Your Cloud journey and how to balance developer autonomy, platform manageability and security

December 17, 2022December 20, 2022 Ulv Bjørnsson1 Comment

Most companies want to be able to innovate and grow quickly. But the ability to do so depends on the organization’s ability to balance developer autonomy with platform manageability and security. It’s not an easy task, but one that requires careful planning ahead of time. Here are principles every company should follow on their cloud journey:

The cloud is how companies innovate, scale and grow.

The cloud is how companies innovate, scale and grow. As a result, it’s important to balance developer autonomy with manageability of the platform. By allowing developers the freedom to create and innovate, you can get more out of your investment in technology. However, without proper controls and security measures in place, there are risks associated with this approach as well.

The cloud allows for continuous innovation through agile development practices—the ability for teams to rapidly develop new features or products that allow them to move faster than ever before. As a result of this rapid innovation cycle, developers need access to tools that allow them to keep up with changes across multiple programming languages (like Python, Terraform, Cloud Providers Native Languages) while ensuring compliance with industry standards like ISO, GXP, PCI-DSS or NIST regulations

The shift to the cloud can be overwhelming and confusing, especially as many organizations find themselves with a multi-cloud environment, which can lead to it’s own set of challenges.

Cybersecurity and Cloud: Next-Gen Challenges and Risks and How Organizations Can Prepare Themselves

November 3, 2022 Ulv Bjørnsson2 Comments

Cybersecurity is a significant challenge in the cloud environment with the rapidly evolving threat landscape. Furthermore, with more businesses adopting cloud computing and its amalgamation with emerging technologies, the challenges have increased correspondingly. Hence, the focus should be on identifying these next-gen cybersecurity challenges and preparing to overcome them.

Cloud computing has improved IT efficiency, flexibility, and scalability. However, all these features have one common challenge, security. The problem with cloud computing cybersecurity is that organizations must correctly distinguish where the CSP’s (Cloud Service Provider) responsibility ends and theirs begins. This gap increases the organization’s potential attack surface and enables malicious actors to infiltrate information systems. This article discusses next-gen challenges and risks and looks at how organizations can prepare themselves to overcome them to keep critical information assets’ confidentiality, integrity, and availability intact.

Progress powered through adversity

October 1, 2022September 27, 2022 Ulv Bjørnsson1 Comment

With technological advancements continuing to develop at an unprecedented pace, deciphering and analysing the digital landscape to determine when, if and how these emerging technologies will impact businesses is increasingly difficult.

While the natural evolution of the market used to be a reliable indicator of progress, the solutions to the challenges of Covid-19 and the continuing pressure of a global supply chain crisis, mounting inflation, environmental concerns and new net-zero regulations have both accelerated and destabilised the global tech community.

Cybersecurity for Smart Cities: Challenges, Risks, and Security Best Practices

August 18, 2022September 26, 2022 Ulv BjørnssonLeave a comment

Smart cities have become a reality today, with governments, businesses, and residents, making use of advanced technology to increase productivity and efficiency at home and the workplace and make lives better. However, the challenges to ensuring safety, security, and data privacy have risen proportionately, leading to the requirement for a unique cybersecurity model for smart cities.

A city using advanced technology infrastructure and other cutting-edge solutions to improve its operational efficiency, provide better services, and improve the lives of its citizens qualifies as a smart city. The technology ecosystem often consists of ICT (Information and communication technology), IoT (Internet of Things), AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning), Blockchain, Cloud computing, etc. However, using the latest technologies has its challenges of cybersecurity risks, compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) of its citizens. Below is a closer look into cybersecurity risks in smart cities, their challenges, the threats they are exposed to, and the potential solutions to overcome such hurdles.

Five Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Cybersecurity On The Blockchain

March 20, 2019March 20, 2019 Ulv Bjørnsson2 Comments

Blockchain technology, or distributed ledger technology (DLT), as it is alternatively often called, is one of the hottest topics in the technology sector as of now. A blockchain is a specific type of distributed ledger that stores data in blocks that are linked together via a cryptographic signature function.

This, in short, works by always using the signature of the last block plus the data of the current block to sign the current block. Given enough computing power behind creating the hash signatures for new blocks, a process that is known as mining (PoW), the resulting public ledger is virtually unmodifiable for malicious actors, commending itself for applications that rely on mutual trust where trust cannot be easily applied.

Quantum cryptography and cryptography in a post-quantum world

February 23, 2019February 23, 2019 Ulv Bjørnsson2 Comments

So in my previous article on quantum computing, we talked about where we are today, and where we are headed in regards to breakthroughs in the technology as well as touching on some basics of “what is quantum computing“. In this article, I explore what quantum cryptography and cryptography is like in a post-quantum world.

