There used to be a single test to determine the effectiveness of your data backup strategy. It centered around successfully restoring your data from a backup, and you would rest easy knowing that you would, in theory, recover from a data loss event. It was really that simple.
Digital transformation initiatives have fallen well within the realm of the traditional wide-area network (WAN). Complications with emerging market trends, shifting consumer demands, and increased competition are primary reasons why one enterprise after another has made the jump to software-defined WAN (SD-WAN). And for those that haven't, well, they most likely (or should) have this on their list of IT investment objectives. If not, there will be compromised business-critical services and network performance.
As global industry evolves, digital innovation that features a hybrid, “from anywhere” business environment has become critical to modern workforces. New formats, like zero-trust access (ZTA), allow employees and external partners to utilize digital resources, no matter when or where they choose to work.
Regardless of the subject, there’s no one better to learn from than the experts. With this thought in mind, we recently held a cybersecurity webinar featuring Kevin Mitnick, a famous hacker and New York Times bestselling author, James Morrison, a HPE Distinguished Technologist and a former FBI agent, and our own Greg LaBrie, an enterprise security industry veteran and our Vice President of Technology Solutions and Services.
In the last six months, the fear of cyberattacks has grown significantly, largely due to several high-profile incidents that left enterprises struggling to deal with the fall out and the general public fearful of the next attack.
As software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications rise in popularity and enterprises continue to embrace digital transformation initiatives, it’s critical these applications are available at any time, from any location, and from any device. IT must also guarantee consistent network performance and superior experiences to employees and customers, while ensuring security over a rapidly expanding attack surface.
Enterprises in every industry have found that, in order to stay competitive, they must embrace the new digital economy and adapt their IT environment to match. As a part of these digital transformations, IT teams must upgrade their security solutions to keep ahead of cybercriminals who are eager to take advantage of any security weaknesses that come about as a result of new technology integrations.
As a result of advances in digital technologies, such as software-as-a-service (SaaS) and other tools with increased traffic demands, many IT teams are now in the process of replacing outdated WAN infrastructures that can’t keep up with modern requirements. The latest solution is software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN).
Cyber threats are not new just because more people are working from home. Attacks on your network happen every day, and did long before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recent COVID-19 crisis is a prime example of why contingency plans are so critical in a world that seems increasingly vulnerable to disrupting events. It also shows just how little time you may have to implement a plan. In a world today that operates at the speed of digital on a normal day, even the best laid plans are hard to implement when everything is trending all at once. As Mike Tyson said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
