Tag Archive for: cloud computing

As cloud computing continues to reshape the business world, the need to ensure the security of this complex new environment is more important than ever. This comes with its own significant challenges. Increased cloud adoption is bringing increased exposure to cyber threats, leaving businesses vulnerable to ever-evolving forms of attack.

With cyber threats showing no sign of slowing down, organizations cannot afford any gaps in their cloud infrastructure. Fortunately, there are concrete actions every company can take to strengthen their security stance. To find out more, Scott Nicholson, Co-CEO of Bridewell, shared his thoughts.

Why is cloud cybersecurity so crucial?

Traditional cybersecurity was built around on-premises infrastructure to manage on-premises threats. But the landscape looks very different today. The rise of cloud computing has made the digital world more interconnected and accessible than ever before, as data and applications have moved outside the traditional perimeter. This change has rendered most legacy network security controls obsolete, so it is essential that cybersecurity methods evolve to keep pace with accelerated cloud adoption.

At the same time, these increasingly complex IT and networking infrastructures are bringing new opportunities for cyber criminals, due to the expanded attack surface. We need only look at recent news headlines to recognize the threats. The Russian-backed hackers behind the Sunburst cyber attack managed to exploit cloud vulnerabilities to pilfer emails and files from over 100 companies around the world. We are also seeing cloud-based systems, services and data being targeted by ransomcloud – attacks that take advantage of weaknesses or legitimate functionality in cloud resources to deploy malware, encrypt data, and extort money from businesses.

To manage such a complex web of risks, companies need to review their own cloud security posture today and put in place measures to boost visibility, cyber maturity and resilience.

How can companies tackle the problem of skills gaps when it comes to cloud security?

There’s no denying that the skills gap is a growing challenge. Unfortunately, a lot of organizations started their cloud transformation journey on the back foot, implementing remote access tech without the skills needed to secure and manage cloud environments on an ongoing basis. This has led to a skills, transformation, and burnout cycle: IT teams are being asked to do more with less people to support transformation, heightening the risks of human error, data breaches, and the cycle getting underway again.

But there are ways that companies can break through the cloud security skills gap. Education is key to mitigating threats in the cloud, so all IT, security, and end users need to be fully informed and trained on a range of basic cyber hygiene practices and how these translate into cloud environments, covering areas such as controls testing, configuration hardening, network segmentation and incident response capabilities in the cloud.

Also, organizations shouldn’t be afraid to expand their talent pool by recruiting people from other backgrounds. Too many organizations focus purely on cyber talent and could be missing out on many great candidates with transferable skills. Here at Bridewell, we have taken on a lot of IT engineers and trained them up to be penetration testers and these are now some of our best people.

Companies also have the option to partner with a trusted managed security services provider with expertise in cloud security solutions. Outsourcing addresses the cyber security skills gap by providing ongoing expertise and support, which is very difficult to achieve in-house.

What challenges are preventing organizations from gaining the visibility needed to detect and respond to threats in the cloud?

There are a number of reasons why organizations may struggle to gain a detailed view of all activity in the cloud. In today’s diverse digital landscape, it’s common to see the convergence of traditional enterprise IT infrastructure with public cloud in a hybrid deployment. Businesses are also now integrating their operations with multiple cloud providers, which adds an extra layer of complexity. This means that some traditional security operations centers (SOCs) are having to juggle around 40 different tools to cover the cloud and every other possible vulnerability, each of which needs to be configured, supported, and monitored 24/7. This is a huge ask, and resources will be stretched further as OT and IT continues to converge.

Organizations can improve their cloud visibility today by having a multi-cloud security strategy and aiming to move towards having a full Extended Detection & Response (XDR) capability to help detect and respond to security threats in a more holistic and efficient manner.

How can companies better balance operational uptime and security requirements?

Of course, every organization wants to have effective security in place but without hindering and negatively impacting business operations. This is absolutely critical for some Operational Technology (OT), where it is performing critical functions that have a health and safety consequence.

