The future of cloud computing is a fine balance between the flexibility of the cloud and the protection of data, where hybrid and multi-cloud form the music of continued innovation.

Consider running an internet discussion with thousands of users while it requires immense stability and protection, it also needs to be able to adapt to the increasing number of users in a matter of seconds. However, sudden surges in the number of attendees during live sessions place great stress on their on-premises servers, to the point that the courses become frustrating to manage. Thats the cloud conundrum for business today.

This is where hybrid and multi-cloud technologies provide the prerequisite solution. To effectively address the demands of large audiences, the organisation uses a public cloud for live streaming and chat during times of maximum attendance while preserving the confidentiality of data in a private cloud. Scalability and security go hand in hand with this strategy, making it a great combination for any global event.

Lets now examine the most recent developments, challenges, and innovations influencing hybrid and multi-cloud solutions in 2024.

One of the biggest changes that will be observed in hybrid and multi-cloud technologies by 2024 is better integration. Currently, cloud providers are working towards providing synchronous compatibility between different environments of clouds. For example, Microsoft Azure Arc helps organizations maintain and govern resources in on-premises, edge, and multi-cloud spaces. This makes it more efficient to run the cloud services and it gets rid of the hassle of dealing with different cloud services. A real-time example is Nokia, which is a multinational firm that applies Azure Arc to govern the firms IT resources irrespective of their location, as well as ensure the smooth functioning of the IT systems.

As organisations transition to hybrid and multi-cloud systems, security continues to be a top priority. With improved encryption standards, AI security analysis, and the zero-trust architecture, cloud security in 2024 will be even more strengthened. Such solutions as IBM Cloud Pak for Security are instrumental in this by presenting companies such as IBM with extensive security analytics across hybrid and multi-cloud settings. For example, the worlds largest bank, BNP Paribas, uses IBMs tight security to protect its financial data and adheres to stringent legislation in multiple clouds.

AI & ML are now embedded in hybrid and multi-cloud environments in todays world. These technologies enable predictive algorithms, control of resources, and improvement of organizational processes. For example, the Google Cloud AI Platform offers solutions that cover the entire machine learning development process and deployment across different clouds. This capability enables the formulation of crucial conclusions and the application of automation across an organization.

One of the best use cases of AI and ML cooperation can be discussed concerning GE Healthcare, where Google Cloud AI and ML are implemented in the companys medical imaging products. Using these technologies, GE Healthcare has enhanced imaging algorithms that aid radiologists in better and faster diagnosis of a condition. This integration benefits the patient by improving their health while at the same time enhancing the efficiency of operations in healthcare institutions, thus highlighting the effectiveness of AI & ML in hybrid and multi-cloud models.

Indeed, hybrid and multi-cloud are a perfect solution for businesses, although orientation in such a topology is not easy. Here are the key challenges that organisations need to address effectively:

It can be challenging when an organization is using multiple cloud environments that have different tools interfaces and billing structures. The IT teams require skills in managing the different cloud management platforms, security solutions, and orchestration services for a seamless functioning across the hybrid and multi-cloud ecosystem. For instance, a company may use AWS to host resources, Microsoft Azure to host data, and a private cloud especially for storing financial information. While working with different platforms, it is revealed that each has a unique management console and billing system, and IT personnel need to be acquainted comprehensively with these interfaces for handling the inventory, solving problems, and controlling expenses.

The ability to maintain uniform security across several cloud domains is one of the fundamental challenges. Therefore, for all types of clouds, businesses must create and put into place strict security procedures that include encryption, access rights, risk assessment, and compliance with legal requirements. This is especially true when working with a multi-cloud environment, where data can be located on different providers platforms with various levels of protection. For instance, a healthcare provider may allow patient records to be stored on the private cloud due to privacy concerns but may use the public cloud for analytics. So, it is important to keep an equal level of encryption, access control, and periodic security checks in both settings to avoid compromising patient information and medical records.

Still, vendor lock-in is a potential concern when it comes to multi-cloud. The rationale behind multi-cloud is to avoid being overly reliant on a single vendor, but even here this issue persists. This means that organizations can end up locked in with particular cloud providers for particular services or employments, and it can be inconceivable and costly to shift to another provider in the future. For example, an enterprise may rely on several computing applications that are not available on a server provided by a typical cloud provider. When they consider changing providers in the future, they may have a problem transferring their applications to another serverless provider because of proprietary functions or interfaces. The key to avoiding being locked into a particular cloud provider is to research and effectively determine which providers can offer the services needed now and in the future without requiring a change in providers.

