There was a time when both business leaders and IT leaders avoided the cloud, citing security as one of their top reasons to keep data, applications, and infrastructure out of the cloud and on-premises. Although this line of thinking was relatively recent, it is a myth that has since been dispelled. Cloud providers such as Amazon bring highly talented, security-focused people to their teams to help businesses better secure things on their side.
Microsoft recently noted the findings of the "Organizational Security & Compliance Practices in Office 365," a 37-page report conducted by CollabTalk LLC and the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University. Key takeaways from this paper are:
Any project your IT staff implements, whether it involves computer networks, cloud services, or mobile capabilities, is done with the sole purpose of helping drive business goals forward. Well-thought-out projects that undergo proper planning often do just that. One area that has the capability to completely disrupt the technology that many businesses rely on is network reliability. Network reliability issues cause things to run slowly because of latency, or even result in complete downtime during which no business can be completed. When people aren’t able to work, your company loses money.
When it comes to cloud infrastructure services, Amazon Web Services (AWS) still reigns at the top of the list for cloud infrastructure services with more than 30 percent of the market share. By comparison, the second-most popular cloud service, Microsoft Azure, comes in at approximately 15 percent.
The idea of threats to data security often conjures up thoughts of large companies plastered across the national news because thousands of records were compromised at the hands of a malicious hacker. Unfortunately, this often provides smaller organizations with a false sense of security; they start to believe that the bad guys are only after the large companies with a lot of money at stake.
Gone are the days when small businesses relied on the technology department to come in every so often to deal with all of their tech needs. Information technology, even for small to midsize businesses (SMBs), now relies on highly trained individuals who specialize in various areas.
IBM’s SecurityIntelligence reported some frightening statistics regarding data breaches in 2018. Although the time it takes to detect a data breach is down from years to 196 days, the cost of a breach has increased. On average, the cost of a compromised record is up to $148. This is tough news for most organizations to deal with, and experts expect the number of records compromised per breach to increase, as well.
These reasons alone make it more important than ever for organizations to stay informed about the latest trends in IT security. Considering the damage that can be done to the reputation of a business that is the victim of cybercrime, you have more reason than ever to understand what the threat landscape looks like for this year.
With 2020 being around the corner, it is important to mindful of the vast wave of Microsoft products which are being end of life.
Organizations turn to Microsoft because their product suite is able to check the boxes that IT staff, operational staff and procurement look for when making a purchase. Their server offerings, operating systems and applications make up the central core of many a business because they are known to be reliable, stable and capable for the task at hand.
Recently, Microsoft issued an end-of-life announcement that includes a number of products that a large percentage of organizations still rely on to handle day-to-day IT and end-user business functions. With a deadline of January 2020, this announcement has caught a number of organizations off guard or simply thrown businesses into a state of denial because they had not planned on upgrading or migrating away from any of the products mentioned in the announcement.
Cybersecurity is one of the main business concerns of the 21st century. Consumers, businesses, and employees are all driven by the internet and can access anything at any time. This 24/7 access can cause problems from external sources, such as hackers.
However, internal security threats open an organization to a breach. Here are a few tips for businesses to protect themselves from internal security threats.