Ransomware attacks are now a serious threat to companies. It is no longer a question of “if” but “when” it will impact you.
Therefore, appropriate protection is especially relevant, and all possible measures should be used to combat the threat.
Be the hero! Know how to leverage all capabilities to protect within your organisation and understand how storage snapshots offer a “first line of defence” when it comes to protecting your data.
Join us on a webinar on 15th May where we will address the following points:
Ransomware numbers, data, facts
General data protection options available
Tintri snapshots and what’s different
Tintri’s Immutable Snapshots
Use cases for Tintri Snapshots
If that’s not enough, all webinar attendees will go in the hat to win a £50 Amazon voucher (or charitable donation of equivalent value if you would prefer or are unable to accept gifts).
As a Tintri Partner, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business. More information is available on our Tintri solutions page.To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.
Remote desktop software allows employees to connect into their computer network without being physically linked to the host device or even in the same location. This makes it a useful tool for a distributed or remote workforce. Unfortunately, remote desktop software is also a prime target for cyber attack.
Among the security challenges facing IT teams implementing remote desktop software is that there are many different tools available, each using different and sometimes several ports to operate. Ports are virtual connection points that allow computers to differentiate between different kinds of traffic. The use of multiple ports can make it harder for IT security teams to monitor for and spot malicious connections and subsequent intrusion.
This article from Barracuda takes a look at the most commonly attacked tools, and how to reinforce to guard against attacks.
Want to learn more?
Complete IT Systems have a team of Barracuda specialists on hand to demo the solution, discuss business benefits and help you understand how the technology works for your organisation.
To get in touch or request a demo please contact us.
VMware remains central to many UK organisations’ data center infrastructures, and is showing no signs of going away.
Despite this stronghold, many infrastructures still grapple with fundamental data management and protection challenges. While All-Flash arrays have mitigated the notorious IO blender issue to some extent, numerous storage hurdles persist. Among these challenges, gaining insight into the storage IO demands and behaviours of individual virtual machines (VMs), as well as the imperative to forecast and plan for scalability, stand out as critical areas for innovation.
Transitioning from visibility to insight
The majority of storage systems supporting VMware environments operate on a block-based model, inherently lacking visibility into specific VM IO activities. VMware introduced VVOLS in 2015 to enhance VM visibility, yet its volume-based nature constrains rapid response to specific IO conditions. Alternatively, a file-system based storage architecture, treating VMs as files, offers visibility into each VM’s IO profile.
However, harnessing this granular view necessitates more than merely hosting VMs on an NFS volume. Intelligent software embedded within the storage system is required to continuously analyse each VM’s IO pattern, storage capacity consumption rate, and provide predictive forecasting and modeling of future utilisation. Armed with such insights, IT can promptly address storage performance issues, either through corrective measures or by disproving storage as the bottleneck source.
Advancing from insight to learning
Insight into the IO characteristics of individual VMs empowers IT to swiftly and precisely intervene when issues arise. Intelligent infrastructure, through learning from analytics, can autonomously take corrective action. Informed by analysis, it should proactively mitigate outages or adapt to changing performance demands. Leveraging machine learning on existing storage system data enables organisations to evade the burdens of manual storage monitoring and management.
Addressing scalability challenges
Scale presents a universal challenge for VMware and infrastructure administrators. Either the existing storage system will exhaust its capacity or fail to meet IO demands. Scaling typically entails integrating additional storage systems and migrating workloads, a process complicated by current solutions’ tendency to start large, lack granular scalability, and strain the storage network. A more intelligent approach involves a system capable of scaling up by adding storage capacity and scaling out by integrating additional storage systems. The latter can commence with minimal capacity and expand gradually to meet evolving needs.
The conventional obstacle with multiple storage systems lies in their management and determining which VMs necessitate migration. Innovations in storage systems should enable IT to forecast the requirement for new systems using the aforementioned methods. Additionally, there is a pressing need for innovations automating the selection and migration of VMs to new storage systems. Attempting migrations between systems lacking VM awareness proves arduous, time-consuming, and likely to impact production applications.
Empowered with intelligent scale-out capabilities, IT can procure a superior performing storage system with initially lesser capacity than the existing one. Leveraging analytics, the storage software can automatically migrate the most suitable candidates to the new system, liberating capacity on the current system and enhancing VM performance.
Conclusion
To enable IT professionals to focus on tasks with direct and positive organisational impact, self-managing technology is essential. Storage systems and infrastructure serve as an ideal starting point for this transformation. A VM-aware system, with proper intelligence, can furnish invaluable telemetry data empowering IT to optimise storage management. Ultimately, the endgame is to have storage systems autonomously learn from telemetry data and undertake corrective actions, freeing IT to tackle higher-level tasks.
Want to find out more?
As a Tintri Partner, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business. More information is available on our Tintri solutions page.To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.
The security end goal for all organisations is cyber resilience.
