As organizations and businesses increasingly rely on the Internet to conduct standard business operations and generate revenue, DDoS attacks (Distributed Denial of Service) are the obvious choice for malicious actors to disrupt the status quo, make a statement, and/or cause serious financial consequences for their targets. Each year, it has become easier to hire third parties...
Digital disruption makes businesses more competitive for many reasons, some of which include a reduction in the need for physical assets and materials and increased efficiency and agility. For example, Nest eliminated the need to have both an HVAC and security monitoring system, smart phones took the place of calculators, alarm clocks and cameras. These innovations disrupt...
As some of you may already know, elections aren’t the only thing Russian hackers are meddling in. They’ve infiltrated our energy and manufacturing sectors as well. This year, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security announced Russian government actors have hacked into energy, nuclear, water and critical manufacturing sectors. In July, they announced Russian hackers had...
You may think your home’s smart devices only send data about temperatures or your exercise activities, so why does it really matter who sees it? Data in aggregate can reveal more than you think about yourself and your family, but even if privacy doesn’t matter to you, lack of data protection isn’t the only risk. Hackers can easily manipulate unsecured IoT-connected devices,...
Web application firewalls or WAFs can protect your website and web applications from a variety of attacks and intrusions that your network firewall can’t. Depending on the WAF your security team chooses, it can protect against XSS attacks, SQL injection, session hijacking and buffer overflows. If your website or application processes payments, it’s especially important to...
For some companies, change management involves throwing things at a wall until something sticks. Needless to say, this is not the ideal system for implementing new technologies. As companies undergo digital transformations to remain competitive and to survive, mastering change management is essential. Because companies only reap the rewards of change after it has been...
It appears we are reaching the zenith of the 2018 hurricane season. The most stressful part of an impending natural disaster is uncertainty, followed by lack of preparation. By preparing for an emergency like a flood or hurricane both in your professional and personal life, you can reduce the impact of a stressful situation on yourself and your family. September...
Compliance is confusing and mind-numbingly boring for most people. Before you can even finish explaining what SSAE stands for (Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements) eyes are glazing over. Unfortunately, data center compliance standards aren’t merely sleeping aids, and not following them is enough to break a company from fines and reputation damage. Data center...
When we think about what AI is today and what it will offer in just five years, the difference is drastic. Today we have algorithms that recognize images and interactive voice applications. In five years, digital personal assistants will likely be the norm, digital research assistants will scan documents and compile relevant data, medical assistants will help diagnose and...
Does your company have multiple cloud environments with no communication between them? This is a typical scenario for many businesses on the journey to implementing a hybrid cloud architecture, resulting in a lack of visibility across infrastructure. The only way to cohesively manage these environments is with a cloud management platform. Gartner defines a cloud management...
As of this year, over 80% of North American and European companies have multi-cloud infrastructures. Despite rapid cloud adoption, few companies have achieved a truly functional hybrid cloud architecture. According to a March 2018 hybrid cloud report from 451 Research and NTT Communications, around 63% of firms have a formal strategy for hybrid infrastructure. In...
“We build our computer systems the way we build our cities: over time, without a plan, on top of ruins.” – Ellen Ullman If this sounds like your data center, it’s time for a change. That bird’s nest of cables costs you a little bit more every day in energy and productivity. Here’s why: Air Damming & Higher Temperatures Air damming occurs when haphazardly installed...
Ensuring you have a backup and recovery plan in place before the season’s hurricanes hit is essential for companies worried about business continuity. The last thing you want is to permanently lose data, or to experience several hours or days of downtime due to a power outage. If you don’t already have a backup system in place, there’s no time like the present to get started....
As many cybersecurity professionals are aware, the Internet of Things (IoT) is proliferating without any established legal framework or regulatory guidelines. According to a Forbes article, the IoT market is expected to reach $457 billion by 2020, up from $157 billion in 2016. The interconnectivity of network-enabled devices makes the IoT a can of worms when it...
Whether erasing or destroying data to meet compliance, recycle resources or to decommission old equipment, many companies choose to outsource asset disposal to third parties to minimize cost. Choosing an IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) service can be difficult. Making the wrong decision could mean facing a costly data breach incident and fines for not meeting regulatory...