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As the pressure to control IT infrastructure costs continues, the trend toward virtualization remains at the forefront of every organization’s IT environment. Leading analysts agree that virtualization can be an extremely effective strategy to better manage physical data centers and their increasing costs around storage, real estate, energy, hardware and software.

Data center virtualization consolidates physical servers into groups of virtual resources. These VMs are then spread across multiple hosts, often times in the Cloud, according to resource requirements. To even further this efficiency, unused and underperforming VMs are decommissioned or archived on a regular basis.

A recent PKWARE survey of 1,000+ enterprises found that the majority of virtualized environments are not secured properly. Though dormant, the inactive VMs represent a viable security threat and require the appropriate security controls to mitigate risk and avoid fines.

Read this whitepaper to learn about industry best practices for managing the security risks and storage challenges associated with dormant virtual machines.

Every minute of every day presents the opportunity for a data mishap. A security breach, as well as lost, stolen or even compromised records triggers negative exposure that quickly equates to forfeited sales, legal fees, disclosure expenses and a host of remediation costs. The fallout can result in years of struggle to recoup reputation and repair a brand in the marketplace. In this whitepaper:

• Provide flexibility within security formats.
• Streamline data exchange between partners and clients.
• Extend data security to partners.

Increased IT capital and operating costs in the data center are a growing concern. During the data exchange process with partners data costs can have a huge impact, especially those costs related to storage and bandwidth. By maximizing the efficiency of data management, we can help keep these costs to a minimum.

The Common Access Card (CAC), a "smart" card about the size of a credit card, is the standard identification for U.S. active-duty military personnel, Selected Reserve, Department of Defense(DoD) civilian employees, and eligible contractor personnel. Since its inception, the DoD has issued more than 24 million smart card-based secure credentials with 3.5 million employees using CACs to electronically sign e-mails, submit time and attendance information securely, gain physical access to controlled sites, and most significantly, log onto to the DoD network. In this whitepaper:

• Explore the additional and alternative data security uses for CAC smart cards.
• Understand the increasing vulnerabilities of data.
• Implement security measures to protect sensitive information.

IT executives are looking for ways to maximize the potential of the emerging data dynamic while minimizing its risk. What's needed is a solution that both supports the parameters and addresses the requirements of the new data landscape: security-oriented, portable, and cost effective.

Data is more ubiquitous and more strategic, yet more vulnerable than ever before. A major contributing factor to this new data landscape is cloud computing. IT executives must figure out how to adequately address the risks and cost-effectively exploit the advantages represented by moving corporate data into the cloud. In this whitepaper:

• Understand the growing need for cloud computing.
• Implement security to protect data in at rest, in motion, and in use.
• Save time and money while protecting your data in the cloud.

IT executives are looking for ways to maximize the potential of the emerging data dynamic while minimizing its risk. The increased number of data thieves and the computerization of IT, have contributed to a new data landscape that demands a proactive, not reactive, security stance. What's needed is a solution that both supports the parameters and addresses the requirements of the new data landscape: security-oriented, portable, and cost effective.

Federal agencies have been required to make significant investments in smart card technology to verify identity of employees and contractors. Compliance with the mandate is high, with 89% of all employees and contractors receiving electronic credentials by the end of 2011. Now that deployment is nearing saturation, agencies seek to realize more value from their investments while ensuring the security of agency sensitive data. In this whitepaper:

• Understand the background of HPSD-12 requirements.
• Discover alternative data security uses for smart media.
• Implement data protection technologies to protect PII.

HSPD-12 is a necessary and mandated program with which federal agencies must comply. The PACS and LACS, when implemented, materially mitigate the risks of terrorist attack on federal facilities and systems, increasing the protection for all US citizens. Federal agencies will gain more out of their investments in the technology HSPD-12 by applying it to other agency data protection needs.

Cloud services and virtualization are driving significant shifts in IT spending and deployments. While the public IT cloud has a silver lining for many adopters, it isn't without drawbacks, especially in regards to data protection. In this whitepaper:

• Leverage available processing powers to realize cost efficiencies.
• Discover the "5 Immutable Laws of Virtualization."
• Prevent abuse and misuse in the cloud with data-centric encryption.

There’s a lot to love about the cloud. Cost savings from the economies of scale and shared resources, anytime access from multiple mobile devices, high availability for large backup data storage, and ease-of-use. Used properly, data-centric encryption security prevents unauthorized access and tampering of data, which means organizations can enjoy the business benefits of cloud computing without putting sensitive data at risk.

Mainframe modernization via Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and other means introduces certain risks to the quality and accuracy of data. Even though the mainframe has the most durable protections in the industry, necessary integration with small platform systems – in order to provide user productivity interfaces – opens the door to “man-in-the-middle” attacks and other threats far beyond those contemplated in the system’s initial design. Learn about ways to help you:

• Understand cloud computing, beyond the buzz words.
• Recognize “man-in-the-middle” vulnerabilities.
• Protect your network through verification.

The mainframe is a vital component for both backend processing and for web application hosting. Cloud computing meets the need of organizations requiring applications that attain specific cost, flexibility, or control levels. Mainframe executives must take into account the risks of the cloud’s distributed architecture and take appropriate actions to address them.

