and BeyondTrust have a long history of driving innovation and efficiency, and delivering solutions, services, and support that customers love. We believe bringing Bomgar and BeyondTrust together will result in a winning combination and create a leader in the high-growth Privileged Access Management market.” “The BeyondTrust family is excited to join the dynamic Bomgar and Francisco Partners teams,” said Kevin Hickey, president and CEO, BeyondTrust. September 2018 | 17
TechKnow | ManageEngine
Hello helpdesk – is it time to step up service levels where it matters most? By Angsuman Hazarika, Marketing Analyst, ManageEngine
contact users have with tech support staff and how well – or badly – it operates can colour perceptions of the organisation’s IT infrastructure and services. With improved employee productivity and operational efficiency the driving forces behind IT service management investment, software solutions, which address these imperatives, are likely to find favour with both management and frontline helpdesk staff. Deploying a unified endpoint management (UEM) solution can enable service desks to achieve these ends. Here are a few of the benefits a UEM solution can offer.
Cost savings
I
t’s functional rather than glamorous and almost every large organisation has one. Whether it’s for employees, external customers or both, the service desk remains the operational hub of most IT departments across the region. Typically, it will perform multiple functions from a single point of contact, including tracking and managing tickets, providing direct assistance to users and responding to a wide range of techrelated questions. The service desk is likely to be the first and only point of
18 | September 2018
Basic maintenance and desktop management activities – think upgrades, patches, fixes, security updates and the like – continue to consume as much as half the IT service management budget in many large organisations, according to 2017 research by Forbes. Software which allows the helpdesk to manage endpoints can help reduce this operational spend via the automation of routine activities such as patch management and software deployment. A UEM solution’s power management function can lead to immediate savings on desktop power consumption while its software license management function can help organisations avoid unnecessary expenditure on unused licenses and fines for improper license use. It can also make it easier to manage an environment where staffs are permitted to bring their own devices to work. Being able to do this effectively and safely can reduce the need to invest in hardware – another significant cost saving to add to the ledger. The net result of these collective savings is a higher return on IT investment – something finance and IT leaders alike invariably welcome.
Speedier service Tech support tickets are the bread and butter work of every service desk. There’s a gamut of regular, basic issues, from forgotten passwords to the blue screen of death, which can
collectively account for a big chunk of the day for admin teams. Being able to solve these routine problems from the helpdesk console not only saves a significant amount of time for technicians, it makes for happier – and more productive – end users as well.
Track and manage mobile devices The days of desktop-dominated enterprises are over. More organisations are going mobile and a UEM solution can make a fleet of laptops, smartphones and tablets easier to track and manage from a central console. It can also make it possible for technicians to minimise bandwidth consumption while they’re carrying out management and maintenance activities.
It can also spare technicians the hassle of having to learn to use multiple applications for various endpoint functions, such as OS deployment, mobile device management and USB device management.
Improved security
Incidences of hacking and malicious activity are on the rise around the world and they’re increasing in scale, sophistication and severity into the bargain. Protecting sensitive personal and company data has become a business imperative for organisations of all stripes and an increasing challenge for IT departments around the country. Research suggests many breaches occur as the result of Less time to train known vulnerabilities, for which patches are already available. The average service desk experiences a relatively high turnover rate, with many staff using the role as a stepping stone to other IT UEM solution makes it easier for service desk staff to patch positions. Training new team members can be time consuming and and secure the network. It can be configured to generate expensive. A user-friendly UEM tool can cut down the cost, courtesy vulnerable systems reports and resolve security loopholes of the fact that helpdesk admins need only become familiar with automatically, making it a key weapon in the fight to stay one one console, not two. step ahead of hackers and cyber-criminals.
September 2018 | 19
News In Detail
ServiceNow and Box Power the Future of Work for the Enterprise
S
erviceNow and Box, Inc have
through easy management of business
step in our mission to make the world of
announced the integration of their
processes across the enterprise,
work, work better for people.”
platforms to provide customers
including IT, HR, customer service and
with an enhanced collaboration and content management experience for
security. “Today's employees expect great
“Digital businesses of the future will be driven by best-of-breed applications connecting to each other and ensuring
their most important business processes.
digital experiences, at home and at
that people can collaborate on content
The two companies are boosting
work. That means it’s more important
wherever they work,” said Jeetu Patel,
productivity for workers, making it easier
than ever for companies competing in
chief product officer at Box. “With
to securely collaborate on their most
the war for talent to embrace technology
today’s announcement, teams using the
important content. The new capabilities
that makes the employee experience
Now Platform will be able to create new
will give employees direct access to
simpler, faster, better,” said CJ Desai,
users and groups, as well as securely
important documents and folders stored
chief product officer at ServiceNow.
access, preview and share files right
and managed in Box’s cloud content
“The integration of Box with our cross-
within the Now Platform. We are excited
management platform, directly from
company workflow platform gives
to be working with ServiceNow to make
the Now Platform. This helps companies
employees what they need, where and
collaboration on enterprises’ most critical
deliver great employee experiences
when they need it and is an important
content seamless, simple and secure.”