Effective prevention and dedication measures are, and will remain, a critical cornerstone of security strategies, but companies shouldn’t stop there.
What matters is how the organisation prepares for, withstands, responds to, and recovers from an incident. And this depends on people and processes as much as it does on technology.
Barracuda’s new CIO report: ‘Leading your business through cyber risk‘, explores how challenges relating to security policies, management support, third-party access, and supply chains can undermine a company’s ability to withstand and respond to cyberattacks.
Want to learn more?
Complete IT Systems have a team of Barracuda specialists on hand to demo the solution, discuss business benefits and help you understand how the technology works for your organisation.
To get in touch or request a demo please contact us.
Just like all technology, outdated VMware storage can show its age by employing a broad-brush approach rather than a specific one.
While this sledgehammer approach may alleviate or mask certain storage issues within VMware environments, it often falls short, leaving many underlying problems unresolved.
In this article, we look at the consequences of outdated storage for IT teams, and how to solve them (aside from throwing out that old VHS!).
Enter the All-Flash sledgehammer!
All-flash arrays, increasingly cost-effective, offer IT professionals a solution to one of their most vexing issues—the notorious IO blender in VMware setups. This phenomenon occurs when multiple physical servers, each hosting numerous virtual machines, continuously access the storage system, creating a bottleneck. All-flash arrays mitigate this by swiftly responding to IO demands, thanks to their low latency, compared to traditional hard disk or hybrid systems.
However, despite the initial promise, the all-flash solution isn’t a panacea. As virtual machine density rises and workload types become more varied, the IO blender issue resurfaces. Merely reducing latency isn’t enough; intelligent resource allocation is crucial for consistent performance. Without such intelligence, organizations face a dilemma: either refrain from virtualising certain workloads or deploy dedicated storage systems for each workload type, leading to a management nightmare for IT professionals.
Next up, the Hyperconverged sledgehammer:
Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) emerges as another attempt to tackle the IO blender problem in VMware environments. HCI integrates storage software with the hypervisor and VMs on the same hardware, storing a copy of each VM’s data locally to reduce network traffic and the IO blender effect. While some HCI architectures adopt all-flash setups, they still encounter scalability challenges. Adding nodes to the cluster often introduces complexity and inefficiency, particularly in resource utilisation and network management.
HCI’s approach, though aiming to minimize the IO blender, inadvertently exacerbates other issues, such as increased write IO on the network. It sacrifices efficiency in its pursuit of IO optimisation.
It’s time to throw out that old VHS!
To truly address VMware challenges like the IO blender and optimise resource utilisation, a more sophisticated approach is necessary. This entails intelligently allocating infrastructure resources, tailoring solutions to the VMware environment, and efficiently scaling storage capacity and performance.
So, rather than adopting generic systems, purpose-built storage solutions designed specifically for VMware environments offer a more targeted and effective remedy. Read about how Panasonic did just that!
Want to find out more?
As a Tintri Partner, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business. More information is available on our Tintri solutions page.
To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.
Sounds vicious doesn’t it! But as we’ve been exploring, nothing is off limits to hackers. Here we focus on data poisoning and manipulation, and how to guard against it.
Gen AI that power AI tools, chatbots, search queries, and more, are known as large language models (LLMs). These LLMs are trained on vast volumes of data and then use that data to create more data, following the rules and patterns they’ve learned. Good quality data leads to good outcomes. Bad data to bad outcomes. It didn’t take cyberattackers long to figure out how to turn that to their advantage.
There are two broad categories of data attack: data poisoning and data manipulation. They are very different, but both undermine the reliability, accuracy, and integrity of trusted — and increasingly essential — systems.
Complete IT Systems have a team of Barracuda specialists on hand to demo the solution, discuss business benefits and help you understand how the technology works for your organisation.
To get in touch or request a demo please contact us.
Even great things don’t last forever. So much so, an eye-opening 24% of organisations cite technology as a business inhibitor, according to research by Tintri.
Due to the need to support more remote workers, virtual environments, cloud migrations, handling larger data volumes, cybersecurity threats, and managing more endpoint devices, increasing demands are straining limited IT resources to the limit and can feel like pushing a boulder uphill.
But smart, AI-driven storage infrastructure can make a significant difference. By eliminating 95% of storage administration tasks, empowering IT generalists and freeing up storage experts, it’s possible to provide a better experience for all stakeholders.
▶ This infographicfrom Tintri outlines four areas where Intelligent Infrastructure drives IT success.
Want to find out more?
As a Tintri Partner, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business. More information is available on our Tintri solutions page.
To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.
Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs) were first introduced in 1998, and digital technology has made requesting them easier over time. But it’s no perfect science.
In short, companies and organisations of all sizes need to know what they are, and what to do if you receive a DSAR. The problem is that incoming DSARs can become a hot potato and bounce around HR, legal, IT, data protection, compliance and even marketing departments without clear accountability or ownership.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) publishes a useful guide on preparing for subject access requests, with one of the requirements being that you carry out a “reasonable search for the requested information”. On top of that, the timeline to respond is one month.
