Sunday Reading — October 13, 2019

Published in

Enterprise Te.ch

4 min readOct 13, 2019

Insecurity: Although nearly half (48%) of corporate data is stored in the cloud, only a third (32%) of organizations admit they employ a security-first approach to data storage in the cloud, according to a global study from Thales, with research from the Ponemon Institute.

Roughly half (51%) of businesses and other organizations still do not use encryption or tokenization to protect sensitive data in the cloud. The study uncovered regional disparities in terms of data security, with German organizations being the most advanced in their use of encryption at 66%.

Surveying over 3,000 IT and IT security practitioners in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, the research found that only one in three (31%) organizations believe that protecting data in the cloud is their own responsibility

Even more insecurity: Last year, Bloomberg Businessweek alleged in a widely criticized report that Chinese hackers were able to add tiny spy chips to server boards being manufactured for Super Micro and sold to companies like Apple and Amazon. According to Wired, the capability to stealthily embed these chips are not nearly as complicated as thought:

At the CS3sthlm security conference later this month, security researcher Monta Elkins will show how he created a proof-of-concept version of that hardware hack in his basement. He intends to demonstrate just how easily spies, criminals, or saboteurs with even minimal skills, working on a shoestring budget, can plant a chip in enterprise IT equipment to offer themselves stealthy backdoor access.

Bailing on Libra: Facebook’s ill-fated blockchain digital currency, Libra, has suffered from defections. From CNBC:

EBay, Stripe, Mastercard and Visa are all dropping out of Facebook’s libra cryptocurrency project, the companies announced Friday. The news comes one week after PayPal announced its withdrawal as government regulators continue to scrutinize the plans.
In statements following the news, the companies said they respect and see potential in the project, but have chosen to focus on other efforts. A Stripe spokesperson said in a statement that the company “is supportive of projects that aim to make online commerce more accessible for people around the world.” Stripe will “remain open to working with the Libra Association at a later stage,” the spokesperson said.

NetApp: The IT Paradox — It’s Not Child’s Play

Mara McMahon

There may be more than one IT paradox, but the one I most frequently hear about is this: IT must maximize ROI on infrastructure spend and satisfy users (with increased productivity, response time, security, etc.).

Most of the IT professionals with whom I speak experience a fine balancing act between these two items, which often conflict with one another. On the one hand, maximizing the return on investment of an asset means getting as much use as possible from that asset. Picture a hotel that is almost completely full. Noisy neighbors, lines at check-in, longer room service wait, etc. I think you get the idea.

Now think about providing the very best user experience possible — at a minimum, no bottlenecks, total reliability, the same great response every time, no waiting, and guaranteed data security and privacy. With these requirements in mind, picture that same hotel again. Chances are that the hotel is almost empty — certainly less than 50% full and most likely somewhere around 30% to 40% of capacity to guarantee great experience — no lines, no noise, quick, delicious food. Read more…