Securing the Borderless Network: Security for the Web 2.0 World

Author: Tom Gillis
Pages: 168
Publisher: Cisco Press
ISBN: 1587058863

Introduction

The future of the Web is mobile, virtualized, and collaborative. Among all the positive aspects and advantages that these changes will bring, there will also be some problems to be addressed and solved. The most important of those will be the problem of security. How do we protect a borderless network? This book aims to be a clear and concise guide that will help IT decision-makers understand and solve the problems they are likely to encounter as their enterprise becomes borderless.

About the author

Tom Gillis is the VP of the Security Technology Business Unit at Cisco. He is a recognized leader in the Internet security industry, with in-depth knowledge of the challenges surrounding secure network infrastructure.

Inside the book

Web 2.0 technologies have changed they way we work, and IT teams around the world are trying to find the right balance between allowing their use as a means of gaining competitive advantage and setting rules that will mitigate the associated security risks, but also reduce their effectiveness.

After a very brief first chapter about the evolution of network security, firewalls and packet filtering, the book dives headlong into the analysis the newest online collaboration technologies, social networks and the rise of storage and applications in the Cloud – and how it all came together and offered unprecedented ease of communication, work and play.

The traditional boundaries between work use and personal use have become blurred. There is a renewed focus on the personalization of service, which is aimed towards building trust between companies and its customers. A more personal, interactive communication with their client base has become a critical element of success. Enter social networks, online forums and communities – followed by the challenges concerning information retainment.

Cloud computing brings along its own set of security related issues. Again, it is partly a matter of trust. Do we trust our cloud infrastructure to keep our data secure? And what about the network implications and changes brought on by teleconferencing and employees working from their smartphones?

After raising all these questions, the book proceeds to answer them. The use of a virtual desktop for accessing company data is a good start. Clear-cut and – above all – realistic and implementable security policies, data loss prevention programs, identity management, and technology that can detect and deflect attacks coming from cyber criminals – these are all things that will secure the borderless enterprise.

Final thoughts

This book is an easy read. Short and concise, the chapters are peppered with examples and case studies that drive the point home. As you might expect from a book written by a Cisco expert and published by Cisco Press, the answers to the presented security problems are often offered in form of a Cisco solution (particularly the Secure Borderless Network architecture).

Other than that, don’t expect to read this book and have all the answers. There a lot of “you should”s and “you need”s, but this book does not present a foolproof, set-in-stone plan on how to manage your borderless network. You will be disappointed if you think of it as anything more than a tool to get you going in the right direction and to help you understand and evaluate the decisions you will have to make.