Industry Reports

View our selected range of complementary whitepapers, guides and briefings, suitable for IT Managers, Executives and business decision makers responsible for technology.

Select area of interest:

• Change Management
• Compliance
• Convergence & IP Telephony
• General Security
• Security Policy

Change Management

> Change Management: A Cisco Best Practices Process White Paper
This document provides a template for change management that promotes high-availability networks. Specifically, the template provides the critical steps for creating a change management process, a high-level process flow for planned change management, an emergency change process flow, and a general method to evaluate the success of your process.

Compliance

> Compliance and Risk Management, SOX - A Cisco Business & Technology Solution Report Good corporate governance depends on the effective management of internal controls and on the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of information within the organisation. Corporate reputation, brand preservation, and financial results all depend on the defense of business processes, and on compliance with a growing array of legislation and regulation. For companies listed on US exchanges, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (‘SOX’) is of overriding importance.

> Building Compliance With PCI Standards On The Cisco Intelligent Retail Network
With the new Payment Card Industry (PCI) standard, today’s retailers face additional challenges managing network security risk and compliance requirements. Introduced by VISA in April 2000 as the Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP) and mandated by Visa in June 2001, the current PCI standard was created over a period of five years by Visa, MasterCard, and other major credit card companies.

> A 5-Step Guide to Protecting Backup Data Best Practices You Can’t Afford to Overlook. An Iron Mountain Business & Technical White Paper
Policies for data security are a corporate concern and should be a fundamental element of an enterprise security strategy. Strategic security policies can spawn tactical and operational policies through the joint efforts of the security and storage organisations. Storage must become an integral part of the corporate security strategy. Read more about this in the white paper “A 5 Step Guide To Protecting Backup Data: Best Practices You Can’t Afford To Overlook.”

> Whelan Report: SOX, Files and Backup Tape - Making compliance work for you

Converged Video, Voice & Data

> Enhancing Business With Smarter, More Effective Communications; An Introduction To Cisco Unified Communications Applications - A Cisco Commercial Report
This white paper addresses Cisco Unified Communications applications in the context of emerging organisational needs and identifies quantifiable benefits—such as greater productivity, a richer collaboration environment, and reduced costs—that can be gained by deploying these applications

> The Top IP Myths Explained - A Cisco Technical Report
As voice, video, and data networks have begun to converge, more organisations are seeing the value in deploying IP business communications solutions, including IP telephony, unified messaging, voice mail, customer contact solutions, and audio, video, and Web conferencing.

> Securing Internet Protocol Telephony – A Verizon Business & Technical White Paper
In recent years, Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony has grown into a viable alternative to traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) voice services. While most professionals in this industry are familiar with the security concerns related to traditional voice and IP security, many are not aware of how security plays a role in IP Telephony. This document addresses the security concerns specific to Voice over IP (VoIP) and the industry-recognised remedies in use today to combat them.

> Securing IP Communications – Smart Technology And Good Practices Deliver A Secure Environment For Both Voice And Data – An IQ Magazine article

General Security

> IT Security Risk Management – A Verizon Business White Paper
How do you predict the total cost of a threat? Is it only the cost to restore the comprised system and lost productivity? Or does it include lost revenue, customer confidence, and trust of investors? This paper provides an overview of the risk management process and its benefits.

> Five Steps to Securing Your Wireless LAN and Preventing Wireless Threats – A Cisco Technical White Paper
Wireless LANs (WLANs) bring incredible productivity and new efficiencies to organisations of all sizes. Advances in WLAN features and capabilities allow organizations to offer the benefits of wireless to their employees without sacrificing security. Properly deployed, WLANs can be as secure as wired networks. This paper discusses the five steps to creating a secure WLAN infrastructure.

> Top Five Security Issues for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
According to recent studies, security is the biggest challenge facing small and medium-sized businesses. Ever-changing security threats from both inside and outside the business network can severely impair business operations, affecting profitability and customer satisfaction. In addition, small and medium-sized businesses must comply with new regulations and laws created to protect consumer privacy and secure electronic information.

> Whelan Report: Web Security - Protecting Against Internet Sourced Exploits
> Whelan Report: Clientless Remote Access: An IT Manager's Guide To SSL VPNs
> Whelan Report: Securing Your Wireless LAN
> Whelan Report: Personal Firewalls
> Whelan Report: Blaster Worms, Viruses And Other Nasties
> Whelan Report: Why An Intrusion Detection System(IDS) IS A Necessity Not A Nicety
> Whelan Report: How To Remove The nightmare Of Multiple VPN Passwords

Security Policy

> Network Security Policy: A Detailed Best Practices White Paper From Cisco White Paper
Without a security policy, the availability of your network can be compromised. The policy begins with assessing the risk to the network and building a team to respond. Continuation of the policy requires implementing a security change management practice and monitoring the network for security violations. Lastly, the review process modifies the existing policy and adapts to lessons learned. This document is divided into three areas: preparation, prevention, and response.

> Whelan Report: Security Policy: Why it should be business driven and top priority