Hybrid and multi-cloud architectures are being enhanced by edge computing, as it offloads computation and storage closer to data origin. This innovation helps lower the latency and enhances the response time for applications that require real-time output. Tech giants like AWS are already providing solutions like AWS Outposts to bring the AWS infrastructure services into the customers premises. A clear example is in self-driving cars, where edge computing comes in handy to process data and make decisions in real time, which is vital to operations.

Kubernetes and the use of containers are emerging as a new solution to deploy and manage applications in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Kubernetes offers a foundation for automatically deploying, scaling, and managing application containers across the clusters of hosts. This technology is backed by prominent cloud providers such as Google Cloud Anthos that apply consistent management across the hybrid or multi-cloud setup. For example, the fintech firm PayPal deploys Kubernetes to guarantee the high availability and horizontal scalability of its services when deploying onto a variety of cloud platforms to support its global payment processing needs.

Serverless computing is a form of cloud computing in which the cloud provider manages the execution of all application code in response to events while providing limited computing resources for the code to run. This innovation makes the development process less complex and improves scalability among the applications. Azure Functions and AWS Lambda are examples of Serverless Computing that enables businesses to upload code which runs in response to particular events and these can automatically scale up or down. An example of this is Netflix, the video streaming company that utilizes AWS Lambda for managing content and delivery to viewers across the globe.

The future of cloud computing is a fine balance between the flexibility of the cloud and the protection of data, where hybrid and multi-cloud form the music of continued innovation. AI-based security solutions and serverless architecture, which are relatively new concepts, have opened the door to a new level of organizational efficiency and business scalability. But its not easy to simplify this complex system, which is why sophisticated IT players, the real choreographers are needed. Thereby, the limitations of a single cloud are history. The stage is set for businesses to unlock a new level of efficiency and scalability; the only question is, are you ready for your curtain call? For more detailed information on trends such as hybrid and multi-cloud, visit Sify Technologies and explore their comprehensive resources on cloud solutions.

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Hybrid and Multi-Cloud technologies in 2024: Developments, challenges, and Innovations - Sify

As cloud computing has evolved, weve entrusted more and more of our data to it. Our everyday correspondence is in the cloud. Our favorite applications are in the cloud, and, more and more, our most sensitive data is in the cloud. To protect the integrity of your organizations assets, youll need a comprehensive cloud security strategy.

However, the cloud isnt a single piece of hardware or software. Its a complex ecosystem of computers, routers, apps, websites, files, services, and more. As such, your organizationssecurity posturehas to be just as versatile and flexible as the systems it protects.

Crafting a cloud security strategy in 2024 requires a clear understanding of modern threats, countermeasures, and best practices. With the right knowledge and tools at your disposal, you can educate your staff, secure your data, and take full advantage of what the cloud has to offer.

Because the cloud encompasses so many different systems, it can be difficult to pin down exactly what a modern cloud security strategy should look like. In broad terms, cloud security refers to any process thatsafeguards data in the cloud, whether that data is in an app, a file storage system, or a development platform. This means implementing smart security policies, and updating them over time as threats change.

Cloud computing hasbeen around since the 1960s, but didnt become widely available until the 1990s. As cloud computing has advanced, security protocols have had to keep pace with it. Early cloud security solutions could control access to remote systems and offer basic data protection, but not much else.

Over time, cloud security has become more sophisticated. Todays security solutions offer continuous monitoring, real-time incident response, and a focus on theshared responsibility model. Essentially, employees are responsible for keeping their own data secure, while organizations and service providers are responsible for keeping the systems that store the data secure.

While no two organizations will employ the exact same protocols, there are a few elements that every good cloud security strategy needs:

As of 2022,60% of all corporate datalives in the cloud and that number is not likely to go down anytime soon. As organizations shift their resources from local servers to cloud apps, company policies must evolve to address a different set of security risks. IT and security teams need to be aware of the latest cybersecurity threats as well as the countermeasures for them.

The world of cybersecurity moves fast. Security researchers find an average of72 new vulnerabilities per day. A good security suite can block most of these potential exploits but probably not all of them. To keep pace with emerging threats, your organization should be proactive. Resources such as theLookout Threat Intelligence Platformcan keep you apprised of new vulnerabilities as they emerge and help you analyze current patterns and trends. You should alsoassess your security postureregularly, and have solid, actionable plans in place to deal with threats of varying severity.

Depending on your organizations field, you may have to comply with governmental or industry regulations. The finance, manufacturing, education, retail, and transportation industries, for example, must hold their sensitive data toespecially strict standards. Organizations that do business in Europe have to follow GDPR guidelines, while theHealth Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)protects patient privacy in the United States. These regulations apply whether you store your data on premises or in the cloud.

