TECHNOLOGY

Empowering Proactive Cyber Security with Managed Detection and Response

Published

3 months ago

September 16, 2023

Empowering Proactive Cyber Security with Managed Detection and Response

Cyber threats continue to grow in sophistication, targeting businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises.

Traditional cybersecurity approaches are no longer sufficient to protect against these evolving threats. This is where Managed Detection and Response (MDR) comes into play, revolutionizing the way organizations defend their digital assets.

Did you know that from March 2023 to May 2023, threat actors deployed approximately 11.5 attacks per minute! Clearly, as cybersecurity threats continue to escalate in scope, scope and sophistication, so the imperative to evolve and strengthen our defences must escalate too!

But with cost and cyber-talent gap pressures also rising, how can you enhance your security posture, without overspending and with managing constraints on skills too? Putting this into context, in the UK alone, 50% of all businesses have a basic cyber security skills gap, while 33% have an advanced one, a figure broadly consistent since 2021 (Gov.UK). And this all heightened by the number of cyber security job postings having risen 30% on the previous year to some 160,035 – again this is just in the UK, but representative of global trends.

Additionally, in today’s ‘Age of Convergence’ and as the divide between IT and OT diminishes, attack surfaces continue to increase! This is especially the case in sectors such as manufacturing which Gartner recently identified as the most targeted vertical for cyberattacks at some 23.2%. So, how can you best cut through ‘the noise’ around cyberthreats and cyber defence solutions alike, to better clarify the right option for you, enable informed decision-making and ultimately benefit from not only enhanced, more proactive threat detection and mitigation, but also help avoid issues as diverse as risk alert overload and complexity through to tool sprawl and ops burnout.

Further, with threat actors never taking ‘time off’ and increasingly collaborating too, coupled with the talent, cost and resource pressures affecting organizations of all sizes, the imperative for continuous 24x7x365 around-the-clock protection & an expanded defence and mitigation team has probably never mattered more.

So, what are MDR’s key benefits? Here’s my Top 6!

This enhanced capacity to monitor, detect and defend your organization – and without interruption – is fundamental to backstop your security operations, bolster in-house team time and skills and scale when you need it most. This is where Managed Detection and Response (MDR) can be the difference maker. Indeed, there are many variations on MDR, notably Bring-Your-Own Security Stack / Hybrid, Full Vendor-Supplied MDR Stack/Standalone, Cloud MDR Solution, Managed Extended Detection and Response (Managed XDR) and Custom MDR – making selecting the right provider vital.

To learn more on leveraging this approach and making informed personalised choices for your organisation, Blackberry’s Managed Detection and Response MDR Buyer’s Guide is freely available here now – and is packed with tangible use cases, cost analysis, and the holistic factors to consider when choosing an MDR solution. This guide also benefits from BlackBerry’s depth of experience right across strategy, expertise, and technology to better analyse and protect organizations of all sizes, by better preventing and containing threats and large-scale breaches.

In terms of ‘fast facts’ from the guide, here’s just one example! Did you know that spinning up your own SOC can actually cost more than using an MDR service? In fact, you can achieve world-class outcomes that build upon the existing security and teams you already have with a cost reduction of up to 85% less vis a vis going it alone. Additionally, when you extend your organisation’s team, by combining threat hunters alongside artificial intelligence, the possibilities are expanded further still!

CylanceAI is a world-first case in point, being both the longest running cybersecurity AI in the world, launched back in 2016 and now just becoming the industry’s first predictive cybersecurity solution too. Indeed, in its major August 2023 update, the new CylanceAI engine is shown to build on its previous iterations to stop attacks a meaningful 12 times faster and with 20 times less resources than other security solutions, with real world case examples in use such as GDEX. Very much a shared value opportunity here right across security, cost and sustainability!

And there’s more! In this just launched Tomorrow’s Tech Today podcast special with Keiron Holyome, Vice President – UKI & Emerging Markets at @Blackberry we dive further into this subject area, including the very latest in evolving threats and their detection, such as within the software supply chain. But in particular, with AI vs AI a rising battle ground, we discuss just how Artificial Intelligence is helping to close the human skills gap, strengthen cyber-resilience and reduce daily alert noise by up to 90% – or in other words, better help organisations to ‘nip cyber-attacks in the bud’.

This is complemented with a focus on diversity in cybersecurity! Look out for some inspiring sharing here around careers in this field, STEM-STEAM skills, negating AI bias, and some fantastic opportunities for learning and development – plus a focus on all things power of ecosystem collaboration and knowledge co-creation – a superb example here regards the Cuba ransomware threat group. Additionally, we explore learning highlights from the Global Threat Intelligence Report discussing a number of prominent findings including the levels to which attackers are now diversifying their tools in an attempt to bypass defensive controls.

You can listen to all the latest here !

Many thanks, Sally

About the Author

A highly experienced chief technology officer, professor in advanced technologies, and a global strategic advisor on digital transformation, Sally Eaves specialises in the application of emergent technologies, notably AI, 5G, cloud, security, and IoT disciplines, for business and IT transformation, alongside social impact at scale, especially from sustainability and DEI perspectives.

