Have we gotten observability backwards?
The last few years have seen digital transformation dramatically increase the sprawl and complexity of enterprise IT environments. Today, the average employee will likely access a dozen applications before lunchtime, both in the cloud and on-prem. This increased complexity has simultaneously created greater interdependences between applications, while also making visibility much trickier for IT teams.
The upshot of this is a world where there are more applications in use, which are less able to be monitored, and causing greater frustration when they experience issues. This is not a recipe for success.
Overcoming the skills gap with robust, easy-to-use AI
When it comes to adopting new technologies, the legal sector has traditionally been more cautious than other industries. However, AI’s potential to transform legal workflows and unlock new levels of productivity is difficult to ignore. In fact, the industry is moving at speed: a recent study shows almost three quarters (73 percent) of legal practitioners plan to utilize AI in their legal work within the next year.
On a practical level, AI is evolving so quickly that across many practices, employees have varying levels of knowledge and understanding of how AI works, what tasks they should be using it for and the legal implications of using it. At the same time, if firms introduce AI solutions that require deep technical knowledge to use, skills gaps could become increasingly problematic.
Technical implementation guide: Securing Salesforce under DORA requirements
As financial institutions prepare for the EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) enforcement in January 2025, IT teams face a complex challenge: ensuring their Salesforce implementations meet new technical requirements while maintaining operational efficiency.
The regulation's focus on ICT risk management demands a comprehensive technical approach beyond basic security measures. For organizations utilizing Salesforce as a critical business platform, this represents a fundamental shift in how system architecture and security must be approached.
Why zero trust can't be fully trusted
Despite its promise, the Zero Trust approach to cybersecurity is often more notional than actual in its deployment. Many companies today are far from getting the most of what a truly Zero Trust system can offer. Gartner estimates that only 10 percent of large organizations will have a mature and comprehensive Zero Trust system by 2026. What’s more, continual reliance on human operators means that by default Zero Trust systems can only be as dependable as the people using them. This awkward fact should be kept in view before we put too much faith in systems that are described as ‘Zero Trust’. However, Zero Trust can be made to live up to its name with the addition of new tools that remove the vulnerabilities of the standard approach to using this system.
Zero Trust works by enforcing a blanket rule that all access requests must be authenticated. Unfortunately, the promise of ‘never trust, always verify’ falls apart when human beings enter the picture. Human beings configure the security tools, make judgments where an exception may be needed, and assemble the underlying IT infrastructure. All of that adds up to a lot of trust in human operators and a major caveat for Zero Trust.
Encrypted Client Hello didn't solve censorship, but still may have a role to play
In November 2024, Russia began blocking Cloudflare’s implementation of Encrypted Client Hello (ECH), a privacy-focused extension of the TLS protocol.“This technology is a means of circumventing restrictions on access to information banned in Russia. Its use violates Russian law and is restricted by the Technical Measure to Combat Threats (TSPU),” the statement by the Russian Internet regulator read.
Russia, known for its tight control over internet access, views ECH as a tool for bypassing geo-restrictions, though that was never its intended purpose. This move follows a broader pattern of censorship and surveillance. Over the past few years, Russia has been cracking down on VPNs, making it harder for users to circumvent government-imposed restrictions.
How the Disney insider threat case breaks the security binary illusion
Security is always a bit like a game of whack-a-mole in that you never quite know where the next incident is going to pop up. On the face of it, this shouldn’t be too hard. Everyone knows to secure your PII, PHI, customer financials, production environments, and other resources that are clearly highly sensitive. But sometimes the question of what is sensitive is less black and white, filled with plenty of gray areas.
This uncertainty can lead to organizations failing to properly secure their resources, as we saw in the recent incident over at Disney.
The quantum revolution: Five ways quantum will transform everyday life
Our world is gripped by uncertainty. From economic volatility to the climate crisis, businesses and individuals alike are navigating a landscape marred by unpredictability. As the World Economic Forum warns in its most recent global risk report, our outdated digital infrastructure and subsequent services are struggling to keep pace with the growing demands of the modern world.
As emerging technologies like AI, Blockchain and even 5G hit everyday life like a tidal wave, we need something that can not only help us navigate our way but also handle the waves. Think of it like trying to cross an ocean on a rowboat, without a compass. What we need is a modern cruise ship.
The hypervisor world is shifting -- is this the end of the VMware era?
Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware late last year created fear and uncertainty among vendors and partners alike. The subsequent overhaul of VMware’s product offering and consumption model have only served to fuel this disquiet.
