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CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION

June 25, 2019 | 22 views

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) Annex signed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in 2006 delineates their mutually agreed-upon roles and responsibilities for pipeline security, but has not been reviewed to consider pipeline security developments since its inception. As a result, the annex may not fully reflect the agencies’ pipeline security and safety-related activities.

Spotlight

4K Solutions, LLC

4K Solutions, established in 2006, is a custom information technology /cyber systems integrator providing full turn-key solutions to include professional services and training.Headquartered in the Midland, Georgia, we are a SDVOSB (CVE), providing a diverse line of Information Technology and Cyber Security products and solutions from partners such as: ESD America, Cisco, CradlePoint Cubic / DTech Labs, ForeScout Technologies, Gridless Power, Haivision IBM (BigFix), Klas Telecom Government, Kopis Mobile, Motorola Solutions, Inc (WAVE), Nokia, Solarwinds, Vitec.

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APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Enhancing Rack-Level Security to Enable Rapid Innovation

Article | August 8, 2022

IT and data center administrators are under pressure to foster quicker innovation. For workers and customers to have access to digital experiences, more devices must be deployed, and larger enterprise-to-edge networks must be managed. The security of distributed networks has suffered as a result of this rapid growth, though. Some colocation providers can install custom locks for your cabinet if necessary due to the varying compliance standards and security needs for distinct applications. However, physical security measures are still of utmost importance because theft and social engineering can affect hardware as well as data. Risk Companies Face Remote IT work continue on the long run Attacking users is the easiest way into networks IT may be deploying devices with weak controls When determining whether rack-level security is required, there are essentially two critical criteria to take into account. The first is the level of sensitivity of the data stored, and the second is the importance of the equipment in a particular rack to the facility's continuing functioning. Due to the nature of the data being handled and kept, some processes will always have a higher risk profile than others. Conclusion Data centers must rely on a physically secure perimeter that can be trusted. Clients, in particular, require unwavering assurance that security can be put in place to limit user access and guarantee that safety regulations are followed. Rack-level security locks that ensure physical access limitations are crucial to maintaining data center space security. Compared to their mechanical predecessors, electronic rack locks or "smart locks" offer a much more comprehensive range of feature-rich capabilities.

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IT SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

Infrastructure Lifecycle Management Best Practices

Article | August 8, 2022

As your organization scales, inevitably, so too will its infrastructure needs. From physical spaces to personnel, devices to applications, physical security to cybersecurity – all these resources will continue to grow to meet the changing needs of your business operations. To manage your changing infrastructure throughout its entire lifecycle, your organization needs to implement a robust infrastructure lifecycle management program that’s designed to meet your particular business needs. In particular, IT asset lifecycle management (ITALM) is becoming increasingly important for organizations across industries. As threats to organizations’ cybersecurity become more sophisticated and successful cyberattacks become more common, your business needs (now, more than ever) to implement an infrastructure lifecycle management strategy that emphasizes the security of your IT infrastructure. In this article, we’ll explain why infrastructure management is important. Then we’ll outline steps your organization can take to design and implement a program and provide you with some of the most important infrastructure lifecycle management best practices for your business. What Is the Purpose of Infrastructure Lifecycle Management? No matter the size or industry of your organization, infrastructure lifecycle management is a critical process. The purpose of an infrastructure lifecycle management program is to protect your business and its infrastructure assets against risk. Today, protecting your organization and its customer data from malicious actors means taking a more active approach to cybersecurity. Simply put, recovering from a cyber attack is more difficult and expensive than protecting yourself from one. If 2020 and 2021 have taught us anything about cybersecurity, it’s that cybercrime is on the rise and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. As risks to cybersecurity continue to grow in number and in harm, infrastructure lifecycle management and IT asset management are becoming almost unavoidable. In addition to protecting your organization from potential cyberattacks, infrastructure lifecycle management makes for a more efficient enterprise, delivers a better end user experience for consumers, and identifies where your organization needs to expand its infrastructure. Some of the other benefits that come along with comprehensive infrastructure lifecycle management program include: More accurate planning; Centralized and cost-effective procurement; Streamlined provisioning of technology to users; More efficient maintenance; Secure and timely disposal. A robust infrastructure lifecycle management program helps your organization to keep track of all the assets running on (or attached to) your corporate networks. That allows you to catalog, identify and track these assets wherever they are, physically and digitally. While this might seem simple enough, infrastructure lifecycle management and particularly ITALM has become more complex as the diversity of IT assets has increased. Today organizations and their IT teams are responsible for managing hardware, software, cloud infrastructure, SaaS, and connected device or IoT assets. As the number of IT assets under management has soared for most organizations in the past decade, a comprehensive and holistic approach to infrastructure lifecycle management has never been more important. Generally speaking, there are four major stages of asset lifecycle management. Your organization’s infrastructure lifecycle management program should include specific policies and processes for each of the following steps: Planning. This is arguably the most important step for businesses and should be conducted prior to purchasing any assets. During this stage, you’ll need to identify what asset types are required and in what number; compile and verify the requirements for each asset; and evaluate those assets to make sure they meet your service needs. Acquisition and procurement. Use this stage to identify areas for purchase consolidation with the most cost-effective vendors, negotiate warranties and bulk purchases of SaaS and cloud infrastructure assets. This is where lack of insights into actual asset usage can potentially result in overpaying for assets that aren’t really necessary. For this reason, timely and accurate asset data is crucial for effective acquisition and procurement. Maintenance, upgrades and repair. All assets eventually require maintenance, upgrades and repairs. A holistic approach to infrastructure lifecycle management means tracking these needs and consolidating them into a single platform across all asset types. Disposal. An outdated or broken asset needs to be disposed of properly, especially if it contains sensitive information. For hardware, assets that are older than a few years are often obsolete, and assets that fall out of warranty are typically no longer worth maintaining. Disposal of cloud infrastructure assets is also critical because data stored in the cloud can stay there forever. Now that we’ve outlined the purpose and basic stages of infrastructure lifecycle management, it’s time to look at the steps your organization can take to implement it.

