The Challange – Security Vs. Mobility

The Challange – Security Vs. Mobility

The overwhelming increase in the mobility of the corporate workforce and the availability of wireless internet connections in airports, hotels, and coffee houses, creates an unbearable challenge to IT managers. Whenever employees, travelling with their laptops, connect to a hotel hotspot, they are in fact connecting their corporate computers to an unsecured network, shared by hundreds of guests. This innocent connection jeopardizes sensitive data and can bring back security threats into the corporate network when returned to the office. For this reason, IT managers have adopted rigid security policies, creating a conflict between the need for security and the productivity of the mobile workforce. For example, some organizations consider the returning laptops as “infected”. The infected laptops are completely formatted and cleaned. Some allow dial-up connections-only (no Wi-Fi), while others go further to completely prohibit the connection of laptops to the Internet outside the corporate network.
This unbearable conflict between security and mobility can only be solved if the mobile force is equipped with the same level of security as they have inside the corporate network. To understand what this means, we should examine the level of security that is maintained inside the corporate networks.

Corporate Network – Two Lines of Defense

Corporate users enjoy higher security levels inside the corporate network because they operate behind two lines of defense. The first line of defense, is a set of robust security appliances, installed at the IT center and exclusively controlled by the IT department. It is largely based on a comprehensive set of IT security appliances running secured and hardened OS, with Firewall, IDS, IPS, Anti Virus, Anti Spyware,
Anti Spam and Content filtering. The second line is based on the Personal FW and Anti Virus software installed on end-user’s computers.
The first line of defense completely isolates the user at the physical and logical layers.
Unlike PCs, these appliances are equipped with a Hardened operating systems that do not have security holes, “back-doors”, or unsecured layers. They are designed for a single purpose, to provide security.
The first line of defense provides the following advantages:
– Mobile code is not run – content arriving from the internet is not executed on these appliances it just goes or does not go through into the network. It makes it more difficult to attack as the mobile code delivered by the hackers does not run on the appliances.
Cannot be uninstalled – Security attacks often start by targeting the security software, while trying to uninstall it or stop its activity.
Software-based security solutions, as any software program includes an uninstall option that can be targeted. In contrast, the hardware-based security appliances cannot be uninstalled as they are hard coded into the hardware.
– Non-writable Memory – Hardware-based solutions manage the memory in a restricted and controlled manner. The security appliances can prohibit access to its memory, providing greater protection against attacks on the security mechanism.
– Controlled by IT personnel – The security appliances are controlled by IT, who constantly maintains the highest security policies and updates.
– Performance – The security appliances are optimized for maximum security and operate independently from computers in the network, not degrading the performance of the desktops or consuming their resources.
Consequently, the corporate PCs reside in a secured environment. If the security is breached, at least the damage stops at the gateway. The first line of defense prevents threats from entering the corporate network. While the second line serves as a precaution and help defend against threats that may have already entered the network (e.g. emails). But the real problem starts when the corporate PCs go in and out of this secured environment. Outside the corporate network they are at the frontline with no first line of defense. The problem intensifies as they return, bypassing the first line of defense as they enter the network. These laptops can be considered as the greatest threat because they unknowingly infiltrate security threats
into the supposedly safe network.

Obtaining The Right Laptop Computer For You

Getting The Right Laptop For You

Are you looking to buy a brand-new notebook computer? With so lots of laptop computer models offered in the marketplace today, with each sporting several features, choosing what kind of laptop to get can be complex. You need to think about very carefully just what sort of laptop you need to obtain before you take out your charge card. By doing this, you know you will wind up with a device that is just best for your demands.

Your needs are what you have to think about when you head out to get a laptop computer. Lots of individuals have different uses for their laptops. Some obtain laptops that they can collaborate with while taking a trip. Some simply desire a device that will change their desktops and also give them the wheelchair that their desktops can not perhaps offer. Some check out their laptops as extensions of their residence enjoyment systems or utilize them for intensive video gaming. Prior to you get a laptop, you need to figure out first the function for which you will certainly use it.

Individuals that require to be when traveling or in the air a lot– service executives, journalists and also freelance professionals, to name just a couple of– need a laptop computer that is simple to bring, does not consume power so much as well as is little enough to be made use of conveniently in confined seats on the train or in an airplane. If you are mosting likely to do a great deal of taking a trip, these variables must count a great deal when you choose your brand-new laptop. You will be lugging this equipment a lot, so it would certainly be fantastic for your body if your laptop is tiny and ultra-light. As well as since you would certainly be moving a great deal, you ought to pick a laptop computer that has a long battery life or is low on power consumption. It would be terrible to locate your computer system shutting down on you while you are in the center of something, as well as you either do not have extra battery packs or much away from a location wherein you can plug in your computer.

The regular laptop computer used by tourists is a device that considers no much less than four extra pounds and also has a 12-inch screen gauged diagonally. The size of the hard disk might be too little and limited for you, so it is very important that the laptop computer you will use for taking a trip has an integrated DVD/CD-RW mix drive. This will appropriately resolve your storage space needs. The ability for cordless networking is additionally required in ultra-light laptops, in situation you wish to access the Internet while you get on the go.

