Five steps towards cloud migration for a remote workforce
Reducing costs is one of the key reasons many businesses move to the cloud,
with a Microsoft survey identifying this as a top benefit of cloud migration.
However, the cost of the migration project itself also needs to be taken into
consideration. Some businesses will undertake this exercise in-house if they
have an IT team that is big and experienced enough to take on the project or to
keep costs low. But if your internal IT support team is small or you already
take out managed IT services, we recommend utilising a third-party provider. A
business with expertise in cloud consultancy will manage the entire process for
you and ensure that your migration goes as smoothly as possible. Their extensive
experience in deploying cloud solutions and cloud migrations means you’ll
experience a smoother journey to cloud computing. While carrying out this
project in-house may seem more cost-effective on the face of it, cloud experts
will help you to reduce costs by considering every possibility and mitigating
any potential risks. Moving workloads to the cloud is an essential step for
businesses that are looking to reduce IT operating costs, increase security, and
improve efficiency and productivity.
Cloud Security Basics CIOs and CTOs Should Know
Cloud environments have proven not to be inherently secure (as originally
assumed). For the past several years, there have been active debates about
whether cloud is more or less secure than a data center, particularly as
companies move further into the cloud. Highly regulated companies tend to
control their most sensitive data and assets from within their data centers and
have moved less-critical data and workloads to cloud. On the flip side Amazon,
Google, and Microsoft spend considerably more on security than the average
enterprise, and for that reason, some believe cloud environments more secure
than on-premises data centers. "AWS, Microsoft, and Google are creators of
infrastructure and application deployment platforms. They're not security
companies," said Richard Bird, chief customer information officer at multi-cloud
identify solution provider Ping Identity. "The Verizon Database Incident Report
says about 30% of all breaches are facilitated by human error. That same 30%
applies to AWS, Microsoft, and Google. [Cloud] cost reductions don't come with a
corresponding decrease in risk."
How To Defend Yourself Against The Powerful New NSO Spyware Attacks
Unlike infection attempts which require that the target perform some action like
clicking a link or opening an attachment, zero-click exploits are so called
because they require no interaction from the target. All that is required is for
the targeted person to have a particular vulnerable app or operating system
installed. Amnesty International’s forensic report on the recently revealed
Pegasus evidence states that some infections were transmitted through zero-click
attacks leveraging the Apple Music and iMessage apps. This is not the first time
NSO Group’s tools have been linked to zero-click attacks. A 2017 complaint
against Panama’s former President Ricardo Martinelli states that journalists,
political figures, union activists, and civic association leaders were targeted
with Pegasus and rogue push notifications delivered to their devices, while in
2019 WhatsApp and Facebook filed a complaint claiming NSO Group developed
malware capable of exploiting a zero-click vulnerability in WhatsApp. As
zero-click vulnerabilities by definition do not require any user interaction,
they are the hardest to defend against.
Distributed DevOps Teams: Enabling Non-Stop Delivery
An important element of most DevOps teams is cultural integration; learning
about and from each other, establishing the psychological safety within the team
to fail in front of your peers, the proverbial finishing of each other’s
sentences… it’s simply harder to establish this level of cultural cohesiveness
when you are working in distributed teams. Leaders are also challenged; how do
they recognize when a team member needs help, needs to be prompted, or requires
clearer direction without the body language cues or without any interaction at
all, if they are in completely different time zones? As a leader, recognizing
when to intervene, when to support, and when to engage is challenging when the
team is delivering outside of view. Trust becomes crucial between all team
members. This particular organization is currently considering "time zone
rotation" so that team members can establish working relationships and trust
outside of their own normal working time group.
Building A Secure Cloud Infrastructure For Strong Data Protection
Sometimes the terms “security” and “privacy” are used interchangeably, but it is
vital to understand the nuances between the two when building a secure cloud
infrastructure. Data privacy is associated with ensuring that personally
identifiable information (PII) stored in the cloud is hidden. Privacy
regulations, such as the EU’s GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act
(CCPA), dictate what data is considered private and that the data remains
pseudonymized at all times. Data security, on the other hand, pertains to
specific protections that have to be built into the infrastructure to prevent
data from being stolen. Building a secure cloud infrastructure is predicated
upon understanding the right mix of privacy and security measures, which can
vary based on an organization’s industry and the specific regulations to which
it must adhere. Many organizations aren’t clear on how to protect data in the
cloud. The natural assumption is that the cloud provider will handle security,
but that is not the case. When migrating to the cloud, most providers lay out a
shared responsibility model for protection, meaning the provider is responsible
for specific security areas and the company is responsible for others.
