#Microsegmentation Software Demand

[xaltius]

Top 10 Cybersecurity Trends and Strategies in 2025

As we navigate through 2025, the cybersecurity landscape continues its relentless evolution, driven by geopolitical tensions, rapid technological advancements, and the ever-increasing ingenuity of cybercriminals. For individuals and organizations, staying secure means not just reacting to threats, but anticipating them and implementing proactive strategies.

Here are the top 10 cybersecurity trends defining 2025 and the essential strategies to fortify your defenses:

1. The Escalating AI Arms Race: Both Sword and Shield

Trend: Generative AI (GenAI) is a double-edged sword. While it dramatically enhances threat detection, anomaly analysis, and automated response for defenders, it also empowers attackers to create more sophisticated and convincing phishing campaigns (including deepfakes), adaptive malware, and automated exploitation at an unprecedented scale and reduced cost. AI-driven cyber threats are expected to become more widespread.

Strategy: Invest in AI-powered security solutions (e.g., Extended Detection and Response (XDR), User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)) that leverage machine learning for advanced threat detection and automated response. Simultaneously, prioritize comprehensive security awareness training that specifically addresses AI-enhanced attacks, including deepfake recognition and sophisticated social engineering.

2. Zero Trust Architecture: The New Baseline

Trend: The traditional perimeter-based security model is obsolete. With hybrid workforces, extensive cloud adoption, and interconnected supply chains, the "never trust, always verify" principle of Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) is becoming the fundamental security posture for most enterprises. Gartner predicts 70% of new remote access deployments will rely on ZTNA rather than VPNs by 2025.

Strategy: Implement ZTA across your entire IT environment, focusing on continuous verification of every user, device, application, and data flow, regardless of location. Prioritize microsegmentation, strong identity and access management (IAM), and least privilege access.

3. Supply Chain Security: Beyond Your Own Walls

Trend: Supply chain attacks continue to be one of the most devastating vectors. By compromising a trusted third-party vendor or software component, attackers can gain access to numerous downstream organizations. The interconnectedness of modern businesses makes this a critical vulnerability, with a growing focus on software supply chain integrity.

Strategy: Implement robust third-party risk management programs. Demand strong security assurances from vendors, conduct regular security assessments of your supply chain partners, and enforce secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC) practices for all purchased or integrated software components.

4. Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) & Cloud-Native Security

Trend: As cloud adoption accelerates and multi-cloud environments become standard, misconfigurations remain a leading cause of cloud breaches. Attackers are increasingly targeting cloud-native vulnerabilities, API keys, and non-human identities. Rapid digital transformation is driving significant cloud adoption, bringing these challenges to the forefront.

Strategy: Adopt comprehensive CSPM tools for continuous monitoring of cloud configurations and compliance. Implement robust Identity and Access Management (IAM) for cloud environments, focusing on least privilege for both human and non-human identities. Prioritize cloud-native security tools that integrate deeply with cloud provider APIs.

5. Cyber Resilience and Rapid Recovery: Expect the Breach

Trend: Organizations are shifting from a sole focus on "prevention" to "resilience." This acknowledges that breaches are often inevitable and emphasizes the ability to quickly recover, minimize impact, and maintain business continuity. Ransomware attacks, which are becoming more sophisticated and disruptive, continue to drive this imperative.

Strategy: Develop and regularly test comprehensive incident response plans. Implement robust, immutable backup strategies (e.g., the 3-2-1 rule with off-site, air-gapped copies). Invest in automated recovery solutions and conduct regular tabletop exercises to ensure rapid restoration of critical operations.

6. Identity-Centric Security & Passwordless Authentication

Trend: Passwords remain a weak link and a frequent target for attackers. The widespread adoption of strong, adaptive, and passwordless authentication methods (like FIDO passkeys, biometrics, and magic links) is gaining significant momentum, offering enhanced security and a superior user experience.

Strategy: Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all systems as a foundational layer. Actively explore and implement passwordless authentication solutions for employees and customers where feasible, leveraging open standards like FIDO WebAuthn for secure and convenient logins.

7. OT/IoT Security Convergence and Challenges

Trend: The convergence of Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) networks, coupled with the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, creates new and complex attack surfaces. Legacy OT systems were often not built with modern cybersecurity in mind, making them vulnerable, especially in critical infrastructure sectors.

Strategy: Implement robust network segmentation to isolate OT/IoT environments from traditional IT networks. Deploy specialized OT/IoT security solutions for asset visibility, threat detection, and vulnerability management in these unique environments. Address legacy system risks through compensating controls and rigorous patch management.

8. Enhanced Data Privacy and Compliance Complexity

Trend: The global regulatory landscape around data privacy continues to expand and mature. The Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, are set to significantly enhance privacy and data protection, bringing new compliance requirements and greater accountability for organizations handling personal data.

Strategy: Develop and maintain robust data governance frameworks. Invest in data discovery and classification tools to understand where sensitive data resides. Ensure your cybersecurity practices align with all relevant national and international privacy regulations, potentially leveraging privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs).

