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Security software is a broad term that encompasses a suite of different types of software that deliver data and computer and network security in various forms. \r\nSecurity software can protect a computer from viruses, malware, unauthorized users and other security exploits originating from the Internet. Different types of security software include anti-virus software, firewall software, network security software, Internet security software, malware/spamware removal and protection software, cryptographic software, and more.\r\nIn end-user computing environments, anti-spam and anti-virus security software is the most common type of software used, whereas enterprise users add a firewall and intrusion detection system on top of it. \r\nSecurity soft may be focused on preventing attacks from reaching their target, on limiting the damage attacks can cause if they reach their target and on tracking the damage that has been caused so that it can be repaired. As the nature of malicious code evolves, security software also evolves.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Firewall. </span>Firewall security software prevents unauthorized users from accessing a computer or network without restricting those who are authorized. Firewalls can be implemented with hardware or software. Some computer operating systems include software firewalls in the operating system itself. For example, Microsoft Windows has a built-in firewall. Routers and servers can include firewalls. There are also dedicated hardware firewalls that have no other function other than protecting a network from unauthorized access.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Antivirus.</span> Antivirus solutions work to prevent malicious code from attacking a computer by recognizing the attack before it begins. But it is also designed to stop an attack in progress that could not be prevented, and to repair damage done by the attack once the attack abates. Antivirus software is useful because it addresses security issues in cases where attacks have made it past a firewall. New computer viruses appear daily, so antivirus and security software must be continuously updated to remain effective.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Antispyware.</span> While antivirus software is designed to prevent malicious software from attacking, the goal of antispyware software is to prevent unauthorized software from stealing information that is on a computer or being processed through the computer. Since spyware does not need to attempt to damage data files or the operating system, it does not trigger antivirus software into action. However, antispyware software can recognize the particular actions spyware is taking by monitoring the communications between a computer and external message recipients. When communications occur that the user has not authorized, antispyware can notify the user and block further communications.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Home Computers.</span> Home computers and some small businesses usually implement&nbsp; security software at the desktop level - meaning on the PC itself. This category of computer security and protection, sometimes referred to as end-point security, remains resident, or continuously operating, on the desktop. Because the software is running, it uses system resources, and can slow the computer's performance. However, because it operates in real time, it can react rapidly to attacks and seek to shut them down when they occur.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Network Security.</span> When several computers are all on the same network, it's more cost-effective to implement security at the network level. Antivirus software can be installed on a server and then loaded automatically to each desktop. However firewalls are usually installed on a server or purchased as an independent device that is inserted into the network where the Internet connection comes in. All of the computers inside the network communicate unimpeded, but any data going in or out of the network over the Internet is filtered trough the firewall.<br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal; \">What is IT security software?</span></h1>\r\nIT security software provides protection to businesses’ computer or network. It serves as a defense against unauthorized access and intrusion in such a system. It comes in various types, with many businesses and individuals already using some of them in one form or another.\r\nWith the emergence of more advanced technology, cybercriminals have also found more ways to get into the system of many organizations. Since more and more businesses are now relying their crucial operations on software products, the importance of security system software assurance must be taken seriously – now more than ever. Having reliable protection such as a security software programs is crucial to safeguard your computing environments and data. \r\n<p class=\"align-left\">It is not just the government or big corporations that become victims of cyber threats. In fact, small and medium-sized businesses have increasingly become targets of cybercrime over the past years. </p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal; \">What are the features of IT security software?</span></h1>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Automatic updates. </span>This ensures you don’t miss any update and your system is the most up-to-date version to respond to the constantly emerging new cyber threats.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Real-time scanning.</span> Dynamic scanning features make it easier to detect and infiltrate malicious entities promptly. Without this feature, you’ll risk not being able to prevent damage to your system before it happens.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Auto-clean.</span> A feature that rids itself of viruses even without the user manually removing it from its quarantine zone upon detection. Unless you want the option to review the malware, there is no reason to keep the malicious software on your computer which makes this feature essential.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Multiple app protection.</span> This feature ensures all your apps and services are protected, whether they’re in email, instant messenger, and internet browsers, among others.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Application level security.</span> This enables you to control access to the application on a per-user role or per-user basis to guarantee only the right individuals can enter the appropriate applications.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Role-based menu.</span> This displays menu options showing different users according to their roles for easier assigning of access and control.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Row-level (multi-tenant) security.</span> This gives you control over data access at a row-level for a single application. This means you can allow multiple users to access the same application but you can control the data they are authorized to view.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Single sign-on.</span> A session or user authentication process that allows users to access multiple related applications as long as they are authorized in a single session by only logging in their name and password in a single place.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">User privilege parameters.</span> These are customizable features and security as per individual user or role that can be accessed in their profile throughout every application.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Application activity auditing.</span> Vital for IT departments to quickly view when a user logged in and off and which application they accessed. Developers can log end-user activity using their sign-on/signoff activities.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Security_Software.png","alias":"security-software"},"52":{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service"},"487":{"id":487,"title":"Secure Web Gateway","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Secure Web gateway</span> solutions protect Web-surfing PCs from infection and enforce company policies. A secure Web gateway is a solution that filters unwanted software/malware from user-initiated Web/Internet traffic and enforces corporate and regulatory policy compliance. \r\nThese gateways must, at a minimum, include URL filtering, malicious-code detection and filtering, and application controls for popular Web-based applications, such as instant messaging (IM) and Skype. Native or integrated data leak prevention is also increasingly included. Data leak prevention features are also essential. Let's take a look at some of these features in more detail:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Real-Time Traffic Inspection.</span> A secure web gateway inspects web traffic in real-time, analyzing content against corporate policies and ensuring any content that is inappropriate or which contravenes company policy is blocked. The majority of secure web gateways allow administrators to enforce common security policy templates straight off the shelf and also configure policies that are suited to their business model or compliance requirements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Protection for Off-Grid Workers.</span> As workforces become more distributed, there is a need for security solutions to offer protection on an anywhere, anytime and any device basis. A secure web gateway allows roaming users to authenticate seamlessly and to have the same security policies applies to their devices as they would if they were in the office. The result is a protected connection no matter where they are working and total peace of mind that all internet traffic is secure.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Time and Content-Based Access.</span> Whether you need to restrict access to the internet at specific times, or you wish to control access to particular web content, your secure web gateway can be configured to suit your acceptable use policy and compliance requirements. Individual users can be allocated time quotas or schedules that ensure maximum productivity or only permitted access to websites that are relevant to their job roles.