Security News > 2002 > March > Application service providers urged to ensure security

http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/295276p-2601701c.html Agence France-Presse SINGAPORE (March 10, 2002 10:38 a.m. EST) - About a quarter of online application service providers lack standard protections against security breaches and viruses, an industry monitor said Friday. International Data Corp. said that of 50 ASPs they surveyed worldwide, 25 percent lacked fundamentals such as user authentication, virus protection, network security and firewall services. "Although the majority of respondents seem to have the basics down, there are still ASPs offering customers access to applications in an unprotected environment," IDC said in a statement. "IDC considers this unacceptable and strongly recommends that ASPs do not enter the market unprepared." While warning that security breaches would "set back the industry as a whole," IDC did not identify the erring providers. Jessica Goepfert, manager with IDC's ASP and application management services research program, said: "It's up to the ASP to stay on top of these security systems in order to simply stay in the game." The ASP market currently is crowded and undergoing consolidation, IDC said, urging players to "understand that security is essential to winning new customers and propelling mainstream adoption." It called on ASPs to "continue to educate the market" about the security measures they have taken. "High-end ASPs that are rolling out enhanced security services are setting a strong example, and new entrants would well be served to observe," Goepfert said. "In fact in recent months, IDC has witnessed announcements from leading ASPs that demonstrate this trend and commitment to providing state of the art security services." Application service providers are companies that provide services over the Internet. They own and operate software applications as well as the servers that run the application and make profits by billing their clients. The rising incidents of security breaches and virus attacks into corporate networks have raised the importance of protective shields provided by ASPs. - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomo () attrition org with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.

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