In parallel with the restructuring and consolidation of VMware’s most popular and prominent product offerings, Broadcom’s takeover has seen VMware transition from a perpetual licensing structure to compulsory subscriptions. As a result, many VMware customers face significant cost increases.
AI and hiring
The advent of artificial intelligence inspired a great deal of fear in the workplace, especially regarding job displacement. As AI's potential became more apparent, workers in virtually every industry feared they would be replaced by an AI-driven alternative that could work faster and for less pay.
To date, those fears have been mostly unfounded. In fact, a recent study of nearly 3,000 different workplace skills determined none of them were “very likely” to be replaced by generative AI.
Is AI a double-edged sword for lawyers?
The legal industry is not traditionally recognized as one that is quick to embrace change, but recently, some professionals have been embracing emerging technology maybe a little too quickly, leading to all kinds of problems. The use of generative AI tools has exploded in popularity since OpenAI’s ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, and some lawyers have turned to this generative AI (GenAI) technology to help them with everything from legal research to contract drafting.
However, these GenAI models aren’t foolproof. In fact, they’re likely to “hallucinate” information that seems accurate but is actually entirely made up. If lawyers using this tech don’t take the time to double-check their outputs, they run the risk of working with factually incorrect information, which is embarrassing at best and grounds for legal repercussions at worst.
The coming of 6G poses new IoT security vulnerabilities
A growing challenge for 6G wireless development involves the potential for unexpected cybersecurity vulnerabilities. This is especially true given the growing set of Internet of Things (IoT) use cases with complexities such as connected cars, smart cities, and even satellite-based (non-terrestrial networks (NTN) IoT. The expanding security threat surface is particularly concerning due to its novelty and the lack of thorough testing by researchers.
IoT vulnerabilities themselves are nothing new. We have seen the hacking of home doorbell cameras since the advent of 4G. However, that problem has less to do with wireless standards than with homeowners making poor decisions about how to manage device passwords.
Navigating the future: Cloud migration journeys and data security
For years, businesses have been chasing innovation with cloud platforms, moving beyond the limitations of legacy technology for greater speed and agility, and sharpening their competitive edge. However, all businesses often face challenges that complicate cloud migration, driving up costs and timelines while exposing the business to data security risks. Ultimately, these challenges block businesses from experiencing the true benefits of cloud integration, and in some cases, lead to significant breaches and regulatory fines.
The speed of cloud migration is most commonly hindered by data security concerns, budget overruns, fragmented implementations, and operational friction. These challenges -- affecting the three key stakeholders within the cloud migration strategy of Data and Analytics Leaders, Security Leaders, and IT Leaders -- often cause projects to run well beyond their planned timelines and budgets. In many cases, these migrations fail to deliver value because data utilization is restricted by inadequate security, and extended timelines erode the business’s first-mover advantage.
Addressing data governance in a hybrid cloud world
As more organizations look to deploy AI and LLMs across their operations to drive a competitive edge, ensuring the data being used to power these innovations is of high enough quality is becoming business critical. To give these AI and LLM innovations the best chance of success, many organizations are turning to hybrid cloud infrastructures, making use of both on-premises and cloud to ensure they can tap into valuable data.
But hybrid cloud infrastructure comes with its own set of challenges, particularly when it comes to data governance. Inherently, a hybrid infrastructure allows data to move between environments, which can make that data vulnerable to not only security risks but also growing regulatory compliance considerations. With so many regulations surrounding data firmly in place, such as the EU’s GDPR and the US HIPAA, compliance is crucial to business operations. GDPR fines alone can reach 2 percent of global turnover. A penalty of this magnitude would have a huge impact on the entire organization.
Developers' guide: 8 ways to fast-track AI integration
AI empowers developers to co-create the software that powers our world with greater efficiency and improved security. That’s why businesses are already making significant investments in AI. According to GitLab’s 2024 DevSecOps report, 98 percent of UK respondents said they are currently using AI in software development or plan to use it. It’s therefore no surprise that today, many companies are shipping software at least twice as fast as last year.
Here are eight ways developers can tap into AI’s potential:
Sleek, chic, but unsustainable: Why OEMs must rethink laptop design for a greener future
The evolution of computers from the bulky, desktop-bound machines of the 1970s to the ultra-portable laptops of today is nothing short of remarkable. Over the past few decades, consumer demand has driven Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to create lightweight devices that pack serious processing power and are thin enough to slide easily inside a rucksack.
Today's laptops, some coming in at under a kilogram, are a completely different animal to the first portable computers, like the Osborne 1, which weighed more than ten times as much. As our devices become sleeker and easier on the eye, however, aesthetic choices run the risk of glossing over sustainability goals.
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