9. Human Element: The Persistent and Evolving Vulnerability

Trend: Despite technological advancements, the human element remains the primary target for attackers. Social engineering, highly sophisticated phishing, deepfake voice/video scams, and insider threats (both malicious and accidental) continue to be highly effective attack vectors. AI only makes these attacks more convincing.

Strategy: Elevate security awareness and training programs beyond basic phishing simulations. Foster a strong, pervasive cybersecurity culture within the organization. Implement User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) to detect anomalous insider activities and enhance Data Loss Prevention (DLP) measures.

10. Cyber Workforce Development & Strategic Automation

Trend: The critical global shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals persists, compounded by the rapid pace of technological change. This drives an urgent need for automation to augment human capabilities and improve efficiency.

Strategy: Invest in Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms to automate repetitive tasks, streamline incident response, and reduce alert fatigue. Focus on upskilling existing security teams and leveraging AI to enhance their capabilities, allowing human experts to focus on strategic initiatives and complex problem-solving. Consider talent from non-traditional backgrounds and provide targeted training.

By understanding these prevailing trends and proactively implementing these strategies, organizations can build more resilient defenses, minimize their risk exposure, and navigate the complex digital challenges of 2025 and beyond. Stay adaptive, stay secure.

[unifiedmicrosystems]

Network Segregation in the Cloud Era: Challenges and Solutions

In today's digital landscape, where businesses increasingly rely on cloud infrastructure for their operations, ensuring robust network security is paramount. One crucial aspect of this security is network segregation, which involves dividing a network into distinct segments to minimize the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches. However, in the cloud era, traditional approaches to network segregation face new challenges and complexities. This article explores these challenges and offers solutions to effectively navigate network segregation in the cloud.

The Evolution of Network Segregation

Traditionally, network segregation was implemented within on-premises infrastructure using physical devices like routers, switches, and firewalls. By creating separate network segments for different departments or types of data, organizations could control access and contain potential security threats. However, with the widespread adoption of cloud computing, the landscape has evolved.

Challenges in the Cloud Era

Dynamic Workloads: In a cloud environment, workloads are often dynamic, with resources scaling up or down based on demand. This dynamic nature complicates traditional network segregation methods, as static configurations may not adapt quickly enough to changes in the environment.

Virtualized Networks: Cloud platforms utilize virtualization technologies to abstract physical hardware and create virtual networks. While this offers flexibility and scalability, it also introduces new complexities in managing network segmentation, as virtual networks may span multiple physical locations or cloud providers.

Interconnected Services: Modern applications are composed of microservices running across distributed environments. These interconnected services communicate over the network, blurring traditional boundaries between segments. Ensuring adequate segregation while maintaining seamless communication poses a significant challenge.

Shared Responsibility Model: Cloud providers operate on a shared responsibility model, where they secure the underlying infrastructure, but customers are responsible for securing their data and applications. This requires clear delineation of responsibilities and coordination between cloud providers and customers to implement effective network segregation.

Solutions for Effective Network Segregation

Zero Trust Architecture: Adopting a zero trust approach assumes that no entity, whether inside or outside the network, should be trusted by default. Instead, access controls are strictly enforced based on identity, device posture, and contextual information. Implementing a zero trust architecture helps mitigate the risks associated with dynamic workloads and interconnected services in the cloud.

Software-Defined Networking (SDN): SDN enables centralized management and programmable control of network infrastructure, making it well-suited for dynamic cloud environments. By abstracting network policies from physical hardware, SDN allows for automated and flexible network segmentation, adapting to changes in workload and traffic patterns in real-time.

Microsegmentation: Microsegmentation involves dividing the network into small, isolated segments to limit lateral movement of threats. In the cloud, this can be achieved using native security features provided by cloud providers or third-party solutions. By applying granular access controls at the workload or application level, organizations can enforce least privilege principles and contain potential breaches.

Cloud-native Security Tools: Leveraging cloud-native security tools and services can enhance network segregation in the cloud. Many cloud providers offer native firewall solutions, network access control lists (ACLs), and intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) that integrate seamlessly with their platforms. These tools provide visibility and control over network traffic, allowing organizations to enforce segmentation policies effectively.

Conclusion:

As businesses increasingly migrate their workloads to the cloud, ensuring robust network segregation is essential to safeguarding sensitive data and mitigating security risks. However, the dynamic and interconnected nature of cloud environments presents new challenges for traditional segregation methods. By adopting modern approaches such as zero trust architecture, SDN, microsegmentation, and leveraging cloud-native security tools, organizations can effectively navigate these challenges and secure their networks in the cloud era.

[tech-developer]

Next-Generation VPN Solutions: The New Technologies

Traditional VPNs have been a mainstay of cybersecurity for many years, but they are no longer enough to meet the needs of modern businesses. Next-generation VPN solutions are emerging to address the challenges of today's complex and distributed networks.

These new solutions offer a number of advantages over traditional VPNs, including:

Improved security: Next-gen VPNs use the latest encryption algorithms and authentication protocols to protect data from unauthorized access. They also offer features such as zero-trust security and microsegmentation to further reduce risk.

