Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Cisco Systems Inc will next week launch a jointly developed security indexing service that aims to establish a process that will help companies to balance their security budgets against the level of security risk, effectively framing IT security policies in a commercial setting.

The companies will position the Adaptive Security Index (ASI) service as an essential first step towards benchmarking the enterprise security regime. The index draws on the findings of a recent poll of 270 companies in North America and Europe that has helped to highlight existing security capabilities and recommend appropriate guidelines.

ASI promotes the use of risk management techniques to gauge the level of risk associated with aspects such as the loss of image through web defacement, loss of income through downtime or denial of service attack, or the loss of credibility through the theft or misuse of confidential customer data. It also targets an appreciation of security governance and use of an appropriate and relevant level of security management.

Consulting services provided by CGEY will draw on its IAF integrated architecture framework for enterprise security to set the context and requirements of the security infrastructure to be recommended. Cisco would then help implement it for the network.

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