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IT SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

The Drive with Direction: The Path of Enterprise IT Infrastructure

Article | July 27, 2022

Introduction It is hard to manage a modern firm without a convenient and adaptable IT infrastructure. When properly set up and networked, technology can improve back-office processes, increase efficiency, and simplify communication. IT infrastructure can be utilized to supply services or resources both within and outside of a company, as well as to its customers. IT infrastructure when adequately deployed aids organizations in achieving their objectives and increasing profits. IT infrastructure is made up of numerous components that must be integrated for your company's infrastructure to be coherent and functional. These components work in unison to guarantee that your systems and business as a whole run smoothly. Enterprise IT Infrastructure Trends Consumption-based pricing models are becoming more popular among enterprise purchasers, a trend that began with software and has now spread to hardware. This transition from capital to operational spending lowers risk, frees up capital, and improves flexibility. As a result, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) revenues increased by 53% from 2015 to 2016, making them the fastest-growing cloud and infrastructure services segments. The transition to as-a-service models is significant given that a unit of computing or storage in the cloud can be quite cheaper in terms of the total cost of ownership than a unit on-premises. While businesses have been migrating their workloads to the public cloud for years, there has been a new shift among large corporations. Many companies, including Capital One, GE, Netflix, Time Inc., and others, have downsized or removed their private data centers in favor of shifting their operations to the cloud. Cybersecurity remains a high priority for the C-suite and the board of directors. Attacks are increasing in number and complexity across all industries, with 80% of technology executives indicating that their companies are unable to construct a robust response. Due to lack of cybersecurity experts, many companies can’t get the skills they need on the inside, so they have to use managed security services. Future of Enterprise IT Infrastructure Companies can adopt the 'As-a-Service' model to lower entry barriers and begin testing future innovations on the cloud's basis. Domain specialists in areas like healthcare and manufacturing may harness AI's potential to solve some of their businesses' most pressing problems. Whether in a single cloud or across several clouds, businesses want an architecture that can expand to support the rapid evolution of their apps and industry for decades. For enterprise-class visibility and control across all clouds, the architecture must provide a common control plane that supports native cloud Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) as well as enhanced networking and security features. Conclusion The scale of disruption in the IT infrastructure sector is unparalleled, presenting enormous opportunities and hazards for industry stakeholders and their customers. Technology infrastructure executives must restructure their portfolios and rethink their go-to-market strategies to drive growth. They should also invest in the foundational competencies required for long-term success, such as digitization, analytics, and agile development. Data center companies that can solve the industry's challenges, as well as service providers that can scale quickly without limits and provide intelligent outcome-based models. This helps their clients achieve their business objectives through a portfolio of 'As-a-Service' models, will have a bright future.

Read More
APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

A Look at Trends in IT infrastructure and Operations for 2022

Article | May 9, 2022

We’re all hoping that 2022 will finally end the unprecedented challenges brought by the global pandemic and things will return to a new normalcy. For IT infrastructure and operations organizations, the rising trends that we are seeing today will likely continue, but there are still a few areas that will need special attention from IT leaders over the next 12 to 18 months. In no particular order, they include: The New Edge Edge computing is now at the forefront. Two primary factors that make it business-critical are the increased prevalence of remote and hybrid workplace models where employees will continue working remotely, either from home or a branch office, resulting in an increased adoption of cloud-based businesses and communications services. With the rising focus on remote and hybrid workplace cultures, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet have continued to expand their solutions and add new features. As people start moving back to office, they are likely to want the same experience they had from home. In a typical enterprise setup, branch office traffic is usually backhauled all the way to the data center. This architecture severely impacts the user experience, so enterprises will have to review their network architectures and come up with a roadmap to accommodate local egress between branch offices and headquarters. That’s where the edge can help, bringing it closer to the workforce. This also brings an opportunity to optimize costs by migrating from some of the expensive multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) or private circuits to relatively low-cost direct internet circuits, which is being addressed by the new secure access service edge (SASE) architecture that is being offered by many established vendors. I anticipate some components of SASE, specifically those related to software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), local egress, and virtual private network (VPN), will drive a lot of conversation this year. Holistic Cloud Strategy Cloud adoption will continue to grow, and along with software as a service (SaaS), there will be renewed interest in infrastructure as a service (IaaS), albeit for specific workloads. For a medium-to-large-sized enterprise with a substantial development environment, it will still be cost-prohibitive to move everything to the cloud, so any cloud strategy would need to be holistic and forward-looking to maximize its business value. Another pandemic-induced shift is from using virtual machines (VMs) as a consumption unit of compute to containers as a consumption unit of software. For on-premises or private cloud deployment architectures that require sustainable management, organizations will have to orchestrate containers and deploy efficient container security and management tools. Automation Now that cloud adoption, migration, and edge computing architectures are becoming more prevalent, the legacy methods of infrastructure provisioning and management will not be scalable. By increasing infrastructure automation, enterprises can optimize costs and be more flexible and efficient—but only if they are successful at developing new skills. To achieve the goal of “infrastructure as a code” will require a shift in the perspective on infrastructure automation to one that focuses on developing and sustaining skills and roles that improve efficiency and agility across on-premises, cloud, and edge infrastructures. Defining the roles of designers and architects to support automation is essential to ensure that automation works as expected, avoids significant errors, and complements other technologies. AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations) Alongside complementing automation trends, the implementation of AIOps to effectively automate IT operations processes such as event correlation, anomaly detection, and causality determination will also be important. AIOps will eliminate the data silos in IT by bringing all types of data under one roof so it can be used to execute machine learning (ML)-based methods to develop insights for responsive enhancements and corrections. AIOps can also help with probable cause analytics by focusing on the most likely source of a problem. The concept of site reliability engineering (SRE) is being increasingly adopted by SaaS providers and will gain importance in enterprise IT environments due to the trends listed above. AIOps is a key component that will enable site reliability engineers (SREs) to respond more quickly—and even proactively—by resolving issues without manual intervention. These focus areas are by no means an exhaustive list. There are a variety of trends that will be more prevalent in specific industry areas, but a common theme in the post-pandemic era is going to be superior delivery of IT services. That’s also at the heart of the Autonomous Digital Enterprise, a forward-focused business framework designed to help companies make technology investments for the future.

