The front page of The Wall Street Journal is not always the best place to be. I can tell you, very frankly, that one of the last things I would want to see is my company on the front page of The Wall Street Journal in connection with the words “data breach.” We have all seen the recent examples: millions of credit card numbers stolen, countless customers’ personal information jeopardized. And we have all thought, “I am so glad I’m not at that company!”
In today’s competitive environment, the question is not whether to have data security or not. The question is whether, after spending billions on creating your brand, do you want all of your hard work destroyed with one lost tape or compromised system. This is why security is important: the reputation and credibility of your company is on the line. The consequences of poor security are harsh, and range from lawsuits to fines to public humiliation, or all of the above.
One of the only ways to truly secure you data is through encryption. Data encryption secures information by converting data so that the original content is unreadable. The best encryption solutions have a few critical characteristics:
- End-to-end protection and security throughout every layer of your IT architecture, minimizing the possibility of a breach at any point in the system.
- Security for data at every stage: in flight, at rest and end-of-life. It is not enough simply to secure data at one point.
- Fully integrated security solutions that address data security for storage, networks and servers will be more efficient, flexible and scalable.
In order to keep yourself and your company out of the headlines, you should very carefully consider encryption strategies for your data center. It is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make.
Emulex recently announced its own enterprise-class, host-based security solution that protects data across the enterprise, encrypts data in-flight and at-rest, and provides effective access controls. The solution uses RSA Key Manager, an industry-leading, centrally administered, enterprise key management system that simplifies the deployment and ongoing use of encryption throughout the enterprise. Emulex Secure HBA technology improves the data center’s security stance and minimizes the window of data vulnerability, because data is protected where it’s created, in the host.