Audit Logs the Important Sauce for a Secure Organization

In a recent audit I found that audit logs were not being archived, the team was puzzled on why I was insistence on audit logs. 
Here are my thoughts on the importance of enabling the Audit logs for the various targets in your digital ecosystem, we need the audit logs for your servers, end point devices, applications, databases, network devices, security  tools in your digital ecosystem.
Many administrators disable the audit log since because they do not understand that the audit log is one of simplest & effective tools available to keep your environment safe.

The audit log tracks every action undertaken in your digital ecosystem by users and unwelcome visitors (read potential hackers), the audit log records the duration of time that an user was logged in, which files were opened, what was changed and if required even the keyboard activity.

To run a secure organization we need to constantly assess our vulnerability and the audit log is the key to  collecting data in the digital environment to be able to constantly monitor and proactively defend.

Audit Log is used to automatically track every action undertaken by users on a network. It can record what time a user logged on, which files they opened, what they changed and even which key strokes they used.

It can be used as proof if an employee is not using the system as they are supposed to.

 The Audit Log is Like a Rear View Mirror –  You need to know what is behind you! 

It is also very handy for a team to understand how a problem happened by accident - after all people make mistakes but it is great to know how it happened and what needs to be done to fix the problem and to avoid making the same mistake again. Audit logs (in our experience) can be a very useful to gain an insight of what is really happening in your digital ecosystem. 

If you are a large enterprise you could merge your logs and use analytic tools to get a granular view of what is happening in your network, devices and applications.  This could help your company in strengthening its defenses and also optimize on usage of resources.

Honesty

In a fast changing world Honesty is the victim which is discarded as a liability by citizens who want to grow rich and accumulate wealth by all means.

The old adage Honesty is the Best Policy is under threat, as you look around you may be convinced that the Dishonest are prospering while the Honest are still at the Starting Line.

But then one can justify that dishonest people do not reap the benefits of their actions which is advocated by most religions or to quote the Bible "As you Sow so shall you Reap".

At school we used to have a weekly class of Moral Science where the virtue of honesty was imbibed for eternity into our souls forever.

The question which one asks in today's situation is Does Being Honest essential and is a good attitude to life.

As I look around me I find the Honest People more content and balanced and managing with what they have earned within their abilities and genuine labor.

Dishonest people stand out in a crowd,  for some strange reason it becomes easy to identify them even if we hardly know on how they operate, this is brought out by their very behavior and attitude in a social setting.

If you are known to be an Honest Person then the dishonest groups do not want you among  them , but being dishonest to be accepted is not the solution.

What is honesty, is is just not robbing , when we explore the attribute of Honesty it is more than money, it is an attitude of being fair, virtuous and respecting the fellow human who live with us.

[caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Dishonesty lives a trail, like the shadows in the picture.[/caption]

Honesty is not about putting your fingers into the money jar, it is much more, it is your action, your behavior, your thoughts and your outcomes in  your life.

Next time when you decide to call yourself an honest person, check on all your attributes of honesty and you will find that you can be a better person by working on your shortcomings.

And when if you are ever in doubt about Honesty, thing of  what you have achieved by being honest and that will justify the need to remain Honest.

 

 

Road Sense and Governance

Every day we get into the real world and encounter traffic as we ride to our place of work or for pleasure.
The way people behave in the roads gives us a sense of governance of the place we live in. 
If people park where they like irrespective of it being a no parking zone or double parking, it is clear that they care two hoots for courtesy or the law. It is not that they do not understand the consequence of not following the law, rather it is the nonchalant attitude knowing well that there will be  enforcement. of the law. 

This is where good governance steps in , when the law is enforced and punishment is meted out quickly without fear or favor then you will see citizens who comply with the laws of the land . But remove the element of governance and it you will see its impact reflected in the rowdy traffic on our roads. 

A simple measure of governance and road behavior is easy to observe,  all you need is to observe how people behave in the traffic and you will find the  governance barometer. 