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data Leak Prevention.</span> As its name suggests, data leak prevention stops your corporate data from being leaked to or stolen by a third party. From detecting common business terms such as payment card industry (PCI) number patterns and phrases or personally identifiable information, a web security gateway coupled with data leak prevention software can be a very robust line of defense from both internal and external threats.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> Secure web gateway market</h1>\r\nThere are a variety of <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">secure web gateway vendors</span> operating - among them Symantec, iboss, F5, Check Point Software, zScaler, Barracuda, Forcepoint, McAfee and Cisco<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">. </span>Most of these companies are now emphasizing <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">cloud web gateway</span>. Although many still carry, maintain and market their on-premises versions, the competitive battleground has largely shifted to the cloud.\r\nAccording to Gartner, Symantec and Cisco are the market leaders in terms of revenue. Their efforts in this space give an indication of where the market is heading. Symantec favors proxy-based SWG appliances and services. Cisco, on the other hand, has concentrated on a hybrid of DNS and proxy capabilities. Both have acquired CASB technology and have been integrating it with their secure web gateway services. Cisco has also added DNS-based inspection into its package. This allows it to use DNS for most inspection traffic to raise performance. More involved content inspection of potentially risky websites can be done using HTTP/HTTPS proxying.\r\nCloud based secure web gateway offerings have been growing at around 30 percent per year for the last several years, according to Gartner. When coupled with growing integration with other security features, on-premises standalone secure web gateways are slowly giving way to larger cloud-based suites that incorporate gateway security. \r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Secure_Web_Gateway.png","alias":"secure-web-gateway"},"834":{"id":834,"title":"IoT - Internet of Things Security","description":" IoT security is the technology area concerned with safeguarding connected devices and networks in the internet of things (IoT).\r\nIoT involves adding internet connectivity to a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals and/or people. Each &quot;thing&quot; is provided a unique identifier and the ability to automatically transfer data over a network. Allowing devices to connect to the internet opens them up to a number of serious vulnerabilities if they are not properly protected.\r\nIoT security has become the subject of scrutiny after a number of high-profile incidents where a common IoT device was used to infiltrate and attack the larger network. Implementing security measures is critical to ensuring the safety of networks with IoT devices connected to them.\r\nIoT security hacks can happen in any industry, from smart home to a manufacturing plant to a connected car. The severity of impact depends greatly on the individual system, the data collected and/or the information it contains.\r\nAn attack disabling the brakes of a connected car, for example, or on a connected health device, such as an insulin pump hacked to administer too much medication to a patient, can be life-threatening. Likewise, an attack on a refrigeration system housing medicine that is monitored by an IoT system can ruin the viability of a medicine if temperatures fluctuate. Similarly, an attack on critical infrastructure -- an oil well, energy grid or water supply -- can be disastrous.\r\nSo, a robust IoT security portfolio must allow protecting devices from all types of vulnerabilities while deploying the security level that best matches application needs. Cryptography technologies are used to combat communication attacks. Security services are offered for protecting against lifecycle attacks. Isolation measures can be implemented to fend off software attacks. And, finally, IoT security should include tamper mitigation and side-channel attack mitigation technologies for fighting physical attacks of the chip.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the key requirements of IoT Security?</span>\r\nThe key requirements for any IoT security solution are:\r\n<ul><li>Device and data security, including authentication of devices and confidentiality and integrity of data</li><li>Implementing and running security operations at IoT scale</li><li>Meeting compliance requirements and requests</li><li>Meeting performance requirements as per the use case</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What do connected devices require to participate in the IoT Securely?</span>\r\nTo securely participate in the IoT, each connected device needs a unique identification – even before it has an IP address. This digital credential establishes the root of trust for the device’s entire lifecycle, from initial design to deployment to retirement.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is device authentication necessary for the IoT?</span>\r\nStrong IoT device authentication is required to ensure connected devices on the IoT can be trusted to be what they purport to be. Consequently, each IoT device needs a unique identity that can be authenticated when the device attempts to connect to a gateway or central server. With this unique ID in place, IT system administrators can track each device throughout its lifecycle, communicate securely with it, and prevent it from executing harmful processes. If a device exhibits unexpected behavior, administrators can simply revoke its privileges.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is secure manufacturing necessary for IoT devices?</span>\r\nIoT devices produced through unsecured manufacturing processes provide criminals opportunities to change production runs to introduce unauthorized code or produce additional units that are subsequently sold on the black market.\r\nOne way to secure manufacturing processes is to use hardware security modules (HSMs) and supporting security software to inject cryptographic keys and digital certificates and to control the number of units built and the code incorporated into each.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is code signing necessary for IoT devices?</span>\r\nTo protect businesses, brands, partners, and users from software that has been infected by malware, software developers have adopted code signing. In the IoT, code signing in the software release process ensures the integrity of IoT device software and firmware updates and defends against the risks associated with code tampering or code that deviates from organizational policies.\r\nIn public key cryptography, code signing is a specific use of certificate-based digital signatures that enables an organization to verify the identity of the software publisher and certify the software has not been changed since it was published.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is IoT PKI?</span>\r\nToday there are more things (devices) online than there are people on the planet! Devices are the number one users of the Internet and need digital identities for secure operation. As enterprises seek to transform their business models to stay competitive, rapid adoption of IoT technologies is creating increasing demand for Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs) to provide digital certificates for the growing number of devices and the software and firmware they run.\r\nSafe IoT deployments require not only trusting the devices to be authentic and to be who they say they are, but also trusting that the data they collect is real and not altered. If one cannot trust the IoT devices and the data, there is no point in collecting, running analytics, and executing decisions based on the information collected.\r\nSecure adoption of IoT requires:\r\n<ul><li>Enabling mutual authentication between connected devices and applications</li><li>Maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of the data collected by devices</li><li>Ensuring the legitimacy and integrity of the software downloaded to devices</li><li>Preserving the privacy of sensitive data in light of stricter security regulations</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/iot.png","alias":"iot-internet-of-things-security"}},"branches":"Logistics","companySizes":"1 to 50 Employees","companyUrl":"http://www.akua-inc.com/","countryCodes":["USA"],"certifications":[],"isSeller":true,"isSupplier":true,"isVendor":true,"presenterCodeLng":"","seo":{"title":"AKUA","keywords":"","description":" AKUA is a company that provides environmental monitoring and tracking solutions for intermodal cargo containers. It provides big data analytics, IoT devices and sensors to secure, track, and optimize transportation. Their solutions provide in-transit visibili","og:title":"AKUA","og:description":" AKUA is a company that provides environmental monitoring and tracking solutions for intermodal cargo containers. It provides big data analytics, IoT devices and sensors to secure, track, and optimize transportation. Their solutions provide in-transit visibili","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/uploads/roi/company/AKUA_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","vendorPartners":[],"supplierPartners":[],"vendoredProducts":[{"id":3430,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/akua_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"The AKUA Cloud Platform","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"0.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"the-akua-cloud-platform","companyTitle":"AKUA","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":5167,"companyAlias":"akua","description":"With the AKUA Cloud Platform, cargo owner can GPS-track and continuously monitor the progress of intermodal containers. Our devices provide real-time security and environmental sensing, with data reported through telecommunications infrastructure up to the AKUA cloud. This lets cargo owners maintain real-time awareness of their shipments’ location and status, with immediate alerts of any incursion or environmental threshold violation.