Holistic is not just for Yoga anymore: Identity & Security

There has been a lot of interest in security and identity management in light of regulatory pressures and in response to incidents of theft and loss. I recently wrote the following article for Security Magazine- an excerpt follows.

A Holistic Approach to Physical and IT Security
When a famous bank loses thousands of credit card numbers or a hospital loses medical records, the customers and patients do not ask whether the theft happened over the wire or because of a break-in. There is loss of trust and damage to the value of the brand regardless of the method of breach. But many businesses continue to treat physical and IT security as unrelated silos. This approach is no longer acceptable against the changing realities, and many companies are beginning to realize the value of an integrated approach to security.

Oracle OpenWorld is here to dominate San Francisco

Did I say dominate San Francisco? I meant Software!


Yes, Oracle is taking over San Francisco for the next week with its annual gala that has grown to over 40,000 attendees this year. I will be attending as a member of the Oracle Identity Management team- we have a signficant presence with demo booths and over 10 sessions. I will be presenting on "Managing Security in the World of Web2.0 and SOA". The aim of my presentation is to bring out the key common themes between Web2.0 and SOA, and at then address some of the common security concerns around web services. Another key enabling technology for Web2.0 and SOA is Federation that allows businesses and consumers to collaborate across organizational and network boundaries. I will also touch upon what is Enterprise2.0 and how do you apply mashups to enterprise services.

The event this year will include a much larger audience interested in applications with Siebel (Oracle|Siebel) and Peoplesoft (Oracle|Peoplesoft) having joined the ranks over the last 2 years. Fusion Middleware and Fusion Applications with emphasis on standards-based open architecture of SOA will be one of the key focus areas.

And yes, Sir Elton John will be performing. This should be fun. If you are attending, you should visit our Identity Management booth and say hello. And if you are not, visit the website to read material and watch the webcasts. And yes, Larry Ellison will be giving a keynote in addition to technology development leaders Chuck Rozwat and Thomas Kurian (his debut keynote at OpenWorld), and applications head John Wookey.

CNET's News.com has some nice pictures.