RSA President Declares Cloud Computing an Opportunity To Turn the Way Security Is Delivered Inside Out

SAN FRANCISCO, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- During the opening keynote address at RSA^® Conference 2010, Art Coviello, President of RSA, The Security Division of EMC (NYSE: EMC) urged his colleagues in the security industry to embrace the challenges and opportunities presented by increasingly virtual infrastructures and adopt a more expansive security vision by focusing on the IT transformations associated with cloud computing.  Industry leaders Dave Cullinane, Chief Information Security Officer at eBay, and Paul Maritz, Chief Executive Officer of VMware provided commentary in the areas of secure cloud and virtualized computing environments.

“Something is holding back the full realization of this cloud vision. And that – in a word – is security,” said Coviello. “With 51% of CIOs^* citing security as their greatest concern surrounding cloud computing, security has not kept pace with the evolution to the cloud reflected in today’s increasingly virtualized and hyper-extended enterprises. We have severely diminished vision as a result and it shows. In short, people everywhere must be able to trust the cloud even if they literally and metaphorically can’t see it.”

The 15-year information security veteran noted that having a virtual layer embedded in the technology stack provides the industry with a rare opportunity to get a security ‘do over’ capable of providing even better security than we have in physical infrastructures today. As a result, organizations can shift from infrastructure-centric to information-centric policy and concentrate on what is most important – the information and who gets access – rather than a meaningless perimeter or mere plumbing.

During the address Coviello encouraged the industry to work towards facilitating private cloud infrastructures that are secure, compliant, and governed in a manner that provides confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. He encouraged the audience to view the private cloud as a journey that organizations will take at their own pace and gain benefits at every step along the way. He went on to outline what RSA sees as the four, well-defined stages on this journey to the private cloud:

1. Initial adoption of virtualization to consolidate non-mission critical infrastructure, like test and development systems as well as low risk applications. It compels the enterprise to become adept with the tools of virtualization and to begin the process of “hardening” the virtual infrastructure.  
2. Virtualize critical business applications and ensure the organization maintains the same level of visibility to the state of compliance in the virtual environment to the physical infrastructure.
3. Develop internal clouds and operate their information infrastructure as a utility consisting of a fully virtualized and automated data center where application workloads are policy- and service-level driven.  
4. Outsource infrastructure to external service providers. This phase requires careful selection of service providers based on their demonstrated ability to “enforce policy, prove compliance and manage multi-tenancy.”

Coviello concluded, “If we can get security built into the virtual infrastructure from the get-go we can not only have visibility and manageability but risk decision points, and controls everywhere. In short, the cloud will turn the way we deliver security inside out. And information security will enable cloud computing to take full advantage of the Internet turning our current IT models inside out as well. This means we can deliver new waves of efficiency, agility and collaboration for organizations of all sizes.”

News from EMC, its RSA security division, and industry partners that further demonstrate the commitment to security in the cloud:

• EMC Collaborates with VMware and Intel to Deliver Proof-of-Concept for Business Critical-Security, Compliance and Control in the Cloud: EMC, alongside Intel and VMware unveiled a shared vision for building a more secure, transparent and accountable infrastructure for business-critical cloud services. This concept comprises a hardware root of trust, secure virtualization environment, security information and event management and GRC management software This vision –  leveraging technology and expertise from EMC’s RSA^® Security Division as well as from Intel and VMware – is outlined in a newly-released RSA Security Brief entitled “Infrastructure Security: Getting to the Bottom of Compliance in the Cloud”  

• EMC Expands Security Consulting Services EMC announced expanded services and new offerings from the RSA Security Practice of EMC Consulting to help organizations meet industry standards and compliance regulations, secure virtualization and private cloud environments, fraud mitigation and identity assurance, and advanced security operations. The RSA Security Practice of EMC Consulting provides core strengths in assessment, implementation, and management of security in the areas of governance, architecture and operations. Customers such as First Data Corporation and MFS are benefiting today from the security expertise of RSA combined with EMC Consulting industry expertise and business, application and infrastructure domain knowledge.

• First Data Launches Data Security Pilot with Hundreds of Merchants First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, announced the expansion of a merchant pilot of the First Data^® TransArmor(SM) solution to more than 400 U.S. merchants of all sizes. Designed to secure cardholder data and remove it from merchant environments, TransArmor was developed in close partnership with EMC and its RSA Security Division.

For a full copy of the Art Coviello keynote delivered today at RSA Conference 2010 and information regarding announcements from EMC, its RSA Security Division and partners, please visit the RSA press center.

At the RSA Conference 2010 Expo (March 1-4, San Francisco):

• Information-centric security solutions and consulting services – booth 1725
• RSA Partner Pavilion – booth 1737
• Governance, Risk and Compliance solutions from Archer Technologies (now part of RSA) – booth 1338
• “Accelerating Your Secure Virtualization Journey” featuring a proof of concept from EMC, the RSA security division, Intel and VMware – booth 2029

* CIO Magazine, 2010 State of the CIO, December 10, 2009

About RSA

RSA, The Security Division of EMC, is the premier provider of security solutions for business acceleration, helping the world's leading organizations succeed by solving their most complex and sensitive security challenges. RSA's information-centric approach to security guards the integrity and confidentiality of information throughout its lifecycle - no matter where it moves, who accesses it or how it is used.

RSA offers industry-leading solutions in identity assurance & access control, data loss prevention, encryption & key management, compliance & security information management and fraud protection. These solutions bring trust to millions of user identities, the transactions that they perform, and the data that is generated. For more information, please visit www.RSA.com and www.EMC.com.

EMC and RSA are either registered trademarks or trademarks EMC Corporation.  Intel is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other products and/or services are trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE EMC Corporation