\r\nWith AKUA, there is no new equipment to buy or manage. The necessary IoT gateway devices, sensors, and device logistics are included in the subscription. A customer’s existing IoT sensors can also be easily integrated into the AKUA Cloud Platform.","shortDescription":"The IoT platform provides persistent environmental monitoring and tracking solutions for intermodal cargo containers, enabling exceptional in-transit visibility of goods and shipments across the globe","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":10,"sellingCount":17,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"The AKUA Cloud Platform","keywords":"","description":"With the AKUA Cloud Platform, cargo owner can GPS-track and continuously monitor the progress of intermodal containers. Our devices provide real-time security and environmental sensing, with data reported through telecommunications infrastructure up to the AKU","og:title":"The AKUA Cloud Platform","og:description":"With the AKUA Cloud Platform, cargo owner can GPS-track and continuously monitor the progress of intermodal containers. Our devices provide real-time security and environmental sensing, with data reported through telecommunications infrastructure up to the AKU","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/akua_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3431,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":471,"title":"Hardware","alias":"hardware","description":" Computer hardware includes the physical, tangible parts or components of a computer, such as the cabinet, central processing unit, monitor, keyboard, computer data storage, graphics card, sound card, speakers and motherboard. By contrast, software is instructions that can be stored and run by hardware. Hardware is so-termed because it is &quot;hard&quot; or rigid with respect to changes or modifications; whereas software is &quot;soft&quot; because it is easy to update or change. Intermediate between software and hardware is &quot;firmware&quot;, which is software that is strongly coupled to the particular hardware of a computer system and thus the most difficult to change but also among the most stable with respect to consistency of interface. The progression from levels of &quot;hardness&quot; to &quot;softness&quot; in computer systems parallels a progression of layers of abstraction in computing.\r\nHardware is typically directed by the software to execute any command or instruction. A combination of hardware and software forms a usable computing system, although other systems exist with only hardware components.\r\nThe template for all modern computers is the Von Neumann architecture, detailed in a 1945 paper by Hungarian mathematician John von Neumann. This describes a design architecture for an electronic digital computer with subdivisions of a processing unit consisting of an arithmetic logic unit and processor registers, a control unit containing an instruction register and program counter, a memory to store both data and instructions, external mass storage, and input and output mechanisms. The meaning of the term has evolved to mean a stored-program computer in which an instruction fetch and a data operation cannot occur at the same time because they share a common bus. This is referred to as the Von Neumann bottleneck and often limits the performance of the system.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What does Hardware (H/W) mean?</span>\r\nHardware (H/W), in the context of technology, refers to the physical elements that make up a computer or electronic system and everything else involved that is physically tangible. This includes the monitor, hard drive, memory and CPU. Hardware works hand-in-hand with firmware and software to make a computer function.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the types of computer systems?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Personal computer</span></span>\r\nThe personal computer, also known as the PC, is one of the most common types of computer due to its versatility and relatively low price. Laptops are generally very similar, although they may use lower-power or reduced size components, thus lower performance.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Case</span></span>\r\nThe computer case encloses and holds most of the components of the system. It provides mechanical support and protection for internal elements such as the motherboard, disk drives, and power supplies, and controls and directs the flow of cooling air over internal components. The case is also part of the system to control electromagnetic interference radiated by the computer, and protects internal parts from electrostatic discharge. Large tower cases provide extra internal space for multiple disk drives or other peripherals and usually stand on the floor, while desktop cases provide less expansion room. All-in-one style designs include a video display built into the same case. Portable and laptop computers require cases that provide impact protection for the unit. A current development in laptop computers is a detachable keyboard, which allows the system to be configured as a touch-screen tablet. Hobbyists may decorate the cases with colored lights, paint, or other features, in an activity called case modding.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Power supply</span></span>\r\nA power supply unit (PSU) converts alternating current (AC) electric power to low-voltage direct current (DC) power for the internal components of the computer. Laptops are capable of running from a built-in battery, normally for a period of hours. The PSU typically uses a switched-mode power supply (SMPS), with power MOSFETs (power metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors) used in the converters and regulator circuits of the SMPS.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Motherboard</span></span>\r\nThe motherboard is the main component of a computer. It is a board with integrated circuitry that connects the other parts of the computer including the CPU, the RAM, the disk drives (CD, DVD, hard disk, or any others) as well as any peripherals connected via the ports or the expansion slots. The integrated circuit (IC) chips in a computer typically contain billions of tiny metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs).\r\nComponents directly attached to or to part of the motherboard include:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The CPU (central processing unit)</span>, which performs most of the calculations which enable a computer to function, and is referred to as the brain of the computer which get a hold of program instruction from random-access memory (RAM), interprets and processes it and then send it backs to computer result so that the relevant components can carry out the instructions. The CPU is a microprocessor, which is fabricated on a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) chip. It is usually cooled by a heat sink and fan, or water-cooling system. Most newer CPU include an on-die graphics processing unit (GPU). The clock speed of CPU governs how fast it executes instructions, and is measured in GHz; typical values lie between 1 GHz and 5 GHz. Many modern computers have the option to overclock the CPU which enhances performance at the expense of greater thermal output and thus a need for improved cooling.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The chipset</span>, which includes the north bridge, mediates communication between the CPU and the other components of the system, including main memory; as well as south bridge, which is connected to the north bridge, and supports auxiliary interfaces and buses; and, finally, a Super I/O chip, connected through the south bridge, which supports the slowest and most legacy components like serial ports, hardware monitoring and fan control.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Random-access memory (RAM)</span>, which stores the code and data that are being actively accessed by the CPU. For example, when a web browser is opened on the computer it takes up memory; this is stored in the RAM until the web browser is closed. It is typically a type of dynamic RAM (DRAM), such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), where MOS memory chips store data on memory cells consisting of MOSFETs and MOS capacitors. RAM usually comes on dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) in the sizes of 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB, but can be much larger.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Read-only memory (ROM)</span>, which stores the BIOS that runs when the computer is powered on or otherwise begins execution, a process known as Bootstrapping, or &quot;booting&quot; or &quot;booting up&quot;. The ROM is typically a nonvolatile BIOS memory chip, which stores data on floating-gate MOSFET memory cells.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The BIOS (Basic Input Output System)</span> includes boot firmware and power management firmware. Newer motherboards use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) instead of BIOS.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Buses</span> that connect the CPU to various internal components and to expand cards for graphics and sound.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The CMOS</span> (complementary MOS) battery, which powers the CMOS memory for date and time in the BIOS chip. This battery is generally a watch battery.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The video card</span> (also known as the graphics card), which processes computer graphics. More powerful graphics cards are better suited to handle strenuous tasks, such as playing intensive video games or running computer graphics software. A video card contains a graphics processing unit (GPU) and video memory (typically a type of SDRAM), both fabricated on MOS integrated circuit (MOS IC) chips.