Security Management Strategies for the CIO
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GOLD | Tripwire Enterprise
Tripwire
Price: Not provided by Tripwire
Information security professionals have to deal with more than traditional Internet threats. More than ever, they're evaluating and managing
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risk from a business perspective, which means vulnerability management tools touted for risk management use just won't cut it. Security managers need tools that can keep tabs on incremental changes to the network that could cause irreparable damage.
That's part of what David Lewis, head of security at the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) in Ontario, Canada, was looking for in a tool to help with risk and policy management processes. His organization chose Tripwire Enterprise, the Readers' Choice gold medal winner for risk and policy management.
A longtime Tripwire customer, Lewis has used Enterprise at IESO for approximately seven months. He says it's easy to use, and enjoys that it's Web-enabled and provides tiered-access control.
While many enterprises mitigate risks once they are discovered, with Tripwire, security staff can act proactively and assess and correct problems. Tripwire monitors files, directories, registry settings, directory server objects and configuration files on file and directory servers and network devices, in real time.
Security managers will also appreciate Tripwire's "reconciliation techniques" that map to any organization's change policies. These techniques use multiple acceptance criteria, change categories and conditional change actions, making it easier for policymakers to ensure that an authorized person implemented a change and that the change occurred within a defined time period.
Its online dashboards and reports can also be customized for any environment to show status and history across an enterprise.
Lewis says one major draw of Enterprise is its ability to take the guesswork out of monitoring the system, a feature that will appeal to multitasking managers charged with investigating and mitigating enterprise risks. Readers gave Tripwire Enterprise high marks for its granular and flexible policy management definition capabilities, and for its ability to identify policy violations and understand security risks.
SILVER | Symantec Control Compliance Suite
Symantec
Price: $1,000 per server
Readers gave high scores to Symantec's Control Compliance Suite's granular and flexible policy management definition capabilities, for its ability to identify policy violations and for its integration capabilities with applications and devices.
The suite automates compliance measurement and displays pass/fail scores against regulations and frameworks, giving management an accurate reflection of how systems hold up to regulatory mandates. The product also offers guidance for addressing noncompliant servers and workstations when violations are detected. The suite is available on multiple platforms, enabling managers in heterogeneous environments to visually assess and mitigate complex compliance issues.
BRONZE | Altiris SecurityExpressions
Altiris
Price: $895 per server node
Altiris SecurityExpressions provides enterprises with a scalable agentless or agent-based configuration management solution that readers say is easy to use and offers strong trend reporting. It allows organizations to audit desktops, laptops and servers for compliance with security configuration policies. Systems can be audited on connection, as well as on schedules.
Readers touted its ability to identify policy violations, granular and flexible policy definition capabilities and solid return on investment. The product includes customizable policy files from organizations like NIST, CIS and SANS, and policy files for industry regulations such as SOX, FISMA and HIPAA. Altiris was recently acquired by Symantec.
This was first published in April 2007
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