The Data Dilemma: Part 2

As I search around YouTube for movies, presentations, etc., I begin to realize that with a bit of judicious use of Google, I can find nearly anything. That is, anything about businesses, personnel, corporate structures, and even personal information. Yes, even without spending money, there is data available about every conceivable part of your corporate …

The Data Dilemma: Part 1

A growing data dilemma is brewing. Businesses are caught between the need to have data available to improve the business and the need to keep that data private—and not only private, but secure, nonvolatile, protected, and available. At the same time, our data is neither invulnerable, nor, apparently, private. Organizations that collect data cannot keep …

The Upgrade Dilemma

Does using a microservices or container architecture actually help with upgrades? We often are required to upgrade our networking, storage, operating systems, and application components. Some of those upgrades are security related, while others are not. Almost all of them can impact our application in some fashion. However, containers and microservices are supposed to save …

Cloud Tenant PCI-DSS Dilemma

There is a dilemma for all tenants of a public or private cloud: Scope. For the tenant, they want everything to be in scope. For the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) they want to limit scope to the bare minimum. What does it mean for a Cloud to be ‘PCI Compliant’ and why is this a requirement for some tenants. The real issue, is what is in scope for PCI-DSS while your data is in the cloud and how can you as the tenant meet those requirements.

Block Chain Cure-All?

Block chain is being sold as the cure-all to all the world’s financial problems—so much so that attacks against block chain are growing. Actually, the attacks are against everything but the chain itself these days. Just what is block chain and how can it help? Many sites have defined block chain, so we are not …

Getting to Green: Monitoring Your Cloud

Recently, we upgraded our cloud environment. This raises the question, “What is wrong with the environment after an upgrade?” As tools improve, we get new warnings, messages, and analytics. This often leads to a decision to ensure that after the upgrade, all monitoring, alerts, and other diagnostics show green across the board. Is this required, desirable, and …