There are two major threats to any cloud-based system: external threat actors and internal misuse. A sound cloud security strategy must account for both. To lay the foundation for a solid security posture, you should verify users constantly, restrict access to sensitive data, and protect data when its in use.

Not every employee needs to access every piece of data at your organization. The principle of least privilege grants employees the absolute minimum level of clearance they need to do their jobs. For example, an intern might only be able to access clerical data, a manager might be able to access sensitive records, and an IT specialist might be able to access just about everything. Minimizing privileges reduces the risk of unauthorized access, and limits how much damage an attacker could do with a compromised account.

Older cloud security systems focused on access control, or determining which users were authorized for certain systems. While access control is a good starting point, it doesnt help with accidental data leakage, misconfigured permissions, or compromised accounts.

Instead, your security team should adopt adata-centric approach. Data-centric solutions focus on classifying sensitive data appropriately, and either granting or limiting access on a file-by-file basis. Implementing a DLP policy can help you analyze data usage patterns, grant or deny access situationally, and encrypt files at every stage of the process.

Modern-day threat actors frequently use mobile devices as an entry point into corporate systems. Thats why any mobile device with access to your corporate resources needs to be secured. Many organizations usemobile device management (MDM)to keep track of corporate-owned devices, but MDM doesnt cover employees personal devices.Mobile endpoint securitycan complement your existing MDM while giving you more comprehensive coverage over corporate and personal devices.

Shadow IT refers to employees using unapproved technologies to do their jobs, rather than relying exclusively on company-issued tools. This issue has become even more pervasive with the rise of remote work andbring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. While shadow IT isnt necessarily a bad thing, you do need to account for it in your cloud security strategies. Acloud access security broker (CASB)acts as an intermediary between your workers and the cloud, helping you identify and monitor third-party apps.

In the past, organizations favored virtual private networks (VPNs) and identity access management (IAM) services to facilitate remote work. However, these tools are binary: either a user is logged in, or theyre not. That makes VPNs and IAMs relatively easy to compromise, especially with a stolen device orsocially engineered credentials.

Zero trust network access (ZTNA)is a more nuanced and more secure option for remote access. With ZTNA, you can analyze user behavior and grant granular access to sensitive data. Depending on an employees device, location, and network security, a ZTNA solution could let them into your system right away, or require them to complete multiple login and multi-factor authentication (MFA) challenges.

Anything in the cloud is, by definition, on the internet, and storing files on theinternet presents different security risksthan storing them on a local machine. Cloud files are subject to social engineering attempts, compromised employee accounts, and malware kits. Asecure web gateway (SWG)can neutralize many of these threats by analyzing internet traffic, enforcing acceptable use policies, and blocking potentially dangerous URLs and IP addresses.

While your employees are your best defense against cybersecurity threats, they may also be your largest source of uncertainty. Their access patterns and endpoints can change rapidly from assignment to assignment. That could make improper data usage or worse, a compromised account hard to spot.User and entity behavior analytics (UEBA)can learn normal employee behavior over time and flag suspicious behavior based on login location, frequency of access, data sharing habits, and more.

Azero-trust modelassumes that anyone attempting to access your organizations systems could be a threat actor. Instead of logging in once and staying logged in, a zero-trust approach makes employees enter their usernames, passwords, and MFA credentials on every device, in every location, and on every network. While this adds a few extra minutes of work for employees each day, it also makes it incredibly difficult for stolen devices or compromised passwords to threaten your sensitive data.

With the right credentials in hand, a threat actor may need only a few minutes to pull off a complicated attack. Real-time monitoring allows you to flag and analyze incidents as they happen, rather than after the fact. Ensure that your security solution provides monitoring features, and have a plan in place to report, contain, and neutralize incidents as they happen. Be sure that this plan includes a way to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.

Unless you test your systems, you wont know for sure whether they can actually deter a cyber attack. Perform regular security assessments that test your organizations access controls, encryption, network segmentation, and intrusion detection capabilities. Frequentvulnerability management, where you scan for and patch known vulnerabilities, can help your assessments succeed.

You should also perform regular security audits. Rather than testing your systems directly, audits review your security control settings and address any instances of noncompliance. Communicating the results of these audits is also a good way to let the rest of your organization know what youre doing to promote cybersecurity behind the scenes.

Teach your employees about common cybersecurity threats, including phishing, password spraying, and unsolicited downloads. Ensure your workers know how to craft strong passwords and change them frequently. Learn about the data permissions they need to do their jobs and explain how they can responsibly store, modify, and share that data.

