Top 5 Must Reads: 9/29/2023

Every day at?Network Computing?offers 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.?Cisco & Splunk

Story by?Salvatore Salamone

Key Points:

• The stated intent of the move is to meld the AI, security, and observability offerings and expertise from both companies to help make enterprises more secure and resilient.
• Earlier this month, it announced the Cisco Secure Application (previously known as Security Insights for Cloud Native Application Observability). The solution is provided as an app on the Cisco Full-Stack Observability Platform.
• “The combination of Splunk and Cisco will help businesses move from threat detection and response to threat prediction and prevention, making organizations of all sizes more secure and resilient,” Cisco Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins said in a statement

2. Fortinet's Security Summit

Story by?Zeus Kerravala

Key Points:

• Platform is the way forward for security. Consolidation and convergence have been key topics in cyber security for years, but typically at a product level. Next-generation firewalls (NGFW), application delivery controllers (ADCs), and network devices have subsumed different security capabilities to make deployment easier.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) is the next big change agent in security. Every event I have attended this year has had a heavy dose of AI, and the Fortinet Security Summit was no different.
• Fortinet’s silicon is its secret sauce. Whenever I talk to customers about why they chose Fortinet, the cost comes up. The company has had the industry's best price–performance for years, to the point where the price sometimes seems too low.

3. Budgeting Tips for Your Network

Story by Mary Shacklett

Key Points:

• When annual network budget seasons start, the proverbial wisdom is that you assess all of the projects you’ll be doing for the coming year, revisit current fixed budget categories to see how they performed and what you think you’ll need to sustain them, determine whether you need to add headcount, and then set your numbers a little above what you really need in the event that something comes along later that you didn’t expect.
• The reason for setting the network budget at a slightly higher level than what you need is that you want to avoid going back to the CIO or CFO to ask for extra funding.
• This seems simple enough, but there are all kinds of reasons why you could be surprised by unanticipated costs that you didn’t account for. Click Mary's story above to learn more.

4. IoT Essential Skills

Story by? Brian T. Horowitz

Key Points:

• “There is no one-size-fits-all guideline for the skills and staff required to effectively and (equally important in the real world) efficiently secure an industrial system,” says John Pescatore, director of emerging security trends at the SANS Institute. “The overall maturity of IT operations and governance is a huge driver.”
• Whether you’re working in a water treatment plant or running the infrastructure for an energy company, network managers need training in the right skill sets to avoid cyber-attacks. Many options exist for technologists to address the cybersecurity skills gap in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
• Learn five tips on acquiring the skills needed in an IIoT environment by clicking Brian's story above.

5.?SASE & Network Expansion

Story by? Bob Wallace

Key Points:

• SASE enables enterprises to use a single management console to bring together their network and security tools. This recasts network expansion by providing a simple security and networking tool that's independent of where employees and resources are located.
• With the number of remote workers increasing and more organizations using cloud services to run applications, SASE offers a fast, affordable, and scalable SaaS product that covers both networking and security functions.
• SASE requires little to no hardware and uses cloud technology to bring together (SD-WAN) with network security functions. They include Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Secure web gateways, Cloud access security brokers, and Zero Trust Network Access.

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ICMI Contact Center Expo | 10/16 - 10/19 in Orlando, FL

ICMI - the International Customer Management Institute is the leading global provider of comprehensive resources for customer management professionals -- from frontline agents to executives -- who wish to improve customer experiences and increase efficiencies at every level of the contact center.

ICMI empowers organizations worldwide to provide the best customer experience possible through industry-leading professional services such as consulting, training, events and information resources.?

Act now to access the most authentic, customized contact center event experience in the industry.

"Cloud Crisis Management" LIVE webinar on 10/17 - Presented by InformationWeek & Fortinet

On Tuesday – October 17, beginning at 1pm ET – tune into?our free online virtual event featuring Sherelle Moore - Owner & CEO at CYION CYBER SECURITY SERVICES, LLC and Vincent Hwang - Sr. Director, Product Marketing at Fortinet as our keynote speakers!

This live webinar will be moderated by?our colleague Brandon Taylor .?REGISTER?now at the link above.

"Cloud Crisis Management"

How can companies prepare for an outage at a major cloud service or cloud infrastructure provider?

Public cloud outages are getting worse, and any outage can be costly and highly damaging for your company. Yet, the cost and difficulty of building a resilient infrastructure can be just as daunting. This webinar reveals your best options and what to do now to prepare for the inevitable and rebound more quickly.

Join this webinar to discuss:

• Ensuring secure access to mobile devices for cloud/private apps, data, public cloud services, and the open web.
• Reducing vulnerabilities in high-traffic cloud environments by addressing configuration errors.
• Implementing proactive monitoring and response strategies for cloud service alerts.
• Understanding the influence of SLAs on potential outage solutions from your cloud provider.

"DevSecOps Essentials that Enable Efficient Security" LIVE virtual event on 10/19 - Presented by InformationWeek & ITPro Today

On Thursday – October 19, beginning at 11am ET – tune into?our free online virtual event featuring Eve Logunova-Parker - Founder & CEO at Evenness and Larry Maccherone - Dev[Sec]Ops Transformation Architect at Contrast Security ?as our keynote speakers!

This live webinar will be moderated by?our colleague Steven Hill.?REGISTER?now at the link above.

"DevSecOps Essentials that Enable Efficient Security"

DevOps will have the greatest impact on the IT organization now and in the next ten years.

IT leaders look to the Dev team to streamline, accelerate, and upskill the workforce in the face of growing demands, complexities, and threats from outside the organization. Meanwhile, the C-Suite is hoping DevOps can figure out a way to reduce or remove IT costs while distributing more resilience for the organizational infrastructure. It feels a bit like a game of tug of war.

Topics Include:

• The implications for products, platforms, and upcoming agile DevOps initiatives
• Debating the realities and pitfalls of No Ops and low code/no code
• The hidden dangers that can arise when inclusivity and accessibility are omitted from dev processes

This is just a taste of what’s going on. If you want the whole scoop, then?register for one of our email newsletters,?but only if you’re going to read it.?We want to improve the sustainability of editorial operations, so we don’t want to send you newsletters that are just going to sit there unopened. If you're a subscriber already, please make sure Mimecast and other inbox bouncers know that we’re cool and they should let us through. Keep your eyes peeled for our bi-weekly Network Computing Newsletters arriving every other Friday, and make sure to subscribe so you don't miss a beat!