Articles about Cloud

It’s been decades since the term "the customer is always right" placed customer experience (CX) at the heart of every transaction, but delivering excellence in CX hasn’t become much simpler with the passage of time.

Customers effectively expect businesses to read their minds, and they don’t have much patience for those that fail. A recent PWC survey concluded that one-third of consumers would abandon a brand they love after just one negative experience, showing just how high the bar is set for CX.

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The expansion of cloud use and remote working have made protecting business systems much more complicated, with simple perimeter controls no longer enough.

ExtraHop is launching updates to its Reveal(x) 360 cyber defense platform that provide deep forensic insight into hybrid cloud networks to allow for advanced threat response.

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Whilst threats to data are often seen as being down to external actors, it's often the case that leaks, both intentional and otherwise, can come from insiders.

Unintentional or accidental leaks remain a major problem, and one that’s been made worse thanks to more home working. We spoke to Rajan Koo, SVP, engineering and cyber intelligence at DTEX Systems to learn more about this type of threat and how businesses can address it.

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Cloud-native applications are rapidly being deployed in full production. To manage cloud-native data, organizations are turning to Kubernetes-friendly storage platforms.

However, with these apps supporting real-world use cases, organizations need to plan beyond general data storage by deploying cloud-native backup and recovery software to protect these key applications and their data.

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Migrating to the cloud offers many benefits for an organization, including  increased efficiency, security and stability for many technology functions. But once an organization has made the move to the cloud, it’s critical to keep a close eye on ongoing costs. According to a recent Pulse/InterVision study, 92 percent of technology leaders and executives say their organizations expect technology teams to operate with a cloud-first approach, but 45 percent were either unsure about or not meeting their cost objectives in the cloud.

Skepticism towards the cloud will only continue to increase if costs cannot be controlled. To avoid this unfortunate trend, businesses should have certain tools in their arsenals like AWS and a trusted strategic service provider.

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A new survey for cloud computing company Linode, carried out by ClearPath Strategies, looks at how much developers trust their third-party cloud providers.

Based on responses from 800 developers at small and mid-sized businesses, it finds that while developers generally say they trust their provider of choice in general, deeper examination uncovers some issues when it comes to major cloud providers.

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Cloud computing is no longer just a clever new toy in the world of IT infrastructure. Despite the nebulous name, it’s become a real and important part of our information architecture -- and tech professionals who ignore it or try to skim their way through risk falling behind rapidly. The new edition of Cloud Computing For Dummies gets you up to speed fast, clarifying your Cloud options, showing you where can save you time and money, giving you ways to frame your decisions, and helping you avoid weeks of research.

In a friendly, easy-to-follow style, Cloud Computing For Dummies, 2nd Edition demystifies the Cloud’s virtual landscape, breaking up a complex and multi-layered topic into simple explanations that will make the various benefits clear and ultimately guide you toward making the most appropriate choices for your organization. 

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A new study from threat detection and response specialist Vectra AI finds that all respondents have experienced at least one security incident in their public cloud environment in the last 12 months.

The study of over 300 IT executives, with 70 percent coming from enterprises with more than 1,000 employees, shows a rapid expansion and reliance on AWS services while simultaneously pointing up security blind spots within many organizations.

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Freespire is a Linux distro with an interesting history. It draws heavily on Linspire, the distro that started life as Lindows until Microsoft took exception to the name, unsuccessfully tried to sue, and then came to a licensing arrangement and acquired the moniker for itself.

Nearly two decades later, Linspire is still going strong and the development team behind it --PC/OpenSystems LLC Open Source Development team -- has announced a move in "an entirely new direction". This sounds like a bold statement. In practice this will involve "incorporating a cloud app approach" and coincides with the launch of Freespire 7.7.

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A new analysis of platforms including AWS, Google and Salesforce, involving 200,000 identities and hundreds of millions of cloud assets reveals that 43 percent of all cloud identities sit abandoned and unused.

The report from Varonis points out that this also means they are exposed and vulnerable, making an organization a target for account takeovers.

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According to a new study 31 percent of companies have moved workloads to the cloud within the last six months compared to only 18 percent six months ago.

Based on a survey of almost 1,000 IT decision makers, the report from cloud migration specialist Next Pathway shows 36 percent are migrating to the cloud to prevent customers from leaving for more personalized solutions offered by competitors that are using the cloud to enable a superior digital experience.

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Google has a spam problem -- and we're not talking about Gmail, but Google Drive. Having discovered that the file sharing functionality of the cloud storage platform could be used to harass people, spammers have been doing exactly that.

Having announced plans to do something about the problem back in May, Google has finally started the process of roiling out anti-spam measures, giving users the ability to block spammers. While many Google Drive users will be pleased at the introduction of new controls, is it enough?

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A new survey of 300 cloud professionals finds that 36 percent of organizations have suffered a serious cloud security data leak or a breach in the past 12 months.

The study conducted by security and compliance automation firm Fugue and developer tools company Sonatype finds eight out of ten are worried that they're vulnerable to a major data breach related to cloud misconfiguration.

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There are lots of good reasons for moving industrial control systems to the cloud including better telemetry and analysis of device performance, management of logic and remote device configuration, improved diagnostics and troubleshooting, a centralized view of processes.

But as more operational technology and lCS make the move, they become increasingly vulnerable to threats. ICS security specialist Claroty has unveiled its new Team82 research arm along with a report on critical vulnerabilities found in cloud-based management platforms for ICS.

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COVID-19 has not only accelerated the move to cloud and the digital transformation journey, but it has also put cost reduction initiatives squarely in the limelight. Reducing costs has always been a top priority for IT departments but the pandemic has accelerated its importance over the past 12 months. In fact, according to Deloitte cost reduction initiatives have increased 74 percent since pre-COVID, with 40 percent of organizations planning to grow their cost reduction strategies in the next 12 months. However, undertaking a large-scale digital transformation with either a flat or declining budget is no mean feat. 

To achieve this, organizations often look to the cloud, and it has become a common assumption that migration to the cloud translates to reduced costs. The reality though can be a very different story. In fact, without the right cloud provider, the true costs of cloud computing can add up fast. So how do organizations choose the best cloud provider for their business, and are hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure good investments?

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