Articles about Information Technology

In cybersecurity, the divide between IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) remains a problem that practitioners, vendors, and consultants must navigate daily. The differences between these two mindsets -- one rooted in the world of delivering data and maintaining software, the other firmly planted in the realm of continuous uptime of industrial systems -- can lead to conflicting priorities and misunderstandings. Even as the industry strives to align these domains, this divergence is still evident, as I was reminded just this week.

During my usual morning LinkedIn browsing, I stumbled upon a post featuring the “Top 50 People in ICS/OT Cyber Security You Need to Follow”. At first glance, I panicked. My immediate assumption was that the list featured individuals responsible for securing operational environments -- the unsung heroes safeguarding critical infrastructure around the globe.

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Personnel working in IT or DevOps are more likely to click on phishing emails than those in other areas of an organization.

A new study by F-Secure looks at how over 80,000 people from different organizations responded to emails that simulated one of four commonly used phishing tactics.

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As pressure grows on governments worldwide to take decisive legislative action to protect vital networks, data and infrastructure, there is a growing acceptance that despite its vital role, regulation alone cannot address the challenges posed by nation-state and criminal cyberattacks.

The pressure to act has been growing. Among the devastating attacks mounted on public sector IT infrastructure in countries around the world, the now infamous SolarWinds incident arguably did more than any other to push politicians into action. While both the US and UK governments blamed Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (the SVR) for the supply chain attack, the Russian government refuted the claims in an exchange of rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War.

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In watching the most recent high profile, and very costly breaches, I’ve begun to ask the question "Why have we failed and what do we need to do?" We’ve failed. As I enter the twilight of my career in our industry, we haven’t gotten better -- breaches are more expensive, they’re more difficult to remediate, the economic destruction is real, and people get hurt or die as a result of cybersecurity breaches. Why? Where did we go wrong, and what do we need to do to fix it?

The first question I asked myself is, "What do we do well?" We’re an industry of incredibly talented people. Over the years, we’ve learned to collaborate and share information (which, we didn’t start off doing), and we have no shortage of tools. Our tool chest is loaded to the gills with capability. We also have boards and executives who are more cyber savvy than ever before. When I started in our industry over two decades ago, I couldn’t explain to a board what cybersecurity was with a PowerPoint presentation. Now, they’re all concerned about the issue and paying attention.

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In May, the United States hit a 14.7 percent unemployment rate and more than 20 million jobs lost since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the highest level of job loss to hit the U.S. since the Great Depression. While things have improved since then, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent for September 2020, the economy remains in an uncertain position.

While many industries have been hit hard by the COVID crisis, from airlines to restaurants to live music venues, the pandemic and its economic reverberations have touched every business in some way. A litmus test is the tech sector. What was once a booming part of the American economy is now struggling with the same challenges as every other industry.

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As of last year, there were 12.1 million tech workers in the United States, according to TechRepublic. Throughout the 2010s, the tech sector workforce expanded by 23 percent with no significant dips or net job losses beyond the Great Recession early in the decade. While these numbers have declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic -- the tech sector lost a record 112,000 jobs in April -- the tech industry is still growing and will likely continue to grow as the economy reboots and the world moves toward a new normal.

Here are three of the biggest challenges and opportunities that tech professionals will encounter in the coming months and years:

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Yesterday, I predicted the demise of conventional IT caused by the wide adoption of SD-WAN and SASE, accelerated by the emergency demands of everyone working from home. Now that Congress has passed a $2.2 trillion COVID-19 bail-out, let’s throw-in the implications of that legislation to see what effect it is all likely to have on what used to be IT. The short version is to expect an even bigger bloodbath as IT employees at all levels are let go forever. Please understand that some version of this bloodbath was going to happen anyway. What matters right now is how we respond to it.

While my previous column was generally about turning lower-level IT nerds into Uber drivers, this one goes a little further up the food chain to include IT contractors and consultants. Yes, I’ll be using IBM as an example, not because Big Blue is anything like a bellwether anymore, but because I just know it so well.