Context in these scenarios is king. Understanding what risks are faced, the threat actors and the various methods in which a cyber attack could occur will enable informed decisions to be made regarding the application of cyber security controls and risk mitigation activity. Threat modelling is a very good methodology to structure and deliver this type of approach, which should include security professionals, engineering teams and any other key stakeholders.

There are also security technologies that provide non-intrusive network based detection capabilities to aide visibility, which is a great starting point for security improvements. Having a development environment or being able to replicate segments of an environment to test the application of security controls, will all aide understanding and decision making.

What does a proactive cyber security posture look like, and how can organizations achieve it?

Organizations with a proactive cyber security posture take the initiative to drive long-lasting security improvements from within, rather than waiting for the next big breach to happen. This involves moving away from traditional reactive security techniques – which focus simply on detection and notification of attacks – towards a more intelligent stance that gives a clear, holistic view of cyber security across IT, OT, cloud, and end user devices. As both cloud adoption and cloud security risks continue to grow, this proactive approach is critical to business continuity.

To build a proactive stance, businesses need to understand the threats they’re likely to face – past, present, and future. Threat intelligence is vital in enabling IT teams to quickly detect and respond to active threats in the cloud. With the right strategy, based on threat intelligence linked to managed detection and response (MDR) and supported by ethical hacking techniques to test defenses, companies can ensure they are fully armed in the face of evolving cloud-based threats.

Organizations that have a proactive cyber security posture also understand that attacks are inevitable, they focus on how quickly they can identify, detect and respond to those attacks in addition to compartmentalizing any successful attacks and having confidence in their ability to resume systems in a timely manner if negatively impacted.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechRadar SOURCE

More and more companies these days are hosting their business components on the cloud, as it has proven to be reliable, cost-effective, and secure. However, many small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) experience certain operational pains on either the public or private cloud. Fortunately, they can now opt for a middle ground that offers the best of both worlds: the hybrid cloud.

Hybrid clouds are a combination of private and public clouds. In private clouds, data and applications that require tighter controls are hosted either internally or privately on an off-site facility. Meanwhile, public clouds are managed externally by third-party providers with the express purpose of streamlining a company’s IT infrastructure.

Benefits of a hybrid cloud setup

Here are three significant advantages of hybrid cloud environments.

Adaptability
Having the ability to choose between internally or privately hosted cloud servers and public ones lets you pair the right IT solution with the right job. For example, you can use the private cloud to store sensitive files while utilizing more robust computing resources from the public cloud to run resource-intensive applications.

Cost efficiency and scalability
Does your business struggle to meet seasonal demands? With a hybrid cloud solution, you’ll be able to easily handle spikes in demand by migrating workloads from insufficient on-premises servers to scalable, pay-as-you-go cloud servers whenever needed, without incurring extra hardware and maintenance costs.

So if there are last-minute computing demands that your hardware can’t support, or if you’re planning for future expansion, you can easily scale capacity up or down with a hybrid cloud solution.

Security
Last but not least are the security advantages of a hybrid cloud solution. You can host sensitive data such as eCommerce data or an HR platform within the private cloud, where it will be protected by your security systems and kept under close watch. Meanwhile, routine forms and documents can be stored in the public cloud and protected by a trusted third party.

How to set up a hybrid cloud

The following are the different ways to set up a hybrid cloud model based on your SMB’s requirements and the providers available to you:

  • Employ one specialized cloud provider who offers comprehensive hybrid solutions.
  • Integrate the services of a private cloud provider with those of another public cloud provider.
  • Host a private cloud yourself and then incorporate a public cloud service into your infrastructure.

Our experts can help you transition to a hybrid cloud solution without interruption and huge costs. Contact us today to learn more about the business benefits of a hybrid cloud.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory.org SOURCE

It’s an age-old legend…well, at least as old as technology in business. After hearing about benefits gained by other companies, you invest.

