Journey's end

Security Identity Management Alert By Dave Kearns, Network World
September 27, 2011 06:00 AM ET

The foundation for security and enterprise management

. What's this?

The fire is out, the moon is down
The parting glass is dry and done
And I must go and leave this town
Before the rising of the sun
And long's the road and far's the mile
Before I rest my soul again
-- J.B. Goodenough

Time to pack up and head out, the Security Identity Management Alert will be no more. Still, I couldn't leave you without some final words of advice, could I?

MORE ADVICE: The Security Identity Management Alert archive

One of my favorite new proverbs is, "If it's free, then you aren't the customer, you're the product" (also seen as "If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold"). This is especially true in social media -- Facebook, Google+ and the others that will come along want you so they can sell you to advertisers. But in order to maximize their return they need to collect as much demographic information about you as they can. "Demographic information" is just another way of saying "identity data," and no matter how much the powers that be tell you it will be scrubbed, you will still be able to be identified by a determined searcher.

Related Content

In the enterprise, remember that the cost of the software, service or applications is usually 20% or less of the total budget you will need. The seven days (or one month, or one year) free support (see mention of "free" above) will be worth slightly less than you pay for it. The consultants may take up permanent residence in your offices, billing you by the hour. Make sure your project is adequately funded before taking the first steps towards implementation.

Remember the words of King Solomon who wrote, more than 4,000 years ago, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Cloud computing, for example, is just data center computing moved to a new platform. The same principles (although not necessarily the same methods) apply when securing that platform and integrating identity services.

That's all the room I have here, time to wrap it up. But stop by my other home, IdM, the Journal of Identity Management, where the conversation will continue.

Oh all the comrades that e'er I've had, they are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I've had, they would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call good night and joy be with you all
-- Traditional

Read more about security in Network World's Security section.

Dave Kearns is senior analyst for Kuppinger-Cole and editor of IdM, the Journal of Identity Management.