Read More
APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

All You Need to Know About IaaS Vs. PaaS Vs. SaaS

Article | August 8, 2022

IT and data center administrators are under pressure to foster quicker innovation. For workers and customers to have access to digital experiences, more devices must be deployed, and larger enterprise-to-edge networks must be managed. The security of distributed networks has suffered as a result of this rapid growth, though. Some colocation providers can install custom locks for your cabinet if necessary due to the varying compliance standards and security needs for distinct applications. However, physical security measures are still of utmost importance because theft and social engineering can affect hardware as well as data. Risk Companies Face Remote IT work continue on the long run Attacking users is the easiest way into networks IT may be deploying devices with weak controls When determining whether rack-level security is required, there are essentially two critical criteria to take into account. The first is the level of sensitivity of the data stored, and the second is the importance of the equipment in a particular rack to the facility's continuing functioning. Due to the nature of the data being handled and kept, some processes will always have a higher risk profile than others. Conclusion Data centers must rely on a physically secure perimeter that can be trusted. Clients, in particular, require unwavering assurance that security can be put in place to limit user access and guarantee that safety regulations are followed. Rack-level security locks that ensure physical access limitations are crucial to maintaining data center space security. Compared to their mechanical predecessors, electronic rack locks or "smart locks" offer a much more comprehensive range of feature-rich capabilities.

Read More
IT SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

What Is IaaS? A Data Center in the Cloud Packed with Services

Article | August 8, 2022

As your organization scales, inevitably, so too will its infrastructure needs. From physical spaces to personnel, devices to applications, physical security to cybersecurity – all these resources will continue to grow to meet the changing needs of your business operations. To manage your changing infrastructure throughout its entire lifecycle, your organization needs to implement a robust infrastructure lifecycle management program that’s designed to meet your particular business needs. In particular, IT asset lifecycle management (ITALM) is becoming increasingly important for organizations across industries. As threats to organizations’ cybersecurity become more sophisticated and successful cyberattacks become more common, your business needs (now, more than ever) to implement an infrastructure lifecycle management strategy that emphasizes the security of your IT infrastructure. In this article, we’ll explain why infrastructure management is important. Then we’ll outline steps your organization can take to design and implement a program and provide you with some of the most important infrastructure lifecycle management best practices for your business. What Is the Purpose of Infrastructure Lifecycle Management? No matter the size or industry of your organization, infrastructure lifecycle management is a critical process. The purpose of an infrastructure lifecycle management program is to protect your business and its infrastructure assets against risk. Today, protecting your organization and its customer data from malicious actors means taking a more active approach to cybersecurity. Simply put, recovering from a cyber attack is more difficult and expensive than protecting yourself from one. If 2020 and 2021 have taught us anything about cybersecurity, it’s that cybercrime is on the rise and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. As risks to cybersecurity continue to grow in number and in harm, infrastructure lifecycle management and IT asset management are becoming almost unavoidable. In addition to protecting your organization from potential cyberattacks, infrastructure lifecycle management makes for a more efficient enterprise, delivers a better end user experience for consumers, and identifies where your organization needs to expand its infrastructure. Some of the other benefits that come along with comprehensive infrastructure lifecycle management program include: More accurate planning; Centralized and cost-effective procurement; Streamlined provisioning of technology to users; More efficient maintenance; Secure and timely disposal. A robust infrastructure lifecycle management program helps your organization to keep track of all the assets running on (or attached to) your corporate networks. That allows you to catalog, identify and track these assets wherever they are, physically and digitally. While this might seem simple enough, infrastructure lifecycle management and particularly ITALM has become more complex as the diversity of IT assets has increased. Today organizations and their IT teams are responsible for managing hardware, software, cloud infrastructure, SaaS, and connected device or IoT assets. As the number of IT assets under management has soared for most organizations in the past decade, a comprehensive and holistic approach to infrastructure lifecycle management has never been more important. Generally speaking, there are four major stages of asset lifecycle management. Your organization’s infrastructure lifecycle management program should include specific policies and processes for each of the following steps: Planning. This is arguably the most important step for businesses and should be conducted prior to purchasing any assets. During this stage, you’ll need to identify what asset types are required and in what number; compile and verify the requirements for each asset; and evaluate those assets to make sure they meet your service needs. Acquisition and procurement. Use this stage to identify areas for purchase consolidation with the most cost-effective vendors, negotiate warranties and bulk purchases of SaaS and cloud infrastructure assets. This is where lack of insights into actual asset usage can potentially result in overpaying for assets that aren’t really necessary. For this reason, timely and accurate asset data is crucial for effective acquisition and procurement. Maintenance, upgrades and repair. All assets eventually require maintenance, upgrades and repairs. A holistic approach to infrastructure lifecycle management means tracking these needs and consolidating them into a single platform across all asset types. Disposal. An outdated or broken asset needs to be disposed of properly, especially if it contains sensitive information. For hardware, assets that are older than a few years are often obsolete, and assets that fall out of warranty are typically no longer worth maintaining. Disposal of cloud infrastructure assets is also critical because data stored in the cloud can stay there forever. Now that we’ve outlined the purpose and basic stages of infrastructure lifecycle management, it’s time to look at the steps your organization can take to implement it.