20 | September 2018
ESET, A Strong Performer in Endpoint Detection and Response 2018 Report
E
SET has been named a strong performer in The Forrester Wave: Endpoint Detection And Response, Q3 2018, report. For the purpose of analysis, Forrester invited 12 participants which were identified in the evaluation as the most significant endpoint detection and response (EDR) providers. The report analyzed the participants to show how each provider measured up and helped security and risk (S&R) professionals make the right choice. The authors of the report analyzed EDR solutions and observed that EDR has come to define any endpoint product that performs behavioral analyses and exposes some ability to respond to threats with wide-ranging capabilities. The report considered the strategies of the different vendors and segmented the EDR market into three target customer uses: • EP solutions for automated detection for management simplicity • Solutions that empower analyst-led threat hunting for detecting sophisticated actors • Platform vendors with key functionality embedded across their portfolio The report also revealed that more S&R professionals see EDR as a way to address their top challenges. The report evaluated ESET’s EDR tool, ESET Enterprise Inspector and found that it was a combined EDR/EP single-agent solution with reporting and threat hunting capabilities exposed through a unified remote administrator dashboard. This provides a single view into all of ESET security products. ESET’s CTO Juraj Malcho commented, “We think ESET’s recognition as a strong performer in the latest Forrester Wave: Endpoint Detection And Response report demonstrates our commitment to providing an excellent EDR tool. We are extremely proud to offer a sophisticated combination of strong endpoint protection with an EDR solution. We believe this technology to be especially important for providing increased visibility as well as enhanced detection and response capabilities for ESET customers.”
The authors of the report analyzed EDR solutions and observed that EDR has come to define any endpoint product that performs behavioural analyses and can respond to threats. September 2018 | 21
News In Detail
Gartner Identifies Five Emerging Technology Trends That Will Blur the Lines Between Human and Machine
G
artner Inc has revealed Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2018, revealing the five distinct emerging technology trends that will blur the lines between humans and machines. Business and technology leaders will continue to face rapidly accelerating technology innovation that will profoundly impact the way they engage with their workforce, collaborate with their partners, and create products and services for their customers," said Mike J. Walker, Research Vice President at Gartner."IOs and technology leaders should always be scanning the market along with assessing and piloting emerging technologies to identify new business opportunities with high impact potential and strategic relevance for their business.� According to Gartner, of the five emerging technology trends, artificial intelligence is the first with AI platform as a Service (PaaS), artificial general intelligence, autonomous driving (levels 4 and 5), autonomous mobile robots, conversational AI platform, deep neural nets, flying autonomous vehicles, smart robots, and virtual assistants. The second trend is of digitized ecosystems enabled by blockchain, blockchain for data security, digital twin, IoT platform, and knowledge graphs. The third is do-it-yourself biohacking enabled by biochips, cultured or artificial tissue, brain-computer interface, augmented reality, mixed reality and smart fabrics. The fourth trend is transparently
22  |  September 2018
immersive experiences enabled by 4D printing, connected home, edge AI, selfhealing system technology, silicon anode batteries, smart dust, smart workspace and volumetric displays. The fifth trend
as outlined by Gartner is ubiquitous infrastructure enabled by technologies such as 5G, carbon nanotube, deep neural network ASICs, neuromorphic hardware and quantum computing.