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Power MOSFETs</span> make up the voltage regulator module (VRM), which controls how much voltage other hardware components receive.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Expansion cards</span></span>\r\nAn expansion card in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard or backplane to add functionality to a computer system via the expansion bus. Expansion cards can be used to obtain or expand on features not offered by the motherboard.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Storage devices</span></span>\r\nA storage device is any computing hardware and digital media that is used for storing, porting and extracting data files and objects. It can hold and store information both temporarily and permanently, and can be internal or external to a computer, server or any similar computing device. Data storage is a core function and fundamental component of computers.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Fixed media</span></span>\r\nData is stored by a computer using a variety of media. Hard disk drives (HDDs) are found in virtually all older computers, due to their high capacity and low cost, but solid-state drives (SSDs) are faster and more power efficient, although currently more expensive than hard drives in terms of dollar per gigabyte, so are often found in personal computers built post-2007. SSDs use flash memory, which stores data on MOS memory chips consisting of floating-gate MOSFET memory cells. Some systems may use a disk array controller for greater performance or reliability.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Removable media</span></span>\r\nTo transfer data between computers, an external flash memory device (such as a memory card or USB flash drive) or optical disc (such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or BD-ROM) may be used. Their usefulness depends on being readable by other systems; the majority of machines have an optical disk drive (ODD), and virtually all have at least one Universal Serial Bus (USB) port.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Input and output peripherals</span></span>\r\nInput and output devices are typically housed externally to the main computer chassis. The following are either standard or very common to many computer systems.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Input</span></span>\r\nInput devices allow the user to enter information into the system, or control its operation. Most personal computers have a mouse and keyboard, but laptop systems typically use a touchpad instead of a mouse. Other input devices include webcams, microphones, joysticks, and image scanners.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Output device</span></span>\r\nOutput devices display information in a human readable form. Such devices could include printers, speakers, monitors or a Braille embosser.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Mainframe computer</span></span>\r\nA mainframe computer is a much larger computer that typically fills a room and may cost many hundreds or thousands of times as much as a personal computer. They are designed to perform large numbers of calculations for governments and large enterprises.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Departmental computing</span></span>\r\nIn the 1960s and 1970s, more and more departments started to use cheaper and dedicated systems for specific purposes like process control and laboratory automation.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Supercomputer</span></span>\r\nA supercomputer is superficially similar to a mainframe, but is instead intended for extremely demanding computational tasks. As of June 2018, the fastest supercomputer on the TOP500supercomputer list is the Summit, in the United States, with a LINPACK benchmarkscore of 122.3 PFLOPS Light, by around 29 PFLOPS.\r\nThe term supercomputer does not refer to a specific technology. Rather it indicates the fastest computations available at any given time. In mid 2011, the fastest supercomputers boasted speeds exceeding one petaflop, or 1 quadrillion (10^15 or 1,000 trillion) floating point operations per second. Supercomputers are fast but extremely costly, so they are generally used by large organizations to execute computationally demanding tasks involving large data sets. Supercomputers typically run military and scientific applications. Although costly, they are also being used for commercial applications where huge amounts of data must be analyzed. For example, large banks employ supercomputers to calculate the risks and returns of various investment strategies, and healthcare organizations use them to analyze giant databases of patient data to determine optimal treatments for various diseases and problems incurring to the country. ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Hardware.jpg"},{"id":178,"title":"IoT - Internet of Things","alias":"iot-internet-of-things","description":"The Internet of things (IoT) is the extension of Internet connectivity into physical devices and everyday objects. Embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of hardware (such as sensors), these devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled.\r\nThe definition of the Internet of things has evolved due to the convergence of multiple technologies, real-time analytics, machine learning, commodity sensors, and embedded systems. Traditional fields of embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation (including home and building automation). and others all contribute to enabling the Internet of things. In the consumer market, IoT technology is most synonymous with products pertaining to the concept of the &quot;smart home&quot;, covering devices and appliances (such as lighting fixtures, thermostats, home security systems and cameras, and other home appliances) that support one or more common ecosystems, and can be controlled via devices associated with that ecosystem, such as smartphones and smart speakers.\r\nThe IoT concept has faced prominent criticism, especially in regards to privacy and security concerns related to these devices and their intention of pervasive presence.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?</span>\r\nThe Internet of things refers to the network of things (physical objects) that can be connected to the Internet to collect and share data without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is it called the Internet of Things?</span>\r\nThe term Internet of things was coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999. Stemming from Kevin Ashton’s experience with RFID, the term Internet of things originally described the concept of tagging every object in a person’s life with machine-readable codes. This would allow computers to easily manage and inventory all of these things.\r\nThe term IoT today has evolved to a much broader prospect. It now encompasses ubiquitous connectivity, devices, sensors, analytics, machine learning, and many other technologies.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an IoT solution?</span>\r\nAn IoT solution is a combination of devices or other data sources, outfitted with sensors and Internet connected hardware to securely report information back to an IoT platform. This information is often a physical metric which can help users answer a question or solve a specific problem.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an IoT Proof of Concept (PoC)?</span>\r\nThe purpose of a PoC is to experiment with a solution in your environment, collect data, and evaluate performance from a set timeline on a set budget. A PoC is a low-risk way to introduce IoT to an organization.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an IoT cloud platform?</span>\r\nAn IoT platform provides users with one or more of these key elements — visualization tools, data security features, a workflow engine and a custom user interface to utilize the information collected from devices and other data sources in the field. These platforms are based in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is industrial equipment monitoring?</span>\r\nIndustrial equipment monitoring uses a network of connected sensors - either native to a piece of equipment or retrofitted - to inform owners/operators of a machine’s output, component conditions, need for service or impending failure. Industrial equipment monitoring is an IoT solution which can utilize an IoT platform to unify disparate data and enable decision-makers to respond to real-time data.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/IoT_-_Internet_of_Things.png"},{"id":540,"title":"Security Hardware","alias":"security-hardware","description":"Hardware security as a discipline originated out of cryptographic engineering and involves hardware design, access control, secure multi-party computation, secure key storage, ensuring code authenticity and measures to ensure that the supply chain that built the product is secure, among other things.\r\nA hardware security module (HSM) is a physical computing device that safeguards and manages digital keys for strong authentication and provides cryptoprocessing. These modules traditionally come in the form of a plug-in card or an external device that attaches directly to a computer or network server.\r\nSome providers in this discipline consider that the key difference between hardware security and software security is that hardware security is implemented using &quot;non-Turing-machine&quot; logic (raw combinatorial logic or simple state machines). One approach, referred to as &quot;hardsec&quot;, uses FPGAs to implement non-Turing-machine security controls as a way of combining the security of hardware with the flexibility of software.\r\nHardware backdoors are backdoors in hardware. Conceptionally related, a hardware Trojan (HT) is a malicious modification of an electronic system, particularly in the context of an integrated circuit.