Thursday, July 29, 2010

Security Breaches: Do Companies Need to See It Get Worse Before It Gets Better?

One would think that with all of today’s security standards and compliance requirements that data leaks and security breaches would be few and far between. Of course, one would be wrong to think that. Indeed, in the healthcare sector alone the numbers are staggering. In a recent report published by Healthcare Info Security the official federal list of major healthcare information breaches dating back to last September included 119 incidents affecting almost 5 million Americans. About 20 incidents were added to the list in the last 30 days.

The total of those affected by major breaches grew by approximately 1.5 million in the past month, primarily as a result of two large cases.

In one case, South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth, Mass. reported that unencrypted backup computer files containing personal, health and financial information on about 800,000 people may have been lost by a company that a Massachusetts Hospital hired to destroy the files. On the breach list, the business partner involved is identified as Iron Mountain Data Products Inc.

In the other case, WellPoint Inc., which owns Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in 14 states, announced in late June that it was notifying 470,000 people who applied for individual health insurance coverage that their information may have been breached on a website.

Don’t Make the List
Organizations that suffer from security breaches can’t hide and pretend it didn’t happen. Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act's breach notification rule, which went into effect last September, breaches affecting more than 500 individuals must be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights and the news media as well as the individuals affected within 60 days. It’s definitely a list you don’t want to be on.

Get Informed & Get Secure with XYPRO
For more than 25 years, XYPRO has been helping businesses, including healthcare organizations secure their mission-critical systems and information. We help ensure that our customers never make lists like the ones mentioned above. You can learn more about how we do it from our webinar archive at www.xypro.com/webinars.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Secret to Fitness...

I may have found the key to improving my overall health, when recently I had the good fortune of teaching a one-week XYGATE class for one of XYPRO's customers in Porto Alegri, which is the capital of Rio Grande do Sul and is Brazil's southernmost state.  Porto Alegri is a pretty city, with tree-lined streets and colorful sunsets over Lake GuaĆ­ba.

The company, along with a number of other international high-tech businesses, including HP, leases buildings on the campus of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS).  The companies agree to accept students for internships and on-the-job training.  The companies pay rent, which supplements the university's income.  In addition, all of the extra people on campus makes having a big variety of restaurants and other businesses, including a fairly large mall on campus, feasible. This is such a wonderful idea—I’m surprised more universities aren't doing it.

This was my first experience teaching where more than half of the students were watching via video conference from multiple time zones. However, the Brazilian folks were experts on setting everything up, and the class came off without any problems.

I also had my first taste of the yerba mate tea and saw how it is brewed.  Perhaps that is the secret to their fitness! Some studies have shown that this tea has anti-obesity, cholesterol lowering and antioxidant properties. All I know is the vast majority of citizens appeared extremely fit regardless of age or gender. Well, I'll let you know how it goes in a few months...

Terri Hill
XYGATE Security Specialist

Friday, July 9, 2010

XYGATE is Profiled in the Roadmap to the Megaplex

High-profile guide by Standish Group highlights XYGATE’s sophisticated security features

(July 8, 2010) Simi Valley, CA – XYPRO Technology Corporation, a leading provider of security software and services for HP NonStop™ Server environments, today announced that it has been included in the Standish Group’s Roadmap to the Megaplex. The guide offers timely information to help organizations maximize their current investment in HP NonStop server applications. The Roadmap to the Megaplex also offers return on investment scenarios and provides compelling reasons to modernize the NonStop applications and environment.

XYPRO’s security and access control suite, XYGATE, is highlighted in the Roadmap’s Security Modernization section. XYGATE is a comprehensive security, compliance, auditing and FIPS 140-2 validated encryption software solution for HP NonStop environments. Security modernization is the process of changing the traditional security and protection systems from passive to proactive.  Government and industry regulations mandate much of this change. The Standish Group reports that 69 percent of organizations have an active and concentrated effort to meet regulatory compliance.  Investment in security is minimal when compared to the financial penalties levied for non-compliance or the monetary impact of a breach. 

The Roadmap to the Megaplex highlights XYGATE’s ability to greatly enhance an organization’s security environment and enable protection of their intellectual property and confidential information. “The security process is challenging and ever-evolving as organizations strive to protect our personal data, their corporate assets and meet regulatory compliance,” said Sheila Johnson, XYPRO CEO. “One way to make the process simpler is to deploy a centralized security management system with highly sophisticated security capabilities but that is straightforward to use, such as XYGATE.”

XYGATE’s implementation is simple and requires little training for the experienced NonStop security administrator.  XYGATE’s intuitive wizards are designed to help security administrators set up rules and roles quickly. The XYGATE suite has been efficiently designed to meet organizations’ goals to protect data and improve productivity while achieving granular security, audit and compliance mandates.

 “The Roadmap to the Megaplex is a critical document for organizations seeking to maximize their investments in NonStop applications,” said Lisa Partridge, XYPRO Vice President.  “We are thrilled that XYGATE’s rich security, audit and compliance features have been profiled as an avenue for organizations to enhance and protect their HP NonStop server environment.”


About XYPRO
XYPRO Technology offers more than 27 years of knowledge, experience and success in providing HP NonStop information systems tools and services.  Businesses that manage and transport business-critical data turn to XYPRO for a variety of solutions. XYPRO helps businesses to better manage security risks, protect assets and gain a competitive edge through improved efficiency.  www.xypro.com

About the Standish Group
The Standish Group is based in Boston, Massachusetts and is the Information Technology leader in project and value performance. We are a group of highly dedicated professionals with years of practical experience in assessing risk, cost, return and value for Information Technology (IT) Investments.
www.standishgroup.com