As complicated as identity federation can be for U.S. companies, globalization adds still further complexity. Privacy laws, in particular -- although easy enough to manage when doing business locally -- can become a thorny issue when exchanging user identity information across international borders.
“If you’re a manager who has an employee in Germany and you’re based in the United States, it raises some interesting questions about what information you’re allowed to look at and what information you’re not allowed to look at,” says Simon Nicholson, chair of the business and marketing expert group of the Liberty Alliance.
Even for U.S. companies with no overseas operations, it’s shortsighted to plan for identity federation without considering the international implications. Some of the companies pursuing identity-based systems most aggressively can be found in Europe and Asia, and many of them are attractive partners for American businesses.
“Thirty percent of our members are headquartered outside North America,” Nicholson says. “If you want to do business with anybody outside of North America, you need to understand what their terms and conditions are going to look like and what their operating environment is like.”
According to Dan Blum, senior vice president and research director at Burton Group, those environments and conditions vary widely.
“Imagine taking a trip around the world where you start in the United States, then fly to New Zealand, then Singapore, then Japan, then over to Germany -- the European Union -- and then back again,” Blum says. “And think of all the differences in attitudes toward privacy that you’d encounter on that trip.”
A government such as Singapore’s, Blum explains, assumes broad powers to monitor, collect, and correlate data on individuals. On the other hand, the German government regulates and upholds personal privacy to a degree Blum describes as “paranoid.”
Federation didn’t create these problems. It merely brings them to the fore. In fact, the need to address the differing needs of world governments and industries may prove to be the new driver for federated identity solutions, after security and cost control. Given such a diverse number of players, there may simply be no viable alternative.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect businesscritical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts
This white paper provides guidance on how to develop a strategic approach to managing and monitoring logs, a key function required for compliance with many regulatory mandates and a critical defense against security threats.
Download now! »Learn about the processes and technologies that support security information management (SIM) operations, as well as the business case for SIM. The series examines different options for implementing SIM and gives you evaluation criteria for selecting the best option for your organization.
Download now! »Learn the strategies, actions, and capabilities that Best-in-Class organizations employ and technologies they choose to obtain superior performance against various security performance metrics. This report provides guidelines for identifying which security solutions to consume as a MSS and defines best practices for choosing and managing MSSPs.
Download now! »