Encrypted privacy for the public's safety
One of the many challenges government and local authorities constantly face is that of keeping up with changes and innovations coming from the outside: conflicts and emergencies, environmental factors, inputs from industries and productions and, of course, evolving technologies. Whether these are developed in the private or public sector, or the academic community, it is unquestionable that tech innovations are tightly woven into everyday life.
These innovations frequently move forward at a speedy pace, spreading across different fields and inevitably reaching a level of integration that can no longer be left to the sole responsibility of the individuals. Thankfully, governments and organizations are increasingly wisening up when it comes to new and emerging technologies, whether this means creating ad hoc policies and regulations (the UK AI bill, the European AI act, the American Privacy Rights Act, or Chat Control) or taking targeted actions towards specific platforms or providers compromising users’ privacy like the TikTok ban for federal and state employees in the USA.
How to optimize AI at the edge and retain data sovereignty
Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally transforming the way businesses operate and the value they can deliver to customers. Industry body techUK cites estimates that the UK’s GDP could be up to 10 percent higher by 2030 thanks to AI adoption. But first there are major cost, efficiency and data governance challenges to solve. This is where edge computing comes into its own -- offering a fast, resilient and cost-effective way to run transformative AI applications. Even better, it can help organizations to meet requirements around sustainability and data sovereignty.
The key will be finding a database platform that can seamlessly support both traditional cloud and edge computing environments in this context.
Cyber threats we can expect at the Paris Olympics
Nation state-sponsored threat actors, organized cybercriminal cartels and hacktivists are expected to be active during the upcoming 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and Paralympics, which will be hosted against a fractured geopolitical landscape, including Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's conflict with Hamas. There will likely be three types:
Nation-state sabotage: Russian nation state-level cyber units will likely attempt to sabotage the 2024 Games, something that we have already observed in previous years during both the 2018 Winter Olympics as well as the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics in which Russia’s GRU military intelligence service engaged in cyber reconnaissance, targeting officials and organizations involved in the events. With Russia being suspended from participation as a sanction from the International Olympic Committee for its invasion of Ukraine, operations launched by Moscow-aligned cyber forces, such as Sandworm (a group that attacked previous events with the “Olympic Destroyer” malware), will likely surge in retaliation. Motivation for these efforts would likely include retaliation, damaging the reputation of the Paris Olympics to promote its own 2024 World Friendship Games in September, and to counter French President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-Ukraine position.
Six steps to protecting data in financial services companies
There is no shortage of news headlines about companies falling victim to cyber breaches and the astounding costs associated with them. According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023, the global average cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million, a 15 percent increase since 2020. For the financial services industry, the cost is even higher at $5.9 million per breach; that is 28 percent above the global average.
In addition to the higher price tag associated with a cyber breach, companies within the financial industry must also adhere to evolving compliance regulations that dictate how they respond to an attack and where they must invest to reduce the total risk.
Migrating to the cloud: The key to business scalability, flexibility and cost-effectiveness
Whenever a new technology hits the business mainstream, key decision makers try to figure out how it can be incorporated into their existing workflows. This is driven by the need to stay on the cutting edge and not lose out to competitors, as well as the goal of constantly improving efficiency and cutting costs. The most obvious current example of this is AI, which is the hot new piece of technology that businesses are trying to utilize. The other main technology that exemplifies this is cloud computing.
There are many reasons organizations are looking to the cloud as a business enabler, with scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness being only a portion of the long list. Any business that is not currently considering incorporating some aspect of cloud technology into their existing systems will fall behind compared to the rest of the industry, due to the many ways in which it can benefit workflows and help drive revenue.
Lessons learned from the Microsoft-CrowdStrike outage
The tech world is still reeling from the recent widespread system outages caused by a CrowdStrike update last week. These outages are a stark reminder of the interconnected nature of our digital ecosystem and how far-reaching the consequences of a single update can be.
Let's address the global impact of the recent incident -- thousands of Windows machines worldwide experienced the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSoD). And this wasn't just a minor hiccup; we saw major disruptions across the banking, aviation, broadcasting, and retail sectors. It really drives home how interconnected our digital world has become and how a single update can have far-reaching consequences.
The danger facing critical infrastructure from DDoS attacks targeting telecoms networks
Denied Distribution of Service (DDoS) attacks are an established and now-typical part of the cybersecurity landscape. But, since their first arrival on the scene over 25 years ago, the core of the average DDoS attack hasn’t really changed. Sure, there have been advancements in technology but they still serve the same purpose as they did during that very first attack on a commercial internet provider -- bringing their victims offline.
The way in which an attack can do this using DDoS has changed over time, with a movement towards more targeted attacks, allowing for specific websites or servers to be attacked rather than the entire network having to be taken offline. DDoS attacks have also become wildly more popular and commonplace as they’ve become easier and more accessible to carry out. They’ve even become a market of their own, with some threat actors even offering them as a service online.
The era of democratized data needs to be led by DX2.0
Over the last few years, we have witnessed process industries digitizing large amounts of their operations. However, despite this accelerated shift, execution remains uneven. In tandem, leaders have been contended with several business challenges such as disrupted markets, changing consumer behavior, data abundance, remote working and regulatory changes.
This has driven the uptake of further digital transformation (DX) initiatives to stay relevant, maintain market leadership, foster resilience and fuel scalable innovation. As the industry battles an increasingly complex operating environment, companies require more comprehensive DX solutions, or what is being referred to as DX2.0.