When I travel from State to State in India it is so easy to map the behavior of its drivers to the governance, the same applies to other countries too. 

Try this the next time you are in a new city observe the drivers in the road and you will understand the effectiveness of governance in that city.   

Do share your thoughts !

Cloud Computing A Business enabler

The dilemma faced by today’s business leader is “Do we need Cloud Computing?” 

Business needs reliability, accessibility, confidentiality, integrity, availability, security & Benefit.

The cloud scores well on all these requirements, though the complexity of cloud deployment and governance increases from a Public cloud to a Private Cloud and to a Hybrid cloud and the skills required increase from SAAS to PAAS and to IAAS.

Cloud is costly, cloud is not secure, cloud is marketing, virtualization is cloud  is echoed by many technology professionals , though none of these may be totally valid.

Cloud Computing decisions will move to the corner office and the Board Room and will be a Strategic Business Enabler rather then a CIO/IT Leadership's prerogative. 

The Road Less Travelled is Fraught with Danger!

Photo Credit – Amitav Thamba

Cloud - A Business Perspective

The business today needs Reliability, the cloud is as reliable as an  in-house data center if architected correctly, yes there may be occasional disruptions in cloud services which are amplified by the cloud slayers. Seasoned technology professionals know there are bad days in in-house data center’s which are not shared with the outside world.

The business needs Accessibility, the cloud offers awesome accessibility from any network which can connect on the internet, it also offers accessibility from multiple devices including the desktop, notebook, laptop, mobile, tablet and net book and a multitude of other devices.

Accessibility on the cloud is anytime, anywhere in a public cloud, though in private/hybrid cloud accessibility can be defined by the Business.

The business needs Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability & security, the cloud offers incremental services based on the needs of your business. It is important to budget all cost at the time architecting a suitable cloud solution for the business.

The business needs Cost Benefit to deliver customer delight and shareholder value, the Public  Clouds Opex model is unbeatable for certain businesses whose need for computing is based on business needs; for private hybrid cloud too the cost savings are sustainable in terms of energy, space and management cost savings.

My business cannot use the cloud, is heard often. Any business can use cloud computing whatever its nature of business even if it is government, education, SME, ITES, startups, social organizations and Rural Empowerment. You will need to map your computing needs and then map it to the cloud deployment you want to adopt for your business.

Government can use a National Cloud like Bharat Badal (a proposed nationwide cloud deployment for India), other state governments and specific departments can build their own private/hybrid clouds based on their computing needs or use Bharat Badal. National cloud adoption by government will significantly bring down the computing costs and improve the e-governance service costs to citizens.

Education is the biggest beneficiary of cloud computing, we can reach to the remotest hamlet and give access to world class education wherever there is broadband. Many schools and colleges drive learning collaboration on tools from Facebook or Google.  there are customized solutions too available for the education sector. The Khan Academy’s innovation in using YouTube has revolutionized learning by the use of cloud computing.

SME can leapfrog into world class computing for their manufacturing, distribution, marketing and even B-B connects, this is one sector who is going to be the biggest gainer using the cloud.

ITES has a great new opportunity to provide services on the cloud and also use it for delivery of its services and solutions globally. The cloud is the next big opportunity for the Indian ITES industries and the adopters will benefit significantly  by providing cloud  computing services.

Startups can use the cloud to launch their business at a fraction of the cost, entrepreneurs using the cloud are many and they have all benefited by leveraging on the opex payment and low cost solutions offered on the cloud. An animation services startup can deliver services using cloud computing and save on significant capex costs in a business which has a short life cycle because of the large investments needed in technology.

Social Organizations use the cloud for collaboration, communication and anything else they may need to maximize the benefits of computing to achieve their desired social agenda. 

Rural empowerment will divide the great divide between urban and rural populations in developing countries like India and others. The cloud can be used to educate, inform, collaborate and merge the rural population into the national urban mainstream and provide the same services that urban dwellers can benefit from. One of the significant developments in the rural India has been telemedicine solutions which provide remote diagnosis and remote advise for the best treatment.

