The end of vendor-backed open source?
Considering what’s happened over the last few years, I hope we are witnessing the end of single-vendor-backed open-source projects. Many of these companies see open source as a vehicle to drive the adoption of their software and then switch to a prohibitive license once the software starts to reach massive adoption through a cloud provider. This has happened more times in recent years than I care to count. There are only a few companies that can reliably provide open-source software without hurting their own bottom line. These are the software giants like AWS, Google, and Microsoft. They can comfortably contribute to open-source software and collaborate with companies who specialize in some of the more niche use cases. They may not have been able to cover these niches on their own, but with the help of the community they can. And at the end of the day, even the smaller companies who provide managed offerings need somewhere to host them, right? I see a bright future for Valkey, the open-source fork of Redis. It’s starting off right in the Linux Foundation, where companies contribute freely without fear of a single company dictating the direction of a project.
The Rise of Augmented Analytics: Combining AI with BI for Enhanced Data Insights
Traditionally, data analysis has been the domain of highly skilled data scientists and BI experts. Augmented analytics changes this dynamic by empowering non-technical users to participate actively in the insight-generation process. Augmented analytics automates complex tasks and presents information in a user-friendly format so that employees across departments can easily access, explore, and derive insights from their organization’s data. This will both streamline and simplify business processes – no more worrying about how many business accounts you should have, whether or not your financing option offers optimal interest rates, or if adopting new standards of technologies is worth it in the long run. The relevant teams can easily use data to find the right information without waiting for an expert to analyze it. ... One of the most significant challenges faced by businesses is the shortage of data science expertise. Augmented analytics helps alleviate this bottleneck by reducing the reliance on specialized data professionals.
The 4 Types Of Generative AI Transforming Our World
Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) emerged in 2014 and quickly became one
of the most effective models for generating synthetic content, both text and
images. The basic principle involves pitting two different algorithms against
each other. One is known as the ‘generator,’ and the other is known as the
‘discriminator,’ and both are given the task of getting better and better at
out-foxing each other. ... Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) are the newest
technology covered here, only emerging onto the scene in 2020. Unlike the
other generative technologies, they are specifically used to create
representations of 3D objects using deep learning. This means creating an
aspect of an image that can't be seen by the ‘camera’ ... One of the latest
advancements in the field of generative AI is the development of hybrid
models, which combine various techniques to create innovative content
generation systems. These models draw on the strengths of different
approaches, such as blending the adversarial training of Generative
Adversarial Networks (GANs) with the iterative denoising of diffusion models
to produce more refined and realistic outputs.
Closing the cybersecurity skills gap with upskilling programs
The power of upskilling is undeniable but putting it into practice with
employees is the real challenge. The top reason organizations struggle to
implement successful upskilling programs has not changed in the last three
years of this study: lack of time. Despite clear barriers, organizations can
unlock upskilling engagement with a culture of continuous learning. The first
step is to identify existing skills in order to see the gaps. Leaders need to
stay engaged in this process: only 33% of executives completely understand the
skills their IT teams need and 68% of technologists say leadership at their
organization is not aware of a tech skills gap. When it comes to discovering
what drives employees to upskill, a new #1 motivation to participate emerged
this year: stronger job security and improved confidence. This is yet another
proof point in upskilling contributing to higher employee engagement that can
drive performance and innovation. With 78% of organizations abandoning
projects partway through because of not having enough employees with the right
tech skills, there is no time to waste in closing the gap.
Are Enterprises Overconfident About Cybersecurity Readiness?
Comparing statistics for global companies and their overall state of
readiness, between the years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, shows certain surprising
changes. The number of Mature companies dropped to 3% this year from 15% in
the previous year. The number of Progressive companies dropped by 4% this
year; however, the number of Formative companies increased by 13%. In
addition, more Beginners were included in the index this year. Raymond Janse
van Rensburg, VP, specialists and solutions engineering, APJC, Cisco, said
this should not be considered as a static comparison, as the benchmark was
done with “a lot more capabilities” this year. "Digitization continues to
accelerate around us. We see that there is pressure on organizations to
transform. But with that, the attack surface is changing, and there is a lot
of technology advancement that is taking place as well," said van Rensburg.
"We need to keep pace with change, with the transformation of the
organizations, and also to keep pace with change for cybersecurity and the
capabilities we bring in across the industry to provide the necessary
protections."