Read More
IT SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

Why are Investments in Network Monitoring Necessary for Businesses?

Article | July 27, 2022

Introduction It is hard to manage a modern firm without a convenient and adaptable IT infrastructure. When properly set up and networked, technology can improve back-office processes, increase efficiency, and simplify communication. IT infrastructure can be utilized to supply services or resources both within and outside of a company, as well as to its customers. IT infrastructure when adequately deployed aids organizations in achieving their objectives and increasing profits. IT infrastructure is made up of numerous components that must be integrated for your company's infrastructure to be coherent and functional. These components work in unison to guarantee that your systems and business as a whole run smoothly. Enterprise IT Infrastructure Trends Consumption-based pricing models are becoming more popular among enterprise purchasers, a trend that began with software and has now spread to hardware. This transition from capital to operational spending lowers risk, frees up capital, and improves flexibility. As a result, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) revenues increased by 53% from 2015 to 2016, making them the fastest-growing cloud and infrastructure services segments. The transition to as-a-service models is significant given that a unit of computing or storage in the cloud can be quite cheaper in terms of the total cost of ownership than a unit on-premises. While businesses have been migrating their workloads to the public cloud for years, there has been a new shift among large corporations. Many companies, including Capital One, GE, Netflix, Time Inc., and others, have downsized or removed their private data centers in favor of shifting their operations to the cloud. Cybersecurity remains a high priority for the C-suite and the board of directors. Attacks are increasing in number and complexity across all industries, with 80% of technology executives indicating that their companies are unable to construct a robust response. Due to lack of cybersecurity experts, many companies can’t get the skills they need on the inside, so they have to use managed security services. Future of Enterprise IT Infrastructure Companies can adopt the 'As-a-Service' model to lower entry barriers and begin testing future innovations on the cloud's basis. Domain specialists in areas like healthcare and manufacturing may harness AI's potential to solve some of their businesses' most pressing problems. Whether in a single cloud or across several clouds, businesses want an architecture that can expand to support the rapid evolution of their apps and industry for decades. For enterprise-class visibility and control across all clouds, the architecture must provide a common control plane that supports native cloud Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) as well as enhanced networking and security features. Conclusion The scale of disruption in the IT infrastructure sector is unparalleled, presenting enormous opportunities and hazards for industry stakeholders and their customers. Technology infrastructure executives must restructure their portfolios and rethink their go-to-market strategies to drive growth. They should also invest in the foundational competencies required for long-term success, such as digitization, analytics, and agile development. Data center companies that can solve the industry's challenges, as well as service providers that can scale quickly without limits and provide intelligent outcome-based models. This helps their clients achieve their business objectives through a portfolio of 'As-a-Service' models, will have a bright future.

