Cloud security – what are the threats?

While cloud adoption rates continue to grow steadily, cloud security remains a top concern at many organisations, often becoming a roadblock to faster adoption of public cloud infrastructure. This is understandable when you consider the number and variety of threats organisations have to be prepared to combat.

Cloud security – what are the threats?

To get a better understanding of how organisations around the world are using public cloud and the challenges they face, Barracuda recently commissioned independent market research firm Vanson Bourne to survey IT decision makers in EMEA, APAC, and the United States. The results of that research were published in the new report: Future Shock: The Cloud Is the New Network.

Including responses from 750 executives, individual contributors, and team managers with responsibility for or knowledge of their organisation’s cloud infrastructure, the report takes an in-depth look at respondents’ experiences with, and attitudes about, moving infrastructure to the public cloud, concerns restricting adoption, and the security and networking solutions being implemented to overcome them.

New perspectives on cloud challenges

The report reveals some interesting insights into how organisations are approaching public cloud solutions, and what might be holding them back. Highlights from the report include:

  • On average, organisations currently have 45% of IT infrastructure running in the public cloud, but that number is expected to increase to 76% in the next five years.
  • 70% of respondents say security concerns restrict their organisation’s adoption of public cloud.
  • 75% of respondents have already been targeted by a cyber-attack.
  • Only 23% of respondents have already deployed SD-WAN, but another 51% are either in the process of deploying or expect to deploy within the next 12 months.

As more IT infrastructure moves to public cloud, cloud providers will offer more native network capabilities, and public cloud will expand to include more network functionality. The vast majority of organisations need their security vendors to offer advanced security and cloud connectivity tightly integrated with the major cloud platforms.

Read more

Get your copy of Future Shock: The Cloud Is the New Network today to see the full results for yourself and get expert advice on how to embrace public cloud securely.

How can I find out more?

As Barracuda Partners, 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.

Mr. Benn’s storage adventure – part 1 (predictive analytics)

Complete IT Systems and Tintri have put our thinking hats and pens together to delve into the world of it operations through the perspective of a bowler hatted character called Mr. Benn! We’ll help him solve some of the challenges along the way, and he may even evoke some nostalgia for those of us from a certain vintage!

Mr. Benn and the storage adventure

One ordinary morning, our bowler-hatted hero Mr. Benn visits a costume shop and, with the shopkeeper’s knowing smile, dons the outfit of an IT operations manager (we say “outfit” because from experience, we know this could range from anything from a nice suit to a t-shirt and jeans – but bear with us!). Stepping through the magic door, he enters a bustling office filled with screens and blinking lights. It’s a hive of activity, and everyone is trying their best to make things happen.

But the IT team is overwhelmed. They are constantly reacting to challenges and struggling to keep up. In the world of IT managers and administrators, outages, running out of storage, and scrambling to fix problems as they arise are commonplace.

But the ever-observant Mr. Benn notices patterns in the chaos. He suggests using predictive analytics – tools that can analyse historical and real-time data, spot trends, and forecast when systems might fail or when resources will run short.

Step forward our hero – Tintri

If Mr. Benn stepped into the shoes of an IT manager and discovered Tintri, he would quickly see how it could transform his team’s daily operations from reactive firefighting to proactive, strategic planning.

With Tintri Analytics, Mr. Benn would gain instant visibility into every virtual machine and application in his environment – not just broad averages, but detailed, real-time data for each workload. This would allow him to spot which applications are using the most resources, where bottlenecks are forming, and when performance issues might arise, all from a single dashboard. If a bridge (or a business-critical app) started to wobble, he could immediately pinpoint the cause, whether it was storage, compute, or network-related, and take action before the bridge (or app) actually collapsed.

Tintri’s predictive analytics, powered by machine learning and up to three years of historical data, would let Mr. Benn forecast future needs with remarkable precision. He could see, for example, when storage or compute capacity would run out, or model what would happen if he added more workloads—much like planning for extra circus performers before showtime. This means no more last-minute scrambles or over-provisioning; he could scale resources just in time, ensuring smooth operations and consistent service delivery.