Increased performance: Next-gen VPNs are designed to be more efficient and scalable than traditional VPNs, so they can handle even the most demanding workloads.

Greater flexibility: Next-gen VPNs are more flexible than traditional VPNs, and can be deployed in a variety of environments, including cloud, on-premises, and hybrid networks.

Some of the key new technologies that are powering next-generation VPN solutions include:

WireGuard: WireGuard is a new VPN protocol that is designed to be faster, simpler, and more secure than traditional VPN protocols such as IPsec and OpenVPN.

Software-defined networking (SDN): SDN allows administrators to programmatically control network traffic, which can be used to create more secure and agile VPN networks.

Zero-trust security: Zero-trust security is a security model that assumes that no user or device can be trusted by default. Next-gen VPNs can implement zero-trust security by only granting access to resources on a need-to-know basis.

Microsegmentation: Microsegmentation is a security technique that divides networks into small segments and isolates traffic between them. Next-gen VPNs can use microsegmentation to reduce the risk of data breaches and malware infections.

Next-generation VPN solutions are still in their early stages of development, but they are rapidly gaining popularity as businesses seek more secure and reliable ways to connect their remote workers and devices.

Here are some examples of next-generation VPN solutions:

Cloudflare Access: Cloudflare Access is a zero-trust security solution that provides secure access to applications and resources for remote workers and devices. It uses a variety of technologies, including SDN, microsegmentation, and WireGuard, to deliver high performance and security.

Zscaler Private Access (ZPA): ZPA is another zero-trust security solution that provides secure access to applications and resources. It uses a cloud-based architecture to deliver high performance and scalability.

Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access: Prisma Access is a next-generation VPN solution that provides secure access to applications and resources in the cloud, on-premises, and hybrid networks. It uses a variety of technologies, including SDN, microsegmentation, and zero-trust security, to deliver high performance and security.

These are just a few examples of the many next-generation VPN solutions that are available. As the technology continues to develop, we can expect to see even more innovative and secure solutions emerge.

[chetanare]

Global Microsegmentation Software Sales, Revenue, Gross Margin And Market Share Forecast To 2026

Global Microsegmentation Software Sales, Revenue, Gross Margin And Market Share Forecast To 2026

A latest specialized intelligence report published by KandJ Market Research with the title “Global Microsegmentation Software Market Report 2020 by Key Players, Types, Applications, Countries, Market Size, Forecast to 2026 (Based on 2020 COVID-19 Worldwide Spread)” has the ability to help the decision-makers in the most important market in the world that has played a significantly important role…

[martydubois]

Unisys Stealth® Achieves Exclusive U.S. Federal Government Certification to Protect National Security Systems

Robust Common Criteria certification from U.S. government recognized by governments in 31 countries worldwide for protection of critical data  Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) today announced the U.S. government certification of Unisys Stealth® to protect information as it flows between Stealth™-enabled endpoints. Stealth is the first microsegmentation cybersecurity solution to be validated by the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP). The new certification confirms that Stealth meets the stringent requirements of the NIAP Virtual Private Network (VPN) PP-Module for VPN Client Version 2.1 and the NIAP Protection Profile for Application Software Version 1.3. These profiles assure clients their data will be protected as it travels between endpoints protected by Stealth. The NIAP evaluation is a comprehensive process that certifies products meet internationally-accepted standards for trusted security products and solutions. Products must demonstrate that they meet all specified security requirements to achieve NIAP certification. This updated certification follows the certification of Stealth by NIAP announced in 2018. "This independent validation establishes that Stealth conforms to rigorous security guidelines demanded by governments and the private sector, illustrating that Stealth is able to provide strong cybersecurity to its clients," said Sudhir Mehta, global vice president, product management, Unisys. Read the full article

[swapnali3]

The Global Microsegmentation Software Market is expected to grow from USD +670.3 million in 2017 to USD +2,038.7 million by 2022, at a CAGR of +24.9% during the forecast period.

[lisamelendezblog]

How to Find Relief for Your Network Infrastructure in the Age of Apps

If you’re like most IT people, never does a day go by that you’re not working on multiple tasks at once: ensuring on prem data centers and public cloud networks are running smoothly; monitoring the consistency of network security policies; and making sure all of it meets compliance demands. And that doesn’t even begin to address the enormous pressure applications have begun to put on the underlying network infrastructure. As a result, data centers are no longer a fixed entity, but rather a mesh of intelligent infrastructure that spans multiple clouds and geographies. With new applications constantly being added to an infrastructure, roadblocks are beginning to arise, making the role of IT teams more complicated than ever.

Dynamic Network Alignment with IT and Business Policies

The network industry has recognized its unique set of challenges and is addressing them in the form of an intent-based networking architectural approach that builds on software-defined networking to allow continuous, dynamic network alignment with IT and business policies. This means that application, security, and compliance policies can be defined once then enforced and monitored between any groups of users or things and any application or service – or even between application services themselves – wherever they are located.

