THE SECURITY WEEK THAT WAS !

This week started with a bang with the UK Govt announcing that Cyber War was imminent (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11562969)  – the ‘Enemy’ now has the capability to :   close down our power grids / transport networks / industry / ( read - critical infrastructure)   – with one flick of a mouse!  

‘They’ could insert Trojans into our infrastructure which could travel through our networks and attack the mainframes running our railways ( for example)  – bringing them to a grinding halt ……with the resulting disorder that ensues.  

 Just like the onset of winter – actually…… about now – when the falling Autumn leaves start to accumulate ' strategically'  on the railway lines – and when coupled with some strategically placed raindrops - can bring trains to a grinding halt.    Causing commuter chaos. ( We have seen those headlines before !) 

So if its not the Unions ( and believe me they are just warming up for the Strikes to come - when the Axeman has finished his public sector cuts )  and not the leaves on the lines,   then it is the Trojans unleashed by …..

• the Terrorists ( Al Queda ) – no …not really their style – 
• the Taliban ( they recently threatened to unleash their brand of Sharia law upon the UK – but I get the impression they are not big in the hacking department)  - so that leaves 
• the Iranians – our friend Mr. Ahmadinejad has made some pretty threatening statements over the years but can his cadre of Revolutionary Guards get their act together to create something ‘Stux’ like ?    Probably not.     
• Or maybe it is the Chinese – they seem to have whole cities dedicated to creating mischief for the rest of the World –getting their own back on Google or just Global consumers generally for not buying enough of their goods – compelling them to lay off about 50m over the last 12 months ( and we thought we had an unemployment problem!)   or is it just the usual journalistic sensationalism dished out to sell more newspapers ?   Most likely.  

But who knows – who can you believe any more.?    Does it matter – shouldn’t  we just be – aware. !!  Like when you cross the road?   Be aware …

So not only is this month National Cyber Security Awareness Month (http://www.staysafeonline.org/ncsam) but this week is also National Identity Fraud Week.  (http://www.stop-idfraud.co.uk/).    No doubt destined to become regulars on our annual calendars as the problem explodes.  ( Check those links !!) 

The other feature of the week has been the extent of dialogue and debate around the Cloud and virtualization.   It is THE hot topic.   At IT Expo in London this week there was not a stand that did not mention these issues in some shape or form.   So are we seeing the death of the internal IT department ?   I think in increasingly larger and larger organizations the economics are starting to look quite compelling. 

A few statistics:

·    Merrill Lynch says the public and private cloud infrastructure will be a $160 billion market by 2011.

·    46 % of companies with cloud computing budgets plan to increase use of services from external providers ( Gartner)

·    $55.5bn global spending forecast for public cloud services in 2014 ( IDC)

Which brings us to that little matter of security.  Methinks the biggest challenge facing corporations in their quest to turn Capex into Opex.   A great opportunity for providers that have created solutions that address this market.   

But more of that another time.

Have a great weekend !