\r\nA physical unclonable function (PUF) is a physical entity that is embodied in a physical structure and is easy to evaluate but hard to predict. Further, an individual PUF device must be easy to make but practically impossible to duplicate, even given the exact manufacturing process that produced it. In this respect, it is the hardware analog of a one-way function. The name &quot;physically unclonable function&quot; might be a little misleading as some PUFs are clonable, and most PUFs are noisy and therefore do not achieve the requirements for a function. Today, PUFs are usually implemented in integrated circuits and are typically used in applications with high-security requirements.\r\nMany attacks on sensitive data and resources reported by organizations occur from within the organization itself.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is hardware information security?</span>\r\nHardware means various types of devices (mechanical, electromechanical, electronic, etc.), which solve information protection problems with hardware. They impede access to information, including through its disguise. The hardware includes: noise generators, surge protectors, scanning radios and many other devices that &quot;block&quot; potential channels of information leakage or allow them to be detected. The advantages of technical means are related to their reliability, independence from subjective factors and high resistance to modification. The weaknesses include a lack of flexibility, relatively large volume and mass and high cost. The hardware for information protection includes the most diverse technical structures in terms of operation, device and capabilities, which ensure the suppression of disclosure, protection against leakage and counteraction to unauthorized access to sources of confidential information.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where is the hardware used to protect information?</span>\r\nHardware information protection is used to solve the following problems:\r\n<ul><li>conducting special studies of technical means of ensuring production activity for the presence of possible channels of information leakage;</li><li>identification of information leakage channels at various objects and in premises;</li><li>localization of information leakage channels;</li><li>search and detection of industrial espionage tools;</li><li>countering unauthorized access to confidential information sources and other actions.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the classification of information security hardware?</span>\r\nAccording to the functional purpose, the hardware can be classified into detection tools, search tools and detailed measurements and active and passive countermeasures. At the same time, according to their technical capabilities, information protection tools can be general-purpose, designed for use by non-professionals in order to obtain preliminary (general) estimates, and professional complexes that allow for a thorough search, detection and precision measurement of all the characteristics of industrial espionage equipment. As an example of the former, we can consider a group of IP electromagnetic radiation indicators, which have a wide range of received signals and rather low sensitivity. As a second example - a complex for the detection and direction finding of radio bookmarks, designed to automatically detect and locate radio transmitters, radio microphones, telephone bookmarks and network radio transmitters.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Security_Hardware.png"},{"id":834,"title":"IoT - Internet of Things Security","alias":"iot-internet-of-things-security","description":" IoT security is the technology area concerned with safeguarding connected devices and networks in the internet of things (IoT).\r\nIoT involves adding internet connectivity to a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals and/or people. Each &quot;thing&quot; is provided a unique identifier and the ability to automatically transfer data over a network. Allowing devices to connect to the internet opens them up to a number of serious vulnerabilities if they are not properly protected.\r\nIoT security has become the subject of scrutiny after a number of high-profile incidents where a common IoT device was used to infiltrate and attack the larger network. Implementing security measures is critical to ensuring the safety of networks with IoT devices connected to them.\r\nIoT security hacks can happen in any industry, from smart home to a manufacturing plant to a connected car. The severity of impact depends greatly on the individual system, the data collected and/or the information it contains.\r\nAn attack disabling the brakes of a connected car, for example, or on a connected health device, such as an insulin pump hacked to administer too much medication to a patient, can be life-threatening. Likewise, an attack on a refrigeration system housing medicine that is monitored by an IoT system can ruin the viability of a medicine if temperatures fluctuate. Similarly, an attack on critical infrastructure -- an oil well, energy grid or water supply -- can be disastrous.\r\nSo, a robust IoT security portfolio must allow protecting devices from all types of vulnerabilities while deploying the security level that best matches application needs. Cryptography technologies are used to combat communication attacks. Security services are offered for protecting against lifecycle attacks. Isolation measures can be implemented to fend off software attacks. And, finally, IoT security should include tamper mitigation and side-channel attack mitigation technologies for fighting physical attacks of the chip.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the key requirements of IoT Security?</span>\r\nThe key requirements for any IoT security solution are:\r\n<ul><li>Device and data security, including authentication of devices and confidentiality and integrity of data</li><li>Implementing and running security operations at IoT scale</li><li>Meeting compliance requirements and requests</li><li>Meeting performance requirements as per the use case</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What do connected devices require to participate in the IoT Securely?</span>\r\nTo securely participate in the IoT, each connected device needs a unique identification – even before it has an IP address. This digital credential establishes the root of trust for the device’s entire lifecycle, from initial design to deployment to retirement.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is device authentication necessary for the IoT?</span>\r\nStrong IoT device authentication is required to ensure connected devices on the IoT can be trusted to be what they purport to be. Consequently, each IoT device needs a unique identity that can be authenticated when the device attempts to connect to a gateway or central server. With this unique ID in place, IT system administrators can track each device throughout its lifecycle, communicate securely with it, and prevent it from executing harmful processes. If a device exhibits unexpected behavior, administrators can simply revoke its privileges.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is secure manufacturing necessary for IoT devices?</span>\r\nIoT devices produced through unsecured manufacturing processes provide criminals opportunities to change production runs to introduce unauthorized code or produce additional units that are subsequently sold on the black market.\r\nOne way to secure manufacturing processes is to use hardware security modules (HSMs) and supporting security software to inject cryptographic keys and digital certificates and to control the number of units built and the code incorporated into each.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is code signing necessary for IoT devices?</span>\r\nTo protect businesses, brands, partners, and users from software that has been infected by malware, software developers have adopted code signing. In the IoT, code signing in the software release process ensures the integrity of IoT device software and firmware updates and defends against the risks associated with code tampering or code that deviates from organizational policies.\r\nIn public key cryptography, code signing is a specific use of certificate-based digital signatures that enables an organization to verify the identity of the software publisher and certify the software has not been changed since it was published.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is IoT PKI?</span>\r\nToday there are more things (devices) online than there are people on the planet! Devices are the number one users of the Internet and need digital identities for secure operation. As enterprises seek to transform their business models to stay competitive, rapid adoption of IoT technologies is creating increasing demand for Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs) to provide digital certificates for the growing number of devices and the software and firmware they run.\r\nSafe IoT deployments require not only trusting the devices to be authentic and to be who they say they are, but also trusting that the data they collect is real and not altered. If one cannot trust the IoT devices and the data, there is no point in collecting, running analytics, and executing decisions based on the information collected.\r\nSecure adoption of IoT requires:\r\n<ul><li>Enabling mutual authentication between connected devices and applications</li><li>Maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of the data collected by devices</li><li>Ensuring the legitimacy and integrity of the software downloaded to devices</li><li>Preserving the privacy of sensitive data in light of stricter security regulations</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/iot.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]}],"suppliedProducts":[{"id":3430,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/akua_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"The AKUA Cloud Platform","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"0.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"the-akua-cloud-platform","companyTitle":"AKUA","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":5167,"companyAlias":"akua","description":"With the AKUA Cloud Platform, cargo owner can GPS-track and continuously monitor the progress of intermodal containers. Our devices provide real-time security and environmental sensing, with data reported through telecommunications infrastructure up to the AKUA cloud. This lets cargo owners maintain real-time awareness of their shipments’ location and status, with immediate alerts of any incursion or environmental threshold violation.