H
Hortonworks, IBM, Red Hat to Containerized Big Data
ortonworks, IBM, and Red Hat have collaborated to build a common enterprise deployment to enable big data workloads to run in a hybrid manner across on-premises, multi-cloud and edge architectures. In the initial phase of the Open Hybrid Architecture Initiative, the companies will work together to optimize Hortonworks Data Platform, Hortonworks DataFlow, Hortonworks DataPlane and IBM Cloud Private for Data for use on Red Hat OpenShift, an industry-leading enterprise container and Kubernetes application platform. This will allow users to develop and deploy containerized big data workloads, ultimately making it easier for customers to manage data applications across hybrid cloud deployments. “Today we are thrilled that Hortonworks and IBM Cloud Private’s data portfolio have selected Red Hat OpenShift as the trusted Kubernetes platform for big data workloads,” said Ashesh Badani, vice president and general manager, Cloud Platforms, Red Hat. “By building and managing their applications via containers and Kubernetes with OpenShift, customers and the big data ecosystem have opportunities to bring this next generation of big data workloads to the hybrid cloud and deliver the benefits of an agile, efficient, reliable, multi-cloud infrastructure.” “The work that Red Hat, IBM and Hortonworks are doing to modernize enterprise big data workloads via containerization will help customers to take advantage of the agility, economics and scale of a hybrid data architecture,” said Rob Bearden, chief executive officer of Hortonworks. “The innovations can enable the seamless and trusted hybrid deployment model needed today by enterprises that are undergoing significant business model transformation.” Rob Thomas, general manager, IBM Analytics said, “scaling the ladder to AI demands robust data prep, analytics, data science and governance, all of which are easily scaled and streamlined in the kind of containerized, Kubernetes-orchestrated environments that we’re talking about today.”
September 2018 | 23
Insight | OMA Emirates
Moving towards a cashless economy
T
Niranj Sangal Group CEO OMA Emirates Group
The use of Digital Wallets has better transaction security as they monitor, authenticate and store data in encrypted formats securing all personal information of the user. 24 | September 2018
oday’s world is moving at a fast space with changes and countries across the globe have been striving to turn into Cashless Economies. One of UAE’s Vision for 2021 is ‘Cashless Payments’ for which many banks and telecommunication agencies are now moving focus towards Digital Payments with services like ‘Digital Wallets’. UAE is considered to be one of the leading countries with the most number of smartphone penetration. To work towards the aim and turning the population into a digital market, various Digital Wallets erupted in the country with customized services. Face Recognition is one of the feature introduced on Digital Wallets to make checkout processes even quicker. OMA Emirates Digital Wallet Solution is integrated with Face Recognition, GPS Identification, NFC, QR Code and Surveillance which allows users to walk out of stores without even screening or tapping their smartphones at the terminals. The solution is designed to allow users to use Digital Wallets for Payment, P2P Transfer and Remittance Services via Virtual Payment Cards and even add Identifications Cards like Driving License and Health Cards. The system of introducing face recognition will be able to enhance payment checkout process as merchants today are always on the hunt for new and innovative solutions. Transactions can be approved on the registered mobile through Face ID feature, wherein the process is complete once the users face is recognized. For security reasons, Surveillance can also be integrated with the Digital Wallet to avoid time-consuming checkout counters, failed transactions and other errors. For example, an in-store camera installed will be able to recognize the user based on the profile picture registered on the Digital Wallet and approve payments. Once the image is captured, the checkout process is complete and a receipt is sent via SMS or Email Address registered. The use of Digital Wallets have better transaction security as they monitor, authenticate and store data in encrypted formats securing all personal information of the user. On the other hand the use of completing transaction via mobile devices is consider to be more secure. Apart from the Digital Wallet Solution, OMA Emirates has recently added QR Code based payment solution, Biometric Payment Solution and Instant Account Opening and Card Issuance Kiosks to its Digital Banking Portfolio.
Insight | Commvault
Commvault, Alibaba Cloud to Jointly Accelerate Digital Transformations
C
Owen Taraniuk Vice President Commvault
ommvault and Alibaba Cloud have announced the
advanced cloud computing and data management capabilities.
decision to leverage each other’s technology and market
As cloud continues to serve as the backbone of today’s digital
advantages to deliver advanced, innovative and scalable
economy, Alibaba Cloud and Commvault are committed to
hybrid cloud data management solutions that will address data
deliver innovative technologies to address the ever-growing
challenges securely and efficiently.
challenges in data storage, processing, management and
This partnership will allow businesses to transition to the cloud with greater ease and security and will provide integrated
protection." “The strategic combination of Commvault’s leadership in
features on a single unified platform for reliable and scalable
backup & recovery and moving data to, from and between
computing, centralized support at all stages of cloud migration
clouds and Alibaba Cloud’s strengths will provide customers
journey, and personalized offerings. The partnership will provide
with scalable and secure cloud data solutions, while supporting
customers with a platform for knowledge transfer, customer and
the acceleration of digital transformations across the globe,”
partner evaluation and feedback, which will enable Commvault
said Owen Taraniuk, Vice President of Worldwide Partnerships
and Alibaba Cloud to develop innovative offerings and upgrades
and Market Development, Commvault. “Commvault’s
to support businesses.
partnership with Alibaba continues building on our unwavering
Dajiang Han, Head of Global Alliance, Alibaba Cloud Global
commitment to delivering cloud-optimized solutions so that our
said, “We are excited to enter this strategic partnership with
customers can leverage the power and benefits of a multi-cloud
Commvault and concertedly empower our customers through
strategy for modernized data protection and disaster recovery.”