IT Governance Risk and Compliance is a challenge in the cloud hence we cannot adopt is for business is no longer true. There is significant work done in cloud security by NIST, Cloud Security Alliance supported by the cloud industry, ISACA and ENISA which will allow business to have same level or better IT GRC for their organization in the cloud coupled with business agility and significant cost benefits and savings.

Business need to assess their security posture, business needs, and the challenges of cloud adoption and put in place cloud architecture for their business before plunging into the cloud. Business has to include their cloud strategy in the annual corporate plans as a strategic business enabler and not as a line item in the IT plan, this alone will bring the benefits to business.

If your business cannot use the cloud today, wait for a few quarters and review again because the cloud is maturing daily and the commoditization of computing with the cloud is a reality and growing exponentially.

Business can benefit from the Cloud if it identified Cloud Computing as a Strategic Business enabler and accelerates cloud deployment and adoption for the Business.

If you are the Business Leader then start working toward cloud adoption, if you are the IT leader is time you get your skills updated for cloud computing. 

Bangalore gets Elevated ↑ Namma Metro.

[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Namma Metro Logo on the left hand top corner of this picture at MG Road station."]

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“Bharat Badal” National Cloud Computing for Rural India

India lives in its villages" - Mahatma Gandhi.

Background

This is article espouses the need for building a “Bharat Badal” a national cloud computing infrastructure for India which will benefit the rural India and bring the information technology within its grasp.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal Management effort or service provider interaction.

Cloud computing transforms computer processing, data storage, and software applications, allowing them to be delivered as a utility. Just like people tap into existing infrastructure for water or power, companies can now tap into a variety of services - applications, platforms, raw computing power and storage - all via the Internet. 

Key Drivers of Cloud Computing

The key drivers of cloud computing are:

–      Cloud is a Disruptive Technology.

–      Citizens will benefit from faster, cheaper, better and reliable applications on the cloud.

–      Economic Value Addition will be the  Driver for Cloud Adoption.

–      New cloud service models will emerge to drive growth and reduce costs.

–      Get educated first, educate government leaders second and then identify the cloud strategy for the citizen.

–      The Cloud will mature into a commodity pushing down prices of services.

Rural India:

The real India lives in its villages and smaller towns and therein lies the future of India; some of drivers are : 

•          Rural India constitutes 69% of India’s population.

•          86% of Rural population earns less than Rs. 100 per day

Here are   some highlights from the IMRB/I-Cube report  (as of March 2008) ; India’s ‘Rural population: 568m; Rural Literate Population: 368m; Rural English-Speaking Population: 63m; Rural Computer Literates: 15.1m; Rural Claimed Internet Users: 5.5m; Active internet users: 3.3m The opportunity is that there  are more mobile phones than Radio in Rural India (100million subscriber base).

Rural India has been ignored for more than 60 years and the Cloud will bring the change that is required to bridge the divide between rural India and urban India and will improve the Indian rural economy.

The government of India through BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd)  is providing broadband connectivity up to the Taluk level which makes data connectivity a reality for rural India, this will allow rural India to log into the cloud.

Cloud is Gandhi Engineering

The term “Gandhi engineering" was used by NY Times in an article on the Tata’s Nano and it defines Gandhi Engineering as “a mantra that combines irreverence toward established ways with a scarcity mentality that spurns superfluities”

The cloud computing is a marvel of Gandhi engineering and encompasses  

Low cost ; High operational efficiency ;  Elasticity  and Scalability.

Advantages of Cloud Computing for Rural India

•       Low start-up costs make cloud computing especially attractive for rural India.

•       Ease of management. No worry about keeping licenses or for that matter power and air-conditioning to run the data centers or purchasing additional hardware.

•        Scalability make rapid rural penetration a reality; one can easily expand the number of users and locations at a modest cost  .