After hearing about its benefits from many other companies, a small firm decides to invest extensively in new technology. Including AI. Despite this, days, weeks, and even months pass without the corporation receiving a complete return on its investment. The issue, among entrepreneurs, has only intensified due to the pandemic and the hasty adoption of technology that resulted.

So, what’s the real story behind that? There might be many explanations for this. For starters, the technology implementation may not be as excellent as you had hoped.

Maybe your employees weren’t adequately trained. Perhaps the technology wasn’t a suitable match for your specific requirements.

It’s possible that the technology isn’t all that useful in the first place. And in the context of the pandemic, hasty digital transformation efforts often result in poor technological outcomes.

Unfortunately, anybody dealing with today’s challenges will find that solving them without technology is challenging. (In truth, every business should now be a technology business, but that’s a discussion for another day.)

Fortunately, you can make efforts to ensure that the technology you choose provides you with all you need. Remember that these aren’t fail-safe formulas for success, but rather a set of suggestions that will help you get closer to the results you want from technology.

1. Choose your technology carefully.

This is one of the most often repeated tips, but it bears repeating.

Why? Because you don’t have to employ every single piece of technology available. Sure, some IT basics may drastically transform your business. Meanwhile, you must be reasonable in how and where you use them, even in such circumstances.

When deciding which technology to use, there are a few considerations to consider.

You must consider specific demands, industry circumstances, competitor movements, and future business prospects before making a choice.

However, there is a mentality that may assist you in making better tech decisions. Choose technology that will help you become a more agile and fast-paced firm. Combining DevOps and CI/CD principles with decoupled data, infrastructure, and digital solutions may go a long way.

2. Include cloud computing in your infrastructure as a must-have.

The advent of the everything as a service (XaaS) paradigm allows you to tap into the power of various technologies.

Moreover, without having to make significant expenditures. As a result, you may (and should) use cloud computing to implement technologies.

Utilizing things like artificial intelligence, analytics, and big data can help your company grow.

Yes, cloud computing is ideal for storing data and even running customer relationship management software on top of it.

However, there’s more. Cloud computing allows you the freedom to scale up or down your tech demands at any moment. Meanwhile, you gain access to technologies that would be significantly more expensive if you developed them yourself.

3. Use data to make decisions and track progress.

You must already be aware that you base your selections on the information available to you.

Adopting big data strategies, as well as analytics and artificial intelligence, may help you maximize your company’s potential. This involves technology adoption and performance considerations.

Looking at the correct data may help you figure out which technologies are good for you. Consequently deciding when the optimum moment is to implement them.

Furthermore, when assessing the output and performance of new technology, data should be at the core of your monitoring activities. Data collected from the technology you adopt will offer you insights that will assist you.

Furthermore, you can determine what to alter, adapt, and scale up or down.

4. Invest in technology that will benefit the whole firm.

Because technology can empower your whole business, you should ensure that the digital solutions you implement benefit employees from all departments.

Doesn’t that sound natural? However, you’d be amazed how many firms acquire a specific technology, such as AI-based analytics solutions, and use it solely in one department, such as sales.

The concept is simple. Make as much use of technology benefits as possible.

Even if your new technology doesn’t seem helpful in a given area, try to conceive of other ways it may help you. At least, utilize the output to inform and connect with the rest of your firm. That way, everyone benefits — even if the production is a source of information.

5. Pay special attention to your workforce’s training.

Finally, you’ll need your team members to be well-versed in your new technology.

If you expect to install a new technology without providing extensive and continuing training to the individuals using it, you will be disappointed.

You’ll need extensive training to ensure that your staff understands making the most of the new digital solutions. Perhaps most significantly, the training should be continual rather than a one-time event.

That’s because you could discover new applications, or you might upgrade the solution with new features and capabilities that you wouldn’t have known about if you hadn’t informed other colleagues about them regularly.

