Friday 29 August 2008 00:37 BST

Our consultancy and technology services span:

Security Audit and Analysis
Intrusion Detection Systems
Secure Communications
Information Technology Operations
Infrastructure Design
Disaster Recovery
Internet Hosting
Electronic Mail
Electronic Commerce

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Security Audit and Analysis

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) published its report on computer security in the UK in April of last year. The report is highly critical of attitudes to computer security in the UK:

The report indicates that 60 per cent of companies have suffered a security breach within the past two years, and of those, 64 per cent did not change their security policy after the event.
The survey discovered that only 14 per cent of UK firms have any security at all shows that at a senior management level, there is obviously not enough awareness of the issues.
60% of organisations have suffered a security breach in the last 2 years.
Over 30% of organisations do not recognise that their business information is either sensitive or critical, and therefore a business asset.
Of those organisations that have critical or sensitive information, 43% had suffered an extremely serious or very serious breach, and a further 20% had suffered a moderately serious breach in the last 2 years.
1 in 3 businesses are either already buying or selling over the internet, or intend to start in the near future.
Some good practices are implemented and adhered to by 83% of the organisations interviewed e.g. virus protection and password controls.
Only 37% of organisations interviewed have undertaken a risk assessment where a systematic approach is taken to assess the security risks faced by the organisation.
40% of companies reporting security breaches were due to operator or user error reinforcing the fact that information security cannot simply be solved by technology.
Nearly three quarters of organisations that suffered a breach, which they regarded to be serious, had no contingency plan in place to deal with it.
More than half of the organisations which have suffered a breach that they consider to be their most serious, do not believe that there is anything they could have done to prevent the breaches they have suffered.
Only one in seven organisations has a formal information management security policy in place.
Organisations where responsibility for information security rests at board level are also those most likely to have formal policies in place. The presence of a formal policy is one of the most important issues in reporting and resolving security breaches.
Very few organisations were able to assess the true business implications of the security breaches they had suffered but those that were, indicated that the cost of a single breach was in excess of £100,000.
The high profile security issues, such as viruses and passwords are being addressed. However, there is insufficient awareness and understanding of what can be done to combat the more significant risks, particularly those posed by human actions, and those arising from doing business electronically. Often – but not always – information security is seen only as an issue for the IT department which it clearly isn’t. Good information security management is about organisations understanding the risks and threats they face and the vulnerabilities in their current computer processing facilities. It is about putting in common-sense procedures to minimize the risks and about educating all the employees about their responsibilities. Most importantly, it is about ensuring that the policy on information security management has the commitment of senior management. It is only when these procedural and management issues have been addressed that organisations can decide on what security technologies they need.

Internal auditing provides top management with analyses, appraisals, recommendations and advice on the activities reviewed. It can detect or deter fraud, identify savings and opportunities, adding value across the business. The historical role of internal auditing being largely restricted to financial control is no longer relevant.

Internal auditing now embraces the wider control and risk management spectrum (e.g. computer systems) and is acknowledged as a major contributor to effective corporate governance. We can inspect your internal and externally connected resources and physical infrastructure and report on such aspects as:-

Poor user and administrative passwords
Mis-configured servers
Inadequate logging

We can also perform such tasks as penetrative testing, actually testing your systems for all know, and some less orthodox methods of unintended entry, with the view to identifying and securing any exposed areas of weakness.

Please always report a computer security incident to the CERT Coordination Center by completing a copy of their Incident Reporting Form, available from ftp://info.cert.org/pub/incident_reporting_form The information on the form helps CERT provide the best assistance, as it enables them to understand the scope of the incident, to determine if your incident may be related to any other incidents that have been reported to them, and to identify trends in intruder activities. Help them/us to help YOU!

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Intrusion Detection;

Network intrusion detection systems (NIDS) are an important part of any network security architecture. They provide a layer of defense which monitors network traffic for predefined suspicious activity or patterns, and alert system administrators when potential hostile traffic is detected. They provide the necessarry information for a proactive response to any undesirable activity. Commercial NIDS have many differences, but Information Systems departments must face the commonalities that they share such as significant system footprint and complex deployment.

However complex the deployment and operation of these systems become, their deployment in situations where internet connected resources provide a businesses main revenue or the loss or alteration of services might cause adverse and undesirable losses in revenue or business reputation, is essential.

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Secure Communications

With more business transactions occurring across the internet, it has become increasingly important to ensure the information transferred can be both protected from interception and exploitation, and that when information is received it source can be verified. We can provide means of securing :

Electronic Mail
Electronic financial transactions
Public access networks
local area networks
Network file storage
Local file storage (including laptops).

Each method ensures it would be extremely difficult and in most cases near impossible to compromise the data stored or transmitted.

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Infrastructure Design

When implementing information systems the best practice is to get it right first time. Our team of multi-disciplined consultants have a proved track record of getting it right.

We draw on the knowledge and expertise of our consultants, whose skills span a wide range of capabilities. The specialist disciplines of our consulting staff are underpinned by deep change management experience - managing risk, mobilising staff and integrating initiatives to deliver sustainable change quickly. We take care of every stage of the design and implementation ensuring your clear requirements are met and that consideration is given to both future growth and the use of appropriate technology to meet you own teams technical ability.

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Operations

In situations where customers do not wish to undertake the burden of supporting their own information systems or may have limited localized technical staff, we can undertake to manage these systems under a predefined service level agreement (SLA).

Service level agreements are tailored for each individual and can offer varying levels of support and response ranging from acting in a third line support role offering technical assistance when required to dedicated local support staff to providing first line support directly to your users.

We realise that each business is different, so we employ a flexible strategy to fit in with your business needs:

Cover hardware and/or software support,
Cover a mixed environment of Microsoft Window-2000, Window-NT, Window 3.x/95/98, Novel and UNIX (HP-UX, Linux, SCO, Solaris),
Cover a mixed environment of Network Equipment,
Cover a mixed environment of Database servers (Oracle, MS-SQL Server, Sybase),
Provide our support staff(s) or use yours or both,
Manage your staff for you,
During working hours, extended hours or around the clock.

SLA are usually for a 12 months period but other duration can be arranged. Our pricing structure is designed to match the up and down of your business.

Outsmart's experience and ability to deliver flexible service whilst working alongside its customers, is testified by its increasing customer base of leading organisations. Our outstanding ability is in building long term outsourcing relationships that continuously add value. Not surprisingly, our clients regard us as an essential Business Partner

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Hosting

We currently have facilities at Telehouse-1 and our Croydon Offices to host client web environments and mail and mailing list traffic. We can provide dedicated or shared services or co-host, dependant on your sites expected traffic and the individual requirements.

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Electronic mail

Electronic mail is the most popular used application on the Internet, and with Outsmart you can utilise Email to it's utmost potential.

We provide a wide range of Email services to help you communicate more effectively and efficiently, ranging from simple POP3 e-mail accounts right through to SMTP mail delivery and Email to SMS and fax gateways.

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Disaster Recovery

"The consequences of a disaster on a business with NO contingency plan can be fatal - 80% never re-open, 5% fail within 5 years - only 8% survive! Source":- Safetynet PLC

More reliability usually means more staff and more backup systems. But we can help you to decide on the cost effective solutions that meet your user expectations and your business need. We can provide advice to eliminate single point of failure and make sure you are ready in case a disaster strikes by formulating Disaster Recovery Plan.

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