IT and Environment Security

ASR Strategic Resources provides comprehensive security services for the global enterprise. Security is more than a firewall and a lock on a door - it is a mindset. The security issues that face an enterprise often begin with how much of an economic impact a security policy will have on an organization. Tradeoffs exist between how valuable the subject matter is compared with the cost and inconvenience of the security measures taken to protect it. The problem with traditional threat assessments and the responses based upon them is that sometimes the threat is not properly understood enough to make the right assessment.

Enterprise security must face daunting issues such as hacker attacks over the Internet, employee sabotage, natural disasters, criminal acts, terrorist acts, war, and even vermin - and then, from out of nowhere, the green meteorite strikes. There is a simple solution to providing enterprise security - distribute IT resources and implement a sound security policy. Centralizing an organization's IT resources increases vulnerability to disruption. ASR Strategic Resources has encountered a number of scenarios during our disaster response operations. Some of the highlights include:

• An organization relied on mobile phones to provide emergency communication when the regular phone system went down. This was part of their hurricane planning. Unfortunately, the high winds that blew the telephone lines down also blew down the cell cell towers.
  
  
• An organization spent considerable money on a hardened data backup facility. A hurricane blew the roof off of the operations area. The data was safe, but the workers had no place to work. One other unexpected complication - the employees homes had the roofs of their homes blown off too. With no place to live, and families to take care of, people were too distracted to return to work.
  
  
• A small company had a fire that burned down their offices. Fortunately the office manager always made a backup tape, which was taken home every night. The security procedure worked fine - the backup tape was safe and ready to be used. Unfortunately, there was no computer to restore the tape to.
  
  
• A large manufacturing company with multiple locations suffered a flood at their headquarters. The backup tapes were in a fireproof safe located in the basement. When management sent someone to get the tapes, they were stopped by a hazardous materials team - the entire building was contaminated by chemicals from a factory up river. The tapes were contaminated and were too dangerous to handle.
  
  
• A company had a security procedure that required all employees to wear their photo ID cards in plain site and to use them when entering and exiting the building. Someone gained access to the facility by waiting by the door with a box of vending machine foods until someone let them in. Unescorted, the intruder stole two notebook computers - computers that had the only copies of a new software prototype. The programmers had failed to backup the project to the server. No one stopped the person to check ID.

All of these companies shared a common outcome - within a year all were bankrupt as a direct result of the incidents described above.

Whether you contract with ASR Strategic Resources, contract with another security provider, or handle security issues in house - do not wait until disaster strikes to call in an expert as these companies did. Security audits can help identify vulnerabilities in your organization's policies, procedures, and most important of all - actual practices.

ASR Strategic Resources provides Systems Environment Analysts (SEA) to look at the enterprise from a "holistic" perspective - taking into account a broad spectrum of security related issues including geography, utilities, community and regional disaster response capabilities, human resources, IT infrastructure, physical security, and a host of other issues that impact security - directly and indirectly. A viable security plan requires careful planning and practice.

Systems Environment Analyst (SEA)

A Systems Environment Analyst (SEA) is a senior IT Professional that is experienced in security issues, network infrastructure and support, and enterprise application development and integration.

Security Services

ASR Strategic Resources (ASR) provides a number of services ranging from simple audits to managing hotsites. ASR can assist in the development of comprehensive security policies including disaster preparedness, conducting audits, assisting with practice scenarios, and in providing remote location backup facilities including storage for critical systems and data as well as emergency operation and living quarters for critical staff.

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