Unleashing the power of cloud-based technology in the gig economy
The gig economy represents a labor market that relies on temporary and part-time positions filled by independent contractors and freelancers, rather than the full-time, permanent employee model. It has emerged as a powerhouse, with gig workers contributing an estimated £20 billion to the UK economy, which is predicted to hit £63.25 billion by 2026.
In the face of escalating living costs, gig workers are facing increased vulnerabilities in their pursuit of financial stability. A striking revelation from a study conducted by the University of Bristol reveals that a staggering 52 percent of UK gig economy workers earn below the minimum wage.
How and why we need to break the stigma around second hand tech
Mountains of e-waste, increasingly scarce resources, and volatile supply chains; these are just three of the reasons that the technology industry should be re-considering its current model of 'take, make and replace'. We’ve seen across other industries, such as fashion, that the cost-of-living crisis and increasingly eco-conscious consumers have led to the second-hand market becoming a lucrative business.
Through holding onto stigmas around the quality and performance of second-hand tech, we continue to purchase brand new despite the negative impact this is having on our planet. So, what needs to be done to see similar change across the tech industry?
The future of AI in payments is already here
The strongest case for bringing artificial intelligence-powered technology into the electronic bill payment and presentment (EBPP) space stems from the reality that, in some ways, it is already here. Many of the buzziest applications like machine learning-powered customer service chatbots and AI-written content are continually developing and still a ways off from being called perfected. But there are other ways AI tools are already quietly powering some facets of the EBPP industry.
The EBPP industry is still in the earliest stages of implementing these tools. By working to understand the reality of AI in the EBPP space today, executives seeking to find the most effective uses of AI and forecast the future of the industry can both reframe their current perspectives, and calibrate their expectations and strategies for what’s to come. The areas in which AI solutions can be most helpful as they grow more advanced may not be the most headline-grabbing, but they will make a significant impact on the industry.
Why every company should include threat intelligence in their cybersecurity strategy
In the fast-evolving digital landscape, the prevalence of cyber threats has become a stark reality for businesses and individuals. While essential, conventional cybersecurity measures are often reactive and inadequate against sophisticated attacks. This is where Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) emerges as a proactive and complementary approach to cybersecurity.
Utilizing CTI helps organizations to protect their systems from potential hazards. It provides a way to cut through the noise and focus on threats relevant to that specific company and industry. However, CTI is more than just a product. It's a program that needs to be evaluated constantly to ensure the correct tools, processes, and people are being leveraged as threats evolve and the company changes over time.
The quantum leap: Quantum computing breakthroughs to watch
The classical computer has been the bedrock of computing for over 50 years. That’s going to change soon. quantum computing, which was once a concept limited to fringe scientific papers, is now becoming a mainstream topic.
We’re seeing significant breakthroughs in the headlines which are stoking the flames of conjecture. The truth is, that this technology will bring with it much more than hype and opportunities to breathe life into sci-fi creations. In this article, we’re going to dive into some of the milestones of quantum computing, future goals and, of course, the challenges that we still have to overcome.
How can startups ace their vendor negotiations?
Many startup founders dread negotiations with vendors, especially when they have lean or no procurement teams. Unlike enterprises, startups feel they lack the leverage to secure favorable deals. In this economic environment, everybody is trying to conserve cash. Software expenses are the next big expense after employee expenses for startups.
During COVID, most startups spent a lot on software, and now they are trying to figure out how to cut costs by at least 10-30 percent. The CloudEagle team and I have helped several enterprises and startups negotiate with SaaS vendors. In this dynamic era of innovation and agility, startups are not just the underdogs but the disruptors, visionaries, and change-makers. They bring fresh perspectives, growth potential, and a penchant for rapid decision-making.
How to budget for an Agile environment
There are often conversations within Agile communities, about how to accurately predict how much it costs to deliver a software product in an Agile environment.
Budgeting in an Agile environment, where product delivery is incremental and the journey is shaped by feedback, that can be difficult. This is especially the case, when organizations are deep-rooted in fixed time, cost and scope -- and there may be certain conditions where this is still very relevant. Nevertheless, if it’s end user value that you’re seeking (and why wouldn’t you be?) it’s advocated to adopt the following practices and mindsets as alternatives when considering putting a cost on the deliverable.
AI for the good guys: Practical lessons for AI and cyber risk
Threat actors are early adopters. Cyber defense is brimming with uncertainties, but one dynamic you can be confident about is that threat actors will leverage everything available to exploit a target. In 2023, this means the rise of artificial intelligence-enabled attacks, from AI-generated social engineering scripts to powerful automation designed to find and exploit vulnerabilities and spread laterally through systems and networks.
