Storage Security: The SNIA Technical Tutorial

Storage network security is a relatively new subject, but one that is rapidly gaining in importance in the minds of both users and product developers. This increase is born of a general realization of the increasing importance and value of the information held in on-line systems, and of the separation of processing and storage functions enabled by the development of storage area networks (SANs). Information security is, of course, not a new subject. A brief introduction to the history of cryptography and other techniques for securing communication will be presented in this booklet. But while storage network security seeks to learn from the application of similar techniques to communications security in general, and to network security in particular, it has some unique requirements that will necessitate the development of new and specialized techniques. Though the development of such techniques is in its infancy, this booklet will summarize the current state of the art. This booklet was conceived as an educational resource for the members of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), and other designers, product strategists, and developers within the storage and SAN industries. SNIA’s mission is “to ensure that storage networks become efficient, complete, and trusted solutions across the IT community.” Clearly, that mission cannot be achieved unless the SNIA membership is able to employ the best technologies, techniques, and practices to create storage networking products. Therefore, an important part of SNIA’s mission is the education of its members, and this booklet forms one part of many initiatives in this area. The intended audience of this booklet includes people who are storage literate, but not necessarily security literate. Thus, although this booklet provides an introduction to a number of security techniques, it is not a storage network primer.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Definition of Terminology
3. A Brief History of Cryptography
4. Standard Security Tools and Approaches
5. Storage System Risk Assessment
6. Current SAN Security Tools and Practices
7. Future Security Tools
8. Summary
9. Appendix A Referenced Standards
10. Appendix B Recommended Bibliography
    

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Key Programs

• Data Management Forum
• Green Storage Initiative
• Storage Management Initiative (SMI)
• XAM Initiative