A technical overview of Cisco IoT part 3: Security essentials & industrial applications
Following the second installment of this Cisco IoT series regarding IoT networking and security supported by Cisco's innovative hardware offerings, this next discussion explores related key topics that are essential for understanding and implementing IoT solutions effectively.
This comprehensive overview will cover critical aspects such as IoT security, operational technology visibility, and industry-specific use cases. By examining these elements, readers will gain a clearer picture of how Cisco's advanced IoT solutions can enhance security, improve operational efficiency, and drive business innovation across various sectors.
The top challenge when implementing AI for business: Lack of high-quality data
AI growth and adoption in the UK are surging, with the market valued at more than £16.8 billion and expected to reach £801.6 billion in the next decade. Approximately 15 percent of UK businesses are already using AI technologies such as data management and analysis, natural language processing, machine learning, and computer vision. And across the pond in the US, AI is expected to contribute a significant 21 percent net increase to US GDP by 2030, showcasing its substantial impact on the economy.
Growth in any new technology is never without its challenges. For AI, these include ensuring data privacy, addressing ethical concerns, and navigating the complexity of integrating with existing IT infrastructure. Data quality is central to resolving these challenges. To be useful, the data used for AI must be high-quality, well-structured, and from trusted sources. These properties are the foundation for all AI models and determine their effectiveness and reliability.
The role of migration tools in IT integration
In the fast-paced world of corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and divestitures, integrating tech infrastructures offers significant challenges and opportunities for growth. As companies seek to unify, separate, and streamline their operations, the role of reliable migration tools becomes crucial in ensuring seamless transitions and maintaining data integrity.
According to Deal Barometer, M&A activity is expected to rise by 20 percent this year, emphasizing the need for effective IT strategies during these transformations. Given the complexities of migrating data during a merger, acquisition, or divestiture, IT leaders should seek solutions to ensure a smooth, secure transition.
Source code: The source of truth for securing the API attack surface
Most organizations find themselves in the midst of their API security journey, racing to keep pace with expanding API ecosystems in a colossal threat landscape. As a core enabler of modern applications, facilitating seamless connectivity and powering mobile and web applications, APIs are everywhere. The DevOps revolution has completely transformed the pace at which developers can design and build APIs faster than a security team can match.
Large enterprises are operating with tens of thousands of APIs, and even small organizations have a surprising number, both internal and external. With applications and API portfolios becoming increasingly complex, maintaining a comprehensive understanding of all existing APIs has emerged as a significant hurdle. As APIs can quickly become obscured or forgotten, many organizations lack accurate context into the sheer scale and volume of APIs that persist across their infrastructure -- subsequently resulting in the absence of a full picture of their attack surface. As one cannot secure what they cannot see, the absence of discovery mechanisms opens organizations to a host of security risks. That is why API discovery is now a crucial process for security teams, designed to identify, catalog, and assess APIs.
Cloud security vendors with cloud cultures: Operating in sync with customers
Cloud-native security companies understand that while digital transformation is the future for most, if not all, organizations across industries, it’s also introducing a host of new cybersecurity challenges that customers need support navigating. For example, as hybrid work and distributed workforces become more normalized, there’s a growing need for solutions and processes to ensure this anytime, anywhere collaboration happens securely. Moreover, as the number of cloud services in use across organizations increases, more sensitive data is being stored in the cloud, and companies continue to lack visibility and/or control over their cloud activities, cloud security is only becoming more critical with time.
However, to build security solutions that solve for these challenges and others, cloud-native security vendors need to first understand the exact nature of the issues their customers are facing. One way they typically approach this is by being deeply integrated into the market and relying on customer feedback to shape their product offerings. But there’s another, often-overlooked way for these companies to stay close to customers’ changing needs: fostering an internal cloud-centric culture themselves. By practicing what they preach, cloud vendors can best support customers and optimize their solutions.
The potential opportunities and challenges of decentralized identity in mitigating AI threats
In an age where cyber threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the management and verification of digital identities are at a critical juncture. As various sectors rapidly evolve, decentralized identity (DCI) systems emerge as a revolutionary approach to managing and verifying user identities. These autonomous systems promise to change how we access and use online services. However, many organizations need help with adopting this promising technology.
A recent survey by Ping Identity, which included responses from 700 IT decision-makers worldwide, highlights these challenges. In the UK, 82 percent of IT decision-makers see value in decentralized identities for their customers and employees, yet only about a third (34.5 percent) currently offer this option. A significant reason for this gap is the need for more clarity about the benefits, with 31 percent of respondents unsure what advantages decentralized IDs would bring.
Collective digital leadership: Why non-technical leaders should share tech ownership
In today's hyper-competitive, rapidly evolving market, the demand for seamless digital interactions has never been higher. The modern workforce expects seamless digital interactions, instant access to information, and intuitive tools that support both their work and personal growth. In this new paradigm, non-technical teams need the power to innovate without the confines of complex development environments. They also must bear more responsibility for the strategic deployment of technology.
This has led to forward-thinking organizations exploring leadership models that reflect the shared need for rapid, strategic deployment of technology. A recent Gartner survey found that 46 percent of CIOs are shifting to co-owning digital leadership. According to the firm’s report, “CIOs who co-own efforts with their CxO peers to place the design, management and delivery of digital capabilities with teams closest to the point where value is created, are most effective at maximizing digital investments.”
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