So even if the Data Protection Officer (DPO) is ultimately accountable for the request, without the right processes or tools in place, finding the requested information can be a minefield. If you’re planning to ask IT, ask yourself how quickly they will be able to locate that information, or if they even have the tools to do so.
The risk of flying blind
According to Kingsley Napley, “technical support is frequently required to identify and review data, and legal input may be needed.” For example, if an ex-employee asks to see all emails and correspondence they were copied on over a two year period, this could be hundreds of thousands of emails, not to mention direct chats and team collaborations in platforms such as Microsoft Teams or Google Workspaces.
Data requests may not always be limited to DSAR cases. Enquiries include:
One employee is accused of sexually harassing another via their organisation’s Microsoft Teams chats.
Instances in which an organisation’s emails are being sent to an unusual address.
A director suddenly starts getting lots of unsolicited calls from recruiters.
A firm’s customers start being approached by its rival’s salespeople
An industry news outlet gets hold of sensitive proprietary information about a company’s new product.
After one company acquires another, ensure employees aren’t still using old terminology from the acquired business.
Join us in Glasgow on 2nd May to find out more
Join Complete IT Systems and experts from Cryoserver for an afternoon in the centre of Glasgow for some interesting discussions on how to get on the front foot with these kinds of issues. We’ll also play a bit of golf on the driving range and enjoy some good food and company. Find out how to quickly respond to requests and solve situations such as:
Searching through conversations for keywords or information, and provide for Legal teams to use as evidence in a tribunal.
Find out if an employee is sharing sensitive data (a breach of GDPR) with an unauthorised individual.
Discover if an employee has emailed the director’s number to multiple contacts.
See if the company’s confidential customer contact list has been attached to an employee’s email.
Find evidence of information being leaked by a particular employee.
There’s a claim of sexual harassment and you’re tasked with finding the emails in question
HR has to come to you to find emails from a specific employee
And many more cases!
Searching for and locating information might be considered IT’s responsibility, but it’s in the interest of the DPO, legal, compliance, HR, and even marketing’s interest to ensure the right processes and tools are in place as and when incidents do arise, and limit the organisation’s exposure in the process.
In a collaborative workshop environment, we’ll share some live examples, and encourage you to do the same to see how easy it can be to make a difficult task much simpler.
📅 Thursday 2nd May, 2024 ⏲ 3pm to 7:30pm 📍 Topgolf Glasgow
Lunch and refreshments will be provided, and we’ll also test our handicap at Top Golf Glasgow. See their short video below 👇
We hope you can join us for a fun and informative day! Please contact us if you have any questions about the event, or need a hand with your business case for joining,
A significant shift is underway that is changing the way applications are deployed – it’s known as inference. This article explores the concept, and how to prepare.
According to DataCamp, Machine learning inference is crucial because it allows the model to be used for real-world use cases such as predictions, classifications, or recommendations. In other words, inference is how AI models decipher information or put in even more simple terms, it makes data usable.
How is inference changing things?
The emergence of highly sophisticated inference applications is reshaping the market landscape. These advancements necessitate finely tuned platforms supported by intricate distribution systems. With careful architectural planning, businesses can achieve remarkable leaps in efficiency, yielding undeniable long-term economic advantages.
To meet the demand for these mission-critical applications, we anticipate a revolutionary evolution in application delivery platforms and innovative availability frameworks. The year 2024 is poised to experience a surge in platform demands reminiscent of the late 1990s.
Undoubtedly, our world for the most part operates under the mantra of accomplishing more with fewer resources. This principle is particularly relevant in the realm of AI. Inference applications, known for their resource demands, pose a significant challenge for businesses striving to remain competitive amidst the necessity for costly and expansive systems.
Presently, managing AI processes and applications relies on specialised operators, intricate networking setups, demanding co-computing requirements, and sophisticated storage solutions. The application and data delivery landscape is changing – are you ready for it?
So what’s not to love?
That’s the good news. Needless to say with opportunity comes threat, and cyber criminals are also getting in on the act. This year will see new and undiscovered attack vectors leveraging the intelligence and power of AI. Find out more – and how to solve it – in this article from Tintri.
Want to find out more?
As a Tintri Partner, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.
To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.
Circularity means different things to different people. No one business is at the same stage when it comes to sustainability, and this means a range of solutions are required to embrace a circular economy.
From the desire for more efficient solutions to drive sustainability goals, implementing sustainability targets, or looking to make a start on the circular journey, adopting the philosophy of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ is a great start to a more sustainable future for your organisation.
This article from Lenovo discusses what circularity means for your organisation and how you can take the next step.
Want to learn more?
Complete IT Systems have a team of Barracuda specialists on hand to demo the solution, discuss business benefits and help you understand how the technology works for your organisation.
To get in touch or request a demo please contact us.
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