Holiday networking horror stories!f
Network Computing wants to know - what is your biggest networking-related fear as we enter the holiday season?! Also, what is the biggest networking disaster, disruption, or incident you’ve had to deal with in the past over the holidays?
Share your thoughts and we’ll share those of your peers - we're sure you are not alone.
You already know that every day at Network Computing brings the how and why behind next-gen networks, data centers, storage systems, communications, and cloud architecture.
That means original reporting from our team of journalists and unique commentary you won’t see anywhere else! But in case you missed them, here are some of our favorites from this week:
1.?Is Your Technology Past its Prime?
Key Points:
- A clear indication that a network technology has outlived its usefulness is when it can no longer support business needs in terms of scalability, security, or efficiency, observes
Clint Fisher
, cybersecurity director at engineering and professional services
Black Rock Engineering and Technology
, via email.
- Frequent failures or incompatibility with newer systems are also key warning signs, he adds.
- Among the network technologies most prone to obsolescence are the ones that are challenging to manage, are restrictive, or provide duplicative services, such as traditional wired Ethernet deployments.
- Endpoints, sometimes numbering into the thousands, can also pose problems. Meanwhile, removing old protocols can unexpectedly break parts of the network.
2.?The Fileless Malware Fight
Key Points:
- As the name suggests, there are no files dropped onto a hard drive, which is precisely why fileless malware attacks are able to escape detection-based cybersecurity solutions effectively.
- Fileless attack techniques are widespread—according to
Aqua Security
’s 2023 Cloud Native Threat Report, the number of fileless or modern battlefield attacks that exploit existing software, applications, and protocols has surged 1,400 percent in the last year.
- Fileless malware that operates directly in memory can sneak through without detection if the analysis tool isn’t monitoring memory-related activities or if the malware is using sophisticated techniques to hide its presence in memory.
- Fighting back starts with adopting a zero-trust approach where they segment networks and deploy strict access controls. These steps can stop fileless threats from accessing and exploiting permissionless data flows.
3. SD-WAN Solutions for 2024
Key Points:
- The increasingly popular and flexible SD-WAN architecture provides a network overlay and decouples network software services from hardware-provided?WAN?links.
-
思科
's Catalyst SD-WAN Manager provides a dashboard designed to simplify network operations. It provides centralized configuration, management, operation, and monitoring.
-
Fortinet
Secure SD-WAN is foundational for a transition to SASE and SD-Branch. It enables organizations to protect their investment and simplify operations en route to their journey to a Zero Trust Architecture.
-
Palo Alto Networks
offers its Prisma SD-WAN (formerly CloudGenix) is a cloud-delivered service that implements app-defined, autonomous SD-WAN to help you secure and connect your branch offices, data centers, and large campus sites without increasing cost and complexity.
4. Universal ZTNA has Arrived
Key Points:
- While the on-prem solutions have been available for a decade and a half, they are hardware-based and network-focused versus the more recent remote access solutions based on software and identity policies.
- To level set, for a solution to be ZTNA, it must possess three characteristics:
- Identify everything
- Apply policy controls
- Allow for instantaneous dynamic updates to policy.
- While the on-prem solutions have been available for a decade and a half, they are hardware-based and network-focused versus the more recent remote access solutions based on software and identity policies.
- Now that we have defined what ZTNA must accomplish to be viable and described the landscape, let’s get into the challenges. Click the story above for more.
5.?GenAI's Digital Transformation
Key Points:
- AI is transforming what’s possible, turning tasks that would take years to complete into ones that can be done in minutes. AI is also changing user behavior, with many people relying on these tools and unwilling to return to older methods.
- Since launching its first AI products in 2018, cloud contact center provider Talkdesk has evolved its portfolio to include generative AI (gen AI), a subset of AI that creates original content—text, imagery, and audio—based on training data.
- Furthermore, Talkdesk places high importance on data security since it has a large enterprise customer base in the healthcare, financial services, and public sectors.
- This technological shift will lead to the creation of new executive positions like chief AI officer, which means AI will be integrated into business operations going forward.
Latest Major Tech Layoff Announcements
Original Story by Jessica C. Davis, Updated by Brandon Taylor
Key Points:
- As COVID drove everyone online, tech companies hired like crazy. Now we are hitting the COVID tech bust as tech giants shed jobs by the thousands.
- Updated December 19, 2023?with layoff announcements from
Enphase Energy
,
英特尔
, and
Cruise
.
- Check back regularly for updates to
InformationWeek
's IT job layoffs tracker.
Webinars from the Archives...
Leveraging emerging technologies is vital to virtually every enterprise environment today, especially when matching solutions to influence networking scenarios efficiently. Traditionally, networks are established before adding some layer of security.
Remote office environments and the employees who utilize the mobile experience require a strategic combination of networking and security solutions to protect the communication and collaboration tools that traffic sensitive data.
- In this archived panel discussion, Cristina Raducanu, Nia F. Luckey, LSSBB, GRCA , Rob Ferrill, and Tashya Denose connect to deliver an in-depth conversation detailing the importance of combining networking and security solutions
- This segment was part of our live “Connectivity Solutions” virtual event. The event was presented by Network Computing on November 9, 2023.
- View the entire “Connectivity Solutions for the Remote Workforce” live webinar on-demand here.
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