If you don’t want to repeat the errors that others have made, do yourself a favor and think carefully about these tips.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from smallbusinesstechnology.com SOURCE

When it comes to the cloud, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are often presented with the choice of either a private or a public cloud. But there is a third option — a hybrid cloud. And this is the choice that provides SMBs with greater flexibility. How so? Read on to find out.

Hybrid clouds are a combination of private and public clouds. In private clouds, data and applications that require tighter controls are hosted either internally or privately in an off-site facility. Meanwhile, public clouds are managed externally by third-party providers with the express purpose of reducing a company’s IT infrastructure.

Here are three significant advantages of hybrid cloud environments.

Adaptability

Having the ability to choose between on-site or privately hosted cloud servers and public ones let you pair the right IT solution with the right job. For example, you can use the private cloud to store sensitive files while utilizing more robust computing resources from the public cloud to run resource-intensive applications.

Cost efficiency and scalability

Does your business struggle to meet seasonal demands? With a hybrid cloud solution, you’ll be able to easily handle spikes in demand by migrating workloads from insufficient on-premises servers to scalable, pay-as-you-go cloud servers whenever needed, without incurring extra hardware and maintenance costs.

So if there are last-minute computing demands that your hardware can’t support or if you’re planning for future expansion, hybrid cloud solutions allow for on-demand increases or decreases in capacity.

Security

Last but not least are the security advantages of a hybrid cloud solution. You can host sensitive data such as eCommerce details or an HR platform within the private cloud, where it will be protected by your security systems and kept under close watch. Meanwhile, routine forms and documents can be stored in the public cloud and protected by a trusted third-party.

To set up a hybrid cloud model based on your SMB’s requirements and the providers available to you:

  1. Employ one specialized cloud provider who offers comprehensive hybrid solutions.
  2. Integrate the services of a private cloud provider with those of another public cloud provider.
  3. Host a private cloud yourself and then incorporate a public cloud service into your infrastructure.

Our experts can help you transition to a hybrid cloud solution without interruption and huge costs. Contact us today to learn more about the benefits that a hybrid cloud can bring to your SMB.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory.org SOURCE

Small- and medium-sized businesses are adopting cloud technologies. However, some business owners may not be aware of certain hidden costs. These costs don’t seem much at first, but they can eventually snowball. Follow these five tips to keep the cloud from breaking the bank.

No standalones

Cloud services come in various shapes and sizes, many of which are standalone platforms with rates that increase over time. Opt for a cloud service provider that offers a suite of products that all work together. It is often less expensive than a group of standalone products. Another benefit of working with a cloud provider is that you receive a single point of contact to resolve your issues quickly and effectively.

Experience matters

If you plan on integrating a standalone cloud service into your system, make sure you hire an experienced integration consultant to facilitate a smooth transition. Integration mishaps can cause serious downtime and cost a lot of money.

Backups are important

Unnecessary or inefficient backups waste cloud storage space. Review your cloud storage data by asking yourself the following questions:

  • How many versions of this data do I need to store long-term? The more versions I store, the more it’ll cost me.
  • What regulatory demands do I need to meet? Some data may need to be accessible for up to three years, whereas other data can be deleted after 30 days.
  • How quickly do I need to access my backups? If it can wait for a day or two, I can archive that data to a less expensive service or offline at the provider’s data center.

Remove users

Many cloud service providers charge by the number of users in your system. If you neglect to regularly manage the list of users, you’ll end up paying for people who no longer work for you. Implement processes that remove users when they leave the company and consider scheduling a regular audit. Ideally, conduct an audit once every six months to ensure your cloud user list is up to date.

Monitor proactively

Ask your cloud provider whether they can proactively monitor your account and notify you of potential issues before they escalate into major problems. This is especially important if you have a pay-as-you-go license that charges based on resource or storage consumption.

Utilizing the right technology resources is vital to your business’s success, and so is knowing how to prevent such resources from racking up an overwhelming monthly bill. If you wish to enjoy all the benefits of cloud computing without breaking the bank, give us a call. We’ll be happy to help.

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory.org SOURCE