In today's digital age, the importance of protecting your data from cyber threats and disasters cannot be overstated. Two key components of any comprehensive data protection plan are cyber recovery and disaster recovery. While these terms may sound similar, they serve distinct purposes and play unique roles in safeguarding your valuable information.

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses face the challenge of staying competitive while meeting customer demands for seamless experiences. The importance of harnessing the power of AI cannot be overstated. Businesses are constantly seeking ways to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and stay ahead of the competition. This is where Azure AI solutions come into play - offering a suite of cutting-edge tools and technologies to empower organizations across various industries.

Let’s explore the compelling benefits of adopting Azure AI:

In the age of digital transformation, the endless rat race of staying ahead of the competition never seems to end. Companies must prioritize modernizing their legacy infrastructure to minimize impact on their operational efficiency, competitiveness, and ability to innovate. It might be easy to justify not doing so due to the costs and investment involved in upgrading hardware, however, the longer you wait, the more you risk falling further behind. 

Here are some key reasons why modernization is critical:

You've heard the term by now: ZTNA, or Zero Trust Network Architecture. If you're not entirely familiar with the concetpt, ZTNA is a security concept that centers around the principle of "never trust, always verify." In a Zero Trust model, implicit trust is not practiced, as is the case with traditional security methods. All users, devices, and applications are treated as potential threats, and access to resources is granted on a need-to-know basis.

As cybersecurity prevention tactics continue to evolve and adapt to current trends, we've seen new terms thrown into the mix in conversation such as Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Extended Detection and Response (XDR). In IBM's 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report, analysis on XDR trends were covered for the first time, highlighting the trend towards modernized cyber security solutions. It noted that out of all the organizations that were interviewed as part of the developmental phase of the report, 44% said they were actively using XDR technology and that they were able to contain a breach almost an entire month quicker than if they had not implemented XDR.

So, while we know that EDR and XDR are both methodologies that help combat cyber threats at an organizational level, there are some key differences between the two:

Digital services are as effective as the data that drives them in a constantly changing business environment. Data is increasing astonishingly, with experts estimating it will double between 2023 and 2026. However, the ability of organizations to process and analyze data to inform strategic business decisions depends on the deployed IT infrastructure and cybersecurity measures implemented to protect it from attacks.

In this regard, here are the top IT and cybersecurity trends companies should look out for in 2023.

Fileless malware is a malicious activity that infects a system using built-in legitimate and native programs. In contrast to other malware programs like ransomware, attackers don’t need to install a malicious program in the system to execute an attack, which makes it hard to detect and prevent. A traditional anti-malware solution detects malware by matching files against a database of known malicious programs. However, fileless malware payloads reside in the memory only and do not write any files to the hard drive making it difficult for signature-based security solutions to detect it. Thus, cybersecurity experts agree that attackers are ten times more likely to succeed when executing fileless malware attacks than file-based attacks.

The cyber threats landscape in the past few years has redefined how organizations secure and protect critical systems, assets, proprietary assets, and business and customer data. As a result, cyber resilience is not only an exclusive role of the IT and security professionals. Rather it is a company’s shared responsibility to identify and mitigate cybersecurity risks to achieve operational sustainability and strategic viability. In the current volatile IT and digital environment, cyber resilience should comprise measures of how enterprises anticipate, identify, understand, and recover from the impacts of a cyberattack.

It's hard to believe that we are already just a few months shy of 2023. In this mid-year review, we take a quick look at the current state and continued evolution of cybersecurity. The corporate landscape is awash with news of organizations that have fallen victim to costly ransomware attacks, social engineering scams, data breaches and leakages, and malware attacks that have caused costly consequences, such as damaged reputation, huge fines, and disrupted business operations. Therefore, if your company does not want to make headlines tomorrow, it is essential to remain abreast of the mid-year cybersecurity trends and statistics in 2022.

Penetration testing and vulnerability scanning are vital for enhancing an organization’s cybersecurity postures. However, most businesses are confused about differentiating the two services. For example, a vulnerability scanning process looks for existing security weaknesses and vulnerabilities, such as unpatched systems, lacking authentication schemes, misconfigurations, and weak password security, and reports them as potential exposures. On the other hand, a penetration test looks to exploit identified security weaknesses in the organization’s systems and IT network architectures to determine the extent to which an attacker would compromise your assets. Also, a vulnerability scan often utilizes automated software programs and tools, whereas a penetration test is a manual process carried out by a security expert.