SAP Launches Security Service

SAP (NYSE: SAP - news) is offering a new security service, SAP Security Optimization, that provides an evaluation of the security settings affecting a customer's SAP system landscape to identify and eliminate potential vulnerabilities and minimize the risk of intrusions.


"What we are doing is looking at a customer's enterprise system and the security processes that affect that system," spokesperson Bill Wohl tells NewsFactor. "[We're considering] who has access to it, how accessible is it from the outside, and what steps has [the] customer taken to protect the system. That is the perspective we will be taking."


Such risks have proliferated over the last few years, he says, with the advent of the knowledge-based worker. Other new avenues of vulnerability include exposure to Internet gateways, behind-the-firewall accessibility provided to business partners, and the prevalence of online shopping and customer-service Web interfaces -- all of which can be hacked.


The service will be available for an additional cost, Wohl says, which will be determined depending on the client's needs.


Remote and Automated


The service itself largely is automated and managed remotely by SAP. Following the one- to two-day evaluation, customers receive an analysis of security gaps and vulnerabilities. The recommendations can be carried out by security consultants from SAP Consulting or by certified SAP partners, the company says.


One recent check SAP performed for a customer -- an Italian-based joint venture between Fiat and General Motors (NYSE: GM - news) called Fiat-GM Powertrain -- unearthed users and consultants who were able to access the system even though they no longer required it, SAP says.


SAP Security Optimization is part of SAP Active Global Support's portfolio of customer services.


Big Business


Internet security has become big business in recent years, not only in the software space but among I.T. consulting services as well. SAP is just the latest I.T. conglomerate to move into this space.


In October, for example, IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) introduced a new service called Global Security Intelligence Index -- basically a monthly summary and trend analysis -- that leverages its Global Security Intelligence Services.


Like SAP, IBM is trying to differentiate itself from security specialists like Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC - news) by addressing peripheral threats to a company's I.T. environment.

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