Much like boxing, IT security requires training, preparation, and planning; an individual must be primed for an attack despite the fact that the kind of attack or when it will happen is entirely uncertain. Sunguard Availability Services (Sunguard AS), experts in the managed services and IT recovery industry, compares IT security to that of the recent Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight in a recent blog post that was featured in Forbes. As the author writes, “many fans (and gamblers) believed that the eight-division world champion Manny Pacquaio would pull off an underdog victory against five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in the ‘Fight of Century.’ As we now know, this was not the case and the highly publicized match was considered highly disappointing by many viewers. Uncertainty and the fear of the unknown are some of the biggest threats CIOs and IT professionals encounter. Security, our fearless warrior of the Resilient 4, has the benefit of futuristic vision to aid in his quest to keep data and applications protected and thriving during any attempted attack.”

The Resilient 4, a series of superhero characters depicting the most important components of ensuring resiliency in IT, is made up of Cloud (with bionic flexibility), Security (with superior strength and quick reaction time), Business Continuity (agile and always prepared), and Disaster Recovery (robust and quick).

Matt Goche, Sungard’s Director of Security Services, notes that “there is lots of blocking and jabbing in the IT environment: network flow issues, hard to identify anomalies, firewall management and malware, not being able to control every device accessing a network. CIOs and IT professionals want to know that what’s happened to someone else can’t happen to them.” In order for an organization to be adequately prepared to fight their own “fight of the century,” it’s important that they understand where their own gaps are and thrn determining where to improve. Goche remarks that most security attacks require 5 to 7 points of attack; organizations don’t have to close all of them, just enough to fend off an attacker.

More information about how to protect your organization even if your own IT department is stretched thin, as well as Sunguard AS’ Resilient 4 team, can be found at:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sungardas/2015/06/08/the-resilient-4-knocking-out-information-technology-villains-with-a-one-two-punch/

http://www.sungardas.com/business/pages/resilient-4.aspx