Ransomware’s Great Lessons

My article on ransomware is available to read at CloudTweaks here.

The Need for Experienced Cloud Security Professionals

My blog post for cloud security firm (ISC)2 , entitled, Competing Cloud Security Demands Call For Credentialed Professionals is available for review at CloudTweaks.com. Based on interviews with security experts, the post discusses why it is critical that cloud security experts come with years of experience to handle the challenges of security online.  Click here to read.

What I Have Learned as a Cloud Security Professional

My blog post for cloud security firm (ISC)2 , entitled, What I Have Learned as a Cloud Security Professionals is available for review at CloudTweaks.com. Based on interviews with security experts, as well as with David Shearer, CEO of (ISC)2, the post discusses some of the lessons learned and challenges faces by the people who seek to keep companies and organizations safe from cloud-based attack.  Click here to read.

Things To Consider When Moving Your ERP To The Cloud

In addition to my own posts, I also write for CloudTweaks, an authority on cloud computing. My most recent post focuses on moving your ERP to the cloud. Here is an excerpt:

The transition to the cloud is a serious undertaking and one that requires a good deal of analysis and planning, not only on the part of IT managers, but actively by all members of the CxO suite. Acumatica, an industry leader in cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), recommends that this list of questions be reviewed and answered during the due diligence phase: Who is in charge? Is it better to employ cloud-based admin software provided by the cloud host using their subscription-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or should you keep the deployment in-house? If you have in-house IT experts, then keeping the software on-premises might prove advantageous, but if not, or if you wish to minimize your IT costs, then let the cloud host take care of the equipment.

Is it scalable? One of the true advantages of using cloud-based solutions, including business management software, is in its immediate scalability, both larger and smaller, providing more resources when needed, and a smaller, less expensive system when demands are lower.

To read the full post, please visit CloudTweaks here.

Understanding Big Data

In addition to my own posts, I also write for CloudTweaks, an authority on cloud computing. My most recent post focuses on understanding Big Data. Here is an excerpt:

What do Wal-Mart, Facebook and the Hadron Collider have in common? They are just three of many large organizations who are major consumers and processors of Big Data, a term that is becoming a greater priority for companies around the world as they struggle with a ceaseless and ever growing ocean of information.

The short definition of Big Data is that it represents all of the data in your organization – not just one type. Data resides in all business functions: marketing, finance, operations, research & development, customer experience – everywhere – and it essentially comes in three flavors: structured, unstructured and binary.

Structured data is the type of information that is organized and indexable, and consequently is most often stored in databases or annotated documents. This could include records and files. Unstructured data refers to loose material such as emails and tweets, and according to some estimates, may comprise 80% or even 90% of a company’s potentially useable information. Binary data refers to photographs and other media that is generally stored using binary formats.

In a recent podcast delivered by Mike Gualtieri, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, Inc., and Milan Vaclavik, Senior Director & Solution Lead for CenturyLink Technology Solutions, it was noted that 70% of IT decision-makers see big data analytics as a priority within one year. This makes sense. For a company to fully understand where it is going, what its customers need, and how it compares to the marketplace, it must be able to access and use all of its data quickly and comprehensively. Currently, for most companies, this data is segmented into silos, with different storage mechanisms running on different platforms overseen by different people. So in a sense, Big Data at this moment in time, does not so much represent bits of information. The term better represents a concept, a problem, and a solution.

To read the full post, please visit CloudTweaks here.

 

Your Customer’s Experience During a Hack Attack

In addition to my own posts, I also write for CloudTweaks, an authority on cloud computing. My most recent post forcuses on the need for cloud service providers to truly know what their customers feel, especially when under attack. Here is an excerpt:

One of the more dramatic and visible aspects of computing in the age of the cloud is the “attack.” Banks, governments, retailers and other high-profile organizations are hit regularly, in many cases daily, by hackers seeking either to steal data, as happened to Target and Tesco very recently, or to sabotage a site, as best illustrated by the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks experienced by NATO and the freelancing website Elance.com just this week. Hacker attacks serve as a wakeup call to companies of any size, reminding IT managers and executives of the risks involved in doing business on a globally connected network.

For IT companies, another wake-up call comes from these stories: no matter which letter precedes their “aaS” moniker, as in SaaS, PaaS, DaaS, IaaS or even ITMaas, customers need to feel that they and their industry are understood. Take website design, for example. Websites have grown in sophistication and complexity in the two decades since CERN revealed the very first one  in 1995, but very often the designers of these sites forget the end user experience in favor of a sleek look and feel. Complicated forms, for example as might be offered by a mass transit company, incorporate data from Google Earth into a their own scheduling software in order to assist patrons in choosing the correct bus or train route. But if these forms do not work correctly on a particular device, an iPad or smartphone, for example, then the functionality and convenience is lost. Website designers worth their salt will incorporate a cast of “user profiles” in designing a site, including the student, the grandma, the busy executive, the newly arrived immigrant – all with a different approach to using technology, and with different challenges in understanding commands and procedures for using the site. They will also factor in the variety of user platforms, from old PCs through to the newest phones. Such awareness of a customer’s experience is crucial during both the design and testing phase and can make the difference between success and failure.