\r\nWith AKUA, there is no new equipment to buy or manage. The necessary IoT gateway devices, sensors, and device logistics are included in the subscription. A customer’s existing IoT sensors can also be easily integrated into the AKUA Cloud Platform.","shortDescription":"The IoT platform provides persistent environmental monitoring and tracking solutions for intermodal cargo containers, enabling exceptional in-transit visibility of goods and shipments across the globe","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":10,"sellingCount":17,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"The AKUA Cloud Platform","keywords":"","description":"With the AKUA Cloud Platform, cargo owner can GPS-track and continuously monitor the progress of intermodal containers. Our devices provide real-time security and environmental sensing, with data reported through telecommunications infrastructure up to the AKU","og:title":"The AKUA Cloud Platform","og:description":"With the AKUA Cloud Platform, cargo owner can GPS-track and continuously monitor the progress of intermodal containers. Our devices provide real-time security and environmental sensing, with data reported through telecommunications infrastructure up to the AKU","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/akua_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3431,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":471,"title":"Hardware","alias":"hardware","description":" Computer hardware includes the physical, tangible parts or components of a computer, such as the cabinet, central processing unit, monitor, keyboard, computer data storage, graphics card, sound card, speakers and motherboard. By contrast, software is instructions that can be stored and run by hardware. Hardware is so-termed because it is &quot;hard&quot; or rigid with respect to changes or modifications; whereas software is &quot;soft&quot; because it is easy to update or change. Intermediate between software and hardware is &quot;firmware&quot;, which is software that is strongly coupled to the particular hardware of a computer system and thus the most difficult to change but also among the most stable with respect to consistency of interface. The progression from levels of &quot;hardness&quot; to &quot;softness&quot; in computer systems parallels a progression of layers of abstraction in computing.\r\nHardware is typically directed by the software to execute any command or instruction. A combination of hardware and software forms a usable computing system, although other systems exist with only hardware components.\r\nThe template for all modern computers is the Von Neumann architecture, detailed in a 1945 paper by Hungarian mathematician John von Neumann. This describes a design architecture for an electronic digital computer with subdivisions of a processing unit consisting of an arithmetic logic unit and processor registers, a control unit containing an instruction register and program counter, a memory to store both data and instructions, external mass storage, and input and output mechanisms. The meaning of the term has evolved to mean a stored-program computer in which an instruction fetch and a data operation cannot occur at the same time because they share a common bus. This is referred to as the Von Neumann bottleneck and often limits the performance of the system.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What does Hardware (H/W) mean?</span>\r\nHardware (H/W), in the context of technology, refers to the physical elements that make up a computer or electronic system and everything else involved that is physically tangible. This includes the monitor, hard drive, memory and CPU. Hardware works hand-in-hand with firmware and software to make a computer function.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the types of computer systems?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Personal computer</span></span>\r\nThe personal computer, also known as the PC, is one of the most common types of computer due to its versatility and relatively low price. Laptops are generally very similar, although they may use lower-power or reduced size components, thus lower performance.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Case</span></span>\r\nThe computer case encloses and holds most of the components of the system. It provides mechanical support and protection for internal elements such as the motherboard, disk drives, and power supplies, and controls and directs the flow of cooling air over internal components. The case is also part of the system to control electromagnetic interference radiated by the computer, and protects internal parts from electrostatic discharge. Large tower cases provide extra internal space for multiple disk drives or other peripherals and usually stand on the floor, while desktop cases provide less expansion room. All-in-one style designs include a video display built into the same case. Portable and laptop computers require cases that provide impact protection for the unit. A current development in laptop computers is a detachable keyboard, which allows the system to be configured as a touch-screen tablet. Hobbyists may decorate the cases with colored lights, paint, or other features, in an activity called case modding.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Power supply</span></span>\r\nA power supply unit (PSU) converts alternating current (AC) electric power to low-voltage direct current (DC) power for the internal components of the computer. Laptops are capable of running from a built-in battery, normally for a period of hours. The PSU typically uses a switched-mode power supply (SMPS), with power MOSFETs (power metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors) used in the converters and regulator circuits of the SMPS.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Motherboard</span></span>\r\nThe motherboard is the main component of a computer. It is a board with integrated circuitry that connects the other parts of the computer including the CPU, the RAM, the disk drives (CD, DVD, hard disk, or any others) as well as any peripherals connected via the ports or the expansion slots. The integrated circuit (IC) chips in a computer typically contain billions of tiny metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs).\r\nComponents directly attached to or to part of the motherboard include:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The CPU (central processing unit)</span>, which performs most of the calculations which enable a computer to function, and is referred to as the brain of the computer which get a hold of program instruction from random-access memory (RAM), interprets and processes it and then send it backs to computer result so that the relevant components can carry out the instructions. The CPU is a microprocessor, which is fabricated on a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) chip. It is usually cooled by a heat sink and fan, or water-cooling system. Most newer CPU include an on-die graphics processing unit (GPU). The clock speed of CPU governs how fast it executes instructions, and is measured in GHz; typical values lie between 1 GHz and 5 GHz. Many modern computers have the option to overclock the CPU which enhances performance at the expense of greater thermal output and thus a need for improved cooling.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The chipset</span>, which includes the north bridge, mediates communication between the CPU and the other components of the system, including main memory; as well as south bridge, which is connected to the north bridge, and supports auxiliary interfaces and buses; and, finally, a Super I/O chip, connected through the south bridge, which supports the slowest and most legacy components like serial ports, hardware monitoring and fan control.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Random-access memory (RAM)</span>, which stores the code and data that are being actively accessed by the CPU. For example, when a web browser is opened on the computer it takes up memory; this is stored in the RAM until the web browser is closed. It is typically a type of dynamic RAM (DRAM), such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), where MOS memory chips store data on memory cells consisting of MOSFETs and MOS capacitors. RAM usually comes on dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) in the sizes of 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB, but can be much larger.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Read-only memory (ROM)</span>, which stores the BIOS that runs when the computer is powered on or otherwise begins execution, a process known as Bootstrapping, or &quot;booting&quot; or &quot;booting up&quot;. The ROM is typically a nonvolatile BIOS memory chip, which stores data on floating-gate MOSFET memory cells.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The BIOS (Basic Input Output System)</span> includes boot firmware and power management firmware. Newer motherboards use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) instead of BIOS.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Buses</span> that connect the CPU to various internal components and to expand cards for graphics and sound.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The CMOS</span> (complementary MOS) battery, which powers the CMOS memory for date and time in the BIOS chip. This battery is generally a watch battery.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The video card</span> (also known as the graphics card), which processes computer graphics. More powerful graphics cards are better suited to handle strenuous tasks, such as playing intensive video games or running computer graphics software. A video card contains a graphics processing unit (GPU) and video memory (typically a type of SDRAM), both fabricated on MOS integrated circuit (MOS IC) chips.