Thursday, 09 September 2010
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| Friday, 14 March 2008 | |
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Not a 70s or 80s advertising campaign for dehydrated potato* but new IBM Web 2.0 security technology…
This week IBM has announced new technology to secure mash-ups, the web applications that pull information from multiple sources, such as Web sites, enterprise databases or e-mails, to create one unified view. Big Blue reckons mash-ups are attractive for business use, as they allow non-technical users to gain insight on complex situations in minutes but, as with all Web-based initiatives, security has been a concern. The new technology created by IBM researchers, codenamed SMash (short for secure mash-up) allows information from different sources to talk to each other, but keeps them separate so malicious code cannot creep into enterprise systems. And, says IBM, in order to give consumer and business users the opportunity to take advantage of mash-up technology, the company is contributing the SMash technology to the OpenAjax Alliance. The OpenAjax Alliance is an organisation of vendors, open source projects and companies using Ajax that are dedicated to the successful adoption of open and interoperable Ajax-based Web technologies. A founding member of the OpenAjax Alliance, IBM aims to continue to work with industry to create standards that will support innovation and wide-spread adoption of Web 2.0 technologies. “Web 2.0 is fundamentally about empowering people, and has created a societal shift in the way we organise, access and use information,” observes Rod Smith, IBM fellow and vice president. “Security concerns can't be a complete inhibitor or clients lose out on the immense benefit mash-ups bring. The same way you wouldn't buy a car and then later decide to have the seatbelts or airbags installed, as an industry we've learned how to build security into business operations from the ground up instead of tacking it on after the fact.” SMash apparently addresses a key part of vulnerable browser mash-up security by keeping code and data from each of the sources separated, while allowing controlled sharing of the data through a secure communication channel. Performance evaluations have shown that SMash can be used in common enterprise mash-up applications. IBM plans to include SMash technology in select WebSphere products as well as its commercial mash-up maker, Lotus Mashups, expected in the summer. IBM Lotus Mashups is IBM's first commercial mash-up maker for business, and will allow non-technical users to create and share mash-ups in a secure way. “Each new wave of technology presents new opportunities for the bad guys to poke holes in the integrity of your business,” comments Michael Pinette, board member for the Open Ajax Alliance and vice president of Business Development at Zend Technologies. “The Open Ajax Alliance is thrilled IBM is donating its SMash technology to the industry to inspire innovation with less risk.” John Williamson *For readers unfamiliar with the dehydrated potato product, try: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKt-KR1TsRg |
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