So, a refresher: quantum computing is set to transform cryptography due to the revolutionary, non-deterministic way of operating.

How will they affect existing cryptography algorithms and which options do we know today for doing cryptography in a post-quantum world?

Quantum computing and cybersecurity: A quantum of solace or a massive threat?

February 16, 2019February 23, 2019 Ulv Bjørnsson3 Comments

For as long as it has been in development inside the science labs of the universities, corporations and government agencies, quantum computing has been considered the next frontier in cybersecurity. Quantum computers are machines that do not work with classical electrical on and off-states but instead rely on quantum states that can be in several states at once, a circumstance known as „superposition(1)“. While they are still in their very infancy, their capabilities have been mystified over and over and it’s probably fair to say that quantum computing is one of the most misunderstood technological advancements of our day and age.

Super-human data processing might hold good and bad in store for the cybersecurity field

February 13, 2019February 13, 2019 Ulv Bjørnsson1 Comment

Within the ongoing arms race in the perimeter of information security, artificial intelligence and machine learning are two of the most promising innovations.

While AI in common „personal assistants“, like those developed by Amazon, Alibaba and Google has recently reached levels at which it can convincingly make phone calls on behalf of their users, the capabilities of AI in the hands of defenders, as well as attackers, will likely evolve from buzzword to technology of significant importance over the next years.

On the defensive side, artificial intelligence powered intrusion detection will deliver the ability to pick up on anomalies within an organizations network or perimeters and raise alerts or even countermeasures much quicker than would be possible for any human security team. AI technologies supreme and literally superhumanly quick pattern recognition capabilities enable it to consistently collect intelligence regarding new threats, attempted attacks, acceptable user behaviour and constantly evolve its knowledge. This does allow AI-powered intrusion detection mechanism to find the proverbial needle in the haystack (and react to it) much faster and more concise than classical signature-based intrusion detection systems or a human security analyst.

azure-security-center-and-fortinet-integrated-threat-management-solution-for-cloud-workloads-201 — Azure Security Center is a cybersecurity solution that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning integrating with the organization’s digital estate.

This does have a flip-side, of course: The same AI capabilities could be used to learn about specific defences and normal user behaviour pattern in an organization and mask the malicious behaviour so it will not be recognized by classical intrusion detection systems or human onlookers.

Four Azure Tools Which Help You Secure Your Cloud Services

January 10, 2019 Ulv Bjørnsson2 Comments

In today’s interconnected cloud-first, mobile world, securing your online apps and services is vital. However, building secure solutions which deliver value in today’s complex and regulated environment can be a challenge. With information essentially becoming the currency of the digital age, the creation of multiple compliance regulations has forced organizations to implement technical security measures to protect their online systems and customers. Meeting these compliance requirements can be challenging, especially if you are leveraging the benefits of the cloud. Not only do you need to build and configure your apps and services securely, but you also need to ensure your chosen cloud provider meets any necessary compliance requirements.

Compliance in the Cloud Compliance Is a Shared Responsibility

On Azure, Microsoft is responsible for meeting the compliance requirements for its platform while you are responsible for any compliance measures which relate to your cloud service.

With more certifications than any other cloud service provider, Azure meets a broad set of international as well as industry-specific compliance standards. These include the GDPR, ISO 27001, HIPAA, SOC, among others. Microsoft also conducts regular comprehensive audits to ensure it maintains these standards and adheres to the security controls needed.

However, as stated, ensuring your services that are running on Azure meet compliance requirements is your responsibility. Thankfully Microsoft Azure provides a few tools which can help you secure your cloud services and meet the necessary compliance standards.

Microsoft’s Coco framework: Enhancing cybersecurity on the Blockchain

February 5, 2018February 7, 2018 Ulv Bjørnsson2 Comments

Coco Framework, is NOT a blockchain ledger.

Coco is a blockchain ledger framework.

It leverages a combination of trusted execution environments, advanced cryptography and innovative blockchain-focused consensus mechanisms to enable new ways of utilizing the blockchain. Coco stands for Confidential Consortium.

If you want a deeper dive, I suggest you check out the Coco Framework whitepaper, here.

Additionally, Microsoft offers BaaS (Blockchain-as-a-service) and was chosen by Bankchain which is a platform for banks that want to implement blockchain technology; members include State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, DCB Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Federal Bank, Deutsche Bank and UAE Exchange.

musings of a consultant

Category: Cybersecurity