Read More
APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

A Look at Trends in IT infrastructure and Operations for 2022

Article | May 9, 2022

We’re all hoping that 2022 will finally end the unprecedented challenges brought by the global pandemic and things will return to a new normalcy. For IT infrastructure and operations organizations, the rising trends that we are seeing today will likely continue, but there are still a few areas that will need special attention from IT leaders over the next 12 to 18 months. In no particular order, they include: The New Edge Edge computing is now at the forefront. Two primary factors that make it business-critical are the increased prevalence of remote and hybrid workplace models where employees will continue working remotely, either from home or a branch office, resulting in an increased adoption of cloud-based businesses and communications services. With the rising focus on remote and hybrid workplace cultures, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet have continued to expand their solutions and add new features. As people start moving back to office, they are likely to want the same experience they had from home. In a typical enterprise setup, branch office traffic is usually backhauled all the way to the data center. This architecture severely impacts the user experience, so enterprises will have to review their network architectures and come up with a roadmap to accommodate local egress between branch offices and headquarters. That’s where the edge can help, bringing it closer to the workforce. This also brings an opportunity to optimize costs by migrating from some of the expensive multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) or private circuits to relatively low-cost direct internet circuits, which is being addressed by the new secure access service edge (SASE) architecture that is being offered by many established vendors. I anticipate some components of SASE, specifically those related to software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), local egress, and virtual private network (VPN), will drive a lot of conversation this year. Holistic Cloud Strategy Cloud adoption will continue to grow, and along with software as a service (SaaS), there will be renewed interest in infrastructure as a service (IaaS), albeit for specific workloads. For a medium-to-large-sized enterprise with a substantial development environment, it will still be cost-prohibitive to move everything to the cloud, so any cloud strategy would need to be holistic and forward-looking to maximize its business value. Another pandemic-induced shift is from using virtual machines (VMs) as a consumption unit of compute to containers as a consumption unit of software. For on-premises or private cloud deployment architectures that require sustainable management, organizations will have to orchestrate containers and deploy efficient container security and management tools. Automation Now that cloud adoption, migration, and edge computing architectures are becoming more prevalent, the legacy methods of infrastructure provisioning and management will not be scalable. By increasing infrastructure automation, enterprises can optimize costs and be more flexible and efficient—but only if they are successful at developing new skills. To achieve the goal of “infrastructure as a code” will require a shift in the perspective on infrastructure automation to one that focuses on developing and sustaining skills and roles that improve efficiency and agility across on-premises, cloud, and edge infrastructures. Defining the roles of designers and architects to support automation is essential to ensure that automation works as expected, avoids significant errors, and complements other technologies. AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations) Alongside complementing automation trends, the implementation of AIOps to effectively automate IT operations processes such as event correlation, anomaly detection, and causality determination will also be important. AIOps will eliminate the data silos in IT by bringing all types of data under one roof so it can be used to execute machine learning (ML)-based methods to develop insights for responsive enhancements and corrections. AIOps can also help with probable cause analytics by focusing on the most likely source of a problem. The concept of site reliability engineering (SRE) is being increasingly adopted by SaaS providers and will gain importance in enterprise IT environments due to the trends listed above. AIOps is a key component that will enable site reliability engineers (SREs) to respond more quickly—and even proactively—by resolving issues without manual intervention. These focus areas are by no means an exhaustive list. There are a variety of trends that will be more prevalent in specific industry areas, but a common theme in the post-pandemic era is going to be superior delivery of IT services. That’s also at the heart of the Autonomous Digital Enterprise, a forward-focused business framework designed to help companies make technology investments for the future.

Read More
MORE ARTICLES

Spotlight

4K Solutions, LLC

4K Solutions, established in 2006, is a custom information technology /cyber systems integrator providing full turn-key solutions to include professional services and training.Headquartered in the Midland, Georgia, we are a SDVOSB (CVE), providing a diverse line of Information Technology and Cyber Security products and solutions from partners such as: ESD America, Cisco, CradlePoint Cubic / DTech Labs, ForeScout Technologies, Gridless Power, Haivision IBM (BigFix), Klas Telecom Government, Kopis Mobile, Motorola Solutions, Inc (WAVE), Nokia, Solarwinds, Vitec.

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APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Osterman Research Survey Finds 84% of Companies Have Only Rudimentary Capabilities for Securing Their Cloud Infrastructure

Ermetic | August 05, 2022

Ermetic, the cloud infrastructure security company, today released the findings of a research study conducted by Osterman Research on the cloud security maturity level of organizations in North America. The survey found that 84% of respondents were at an entry level (one or two) in terms of their cloud security capabilities and only 16% ranked at the top two levels. Meanwhile, 80% of companies reported they lack a dedicated security team responsible for protecting cloud resources from threats. The survey also revealed the top five priorities that all highly mature companies have in common when it comes to cloud security. Osterman Research surveyed 326 organizations in North America with 500 or more employees and who spend a minimum of $1 million or more each year on cloud infrastructure to establish an industry baseline against the Ermetic Cloud Security Model. The model was designed to provide organizations with a lightweight framework for determining their maturity level (1 - Ad Hoc, 2- Opportunistic, 3- Repeatable, 4- Automated & Integrated) across multiple domains, while allowing them to develop a specific, actionable roadmap for advancing their capabilities. “One of the most unexpected findings that emerged from this study was the lack of cloud security maturity among the largest enterprises surveyed,” said Michael Sampson, senior analyst for Osterman Research and author of the report. “Less than 10% of companies with more than 10,000 employees reported being at the top two maturity levels, while nearly 20% of smaller enterprises have achieved repeatable or automated & integrated cloud security capabilities.” Other Report Highlights Demonstrable ROI: 42% of companies investing more than 50 hours per week on cloud security are achieving the highest levels of maturity (Levels 3 and 4) Bigger not better: Only 7% of companies with more than 10,000 employees were at level three or four in terms of maturity, compared with 18% for companies with between 2,500 and 9,999 employees, and 24% for companies with 500 to 2,499 employees Overall, maturity is low: 84% of companies were at level one or two (41.5% Ad Hoc and 42.5% Opportunistic) and only 16% at level three or four (11.1% Repeatable and 4.9% Automated & Integrated) More clouds doesn’t equal more maturity: the percentage of companies that ranked at the highest levels of maturity (3 & 4) decreased with multicloud usage. For example, the number of organizations achieving Repeatable or Automated & Integrated security capabilities dropped nearly 50% when going from one (10%) to three (6%) cloud platforms Shared blindspot: 81% of organizations lack full visibility into all resources that are directly accessible from the Internet “This survey makes two things very clear. Without the right tools, spending lots of time and resources on cloud security will not necessarily make you more secure,” said Shai Morag, CEO of Ermetic. “And, by focusing on the right priorities you can achieve a very high level of security maturity regardless of your organization’s size.” Five Habits of Highly Mature Companies Organizations that reported focusing on the five following security priorities achieved the highest levels (3 or 4) of maturity: Detecting general cloud misconfigurations (e.g., unencrypted resources, MFA) Achieving the ability to track and investigate activities performed by human users and applications/service accounts across the cloud infrastructure Establishing Just-in-Time (JIT) access for developers / DevOps / Cloud operations teams to cloud infrastructure environments Evaluating and reporting on alignment with security best practices (e.g., AWS well-architected, CIS) and compliance standards (e.g., NIST, ISO, SOC2, PCI-DSS) Achieving least-privilege for identities in the cloud (both human identities and service accounts) About Ermetic Ermetic helps prevent breaches by reducing the attack surface of cloud infrastructure and enforcing least privilege at scale in the most complex environments. The Ermetic SaaS platform provides comprehensive cloud security for AWS, Azure and GCP that spans both cloud infrastructure entitlements management (CIEM) and cloud security posture management (CSPM). The company is led by proven technology entrepreneurs whose previous companies have been acquired by Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks and others. Ermetic has received funding from Accel, Forgepoint, Glilot Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Qumra and Target Global.

