- Bank Web sites full of security holes
- SCO Group: Its future is all used up
- Maligned feature being added to IPv6
- I returned my iPhone 3G after six days!
- VPNs: Six burning questions
News | Newsletters | Podcasts | Chats | Opinions | RSS Feeds | This Week In Print | IT Careers | Community | Reports | Downloads | Slideshows | New Data Center
Partner Sites:App Performance | On Demand Security | Networking Solution | SOA | Value of WDS
Identity management is a key initiative for 2004 and 2005, according to IT executives participating in Nemertes Research’s upcoming “Securing the Enterprise” research benchmark. Digital “identity” refers to the traits, attributes and preferences upon which one may receive personalized services. Identity traits could include government-issued IDs, corporate user accounts and biometric information. Two user “attributes” which may be associated with identity are presence and location.
Identity, presence and location are three characteristics that lie at the core of some of the most critical emerging technologies in the market today: real-time communications (including VoIP, instant messaging and mobile communications), collaboration and identity-based security.
“Presence” is a particularly hot issue, with upwards of 70% of participants in the upcoming benchmark saying they anticipate presence technologies to become pervasive in their organizations within the next 12 months. Presence - most often associated with real-time communications systems such as IM - describes the state of a user’s interaction with a system: which computer they are accessing, whether they are idle or working, and perhaps also which task they are currently performing (reading a document, composing e-mail etc.).
“Location” refers to the user’s physical location - typically, it includes latitude, longitude and (sometimes) altitude. Location is most often associated with GPS-enabled mobile devices.
Though presence and location are not often discussed in an information security context, they can contribute to the security of the enterprise in quite surprising ways.
Authentication and authorization mechanisms generally focus on determining the “who” aspect of identity. But knowing “where” (location) and “what” (presence) can assist in user authentication/authorization through:
* Consistency checking. If a user is attempting to access a company’s network from an IP address in China, while the user’s GPS device locates them in San Jose, the system can raise a red flag and refuse access.
* Selective access. If a user is connecting from a location that is not included in a pre-determined set of locations (home, office, branch) then the authorization system may request additional authentication mechanisms such as two-factor authentication.
If the IT manager is knowledgeable regarding Cisco technology, he would have 2 options. Option 1 - Consult...- Anonymous
Partner Content
Explore the Ultrium Edge
The powerful tape technology can address data security with tape encryption as well as long term data protection.
Find out more
Disk and Tape Square Off
Discover what disk and tape really cost -- and which solution provides lower total cost of ownership and optimizes energy use for your organization
Download the White Paper
Don't Fall For The Myths
The Clipper Group explores the truth behind the myths of tape, digging into the misconceptions in the disk vs. tape debate.
Download the White Paper
Will You Add Tape Too?
Over two thirds of disk-only users look to add tape back into storage infrastructure according to recent survey.
Download Survey Information
Comment