Forward-looking companies are now using applications not just as a way to engage with customers but also as a means for employees and the organizations themselves to communicate and work together efficiently. To create a more streamlined infrastructure, Cisco has integrated Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) with the application layer and the enterprise campus to help large and medium-sized organizations that need to adopt a holistic network infrastructure strategy. Designed to help businesses cope with the unique performance, security, and management challenges of highly distributed applications, data, users, and devices, Cisco ACI also addresses the issue of legacy approaches. Having relied on manual processes to secure data and applications and control access, these approaches are no longer adequate or sustainable, and therefore need to be modernized.

With the ACI and AppDynamics (AppD) integration, application performance correlates with network health, while the Cisco DNA Center and the Identity Services Engine (ISE) work together to deliver end-to-end identity-based policy and access control between users or devices on campus and applications or data anywhere.

Richer Diagnostic Capabilities for Healthier Networks and Apps

Simplifying the deployments and management of applications requires more than just providing and managing the infrastructure that supports them. Cicso’s AppD provides IT teams with the application-layer visibility and monitoring required in an intent-based architecture to validate that IT and business policies are being met across the network. The Cisco ACI and AppDynamics solution also offers high-quality app performance monitoring, richer diagnostic capability for app and network performance, and faster root-cause analysis of problems, with immediate triage sent to the right people quickly.

That said, failures in applications can happen for a variety of reasons, often leading to what’s commonly known as “the blame game,” with people asking questions like, “Is it the network failure or the application failure? Who is responsible – the network team or the apps team?” Manual methods are slow, cumbersome and oftentimes simply impossible to detect failures in an assertive fashion. The ACI and AppD integration offers deep visibility into the application processes andenables faster root cause analysis bytaking the ambiguity out and pinpointing the problem – saving time, money, and, most importantly, getting the application back up and running right away.

Network Segmentation is a Must

Hyper-distributed applications and highly mobile users, increased cyber-security threats, and even more regulatory requirements make network segmentation a must for reducing risk and better compliance. Cisco ACI and Cisco DNA Center/ISE policy integration allows the marrying of Cisco ACI’s application-based microsegmentation in the data center, with Cisco SD Access user-group based segmentation across the campus and branch. This integration automates the mapping and enforcement of segmentation policy based on the user’s security profile as they access resources within the data center, enabling security administrators to manage end-to-end, user-to-application segmentation seamlessly. A common and consistent identity-based microsegmentation capability is then provided from the user to the application.

Experience ACI Integrations for Yourself

To practice using Cisco ACI, we’ve put together two-minute walkthroughs to help you experience the impact of the integrations and see first-hand how they can make an IT team’s life easier.

1.The story of simplicity with Cisco Cloud ACI 

Watch how Cisco Cloud ACI helps policy-driven connectivity between on-premises data centers and AWS and Azure public clouds. The aim is to simplify routing and to ensure consistency of network security policies, ultimately helping to meet compliance demands.

2.Fastest RCA from application to the network with ACI and AppDynamics

Learn how to correlate application health and network constructs for optimal app performance, deeper monitoring, and faster root cause analysis with Cisco ACI and AppDynamics integration.

3.Seamless user-to-application segmentation with ACI and Cisco DNA and ISE

See how Cisco ACI and Cisco DNA Center/ISE policy integration allows the marrying of ACI’s application-based micro-segmentation in the data center with Cisco SD-Access and user group-based segmentation across the campus and branch.

Now that you’ve had a chance to engage with Cisco’s ACI innovations, we’d love to know what you think! Are you struggling to maintain control over your data infrastructure? Share your story with us in the comments here, or visit the Data Center Community for in-depth conversations and additional resources.

How to Find Relief for Your Network Infrastructure in the Age of Apps published first on https://brightendentalhouston.tumblr.com/

[xaltius]

Top 10 Cybersecurity Trends and Strategies in 2025

As we navigate through 2025, the cybersecurity landscape continues its relentless evolution, driven by geopolitical tensions, technological advancements, and the ever-increasing ingenuity of cybercriminals. Organizations and individuals alike face a more complex and perilous digital environment than ever before. Staying ahead means not just reacting to threats, but anticipating them and implementing proactive strategies.

Here are the top 10 cybersecurity trends defining 2025 and the essential strategies to fortify your defenses.

1. The AI Arms Race: Both Sword and Shield

Trend: Generative AI (GenAI) is a double-edged sword. While it dramatically enhances threat detection, anomaly analysis, and automated response for defenders, it also empowers attackers to create more sophisticated phishing campaigns, adaptive malware, and deepfake-driven social engineering at an unprecedented scale and reduced cost.

Strategy: Invest in AI-powered security solutions (e.g., EDR, XDR, UEBA) that leverage machine learning for advanced threat detection and automated response. Simultaneously, prioritize security awareness training that specifically addresses AI-enhanced attacks, including deepfake recognition.

2. Zero Trust Architecture: The New Default

Trend: The traditional perimeter-based security model is obsolete. With hybrid workforces, cloud adoption, and interconnected supply chains, the "never trust, always verify" principle of Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) is becoming the fundamental security posture for most enterprises. Gartner predicts 60% of enterprises will embrace Zero Trust as a starting point by 2025.

