Security Benefits from upgrading Computers

Winter 2003's SQL Slammer virus cost companies millions—perhaps billions—of dollars. And although it was confined mainly to servers, it demonstrated a critical weakness of information security: If you want to protect your data, you must make sure your business systems are state-of-the-art, including client PCs.

The security hole that the Slammer virus exploited was a known defect. Six months before Slammer attacked, Microsoft alerted customers to a flaw in its SQL Server* 2000 software and provided the necessary patches. Despite the advanced warning and available fixes, thousands of companies around the world suffered catastrophic damage from Slammer's devastating effects.

Today, corporate data and trade secrets are at risk because of similar vulnerabilities at the client level. Aging business PCs with older operating systems are beginning to develop permanent security holes as Microsoft phases out support for Windows* 95, Windows 98 SE, and Windows NT 4.0. Even if you're conscientious about patching these operating systems when flaws are identified, eventually Microsoft will cease providing new patches. Therefore companies should take measures to protect themselves—chief among those measures is replacing aging business systems.

The Case for Upgrading Now.

Legacy operating systems represent an important reason for upgrading to high-performance PCs running the latest operating systems, including Windows XP Professional. New PCs have superior security features and can be updated for years to come.

So why not just upgrade existing systems to Windows XP without refreshing your clients? Because it is cost-prohibitive, and even if you upgrade all your operating systems, you will still need new PCs down the road. Research firm Gartner Inc.* estimates the cost of an OS upgrade at $230 to $500 per system. Those costs, combined with others like hardware upgrades, technician expenses, and more, make a complete PC refresh and OS upgrade a wiser, and more long-term, solution.

Another important reason to upgrade PCs is that securing desktop systems requires performance. Older PCs hinder the deployment of critical security tools. Automatic file encryption, virtual private networking, industrial-strength authentication, continuous virus scanning, and more are processor-intensive. As such, they impact the performance of office productivity software. Try running them on older PCs and users are likely to disable them in order to improve the response time of their foreground applications.

Today's high-performance PCs include the necessary performance headroom to run background security tools without impacting foreground applications. For instance, systems based on the Intel® Pentium® 4 processors running at 3.06 GHz or higher can easily handle security functions because they feature innovative Hyper-Threading (HT) Technology**. A single Pentium 4 processor with HT Technology presents itself to modern operating systems and applications as two virtual processors that can work on two sets of chores simultaneously. With multithreaded applications and operating systems, you are assured that background tasks will not degrade the performance of productivity software.

Mobile PCs Need Upgrades, Too

Mobile PCs should also be replaced with high-performance systems. Although they are less likely to be attacked through wired networks (because of their mobile nature), they are highly susceptible to theft. Microsoft Windows XP Encrypted File System (EFS) is an important defense against data loss in the event of notebook theft. But EFS requires performance. With EFS enabled, systems respond slowly and affect worker productivity. High-performance processors restore system responsiveness.

In addition, mobile PCs are increasingly used for wireless network connectivity. Wireless networking requires security measures to protect data as it is transmitted and corporate networks as they are accessed. Virtual private networking is one recommended way of securing wireless communications. Mobile PCs should also run firewall software and wireless-specific security protocols like the wired equivalent protocol (WEP) or temporal key integrity protocol (TKIP)‡. Not surprisingly, all of these security precautions require megahertz. High-performance mobile PCs provide the megahertz.

It Can Happen to You

Even if your company has been successful in fending off computer attacks, there appears to be no letup in security breaches. According to the Computer Security Institute's 2002 Computer Crime and Security Survey, conducted along with the FBI, 90 percent of companies surveyed reported security breaches over the prior year. Roughly 80 percent acknowledged financial losses due to security breaches.

The volume of computer attacks continues to increase, not decrease. It has become the mission of individuals and groups throughout the Net-connect world to assault corporate networks and cause financial hardship. Sound security policies can keep the attackers at bay.

Upgrading desktop and mobile PCs to high-performance systems is one of the best, most cost-efficient ways to tighten information security. Today's PCs offer the performance, features, and reliability that companies need to remain up and running in a competitive world.

** Look for systems with the Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology logo which your system vendor has verified utilize Hyper-Threading Technology. Performance will vary depending on the specific hardware and software you use. See www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading for information.

‡ Current LEAP support is a PC manufacturer option and may not be offered by all PC manufacturers. WPA and LEAP support available in future Intel PRO/Wireless software update. Contact your PC manufacturer for more details.

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