Staying secure in a dangerous age: Overcoming cybersecurity complexity – with cloud and managed security services Posted on October 20, 2016 by Tim Burke The last time I posted, I described several cybersecurity solutions which are moving beyond the reactive, siloed offerings that continue to be necessary, but are no longer sufficient to protect our enterprises. These solutions can seem daunting. The complexity of it all often overwhelms. This is partly due to what’s happening to our information infrastructures, which are also becoming more complex as they go hybrid. They are, essentially, boundless as they accommodate internet communication. Meanwhile, today’s in–house data centers are increasingly virtualized and typically combine a variety of cloud and managed services. Continue reading →
Staying secure in a dangerous age:Beyond reactive cybersecurity solutions Posted on October 6, 2016 by Tim Burke In my recent posts, I’ve focused on some of the top security threats faced by anyone trying to keep their business data and systems safe. Besides app attacks, web attacks, social engineering exploits, and ransomware, there’s plenty more to be concerned about – the challenges of trusting devices and sensors that are part of the Internet of Things (IoT), breaches that steal huge swaths of “big data,” and the frightening vulnerabilities of industrial control systems. Continue reading →
Staying secure in a dangerous age: How to face down ransomware Posted on September 22, 2016 by Tim Burke In my last post, I focused on several key types of cyber threat most likely to challenge your business right now. This time, I’m drilling down — to ransomware and what you can do to protect your enterprise from it. Why ransomware prevention? Because security experts regard ransomware as today’s most serious cyber threat, having increased 35% in just a year to an average of nearly 1,000 per day in 2015. Continue reading →
Staying secure in a dangerous age: Know the threats you face Posted on September 8, 2016 by Tim Burke Fasten your seatbelt. I’m driving into the realm of digital security, which can turn into a rather hairy ride. Despite its challenges, digital security deployment is what stops the hackers, malicious actors, and spies from stealing everything. So let me begin by telling you to stay vigilant, because as the use of digital technologies becomes more pervasive, so do the attempts to exploit it for nefarious purposes. Continue reading →
8 best practices for going hybrid cloud Posted on August 25, 2016 by Tim Burke Public cloud apps and services are great for shifting your non-differentiated business functions and infrastructure from expensive on-premise environments to low-cost off-site facilities managed by specialists you have no hope of keeping on staff. Yet, if you’re facing shadow IT issues, demands to improve security and compliance, or the realization that you must prepare for a future in which success depends on your ability to differentiate your business, then you need something more than public cloud subscriptions. Continue reading →
Hybrid Cloud: Playing offense with technology innovation Posted on August 11, 2016 by Tim Burke As I’ve clarified in recent posts, cloud services generally provide the most resource-efficient way to satisfy your organization’s IT requirements — and usually are most effectively deployed via a hybrid cloud combining selected public cloud subscriptions with customized private cloud capabilities. The arguments for hybrid clouds that you hear most often are, basically, defensive, powering the customizations that legacy environments depend on, protecting sensitive data, and boosting compliance. Continue reading →
Introducing the automated private cloud in your hybrid future Posted on July 21, 2016 by Tim Burke Hybrid clouds are turning out to be the best way for enterprises to enable employees’ continued access to powerful on-demand public cloud resources without losing control over corporate data, corporate security, the ability to comply with legal requirements (e.g., ensuring employee and customer privacy), or the maintenance of legacy capabilities. Public cloud + private cloud = necessity After all, you’re not going to get line-of-business employees trying to do their jobs as effectively and efficiently as possible to cease their Shadow IT habits. They’ll invariably sign up for one of those quite excellent public cloud application services — whether you like it or not. Whether you even know it or not. And odds are you can’t afford to devote your IT people’s limited time to building in-house replacements for such services. This makes a hybrid cloud architecture a necessity for most enterprises, since a hybrid cloud combines use of Continue reading →
Why Shadow IT will drive you to a hybrid cloud Posted on July 7, 2016 by Tim Burke Given how much cloud apps can boost your business agility while reducing maintenance, labor, and capital costs, chances are you’re spending a sizeable chunk of your IT budget on them (probably more than you realize). You’re not alone. Industry watcher IDC predicts that in just a couple of years, at least half of all IT spending will be cloud-based, and by 2020, 60%-70% of all IT infrastructure, software, services, and technology spending will be cloud-based. Continue reading →
5 strategic moves to embrace your network’s future Posted on June 22, 2016 by Tim Burke By any measure, a smoothly operating data network is a business essential; the typical unplanned network outage, which lasts an average of 95 minutes, now costs upwards of $740,000 — and more than 80% of that cost is due to business disruption, forsaken revenue, and loss of end-user productivity. Yet every enterprise’s data network is different. So what does it take to get your unique network services requirements right? Continue reading →
Facing your network services future: 3 things you can do improve capabilities Posted on June 9, 2016 by Tim Burke If you’ve been stalling about data network upgrades while also planning to expand your use of cloud services, mobile capabilities (especially corporate wifi), voice-over-IP (now present in two thirds of enterprises, according to one study), and video streaming, you might want to rethink the order in which you proceed. That’s because these sorts of capabilities require network services that just weren’t needed before. Without the right networking capabilities, your cloud, wifi, and VoIP efforts may well stall. Continue reading →