You should also have a system in place for reporting security issues. Once your employees know what to look for, they should be able to spot phishing attempts, internal vulnerabilities, and malicious websites. Not only will this help keep your data safe, but your staff may also feel more invested in your organizations cybersecurity practices.

Cloud computing is a huge, complex, and occasionally unwieldy concept. As such, your organizations cloud security strategy needs to be robust, versatile, and adaptable. However, relying on dozens of different tools is time-consuming and can result in an inconsistent security posture. Asecurity service edge (SSE)solution combines SWG, ZTNA, and CASB technologies into a comprehensive platform. TheLookout Cloud Security Platformis a data-centric SSE solution with built-in DLP and UEBA capabilities.

For more information on how to manage and protect your data in the cloud, read the Lookout report onHow to Build an Effective Data Security Strategy. In it, youll learn why cloud computing has become so popular and why this popularity makes it a tempting target for threat actors. The report suggests five practical steps to safeguard your organizations data, from performing continuous risk assessment to identifying unsanctioned apps. Once you know the risks, your organization can leverage the clouds full potential.

Blog courtesy of Lookout. Regularly contributedguest blogsare part of MSSP Alertssponsorship program. Read more Lookout news and guest blogs here.

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Crafting a Robust Cloud Security Strategy in 2024 - MSSP Alert

Microsoft Azure offers a collection of scalable and reliable services designed to run on the cloud. You can use all of the most popular languages to put them to work, including PHP, Python, .NET, and Java, and you can count on those applications to run 24/7, even during traffic spikes or issues.

There are more than 200 products and services for building, deploying, and managing your applications included in Microsoft Azure software. Give your apps AI capabilities, language understanding, enterprise-grade search capability, and more.

When you combine Azure with other products from Microsoft, like Microsoft Security, Microsoft 365, and Dynamics 365, you have a powerful and comprehensive set of tools that are difficult to duplicate elsewhere.

By utilizing Microsoft Azure, you can increase productivity. Cloud-based applications also enhance collaboration, and entire teams can work on a project at once without undergoing a steep learning curve.

With more than 8,500 global cybersecurity experts on the job, you can feel confident that Microsoft Azure app security is up to the task of keeping your apps secure and compliant with any standard, helping to keep you and your customers safe.

One of the greatest things about Microsoft Azure is that each of the tools completes a single task, so there is no need to spend a lot of time digging through everything Microsoft Cloud computing has to offer. Instead, you can get started immediately with a tool that you need right now.

For instance, you might begin with an AI-assisted search to help gather information about your target audience or competitors or a database to help you keep track of your accounting. Later, when you are ready to promote your product, you can make use of AI-assisted bots to help with social media and emails.

Azure has a huge selection of applications that you can use. The following list just gives some of the highlights with an example of what you might do with each, and you can get a complete list on the Microsoft Azure website.

Azure AI Bot Service allows developers to build and deploy intelligent bots that can interact naturally with users through websites, apps, Cortana, Microsoft Teams, Facebook Messenger, and more.

These make great chatbots that can answer questions people might have when they visit your website.

Azure AI Search offers advanced search capabilities over content in a web or mobile application. It can integrate with other Azure services, enabling developers to add sophisticated search functionalities without a lot of effort. The AI helps provide auto-complete, search suggestions, and more.

Azure AI Search is a great tool for improving the shopping experience of your guests by enabling customers to quickly and accurately find products.

Azure Analysis Services is a fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) providing enterprise-grade data modeling in the cloud. It helps simplify data and enable fast decision-making through complex data models. It integrates easily with other services, like Azure SQL Database, for even more flexibility.

Azure Analysis Services is a great choice when you need a comprehensive and real-time overview of sales performance across various retail locations to enable quick strategic decisions.

Event Hubs is a data streaming platform and event ingestion service. It can handle millions of events per second and automatically scales up to meet demand. It supports various protocols, like HTTPS, Apache Kafka, and AMQP, making it versatile for different programming environments.

Use an Event Hub when you need to control and monitor several video cameras at once in your home or business security system.

Azure App Service is a fully managed platform for building, deploying, and scaling web apps. It supports multiple programming languages and provides a powerful cloud environment that eliminates the complexity of managing a server.

Azure App Service is the ideal choice for e-commerce web applications.

To get started with Microsoft Azure, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial, which turns into a pay-as-you-go model after that. However, many of the apps are free even with the basic plan, with costs accruing only after you reach a threshold, and the paid services are low-cost for smaller businesses with lower demands.

There is even a pricing calculator you can use to help get an estimate for costs to help you set up a budget.

Microsoft Azure can host a website using the app service, a virtual machine, static web apps, blob storage, or Kubernetes service. Each method has special advantages you might want to take advantage of. For instance, blob storage can be extremely cost-effective for static content that doesnt require any server-side code.

