This week, we look at three of the most important things to consider when unifying these two teams: IT Security and Systems Management.
Depending on the organization, Systems Management and IT Security may have very little to do with one another. However, there are advantages to having them cooperate and share information. While having a single pane of glass is imperative, you also need to ensure that your unified console can concentrate on specific areas that are vitally important to both groups.
The following are the top three areas where that cooperation can reap the most reward.
#1 Beware the Shadows
Perhaps the best area where Security and Systems Management should cooperate is in the battle against shadow IT. Unauthorized, and in many cases unknown, devices attached to a corporate network are one of the biggest problems for many companies struggling with security. It’s also the bane of organizations that need to comply with stringent government or sector regulations because there is little chance that an unauthorized device is going to have all the necessary components needed to pass any type of systems audit.
Shadow IT can take many forms, from smartphones that users plug in to a network so they can copy files and work remotely, to a videogame console that someone attaches so they can tap into better bandwidth at work, to unauthorized software running on official systems.
Having Systems Management information at the fingertips of IT means that any discovered system or program can quickly be checked and identified as either authorized or shadow. Being able to quickly act on that information is also necessary.
#2 Combining Workstation and Server Monitoring
There are many solutions on the market that purport to help monitor either workstations or servers for unauthorized activity. But they generally only look at one or the other.
Systems Management is responsible for the tracking and performance of both, so it makes sense that any security solution should be able to integrate workstations and servers to provide monitoring and health checks at both ends of the network spectrum. Any solution that can’t do that won’t be able to provide the necessary situational awareness teams need to handle any situation.
#3 Communication is Key
Many overworked teams from both Systems Management and IT Security sometimes begin to see users as the enemy, since they are often responsible for both network slowdowns and security breaches. They are also specifically targeted in some of the most successful breach operations these days, such as with phishing scams.
But users can become a great asset too, if they can be made to understand both the dangers they face and the consequences of certain actions. Any security program running in a modern SOC should be able to communicate with all users on a network. Warning them about specific campaigns being targeted against an organization and the drain that certain programs are having on network resources can go a long way to training users in becoming an ally of SOC operations.
Hitting a Triple with Tychon
Only the Tychon security and asset management solution can marry IT Security and Systems Management while tackling all three best-practice solutions right out of the box.
Tychon can detect every application and device running on a network at any given time and block or uninstall all non-compliant third party applications and shadow IT devices. Tychon also continuously monitors and records workstation and server activity, at the same time and within the same console, for near real-time identification of threats. And Tychon’s innovative communication functions allow Systems Management and IT Security teams to send messages to users, informing them about ongoing problems or warning them about specific campaigns, such as phishing threats, that are targeting the organization.
Tychon is a cutting-edge security and asset management solution built by operators for operators. Its functionality comes from a single console that can unify IT and Security operations. Engineered in partnership with the McAfee Security Innovation Alliance, the suite is digitally signed by McAfee as fully compatible.
