Lowe – who recently moved from a similar position with Check Point – was in London recently and Infosecurity had a chance to catch up with him.
He told us that over the last couple of years, he and his colleagues have been seeing the level of understanding rising in corporate circles about the need for IT security.
“It’s actually a tactical issue – IT security professionals are now starting to ask where is the organization currently at from a technical perspective”, he said, adding that he is also starting to see (amongst corporates) what the Jericho Forum has been promoting on the subject of secure collaboration in recent years.
Lowe says that 80% of security spend in most corporates is in the traditional AV and firewall space, but as the message about the need for better security starts to get through, this spending is now spreading to the end point gateway side of things.
One major telecoms customer, he adds, has spent millions on securing their IT systems, yet because of the need to allow staff remote access to their data and allied resources, the telco still has to allow access to its systems across what is the relatively insecure medium of the internet.
And, he explained, this is where enhanced end point security enters the frame, allowing the same level of access, but on a more secure and authenticated basis.
It’s for this type of access that Cyber-Ark has developed its new Governed File Transfer Suite offering, as it extends the secure file exchange portal to new portable devices such as the Apple iPad and other mobile devices, adding personalized watermarks for enhanced file protection.
Lowe says that, as more organizations embrace the growing bring your own service (BYOD) trend and empower their workforce with iPads, tablets and other mobile devices, data and sensitive files become increasingly distanced from the enterprise IT security architecture.
This, he argues, significantly increases the chances of data breaches or leaks.
The iPad support feature allows users to log in wirelessly to the secure portal to view files that have been sent to them, or to view corporate files based on their access rights. The portal automatically logs and manages all activities during portal interaction, providing a rich audit trail.
Personalized watermarks, meanwhile, allows organizations to track file usage by time, date, location, access permissions, IP address or any other attribute.
These details are added to the file the moment it is `checked out’ of the Secure File Exchange Portal. Organizations can also set document workflow rules to deny copy/paste or deny print access.
One area that Lowe wants to beef up within Cyber-Ark is the support the company offers for its resellers, who in turn support the firm’s end user clients.
The sales channel, he told Infosecurity, is starting to polarize with the big players focusing on selling and supporting major corporates, while smaller boutique resellers are offering IT security products and support to organizations with 100 or less members of staff.
It’s in this latter category of reseller that Lowe says he is also seeing a rising level of understanding of how security operates and, as a result, the resellers – and their clients – are now developing their own set of skills when it comes to deploying and maintaining IT security within the client’s systems.
“It’s also interesting to see how resellers are going towards the audit end of the market. There’s a new breed of sales professional that are working with the vertical side of the market. They can have a really technical conversation with their clients, which is something that would not have been possible just a few years ago”, he said.