Strategy: Implement ZTA across your entire IT environment, focusing on continuous verification of every user, device, application, and data flow, regardless of location. Prioritize microsegmentation and least privilege access.

3. Supply Chain Security: Beyond Your Own Walls

Trend: Supply chain attacks continue to be one of the most devastating vectors. By compromising a trusted third-party vendor or software component, attackers can gain access to numerous downstream organizations. The interconnectedness of modern businesses makes this a critical vulnerability.

Strategy: Implement robust third-party risk management programs. Demand strong security assurances from vendors, conduct regular security assessments of your supply chain partners, and enforce secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC) practices for all purchased or integrated software.

4. Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) & Cloud-Native Security

Trend: As cloud adoption accelerates and multi-cloud environments become standard, misconfigurations remain the leading cause of cloud breaches. Attackers are increasingly targeting cloud-native vulnerabilities, API keys, and non-human identities.

Strategy: Adopt comprehensive CSPM tools for continuous monitoring of cloud configurations. Implement robust Identity and Access Management (IAM) for cloud environments, focusing on least privilege for both human and non-human identities. Prioritize cloud-native security tools that integrate deeply with cloud provider APIs.

5. Cyber Resilience and Recovery: Expect the Breach

Trend: Organizations are shifting from a sole focus on "prevention" to "resilience." This acknowledges that breaches are often inevitable and emphasizes the ability to quickly recover, minimize impact, and maintain business continuity. Ransomware continues to be a driving force here.

Strategy: Develop and regularly test comprehensive incident response plans. Implement robust, immutable backup strategies (e.g., 3-2-1 rule with off-site, air-gapped copies). Invest in automated recovery solutions and conduct regular tabletop exercises to ensure readiness.

6. Identity-Centric Security & Passwordless Authentication

Trend: Passwords remain a weak link. The widespread adoption of passwordless authentication methods (like FIDO passkeys, biometrics, and magic links) is gaining significant momentum, offering enhanced security and a superior user experience.

Strategy: Transition to strong, multi-factor authentication (MFA) as a baseline. Actively explore and implement passwordless authentication solutions for employees and customers where feasible, leveraging standards like FIDO WebAuthn.

7. OT/IoT Security Convergence and Challenges

Trend: The convergence of Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) networks, coupled with the proliferation of IoT devices, creates new and complex attack surfaces. Legacy OT systems were not built with modern cybersecurity in mind, making them vulnerable to sophisticated threats.

Strategy: Implement network segmentation to isolate OT/IoT environments from IT networks. Deploy specialized OT/IoT security solutions for asset visibility, threat detection, and vulnerability management in these unique environments. Address legacy system risks through compensating controls.

8. Enhanced Data Privacy and Compliance Complexity

Trend: The global regulatory landscape around data privacy (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, and new regional laws) continues to expand and mature. Organizations face increasing scrutiny and hefty penalties for non-compliance, pushing privacy to the forefront of cybersecurity strategy.

Strategy: Implement robust data governance frameworks. Invest in data discovery and classification tools. Ensure your cybersecurity practices align with all relevant privacy regulations, potentially leveraging privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) like differential privacy or homomorphic encryption.

9. Human Element: The Persistent Vulnerability

Trend: Despite technological advancements, the human element remains the primary target for attackers. Social engineering, phishing, and insider threats (both malicious and accidental) continue to be highly effective. AI only makes these attacks more convincing.

Strategy: Elevate security awareness and training programs beyond basic phishing simulations. Foster a strong cybersecurity culture within the organization. Implement User Behavior Analytics (UEBA) to detect anomalous insider activities and enhance Data Loss Prevention (DLP) measures.

10. Cyber Workforce Development & Automation

Trend: The critical global shortage of cybersecurity professionals persists. Organizations are struggling to find and retain talent, leading to burnout and missed threats. This drives an urgent need for automation.

Strategy: Invest in Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms to automate repetitive tasks and streamline incident response. Focus on upskilling existing teams and leveraging AI to augment human capabilities, allowing experts to focus on strategic initiatives rather than manual "firefighting."

By understanding these prevailing trends and proactively implementing these strategies, organizations can build more resilient defenses, minimize their risk exposure, and navigate the complex digital challenges of 2025 and beyond. Stay adaptive, stay secure.

[keygenix]

How to Find Relief for Your Network Infrastructure in the Age of Apps

If you’re like most IT people, never does a day go by that you’re not working on multiple tasks at once: ensuring on prem data centers and public cloud networks are running smoothly; monitoring the consistency of network security policies; and making sure all of it meets compliance demands. And that doesn’t even begin to address the enormous pressure applications have begun to put on the underlying network infrastructure. As a result, data centers are no longer a fixed entity, but rather a mesh of intelligent infrastructure that spans multiple clouds and geographies. With new applications constantly being added to an infrastructure, roadblocks are beginning to arise, making the role of IT teams more complicated than ever.

Dynamic Network Alignment with IT and Business Policies

The network industry has recognized its unique set of challenges and is addressing them in the form of an intent-based networking architectural approach that builds on software-defined networking to allow continuous, dynamic network alignment with IT and business policies. This means that application, security, and compliance policies can be defined once then enforced and monitored between any groups of users or things and any application or service – or even between application services themselves – wherever they are located.

