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November 2000
BRIGHT IDEAS
Edited by Maria Medina
E-Signatures
Are You Ready?
Electronic signatures are as legally binding now as ink
signatures on paper. Digital signatures ensure that the original content
of a document traveling through cyberspace remains unchanged. Here are a
few things to consider in preparation for electronic signatures.
1. Knowledge: Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology lets
organizations incorporate digital signatures into their security
infrastructure. Successful PKI implementation requires knowledge of
security technologies such as encryption, digital signatures,
registration authorities and certification authorities.
2. Integration: Any enterprise considering PKI implementation
should look for assistance from a firm with strong security and systems
integration experience. Caution: Many firms focus on PKI technology and
have no experience with integrating PKI into legacy environments, which
is where most electronic signature applications reside.
3. Experience: Make sure the firm you choose to work with has a
cadre of specialists and solution architects who have been trained in
the latest PKI technology and understand the nuances between protocols
such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and Secure
Electronic Transaction (SET) certificates.
4. Service: Find an experienced e-business security firm that will
be there to enhance your company's network (such as service upgrades)
and meet your changing needs as the technology evolves.
Sunil Misra is managing principal for the Unisys Worldwide
E-Business Security and Privacy Practice, Blue Bell, PA
(www.unisys.com/security).
Archiving Electronic Business Records
Prepare to Handle the E-Business Data Surge
If you haven't yet invested in an archiving solution, what are you
waiting for? Archiving technology is enabling businesses to manage their
records with ease. As you move your business processes to a more
integrated electronic environment, be prepared to assess your archiving
strategy. Your organization must be able to retain data over an extended
period of time, and your system must have easy search-and-retrieval
capabilities.
1. Before making the transition, perform some record keeping and
plan ahead to avoid data-migration hassles later on. First, you'll need
to know how much data your electronic records generate per day, month or
year and how long you'll need to keep those records. This will give you
an idea of your storage needs.
2. Understand your search-and-retrieval needs. Some organizations
need repositories where the data is fully-text indexed. Others need to
index according to select data elements. Some need to retrieve data
instantaneously, others within a day, within a week or as much as a
month later.
3. Don't take technology for granted. Your data must outlast
changes in technology and it must be retained longer than the lifetime
of the storage medium and the storage subsystem. Plan for data migration
as media ages and as storage subsystems become obsolete. Consider the
life span of the application used to save the data, and don't overlook
the content format. Do you need to archive your Microsoft Exchange
email? Don't just save PST files: You may not be running Exchange three
years from now, and anyway, good luck finding a Windows NT 4.0 system
with Exchange 5.0 in 2003. [See "Lost in Email? Five Archive Solutions"]
4. Think business value. As the volume of electronic data
grows, the absence of a strategic archiving solution impedes an
organization's ability to conduct business. The increasing amount of new
data will require major infrastructure changes. If the efforts to find
and retrieve data are time-consuming and expensive, then the inability
to retrieve data will weaken business operations.
Jonathan Penn is senior industry analyst of directories and messaging
for Giga Information Group, Cambridge, MA, (www.gigaweb.com).
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