If the ringmaster asked about launching a new act (or business project), Mr. Benn could use Tintri’s “what-if” analysis to predict the impact on infrastructure, costs, and performance, giving clear, data-backed answers in minutes. Troubleshooting would also become a breeze, with Tintri’s real-time analytics making even tricky, intermittent issues visible and solvable in seconds.

Here’s what Tintri Analytics is all about in just over 3 minutes

With a little teamwork and the right algorithms, the IT team starts to see into the future. They can now predict when storage will fill up or when network traffic will spike, allowing them to scale resources before issues occur. Predictive analytics enables the IT team to plan ahead, keep systems running smoothly, and avoid disruptive surprises. Projects accelerate, downtime drops, and the business gains a competitive edge as IT shifts from firefighting to strategic planning.

As our first adventure ends, Mr. Benn returns through the magic door, leaving the IT team empowered and proactive. The shopkeeper gives him a small token – a USB stick – to remember his adventure. And Mr. Benn, as always, heads home, ready for his next journey, knowing he’s helped another world move from chaos to calm with a little foresight, collaboration, and the right tools.

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.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Workshop

Get the overview you need to understand Microsoft 365 Copilot and plan your next steps.

“First seek to understand” is how the saying goes. Whether you’re a business leader charting the path of AI for your organisation, an IT leader architecting the technology, or a business user building your new way to work, you need to understand the big picture with Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Our Workshop is designed to give you the overview you need to understand Microsoft 365 Copilot and plan your next steps.

  • Frame your understanding on what Microsoft 365 Copilot is, and what it can do within the context of your organisation.
  • Showcase the intelligence added to employee experiences by unleashing creativity, unlocking productivity, and levelling up skills.
  • Define scope, identify business stakeholders, and gather information on key business scenarios. Understand the scope of technical and licensing prerequisites standing in your way, what they mean for Microsoft 365 Copilot, and how to address them.
  • Complete and review readiness assessment and guidance.
  • Develop a plan to implement recommendations based on prioritised scenarios. Define next steps and timeline to develop and implement the solution.

  • High-level overview of what to expect with Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft’s approach to responsible AI.
  • Definition of up to three best opportunities for effective use cases and personas for Microsoft 365 Copilot.
  • A gap analysis of your technical and licensing preparedness for Microsoft 365 Copilot.
  • An assessment report and high-level roadmap for the next steps on your journey.

This engagement is tailored for organisations exploring the value of Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing together a small group of key contributors from different functional groups including IT and your line of business leaders.

💷 The workshop costs £1,000 + VAT.

📅 When? A date to suit you and your team.

▶ Register now.

Want to learn more?

Complete IT Systems have a team of Microsoft specialists on hand to demo the solutions, 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.

Building security awareness with your employees

We’ve all seen the news about cyber attacks costing businesses of all sizes millions of £, not to mention the reputational damage that comes with losing customers’ data. Even taking into account that some of this may be “hype”, the fact remains that the number and sophistication of cyber attacks on UK companies continues to increase.

Shortages of cybersecurity skills

Yet 82% of UK employers have reported shortages of cybersecurity skills in their companies. This can be for a number of reasons, such as adjustments to remote working, a lack of time or budget, or simply due to a lack of recognition of the importance or need. Furthermore, choosing the right security solutions can be time-consuming, and in a crowded marketplace it is not always easy to evaluate the best solution for your business.

How Caledonian Consumer Finance addressed the problem

During a recent webinar, Darryl Wiffen, IT Support Technician from Caledonian Consumer Finance, described his journey with Complete IT Systems and Kaspersky, and what they were looking for from their solution provider and security platform.·

The solution

With NEW Cloud Discovery (part of Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud), Caledonian Consumer Finance can:

• Know which cloud services their employees are using on their work devices
• Block prohibited cloud use automatically
• Uncover new potentially malicious cloud services

Cloud Discovery isn’t the only life-changing tool in the Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud arsenal. With SharePoint and Teams now in common usage, the need for a dedicated cybersecurity solution for Microsoft Office 365 has never been greater. That’s why we’ve added Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365.

Watch the webinar

Watch the webinar here and see for yourself how much easier life can be with the right cybersecurity technologies in place for your users.

Want to find out more?

As Kaspersky Gold Partners, 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 or request a free trial, please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.