INTELLIGENT ENERGY
network security, but it’s also essential
to consider the importance of backup
and recovery as part of a comprehensive
approach to Availability.
In today’s threat environment, an
incident is inevitable; the important
question is: how will you handle it when
the worst happens? Modern Availability
solutions enable the recovery of
applications and data in minutes, rather
than hours or days, so it’s worth taking
a look at your current backup processes
and tools to assess whether they still fit
your purpose.
gas companies’ most valuable data.
Unfortunately, they’re also a common
source of security compromises.
Assessing and monitoring partners’
data protection capabilities can be a
huge task – but it’s an essential piece
of the Availability puzzle. Many oil and
gas companies are adopting risk based
security frameworks, such as ISO27001,
to help them manage Availability
across the extended enterprise and
communicate expectations and
concerns more effectively.
Managing complex IT environments
In a constantly changing threat
environment, it’s also important to
share threat intelligence with other
organisations, so everyone gets a
heads-up on emerging threats before
they have a serious impact. ONG-ISAC,
for example, was set up to enable oil
and gas companies to replicate the
intelligence-sharing successes seen in
the financial services sector.
Working with partners
Third-party business partners, such
as service providers, consultants and
contractors, are hugely important
in many areas of the business and
they often have access to oil and
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With multiple remote sites for
exploration and production and a
massive array of network endpoints and
cloud services, oil and gas companies
need solutions that offer end-to-
end visibility and centralised control
over complex physical and virtual IT
environments.
Without proper visibility of the entire
environment, it’s incredibly hard to
protect valuable IP, such as exploration
data, drilling technologies and refinery
processes. It’s also very difficult to
ensure continuous Availability of the
data and services the enterprise relies
on. Oil and gas companies should
consider deploying solutions that
offer real-time, app-to-metal visibility
of complex physical and virtual
environments.
As new technologies enable oil and gas
companies to reinvent the way they
operate, the Availability of data and
services will become more important
than ever.
About the author
Gregg Petersen is an IT industry veteran
with over 17 years of experience.
As Regional Sales Vice President,
MEA, Veeam Software, he has been
instrumental in creating brand
awareness, growing the company’s
regional market share, driving profitable
revenues jointly with partners, alliances
and associates and continuously
positioning Veeam as a leading provider
of Availability solutions for the Always-
On Enterprise. The company has made
significant inroads in the region with
major customer wins such as National
Bank of Abu Dhabi, The Arabian
Geophysical & Surveying Company
(ARGAS), Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd.
(GASCO), the Electronic Government
Authority of Ras Al Khaimah and
American University of Sharjah (AUS) to
name a few. n
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