In 2017, the world saw the rise of ransomware as the names of famous ransomware attacks permeated the news such as Petya, Goldeneye and more. According to Secplicity, “…malware is at an all-time high, global ransomware damages are predicted to exceed $5 billion, and data records are being stolen by hackers at a rate of more than 5 million a day.”
Two scenarios:
In both scenarios, government and law enforcement organizations are looking at artificial intelligence or AI as means to solve critical issues.
It’s been nearly 14 years since WiFi (or WPA2) as we know it got a security upgrade. But now the WiFi Alliance, a standards organization that includes Broadcom, Intel, Microsoft and others, is recommending a badly-needed make-over that will be dubbed WPA3, according to reports. The new upgrades to WiFi were announced at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) the week of January 7, 2018.
On December 14, 2017, the FCC voted to repeal net neutrality rules in a 3-2 vote along party lines and signaling a victory for telecommunications companies, according to the Los Angeles Times. Now lawmakers are fighting back and in mid-January, CNET reported that Democrats announced all 49 of their senators, and one Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, will vote on a bill that uses the Congressional Review Act to reinstate the regulation.
Recent complex vulnerabilities in top-tier computer devices, iPhones, Windows PCs, Android devices and other gadgets have sent companies and individuals alike in a tailspin. A critical security flaw has been detected in processor chips that allow bottom barrel IT processes to have access to memory in the computer’s kernel – aka the most privileged IT process of the device.
Not good.
Hackers could potentially exploit this issue giving them a clear path for installing malicious software to read memory through this new group of side-channel attacks and putting data, hardware and software at serious risk.
Here are the immediate steps you need to take to make sure your data and infrastructure are protected:
In 2017, the world experienced some of the largest and most dangerous cyber attacks in recent history.
The numbers are staggering:
The Russian hacking scandal of the 2016 presidential election may put the entire voting process “back in time.” States from Virginia to Arizona are looking to retire touch-screen voting machines in favor of paper ballots, according to a recent article in Government Computer News (GCN).
“…States and counties were already moving toward paper ballots before 2016,” said Katy Owens Hubler, a consultant to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) as reported in GCN. “But the Russian hacking incident has brought the spotlight to this issue.”
When we think of cybercrimes we often think of criminals hacking into a network to retrieve sensitive corporate information. But cyberattacks and the leaking of information can also occur from within an organization in the form of Shadow IT and Shadow Data.
For those of us who work in the technology industry, it’s important to dream. We tend to focus on issues that are “down to earth” – such as ensuring our children in schools have access to the latest technologies, or that businesses have the right IT infrastructure to protect their data. But then there are times when we want to go galactic, like pondering what would happen if extra-terrestrials (ET) landed on Earth or sent us a message from outer space?
Do we have IT protocols in place for handling such an extraordinary, out of this world event?
Today’s businesses are expected to forecast the future almost regularly. You may have a company that is growing rapidly and need to determine how much infrastructure you should implement today to last the next three years. Conditions can change, you can over buy or under purchase, and budget deadlines are quickly approaching.
Do you have a reliable methodology to determine what your headcount and resource needs will be 3 or 5 years from now? How much downtime do you really have and what is it costing you?
Product lifecycles are changing and organizations are at a crossroads on whether to move to the Cloud. With its inherent scalability, predicting your resource needs adequately is easier and can help you remain competitive in the market. An experienced managed Cloud provider brings a proactive viewpoint that looks at your growth goals and recommends adjustments to scale up or down accordingly.
Below are four ways the Cloud can help you budget for growth:
Get Social