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Power MOSFETs</span> make up the voltage regulator module (VRM), which controls how much voltage other hardware components receive.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Expansion cards</span></span>\r\nAn expansion card in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard or backplane to add functionality to a computer system via the expansion bus. Expansion cards can be used to obtain or expand on features not offered by the motherboard.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Storage devices</span></span>\r\nA storage device is any computing hardware and digital media that is used for storing, porting and extracting data files and objects. It can hold and store information both temporarily and permanently, and can be internal or external to a computer, server or any similar computing device. Data storage is a core function and fundamental component of computers.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Fixed media</span></span>\r\nData is stored by a computer using a variety of media. Hard disk drives (HDDs) are found in virtually all older computers, due to their high capacity and low cost, but solid-state drives (SSDs) are faster and more power efficient, although currently more expensive than hard drives in terms of dollar per gigabyte, so are often found in personal computers built post-2007. SSDs use flash memory, which stores data on MOS memory chips consisting of floating-gate MOSFET memory cells. Some systems may use a disk array controller for greater performance or reliability.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Removable media</span></span>\r\nTo transfer data between computers, an external flash memory device (such as a memory card or USB flash drive) or optical disc (such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or BD-ROM) may be used. Their usefulness depends on being readable by other systems; the majority of machines have an optical disk drive (ODD), and virtually all have at least one Universal Serial Bus (USB) port.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Input and output peripherals</span></span>\r\nInput and output devices are typically housed externally to the main computer chassis. The following are either standard or very common to many computer systems.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Input</span></span>\r\nInput devices allow the user to enter information into the system, or control its operation. Most personal computers have a mouse and keyboard, but laptop systems typically use a touchpad instead of a mouse. Other input devices include webcams, microphones, joysticks, and image scanners.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Output device</span></span>\r\nOutput devices display information in a human readable form. Such devices could include printers, speakers, monitors or a Braille embosser.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Mainframe computer</span></span>\r\nA mainframe computer is a much larger computer that typically fills a room and may cost many hundreds or thousands of times as much as a personal computer. They are designed to perform large numbers of calculations for governments and large enterprises.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Departmental computing</span></span>\r\nIn the 1960s and 1970s, more and more departments started to use cheaper and dedicated systems for specific purposes like process control and laboratory automation.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Supercomputer</span></span>\r\nA supercomputer is superficially similar to a mainframe, but is instead intended for extremely demanding computational tasks. As of June 2018, the fastest supercomputer on the TOP500supercomputer list is the Summit, in the United States, with a LINPACK benchmarkscore of 122.3 PFLOPS Light, by around 29 PFLOPS.\r\nThe term supercomputer does not refer to a specific technology. Rather it indicates the fastest computations available at any given time. In mid 2011, the fastest supercomputers boasted speeds exceeding one petaflop, or 1 quadrillion (10^15 or 1,000 trillion) floating point operations per second. Supercomputers are fast but extremely costly, so they are generally used by large organizations to execute computationally demanding tasks involving large data sets. Supercomputers typically run military and scientific applications. Although costly, they are also being used for commercial applications where huge amounts of data must be analyzed. For example, large banks employ supercomputers to calculate the risks and returns of various investment strategies, and healthcare organizations use them to analyze giant databases of patient data to determine optimal treatments for various diseases and problems incurring to the country. ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Hardware.jpg"},{"id":178,"title":"IoT - Internet of Things","alias":"iot-internet-of-things","description":"The Internet of things (IoT) is the extension of Internet connectivity into physical devices and everyday objects. Embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of hardware (such as sensors), these devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled.\r\nThe definition of the Internet of things has evolved due to the convergence of multiple technologies, real-time analytics, machine learning, commodity sensors, and embedded systems. Traditional fields of embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation (including home and building automation). and others all contribute to enabling the Internet of things. In the consumer market, IoT technology is most synonymous with products pertaining to the concept of the &quot;smart home&quot;, covering devices and appliances (such as lighting fixtures, thermostats, home security systems and cameras, and other home appliances) that support one or more common ecosystems, and can be controlled via devices associated with that ecosystem, such as smartphones and smart speakers.\r\nThe IoT concept has faced prominent criticism, especially in regards to privacy and security concerns related to these devices and their intention of pervasive presence.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?</span>\r\nThe Internet of things refers to the network of things (physical objects) that can be connected to the Internet to collect and share data without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is it called the Internet of Things?</span>\r\nThe term Internet of things was coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999. Stemming from Kevin Ashton’s experience with RFID, the term Internet of things originally described the concept of tagging every object in a person’s life with machine-readable codes. This would allow computers to easily manage and inventory all of these things.\r\nThe term IoT today has evolved to a much broader prospect. It now encompasses ubiquitous connectivity, devices, sensors, analytics, machine learning, and many other technologies.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an IoT solution?</span>\r\nAn IoT solution is a combination of devices or other data sources, outfitted with sensors and Internet connected hardware to securely report information back to an IoT platform. This information is often a physical metric which can help users answer a question or solve a specific problem.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an IoT Proof of Concept (PoC)?</span>\r\nThe purpose of a PoC is to experiment with a solution in your environment, collect data, and evaluate performance from a set timeline on a set budget. A PoC is a low-risk way to introduce IoT to an organization.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an IoT cloud platform?</span>\r\nAn IoT platform provides users with one or more of these key elements — visualization tools, data security features, a workflow engine and a custom user interface to utilize the information collected from devices and other data sources in the field. These platforms are based in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is industrial equipment monitoring?</span>\r\nIndustrial equipment monitoring uses a network of connected sensors - either native to a piece of equipment or retrofitted - to inform owners/operators of a machine’s output, component conditions, need for service or impending failure. Industrial equipment monitoring is an IoT solution which can utilize an IoT platform to unify disparate data and enable decision-makers to respond to real-time data.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/IoT_-_Internet_of_Things.png"},{"id":540,"title":"Security Hardware","alias":"security-hardware","description":"Hardware security as a discipline originated out of cryptographic engineering and involves hardware design, access control, secure multi-party computation, secure key storage, ensuring code authenticity and measures to ensure that the supply chain that built the product is secure, among other things.\r\nA hardware security module (HSM) is a physical computing device that safeguards and manages digital keys for strong authentication and provides cryptoprocessing. These modules traditionally come in the form of a plug-in card or an external device that attaches directly to a computer or network server.\r\nSome providers in this discipline consider that the key difference between hardware security and software security is that hardware security is implemented using &quot;non-Turing-machine&quot; logic (raw combinatorial logic or simple state machines). One approach, referred to as &quot;hardsec&quot;, uses FPGAs to implement non-Turing-machine security controls as a way of combining the security of hardware with the flexibility of software.\r\nHardware backdoors are backdoors in hardware. Conceptionally related, a hardware Trojan (HT) is a malicious modification of an electronic system, particularly in the context of an integrated circuit.