Congressional Hearing Today on Internet Worms and Viruses; - The Software Patching Dilemma - Rackspace Managed Hosting Available to Discuss Security Patching Issues.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 2003 Rackspace Managed Hosting WHAT: A U.S. Congressional oversight Congressional Oversight refers to oversight by the United States Congress of the Executive Branch, including the numerous U.S. federal agencies. Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress[1] Congressional Oversight hearing on "Worm and Virus Defense: How Can We Protect the Nation's Computers From These Threats?" is taking place today at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building The Rayburn House Office Building (RHOB) is a congressional office building for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., between South Capitol Street and First Street. in Washington, D.C. (www.reform.house.gov, click on the link for Upcoming Schedule). Security industry leaders from Microsoft, Cisco, Symantec, VeriSign and leading government information technology experts are presenting testimony on issues surrounding the recent Blaster and SoBig.F worms Worms (vôrms), city (1994 pop. 79,155), Rhineland-Palatinate, SW Germany, on the Rhine River. It is an industrial city and a leading wine trade center. including: -- Why aren't systems patched and anti-virus programs kept up to date? -- How vulnerabilities are discovered -- How the public is notified about potential vulnerabilities -- The mechanisms for protecting systems -- The problems presented by patching SOFTWARE PATCHING DILEMMA: If patches and other solutions are available, why weren't more companies prepared for these attacks? Rackspace Managed Hosting (www.rackspace.com), a $60M managed hosting provider with 8,000 servers under management, proactively patched its customers' servers weeks before the Blaster worm hit. Rackspace is available to the media to speak to the dilemma of patching potential security breaches. -- If software patches for security risks are available before attacks begin, why don't more companies use them? -- Are there reasons companies would not want to deploy patches? Are there risks? -- If you're managing hundreds of servers, when and how often do you deploy these patches? Can you afford to do it every time a new patch is available? Are there any benchmarks as to when and how often to patch? -- What are the pros and cons pros and cons Noun, pl the advantages and disadvantages of a situation [Latin pro for + con(tra) against] of handling patching internally versus relying on a third-party hosting provider? -- Can smaller companies more readily protect themselves -- because patching is easier -- than larger enterprises? -- What's involved in patching, beyond just downloading the software? -- What are the general best practices for security that can help companies stay vigilant against threats? RESOURCE: John Engates currently serves as chief technology officer of Rackspace's Intensive Hosting division. Prior to joining Rackspace, Engates was a founder of Internet Direct Internet Direct, also known as "Indy", is a free software / open source socket library written in Object Pascal, an object-oriented version of Pascal. It includes clients, servers, TCP, UDP, and raw sockets, as well as over 100 higher level protocols implementations such as SMTP, , one of the oldest Internet service providers Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. in Texas. Before founding Internet Direct, Engates worked for Sirius Computer Solutions, where he gained experience with mid-range IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) and Hewlett Packard Unix servers A medium to large-scale computer system in a network that runs under Unix. Unix servers are widely used as application servers and database servers and are available from a variety of vendors, including Sun, IBM, HP and others. . Engates is a graduate of the University of Texas in San Antonio San Antonio (săn ăntō`nēō, əntōn`), city (1990 pop. 935,933), seat of Bexar co., S central Tex., at the source of the San Antonio River; inc. 1837. . |
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