- Email: [email protected]
NEC, Fujitsu unveil computer security services
PRODUCT
NEWS
NEC, Fujitsu unveil computer security services NEC Corp. and Fujitsu, in separate announcements, have said that they will start services to help Japanese companies protect their computer networks against hackers by looking for security holes. To examine customers' security systems, NEC personnel will break into their networks experimentally by using Safesuite, software developed by Atlanta-based Internet Security Systems (ISS), reports Jiji Press, Tokyo. Meanwhile, Nikkei Weekly says that Fujitsu is training employees especially to hack in to clients' systems. The companies aim to point out vulnerabilities and suggest ways in which to improve the security of the computer networks. NEC will also design security systems, provide a 24-hour network monitoring service and offer educational programmes concerning security control. Fujitsu, which charges ¥4.5 million ($34 600) for four tests per year, also offers checks for personal computers. Japan Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (JPCERT/CC), which tackles computer security problems, says it received 505 reports of hacker-caused sabotage through 31 December last year from the centre's start of operations in October 1996. JPCERT/CC operates under the auspices of the Japan Information Processing Development Center, a non-profit organization.
Group offers Guide around the software licence maze Guide, the large systems user group, plans to introduce a solution to one of IT managers' biggest problems: the management of software licences. The US-based user group, which is working with standards body the Open Group, hopes the scheme could eventually mean charges for software being levied on a usage basis, like electricity.
•
identification of duplicate software functions
•
centralized and automated licence management
•
movement of the licensing functions away from IT to finance and
• contracts administration A c c o r d i n g to G u i d e ' s briefing paper, users are struggling to come to terms with spiralling software costs, the a d m i n i s t r a t i v e b u r d e n of c o n t r o l l i n g compliance, and ineffective customer control over the use of software. Users are also having to cope with multiple products from several software suppliers, on multiple platforms with a variety of licensing models. "Given this exponential growth in complexity, there is a clear need for an overall framework for licence use management that is extensible, flexible, software, supplier- and platform-independent, and adaptive to future technologies," the paper said. Discussions with users produced a wish-list which any solution had to meet: •
a secure method of identifying what software is used when, and what resources it uses
Computer Fraud & Security May 1998 © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd
•
workloads to be controlled to run jobs on systems where the software is located
•
chargeback to user departments on use must be reliable and secure
If the wish-list is adopted, Guide's work could lead to a standardized programming interface that applications would use to provide licensing services. That would m e a n d e v e l o p e r s h a v i n g a c o n s i s t e n t basis for programming in code to track software use. Currently any usage-focused pricing schemes are based more on the capacity of the hardware on which the software is running, rather than actual software use. However, users were warned that the initiative will fail unless they persuade their software suppliers to give it industry-wide support.
NEWS
NEC, Fujitsu unveil computer security services NEC Corp. and Fujitsu, in separate announcements, have said that they will start services to help Japanese companies protect their computer networks against hackers by looking for security holes. To examine customers' security systems, NEC personnel will break into their networks experimentally by using Safesuite, software developed by Atlanta-based Internet Security Systems (ISS), reports Jiji Press, Tokyo. Meanwhile, Nikkei Weekly says that Fujitsu is training employees especially to hack in to clients' systems. The companies aim to point out vulnerabilities and suggest ways in which to improve the security of the computer networks. NEC will also design security systems, provide a 24-hour network monitoring service and offer educational programmes concerning security control. Fujitsu, which charges ¥4.5 million ($34 600) for four tests per year, also offers checks for personal computers. Japan Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (JPCERT/CC), which tackles computer security problems, says it received 505 reports of hacker-caused sabotage through 31 December last year from the centre's start of operations in October 1996. JPCERT/CC operates under the auspices of the Japan Information Processing Development Center, a non-profit organization.
Group offers Guide around the software licence maze Guide, the large systems user group, plans to introduce a solution to one of IT managers' biggest problems: the management of software licences. The US-based user group, which is working with standards body the Open Group, hopes the scheme could eventually mean charges for software being levied on a usage basis, like electricity.
•
identification of duplicate software functions
•
centralized and automated licence management
•
movement of the licensing functions away from IT to finance and
• contracts administration A c c o r d i n g to G u i d e ' s briefing paper, users are struggling to come to terms with spiralling software costs, the a d m i n i s t r a t i v e b u r d e n of c o n t r o l l i n g compliance, and ineffective customer control over the use of software. Users are also having to cope with multiple products from several software suppliers, on multiple platforms with a variety of licensing models. "Given this exponential growth in complexity, there is a clear need for an overall framework for licence use management that is extensible, flexible, software, supplier- and platform-independent, and adaptive to future technologies," the paper said. Discussions with users produced a wish-list which any solution had to meet: •
a secure method of identifying what software is used when, and what resources it uses
Computer Fraud & Security May 1998 © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd
•
workloads to be controlled to run jobs on systems where the software is located
•
chargeback to user departments on use must be reliable and secure
If the wish-list is adopted, Guide's work could lead to a standardized programming interface that applications would use to provide licensing services. That would m e a n d e v e l o p e r s h a v i n g a c o n s i s t e n t basis for programming in code to track software use. Currently any usage-focused pricing schemes are based more on the capacity of the hardware on which the software is running, rather than actual software use. However, users were warned that the initiative will fail unless they persuade their software suppliers to give it industry-wide support.