Forward-looking companies are now using applications not just as a way to engage with customers but also as a means for employees and the organizations themselves to communicate and work together efficiently. To create a more streamlined infrastructure, Cisco has integrated Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) with the application layer and the enterprise campus to help large and medium-sized organizations that need to adopt a holistic network infrastructure strategy. Designed to help businesses cope with the unique performance, security, and management challenges of highly distributed applications, data, users, and devices, Cisco ACI also addresses the issue of legacy approaches. Having relied on manual processes to secure data and applications and control access, these approaches are no longer adequate or sustainable, and therefore need to be modernized.

With the ACI and AppDynamics (AppD) integration, application performance correlates with network health, while the Cisco DNA Center and the Identity Services Engine (ISE) work together to deliver end-to-end identity-based policy and access control between users or devices on campus and applications or data anywhere.

Richer Diagnostic Capabilities for Healthier Networks and Apps

Simplifying the deployments and management of applications requires more than just providing and managing the infrastructure that supports them. Cicso’s AppD provides IT teams with the application-layer visibility and monitoring required in an intent-based architecture to validate that IT and business policies are being met across the network. The Cisco ACI and AppDynamics solution also offers high-quality app performance monitoring, richer diagnostic capability for app and network performance, and faster root-cause analysis of problems, with immediate triage sent to the right people quickly.

That said, failures in applications can happen for a variety of reasons, often leading to what’s commonly known as “the blame game,” with people asking questions like, “Is it the network failure or the application failure? Who is responsible – the network team or the apps team?” Manual methods are slow, cumbersome and oftentimes simply impossible to detect failures in an assertive fashion. The ACI and AppD integration offers deep visibility into the application processes andenables faster root cause analysis bytaking the ambiguity out and pinpointing the problem – saving time, money, and, most importantly, getting the application back up and running right away.

Network Segmentation is a Must

Hyper-distributed applications and highly mobile users, increased cyber-security threats, and even more regulatory requirements make network segmentation a must for reducing risk and better compliance. Cisco ACI and Cisco DNA Center/ISE policy integration allows the marrying of Cisco ACI’s application-based microsegmentation in the data center, with Cisco SD Access user-group based segmentation across the campus and branch. This integration automates the mapping and enforcement of segmentation policy based on the user’s security profile as they access resources within the data center, enabling security administrators to manage end-to-end, user-to-application segmentation seamlessly. A common and consistent identity-based microsegmentation capability is then provided from the user to the application.

Experience ACI Integrations for Yourself

To practice using Cisco ACI, we’ve put together two-minute walkthroughs to help you experience the impact of the integrations and see first-hand how they can make an IT team’s life easier.

1.The story of simplicity with Cisco Cloud ACI 

Watch how Cisco Cloud ACI helps policy-driven connectivity between on-premises data centers and AWS and Azure public clouds. The aim is to simplify routing and to ensure consistency of network security policies, ultimately helping to meet compliance demands.

2.Fastest RCA from application to the network with ACI and AppDynamics

Learn how to correlate application health and network constructs for optimal app performance, deeper monitoring, and faster root cause analysis with Cisco ACI and AppDynamics integration.

3.Seamless user-to-application segmentation with ACI and Cisco DNA and ISE

See how Cisco ACI and Cisco DNA Center/ISE policy integration allows the marrying of ACI’s application-based micro-segmentation in the data center with Cisco SD-Access and user group-based segmentation across the campus and branch.

Now that you’ve had a chance to engage with Cisco’s ACI innovations, we’d love to know what you think! Are you struggling to maintain control over your data infrastructure? Share your story with us in the comments here, or visit the Data Center Community for in-depth conversations and additional resources.

How to Find Relief for Your Network Infrastructure in the Age of Apps published first on https://medium.com/@JioHowpage

[terabitweb]

Original Post from SC Magazine Author: stephenlawton

The evolution of IT has greatly outpaced that of cybersecurity. While security hasn’t stood still, it hasn’t progressed effectively to address today’s digital and gig economy realities. Here are some reasons why this is so.

IT is distributed, hybrid and on-demand, broadening the scope of your attack surface. The workforce, like today’s data, is mobile, and access can come from anywhere. Complexity is rampant, putting your security team under immense pressure to protect data wherever it is, be it on premise, in the cloud, or elsewhere. Finally, threats are pervasive and constantly evolving. Your defenses need to evolve as well.

Security must undergo a Zero Trust paradigm shift, which Forrester defines as “a fundamental transformation of corporate security from a failed perimeter-centric approach” – Security Architecture & Operations Playbook,  Forrester, 2018.

In-order to achieve Zero Trust, focus is imperative. It requires addressing three fundamental challenges to become cyber resilient, which can minimize complexity and establish a secure foundation for your future.

Reduce Your Attack Surface

There are too many entry points and paths leading to your critical systems. You need to make resources, wherever they reside, invisible to unauthorized people. It also requires limiting the lateral movement an individual can take once access has been granted.