An international keynote speaker and author, Sally was an inaugural recipient of the Frontier Technology and Social Impact award, presented at the United Nations, and has been described as the “torchbearer for ethical tech”, founding Aspirational Futures to enhance inclusion, diversity, and belonging in the technology space and beyond. Sally is also the chair for the Global Cyber Trust at GFCYBER.

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TECHNOLOGY

HCLTech and Cisco create collaborative hybrid workplaces

Published

2 days ago

November 29, 2023

Max

Digital comms specialist Cisco and global tech firm HCLTech have teamed up to launch Meeting-Rooms-as-a-Service (MRaaS).

Available on a subscription model, this solution modernises legacy meeting rooms and enables users to join meetings from any meeting solution provider using Webex devices.

The MRaaS solution helps enterprises simplify the design, implementation and maintenance of integrated meeting rooms, enabling seamless collaboration for their globally distributed hybrid workforces.

Rakshit Ghura, senior VP and Global head of digital workplace services, HCLTech, said: “MRaaS combines our consulting and managed services expertise with Cisco’s proficiency in Webex devices to change the way employees conceptualise, organise and interact in a collaborative environment for a modern hybrid work model.

“The common vision of our partnership is to elevate the collaboration experience at work and drive productivity through modern meeting rooms.”

Alexandra Zagury, VP of partner managed and as-a-Service Sales at Cisco, said: “Our partnership with HCLTech helps our clients transform their offices through cost-effective managed services that support the ongoing evolution of workspaces.

“As we reimagine the modern office, we are making it easier to support collaboration and productivity among workers, whether they are in the office or elsewhere.”

Cisco’s Webex collaboration devices harness the power of artificial intelligence to offer intuitive, seamless collaboration experiences, enabling meeting rooms with smart features such as meeting zones, intelligent people framing, optimised attendee audio and background noise removal, among others.

Want to learn more about cybersecurity and the cloud from industry leaders? Check out Cyber Security & Cloud Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

Tags: Cisco, collaboration, HCLTech, Hybrid, meetings

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TECHNOLOGY

Canonical releases low-touch private cloud MicroCloud

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2023

Max

Canonical has announced the general availability of MicroCloud, a low-touch, open source cloud solution. MicroCloud is part of Canonical’s growing cloud infrastructure portfolio.

It is purpose-built for scalable clusters and edge deployments for all types of enterprises. It is designed with simplicity, security and automation in mind, minimising the time and effort to both deploy and maintain it. Conveniently, enterprise support for MicroCloud is offered as part of Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro subscription, with several support tiers available, and priced per node.

MicroClouds are optimised for repeatable and reliable remote deployments. A single command initiates the orchestration and clustering of various components with minimal involvement by the user, resulting in a fully functional cloud within minutes. This simplified deployment process significantly reduces the barrier to entry, putting a production-grade cloud at everyone’s fingertips.

Juan Manuel Ventura, head of architectures & technologies at Spindox, said: “Cloud computing is not only about technology, it’s the beating heart of any modern industrial transformation, driving agility and innovation. Our mission is to provide our customers with the most effective ways to innovate and bring value; having a complexity-free cloud infrastructure is one important piece of that puzzle. With MicroCloud, the focus shifts away from struggling with cloud operations to solving real business challenges” says

In addition to seamless deployment, MicroCloud prioritises security and ease of maintenance. All MicroCloud components are built with strict confinement for increased security, with over-the-air transactional updates that preserve data and roll back on errors automatically. Upgrades to newer versions are handled automatically and without downtime, with the mechanisms to hold or schedule them as needed.

With this approach, MicroCloud caters to both on-premise clouds but also edge deployments at remote locations, allowing organisations to use the same infrastructure primitives and services wherever they are needed. It is suitable for business-in-branch office locations or industrial use inside a factory, as well as distributed locations where the focus is on replicability and unattended operations.

Cedric Gegout, VP of product at Canonical, said: “As data becomes more distributed, the infrastructure has to follow. Cloud computing is now distributed, spanning across data centres, far and near edge computing appliances. MicroCloud is our answer to that.

“By packaging known infrastructure primitives in a portable and unattended way, we are delivering a simpler, more prescriptive cloud experience that makes zero-ops a reality for many Industries.“

MicroCloud’s lightweight architecture makes it usable on both commodity and high-end hardware, with several ways to further reduce its footprint depending on your workload needs. In addition to the standard Ubuntu Server or Desktop, MicroClouds can be run on Ubuntu Core – a lightweight OS optimised for the edge. With Ubuntu Core, MicroClouds are a perfect solution for far-edge locations with limited computing capabilities. Users can choose to run their workloads using Kubernetes or via system containers. System containers based on LXD behave similarly to traditional VMs but consume fewer resources while providing bare-metal performance.

Coupled with Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro + Support subscription, MicroCloud users can benefit from an enterprise-grade open source cloud solution that is fully supported and with better economics. An Ubuntu Pro subscription offers security maintenance for the broadest collection of open-source software available from a single vendor today. It covers over 30k packages with a consistent security maintenance commitment, and additional features such as kernel livepatch, systems management at scale, certified compliance and hardening profiles enabling easy adoption for enterprises. With per-node pricing and no hidden fees, customers can rest assured that their environment is secure and supported without the expensive price tag typically associated with cloud solutions.

