Guest Blog, written by Billy Austin, President of iScanOnline
One thing about living in the Internet Age is that innovation and change are forever accelerated. Just when we finally figure out how to do something, they go ahead and move the goal posts on us. When it comes to information security, it seems we never even get to the point when we can have some confidence in our security before the game is changed right from under us.
While you have been busy rolling out security services to ensure the integrity, security and compliance of your customer’s networks, they have gone and changed the rules and playing field again. PCI and other regulatory compliance requirements used to say you need regular vulnerability scans. You had to check the cardholder environment to see if any account numbers were stored in the clear, etc.
Since June of last year PCI requirements call for internal, as well as external scanning. PAN (payment account numbers) data doesn’t just exist on payment terminals. They could be in emails, web servers, CRM systems or anywhere else. Most of all, your customers aren’t just in their office. Or rather their offices can be anywhere. They could be at the homes of telecommuters, on the road with the road warriors, remote offices, customer’s sites, partner’s sites, anywhere. The devices they are using have changed too. They are not just laptops. They are phones (in a myriad of different flavors), they are tablets (also in lots of flavors), hybrid devices, TVs, and everything in between. Worst of all they may not and are probably not even owned by your customer. BYOD has wreaked havoc on your ability to manage the IT services of your customers.
So yes indeed the game has changed and you need the tools and strategy to adapt to change or fall by the wayside. The good news is with all of this change new opportunities are created for smart and clever companies and people who can adapt quicker and better. These most recent changes actually play into the MSP strategy. As things grow more complicated and harder, it makes more sense to let an expert do it. Most of your customers aren’t information security or even IT experts. Technology is critical to their success, but not core to their business. That is why they look to you. You are the expert they rely on to keep up with these rapid fire changes in the way business is done.
You on the other hand are always on the lookout for new tools and partners to help you keep up with this accelerated pace of change. Companies who fill the gaps created when the game is changed. iScan Online, a company I co-founded is a company that can help you fill the gaps. Our mission is to use “opportunistic scanning” to help give you visibility into the dark matter of your customers networks.