If dimension and also weight are crucial factors that tourists should check out when acquiring a laptop computer, power and also performance precede for the player. Laptop that are indicated to be utilized by players are loaded with a large-size hard disk, memory that is 512MB or even more, an effective video card as well as sound card, a built-in DVD/CD-RW, networking capacities and a widescreen display. Many of the prominent computer video games today are power-gobblers that can extend the performance of a computer to its limitation; a gaming laptop should have the ability to satisfy the source demands of these power-hungry computer system games. Also, notebook computer that can be utilized for video gaming are also excellent expansions of a person’s home theater as well as home entertainment system.

When you select a laptop for your pc gaming needs, it does not really matter if the maker is light sufficient or has a long battery life. You would certainly not be lugging it around a lot and it is extremely most likely that it will be plugged to a main power resource constantly.

A laptop computer that will be used in your home or in the workplace is often a toss-up between dimension and also power. Much like a pc gaming laptop computer, a laptop computer that shall be used mainly for service or home computing have to have a broad display– around 15 to 17 inches. A large display is very easy on the eyes, and also if this is the kind of computer system that you need, you would certainly be checking out it a great deal. It does not have to be as effective as a gaming laptop, but it nonetheless needs to be powerful sufficient so that electronic manipulation as well as PowerPoint discussions would not be hard for you to do. Having the standard multimedia capacities would certainly be welcome also.

It is most likely that the laptop computer you will be purchasing for your workplace or residence computing needs is something that will change your computer. Desktop computer systems typically have attributes and also abilities that laptops can only have as exterior peripherals attached with USB. Right here is a convenient suggestion you can use when seeking a laptop computer that is expected to replace your home computer: If the laptop computer weighs greater than 3 kilograms with all its peripherals plugged in, then you ought to not be looking for a laptop computer. What you need is a new desktop.

Pick your laptop computer sensibly according to your own computer requirements.

Notebook or Desktop Computer — Which Should You Choose?

Notebook or Desktop Computer — Which Should You Choose?

On TV and in the movies, we see a lot of portable computers being used in homes and offices. Does that mean that’s the trend? Is that what you should get?

Portable computers cost more, so unless you really have the need for one, you get a lot more computer for your money with a regular desktop PC. The main thing is portability. If you need a portable computer, get a laptop. (“Laptop,” “portable,” and “notebook” all refer to the same thing, by the way). Otherwise, a desktop computer is a better buy, and better ergonomically.

The Price Difference

You might wonder why laptops cost more than desktop computers with comparable features and power. That is largely because it is more expensive to manufacture laptops and their parts. For portable computer components, factors such as compactness, the amount of heat they generate, their weight, and power consumption are more important than they are for desktops. Those factors add to their manufacturing costs.

Space Requirements

While laptops are certainly compact, a desktop computer with a flat panel monitor can take up almost as little space. While called a “desktop” computer, the computer itself is most often kept on the floor. That leaves just the monitor, keyboard and mouse on the desk, which is really very similar in footprint to a notebook computer.

A great way to further reduce the space taken up on the desktop computer is get a keyboard drawer to hold the keyboard and mouse. That way, they slide out of the way under the top of the desk when they aren’t needed.

Be Mindful of Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the science of designing and arranging things so that people can interact with them more comfortably and safely. The basic ergonomic principals for computer use tell us that, 1) the keyboard should be as close to your lap level as possible (assuming you touch-type), 2) the monitor should be about arm’s length in front of you, and 3) the top of the monitor should be at about your eye level. Try achieving that with a laptop computer! Two words: im-possible.

It is obvious then, that a desktop computer is much better ergonomically than a laptop is. For prolonged use, especially, you’re much better off with a desktop computer.

And Don’t Forget Usability

Another aspect of ergonomics is usability. Because of size constraints, laptops also are lower on the usability scale than desktop PCs are. For one thing, laptop keyboards lack the separate groupings of the different sets of keys with space between them. For another, there are fewer keys on a laptop’s keyboard, so some of them have to perform double duty. On a standard keyboard, you don’t have to deal with that.

Screen Resolution

Computer monitors — the bulky ones, anyway — can be set at different resolutions. In other words, you can change the fineness of the image on the screen. The range is typically 640×480 — that is 640 pixel across and 480 pixels up and down — to 800×600, 1024×768, or even higher. At 640×480, the icons and such appear quite large; at 1024×768, they are substantially smaller. The most common resolutions today for desktop computers are 800×600 and 1024×768.

Something They Don’t Tell You

Laptop displays, on the other hand, have a fixed, or native, resolution. You can change the setting, but then the images and text don’t look good. While people tend to think that bigger numbers are better, a higher screen resolution may not work as well for you. It may make everything too small to see comfortably.

Remember, the laptop’s screen is smaller that a desktop’s. While a typical desktop computer screen is 17″ or so a laptop’s is usually in the range of 12″ to 15.” That is a big difference. Make sure you can see everything clearly before choosing a high-resolution laptop.

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