This is all achievable with a Software-Defined Perimeter that cloaks the ports of entry and deploys fine-grained microsegmentation for a secure 1:1 connection to permitted resources. Zero Trust terminology calls it the Principle of Least Privilege.

Secure User Access 

Zero Trust requires replacing the old “trust, then verify” model with an identity-centric approach that factors in context before granting secure access. Gone are the days when a known IP address and password are enough to ensure the user behind the device is who she says she is.  

Attempting to achieve Zero Trust by gluing together VPNs, NACs and various types of Firewalls introduces unneeded complexity. A Software-Defined Perimeter presents a better approach to network security that embodies the principles of Zero Trust, reduces operational complexity and unifies secure access across your hybrid organization.

Neutralizing Adversaries  

Leon Trotsky said it best, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” Threat mitigation requires both a strong offense and defense.

Your frontline consists of your employees and the online environments they access. Adversaries actively prey on your workforce here. You must monitor your digital footprint to proactively detect and remove threats before they reach your workforce

Being complacent in today’s threat ridden world will end in disaster. Organizations must continuously search for vulnerabilities and hunt for threats that have bypassed preventative controls. Cyber resilience requires deep analytics and specialized expertise to unearth where you are most vulnerable and how an adversary could get in.  

Security needs to catch up with IT and a focused approach to Zero Trust can get you there. By embracing this straightforward framework, organizations can become more secure and less complex. Learn more about a focused approach to Zero Trust.

The post A Focused Approach to Zero Trust appeared first on SC Media.

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Go to Source Author: stephenlawton A Focused Approach to Zero Trust Original Post from SC Magazine Author: stephenlawton The evolution of IT has greatly outpaced that of…

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Nutanix Flow Delivers Software-Defined Networking to Secure Applications with a Single Click

Newly Acquired Netsil Technology to Add Non-Intrusive Application Visibility Across Multiple Clouds

New Orleans – May 9, 2018 – Nutanix® (NASDAQ: NTNX), a leader in enterprise cloud computing, today announced at its .NEXT Conference 2018 Nutanix Flow, a software-defined networking (SDN) solution built for the multi-cloud era. Flow provides application-centric security to protect against internal and external threats not detected by traditional perimeter-oriented security products. Flow capabilities are fully integrated into Nutanix’s AcropolisTM software for easy deployment and will be enhanced with real-time application visibility and discovery technology from the company’s recent acquisition of Netsil. Nutanix Flow non-intrusively automates the creation and management of application security .

Enterprise IT teams are turning to cloud-based infrastructure to deliver today’s modern business applications, many of which are built from discrete but interconnected services. Protecting these applications requires the microsegmentation capabilities of Nutanix Flow, which enforces app-centric policies that govern communications between individual application services. Nutanix will also leverage Netsil’s advanced stream processing, application discovery and mapping technology to simplify security policy definition for applications running in both public and private clouds. IT teams and business owners gain the confidence that their business applications are protected from both internal and external security threats.

“The next frontier of networking is about providing customers with visibility into their networks so they can track and analyze data, improve cloud application performance and optimize their resources,” said Harjot Gill, Sr. Director, Product & Engineering, Nutanix. “We have worked hard to integrate Netsil’s advanced functionality into Nutanix Flow and we’re proud our customers will soon be able to take advantage of the visibility and discovery technology we pioneered.”

Nutanix Flow is built into the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS, and today provides:

Network Visualization — giving application owners an at-a-glance view of network performance and availability per application

Application-Centric Microsegmentation — providing granular control and governance for all application traffic to protect sensitive workloads and data

Service Insertion and Chaining — integrating additional network functions from multiple Nutanix Ready ecosystem partners into a single networking policy

Network Automation — streamlining and automating common network configuration changes, like VLAN configuration or load balancer policy modifications, based on application lifecycle events for VMs running on Nutanix AHV

To accelerate infrastructure innovation and agility, Gartner recommends that infrastructure and operations leaders “make network automation, visualization and optimization capabilities an integral part of their selection process by prioritizing vendors that provide an application-specific view of cluster performance.”

“Nutanix Flow completes Nutanix’s mission to make IT infrastructure invisible,” said Sunil Potti, Chief Product & Development Officer, Nutanix. “As we looked to simplify networking, we took a modern approach to enable visibility and control for both enterprise apps and next-generation cloud-native services. Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS now converges the compute, storage, virtualization and networking resources to power nearly any application, at any scale.”

Availability

Nutanix Flow is available now. Additional network visibility and app discovery capabilities based on recently-acquired Netsil technology are in development.

For more information about Nutanix Flow, check out our video, visit the Nutanix websiteor read more at the Nutanix blog.

About Nutanix

Nutanix is a global leader in cloud software and hyperconverged infrastructure solutions, making infrastructure invisible so that IT can focus on the applications and services that power their business. Companies around the world use Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS software to bring one-click application management and mobility across public, private and distributed edge clouds so they can run any application at any scale with a dramatically lower total cost of ownership. The result is organizations that can rapidly deliver a high-performance IT environment on demand, giving application owners a true cloud-like experience. Learn more at www.nutanix.com or follow us on Twitter @nutanix.