Risk orchestration: Addressing the Misconceptions – Hub Platform vs True Orchestration Performance
A true risk orchestration platform synchronises workflows and data
and enables customisable journeys. Waterfalling reduces friction and saves
costs, ensuring appropriate checks are only applied as necessary. Genuine
customers are fast-tracked, while others are routed for additional due
diligence. The technology unites complex systems and processes to create a
single view of customer risk, a unified risk score and automated decision
making. ... In true risk orchestration, all of these processes are seamlessly
synchronised to deliver a single view of customer risk. Informed decision
making is made simpler, smoother, more accurate and efficient. The impact of
this is felt not only in customer satisfaction, which can be vastly enhanced
by the speed at which individuals are authenticated and served, but in the
overall effectiveness of compliance processes too, in terms of how much time
and resource is spent. To that end, there’s a genuine bottom-line benefit to
be realised through effective risk orchestration of your compliance
processes.
If Software Quality Is Everybody’s Responsibility, So Is Failure
Quality failures tend to stem from broader organizational and leadership
failures. Scapegoating testers for systemic issues is counterproductive. It
obscures the real problems and stands in the way of meaningful solutions to
quality failings. ... To build ownership, organizations need to shift testing
upstream, integrating it earlier into requirements planning, design reviews,
and development processes. It also requires modernizing the testing practice
itself, utilizing the full range of innovation available: from test
automation, shift-left testing, and service virtualization, to risk-based test
case generation, modeling, and generative AI. With a shared understanding of
who owns quality, governance policies can better balance competing demands
around cost, schedule, capabilities, and release readiness. Testing insights
will inform smarter tradeoffs, avoiding quality failures and the
finger-pointing that today follows them. This future state reduces the
likelihood of failures — but also acknowledges that some failures will still
occur despite best efforts. In these cases, organizations must have a
governance model to transparently identify root causes across teams, learn
from them, and prevent recurrence.
Navigating personal liability: post data-breach recommendations for CISOs
The single most important guidance that you should follow is to involve
counsel promptly and frequently. Upon your first knowledge of a claimed data
breach, you should promptly determine who your organization’s legal counsel is
for such matters and contact those lawyers. ... It can be tempting for CSOs
and CISOs to take the reins in data breach incidents, given their technical
expertise or sense of personal responsibilities. However, this can lead to
unintended legal complications. In the aftermath of a data breach, it’s
critical to let your organization’s legal counsel guide decision-making
processes. They can ensure that the response to the data breach complies with
applicable laws and that both communication and remediation efforts are
handled appropriately to minimize potential liability. ... Although it’s rare
to face personal liability or criminal charges, there can be situations where
it could be a real or feared risk. Independent legal advice can provide
guidance tailored to your specific situation, to identify where your interests
may be different from those of your organization, to allay your concerns, all
of which can be protected under attorney-client privilege.
Change Healthcare Admits to Making Ransom Payment to Protect Patient Data, Discloses That Hacker Broke in Days Before Attack
Even though a ransom payment was made, the attack was nevertheless devastating
to the processing of health insurance claims and payment information across
the country. The UnitedHealth Group update indicates that 99% of pharmacies
are now back to normal ability to process claims, and that its internal
payment processing capacity is back to 86% of normal. 80% of the function of
its major platforms and products has also been restored and the group expects
a full recovery in a matter of weeks. It also says that medical claims are
back to near-normal processing levels, but that it is working directly with
some smaller providers that remain hampered by the attack fallout and is
seeking to set up alternate methods of submission for them. The ransom payment
had been widely reported prior to the company’s admission, due to an otherwise
inexplicable Bitcoin transaction (equaling about $22 million) traced to a
wallet known to be associated with AlphV. The RaaS provider also opted to pull
what appeared to be an “exit scam” after this payment rolled in, leading to
the bag-holding affiliate taking to dark web forums to accuse the group of
theft.
Top 10 barriers to strategic IT success
The State of the CIO Study found that staff and skills shortages was the No. 1
challenge cited by CIOs when asked what most often forces them to redirect
resources away from strategic tasks, with 59% saying as much. “Talent — or the
lack of it — is a huge, huge issue, and when we look at the demographics, we
don’t see that changing in the future,” says Chirajeet (CJ) Sengupta, managing
partner at Everest Group, a global research firm. Sengupta acknowledges that
layoffs at the tech giants in the past year or so eased the talent crunch a
bit — but only for other big companies who could offer highly-competitive
salaries to those laid-off workers. And while CIOs are working to train
internal candidates within IT and the business units for tough-to-fill tech
jobs or are using contractors to fill in staffing gaps, Sengupta says those
practices create talent challenges, too. Upskilling takes time, and contracted
workers aren’t usually as close to the business as employees. Now there’s news
that the competition for tech workers may heat up even more this year.
Quote for the day:
"'To do great things is difficult; but
to command great things is more difficult.'' --
Friedrich Nietzsche
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