\r\nA physical unclonable function (PUF) is a physical entity that is embodied in a physical structure and is easy to evaluate but hard to predict. Further, an individual PUF device must be easy to make but practically impossible to duplicate, even given the exact manufacturing process that produced it. In this respect, it is the hardware analog of a one-way function. The name &quot;physically unclonable function&quot; might be a little misleading as some PUFs are clonable, and most PUFs are noisy and therefore do not achieve the requirements for a function. Today, PUFs are usually implemented in integrated circuits and are typically used in applications with high-security requirements.\r\nMany attacks on sensitive data and resources reported by organizations occur from within the organization itself.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is hardware information security?</span>\r\nHardware means various types of devices (mechanical, electromechanical, electronic, etc.), which solve information protection problems with hardware. They impede access to information, including through its disguise. The hardware includes: noise generators, surge protectors, scanning radios and many other devices that &quot;block&quot; potential channels of information leakage or allow them to be detected. The advantages of technical means are related to their reliability, independence from subjective factors and high resistance to modification. The weaknesses include a lack of flexibility, relatively large volume and mass and high cost. The hardware for information protection includes the most diverse technical structures in terms of operation, device and capabilities, which ensure the suppression of disclosure, protection against leakage and counteraction to unauthorized access to sources of confidential information.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where is the hardware used to protect information?</span>\r\nHardware information protection is used to solve the following problems:\r\n<ul><li>conducting special studies of technical means of ensuring production activity for the presence of possible channels of information leakage;</li><li>identification of information leakage channels at various objects and in premises;</li><li>localization of information leakage channels;</li><li>search and detection of industrial espionage tools;</li><li>countering unauthorized access to confidential information sources and other actions.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the classification of information security hardware?</span>\r\nAccording to the functional purpose, the hardware can be classified into detection tools, search tools and detailed measurements and active and passive countermeasures. At the same time, according to their technical capabilities, information protection tools can be general-purpose, designed for use by non-professionals in order to obtain preliminary (general) estimates, and professional complexes that allow for a thorough search, detection and precision measurement of all the characteristics of industrial espionage equipment. As an example of the former, we can consider a group of IP electromagnetic radiation indicators, which have a wide range of received signals and rather low sensitivity. As a second example - a complex for the detection and direction finding of radio bookmarks, designed to automatically detect and locate radio transmitters, radio microphones, telephone bookmarks and network radio transmitters.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Security_Hardware.png"},{"id":834,"title":"IoT - Internet of Things Security","alias":"iot-internet-of-things-security","description":" IoT security is the technology area concerned with safeguarding connected devices and networks in the internet of things (IoT).\r\nIoT involves adding internet connectivity to a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals and/or people. Each &quot;thing&quot; is provided a unique identifier and the ability to automatically transfer data over a network. Allowing devices to connect to the internet opens them up to a number of serious vulnerabilities if they are not properly protected.\r\nIoT security has become the subject of scrutiny after a number of high-profile incidents where a common IoT device was used to infiltrate and attack the larger network. Implementing security measures is critical to ensuring the safety of networks with IoT devices connected to them.\r\nIoT security hacks can happen in any industry, from smart home to a manufacturing plant to a connected car. The severity of impact depends greatly on the individual system, the data collected and/or the information it contains.\r\nAn attack disabling the brakes of a connected car, for example, or on a connected health device, such as an insulin pump hacked to administer too much medication to a patient, can be life-threatening. Likewise, an attack on a refrigeration system housing medicine that is monitored by an IoT system can ruin the viability of a medicine if temperatures fluctuate. Similarly, an attack on critical infrastructure -- an oil well, energy grid or water supply -- can be disastrous.\r\nSo, a robust IoT security portfolio must allow protecting devices from all types of vulnerabilities while deploying the security level that best matches application needs. Cryptography technologies are used to combat communication attacks. Security services are offered for protecting against lifecycle attacks. Isolation measures can be implemented to fend off software attacks. And, finally, IoT security should include tamper mitigation and side-channel attack mitigation technologies for fighting physical attacks of the chip.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the key requirements of IoT Security?</span>\r\nThe key requirements for any IoT security solution are:\r\n<ul><li>Device and data security, including authentication of devices and confidentiality and integrity of data</li><li>Implementing and running security operations at IoT scale</li><li>Meeting compliance requirements and requests</li><li>Meeting performance requirements as per the use case</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What do connected devices require to participate in the IoT Securely?</span>\r\nTo securely participate in the IoT, each connected device needs a unique identification – even before it has an IP address. This digital credential establishes the root of trust for the device’s entire lifecycle, from initial design to deployment to retirement.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is device authentication necessary for the IoT?</span>\r\nStrong IoT device authentication is required to ensure connected devices on the IoT can be trusted to be what they purport to be. Consequently, each IoT device needs a unique identity that can be authenticated when the device attempts to connect to a gateway or central server. With this unique ID in place, IT system administrators can track each device throughout its lifecycle, communicate securely with it, and prevent it from executing harmful processes. If a device exhibits unexpected behavior, administrators can simply revoke its privileges.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is secure manufacturing necessary for IoT devices?</span>\r\nIoT devices produced through unsecured manufacturing processes provide criminals opportunities to change production runs to introduce unauthorized code or produce additional units that are subsequently sold on the black market.\r\nOne way to secure manufacturing processes is to use hardware security modules (HSMs) and supporting security software to inject cryptographic keys and digital certificates and to control the number of units built and the code incorporated into each.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is code signing necessary for IoT devices?</span>\r\nTo protect businesses, brands, partners, and users from software that has been infected by malware, software developers have adopted code signing. In the IoT, code signing in the software release process ensures the integrity of IoT device software and firmware updates and defends against the risks associated with code tampering or code that deviates from organizational policies.\r\nIn public key cryptography, code signing is a specific use of certificate-based digital signatures that enables an organization to verify the identity of the software publisher and certify the software has not been changed since it was published.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is IoT PKI?</span>\r\nToday there are more things (devices) online than there are people on the planet! Devices are the number one users of the Internet and need digital identities for secure operation. As enterprises seek to transform their business models to stay competitive, rapid adoption of IoT technologies is creating increasing demand for Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs) to provide digital certificates for the growing number of devices and the software and firmware they run.\r\nSafe IoT deployments require not only trusting the devices to be authentic and to be who they say they are, but also trusting that the data they collect is real and not altered. If one cannot trust the IoT devices and the data, there is no point in collecting, running analytics, and executing decisions based on the information collected.\r\nSecure adoption of IoT requires:\r\n<ul><li>Enabling mutual authentication between connected devices and applications</li><li>Maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of the data collected by devices</li><li>Ensuring the legitimacy and integrity of the software downloaded to devices</li><li>Preserving the privacy of sensitive data in light of stricter security regulations</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/iot.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]}],"partnershipProgramme":null}},"aliases":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"implementations":{"implementationsByAlias":{},"aliases":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"agreements":{"agreementById":{},"ids":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"comparison":{"loading":false,"error":false,"templatesById":{},"comparisonByTemplateId":{},"products":[],"selectedTemplateId":null},"presentation":{"type":null,"company":{},"products":[],"partners":[],"formData":{},"dataLoading":false,"dataError":false,"loading":false,"error":false},"catalogsGlobal":{"subMenuItemTitle":""}}