November 22, 2023
Kannan Subbiah
FCA | CISA | CGEIT | CCISO | IT Security, Strategy & Governance | Independent Director | Enterprise & Solution Architecture | 3 decades of IT experience and 2 decades of Mutual Funds domain experience.
One of the misperceptions that architects face is that we are engaging in architecture for architecture’s sake, or that we propose new technologies mainly because of the “coolness” factor. Our challenge is to counter this misperception by arguing not merely for the aesthetic value of good design, but for the pragmatic, economic value. We need to frame the need for intentional design as something that can save the company significant costs by averting disadvantageous technology and design choices, producing a distinct competitive edge through market differentiation and paving the way for increased customer satisfaction. ... My commentary on some of Martin Fowler’s views of software architecture is not intended to paint a complete picture of this important role and how it differs from other types of architects. Rather, I’ve sought to highlight the importance of designing the structure of a system at the code level to ensure that the application of relevant patterns results in a design that can sustain cumulative functionality over time, increasing business value while reducing time to market.
It’s a balance between your confidence in the automation, the value or cost of the incident and the frequency the task occurs. Common incidents with proven automated steps for diagnosis and remediation are good opportunities to trigger with AIOps. From there, follow a similar process to prioritize your incident response. Automate diagnosis and remediation steps for serious outages to speed resolution. Then focus on increasing efficiency by automating recurring diagnostics and remediation actions that occur across many kinds of incidents. You can safely automate and trigger lower-risk actions such as read-only diagnostic pulls with AIOps, giving downstream personnel the information they need, even when they are paged. You can automate common remediation actions and make them available to responders to use. This automation can utilize secrets management tools such as Vault to enable privileged actions in production environments without sharing credentials, making it safer to delegate to responders.?
Gartner Vice President Analyst Lily Mok told InformationWeek via email CIOs should work with their recruitment and compensation teams to identify IT roles and skills areas facing higher attrition risk and recruitment challenges due to noncompetitive compensation. “This will help pinpoint additional funding will be needed in the short term to address pay gaps,” she says. “Organizations with limited financial resources should prioritize allocating increases to high-risk areas.” She also recommends conducting spot-checks of the market pay conditions on at least a quarterly basis and updating pay benchmarks for key IT roles and skills areas with more recent data. “At very least, I would recommend annual review of market pay levels for key IT jobs and skills area,” Mok adds. ... Another suggestion is to create a separate salary structure for IT, an approach that helps avoid force-fitting IT jobs into enterprise wide pay grades that often place a higher weight on internal equity than external competitiveness when valuing jobs across different functions.
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Implementing an SBOM strategy is a step towards fortifying your cybersecurity defenses. While having a list of the components that make up your software supply chain is better than not having one, context is also crucial. You don’t just want to know that you have a given code module—but all of the associated data as well. Vulnerabilities and exploits tend to effect specific versions, so you need to know the details of the versions in your environment, the year and date the code was released, where and how the code is used, etc. Automation is essential. It’s impractical, bordering on impossible to try and manage or maintain an accurate SBOM through any manual process. By automating the SBOM generation and maintenance, the margin for human error diminishes, the speed of response accelerates, and organizations can scale their security practices as they grow. Compliance is another piece of the puzzle. Your SBOM solution should align with industry standards and regulatory requirements, ensuring that you aren't just secure, but also compliant.?
While businesses aim for different outcomes, one goal that the business typically prescribes for cybersecurity is business continuity. This is probably due to most executives viewing cybersecurity only as an operational necessity. At the same time, they fail to see cybersecurity’s essential contribution to the due diligence aspect of the procurement process. The complexity and length of procurement processes have increased over the years, as prospective clients use this as part of their third-party risk management. Executives that are aware of clients’ needs can use them to improve the cybersecurity of the organization and its offerings, by translating them into features that will raise the offering’s competitive advantage. Traditionally, R&D and innovation teams perceive the CISO’s role as an obstacle to innovation and advancement. Conventional security entities frequently resort to phrases like “this can’t be done due to security protocols,” obstructing changes to existing infrastructure and impeding innovation. If security is confined to an IT concern rather than recognized as a business imperative, CISOs struggle to emerge as strategic partners.
The Evolution of Open-Source Culture The widespread adoption of open-source technologies is attributed to the culture and philosophy underpinning the open-source movement. Early pioneers in the open-source community championed the belief in the transformative power of collaborative, community-driven efforts and unrestricted access to software source code. For young developers exploring careers, open source presents exciting opportunities. Contributing to open-source projects enables developers to hone their skills, gain visibility, and engage with mentorship from experienced professionals. ... Demonstrated by Brazil’s Amazonia-1 satellite program, Julia is instrumental in in-orbit sensor calibration, showcasing its adaptability beyond conventional software development. NASA, a leader in space exploration, also utilises Julia for various purposes, including gaining insights into the intricacies of Earth’s oceans. This strategic adoption of open-source technology highlights its pivotal role as more than just a developer’s tool, serving as a crucial enabler to tackle real-world challenges on a global scale.