WEI Tech Exchange

Three Innovative Ways AI-Powered Networking Transforms Your Enterprise

By Greg LaBrie |   Jul 25, 2024

The business landscape is marked by rapid innovation, disruption, and intense pressure on IT teams to accelerate digital transformation. As generative AI (GenAI) and natural language processing (NLP) reshape business expectations, the enterprise network emerges as a critical component for delivering data services and enabling technologies. Ensuring optimal network performance and health is important for business success and delivering exceptional user experiences.

Shining A Light On Shadow IT: Strategies For Secure Innovation On AWS

By Keith Lafaso |   Jul 12, 2024

In the first installment of this extended part series, we explored the fundamentals of cloud governance and best practices for establishing a robust governance framework on AWS. We identified shadow IT, which is the use of unapproved cloud services by employees, as a key challenge. In this article, we'll dive deeper into strategies for managing shadow IT risks while fostering the agility and innovation the cloud enables. We will also focus on leveraging AWS services to improve visibility, automate policies, and provide secure self-service options.

Maximizing Incident Response with a Modern SOC

By Shawn Murphy |   May 31, 2024

The goal of every security organization is to protect its data. This mission has become increasingly complex in the face of an expanding attack surface and increasingly sophisticated and frequent attacks waged by relentless adversaries. Effectively responding to security incidents requires the Security Operations Center (SOC) to validate alerts and provide the IR team with critical details on the scope of the threat so they can quickly and reliably remediate the issue. However, several obstacles hinder the SOC from gaining the necessary visibility to deliver this critical insight.

Addressing The Common Challenges Of AI Implementation To Unlock Its Full Potential

By Greg LaBrie |   May 23, 2024

Are you ready to embrace the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution? Many companies are already have made significant strides, driven by the immense potential of AI. According to the IDC, IT spending is rapidly accelerating to capitalize on the AI wave. By 2025, Global 2000 organizations are projected to allocate a staggering 40% of their core IT budgets towards AI-related initiatives. For most IT companies, AI is poised to surpass cloud computing as the primary catalyst for innovation. The race is on.

The Cybersecurity 3-Layer Wedding Cake

By Bill Frank |   May 17, 2024

See Bill Frank’s biography and contact information at the end of this article.

This article is Part Two of my series on managing cyber-related business risks. In Part One, I discussed the relationship between Defensive Controls and Performance Controls. Defensive Controls directly block threats. Performance Controls measure the effectiveness of Defensive Controls and suggest improvements.

Five Attributes of IT Product Purchasing That Positively Impact the Environment

By Patrick Gamble |   May 16, 2024

Environmental sustainability now matters. Many companies are adopting sustainability objectives to fulfill their duty to the environment, comply with regulations, enhance market competitiveness, realize cost savings, and meet investor expectations. An integral component of these sustainability efforts is making sustainable purchasing decisions.

For your benefit, WEI has identified five key attributes of IT product purchasing that are known to have a positive impact on the environment.

Reduce Risk And Simplify Your Cloud Journey With A Modern HCI Solution

By Patrick Gamble |   May 14, 2024

Today, businesses are constantly seeking ways to be more agile, reduce costs, and enhance security. Traditional infrastructure, with its isolated components and complex management, can hinder these objectives. Understandably, many businesses worry about disruptions during migration, data security, and a smooth cutover to a new system.

Streamlining Critical Operations With WEI's Staff Augmentation

By Greg Palmer |   May 07, 2024

Consider the impact that the addition or subtraction of key players can have on a professional sports team; offensive and defensive schemes dependent on a particular skill set can be compromised with each personnel change. Similarly, in the rapidly evolving fields of IT and telecommunications, the departure of a seasoned IT professional can significantly disrupt operations, particularly when it involves the loss of specialized expertise.

Four Efficiency Benefits of IT Lifecycle Management

By Patrick Gamble |   Apr 22, 2024

Today, many businesses are striving to be good corporate citizens to help ensure a sustainable world for future generations. Adopting environmentally and socially responsible practices, obtaining various sustainability certifications, and engaging in cause-related marketing are increasingly popular as they resonate with consumers who value sustainability.

Using Performance Controls to Address Cybersecurity’s Achilles Heel

By Bill Frank |   Mar 21, 2024

See Bill Frank’s biography and contact information at the end of this article.

[Note: This is an updated version of the original article posted on March 21, 2024. I replaced the term "Governance” Controls with “Performance” Controls to eliminate any confusion with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 use of the term “Governance.”

I focus here on automated controls that monitor and measure the “performance” of “Defensive” controls that directly block threats or at least alert on suspicious activities.

How well are your cybersecurity controls performing? Measuring control efficacy is challenging. In fact, under-configured, misconfigured, and poorly tuned controls, as well as variances in security processes are the Achilles Heels of cybersecurity programs.

A mismatch between risk reduction potential and performance results in undetected threats (false negatives) as well as an excessive number of false positives. This leads to an increase in the likelihood of loss events.

All controls, whether people, processes, or technologies, can be categorized in one of two ways – Defensive or Performance.