•       Device and location independence. The way you access a cloud could be your desktop. It could be someone else's computer. It could be a mobile phone. It could be a solar powered touch pad.

•       Lastly the BSNL broadband project for rural India will provide the data connectivity.

What can be done for Rural India using the Cloud

The cloud will allow information technology to be infused to the smallest hamlet of India and make access to information available to the poorest of the poor to give them a better life by empowering them with knowledge derived through the net book or mobile phone connected to the cloud.  The Cloud will make the following services affordable and accessible at a low cost:

–      Citizen Government Interface

–      Citizen Benefits

–      Weather Forecast

–      Banking & Money Transfer

–      Tele Medicine

–      Commodity /Stock Exchange Prices

–      KYC and Credit Bureaus

–      Agricultural Information

–      Citizen Interface Portals

–      Knowledge Sharing  & E learning

–      Real Time communication

Bharat (the rural name for India)  will benefit by taking the Cloud to Rural India because:

•       The cloud will drive down costs of e-Governance, Education, Medical Care & other Government computerization initiatives.

•       The cloud will bridge the great divide between Rich Urban India and Poor Rural India and will give the same level playing field to all Indians.

•       Lastly the cloud will enable non- English speaking literate Indians to join the information revolution and participate in governance and the future of the country by allowing them to transact on the web in the Indian language of their choice

 

Bharat Badal

India must work on a public private partnership to built of a National Cloud Infrastructure named as “Bharat Badal “ pan India with data centers in five cities, this can be subsequently expanded nationally by connecting to the cloud infrastructure built by the State Governments of India.

The cities where the cloud data centers could be located are  Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengalooru. 

The Bharat Cloud is the solution for empowering the non urban Indian citizens with the power of Information Technology.  

Bharat Cloud will ensure a prosperous and digitally connected India and will bring economic and knowledge growth across the nation and will also be instrumental in unifying India.

Note: This article was published by Information Week sometime ago. 

Indiranagar 100 feet road in pictures

I was in Bangalore/Bengalooru on Thursday morning, used my mobile camera to capture  photographs of the destruction of the lovely trees on the 100 feet road, Indiranagar.

"A picture is worth a thousand words
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Bangalore Musings - 100 feet road indiranagar

This in continuation of another day in Bangalore - Bengalooru on Sunday, when i decided to take a morning walk on the magnificent 100 feet road in Indiranagar.

When Indiranagar was carved out the 100 feet road was named because it was 100 feet wide and the measure was not yet the metric system, some legacies die-hard.

Indiranagar was named after the then Prime Minister of India Ms. Indira Gandhi, and the 100 feet road as the main avenue and smaller dimensioned roads were 80 and 90 feet as subsidiary feeder avenues.

We used to love the 100 feet road for the shade it provided when we cycled through Indiranagar, and later drove our mopeds and subsequently motorcycles when in college.

The trees still survive and the shade it provides is really cool and the protection it provides during the rains is invaluable.

 A new  development is that the 100 feet road is a commercial district now and has a number of fancy restaurants and also upmarket designer outlets.

The old grand houses were broken down and made into commercial complexes and along with the house went the trees both in the houses and on the road.  

Every commercial establish has chopped  them down for a better frontage, these sections of the road looks like M.S.Dhoni's pate after the world cup win bald and hostile .

The exception was the Provogue outlet which for some reason has not cut down the big tree which stands in the center of its frontage, maybe they truly practice conservation and also the building which houses the Coffee Day and Pizza corner.

Some of the  brand outlets  had loud banners about being eco-friendly, but somewhere they had forgotten that charity begins at home.

I fear as more commercial establishments spring on 100 feet road, more trees will be uprooted and sent into oblivion.

Maybe after five years the pavement will be paid parking since there will be no more tree to obstruct the frontage of the commercial establishments.

Wonder how the people in Bangalore feel about this massacre of their green house !  I felt that it was barbaric !