7 Best Soft Skills That Make a Great Software Developer
Everyone can talk, but not everyone can communicate. Being a software developer
means understanding a whole new language: the language of code, with all the
acronyms and technical terms that come with it. These terms may seem simple to
you, but will all your colleagues understand them Work on your communication
skills by considering carefully the language you use and tailoring it to your
audience. Could you explain agile software testing to a computing novice, for
example? By honing your communication soft skills you can reach out to more
people. These first two soft skills go hand in hand: to be a great communicator,
you also have to be a great listener. Remember that everyone you work with and
speak to deserves to be listened to, and they may have information that will
make your job easier. Put distractions to one side, and concentrate completely
on the person who’s talking to you. Keep an eye out for non-verbal communication
signs too, as they can often reveal as much as what a person is saying.
McAfee: Babuk ransomware decryptor causes encryption 'beyond repair'
"It seems that Babuk has adopted live beta testing on its victims when it comes
to its Golang binary and decryptor development. We have seen several victims'
machines encrypted beyond repair due to either a faulty binary or a faulty
decryptor," Seret and Keijzer said. "Even if a victim gave in to the demands and
was forced to pay the ransom, they still could not get their files back. We
strongly hope that the bad coding also affects Babuk's relationship with its
affiliates. The affiliates perform the actual compromise and are now faced with
a victim who cannot get their data back even if they pay. This essentially
changes the crime dynamic from extortion to destruction, which is much less
profitable from a criminal's point of view." The typical Babuk attack features
three distinct phases: initial access, network propagation, and action on
objectives. Babuk also operated a ransomware-as-a-service model before shutting
down in April. Northwave investigated a Babuk attack that was perpetrated
through the CVE-2021-27065 vulnerability also being exploited by the HAFNIUM
threat actor.
Cisco preps now for the hybrid workforce
The lasting impact of remote work is resulting in a reassessment of the IT
infrastructure that shifts buyer requirements to demand work-anywhere
capabilities, said Ranjit Atwal, senior research director at Gartner. “Through
2024, organizations will be forced to bring forward digital business
transformation plans by at least five years,” Atwal said. “Those plans will have
to adapt to a post-COVID-19 world that involves permanently higher adoption of
remote work and digital touchpoints,” Digital products and services will play a
big role in these digital transformation efforts, Atwal stated. “This longer
strategic plan requires continued investment in strategic remote-first
technology continuity implementations along with new technologies such as
hyperautomation, AI and collaboration technologies to open up more flexibility
of location choice in job roles,” Atwal stated. The hybrid workforce will need
every technology from SD-WAN and SASE to a full stack collaboration suite--in
Cisco's case WebEx--and best-in-class security and Wi-Fi and failover options,
Nightingale said.
Silver linings: 7 ways CIOs say IT has changed for good
A positive change was the unbridled collaboration and coming together – without
traditional borders or silos – to solve the exceptional challenges the pandemic
threw at us. COVID-19 triggered physical social distancing while at the same
time it bolstered digital connectedness and accelerated a culture shift to a
more flexible work model. There was a pervasive focus on the wellbeing of each
individual, and an intentional effort to hear from each person, which further
diversifies input and insights to solve problems. The Sappi team came together
in this manner and continues to carry forward those positive elements of
inclusive and optimistic collaboration to navigate each effort with confidence
that we will have a thriving future ahead. ... From the start of the pandemic,
we leveraged these competencies and our fortitude to successfully solve business
challenges and meet our goals and objectives. The demand for digital experiences
and customers’ expectations for seamless digital offerings continues to
increase, and MassMutual’s digital and technology advancements and digital-first
mindset allow us to offer more modern tools at lower costs and provide an
overall better customer experience.
What should IT leaders look for in an SD-WAN solution?
Delivering high performance, affordable SD-WAN solutions is not something
everyone can do. For that reason, when an IT leader complains of connectivity
speeds, the easier option is for providers to simply recommend more bandwidth.
And, with the cost of circuits falling, it’s hard to push back on this apparent
resolution. However, for many businesses, traditional networks will no longer be
fit for purpose. We’re not all in the same network anymore, so it’s not a case
of routing all the traffic into one place, through a huge firewall, and back
out. The SD-WAN alternative sounds complex, and it really is – we’re talking an
intelligent, responsive, end-to-end encrypted network with AI at its heart,
after all. However, from the IT leader’s perspective, it is deployed with zero
touch provisioning, no hardware installations, and self-configuration for
ultimate ease. IT teams are here to deliver IT services, after all. They don’t
want to be held back by infrastructure constraints. It’s about time that tech
enabled them to do their jobs.
Quote for the day:
"Nothing is so potent as the silent
influence of a good example." -- James Kent
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