Security mgmt. rooted in both agentless and agent-based approaches

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: SCOTT CRAWFORD ON NETWORK/SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
09/21/05
Today's focus: Security mgmt. rooted in both agentless and
agent-based approaches

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* More than one way to skin security management
* Links related to Network/Systems Management
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________

Today's focus: Security mgmt. rooted in both agentless and
agent-based approaches

By Scott Crawford

Both agent-based and agentless approaches have been developed to
help IT managers deal with security.

Security is unique among management domains in its ability to
"make lemons out of lemonade," turning lessons learned from the
gaps in security management into valuable assets that close
those gaps.

Vulnerability management, for example, arose directly out of
legitimate penetration testing, using the tools used by
attackers for finding the chinks in IT's armor.

Vulnerability management has come a long way from those early
days. Today's vulnerability management systems perform a number
of highly sophisticated functions, enabling the enterprise to
see a lot more than an attacker can, and even identifying likely
attack paths. Increasingly, they also integrate directly with
other management systems to help the enterprise to discover,
prioritize, and remediate its exposures more effectively.

Security scanning techniques continue to form one of the
cornerstones of agentless security management.

Other agentless scanning techniques include those used in
endpoint compliance enforcement. This type of scan assesses the
health of a network endpoint before a connection is established.
An endpoint found not to be in compliance after a scan may be
redirected to a remediation or containment site, or a safe
network zone isolated from the trusted production network.

Endpoint security measures are perhaps more often associated
with agent-based techniques, and in IT security, few agent-based
approaches are more well-known than anti-virus applications,
which have become ubiquitous in the face of many years of
endpoint-focused attacks. These attacks have also precipitated
the widespread use of so-called "personal" firewalls and host
intrusion prevention systems. More recently, host-based
anti-malware has expanded to include so-called anti-spyware
systems which detect and block software that can exploit
information gleaned from the host and its users.

The coordination of these techniques in comprehensive endpoint
compliance enforcement has, in turn, produced agents that can
assure the coordination of an entire range of protections. The
major vendors have already begun to consolidate the
functionalities of their endpoint security agents, which heralds
a trend we can expect to continue.

Still another highly significant aspect of security is software
and configuration management, where agent-based and agentless
approaches are often combined. Even in a regime in which agents
are deployed, agentless detection can determine by a target's
response to specific probes if an update or reconfiguration is
required. Configuration management in particular is becoming a
central aspect not just of security, but of IT management
generally, reflected by initiatives such as the increased
interest in ITIL compliance.

We at Enterprise Management Associates are conducting a survey
on the use of agent-based versus agentless management
techniques. In fact, if you can take about 5 minutes to complete
our survey <http://www.emausa.com/surveys/ema_msurvey.htm> you
will be provided with the final paper when complete. We look
forward to your participation.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. McAfee, Omniquad top anti-spyware test
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm6907>

2. Security technology targets the LAN
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm7456>

3. The rise of the IT architect
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm7020>

4. Cisco targets SMBs with convergence
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm7457>

5. DemoFall preview <http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm7458>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Scott Crawford

Scott Crawford, CISSP, is a Senior Analyst focused on IT
security, systems and application management with Enterprise
Management Associates in Boulder, Colo., an analyst and market
research firm focusing exclusively on all aspects of enterprise
management systems and services. The former information security
chief for the International Data Centre of the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna, Austria,
Crawford has also been a systems professional with the
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research as well as
Emerson, HP, and other organizations in both public and private
sectors. He can be reached at
<mailto:scrawford@enterprisemanagement.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Fluke Networks
VoIP Lifecycle Management Solution

Fluke Networks announces the availability of a comprehensive
VoIP lifecycle management solution to help network managers
deploy, monitor, troubleshoot and manage VoIP networks. This
solution takes a unique approach by helping mange the VoIP
infrastructure from pre-deployment to on-going monitoring to
planning for future growth. For additional information visit:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=114613
_______________________________________________________________
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Management Research Center:
http://www.networkworld.com/topics/management.html
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE

Network World Technology Insider on Security: Is Encryption the
Perspective?

Encryption won't solve all your security issues but these days
there is no excuse for not safeguarding your organization's
sensitive data. From Clear Choice product coverage to new
regulations and high-profile breaches, this Technology Insider
on Security covers it all. Click here to read now:

<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm7459>
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