Security teams, therefore need to be prepared to meet the challenge of cloud scale threats on both a technical level and an organizational level. It requires anticipating threats that exist beyond technical vulnerabilities, including, for example, social engineering and DDoS. This is part of the challenge of modern cyber security -- the attack surface comprises not just the entirety of IT infrastructure, its endpoints, and all the data it uses and stores, but also its users. It is too large to be effectively managed manually.
Conquering disruption: How to build a more resilient business
From COVID-19, the energy crisis and widespread strikes, business continuity managers have been kept busy in the last few years. And the impact of these events, as well as ongoing threats like cyber attacks, mean that continuity planning is a regular topic on boardroom agendas.
Business resilience is now crucial to guaranteeing continuity and sustainable operations. In fact, according to PwC’s Global Crisis Survey 2023, 89 percent of organizations state business resilience as one of their key strategic priorities. But what are the key factors at play in building a more resilient organization?
The vital role of multi-factor authentication in your security stack
Stop me if you have heard this story before. A threat actor sends a crafty phishing email. An unsuspecting end user clicks a hyperlink in the email and enters their username and password, unknowingly providing those credentials to the threat actor. The threat actor then uses these credentials to gain access to all sorts of personal or company sensitive information. While this may be a "tale as old as time", it’s still happening today. Literally every day. According to the latest Verizon Data Breach Report, stolen credentials is still the primary way attackers gain access to organizations.
The fact is passwords continue to be a target for threat actors and are becoming increasingly vulnerable to attack. Threat actors leverage techniques like phishing campaigns, brute force attacks, information-stealing malware, and social engineering to gain access to user credentials. End users often contribute to the problem by using easily guessed passwords or reusing the same passwords across multiple accounts making a threat actor’s job easier. The bottom line is putting your data protection hopes into a single username and password is a foolish endeavor when the need for more robust authentication controls is evident.
Navigating 20 years of cybersecurity: The evolution of patch management
As we approach the 20th anniversary of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it's crucial to reflect on the progress made in patch management, a fundamental cybersecurity practice aimed at helping organizations mitigate the risk of unpatched vulnerabilities -- the primary gateway for attackers to breach organizational systems and deploy ransomware and other malware.
In 2003, patch management awareness was low, but it wasn't as critical to global cybersecurity as today because cybercrime was less developed. Automated exploits for known vulnerabilities and ransomware, which now monetizes attacks, hadn't emerged yet.
To mitigate insider risk, focus on people and not technology
Insider risk poses the most serious threat to data and operations, yet most organizations still lack a security strategy designed to confront it.
The Ponemon Institute’s 2023 Cost of Insider Risks: Global Report found that insider risk -- whether unintentional or intentional -- has continued to rise over the past two years while the costs of breaches have risen as well. The 309 organizations benchmarked over a 12-month period averaged 24 incidents each, with a total average cost of $16.2 million.
It's time to safeguard the financial sector: Navigate employee turnover to defend against escalating cyberattacks
It’s no secret that cybersecurity has a significant skills shortage. According to ISC2 research, the worldwide shortage is as high as 3.4 million cybersecurity workers. As a result, security professionals’ skills are in very high demand, making finding and retaining talent challenging. Swimlane’s own research shows that 82 percent of organizations report it takes three months or longer to fill a cybersecurity role, with 34 percent reporting it takes seven months or more.
The situation isn’t improving either. Some 70 percent of companies also report that it takes longer to fill a cybersecurity role now than it did two years ago. The challenge has led one-third (33 percent) of organizations to believe they will never have a fully-staffed security team with the proper skills, according to Swimlane’s survey
Staying safe online by bringing nonstandard applications into the identify lifecycle
This year marks the 20th Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and today, the prevailing theme, "It’s easy to stay safe online," remains a timely reminder. The message is clear: online safety can be achieved with the proper knowledge and tools. This comes with a bit of a caveat, however, as many of our current security processes are manual and rely on the end user's discretion and action, such as turning on MFA. Adding further complexity is the ever-growing challenges posed by nonstandard applications, which do not work with established security standards like single sign-on.
A report by Netskope paints a grim picture with its concerning findings. For instance, the report found that 97 percent of apps used within enterprises operate outside the traditional identity perimeter. While the ubiquity of these nonstandard applications is undeniable, the lack of oversight in their security is alarming. The Ponemon Institute's research reveals that only 34 percent of organizations are proactive in prioritizing the security of nonstandard applications. When educated on the risks, this figure jumps dramatically to 82 percent. People care once they understand the impact on the business.
Email: Adapting to the riskiest business tool
Almost every organization freely admits that people are the biggest risk to their security and are most vulnerable when using email. While the 'outbound' risk of an employee accidentally or intentionally leaking data is very clearly categorized as an insider risk, even a phishing attack that originates from outside the organization requires an insider to, essentially, open the door.
And it’s a valuable vulnerability for threat actors to be aware of; the FBI reported that Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams accounted for $50 billion in losses between June 2016 to December 2022.
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