Microsoft provides various tools and services that make it possible to access and manage Azure resources from macOS, including the Azure Portal, Azure CLI (Command-Line Interface), Visual Studio Code, Azure SDKs, Docker and Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure Storage Explorer, and the mobile app.

Microsoft launched Azure on February 1, 2010.

As you can see, Microsoft Azure has a lot to offer, and these five services make up less than 2.5% of whats available without discussing Microsoft Security, Microsoft 365, or Dynamics 365, ensuring you can find whatever you need for whatever project you are working on regardless of scale. Go check out the whole list of services over at Microsoft and get started.

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AUSTIN, TX, June 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Automox, the leader in cloud-based IT endpoint management solutions, is now a trusted cloud provider via the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the worlds leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment.

The CSA is the worlds leading organization focused on defining and raising awareness about best practices to ensure a secure cloud computing environment. With this trustmark, Automox stands out among secure cloud computing providers, affirming its commitment to safety, reducing complexity and cost, and providing IT teams more time for strategic work.

We are thrilled to be one of CSAs recognized trusted cloud providers as the company leads the industry when it comes to cloud security, said Tom Bowyer, Director of Security at Automox. Our acceptance as a trusted cloud provider showcases our strengths in cloud endpoint management automation. We are incredibly proud to partner with the CSA in growing the future of cloud security.

By joining CSAs Trusted Cloud Provider program, Automox can better demonstrate its holistic approach to security, serving as a reference for customers seeking cloud providers aligned with their security needs.

We are excited to recognize Automoxs commitment as a Trusted Cloud Provider with the CSA trustmark," said Jim Reavis, CSA CEO and co-founder. "This endorsement highlights Automoxs dedication to advancing secure cloud computing standards and practices.

Automox claiming its spot in CSAs Trusted Cloud Provider program allows the company to demonstrate its commitment to holistic security. It serves as a reference point for customers looking to identify cloud providers aligned with the CSAs security requirements.

About the Cloud Security Alliance The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the worlds leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, certification, events, and products. CSAs activities, knowledge, and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by the cloud from providers and customers to governments, entrepreneurs, and the assurance industry and provide a forum through which diverse parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem. For further information, visit us at http://www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa.

About Automox

Automox is the IT automation platform for modern organizations. Groundbreaking automation empowers IT professionals to prove vulnerabilities are fixed, slash cost and complexity, win back hours in their days, and delight end users. 350+ Automox Worklet automation scripts make it easy for IT to save time, reduce risk, and thoughtfully automate OS, third-party software, and configuration updates on Windows, macOS, and Linux desktops, laptops, and servers. Join thousands of IT heroes automating confidence across millions of endpoints with Automox.Learn more at http://www.automox.com, connect with theAutomox Community, or connect with us onTwitter/X,Threads,LinkedIn,Facebook,Reddit, orInstagram.

2024 Automox Inc. All rights reserved. Automox, Automox Worklet, and the Automox logo are registered or unregistered trademarks of Automox Inc.

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Automox Recognized as Trusted Cloud Provider by Cloud Security Alliance - GlobeNewswire

Additionally, research teams at Amazons Development Centre in Berlin will benefit from lab expansions to develop and enhance AI and robotics capabilities.

With our teams continually focused on innovation, were helping German customers transform the way they work, live, connect and thrive, says Rocco Bruniger, Amazon Germany Country Manager. Our teams work hand-in-hand with state-of-the-art technologies to deliver for small businesses and customers, while AWS enables organisations of all sizes in Germany to grow their businesses and innovate using the cloud.

As part of this latest investment, AWS is planning to invest 8.8bn (US$9.43bn) by 2026. This will be to continue building, maintaining, and operating its cloud infrastructure for the AWS Europe (Frankfurt) region, which has been based in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main area since 2014. This will help meet growing customer demand for AWS technologies in Germany, including AI.

Digital transformation is set to rapidly continue across Europe, with increasing numbers of companies investing to build greater partnerships with existing companies within the region. The UK, France and Germany are currently the leading nations receiving foreign direct investment (FDI) for digital technology projects, according to a 2024 EY survey.

Cloud and AI will continue to surge across Europe as it contributes to greater operational efficiency and cost-saving measures. According to McKinsey in April 2024, more than 90% of European companies ranked their cloud programmes as a priority moving forward.

Greater AI software in cloud environments can help users enjoy greater interconnectivity and ultimately enhance overall productivity.

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Amazon in Europe: Committing to German Cloud & AI Expansion - Technology Magazine