To grow, you need a strategic approach to automation
Businesses are embracing automation. But you’re most likely to find it thriving in discrete pockets throughout the organization, rather than integrated into every process. One initiative might automate the routing of customer emails to the right agent, while another might help the payroll team process timecards faster. Whilst these solutions to point problems are innovative, their limited scope means they fall short of full-scale automation.
For proof, consider that only 17 percent of businesses have scaled their intelligent automation technologies, according to a recent report from HFS Research, and 90 percent aren’t taking an integrated approach. If organizations want to grow their business, it’s critical they abandon working in silos in favor of a strategic, holistic approach to automation.
The challenge of obtaining visibility into cloud security
Digital criminals are increasingly pivoting to the network after initially attacking an endpoint or publicly accessible cloud. Indeed, a network foothold enables attackers to move laterally to more valuable cloud workloads. They can then steal their target organization’s sensitive information and monetize it in whatever way they deem fit.
Many of us are fighting back against the threat of lateral movement by augmenting our visibility over the network. However, we’re constantly running into challenges in the cloud. When using AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) or Azure Virtual Networks (VNets) to detect threats in network traffic, for instance, we’re missing packets’ application-level context. We thus can’t detect the malicious activity that hides within them. In this post, we will discuss why achieving visibility into the cloud continues to pose a challenge. We’ll then explore how we can gain the requisite level of visibility in the cloud.
3 ways to be more adaptable to change
One of the biggest things an organization can do to stay afloat and thriving in our current competitive landscape is to be readily adaptable to change. In contrast, one of the biggest mistakes I often see organizations make is not having a strong enough grasp on their IT infrastructure to do so.
This means that when a problem arises, decision makers will often act out of instinct and make changes that then create further problems or cause unexpected side effects. Once you can quickly and properly survey the technological and/or organizational landscape you’re working with, being adaptable to change can be almost effortless. Below are a few tactics to help you remain adaptable to change and avoid potential catastrophe in the face of an uncertain market.
Optimizing cost and availability when running SQL Server on AWS EC2
If you’re thinking about moving your SQL Server instances to the cloud, there are a lot of good reasons to choose AWS EC2. AWS offers a wide range of purpose-built systems, so you can easily find one that will support your organization’s particular needs. It has a global reach, with 69 availability zones in 22 geographically distinct regions around the world.
Building out a SQL Server infrastructure designed for high availability (HA) or disaster recovery (DR), though, can be costly. Are there ways to take advantage of AWS EC2 to reduce those costs? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is how much money you can save using AWS EC2 depends on the choices you make when configuring for HA and DR.
Windows as a Service: A method of life cycle management
A moment five years in the making is here. Support for Windows 7 officially ended on January 14. While not every enterprise has completed the migration to Windows 10, it is the operating system IT teams must focus on moving forward -- and it means big changes in how they operate. "Set it and forget it" is done. At the same time, the pain of migrating thousands of endpoints over to an entirely different OS is too, replaced instead by a new method of ongoing life cycle management.
We’ve entered the era of Windows as a Service. This is not just clever marketing but rather a genuine shift in how new Windows features are introduced and updates are conducted. Essentially, this model requires delivery of new features twice a year and security updates every month. Feature updates also receive ongoing quality updates over the course of either 18 or 30 months, replacing what previously occurred over the course of several years. The new model translates to a continuous rollout of Windows through internal testing. As with any major change, Windows as a Service has its pros and cons. Let’s dive in.
Selectively revealing yourself to the world -- Privacy in the 21st century
Fifteen years ago, if you wanted to join Facebook (then The FaceBook), you needed a valid college email address and the site did not offer much more than study group meetups or a place to chat and share pictures with high school friends. Today, Facebook is a juggernaut with roughly 2.5 billion monthly active users -- and as one of the world’s largest ad platforms, the amount of data it has on its users is staggering. But in 2018, the Cambridge Analytica breach profoundly shook users’ confidence in the social network -- and the entire tech industry as well. Since the scandal, there have been Congressional hearings, lawsuits, antitrust concerns and even the complete demise of Cambridge Analytica. But the questions did not end there -- consumers began to question how all big tech used their data. Why does Google track people’s location even if they have turned tracking off? Is Alexa recording my private conversations?
Thanks to the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the endless stream of data sharing scandals since, consumers are more aware of their online privacy and are beginning to question how companies are monetizing their data. Let’s look at how the rise of social media created this data economy, the tech industries attempt to regulate itself and how the U.S. government is woefully unprepared to address modern privacy challenges. How do we progress in a world where every detail of our days are tracked?
Election scams get creative and voters take the bait
The upcoming US presidential election is wrought with emotions. That makes it the perfect ruse for email scams targeting citizens, politicians, and government organizations. While election phishing is the top concern, there are a host of other scams that are making the rounds.
Your favorite politician -- or the one you’re most likely to vote for -- needs money to successfully run their campaign. Hackers are relying on our devotion not only to politicians but to our affiliated political party to lure us into a trap.
Can technology help employees with their mental health?
Mental illness in the workplace is a costly problem for employers. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that depression and anxiety cost the global economy $1 trillion per year in lost productivity. Productivity problems can have a trickle-down effect, impacting everything from company culture to employee retention -- and the problem is getting worse, not better. Studies show that mental illness diagnosis rates are rising, particularly among adolescents and young adults.
As this problem grows, employers must establish policies that identify mental illness in the workplace, reduce the on-the-job stressors that exacerbate the problem, and create a more supportive environment that helps employees to work through their hurdles. Here are a few ways that organizations can accomplish these goals with technology.
