Digital Transformation (DTX) Playbook - Chapter 3 PC, Network & Infrastructure

Welcome to the Digital Transformation (DTX) Playbook – Chapter 3

Personal Computing, Network & Hybrid Infrastructure

Chapter 3 of the Digital Transformation (DTX) Playbook many might say is the most remedial and non-strategic portion of a Digital Strategy; however, many also realize how vital a solid foundation of good Personal Computing, a BYOD strategy, a high-speed Wide Area Network and Local Area Network, and good Hybrid Cloud and On-Premise Infrastructure are vital to enabling a Digital Transformation strategy and achieving a good employee experience.

First, we want to thank the PC, Network, and Infrastructure vendors and Digital Transformation thought leaders of DTX for their technology and best practice solutions: Dell Technologies , 微软 , 思科 Nutanix , Cohesity , VMware , EMC , 惠普企业服务 , 苹果 , 谷歌 , 联想 , Amazon Web Services (AWS) , Palo Alto Networks , 三星电子 , 东芝 , 瞻博网络 , Arista Networks , 惠普企业服务 , 华为 , 爱立信 , 诺基亚 , NTT Global Networks , Fortinet , NetApp , IBM , SAP , Salesforce , 甲骨文 , 阿里巴巴集团 , DigitalOcean , DXC Technology , AT&T Business , Verizon , Aryaka , T-Mobile .

As mentioned in Chapter 2 - Cybersecurity & IT Governance in this fast-paced world of digital transformation, securing our IT infrastructure is paramount. As we expand our digital horizons, the integration of Cybersecurity-Informed Engineering (CIE) into every facet of our technological ecosystem becomes not just beneficial, but necessary. This chapter highlights key best practices across Personal Computers, Wide Area Networking, Local Area Networking, Cloud and On-Premise Infrastructures, and the strategic operationalization of IT and OT demilitarized zones (DMZs).

Personal Computers & BYOD: Your First Line of Defense

• Standardization: One of the most important aspects of IT infrastructure security is standardization. By implementing standardized hardware and software configurations across our devices and networks, we can simplify support and maintenance, reduce vulnerabilities and risks, and enhance performance and efficiency. Most PC assets should have a 4-5 refresh life cycle. Laptops are recommended as they act as three computers in one investment - Desktop/Laptop/Tablet, Work From Home, and Traveling device.
• Endpoint Security: Implement cutting-edge solutions with AI-driven threat detection for robust endpoint protection.
• Encryption and Backup: Encrypt sensitive data stored on PCs, and backup important data to a secure location, such as a cloud service. Encryption can protect data from being read or modified by anyone who does not have the decryption key, even if the PC is lost or stolen. Backup can ensure data availability and recovery in case of accidental deletion, hardware failure, or malicious attack.
• Principle of Least Privilege: Limit access rights to reduce risk, ensuring users have only the permissions essential for their roles.
• Performance Monitoring and Maintenance: Regularly update operating systems and applications, monitor system performance, and conduct routine maintenance to ensure PCs run efficiently. Updating software can fix security vulnerabilities, improve functionality, and enhance compatibility.
• BYOD Device Policy and Utilization: Having a good BYOD policy for mobile devices and tablets is critical. A Mobile Device Management (MDM) is essential to allowing for BYOD devices to be part of your portfolio.
• Single Sign-On (SSO): Securing a single sign on platform that is engineered with Role Based Access Control (RBAC) to deliver PC images with right applications per role integrated with your Talent Management system.
• Benefits: Standardizing on PCs devices allows your IT organizational to scale in productivity of support to computer ratio and increase the security patching protection while allowing for Role Based Access and PC imaging of the end point computing.

Wide Area Networking (WAN): Guarding the Digital Expanse

• Reliable Connectivity: Choose reliable ISPs and consider redundant connections to ensure continuous availability. Utilize WAN optimization techniques to improve data transfer efficiencies across long distances. Build your network highway with no single point of failures and ensure the bandwidth optimizes speed from the WAN carriers to the end users on the LAN.
• Encryption and Secure Channels: Implement strong encryption through VPNs for secure data transmission across the network. Employ firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDPS) to protect against external threats. A good experience is when a computer is turned on and their is a safe Wifi connection your end devices are connected and secure with your VPN solution.
• Threat Detection Systems: Deploy IDS/IPS for real-time monitoring and blocking potential threats across the network.
• Traffic and Bandwidth Management: Monitor and manage bandwidth to prioritize critical applications and ensure quality of service (QoS) for important data flows. Do not allow Proxys are web filtering devices to choke your network performance they too must also be built out with the same resiliency and bandwidth as the WAN and LAN.
• Virtual Private Network (VPN): VPN strategy is key to the dynamic of Work From Home (WFH) and Traveling workforce and critical security solution for the edge computing.
• Benefits: Building a high-speed WAN is critical to have performance to run your digital applications without latency and protect the company from external vulnerabilities. Productive employees with connectivity anywhere result in bottom line results.

