Outsourcing of Microsoft's Active Directory Technology Impacts Global Security

Today, the world is a global village, and people and countries are icnreasingly becoming connected in due to the dynamics of the global business and a global economy of supply chains and markets.

From China to the United States, and from Europe to Australia, organizations in almost all countries rely on other organizations for the fulfillment of numerous essential aspects of their business, ranging from the supply of materials to the modernization of their IT infrasturcutres and services.


In regards to the modernization of IT services, we in India see mto have become the IT back-office of the world in terms of delivering a variety of IT services ranging from software application development to the outsourced management of IT infrastructures - http://www.microsoft.com/online/business-productivity.aspx

While US and Europrean companies start outsourcing the development of numerous IT applications as well as recently the partial management of their IT infrastructures, some have raised concerns about the potential risks associated with such moves to gain economic efficiencies.

Data Centers

For example, it appears that a specific Microsoft technology called Active Directory is at the foundation of security in virtually most organizations in the world, and recently many organizations have started to oursource the management of their Active Directory to third parties, both in the US and in Europe, which in turn have outsourced the management of these deployments to India by establishing numerous services centers in India.

Experts say that Active Directory is a critical component of organizational security and argue that the outsourcing of such critical technologies to anyone may pose a risk to these organizations, because it exposes these organizations to the risk of compromise stemming from a compromise of their outsourced Active Directory deployments - http://www.identitysecurityandaccessblog.com

Whether or not the outsourcing of Microsoft's Active Directory technology impacts global security is an important question for all organizations to consider. In addition, for those of us in India, we should consider how we can provide additional assurance to our partners in the US and Europe as to the level of physical and network security we can provide to our IT centers based in Southern India.

This was not directly related to my area of interest, but I did it find it interesting, so I thought of sharing on my blog.

Fake WikiLeaks against India: Pakistan media apologises

It has been quite some time since I blogged a note. The delay is simply on account of the incredible amount of work at hand these days, especially as our teams grow.

I did however wish to share a thought about this whole WikiLeaks thing which seems to have rocked the world. It seems it is also being misused to malign countries.

For instance, earlier this week Pakistani newspapers carried articles that purported to detail shocking American assessments of India's military and civilian leaders.

The Guardian which first published the cables have now proved that the reports in Pakistani dailies are not accurate. The Guardian did it own searches and found that there was no evidence to support the validity of these purported claims.

It is indeed sad to see Pakistan stoop so low for propaganda purposes.

By the way, on a related note, I also thought of sharing with you a brilliant piece of analysis on this Wikileaks incident. A former Microsoft Security expert recently provided an analysis of this whole affair from an IT security pro's perspective, and you can find it online at the Identity, Security and Access Blog.

The piece is actually titled "The WikiLeaks Security Incident – A Warning and a Wake-Up Call to Organizations Worldwide", in case you wish to Google it, and it really made me think hard about the value of IT security.

It is one of the most unbiased yet objective pieces of analysis I have enccountered so far, so I thought of sharing it with one and all. If you have a minute, do consider checking it out.

Peace,
Rajiv

Management demands Empathy

Have you ever been in a situation where you were trying to explain something to your manager but you felt like he/she was just not be getting your message?

Well, many a time, the converse it true as well, in that many a time a manager may try to communicate a specific task, challenge or deadline to you, and find that you may not be receiving his intended message.

In so many such situations, it can really help if both parties just practiced some empathy and received the message with an open mind and by looking at it from the other party's perspective.

Empathy can play a pivotal role in taking your relationship with your manager (or your team) to the next level, and to the extent that you embrace it, it can substantially help you improve not just your working relationships but also your productivity and effectiveness.

I would encourage everyone to give this some serious thought and a serious shot!

Kind Regards,
Rajiv

Three Essential Virtues at the Core of Successful Management

If you practice Buddhism, you know the value of patience, empathy and balance.

In many ways, these three simple virtues are at the core of successful management as well.

I'll leave you to reflect upon this for now, and pen in shortly with my take on it.

Peace,
Rajiv

Management is an Art

Visit any bookstore and you're bound to find an entire section devoted to the topic of management. Some view it as a science, others as a gift, and still others as an art.

I for one do firmly believe that it is truly an art, for it demands great agility and empathy on your part, and it usually requires a different stroke of the brush in most situations because the dynamics of no two situations are ever the same.

As an art, it can be mastered, but doing so takes time, effort, commitment and a willingness to look at situations from all perspectives, not just one's own. It is also an art in the sense that once you're good at it, like a good painting, it speaks for itself, in that its recognized, appreciated and valued.

In posts to follow, I shall shed light on some specific examples and observations, aimed at illustrating some of the most essential aspects of management.

Peace,
Rajiv

Namaste

Namaste, and welcome to my little shack on the Internet. I'm Rajiv, a proud and aspiring Indian, whose had the good fortune of working with and managing some of the most hard-working and motivated individuals, here in New Delhi, India.

Over the last few years, I've had the opportunity to manage quite a few young and vibrant folks, and in the process I learnt a thing or two about the fine art of management. In this blog, I plan on sharing my 5 paisa with you, with the hope that it can help you too.

Every now and then, I'll drop in and share a few thougths and observations, so please feel free to tune in :-)

Thanks,
Rajiv