Demystifying penetration testing
Most people who keep relatively up to date on security lingo easily understand the concepts of the basics, such as "compliance," "edge security," and "incident response." But when you bring penetration testing into the conversation, you lose half your audience. A much smaller percentage of the population knows what it is, and even fewer understand how it is done or the significant value it adds to the security tool chest.
While some enterprises may contract a third party to conduct penetration testing because it is required for a variety of reasons (part of an industry framework such as PCI-DSS or FedRAMP, or a prospective customer demands it), many don’t understand the techniques involved or are surprised by the depth of the activity. The client may not actively engage in the "scoping" calls to review and set parameters around what will be done and then are surprised by the more rigorous techniques involved, especially if those techniques unsuspectingly bring down client systems temporarily. The testers themselves, shrouded in misperceptions, may evoke images of donning hoodies and barely skimming the line between criminality and service. Recent news of penetration testers being whisked off to jail during a client assignment in Iowa hasn’t helped. It’s time to set the record straight.
Windows 7 and EOL systems and their impact on the IT workload
As of January 14, 2020, Microsoft has discontinued Windows 7 support as planned for the operating system's End of Life (EOL). To some organizations, this operating system (OS) might seem like a distant memory. However, nearly 30 percent of the world’s computers -- or more than 400 million -- still run Windows 7 and are only now contemplating migration to Windows 10. Millions of users will be depending on an unsupported OS for some time after its retirement and IT teams will still be responsible for maintaining these systems.
While Microsoft will not be globally pushing out any more security patches for Windows 7 after Jan 14th, customers can pay for a security update service which will deliver patches until 2023. Failure to sign-up for and implement these patches will mean operating an OS that is vulnerable to malicious actors. IT teams will need to continue updating and patching Windows 7 as long as their company is using it -- even if they are in the process of migrating to Windows 10.
7 types of attacks SDP protects against
Software-defined perimeters (SDP) use a combination of strong authentication, granular authorization and network segmentation to enable access from anywhere, creating a new kind of defense against a variety of cyberattacks. SDP is more secure than a firewall or a VPN and is more granular than a NAC. Compared to these alternative approaches, SDP offers improved security and operational simplicity for users and IT admins alike.
SDP employs multiple techniques in order to provide secure access. First, it leverages identity and access management (IAM) to authenticate every user that attempts to access a resource or application on the network. It then employs granular authorization to restrict the services that each user can access once logged in. Perhaps the most powerful aspect of the approach is its ability to provide "resource cloaking", ensuring that no DNS information or "visible" IP ports of protected resources are exposed to the Internet, which significantly reduces a network’s attack surface. This has the effect of creating a resilient defense against common attacks that hackers employ, such as the following:
Race to 5G: The industry impact of the T-Mobile and Sprint merger
Chances are, you’ve seen the T-Mobile and Sprint merger headlines sweeping the wireless industry. The merger -- which has been caught up in court -- is the latest initiative of carriers large and small turning to corporate consolidations in order to compete in the race to 5G.
While the merger has been approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Justice Department (DOJ), a coalition of state officials say the merger is harmful to consumers because it significantly reduces competition within the industry and can increase prices. Despite the pushback, it appears the merger will likely follow through. So, what does this mean for the industry, the race to 5G, and -- most importantly -- wireless consumers?
Network reliance as the internet enters its 'third act'
Information technology professionals know how to adapt to constant change. Yet our laser focus on immediate details means we can lose sight of the big picture and miss an opportunity to stay ahead of the curve. If you read the 2020 State of the Edge report, the very first line may cure that ill:
We stand on the precipice of a profound re-architecting of the Internet…
The perils of choosing convenience over privacy: When is it not worth it?
From the lightbulb and telephone to smartphones, the advanced technology of the day has always been lauded as a way to make peoples’ lives easier. But while today’s technology makes it possible to pay that electricity bill from your phone, it has also opened up privacy concerns that were unimaginable even ten years ago. In that decade, it is reported that more than 4 billion records have been stolen and 15 of the largest data breaches in history have occurred. Has technology marketed as a consumer convenience contributed to these breaches?
While George Orwell presented a dire picture of "big brother," today’s society certainly seems willing to embrace technologies that are always watching, listening and capitalizing on personal data shared in our daily lives. But what’s the true cost of choosing convenience over privacy? Let’s look at how technology has driven privacy complacency for the sake of convenience and how it has changed the way people think about and safeguard their information.
Will Brexit cause UK tech ambitions to decline?
Throughout the 2010s, the UK has faced a thick fog of uncertainty. The decade has seen four general elections take place, as well as the momentous 2016 EU Referendum; such events have caused even the most experienced business leaders to feel less than confident.
However, the results of the December 2019 general election suggest that stability could be on the horizon. Regardless of one’s political leanings, many will view the Conservative Party’s overwhelming majority as a welcome break in Westminster’s political deadlock. Indeed, we are already seeing breaks in the deadlock, with the Brexit Bill finally being passed through the House of Commons on 9th January 2020. Whilst we now wait for the bill to be passed by the House of Lords, the fact it swiftly made its way through the Commons has already increased the likelihood of the UK leaving the EU by January 31st 2020. Such activities have enabled businesses to plan future activities with greater confidence. However, despite greater certainty, one industry in particular remains concerned about the impact of Brexit on its future growth; the tech industry. So, it is vital that we get to the bottom of its concerns.
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