Tags: automation, Canonical, MicroCloud, private cloud

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TECHNOLOGY

AWS and SoftwareOne collaborate on RISE with SAP

Published

1 week ago

November 22, 2023

Max

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and SoftwareOne Holding AG, a global provider of end-to-end software and cloud technology solutions, have partnered to help customers transition to RISE with SAP on an AWS cloud environment.

Called the Ready for RISE on AWS bundle, it combines SoftwareOne’s deep SAP advisory and implementation knowledge with AWS technologies to expedite a client’s SAP transformation journey.

The collaboration comes at a time when there is growing pressure on organisations to decide how to modernise their SAP environments driven in part by the end of mainstream support for SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) in 2027. Despite the imminent deadline, many organisations are still confused as to which path to take, including when to adopt RISE with SAP, SAP’s bundled offering of cloud solutions, infrastructure, and services that helps migrate SAP ERP to the cloud.

Ireneusz Hołowacz, Director of Application Development Center at GAVDI Polska, said: “A stable, efficient, and cost-effective environment for consultants and programmers is one of the most important priorities of our daily work. Thanks to the migration of our SAP systems to the AWS cloud with the help of SoftwareOne, GAVDI Polska has achieved all the goals set for this process.

In a survey recently conducted by SoftwareOne with Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) – the full details of which will be revealed in January 2024 – showed that while 42% of respondents were familiar with RISE with SAP, 40% had heard of it but weren’t familiar with the details and 18% had never heard of it. Over half (52%) said they were still unsure how RISE with SAP would impact their existing relationship with cloud service providers.

“SAP customers have implemented some of the most comprehensive and complex enterprise systems in the industry and moving them to cloud services like AWS requires many important decisions to be made to optimise these investments,” says Joshua Greenbaum, Principal at EAC. “SoftwareOne’s extensive experience in the SAP ecosystem, combined with its unique capabilities around system rationalisation, cost containment, contracts and licenses, and cloud service management, among others, will provide customers deploying on AWS with the ability to make the most of RISE on SAP and other SAP offerings. Ready for RISE on AWS is an important offering for SAP customers at this critical moment in their business transformations.”

The Ready for RISE on AWS bundle will help clients understand their SAP transformation options and offer a comprehensive solution to organisations who consider RISE with SAP. It includes advisory data preparation, conversion services, data and AI, cloud innovation platform, supporting the entire journey to RISE on AWS. Clients will benefit from accelerated Return on Investment (ROI), optimal data management, and cost-saving strategies while laying the foundation for ongoing innovation and long-term business success.

Matt Schwartz, worldwide director, SAP Alliance & Partner Network at AWS, said: “As a valued AWS Premier Consulting Partner, AWS is working closely with SoftwareOne to offer SAP customers comprehensive assistance through each step of their journey to RISE with SAP on AWS. SoftwareOne’s ability to bundle Advisory, Data & AI, Cloud Platform, and Operations considerations can be of high interest to customers who are seeking to understand RISE with SAP as well as the cloud native and operation considerations that surround and support the RISE with SAP construct.”

PF Grillet, SAP Business Lead at SoftwareOne, said: “There are many choices available to SAP clients who know they need to modernise but aren’t sure of the best option, particularly given the business-critical nature of the applications.

“All of our services are centered around our customers and what is right for them. This includes supporting and optimising RISE with SAP in scenarios when it’s the right decision based on their requirements. Our extensive knowledge of and relationship with AWS means we can help them better prepare and achieve a seamless transition to S/4HANA using RISE with SAP on AWS with reduced costs and risks. This collaboration goes beyond preparing businesses for change; it’s making transformation and becoming innovation-ready a reality using AWS technologies.”

The offering includes SNP tooling to reduce a customer’s data footprint and accelerate migration. SoftwareOne will migrate selected data to an AWS data lake, accelerate innovation readiness and ensure SAP data is suitable for broader data analytics and AI use cases. Clients gain access to innovative tools like AWS’ Sagemaker for Machine Learning, continuous data management and optimisation within the AWS environment. The AWS innovation platform also includes Amazon Bedrock that helps organisations accelerate adapting Large Language Models and deploying GenAI use cases that leverage the extended data set.

“While the future innovation opportunities are exciting, clients need to balance these with a pragmatic approach to costs,” explained Marilyn Moodley, Country Leader for South Africa and WECA at SoftwareOne, “We integrate ‘Cost-Out’ recommendations into the core of our services, providing a more cost-effective solution for customers, like reducing the data footprint size and optimising storage and archiving.

“Our expertise in the complexities of SAP licensing further drives cost savings while our FinOps capabilities enable customers to optimise their AWS cloud spend and effectively manage their AWS cloud environment, ensuring full transparency in their budgets. The overall result is a significantly reduced time for RISE migration, which translates into a quicker time to value.”

Tags: AWS, partnership, SAP, SoftwareOne, transition

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