Technology

Umbrella by OpenDNS

While security can be controlled at the office, does your security model cover workers and their BYOD devices when outside the office?

The new year usually sees a renewed effort within the IT community to combat security. The biggest threats of 2013 are Social Engineering, APTs, Internal Threats, BYOD, Cloud Service security, Botnets and Malware. Traditional security models revolve user the following categories - group policies implemented over their domain system, data security and data management within the office, and rules that govern the internet and web access when within the office. A company that I know of goes to the extent of barring personal email websites, social media, and dropbox-like services with on-premise policies of blocking data copying to portable devices.

While policy based rules are still applicable while outside the office, how does IT secure the websites that a worker access from his home? This is a false security and is probably not even considered by the policy makers within the organization.

The same principle is applicable to mobile devices - phones, tablets and personal mp3 players - most of which have sync systems that allow easy access to data on the host computer.

While no security system is so comprehensive in itself, care must be taken to review the situation on-ground and analyze the requirements. This in itself is an exercise worth investing in.

Why is not possible to secure the user outside the premises? OpenDNS, a well known DNS solution, has recently introduced Umbrella by OpenDNS - a unified system to ensure that on-premise and nomadic workforce is secured. Umbrella, can also be used for business offices, public wifi hotspots and cellular data networks. Umbrella is a subscription based service that secures access by routing all access through their DNS systems, while allowing IT granular control over what is accessible, whether at the office or a home. Umbrella not only allows URL based control and a global threat response system, but it can automatically filter out websites based on pre-populated rules, giving the nomadic workforce VPN like security without the overhead. The best part - it runs transparently without user intervention.

Umbrella by OpenDNS is available at http://www.umbrella.com