Local Area Networking (LAN): The Secure Operational Backbone

• Network Design: Design a scalable and flexible network architecture. Use VLANs to segment traffic for better performance and security.
• Network Segmentation: Utilize VLANs to minimize the attack surface by isolating sensitive data from general traffic.
• Traffic Control Policies: Implement ACLs to restrict unauthorized access and ensure secure traffic flow within the network.
• Wireless Security: For Wi-Fi networks, use WPA3 for encryption, hide SSIDs, and maintain a separate network for guests.
• Device and Access Management: Employ network access control (NAC) to manage device access to the network and ensure that only authorized and compliant devices can connect.
• Benefits: A strong Wifi and LAN performance is just as important as the WAN. Many times the network topology and network routers, switches, and proxies slow down and even choke the performance of a high-speed network. Building a resilient LAN and Wifi infrastructure is critical for employee productivity and digital excellence.

?On-Premise Infrastructures: Secure Digital Foundations

• Scalability and Flexibility: Design your infrastructure to easily scale up or down. Modular hardware and virtualization can provide flexibility and efficient resource utilization.
• Server Configuration: Use best practices for server configuration, including minimal OS installations and role-based access control.
• Data Protection: Employ encryption for data at rest and in transit, complemented by stringent key management practices.
• Disaster Recovery and Backup: Implement comprehensive backup strategies and disaster recovery plans, including off-site backups and redundant systems, to ensure business continuity.
• Access Management: Enhance security with multi-factor authentication and role-based access controls, continuously auditing user activities.
• Monitoring and Maintenance: Use tools for monitoring system health, performance, and security. Regularly update systems and applications to address vulnerabilities and performance issues.
• Compliance: Ensure compliance with relevant industry standards and regulations for data protection and privacy.
• Data Center Management: Implement environmental monitoring such as cooling and power management strategies. Consider the physical security of the data center. All on-premise solutions should have fail over capabilities for resiliency.
• Benefits: On-Premise platforms still serve a purpose where cloud solutions are not available or at risk. Platforms that are designed to scale for growth and the ability to grow into are critical for digital excellence. Thresholds of storage designs should not run at 100% of capacity but critical thresholds should be set to expand at 80% levels to create optimal up time.

Cloud Infrastructures: Secure Digital Foundations

• Security and Compliance: Ensure that your cloud infrastructure complies with relevant regulations and standards. Use encryption, access controls, and identity management to protect data and resources in the cloud.
• Data Governance: Define clear policies for data governance, including data storage, access, and processing.
• Cost Management and Optimization: Monitor and manage cloud costs actively to avoid overspending. Utilize auto-scaling, choose appropriate instance types, and consider reserved instances for long-term workloads to optimize expenses.
• Benefits: Cloud computing costs helps with resiliency, disaster recovery, and speed of collaboration for the digital excellence.

Bridging IT and OT with a Secure DMZ

• Demilitarized Zones (DMZs) - Operational Technology (OT) cyber threats have evolved over the past decade. Combined with increased connectivity from digital transformation projects, it is more critical than ever to implement industrial control system (ICS)-specific visibility capabilities to quickly detect, respond, and recover from potential cyber incidents. To explore this topic, SANS conducted a survey to collect information around industry practices.
• Cloud Service Selection: Choose the right mix of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS services based on your specific needs, considering factors such as cost, scalability, and the level of control required. Strategic Isolation: Employ secure gateways within the DMZ to control data flow between IT and OT networks, allowing only necessary data through.
• Vigilant Monitoring: Use advanced tools to detect and respond to unusual activities or security breaches within the DMZ swiftly.
• Benefits: protection of high value assets. Seperation of IT and OT is not enough, failure to put in a DMZ is critical to OT and IT integration.

Conclusion: A Call to Action for Digital Excellence

A solid PC, Network and Hybrid Infrastructure design can give you the best employee productivity and secure platforms to run your Enterprise & Digital applications on. Embracing these cybersecurity-informed engineering practices is essential for not only safeguarding your infrastructure but also for supporting your continuous journey towards digital excellence. By integrating robust security measures into the very fabric of your IT and OT systems, you lay a solid foundation for innovation, operational resilience, and trust.

Across all these components, it's essential to adopt a holistic approach that integrates security, performance, and scalability considerations from the outset. Additionally, continuous monitoring, regular updates, and ongoing education for IT staff and users alike are crucial for maintaining an efficient, secure, and responsive IT infrastructure.

A solid PC, Network & Infrastructure foundation is crucial to enabling Business Systems and user adoption of platforms. One of the best analogies I heard from one of our Digital Transformation Network Thought Leaders was "Don't put bicycle tires on a Ferrari of Business Applications, you won't be happy with the result!" - a Digital Transformation thought leader.

Key Deliverables:

1. PC Standards & Good Automated Imaging of Devices & Patch Management
2. Performance Hub Network Diagrams with Strategic COLO designs for optimal connection speeds and high-speed network performance and no single points of failure for resiliency
3. Infrastructure Diagrams with Storage Thresholds for peak performance and resiliency with no single points of failure
4. DMZ Diagrams to protect OT and IT integration
5. BYOD, SSO, VPN, and Mobile Device Management Policies
6. Productivity ratios for Computer:People KPIs, & Network KPI Performance

Join our Digital Transformation Network & DTX Playbook Newsletter and stay tune for Chapter 4 – Collaboration & Productivity Tools.

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