IT security: Much More than Data Protection
Your data is everywhere – in house, on the Internet, in the cloud, on thousands of mobile devices. Data access gives your people the information and collaboration they need for fast, solid decisions and execution. But when employees expect to access data from a desktop at the office, home laptop, or tablet at 30,000 feet, how can you be sure your critical corporate data is as secure as it is accessible?
Data security was once a relatively straightforward proposition, back when companies used on-premise systems and corporate data was stored, managed, and used almost entirely within the company’s own network. Then the Internet changed everything, opening up data flow beyond corporate walls to mobile employees, stakeholders, and customers – and ushering in a new era of risks and threats to corporate data.
Data breaches make for big headlines; think of recent events at Sony, Volkswagen, Lockheed Marin, and even the CIA. Such compromises underscore the degree of both public relations and financial damage that can be done by professional hackers.
Public leaks of confidential product development data, customer credit or other personal information, and internal communications will create real harm for any company. Internationally, analysts estimate the damage caused by cybercrime to average, 2% of the average national GDP. The average loss from internal fraud? Seven percent of company revenue.
Securing Data
No company or institution is immune from cybercrime. New attacks happen daily, orchestrated by professional hackers and cyberterrorists. To avoid public scandal and financial loss, CIOs must protect proprietary product development, critical financial data, and sensitive customer information. They must also comply with internal and external data security policies. Legal and regulatory mandates cover evolving issues of data privacy, while internal IT security focus on safeguarding data and ensuring business continuity. Innovative business models such as cloud computing, mobility, and Internet interoperation only raise concerns – and risks.
Successful businesses manage exposure to external and internal threats. Even more important, they view data security as an ongoing effort to build the highest level of protection, fortify the entire systems landscape, and meet all compliance regulations. At SAP, even our most security-savvy customers are concerned. They regularly come to us with questions like these:
• How can we best protect against cybercriminals?
• How secure is our data in the cloud?
• Which countries are approved and qualified to locate our cloud hardware?
• How can we secure our data on mobile devices?
• What’s the best way to cleanse data that’s no longer needed?
Dynamic Detection
The corporate world is already working to secure infrastructures and data using firewalls, encryption, and antivirus software. But to keep up with threats, companies must move from a static to a dynamic approach to data security. A dynamic approach uses target systems to feed information about activity within the network, SAP systems, users, and data flow. Detection and analysis software can then alert users to real-time events that require further investigation.
Security Solutions from SAP
SAP’s fully integrated security solution set includes SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions, SAP NetWeaver Identity Management, SAP NetWeaver Single-Sign On, and more. SAP Enterprise Threat Detection provides insight into suspicious activities in the SAP software landscape. Use it to identify breaches as they occur, neutralize danger, and prevent critical damage to your business. Or consider code vulnerability analysis, which prevents hackers from finding flaws by eliminating them from the start during custom code development.
SAP solutions are flexible and designed to securely integrate with new systems as companies expand through growth or acquisition. Combine world-class SAP security solutions with a comprehensive data security and protection strategy – one that includes everything from code development to installation, configuration, and monitoring – and you’ll be well positioned to safeguard your most valuable information assets.
SAP Expertise
SAP's core business is focused on business-critical information, and our experts are dedicated to developing secure enterprise environments for both cloud and on-premise deployments. Our goal: the security and privacy of your business data in a networked economy. Get end-to-end advice from security analysis and strategy, through installation and configuration, and to operations and management.
Read the entire blog series to see how you can guard against threats – everything from computer viruses to denial-of-service attacks to theft of customer information. The series will cover innovative security solutions and services for on-premise, mobile, HANA, cloud, data privacy, threat detection, and governance, risk, and compliance. To learn more about how SAP security consulting can help you ensure sustainable data security, visit us online.
