Coming off of our amazing time at Adobe Max just last week, the Parallels team is still feeling the love for anything and everything Adobe. After all, we use Creative Cloud almost every day in our office! Still, for users new to Adobe’s impressive suite of products, it can be daunting to learn how to […]
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Whether you are ready to start coding your first Node.js project, or if you are a seasoned veteran and need finish up a new exciting project, odds are you will need some functionality that has been written many times before by others. One of the beauties of the internet is the ability to create and share things. Node.js is a great language set in itself, but one key selling point is the vast amount of code that is available for free download.
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The debate over whether the end user or the cloud service provider (CSP) should be responsible for data security has been reopened after new research from Armor and Ponemon Institute proved inconclusive.
The survey, which quizzed 990 US and UK-based CIOs, CISOs and directors of IT operations, found almost a third (31%) expect their cloud provider to keep SaaS applications secure, while 20% believe the customers are more responsible and only 16% argue it is a shared responsibility.
While 15% of organisations polled believe the IT security team should be most accountable for securing SaaS applications, 60% admit IT security is rarely or never involved when it comes to evaluating cloud services.
Not surprisingly, 79% of respondents say security is important always or most of the time, while three quarters (74%) see similarly with regards to compliance. Yet only a third (33%) of respondents express confidence in meeting security objectives in the cloud.
So is this issue related to the lack of consensus over cloud security responsibility? Dr. Larry Ponemon, founder of Ponemon Institute, believes so. “The fact there’s so much confusion about how to properly secure and understand compliance mandates isn’t surprising considering most organisations today still aren’t sure who – internally – should be managing security for the cloud,” he said.
“It’s my hope that organisations will review this report and look in the mirror to see if they’re part of this group that is still allowing for so much confusion when it comes to secure cloud implementations,” he added.
The imbroglio between cloud providers and their customers has been covered in this publication before, most notably research from iland which argued vendors did not give customers as much support as possible. A quarter (26%) of respondents said the onboarding process took too long, 21% said the onboarding lacked a human aspect, while 18% had bill shock over their support costs.
Elsewhere, more than half (56%) of respondents say the ability to save money is by far the primary reason to use cloud resources.
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Gartner predicts that cloud office systems will account for 33% of the overall office market by 2017. This is a big step considering a few years ago collaboration in businesses typically involved emails, phone calls, and perhaps a few instant messages exchanged within the company.
However, nowadays the arrival of cloud computing and all the remunerations that come with it have shaped the path for collaborative cloud-based services, which is reforming how businesses work over the internet. Many collaborative services offer a specific business need, such as social networking, productivity apps, storage, or good old fashioned email.
Yet whilst collaborative cloud-based services offer a whole range of benefits to businesses of all sizes, they also can pose a number of risks if not appropriately integrated into the corporate sphere. When using the messaging and conference call applications within the cloud, users need to be aware that the same rules associated with data privacy should also apply to this. Companies need to ensure that the “data” transferred over these systems cannot be captured by someone trying to maliciously record the call or video, and that there is an audit trail on how this messaging is done within these interactive sessions, so it cannot be detained by unwanted users.
Even if employees are exchanging corporate messages privately, organisations need to make sure that there is a higher degree of security around the confidentiality of that data. This is simply because it could be severely compromising in a situation where cybercriminals hack into a corporate collaboration system and start to make private company details public.
This has been seen already in the infamous phone hackings of company voicemails, so it is imperative that organisations ensure there are appropriate security measures in place which are resilient, as well as a service level agreement (SLA) which will provide a high degree of compensation if the systems are breached and the company is compromised.
The big question companies need to ask themselves is: will the in-house IT department do a superior job at protecting the corporate collaboration system, or is this a responsibility which you place offsite with a cloud provider? Nowadays, SMEs in particular are taking the view that this task is best managed off premise with a provider which they trust and pay to manage their cloud collaboration systems for them.
This approach has many benefits – providing the company forms a relationship with a trustworthy vendor. It is imperative that before handing over the responsibility of managing and storing company data, organisations check the track record of their cloud provider and ensure that there have been no former breaches of confidentially.
It is also wise for companies to try and understand the technology the provider utilises in its own data centres, and the tools they use to make the service more secure. One of the key examples of this is to check if the sessions that run between the organisations and the service provider are encrypted. This means that the data, such as voice messages, are encrypted within a VPN, and the resulting file that is used to record the call is also encrypted and can only be played back by authorised users.
Another risk which has emerged into the ever-connected world of business is bring your own device (BYOD). By enabling a BYOD program, enterprises permit employees access to corporate resources from anywhere in the world, however, securing these devices and supporting different mobile platforms can create complex issues for IT departments. Companies need to lay down careful policies on the security required, how this data should be handled and how employees are expected to behave – including security awareness of the dangers of insecure networks and over-sharing in social networks.
One of the specific areas of concern to be addressed is the mobility of data and how to capitalise on the benefits while securing the company. Firstly, security policies must be revised to reflect the changes in working practices. It’s no longer possible for IT departments to defend the traditional network perimeter. Instead, they must apply a security ‘wrapper’ around every employee – so that they are protected wherever they work and whatever device they use.
