To build security into the IT infrastructure demands much more than secure software. It is also about having the IT infrastructure products deliver intrinsic security value as a core capability of the product and fully integrated in terms of management and enforcement with the other non-security related capabilities of that product.
The proof-of-concept of the integration of EMC Atmos cloud optimized storage with RSA Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Suite, which we demonstrated at the recent EMC World 2009, is the perfect illustration of how security integrated into the infrastructure can surpass the level of security functionality that any standalone security product bolted onto any infrastructure product can provide.
The-proof-of-concept demonstrates how the policy-driven RSA DLP suite can make EMC Atmos aware of the sensitivity of the data it is managing. An Atmos administrator can then configure Atmos policies that act on the intelligence provided by RSA DLP to securely store the data. The demonstration focused on Atmos using RSA DLP to determine where in the storage cloud the data should be stored, but the concept applies as well for other data handling decisions such as encryption.
Organizations can use such a solution to deploy Atmos cloud storage for data that is either sensitive or governed by regulations. For instance, a private cloud can be deployed that enforces a policy that requires all sensitive data to remain in the internal cloud, while the remaining data can reside on the external cloud. The solution could also be used to comply with privacy regulations that forbid personally identifiable information to leave a specific country.
This integration is just one example in what will be a long chain of new opportunities offered by cloud and virtualization to build security into the infrastructure in new and more effective ways.
