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Ayehu extends IT automation into security automation
This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe. There's hardly a person in IT that doesn't have too much to do and too little time to do it. Since few IT departments are on a hiring binge, it's probably safe to say there are too few people handling the routine tasks to keep systems up and running along with the never ending firefighting. In short, most IT professionals are overworked and some might even be overwhelmed.In the "work smarter, not harder" category of tools are those that provide for IT process automation. Such tools create a script of some sort that automatically executes every time certain conditions are met. The script contains a workflow of very specific tasks that a person would normally have to do, but in this case they can be automated to be completed with or without input from a human.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
WHITE PAPER: HP
Why you need a next-generation firewall
This white paper explores the reasons for implementing NG firewalls and lays out a path to success for overburdened IT organizations. Learn More
WHITE PAPER: BMC Software
Deliver Better Service and Support, More Efficiently
People and businesses can do amazing things when technology runs at its best. Changing requirements and expectations have placed new demands on IT; now it's time for a new approach to service and support. Learn More
Enterprises increasingly look to the private cloud
Private cloud gives enterprises best of both worlds, say analysts Read More
Open user group specs out SDN expectations
The Open Networking User Group (ONUG) this week established working groups to address what it sees as the biggest pain points in networking and issued a white paper describing the current challenges and future needs.The group, which includes some of the biggest end user IT organizations in the industry, is looking to persuade network vendors to meet its requirements for greater multivendor interoperability and diversity, and relieve the bottleneck networking currently presents in moving IT operations forward. And ONUG will vote on the best remedy with its dollars.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
WHITE PAPER: APC by Schneider Electric
Infrastructure Management Software Improves Planning & Costs
This paper demonstrates, through a series of examples, how data center infrastructure management software tools can simplify operational processes, cut costs, and speed up information delivery. View more
Why a Media Giant Sold Its Data Center and Headed to the Cloud
Two weeks ago, venerable media company Condé Nast — publisher of magazines like Vogue, The New Yorker and Wired — decommissioned its Newark, Del. data center. The 67,200 square feet facility had already been sold and the deal closed. The 105-year-old company had gone all-in with the cloud.10 of the Most Useful Cloud Databases "Our job in the technology group at Condé Nast is to provide the content makers in the company with the best tools to create content," says Joe Simon, executive vice president and CTO of Condé Nast. "Now most of our content is distributed across all sorts of places. We've got to ensure that we have the platform and technology flexibility to enable this content to be distributed wherever our editors want it to be. And, of course, we also continue to manage the traditional IT functions like HR and finance and sales."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
How to Set Up a New Business Using Only Cloud Services
As recently as five years ago, setting up a new business and equipping it for a PC-literate workforce was a costly affair. You needed to acquire server hardware and pay various software licensing fees.The availability of mature, cloud-based services means that the situation is radically different today. Businesses can access the capabilities they require with little capital outlay. With this in mind, here are six important "digital" steps that a modern business needs to take.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: How to build a private cloud Secure the Necessary Domains The first step for any new business today is establishing an online presence by registering a domain name bearing either its name or its brand. This is a relatively simple step that can be done with any ICANN-accredited domain registrar. As it is, the hardest bit is figuring out an appropriate domain name that best represents your business but has yet to be acquired by someone else.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
WHITE PAPER: VCE
University of San Diego Advances Academic Excellence
This case study highlights how Vblock System enabled them to speed the rollout of new infrastructure by 75% while reducing IT implementation costs by 50%. Learn More
The CISO-centric Information Security Triad
What is the information security triad? Just about everyone knows the answer to this question is CIA – Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. Security professionals, service providers, and technology vendors are responsible for these three infosec pillars in one way or another. CISOs also take part of CIA oversight, but their responsibilities extend beyond confidentiality, integrity, and availability alone. In fact, the CISO role is changing rapidly and becoming so critical that these security executives deserve a cybersecurity triad of their own. The modern CISO triad equates to: Security efficacy. In some ways, this requirement supports the status quo as CISOs have always been accountable for cyber defense. So what’s changed? Security efficacy used to be closely associated with risk management – identifying and quantifying risk, and then putting the right controls in place for risk mitigation. While CISOs still own this part of the job, they are increasingly tasked with putting up security fences as well as overseeing top-notch intelligence and emergency response agencies. These responsibilities require a vast improvement in internal and external security intelligence supported by intensification of specialized security analytics skills, which can be difficult to find. Finally, CISOs need to be able to translate geek speak and a cyber-gumshoe lexicon into business metrics. Operational efficiency. In the past, CISOs tended to disregard security operations in favor of a dogmatic focus on security efficacy. This led to a best-of-breed security technology mentality, where organizations purchased the best email security, AV software, firewalls, and IDS/IPSs they could find. While well-intended, this strategy made mighty enterprise organizations dependent upon an army of point tools, manual processes, and a plethora of individual contributors from the IT security organization. This situation is not only an operational nightmare, but it also detracts from security efficacy as modern malware circumvents security defenses and “kill chain” phases are viewed as autonomous events. Modern CISOs hired over the past few years are in charge of supplanting this mess with a mix of coordinated processes, integrated technologies, organizational cooperation, and far more automation. Business enablement. Some industry pundits have dumbed down this necessity with statements like: “Information security can no longer get in the way of the business.” That may be true, but it’s overly simplistic and not the point. CISOs are supposed to hold up a stop sign when the organization embarks on initiatives that exacerbate cyber risk, but this assumes that they understand the IT initiatives and business processes involved. Based upon cybersecurity history, this may be a bold supposition. Modern CISOs have to approach business enablement in two distinct ways: 1) Business process expertise, and 2) Cybersecurity services that can support business initiatives. The latter requirement could include a flexible infrastructure for Identity and Access Management (IAM), flexible security services that are extensible to IaaS and SaaS infrastructure, fine-grained network access control policies/enforcement, and strong data security and enterprise Digital Rights Management (eDRM). In aggregate, it’s not about holding back the business; it’s about enabling the business to be creative while constantly managing IT risk. A few final observations:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
10 Top Jobs by Salary for Social Media Pros
Social Media Skills in High DemandImage by ThinkstockOf the 20 most common jobs that require social media skills, 11 pay above the national average with a median salary of $43,400, according to data provided by PayScale to CIO.com. While some of these jobs are more readily available at smaller businesses, the pay doesn’t usually match that provided by larger companies. The typical median pay in this field for businesses with up to 100 employees is $40,900 while businesses with more than 1,000 employees will pay an average of $58,400 for that same position, according to PayScale. Overall, the market value and demand for social media skills is increasing on a continuing basis. These are the 10 most common jobs, ranked by their median respective salaries that require social media skills.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
How the Internet of Things will – and won't – change IT
Like too many other trends barreling down on beleaguered CIOs and IT managers, right now the Internet of Things is something to worry about, but not necessarily something to do anything about.At least, that’s my takeaway from a recent Spiceworks survey of 440 IT pros in North America and Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Depending on which vendor or analyst you listen to, the IoT – new connected sensors, machines, and other non-human stuff – is about to dump anywhere from 26 billion to 50 billion new devices onto worldwide networks over the next few decades. Estimates of the value of this new market run up to almost $15 trillion in just 8 years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
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