As well as a focus on technology, organisations need to better educate their employees. It’s essential that employers understand the risks involved with using mobile devices and communicate this effectively with employees. They also need to put in place robust security processes to reduce the risk of any data breaches or leaks occurring. This means deploying anti-malware apps, controlling the applications that employees have access to, and also being able to block access to, and where necessary, erase sensitive data stored on a lost device.
The relatively recent purchase of AirWatch by VMWare shows how enterprise software vendors are adding additional functionality to compliment the services already offered by the mobile device operating systems, and in this way providing additional levels of control and security into mobile devices.
SYS-CON Events announced today that Spirent Communications, the leader in testing navigation and positioning systems, will exhibit at SYS-CON’s @DevOpsSummit Silicon Valley, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Spirent Communications enables innovations in communications technologies that help connect people. Whether it is service provider, data centers, enterprise IT networks, mobile communications, connected vehicles or the Internet of Things, Spirent solutions are working behind the scenes to help the world communicate and collaborate faster, better and more securely. The world’s innovators rely on Spirent expertize to help them design, develop and deliver best-in-class solutions to their customers.
The traditional, on-premise computing model has established processes, accreditations, certifications, governance and compliance rules – FISMA, NERC CIP, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, IRS 1075. While the security industry is aggressively addressing the technical security gaps in cloud-driven services, many organizations using cloud services are struggling to implement and adapt strategic processes, procedures, and controls for cloud governance and due diligence.
Tibco has built two new systems for building cloud services and manage enterprise applications.
BusinessWorks Container Edition is a streamlined version of Tibco flagship product and designed to make installation, upgrades and other operational duties easier with the Pivotal Cloud Foundry. It’s aimed at companies where dealing with regulatory requirements or sensitive data is a major challenge and sets out to provide more flexible workload controls across the entire IT estate, from on-premise IT to hybrid clouds.
Tibco Cloud Integration is an integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) that will make it easier to create, govern and consuming cloud services, the vendor claims. A tool for managing application programming interfaces (APIs) is designed to make the rolling out of these services smoother, both internally and externally.
The rationale is to make it easier for enterprises to adopt cloud services, according to Tibco CTO Matt Quinn. “Integration is critical to connecting and engaging on multiple channels,” said Quinn,
Cloud Foundry environments are now so simple they can be built in a few minutes with a few commands, claims Tibco. Meanwhile they’ve been re-engineered to run on different systems irrespective of the infrastructure, without the administrators having to surrender any of their control over their IT estate. The simplification of management means that responsibility for cloud environments can be moved in-house, Tibco claims.
“The cloud first approach is really about offering new consumption models for our customers,” said Quinn.
The recent addition of Mashery’s API management system has helped speed up the process of extending the use of cloud, while the new Tibco tools will improve integration with in house system, according Quinn.
Security start up Bracket Computing has been awarded $45m in a Series C investment round to develop its system for making content safe on the cloud.
Bracket’s Computing Cell technology works by encapsulating content in cell in order to secure it. The enveloped data and applications can then travel in safety across multiple cloud environments, according to its inventors. The Cell technology simplifies the increasingly complex issue of cloud management by consolidating security, networking and data management into a single construct.
The cell can run across multiple public clouds and in a customer’s own data centre. The cell structure also brings consistency to the cloud, as it protects client apps from the performance changes that can occur in cloud computing.
Customers hold the digital keys to their data, which is encrypted. Bracket runs a service that reserves hardware at cloud providers when necessary and distributes the data across multiple machines to smooth performance and improve speed.
The founders, Tom Gillis and Jason Lango, have a pedigree in Internet security having created Ironport Systems’ anti-spam hardware range, which was bought by Cisco Systems 2007 for $830 million. In 2011 they founded Bracket to solve the new security problems created by the cloud.
“Imagine if you could encapsulate your most sensitive applications, data and services and run them securely across hyperscale public clouds and your private cloud, while ensuring consistent security controls and data management,” said Lango, “this is what a Bracket Computing Cell allows. It enables an enterprise without boundaries, without sacrificing security and control.”
The funds will finance a global roll-out said Bracket CEO Tom Gillis. The data centres of the finance sector are an immediate target, but the technology applies to all large corporations, said Gillis. “Financial firms need to remain technology leaders. We’re working with some of the very largest as we define the blueprint for the data centre of the future.”
SYS-CON Events announced today that Cavirin will exhibit at the 17th International CloudExpo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Cavirin engineers security and compliance solutions to protect the elastic enterprise against destructive cyber threats. Headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, Cavirin technology provides comprehensive protection in both the datacenter and across multiple cloud instances and accounts. Global enterprise and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) leaders depend on Cavirin to mitigate dangerous breaches that damage brand integrity and shareholder value.
We’ve all had that moment where a friend comments (or complains) on social media about the new layout of a particular site. But you still see it the way it has been for months, and you have no idea what they are talking about. This is because the company that runs the site is likely using a Canary Release.