News of Green, Mobile, IT and Data Centre Technology - at eWEEK Europe UK
Policy + Control + Protection + Regulations
NHS Takes Action Over Data Security
[...] The office of the UK's Information Commissioner (ICO) Richard Thomas has confirmed that a letter has been sent to the Department of Health asking the organisation to tighten up policy on the control of patient information. The letter will be backed up by spot-checks on hospitals to make sure they are complying with data protection regulations, the ICO has said. [...] Last month, the ICO released a statement naming several hospitals which it said had breached data protection regulations and were now taking action to improve their information security and reminded that the NHS that is has to respect data protection rules like any other organisation. [...] The NHS confirmed that it had received the letter and would be making every effort to comply with data protection regulations. [...]
Start-up Takes On Virtualisation Security
[...] A key concern is ensuring IT administrators have control over their growing virtualised environments and that those environments are in compliance not only with the policies of the particular businesses, but also with such regulations as the federal Sarbanes Oxley Act and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). [...] The HyTrust Appliance is designed to increase that control and compliance, he said. The product, which can be sold as a 1U appliance or as software to run on the customer's hardware, offers a centralised way to control and automate such tasks as virtual machine provisioning, authentication and secure configuration. [...] HyTrust currently manages VMware environments, and policy-based management capabilities for Citrix Systems' Xen hypervisor will come later in the year, he said. The company also is working on products to support infrastructures using Microsoft's Hyper-V technology. [...]
Sophos Adds Data Loss Prevention Technology To Endpoint Suite
[...] This means, says Sophos, that businesses can now use a single agent to protect against data loss, secure their networks against malware, adware, suspicious files and behaviour, as well as control unauthorised devices and applications. And for those organisations seeking to meet the compliance regulations, the Endpoint product also now has a compliance tick box which provides full encryption for hard disks and removable storage. [...] Sophos Endpoint Security and Data Protection also offers device control (such as USB keys), and also has network access control and full disk encryption (entire disk encryption or whole USB key, or just the files that go onto it.). Shaw says the encryption side is mainly used for encryption of laptop disk drives so that data is not compromised if the laptop is lost or stolen. [...] Over last few years we have been adding lot more new things (to Endpoint Security and Data Protection), without charging much more money, he said. So it does antivirus, signature and proactive protection, as well as host intrusion prevention. It also includes anti adware or anti spyware, and includes application controlling, i. [...]
EC Gives UK Two Months To Improve Online Privacy
[...] The European Commission (EC) has increased its pressure on the UK government to establish clear regulations on privacy and data protection that are in line with EU standards. [...] The EC's latest proceeding is a result of the UK authorities' failure to take positive action since the letter of formal notice was sent to them by the Commission in April. The second phase addresses three specific gaps in the rules governing the confidentiality of electronic communications in the UK, which do not meet with EU e-privacy and personal data protection rules. [...] There is no national authority to supervise the interception of communications and hear complaints relating to infringement of personal data protection laws. [...]
Data Loss Companies Risk £500,000 Fine As Fraud Soars
[...] Some businesses, particularly in vertical sectors such as financial services that are already heavily regulated in relation to data protection, often find themselves struggling to stay on top of the latest regulations and requirements. [...] Increased regulation and public expectation over the safety of data poses challenges for the IT department and for those responsible for security policy and training. These challenges are amplified by the real threat of a large fine or other legal sanctions. [...] When things go wrong, a security breach can cause real harm and great distress to thousands of people. These penalties are designed to act as a deterrent and to promote compliance with the Data Protection Act. [...]
Gartner: Cloud Computing Will Replace IT Departments
[...] Cloud services are still criticised for poor security, but a greater problem may turn out to be compliance with regulations for issues such as data protection (an issue highlighted this week in a webinar chaired by eWEEK Europe ). [...] However, other analysts have voiced concern over the security of cloud services. [Public cloud providers] don't have the pieces to meet the regulatory requirements. they don't have the means to meet the compliance issues related to security, Amy DeCarlo, principal analyst for managed IT services at Current Analysis told eWeek earlier this month. [...]
Rentokil Becomes Google’s Biggest Cloud Customer
[...] While some companies fear that cloud services such as Google Apps are not sufficiently secure, or do not comply with data protection regulations Google has always argued strongly that the cloud is more secure. [...] Rentokil Initial, best known for its cleaning and pest control businesses, has become Google's biggest customer for cloud applications, in a deal that will simplify the company's communications and get 35.000 staff on Google Mail by the end of 2010. [...]
Savvis Says Spirit Will Convince Cloud Skeptics
[...] But the location of the data may be the least of your worries, he warns. There are lots of other compliance regulations, which go beyond data, to process and control. . [...] But, I finally asked, all that is not worth much if users simply can't adopt cloud services because they are constrained by their industry's regulations. For instance, many countries have data protection rules which would make it difficult for a company to use a service which stores data elsewhere. [...] Spirit will have three tiers, with firewalls and storage, and a lot of support for service level agreements, but Doerr is proudest of the control interface - a drag and drop control panel that lets users build their own virtual data centres in Savvis' space. [...]
Experts Urge Green IT Education For Inefficient Businesses
[...] That will mean federal money flowing into the pipeline, but it also will mean more pressure on companies to comply with regulations. For example, the federal Environmental Protection Agency in May set specifications for servers to meet the organization's Energy Star rating. [...] However, data centre administrators and their counterparts in other buildings and factories need to figure out how they're going to increase efficiencies, because the federal government&mdash.particularly now, under the Obama administration&mdash.has made green energy a key policy issue, the panelists said. [...]
EC Questions Security Of Open Source Software
[...] The UK government is also involved in the drafting of the new Malmo regulations and has pledged support for extending its existing commitment to open source across Europe, despite the concerns over whether it has even been able to apply the policy in its own country. [...] com agreed to help the Conservative party with internet policy. mySociety developed much of its software under the Affero GPL a version of the GNU General Public License that actually goes further than the standard GPL. In an interview with Heise UK, Steniberg admitted that applications developed by mySociety such as TheyWorkForYou. [...] Speaking at a conference in Budapest earlier this year Florian Schiessl, deputy manager of the Munich LiMux project - one of Europe's most high-profile Linux migrations - said there has to be political will to push through change. Our politicians decided to have independence - we have the political backing. [...]
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