Reality Check Blog

Reality Check “Tech Briefs” are Symantec’s thoughts and analysis of timely topics and trends addressing the latest IT challenges today and into the future. The blog addresses some of the technology overview of products and solutions that help deliver business value to customers and some of the lessons learned to address security and data management issues, challenges and opportunities.

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  Created: Ctrox 18 Aug 2010

  Are You Prepared for the Exploding ‘Digital Universe’?

  “A perpetual tsunami.”   That’s how IDC describes the current growth of digital information throughout the world.1   It may be an understatement.   IDC estimates that last year, despite the global recession, the so-called “Digital Universe” grew by 62% to nearly 800,000 petabytes. (A petabyte is a million gigabytes.) This year, the Digital Universe is expected to reach 1.2 million petabytes.   Putting this explosive growth in context, IDC expects that by 2020, the amount of digital information will be 44 times as big as it was in 2009.    And here’s another statistic to keep in mind: While the amount of information in the Digital Universe will grow by a factor of 44 by 2020, IDC estimates the number of IT professionals in the world will grow by a factor of just 1.4.   Clearly, big changes are coming. This Tech Brief looks at some of...
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  Updated: Ctrox 29 Jun 2010

  Five Ways That Archiving Helps with e-Discovery

  For many organizations, the impact of litigation has become one of the most costly and time-consuming issues they face. Gartner Inc. estimates that the average cost of defending a lawsuit exceeds $1.5 million per case, with 20% to 30% of that being internal and mostly IT-related. 1 Small wonder, then, that a recent survey of IT professionals found the majority of those polled expect the use of e-discovery processes to increase in the next few years.2   This Tech Brief looks at five ways that archiving can improve the way you handle discovery requests for electronically stored information (ESI). Make an early case assessment. Archiving can dramatically accelerate early case assessment and review. Because the information is already collected and indexed, archives are easily searchable, so there’s no need for backup restores or the outsourcing of collection and review. This immediate access to information allows in-house and...
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  Created: Ctrox 29 Jun 2010

  How Downsizing Puts Your Confidential Data At Risk

  They may have lost their jobs due to the current economic downturn. Or maybe they’re just looking for better opportunities. Whatever the reason, there are an awful lot of people leaving their current positions these days.   And when they do leave, more often than not they’re taking something besides their personal items and an office supply or two. Increasingly, these employees are walking away with sensitive and confidential information.   According to a Ponemon Institute study conducted in 2009, 59% of employees who left or were asked to leave took company data with them. Moreover, 79% of these respondents admitted that their former employer did not permit them to leave with that data.   All of which raises the question: Are you doing everything you can to prevent former employees from taking company data?   This Tech Brief considers the implications of the Ponemon study and then discusses the steps...
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  Created: Ctrox 18 May 2010

  Five Challenges You Need to Address About ‘Going Virtual’

  Virtualization introduces new challenges into IT environments as they become increasingly both physical and virtual. Here are five in particular that you need to be aware of as you deploy – or continue to deploy – virtualization. Has any topic attracted more attention than virtualization in IT departments these days? It’s not likely. Research bellwether Gartner Inc. has dubbed virtualization “the highest-impact issue changing infrastructure and operations through 2012.” 1   That being the case, it’s not surprising that virtualization introduces new challenges into IT environments as they become increasingly both physical and virtual. This Tech Brief looks at five key challenges that you need to be aware of as you deploy – or continue to deploy – virtualization.   Challenge #1: Can you manage both physical and virtual platforms efficiently? Management software and...
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  Created: Ctrox 26 Apr 2010

  Internet Security Threat Report XV: Tips on how to avoid threats

  Symantec has released its latest Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR XV).  The report is a recap of all of the threats posed to businesses and consumers in 2009.  The ISTR is a great tool for SMBs to use in educating their employees on the threats that are plaguing businesses right now.  In addition to highlighting the report’s trends, Symantec has put together a list of tips for SMBs to protect themselves against the malicious threats documented in the ISTR.      Tips for how to Avoid Threats Described in the ISTR:   Threat: Credit card information was the most commonly advertised item for sale on underground economy servers known to Symantec for $0.85 to $30 per credit card number.   Advice for SMBs:Safeguard financial data:The numbers from Symantec’s ISTR XV show that more than ever,...
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  Updated: Ctrox 08 Apr 2010

