Data Privacy Day Important Reminder to Nonprofits, NGOs That Cybersecurity Risks Are Significant Threat to Global Operations

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- With cybersecurity top of mind amid media reports of hackers and even nations targeting bank and credit accounts, government networks and power grids, nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations can't afford to ignore threats to their data. Recent discussion surrounding Data Privacy Day on Jan. 28 is a reminder that the loss of crucial data to sinister elements can endanger sensitive donor information - as well as lives in dangerous, closed countries abroad.

CrossOlive (www.crossolive.com), a partnership between IT firms Cross Link Group and Olive Technology, specializes in affordably and securely hosting crucial and sensitive data for ministries and other nonprofits and NGOs. CrossOlive serves its clients' systems needs through the Switch (www.switchnap.com) SuperNAP data center in Las Vegas, an enormous, cutting-edge facility serving Fortune 50 corporations, government agencies and others, and protected by military-grade security.

CrossOlive is located on the seventh datacenter owned and operated by Switch Communications Group. The SuperNAP 7 is nearly 500,000 sq. ft., the size of 10 football fields, with a unique blending of more than 20 fiber carriers (of the most popular tier 1 providers), according to Jeff Ames, part-owner, former (retired) chief technology officer for Switch Communications Group, and supporter of CrossOlive's efforts.

With patented high-efficiency air handling systems, Switch minimizes the amount of power required, while maximizing density simultaneously. The SuperNAP also has three independent power protection systems and no single point of failure, thus providing 100 percent up time. With tri-redundancy power, ultra-high availability of Internet connectivity, and extreme physical security, CrossOlive is able to provide unparalleled continuous service and can scale to whatever the future holds.

"Security at the SuperNAP can be as high as that of military installations, with five levels of physical security to get to each rack," said Ron Fleming, president and CEO of Cross Link Group. "Guards with military backgrounds secure the facility in one of the lowest disaster-probability areas in the United States."

CrossOlive has been operating at SuperNAP for nearly three years, Fleming said, housing 100 clients and 150 servers, blades, SANs and rack servers, with vast room for expansion.

The secure hosting service is complemented by software solutions provided by Olive Technology, which delivers a high level of physical and logical security as defined by PCI compliance and ISO 27001. Olive is one of the few companies in the world designated by DNV, a premier European ISO certification and auditing agency, as ISMS certified (Information Security Management Systems). Numerous security checkpoints are in place and audited regularly at Olive's operations in India to keep the certification current.

"Since we work on product development for a number of clients, protection of their Internet solutions has been one of our foremost priorities," said Joseph Vijayam, managing director of Olive Technology. "In more than 15 years of operation, we have not experienced a single breach, while building countless software products for different clients in a variety of domains, such as Christian nonprofits, healthcare, education, finance, banking, manufacturing, philanthropy and retail."

"Understand that some organizations require a high level of security to protect missionaries in sensitive areas such as China and the Middle East. People's lives are on the line and countries and governments want to implicate Christians for sharing their faith," Fleming said.

Meanwhile, donors need to trust ministries and other nonprofits with their private data and want the same level of security that a secular or for-profit organization or bank requires, said Vijayam. They need to abide by credit card regulations such as PCI DSS, just like for-profit organization.

"There is no overlap, so each of our organizations provides unique skills to provide a comprehensive solution for each client," Fleming said. "Olive focuses on websites and other customized applications that require hosting. Cross Link Group provides backend applications and off-the-shelf solutions that also need hosting, such as email and donor management. Together as CrossOlive, we bring end-to-end solutions to nonprofits and NGOs needing top-of-the-line service and data protection."

Olive Technology (www.olivetech.com), based in Colorado Springs, is an Information Technology services organization providing full-service solutions in software development, web services and process management for the past 15 years. It has provided comprehensive technology services to more than 100 clients in 10 countries.

Cross Link Group (CLG), also based in Colorado Springs (www.crosslinkgroup.com), is a strategic planning, network management and Help Desk solution provider committed to helping ministries that have difficulty managing or affording information technology on their own. CLG services more than 50 clients globally.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Ty Mays @ 770-256-8710
[email protected]

SOURCE CrossOlive, Cross Link Group and Olive Technology