September 2018 | 25
Insight | Gemalto
G
Todd Moore Senior Vice President, Encryption Products Gemalto
Gemalto's Solution to Boost Cloud Security 26 | September 2018
emalto has announced the availability of its next-generation key management solution, SafeNet Virtual KeySecure, for enhanced cloud security. The solution will enable companies to extend their data protection policies to private and public clouds and centralize encryption and key management operations across multiple cloud environments. SafeNet Virtual KeySecure can integrate with multiple cloud service providers and virtual platforms such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V and OpenStack. It thus provides companies with a single key management solution spanning multiple private or public cloud environments. Data protection operations become simpler using SafeNet Virtual KeySecure as it allows for a uniform view, control, and administration of cryptographic policies and keys for sensitive data. The key features of the SafeNet Virtual KeySecure include: centralized key management, flexibility, compatibility with the OASIS Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP), and support for key storage in on-premise hardware security modules (HSMs). “Businesses need options when it comes to cloud security and should not be limited to working in just one environment. With SafeNet Virtual KeySecure, organizations can move more workloads to the cloud and easily monitor the access and movement of their encrypted data,” said Todd Moore, Senior Vice President of Encryption Products at Gemalto. He added, “we are seeing a lot of customers who are interested in taking advantage of the business continuity offered by cloud environments, without compromising the security of their most critical asset, data. Current KeySecure customers would also be able to benefit from this new platform and we will be sharing details of a clear migration path with them in the near future.”
Insight | Tata Communications
Tata Communications Opens Cyber Security Response Centre in Dubai
T
ata Communications has unveiled an advanced cyber security response centre in Dubai to offer
enterprises and Government bodies in the UAE and other GCC countries, with cyberattack protection that helps them comply with country regulation requirements such as SAMA (Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority) and NESA (National Electronic Security Authority). The centre aims to provide 24/7/365 cyber security services to help customers stay one step ahead of evolving cyber threats in the Middle East region. This is the company's fourth dedicated security centre, after Chennai, Pune and Singapore. Company will enable organizations to tackle threats proactively by delivering security for the cloud, and from the cloud to global enterprises throughout their digitisation journey. These services will allow customers to hunt for and respond
UAE. As data and operations become
Asia and Africa said, “The adoption of
to cyber-threats as they happen, ensuring
increasingly digitized in the UAE and
connected digital technologies and
network and infrastructure security.
the wider region, cybersecurity has
applications by consumers, enterprises,
become even more paramount now, and
and governments is growing at a rapid
Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State
collaboration with global leaders in this
pace in the Middle East. Our cyber
for Artificial Intelligence stated “The
area is one step forward to ensure a safe
security response center in the UAE is
launch of Tata Communications cyber
environment for everyone.”
an effort to help governments and large
Inaugurating the centre, HE Omar
security response centre in Dubai is a
Commenting on the launch,
organizations in various vital sectors of
strong indication of the growing market
Radwan Moussalli, Senior VP at Tata
the region in handling and mitigating
in digitization and data solutions in the
Communications for Middle East, Central
cyber threats.”
September 2018 | 27
TechKnow | Dell EMC
Dell EMC Launches PowerEdge MX can be difficult to predict and pose new challenges for IT departments,” said Ashley Gorakhpurwalla, president and general manager, Dell EMC Server and Infrastructure Systems. “PowerEdge MX enables a modular approach to flexibly build and combine compute, storage and networking, so organisations can transform their IT in a way that optimises resources and offers investment protection for future generations of technological advances.” The PowerEdge MX ecosystem includes a newly designed chassis and resource blocks of servers and storage that connect to the infrastructure through a smart I/O fabric. The PowerEdge MX is designed for the software-defined data center – able to support a combination
Ashely Gorakhpurwalla President & General Manager Dell EMC
of dense virtualization, software-defined storage, software-defined networking, artificial intelligence and big data projects. Customers have the flexibility to
D
customise their PowerEdge MX with a
ell EMC has introduced Dell
robust portfolio of components: including
EMC PowerEdge MX, the latest
PowerEdge MX7000 chassis, PowerEdge
high-performance, modular
infrastructure, designed to support a variety of traditional and emerging data center workloads. PowerEdge MX offers the first modular infrastructure architecture designed to easily adapt to future technologies and server disaggregation. Due to its kinetic infrastructure, it frees up customers from technology silos and time-consuming, routine operational management. “While emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, IoT and software-
The PowerEdge MX is designed for the softwaredefined data center – able to support a combination of dense virtualization, software-defined storage, software-defined networking, artificial intelligence and big data projects.
