This month a serious data breach occured at the Hannaford Bros. supermarket chain which exposed 4+ million credit and debit card numbers to ID theft. The company explained via a release on their website that the company had detected an intrusion of its computer network that resulted in the theft of customer credit and debit card numbers.
The incident, which occured around Feb. 27th, is very similar to the security breach at Framingham TJX Companies that affected 94 million credit card holders.
The Hannaford breach happened despite investments made to bolster security in the last couple years. As part of its PCI DSS compliance measures, for example, the company worked with its checkout counter computer software vendor to enhance encryption and eliminate some of the credit card data that had been stored. The fact that a breach occurred anyway illustrated the need for companies to create an advance response plan.
Are your systems protected from outside attackers?
Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 is the most advanced server operating system designed to power future networks, applications, and web services. Windows Server 2008 delivers valuable new functionality and powerful improvements to the operating system. The new web tools, virtualization technologies, and security enhancements provided by Server 2008 help you save time, reduce costs, and provide stability.
Windows Server 2008 provides a solid foundation for all of your server workload and application requirements while being easy to deploy and manage. Hallmark Windows Server reliability and enhanced high availability features help ensure your critical applications and data are available when you need them.
Initial Configuration Tasks moves interactive elements of setup to after installation, eliminating the need for the administrator to interact with the installation of the operating system.
Server Manager, the expanded Microsoft Management Console (MMC), provides a one-stop interface for server configuration and monitoring with wizards to streamline common server management tasks.
Windows PowerShell, a new optional command-line shell and scripting language, enables administrators to automate routine system administration tasks across multiple servers.
Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor provides powerful diagnostic tools to give you ongoing visibility into your server environment, both physical and virtual, to pinpoint and resolve issues quickly.
Optimized server administration and data replication for increased control over servers located in remote locations, such as a branch office.
Componentized Server Core installation option allows minimal installations where only the server roles and features you need are installed, reducing maintenance needs and decreasing the available attack surface of the server.
Windows Deployment Services (WDS) provides a simplified, highly secure means of rapidly deploying Windows operating systems to computers by using network-based installation.
Failover clustering wizards make it easy for even IT generalists to implement high-availability solutions, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is now fully integrated, and geographically dispersed cluster nodes no longer need to be on the same IP subnet or configured with complicated Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs).
Network Load Balancing (NLB) now supports IPv6 and includes multiple dedicated IP address support which allows multiple applications to be hosted on the same NLB cluster.
Windows Server Backup incorporates faster backup technology and simplifies data or operating system restoration.
Businesses such as yours need their data to be highly secure and their IT systems reliable. Digital Reach, Inc. can help you increase the security features and reliability of your systems with well-supported Microsoft products. Windows Server® 2008 and other solutions offer robust security features for servers and clients, helping you simplify security management while working to protect your network from intruders.
Our solutions are designed to automate backups and help optimize performance to make managing desktops easier, allowing you to stay productive and worry less about downtime or losing your critical business information. Plus, they can help stop viruses and malware from infecting desktops and impacting worker productivity.
