RoltaSecure Portal

Securing it remotely

Rolta India Limited's RoltaSecure Portal services allows a company to outsource a number of information security functions so that the jobs can be performed remotely. This saves technology and manpower cost and frees up a company's resources for conducting the core business. by Soutiman Das Gupta

Any company in today's marketplace has to depend on communications networks and systems to transmit business information. And sometimes the areas of connectivity, network management, and security are best handled by an outsourced service provider.

Rolta India Limited's (RIL's) RoltaSecure Portal services offers a range of remote portal-based security services for the enterprise. It is a Web-based security service that helps to reduce an organization's investments in technology and internal resources which are required for securing and managing IT assets.

The services broadly include advance information on hacking, viruses, flaws in software, breaches in security, attack incidents, and suggestions and fixes to manage these effectively. These aim to allow an enterprise pre-empt attacks to its network by proactive scanning of systems, reports, and analyses of security information unique to a company's environment.

The biggest benefit according to RIL is that of cost savings, considering the investment necessary to build a similar infrastructure in-house.

Services

Some of the services are;

• Vulnerability Notification Service
• Vulnerability Assessment Service
• Remote Monitoring Service

Here's a closer look at these services.

Vulnerability Notification Service (VNS)

Keeping abreast with the latest patches for security breach is challenging. But, a good way to start is by getting acquainted with the latest vulnerabilities.

RoltaSecure VNS uses a repository of current vulnerability information. You need remedies specific to your unique profile settings that will in effect, help you to resiliently spring back to a working situation in cases of security attacks.

The service notifies you regularly of the details of the known certified vulnerabilities that exist in your network architecture by way of specific vulnerability alerts that serve as precise actionable information. This helps you fix serious problems at the earliest. Additionally, performance of regular vulnerability scanning of your IT resources greatly reduces the chances of threats that could severely impact your business.

With RoltaSecure VNS, you are updated on software vulnerabilities, hacker exploits and protocol/service security issues when they appear. This information enables you to take proactive measures by plugging vulnerabilities before any serious damage is caused.

Vulnerability Assessment Service (VAS)

The service enables one to scan critical Internet-exposed resources and identifies the current vulnerabilities. It routinely scans your Internet resources and provides updates on possible risks and threats to your network security.

The first step in protection for Internet-exposed resources is to identify the vulnerabilities and suspect wrong configurations that place information at risk. RoltaSecure VAS, works through the Internet and gives you a ‘hacker's eye view’ of your network, and helps you to secure your resources.

The subscription-based remote scanning service includes:

• Usage of multiple tools to review and assess your network perimeter and externally visible assets like servers, firewalls, and routers.
• Options for 'on-demand' or 'on-schedule' scans.
• Web-based graphical reports which have managerial reports and technical reports. The managerial reports have vulnerabilities sorted by complexity, risk factor, and popularity. And technical reports provide a detailed breakdown of vulnerabilities found, along with the technical details of suggestions and fixes required.
• Trend analysis of scanning reports for each IP address

Remote Monitoring

Service (RMS)

This monitors your Internet-exposed resources on a 24x7 basis to view their status for service availability. It provides current availability status of the exposed hosts and the services running on them.

The important features of this service are:

• Ensures continuous monitoring and minimal downtime for critical services and hardware resources.
• Determines if your critical resources are available for end users, whenever they need it, thereby monitoring service levels.
• Gathers information, like usage patterns to establish if current sizing and configuration is adequate or proactively plan for future resource needs based on historical monitored data.
• Presents comprehensive reports for senior management, facilitating easier management of critical IT processes.
• Provides notifications about resource problem/problem recovery via email and/or SMS on mobile phones.

Bundled offering

The three services above (VNS, VAS, and RMS) can be bundled into a single service offering. This provides a number of benefits to an organization. And these services can be provided at a cost of less than Rs 300 a day.

It avoids information overload and saves time. Rolta's dedicated eSecurity experts continuously scan the global source network for tracking the latest viruses, vulnerabilities, and other security information in an effort to keep you updated on the latest security trends.

A customized and asset-specific report provides you the information unique to your environment to meet your typical requirement. Dedicated engineers on a 24X7 basis provide support services.

The bundled offering allows you the flexibility to define users for asset-related information on a need-to-know, need-to-do basis. This is made possible through RoltaSecure's varied licensing options, which have been developed keeping in mind the unique requirements of corporates, which are geographically distributed.

Rolta claims to use its expertise in running 24x7 ISP services, and available freeware tools on open source platforms, to help one configure IDSs and network monitoring systems on your laptop or server. These could be used to monitor intrusions and your network for services availability.

Some of the company's clients are Exim Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Central Bank of India.

Soutiman Das Gupta can be reached at soutimand@networkmagazineindia.com