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APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

eStruxture Data Centers Signs Infrastructure Masons Climate Accord to Reduce Global Carbon Emissions

eStruxture | August 04, 2022

Today, eStruxture Data Centers, the largest Canadian cloud and carrier-neutral data center provider, is pleased to announce that it has signed the Infrastructure Masons Climate Accord (ICA), which unites over 70 companies to reduce carbon in digital infrastructure materials, products, and power. “At eStruxture, we are committed to designing and powering our data centers sustainably, and we are thrilled to be a part of this important initiative to promote global carbon accounting of digital infrastructure and work together with our industry peers towards a Net Zero future. Todd Coleman, President and CEO of eStruxture The ICA includes several large hyperscale companies, representing some of the largest digital infrastructure portfolios in the world, and over 40 colocation data center providers, product, service and investment firms. Together with these industry trailblazers, eStruxture will collaborate to adopt open standards, policies, and reporting around carbon reduction to drive industry accountability. “We established iMasons to unite the builders of the digital age,” said Dean Nelson, Chairman and Founder of Infrastructure Masons. “The ICA represents an unprecedented collaboration between leading digital infrastructure companies to accelerate our journey to carbon neutrality. Today, we are combining forces to compound the efforts of these firms to make meaningful and sustained progress toward that goal.” Sustainability is one of the core fundamentals that eStruxture was built upon and signing this accord is an important step on the company’s journey to reducing the environmental impact of the data center industry and building a better future. About Infrastructure Masons Infrastructure Masons (iMasons) is a non-profit, professional association of technology and business leaders who represent over $150Bn in infrastructure projects in over 130 countries. The organization is guided by an Advisory Council composed of global leaders who manage some of the largest digital infrastructure portfolios in the world. The iMasons vision is to Unite the Builders of the Digital Age by enabling our global membership to Connect, Grow, and Give Back. Members leave their companies at the door and connect as individuals. iMasons has four strategic industry priorities – increase Awareness, enhance Education opportunities, champion Diversity & Inclusion, and inspire Sustainability through deep member engagement. Visit the website at imasons.org or LinkedIn. About eStruxture eStruxture is the largest Canadian data center provider with locations in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. Our solutions are designed to give you more: more locations, more capacity, more connections that enable you to run modern, demanding enterprise applications, and offer your business the control to rapidly scale in response to unpredictable changes in business processes.

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APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

365 Data Centers to Acquire U.S. Colocation and Network Business of Sungard Availability Services

365 Data Centers | August 03, 2022

365 Data Centers, a leading provider of network-centric colocation and other Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions, has entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire Sungard’s U.S. colocation and network business. 365 is acquiring the international colocation brand’s data center facilities and customers in 8 strategic edge markets along with its U.S. network infrastructure, routes, and customers. The transaction will complement 365’s existing data center presence in Boca Raton, Bridgewater (NJ), Buffalo, Chicago, Commack (NY), Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Herndon (VA), Nashville, Philadelphia, New York City, and Tampa, and its interconnected, resilient, low latency, nationwide fiber network. Once this acquisition is closed and integrated, 365 will feature: 20 interconnected network-centric Data Centers 1,000,000 data center square feet which includes ample expansion space 53 MW of available power 105 Carriers across the platform with about 300 Carrier Points-of-Presence (PoPs) 90 additional network PoPs outside the 20 Data Centers Direct on-ramps from each Data Center to the public clouds Cloud storage, cloud compute, BaaS, DRaaS, and business continuity offerings 1,700 carrier, content, and enterprise customers “This acquisition demonstrates 365 Data Centers’ adherence to its network-centric colocation growth strategy. “We have already successfully doubled our business two times since inception in 2017 by acquiring, financing, integrating, and growing quality assets. We look forward to doing the same with the addition of the Sungard colocation and network portfolio, which will further enable us to provide quality services, grow our customer base, and deliver exceptional financial performance, all of which benefits our customers, employees, and investors.” Bob DeSantis, 365 Data Centers CEO Sungard employees associated with the acquired business are expected to continue to serve existing customers and will be complemented by the 365 technical team. Added DeSantis, “We look forward to having Sungard professionals join 365 and wowing our entire customer base with the combined talents of over 200 dedicated employees.” Funding for the transaction has already been secured from 365’s existing equity owners, including Stonecourt Capital which invests capital from some of the world’s largest family offices, institutions and sovereign wealth funds, and the Company’s bank syndicate, which represents the premier lenders to the data center industry. The deal is expected to close during the next three months. This transaction further solidifies 365’s position as one of the largest privately held IaaS providers operating in the Eastern United States with direct network connectivity to owned facilities in key western markets to serve customers with those geographic requirements. About 365 Data Centers: 365 Data Centers is a leading provider of hybrid Data Center solutions in 12 strategic, primarily edge, markets. Along with network-centric Data Centers in Boca Raton, Bridgewater (NJ), Buffalo, Chicago, Commack (NY), Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Herndon (VA), Nashville, Philadelphia, New York City, and Tampa, the company operates an interconnected, resilient, low latency, nationwide fiber network. 365 serves more than 1,300 customers. 365’s robust, carrier-neutral ecosystem and secure, reliable edge colocation, network, IP, DRaaS, BaaS, cloud compute and storage, and business continuity services help organizations reduce costs, drive innovation, and improve their customer experience. 365 Data Centers supports mission-critical application infrastructure by providing industry leading Service Level Agreement protections and adhering to industry standards such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2, SSAE 18, and ISAE 3402. 365 Data Centers’ corporate office is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

