As the originator of the industry’s only scalable log and security intelligence platform (LSIP), LogLogic is the only provider to give enterprises the benefits in solving security, IT Operations, forensics, and compliance issues in a single, highly scalable architecture. This architecture enables users to collect and analyze terabytes of big data generated by IT assets and gives professionals actionable information, whether to identify and remedy security threats, optimize server and website performance, troubleshoot their network and security devices, or remain compliant with regulations. More than 1,200 customers worldwide entrust collectively over 1,000 petabytes of sensitive IT data to LogLogic.

In the following interview, Guy Churchward, President and Chief Executive Officer of LogLogic, discusses 1:1 with Rake Narang, Editor-in-Chief of Info Security Products Guide, recent security attacks and gives security predictions for 2012.

Rake Narang, Editor-in-Chief: What are some of the most notable security attacks recently? How could enterprises have been better prepared to subvert such attacks?

Guy Churchward: After the infamous “Aurora” attack from China, Operation Shady Rat brought the spotlight again to Advanced Persistent Threats in 2011. In 2012, we’ll see even more of these types of ongoing attacks as the number of political targeted attacks increase. The threat lies in the fact that they’re hard to detect unless you maintain virtually 24x7 surveillance to scout them out. What most organizations don’t realize is that, if you log IT data, you can often see an attack as it is being planned -- and stop it midway. Compared to most attacks, which can only be contained through reactive measures, you can be proactive and thwart this kind of malicious activity.

Rake Narang: What are your top security predictions for 2012?

Guy Churchward: In 2012, we will see the first major public cloud security breach. The development and launch of public cloud services has occurred so rapidly that cloud service providers now hold an immense amount of customer data. They’ve collected data faster than their security measures can keep up. Those cloud providers who have not been as stringent with their security and audit trails will be open to an attack. I don’t expect the attack to be malicious. More likely, it will be intended to prove that it can be done. This will spur customer demand for data protection and set refreshed security measures in motion.

2012 will also be a critical year for Compliance related issues. Notably, PCI 2.0 compliance kicks in next year for worldwide compliance and most merchants are not quite prepared to deal with it. Also the European Union’s Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive will get much tighter with regulations around web user privacy. From a global perspective, lawmakers will put more pressure on companies by increasing penalties for breaches and holding them more accountable for consumer data. Companies will need to get much more proactive in monitoring their user data, having better security controls, and following tighter processes in order to be compliant with various existing and new regulations. Procrastinator companies will end up spending a lot more for breaches and penalties.

Rake Narang: What advice would you give to enterprises considering that multiple devices and multiple locations are now becoming an integral part of their operations?

Guy Churchward: Once you move from a laptop to multiple mobile devices and multiple locations, location-based security features become even more important. I expect we’ll see security issues in 2012 that play off of intercepting these devices. That useful app that on the surface looks and acts like a flashlight could actually be cloaking a Man-in-the Middle app. Also, with so many more devices, you’re generating much more data, and enterprises need a data repository and tool to collect and analyze it. These sorts of issues and the increasing complexity that come along with them point to the increased need for visibility and log management.

Company: LogLogic
110 Rose Orchard Way
San Jose, CA 95143 U.S.A.

Founded in: 2002
CEO: Guy Churchward
Public or Private: Private
Products: Scalable log and security intelligence platform for the enterprise and cloud
Company’s Goals: To enable enterprises to solve security, IT Operations, forensics, and compliance issues in a single, highly scalable architecture.