  How Free Antivirus Software Can End Up Costing You

  In this tough economy, getting something for free is always a good thing, right? Short answer: It depends on your tolerance for risk.   Take free antivirus software as an example. It may seem like a bargain, but it’s not. Here are the issues to consider before you download this particular “freeware.”   First and foremost, free antivirus software doesn’t provide the comprehensive protection you need against today’s biggest online threats. So when you trust your computer, applications, files and identity to free antivirus software, it can end up costing you more in time, aggravation, and money than you ever imagined.   Most free antivirus software is really just bait that some software companies use to lure you in. It’s usually a “light” version of one of their paid products that offers only limited protection against today’s online threats.   After you install...
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  Created: John Magee 06 Apr 2010

  Study Reveals that Fewer than One in Ten Companies Evaluate Vendors or Train Employees on Cloud Security

   A new report has come out that highlights the impact that SaaS and other cloud models are having on information governance approaches. According to the findings of the “Information Governance in the Cloud: A Study of IT Practitioners” study conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by Symantec, most organizations lack the procedures, policies and tools to ensure that sensitive information they put in the cloud remains secure.  The survey found that only 27 percent of respondents said their organizations have procedures for approving cloud applications that use sensitive or confidential information.   The study shines a spotlight on some of the information protection and management issues that organizations are facing as they adopt the cloud model, and they resonate with what we at Symantec have been hearing from many of the senior security professionals we...
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  Updated: Ctrox 22 Feb 2010

  Demystifying Data Deduplication

  Everyone knows that enterprises today are awash in data, which has created a staggering storage growth problem. That, in turn, has spawned some serious backup and recovery challenges. So far, efforts to tackle these challenges have fallen short. This Tech Brief looks at how Symantec’s approach to data duplication enables organizations to reduce backup storage while providing rapid recovery in the event of a disaster. Shrinking the footprint Although deduplication technology has existed for some time now, many organizations have yet to fully realize the operational and storage efficiencies to be gained through it. Deduplication is a method of retaining only one unique instance of backup data on storage media. Redundant data is replaced with a pointer to the unique data copy. Deduplication occurs on both a file level and a file segment level. When two or...
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  Updated: Swathi Turlapaty 08 Mar 2011

  Migrating to Windows 7? Get Started Here

  The early reviews are in, and it looks as if users who have made the move to Microsoft’s new Windows 7 are giving the operating system high marks. In one survey conducted recently by Technologizer, more than 550 early adopters were asked to rate their overall satisfaction with the OS. Of all new Windows 7 users, 70% said that they were “extremely satisfied” and another 24 percent said they were “somewhat satisfied” with the operating system. Reviews of the platform have tended to highlight the following capabilities: Productivity features like Libraries and Federated Search accelerate housekeeping and other routine tasks so users can focus on contributing real value. Security enhancements such as BitLocker and AppLocker isolate and protect critical information and system assets from theft, loss, and corruption....
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  Updated: Ctrox 09 Feb 2010

  Don’t Fall for Malicious ‘Tweets’

  There’s an old saying in security circles: Once something’s popular, it’s only a matter of time before the bad guys show up. The latest example: Twitter, the wildly popular microblogging site that lets you know what your friends are doing. First came the phishing scams. Phishing “tweets” arrived last year in the form of direct messages -- essentially private texts that only Twitter friends can send and only you can see. Typically the message would say something like “Hey, check out this funny blog about you” with a URL attached. The link directed you to a site that looks exactly like the Twitter log in, only the address is twitter.access-logins.com/login/. If you fell for the trap and logged in, your Twitter name and password were captured. The solution, according to Twitter, is simple. Don’t log in. If you suspect that your...