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APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Osterman Research Survey Finds 84% of Companies Have Only Rudimentary Capabilities for Securing Their Cloud Infrastructure

Ermetic | August 05, 2022

Ermetic, the cloud infrastructure security company, today released the findings of a research study conducted by Osterman Research on the cloud security maturity level of organizations in North America. The survey found that 84% of respondents were at an entry level (one or two) in terms of their cloud security capabilities and only 16% ranked at the top two levels. Meanwhile, 80% of companies reported they lack a dedicated security team responsible for protecting cloud resources from threats. The survey also revealed the top five priorities that all highly mature companies have in common when it comes to cloud security. Osterman Research surveyed 326 organizations in North America with 500 or more employees and who spend a minimum of $1 million or more each year on cloud infrastructure to establish an industry baseline against the Ermetic Cloud Security Model. The model was designed to provide organizations with a lightweight framework for determining their maturity level (1 - Ad Hoc, 2- Opportunistic, 3- Repeatable, 4- Automated & Integrated) across multiple domains, while allowing them to develop a specific, actionable roadmap for advancing their capabilities. “One of the most unexpected findings that emerged from this study was the lack of cloud security maturity among the largest enterprises surveyed,” said Michael Sampson, senior analyst for Osterman Research and author of the report. “Less than 10% of companies with more than 10,000 employees reported being at the top two maturity levels, while nearly 20% of smaller enterprises have achieved repeatable or automated & integrated cloud security capabilities.” Other Report Highlights Demonstrable ROI: 42% of companies investing more than 50 hours per week on cloud security are achieving the highest levels of maturity (Levels 3 and 4) Bigger not better: Only 7% of companies with more than 10,000 employees were at level three or four in terms of maturity, compared with 18% for companies with between 2,500 and 9,999 employees, and 24% for companies with 500 to 2,499 employees Overall, maturity is low: 84% of companies were at level one or two (41.5% Ad Hoc and 42.5% Opportunistic) and only 16% at level three or four (11.1% Repeatable and 4.9% Automated & Integrated) More clouds doesn’t equal more maturity: the percentage of companies that ranked at the highest levels of maturity (3 & 4) decreased with multicloud usage. For example, the number of organizations achieving Repeatable or Automated & Integrated security capabilities dropped nearly 50% when going from one (10%) to three (6%) cloud platforms Shared blindspot: 81% of organizations lack full visibility into all resources that are directly accessible from the Internet “This survey makes two things very clear. Without the right tools, spending lots of time and resources on cloud security will not necessarily make you more secure,” said Shai Morag, CEO of Ermetic. “And, by focusing on the right priorities you can achieve a very high level of security maturity regardless of your organization’s size.” Five Habits of Highly Mature Companies Organizations that reported focusing on the five following security priorities achieved the highest levels (3 or 4) of maturity: Detecting general cloud misconfigurations (e.g., unencrypted resources, MFA) Achieving the ability to track and investigate activities performed by human users and applications/service accounts across the cloud infrastructure Establishing Just-in-Time (JIT) access for developers / DevOps / Cloud operations teams to cloud infrastructure environments Evaluating and reporting on alignment with security best practices (e.g., AWS well-architected, CIS) and compliance standards (e.g., NIST, ISO, SOC2, PCI-DSS) Achieving least-privilege for identities in the cloud (both human identities and service accounts) About Ermetic Ermetic helps prevent breaches by reducing the attack surface of cloud infrastructure and enforcing least privilege at scale in the most complex environments. The Ermetic SaaS platform provides comprehensive cloud security for AWS, Azure and GCP that spans both cloud infrastructure entitlements management (CIEM) and cloud security posture management (CSPM). The company is led by proven technology entrepreneurs whose previous companies have been acquired by Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks and others. Ermetic has received funding from Accel, Forgepoint, Glilot Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Qumra and Target Global.