To read the full post, please visit CloudTweaks here.

 

Moving Assets to the Cloud

Recently I was interviewed by writer extraordinaire Jen Clark for a story, published by San Francisco-based IT Experts FORTE Systems on the topic of data migration to the cloud. Her article included input from industry expert Daniel Steeves, senior IT analyst at Crisp Research René Büst, and technology lawyer Frank Jennings. Here is an excerpt (my part):

Although local storage seems like a sound concept, much like having a wall safe in the house, data that is restricted to a single physical area and may be more prone to external attack, physical disaster (fire and floods, for example) and premature aging of infrastructure. Private cloud technology protects a business’s mission-critical assets by distributing saved data across numerous servers in invisible locations. Cloud companies make it their business to ensure that security is up-to-the-second and reliable. They tend to use stronger encryption systems and have greater access to the experts and technology that will keep them competitive – which in turn means better protection for their customers.

To read the entire article, please go to the FORTE Systems blog here.

The Power of Custom Metrics in Cloud Server Monitoring

In addition to my own posts, I also write for CloudTweaks, an authority on cloud computing. My most recent post focuses on the need for IT managers to use custom dashboards in order to see through the morass of information in front of them, in order to predict and avoid damaging issues such as slow page-load speeds, or to easily track and rectify the source of the problem. Here is an excerpt:

Have you ever watched an auction? Whether people are seeking to buy fine art, cars or livestock, they will spend time at an auction house, in order to place their bids and hopefully snag a deal. A well-run auction is a fascinating event to watch, and most interesting of all is the person who calls out the prices and acknowledges the bids. The auctioneer uses a keen eye to identify the most subtle of gestures from the audience: the flick of a single index finger, a raised eyebrow, or a gesture of the head is all that is needed to read the intentions of the bidding floor and move the process ever upwards.

Wouldn’t it be great if that same subtle ability existed for IT managers? To be able to look over a collection of dashboards and readouts and immediately detect a subtle spike or an errant digit that signifies trouble ahead? Granted, there are some people who are able to do just this – usually after many years of constant practice and daily experience – but for companies struggling with continued growth as well as modifications and upgrades to their systems as well as a highly volatile marketplace, the capacity to notice subtle warning signs just can’t keep pace.

To read the full article, please visit CloudTweaks here.

 

I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know

In addition to my own posts, I also write for CloudTweaks, an authority on cloud computing. My most recent post focuses on another common IT issue: not being able to locate a problem due to outdated or inadequate monitoring software. The bottom line is it is seconds, not hours, that are required to root out danger quickly, or better yet, before it happens. The article features solutions provided by Austin, TX-based CopperEgg. Here is an excerpt:

What happens when the IT person doesn’t know where the source of a system failure is? What happens when that same IT person has to go and explain to an executive that the source of the problem cannot be found quickly, due to an organically-evolved legacy system or diagnostic tools that cannot reveal what is truly happening under the hood? What kind of answer can be given when the boss asks why we didn’t see this coming?

Such scenarios are enough to make most IT managers wake up at 3 a.m. in a cold sweat.

Minutes count, but seconds count even more. A sudden surge in social media activity for example, might place greater demand on a system which, if properly balanced and prepared, would likely be able to handle the increased load. But if a monitoring system is slow, outdated, or vague, or if it does not provide alerts in advance – based on current needs and past performance – then the crash comes first and frenzied diagnosis must follow afterwards.

To read the full article, please visit CloudTweaks here.

An Antidote To Overprovisioning

In addition to my own posts, I also write for CloudTweaks, an authority on cloud computing. My most recent post focuses on a common IT issue: overprovisioning as a means to outpace demands on a dynamic and growing cloud server system. The article features solutions provided by Austin, TX-based CopperEgg. Here is an excerpt:

There are many situations in this world – both the virtual world of computing, and the real world, where preparedness means having more than you need. Stocking up on food, medicines, or printer paper and toner makes it easy to get things done in a timely fashion rather than having to run back out to the store.

But this preparedness comes with a price. Materials that sit on shelves waiting to be used occupy space and devour available funds. They must have great and tangible value to justify their existence, which is why so many large manufacturers rely instead on just-in-time delivery and lean techniques to ensure a smooth flow of supplies without the costly overhead.

These same efficiencies are also essential in maintaining virtual systems, but this still feels uncomfortable to administrators charged with the responsibility of keeping systems both functional and up-to-date. In the days when much of a network depended on hard physical assets such as servers and memory, it was common for admins to over-purchase as a practical alternative to the cost in labor, time and funds to buy and install upgrades on spec, or the danger involved in keeping extra parts on the shelf. It was much easier to simply buy more than needed and install it all at once…

To read the full article, please visit CloudTweaks here.