A successful cloud strategy is a secure one
29 June 2021
Rick Vanover, senior director of product strategy, Veeam
It’s no surprise that cloud technologies have taken off in recent years, and especially since the pandemic. The mandated changes to our lives have seen digital transformation efforts accelerated, and a re-examination of the ways that businesses operate, and store and manage data.
Multi-cloud environments have proven especially popular for IT departments seeking further flexibility and choice in their IT footprints – especially where business needs might differ from department to department. But while the flexibility can be invaluable, without properly securing cloud environments, vulnerabilities can remain hidden until it’s too late.
Find out more Held to ransom
14 June 2021
Corey Nachreiner, CTO, WatchGuard Technologies
Ransomware attacks in the UK continue to grow at an alarming rate, as cybercriminals target everything from government agencies to high-net-worth individuals and blue chip corporates to small businesses. Robert Shepherd asks the experts why this is and what enterprises can do to thwart the bad actors.
It’s all about the money
Why are we experiencing a large rise in ransomware attacks?
Raj Samani, chief scientist and McAfee fellow: Over the past year, we’ve seen security threats and ransomware attacks continue to evolve in complexity and increase in volume. This is because cybercriminals have quickly and effectively pivoted their tactics to take advantage of the pandemic or poor cyber hygiene. As a result, enterprises endured more opportunistic COVID-19 related campaigns among a new cast of bad-actor schemes. For example, at the end of 2020, we saw a continued increase in threats from Q3 (+240%) to Q4 (+114%), with ransomware increasing by a staggering 69%. Equally the rise in open RDP to the internet has compounded the issue.
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Going under the radar
04 June 2021
Paolo Passeri, cyber intelligence principal at Netskope
It is no secret that cloud is at the heart of modern IT and digital transformation, enabling a lot of freedom – freedom to do things when we want, where we want.
However, it does come with a price. Opening systems up to be accessed anywhere, from any device, has meant that the lines of control and access have blurred and 50% of traffic can go unseen by legacy security defences.
Find out more O2 to slash data centre emissions in ‘radical overhaul’
04 June 2021
O2 is carrying out a “radical overhaul” of its operations in a bid to cut emissions from its data centres by more than half a million kilograms within a year.
The British telecommunications giant said it has invested in innovative energy-efficient cooling equipment to regulate the temperature of data centres and core network sites. The new kit, which uses natural cold air outside of locations to cool inside, will replace traditional electric-powered air conditioning and transitional gas-based refrigeration.
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