Here are a handful of security concerns identified by an Amplitude Research survey* of 353 network administrators. These ten pain points that IT folks help illustrate that no matter the size of the firm, the issue or Identity Access Management is a consistent concern.

• Granting and securing access for remote consultants and employees
• Identifying and replacing insecure protocols
• Maintaining current virus definition
• System updates and patches
• Education of staff, management and consultants on proper access procedures
• Tracking network logons and use
• Maintaining regular password parameters and ensuring enterprise-wide use
• Sharing data and files securely over both internal and external connections
• Backing up, managing, retrieving and sharing logs securely

Enterprise security – and the methods and software used to monitor and ensure it – impacts every business in different ways. But by recognizing some of the issues faced by many global organizations, most IT departments and professionals can take steps to ensure that their systems are secure, reliable and accessible.

Learn more about network and enterprise security as it pertains to identity and access management at http://www.novell.com/products/identitymanager/ .

IDM 4 is touring the USA. Come to a special briefing with top industry leaders and IT professionals in a city close to you.

Listen to the Clark & Daughtrey Medical Group podcast

Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian will kick off the show by sharing how Novell is helping customers around the world reduce cost, complexity and risk on every IT platform. He will also discuss Novell's strategy for delivering the next generation of solutions that address both the intelligent workload management and collaboration markets.

Next, we’ve queued up four not-to-be-missed keynotes showing our latest innovations that solve the current and future needs of our customers and partners, including:

• Novell will unveil the much anticipated next generation, cloud-based, real-time collaboration platform for the enterprise.
• Novell customer and strategic partner, Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) will showcase how they use Novell Compliance Management Platform to provision and secure their 70,000 person workforce
• We will provide the first preview of the next major release of our award winning identity and access management solution, Novell® Identity Manager
• We will show you – via live demonstration – how Novell can help you migrate to Windows 7 using ZENworks® 10 Configuration Management

Click here to check out the keynote sessions at BrainShare.  Not going to the show? Get news, photos and archived versions of the keynotes here.

Security folks have been saying for some time now  that organizations need to take a long, hard look at how they think about information security. Now that intellectual property is the target of attacks, the stakes are higher. Organizations must start from the assumption that no endpoint is secure and build their security programs around that hypothesis. In this world, authentication is not enough—the underlying activities could still be malicious.

In this podcast, I discuss with Novell security specialist, Ben Goodman, how the Aurora breach has shined a spotlight on the failure of the traditional perimeter security model. The response to these threats must be multi-faceted. Ultimately, we believe the solution may lie in systems that tie together all the information available within an enterprise. Mining that wealth of information for inconsistencies, and putting a lens to the fine-grained activities that are taking place will lead organizations to broad-based user-activity monitoring. Any time a valuable asset is accessed, systems will check to see if that access is consistent with what's expected – anything out of the ordinary will trigger alarms or could shut down access completely.

What are your thoughts on the Aurora breach? Post your comments and let's start a discussion.

• Performance – by improving predictability and automating and enforcing common controls while providing transparency to business processes across the organization
• Assurance – by lowering overall risk and increasing external and internal compliance
• Simplification – by eliminating resource silos and inefficiencies and by automating the process of discovering and remediating high-risk business problems

Companies also need experienced and proven guidance to help them integrate their siloed security and compliance efforts. Since 2008, Novell and Atos Origin have partnered to deliver this knowledge and experience helping customers meet stringent security, governance and compliance requirements.

“Today's complex information security environment, combined with the pressure on budgets, requires an end-to-end approach that provides efficient solutions aligned with the business risk challenges,” says Paul Bray, senior vice president and head of global SAP for Atos Origin. “SAP's Business Objects Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) and Novell's Compliance Management Platform extension for SAP environments solutions combined with Atos Origin's experience in integrating large security projects in complex IT environments enable customers to improve business predictability and performance, manage risk and reduce compliance costs.”

Visit the Novell booth (#140) to see this powerful solution in action at SAP Governance Risk & Compliance 2009.  You can also attend the session, Best Practices for Integrated IT governance Using Novell Compliance Management Platform Extension for SAP Environments, to learn more.

• Date: Wednesday, November 18
• Time: 10:15-12:00
• Location: Prague Congress Centre, Prague, Czech Republic

In this podcast, Brian Singer of Novell talks to Hardin about the challenges of PCI DSS in a university environment. Hardin discusses how he and his team can more efficiently meet PCI DSS requirements, while also securing the university’s many payment systems with Sentinel Log Manager.

Too many organizations equate the ability to demonstrate compliance with being "secure." The Verizon Business RISK Team's 2009 Data Breach Investigations Report, which evaluated 90 breaches that affected 285 million records, found that in an astounding 82 percent of those incidents, the data that could have pointed to the pending compromise was available, but not identified or acted upon.

In an article published by ZDNet, Ben provides sound advice on how IT security pros can streamline regulatory compliance efforts while also reducing risk. In other words, here's some advice on how to implement a comprehensive barn watching program that actually keeps cows safe so Old MacDonald can focus on the business of E-I-E-I-O.