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IT -- Information Technology -- grew out of something we called MIS -- Management Information Systems -- but both meant a kid in a white shirt who brought you a new keyboard when yours broke. Well, the kid is now gone, sent home with everyone else, and that kid isn’t coming back… ever. IT is near death, fading by the day. But don’t blame COVID-19 because the death of IT was inevitable. This novel coronavirus just made it happen a little quicker.

I mentioned the switch from MIS to IT because that name change presaged the events I am describing here. Management Information Systems was an artifact of big business, where corporate life was managed rather than lived. Information Technology happened when MIS escaped into the wild. MIS meant office buildings and Local Area Networks while IT includes home workers in their pajamas which, frankly, describes me at this precise moment.

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By the numbers, the IT skills gap seems easy to understand. According to Gartner, two-thirds of organizations aren’t addressing the IT skills gap how they should be. It is estimated that by 2019, IT tech specialists will fall by more than 5 percent, and by 2021, 40 percent of IT employees will be more involved with a business role than purely IT. These are major numbers.

But it’s not just about a lack of people. Companies and individual employees alike are being constantly bombarded by the ever-increasing pace of technological development, making the task of playing catch-up a constant challenge for IT professionals at any level. In a 2017 survey by CompTIA, there was near consensus among respondents about the IT skills gap, with two top concerns: 1) Too many workers lack advanced skills, and 2) segments of workers are falling behind.

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Remote offices and decentralization, plus outsourcing, often mean it isn't feasible to have a technician always on site to solve IT problems.

This means many organizations turn to remote management and monitoring of systems and a leader in this field Kaseya is launching its second generation solution aimed at managed service providers and mid-sized companies.

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Transitioning business IT from a primarily hardware based infrastructure to a high-performing cloud environment is compelling for most enterprises. Cloud computing has the power to streamline organizational processes and offers a reliable solution for data storage, access, management, business continuity, and analysis. IT teams stand to benefit from implementing a cost effective and scalable solution that is, in principle, simpler to manage than a traditional data center comprised of disparate hardware components. There are important challenges to consider when adopting cloud, such as vendor lock-in, security management, and redefining the organization’s culture.

Microsoft Azure has been adopted by the vast majority of IT teams globally. The cloud based platform allows IT managers to build, test, deploy and oversee applications on a global network of Microsoft data centers. The scalable as-a-service solution has proved extremely popular: by the year 2020, Gartner believes that 90 percent of organizations will adopt hybrid infrastructure management and that Azure, along with its larger counterpart Amazon Web Services, will dominate this market. However, while the pace of cloud adoption shows no sign of abating, migrating to, and managing data within a cloud environment comes with a set of unique challenges around accessibility, data protection and security. So how should organizations set about putting in place an effective Azure Active Directory?

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European businesses are set for an increase in IT spending which should greatly accelerate digital transformation efforts within the next 12 months.

That's according to new research from CenturyLink, which found that over half of companies are set to boost IT spending over the next year to allow them to embrace the benefits of new technology sooner than expected.

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Many businesses across the world are struggling to deal with digital transformation in spite of the benefits it can bring, new research has claimed.

A worldwide survey by BlackBerry has found that only 37 percent of companies actually have formal digital transformation plans in place today - a little over a third, meaning many companies could be missing out on the benefits of using the latest workplace technology - what it calls the 'Enterprise of Things' (EoT).

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Cisco has just announced a new set of services that aims to predict potential troubles in a company’s IT department.

Powered by artificial intelligence, the Business Critical Services and High-value Services offerings will anticipate IT failures, mitigate risks, reduce maintenance costs and assist organizations in keeping necessary skills to keep digital transformation going.

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IT departments need to act to fix a "world of complexity" that is causing difficulties for professionals the world over, a leading expert has warned.

Speaking at the recent IP Expo event in London, Gordon Thomson, ‎Cisco Systems managing director of enterprise networks, warned that as companies grow, so does their IT infrastructure, meaning that many IT departments are facing new challenges that they may never have even considered before.

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