Taking Cloud Computing Public

I had the opportunity to chat earlier this week with Editor in Chief Hailey Lynne McKeefry from Point2Security about future cloud transformation and cloud adoption in the SMB space. A few points we talked about:

Take time to plan before implementation. Think carefully about security, use, and other issues. "We spent two years strategizing our move to the cloud," Paine said. "Many small organizations rely on managed services or a VAR to implement cloud. The channel tends to want to sell a certain technology, so an SMB needs to have a strategy laid out, especially if they don't have their own IT department."

Stabilize the foundation of your technology. Western Precooling invested in new switches and implemented Citrix Acceleration. "Once we got the environment stabilized and had invested in the technology, we could demonstrate value to the organization." The company also used Varonis software for managing and updating data permissions to enhance data security and get ready for a public cloud environment.

Remember that the speed of technology continues to accelerate. "This is the fastest I've seen infrastructure technology take shape," said Paine. "It's moving so quick that you have to be in pre-analysis phase and keep a finger on the pulse, so you can continue to grab the opportunity as it arises."

Keep your eyes on the horizon. "While we alleviate pain points now, we have to look forward two or three years for what will help us drive business processes, be more competitive, and stay flexible. If we see an opportunity for a new application, we want to have done our due diligence and be ready to use it when the time comes."

Ask the hard security questions, and wait for the right answers. Talk to service providers about their commitment to security and about how data is handled. "Some SMBs worry that security is an issue in the cloud, but we have to understand that, even if it is an issue today, it won't be an issue down the road," he said. "We want to be ready to make the jump when it is not just cost effective, but also transparent to the users."

You can read the rest of our interview and conversation here and be sure to check out the rest of the Point2Security website.

SMB Locks Down Overexposed Folders Using Varonis

Varonis, the leader in comprehensive data governance software, today confirmed that it is helping Western Precooling eliminate security concerns surrounding folders open to global access groups. As Western Precooling was planning to move several services to the cloud, cleaning up permissions became a priority. Using Varonis DatAdvantage and Varonis IDU Classification Framework(R), Western Precooling is able to clean up permissions, audit access activity, identify stale data, and provide support for its recently acquired NetApp NAS device -- all without impacting business activity.

Western Precooling uses Varonis DatAdvantage to automate access and permissions management on both NetApp devices and file servers, providing visibility into existing access controls, data access auditing, and recommendations for tightening up access and group membership.

With DatAdvantage, Western Precooling has the ability to identify folders open to the "Everyone" group, and see which of these folders are accessed the most, allowing it to prioritize accordingly. DatAdvantage simulation capabilities provide the ability to model, or sandbox, permissions and group membership changes before committing them to production. This is a key feature to clean up permissions without disrupting regular business processes.

Brian Paine, Director of IT for Western Precooling, explains, "So far we have put about 20 hours into clean-up and have cleaned up 75% of home drives. DatAdvantage also provides us the ability to commit changes to production as well as rollback functionality. This allows my department to incrementally clean up the permissions and closely monitor the response they get from production."

DatAdvantage's complete audit trail provides Western Precooling the granular record of access activity when it needs to know what data has been accessed by each user. Now, if someone leaves the organization, it can be certain of exactly what data they accessed and what they did with it. In fact, with DatAdvantage alerting capabilities, it can identify any anomalous access patterns and take appropriate action prior to an employee's departure.

In addition, the automated analytics and execution capabilities within DatAdvantage have allowed Western Precooling to ensure that permissions are both accurate and up to date, and that sensitive data is locked down. It no longer has to worry about data being exposed to the entire organization.

Brian concludes, "When I started looking for a solution that could clean-up excessive permissions and provide granular auditing capabilities I considered bringing in a team of consultants to correct the problem. However, I was concerned that this approach wouldn't solve the problem of how to maintain the environment after the clean-up process, and a team would not provide the auditing needed. I was really concerned about the impact the clean-up process might have on business activity. Thankfully, with Varonis, I have a complete bi-directional view into the permissions structure and can clean them up without affecting the daily operations of the company."

About Varonis Systems Varonis is the leader in unstructured and semi-structured data governance software. Based on patented technology and a highly accurate analytics engine, Varonis solutions give organizations total visibility and control over their data, ensuring that only the right users have access to the right data at all times, all use is monitored, and abuse is flagged.

Varonis makes digital collaboration secure, effortless and efficient so that humans are free to work -- to create and share content easily with whom they must -- and so that organizations can be confident their human generated content is protected and managed efficiently.

Voted one of the "Fast 50 Reader Favorites" on FastCompany.com and winner of the SC Award for Best Network Security, Varonis has more than 4,500 installations worldwide and is headquartered in New York, with regional offices in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Varonis, the Varonis logo, DatAdvantage and DataPrivilege are registered trademarks of Varonis Systems in the United States and/or other countries and Data Classification Framework and Metadata Framework are under a registration process in the United States and/or other countries. All other product and company names and marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.