In the past, data center security was simpler to implement; in fact, there was a time when data center managers could see all the inputs and outputs to the mainframe in one or two rooms. This was when data was input via punched cards and output was recorded on tape or impact printers using green bar paper. The SNA network was secured because all the devices on the network were defined, and a physical survey of the data center was all that was needed to ensure it was secured. Now, this is no longer the case. Learn about ways to help you:

• Understand the importance of data-centric security.
• Execute security based on the three constraints, "security, usability, and cost."
• Utilize the advantages a mainframe offers to mitigate risk.

The mainframe is a vital, growing resource for managing an organization's mission-critical applications and data. The challenges and opportunities faced by the mainframe have evolved since its original inception, leading to new compliance expectations. Protecting the privacy of sensitive mainframe data is paramount among new compliance requirements; and encryp¬tion is the natural means to achieve this privacy.

In the past, several articles and whitepapers have focused specifically on issues of data security, risk, and appropriate controls. While information security is a pervasive need, relatively few mainframe professionals focus on data security as a discrete discipline, even though the mainframe is central to many applications and exposed to great risk. As a result, many seasoned mainframe workers and managers could still benefit from a broader understanding of information security risks and remedies. Learn about how to:

• Understand the applications of PCI DSS, HIPAA, HITECH.
• Recognize new incursions and threats to the mainframe environment.
• Discover 7 issues that mainframe management now faces.

Data security will always operate as something of an “arms race.” As identified risks are mitigated and appropriate controls established, new threats arise from data thieves and cyber vandals. In addition to primary considerations that all organizations must address, gathering further insights into how some have addressed specific issues can be a great benefit to helping you protect your organization.

While most professionals agree that protecting sensitive customer and company data is a top priority, few can agree on precisely what data-centric security means and how best to implement it. Learn about ways to help you:

• Understand the three step approach to data-centric security
• Control unstructured data
• Recognize both technical and business requirements for implementation

A comprehensive data-centric security strategy is a long-term, complex undertaking, and there are no short-cuts. File/data encryption provides protection that stays with unstructured data as it is replicated across multiple devices, platforms and zones. Look for products that meet business and technical requirements and can be implemented rapidly and grow along with the company’s long-term data-centric solution strategy.

Organizations are beginning to focus on data encryption from both an enterprise data center and employee perspective. Mainframes, midrange servers and Windows®/UNIX®/Linux® servers have been encrypting data for some time. However, now that desktops and laptops are using strong data encryption methodologies, the question of contingency access has risen up the corporate agenda. Learn how to:

• Prevent encrypted data being held hostage.
• Implement contingency keys in the zSeries and windows server.
• Enforce policies in the enterprise.

Contingency keys in operation have no platform boundaries or restrictions. It is possible for an enterprise to achieve contingency access to data even when the end-user is employing password-based encryption, because the contingency key is still included in the encryption operation.

Information is the key corporate asset. While some of the information is digitally archived, much of it is accessed and exchanged internally and externally countless times using common business applications such as document editors and word processors, spreadsheets, databases, or email programs. This routine exchange of digital information has become the life-blood of many organizations. Learn how to:

• Ensure the integrity of the original data through lossless compression.
• Reduce the costs of data significantly by using superior compression.
• Increase efficiency data to lower transfer times.

Data compression offers a technology solution for increasing the efficiencies and decreasing the costs of storing and transferring critical business information. With average compression rates of 50 percent per file, it makes sense to integrate compression technology into business processes and applications.

When facing the pressures of regulatory oversight, email security, business-to-business requirements, and increased threats to networked environments, organizations must be proactive in protecting their data. Learn how to:

• Implement asymmetric encryption to provide superior data security.
• Simplify Public Key infrastructure management.
• Manage keys while keeping costs low.

The use of PKI and public/private key encryption is a data security best practice. This can be pursued by an organization without encountering high costs or over-use of valuable resources, and will provide superior data security.

Best practices dictate that data entrusted to affiliates within a data-exchange process should be protected as it is transmitted, wherever it resides. However, some parties are more committed to securing information than others. This creates a problem that security-minded companies have been struggling with for years—how to control the security of data at the endpoints in the data-exchange. Learn how to:

• Implement secure data transfer to partners with no cost to them.
• Seamlessly integrate PartnerLink into existing infrastructure.
• Provide secure transfer to scale from one to unlimited endpoints.

A proper secure data partnership allows the sponsor to assume control of the data-exchange process and protect their repu¬tation in the marketplace. At the same time, the partnership respects the interests of all partners, enabling all parties involved to work with independence—preserving the integrity of each and the good of all.

Learn how to maximize your investment in hardware cryptography, while maintaining data security and portability. With the proper software, IBM’s System z ICSF enables organizations to take advantage of significant cost resource savings when encrypting data. Learn how you can:

• Leverage hardware cryptography on system Z for increased performance.
• Understand which system z machines support hardware crypto.
• Reduce data to significantly lower costs.

Data reduction and encryption software leveraging IBM’s ICSF will enable organizations to take advantage of significant cost and resource savings when encrypting data. If done properly, organizations can increase efficiency and guarantee data security.