MX740c and MX840c compute sleds, PowerEdge MX5016s storage sled, and PowerEdge MX Ethernet and Fibre Channel switching modules. With PowerEdge MX designed for flexible customisation, Dell EMC’s endto-end support and deployment services include a fully integrated modular solution to customised deployment and configuration for individual customer needs. Services also include ProSupport Plus, which offers round-the-clock support, direct access to senior ProSupport Plus
defined storage and networking, offer
engineers and a designated Technology
competitive benefits, their workloads
Service Manager for full system support.
28 | September 2018
TechKnow | eHosting DataFort
For eHDF, the acquisition is the latest step in the company's efforts to expand beyond its core cloud infrastructure services.
Yasser Zeineldin CEO eHosting DataFort
e
Hosting DataFort has acquired LiveRoute to accelerate the growth of its cloud business and strengthen its portfolio
by including LiveRoute’s public cloud
eHosting DataFort Acquires LiveRoute
offerings based on Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and Microsoft SharePoint. Following
“By acquiring LiveRoute, eHDF will
infrastructure and footprint of top-tier Data
the acquisition, eHDF will be able to
gain access to key end-users who are
Center facilities in the country will enable
provide managed services to customers
making progress in their cloud journeys
LiveRoute’s client base the option of using
having distributed workloads, hosted
and focusing on Microsoft application
Managed Hosting, Private and Hybrid
either on-premise, public cloud hosted
workloads. LiveRoute, on the other hand,
Cloud services. With this acquisition, eHDF
internationally or on a locally hosted data
will gain access to key infrastructure
will continue to expand its Public Cloud
centre within the UAE.
services offered by eHDF, such as Hosting,
portfolio and will be better positioned to
Managed Security Services, Disaster
help regional enterprises invest in digital
as an independent legal entity. This
Recovery, amongst others,” said Yasser
platforms and new business models,” Mr.
acquisition will open new doors for both
Zeineldin, CEO of eHosting DataFort and
Zeineldin added.
LiveRoute and eHDF, wherein they will
General Manager of LiveRoute.
LiveRoute will continue to operate
According to Gartner, spending on
“This well-timed and strategic
public cloud services in the Middle East
their customers. For eHDF, the acquisition
acquisition of LiveRoute, complements
and North Africa region is expected to
is the latest step in the company's
both our business models with respect
reach $2 billion by 2020. Platform-as-a-
efforts to expand beyond its core cloud
to Public Cloud and Microsoft application
service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service
infrastructure services.
workloads. eHDF’s investment in compute
(SaaS) will exhibit the highest growth rate.
be able to cross-sell cloud services to
September 2018 | 29
TechKnow | Ring
Ring to Showcase Home Security Products at GITEX 2018
Mohammad Meraj Hoda VP, Business Development Ring, MEA
R
ing has announced that it will showcase its innovative home security products and services at the GITEX Technlogy Week 2018 and explain its features and benefits via demos. Ring will showcase its latest suite of smart home security products such as Ring Video Doorbell 2 that allows customers to communicate with visitors from anywhere, Ring Video Doorbell Pro which in addition to the features of the Video Doorbell 2 has advanced motion etection and is hardwired, Video Doorbell Elite which requires professional-installation with power over ethernet offering reliable connection in home security; Ring Floodlight Cam, the first motion-activated floodlight camera with two-way audio, HD video, built in floodlights and a siren; and the new Ring Spotlight Cam Battery, a long lasting battery-powered powered HD camera with two-way audio, HD video, motion detection, and a siren; the Spotlight
30 | September 2018
Ring’s products have been hailed as dependable second set of eyes and ears to deter would-be thieves from entering homes, and it has been proven that Ring doorbells can reduce crime by up to 50% in neighbourhoods across the US.
Cam Wired with two-way talk and a siren solution at GITEX. “Following Ring’s successful inaugural participation at GITEX last year, we are excited to once again be part of the biggest technology exhibition in the Middle East. Ring’s mission to reduce crime in neighbourhoods drives every decision we make, and we hope to provide convenience and peace of mind to homeowners across the region by keeping an eye on their family and property, even when they can't. Globally, Ring’s products have been hailed as dependable second set of eyes and ears to deter would-be thieves from entering homes, and it has been proven that Ring doorbells can reduce crime by up to 50% in neighborhoods across the US. The goal is to bring the same convenience and security to Middle Eastern neighborhoods,” said Mohammad Meraj Hoda, Vice President of Business Development – Middle East & Africa at Ring.
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