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APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

eStruxture Data Centers Signs Infrastructure Masons Climate Accord to Reduce Global Carbon Emissions

eStruxture | August 04, 2022

Today, eStruxture Data Centers, the largest Canadian cloud and carrier-neutral data center provider, is pleased to announce that it has signed the Infrastructure Masons Climate Accord (ICA), which unites over 70 companies to reduce carbon in digital infrastructure materials, products, and power. “At eStruxture, we are committed to designing and powering our data centers sustainably, and we are thrilled to be a part of this important initiative to promote global carbon accounting of digital infrastructure and work together with our industry peers towards a Net Zero future. Todd Coleman, President and CEO of eStruxture The ICA includes several large hyperscale companies, representing some of the largest digital infrastructure portfolios in the world, and over 40 colocation data center providers, product, service and investment firms. Together with these industry trailblazers, eStruxture will collaborate to adopt open standards, policies, and reporting around carbon reduction to drive industry accountability. “We established iMasons to unite the builders of the digital age,” said Dean Nelson, Chairman and Founder of Infrastructure Masons. “The ICA represents an unprecedented collaboration between leading digital infrastructure companies to accelerate our journey to carbon neutrality. Today, we are combining forces to compound the efforts of these firms to make meaningful and sustained progress toward that goal.” Sustainability is one of the core fundamentals that eStruxture was built upon and signing this accord is an important step on the company’s journey to reducing the environmental impact of the data center industry and building a better future. About Infrastructure Masons Infrastructure Masons (iMasons) is a non-profit, professional association of technology and business leaders who represent over $150Bn in infrastructure projects in over 130 countries. The organization is guided by an Advisory Council composed of global leaders who manage some of the largest digital infrastructure portfolios in the world. The iMasons vision is to Unite the Builders of the Digital Age by enabling our global membership to Connect, Grow, and Give Back. Members leave their companies at the door and connect as individuals. iMasons has four strategic industry priorities – increase Awareness, enhance Education opportunities, champion Diversity & Inclusion, and inspire Sustainability through deep member engagement. Visit the website at imasons.org or LinkedIn. About eStruxture eStruxture is the largest Canadian data center provider with locations in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. Our solutions are designed to give you more: more locations, more capacity, more connections that enable you to run modern, demanding enterprise applications, and offer your business the control to rapidly scale in response to unpredictable changes in business processes.

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APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

365 Data Centers to Acquire U.S. Colocation and Network Business of Sungard Availability Services

365 Data Centers | August 03, 2022

365 Data Centers, a leading provider of network-centric colocation and other Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions, has entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire Sungard’s U.S. colocation and network business. 365 is acquiring the international colocation brand’s data center facilities and customers in 8 strategic edge markets along with its U.S. network infrastructure, routes, and customers. The transaction will complement 365’s existing data center presence in Boca Raton, Bridgewater (NJ), Buffalo, Chicago, Commack (NY), Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Herndon (VA), Nashville, Philadelphia, New York City, and Tampa, and its interconnected, resilient, low latency, nationwide fiber network. Once this acquisition is closed and integrated, 365 will feature: 20 interconnected network-centric Data Centers 1,000,000 data center square feet which includes ample expansion space 53 MW of available power 105 Carriers across the platform with about 300 Carrier Points-of-Presence (PoPs) 90 additional network PoPs outside the 20 Data Centers Direct on-ramps from each Data Center to the public clouds Cloud storage, cloud compute, BaaS, DRaaS, and business continuity offerings 1,700 carrier, content, and enterprise customers “This acquisition demonstrates 365 Data Centers’ adherence to its network-centric colocation growth strategy. “We have already successfully doubled our business two times since inception in 2017 by acquiring, financing, integrating, and growing quality assets. We look forward to doing the same with the addition of the Sungard colocation and network portfolio, which will further enable us to provide quality services, grow our customer base, and deliver exceptional financial performance, all of which benefits our customers, employees, and investors.” Bob DeSantis, 365 Data Centers CEO Sungard employees associated with the acquired business are expected to continue to serve existing customers and will be complemented by the 365 technical team. Added DeSantis, “We look forward to having Sungard professionals join 365 and wowing our entire customer base with the combined talents of over 200 dedicated employees.” Funding for the transaction has already been secured from 365’s existing equity owners, including Stonecourt Capital which invests capital from some of the world’s largest family offices, institutions and sovereign wealth funds, and the Company’s bank syndicate, which represents the premier lenders to the data center industry. The deal is expected to close during the next three months. This transaction further solidifies 365’s position as one of the largest privately held IaaS providers operating in the Eastern United States with direct network connectivity to owned facilities in key western markets to serve customers with those geographic requirements. About 365 Data Centers: 365 Data Centers is a leading provider of hybrid Data Center solutions in 12 strategic, primarily edge, markets. Along with network-centric Data Centers in Boca Raton, Bridgewater (NJ), Buffalo, Chicago, Commack (NY), Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Herndon (VA), Nashville, Philadelphia, New York City, and Tampa, the company operates an interconnected, resilient, low latency, nationwide fiber network. 365 serves more than 1,300 customers. 365’s robust, carrier-neutral ecosystem and secure, reliable edge colocation, network, IP, DRaaS, BaaS, cloud compute and storage, and business continuity services help organizations reduce costs, drive innovation, and improve their customer experience. 365 Data Centers supports mission-critical application infrastructure by providing industry leading Service Level Agreement protections and adhering to industry standards such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2, SSAE 18, and ISAE 3402. 365 Data Centers’ corporate office is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

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