Holistic Application Security to Protect Data and Improve Compliance

Holistic Application Security to Protect Data and Improve Compliance

Incorporating the Right Technologies and Services to Drive Comprehensive Application Security Results in a Lowered Vulnerability Footprint and Improved Compliance

BOSTON, MA–(EMWNews – August 21, 2008) – In the newly released benchmark report,

“Application Security: Protect Sensitive Data while Improving Compliance,”

Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), found that on average,

Best-in-Class organizations were able to realize a 12x greater decrease in

the number of successful application security attacks than Industry Average

companies as a direct result of incorporating the right blend of

technologies and services as a part of their comprehensive application

security strategies.

This report examined and analyzed organizations’ planning, deployment, use,

and management of their application security to provide a roadmap for

constructing holistic, business-advancing application security strategies.

As part of their comprehensive application security, Best-in-Class

organizations are 3.5x as likely as Laggards to incorporate real or

near-real time application security monitoring tools. Using tools that

track and report defects throughout the application lifecycle allows

organizations to significantly reduce the costly timeframe existing between

problem identification and problem resolution. In addition, the

Best-in-Class are 62% more likely than Laggards to incorporate their

application security policy into their overarching information security

policy. Leveraging the right solutions allowed the

Best-in-Class to not only improve the security of their applications, but

also to increase application uptime by 13%, and decrease data loss

incidents by 9%.

“To fully capitalize on the business-advancing gains stemming from

effective application security, organizations must be able to identify,

manage, and mitigate security risks both in current, newly developed, and

new versions of existing applications,” said Stephen Walker, senior

associate, Aberdeen. “A well-planned and holistically derived application

security process can dramatically reduce a company’s IT security exposure,

improve compliance activities, and streamline operational, financial, and

strategic processes. By pursuing an application security strategy featuring

the right blend of monitoring and measuring tools, Best-in-Class

organizations were able to align any application security implementations

to corporate business goals, and subsequently increased their compliance

success-rate by over 11%.”

The report first identifies how Best-in-Class organizations structure and

govern internal capabilities and technology solutions to maximize the

benefits of application security, then provides a roadmap of actionable

recommendations for companies seeking to either optimize an existing or

begin developing application security that results in a lowered

vulnerability footprint, an increased compliance success-rate, and

streamlined operational, financial, and strategic processes.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the

following underwriters: Armorize Technologies and AsTech Consulting. To

obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:

http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4192.

To access all of Aberdeen’s complimentary research please visit

http://research.aberdeen.com.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market

intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more

than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely

positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating

demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment

analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets,

corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in

context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen’s

analytical and independent view of the “customer optimization” process of

Harte-Hanks (Information – Opportunity – Insight – Engagement –

Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role

Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit

Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more

about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

© 2008 AberdeenGroup, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company

451 D Street, Suite 710

Boston, Massachusetts  02210-1928

Telephone: (617)854-5200

Fax: (617) 723-7897

www.aberdeen.com

Media Contact: Stephen Walker Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5349 [email protected]