Forward-Looking Disclaimer: This press release includes forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements concerning our plans and expectations relating to new products, services, product features and technology that are under development or in process and capabilities of such new products, services, product features and technology, our plans to introduce new products, services or product features in the future, the integration of newly acquired technology and products, pricing for future products, services and technology, product performance, competitive position and potential market opportunities. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and instead are based on our current expectations, estimates, opinions and beliefs. The accuracy of such forward-looking statements depends upon future events, and involves risks, uncertainties and other factors beyond our control that may cause these statements to be inaccurate and cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied by such statements, including, among others: failure to develop, or unexpected difficulties or delays in developing, new product features or technology on a timely or cost-effective basis; delays in or lack of customer or market acceptance of our new product features or technology; the introduction, or acceleration of adoption of, competing solutions, including public cloud infrastructure; a shift in industry or competitive dynamics or customer demand; and other risks detailed in our Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2018, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation and, except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or subsequent events or circumstances.

© 2018 Nutanix, Inc. All rights reserved. Nutanix, the Enterprise Cloud Platform, the Nutanix logo and the other Nutanix products and features mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).

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Virtual infrastructure has come a long way from its desktop origins in 1998. Back then, VMware’s Chief Scientist, Mendel Rosenblum, freed virtualization from the IBM mainframe to run it on the commodity Intel platform. People thought it was a crazy idea, but those who understood Moore’s Law realized those little commodity Intel servers were becoming more powerful than one workload needed, just like the mainframes of old. Nowadays VMware is set to turn twenty and its virtual infrastructure is firmly in the mainstream, but it can be complex and this creates provisioning challenges for enterprises. Provisioning is easier than ever, but this in itself is a problem that creates virtual machine (VM) sprawl. New “thin provisioning” technologies can lull administrators into a false sense of security that can lead to catastrophic failures. And, in the cyber security age, there’s a new security threat inside the perimeter with increasing East-West traffic flows. These three challenges are expanded upon below.1. The Free and Easy VM Explosion“Virtual machines don’t cost anything, they’re essentially free. Right?” Wrong!“How hard can it be to launch a new virtual machine?” goes the rhetorical question, often spoken through an exasperated gasp – meaning “Get on with it!” VMs, of all shapes and sizes and life spans, are constantly created and then the administrator surveys Virtual Center and what do they see? VM Sprawl.It’s unclear to the poor administrator as to who created which VMs for what reason, what’s production or test or something else, and all of a sudden that important project is delayed because all the capacity has been taken up by VMs that need to be analyzed and switched off. This cleanup operation takes time and expensive administrator hours. Worse still, those “free” VMs are just idling, which soaks up compute resources and starves production VMs. If you have enough idle VMs and add up all the wasted resource they consume, it can feel like literally throwing money out the window.The fix for this isn’t technical, it’s a practice. Nobody should be able to launch a VM without going through a process. The process doesn’t have to be written to slow people down, but it should as a minimum collect metadata about the VM that helps the administrators understand who created it, when they created it, and why they created it. The next step is introducing “show back” or chargeback to create back-pressure in the system to change user perceptions of the “free and easy VM.”2. The Problems Lurking Inside Over Commitment and Thin-ProvisioningProvisioning hardware in a data center is seemingly simple yet surprisingly non-trivial. Let’s agree that it takes time, specialist skills, and is something you mostly want to avoid. The slowness of provisioning capacity is misaligned with the unpredictable nature of business demand, and so techniques such as over commitment and deduplication are used to “get more bang for your buck” out of the same IT equipment. In other words, to help you cope with fluctuating demand without having to touch the datacenter.Over commitment is running more VMs than is seemingly possible on a server. The hypervisor does this because VMs are almost always over-provisioned and don’t always need the CPU or RAM they’re given. This means administrators can be lazy and “let the hypervisor work it out” but, much like the Free and Easy VM Sprawl problem, allowing over commitment leads to lazy provisioning and idle VMs that consume resources without delivering any value. It’s just wasteful.Thin-provisioning, and its partner in crime, deduplication, are ways to drastically reduce the writes to storage and therefore the capacity consumed. Thin-provisioning lets many VMs share the same base disk and then only write their individual changes to separate files. Deduplication fake-writes to storage where the block is the same as one already written. The two main problems with these approaches are to do with administrators taking their eye off the ball and letting storage get so overused that it becomes unusable, un-expandable, and unfixable; and any underlying disk errors have a wide blast radius as so many VMs are looking at the same disk. Administrators can also feel that storage is “infinite” and relax their monitoring stance. The practice to put in place to manage this is a mix of tooling to give the visibility and warnings, and for the administrator to be wary of the blast-radius and capacity risks, and to assign workloads and storage pools to mitigate the risk.3. The East-to-West Security ProblemProvisioning virtual networks has changed significantly in the past decade. In the beginning a VM connected through the hypervisor to a physical port on the server and up a trunk port into a switch. This led to hundreds of VMs being hosted in the same switch and able to speak with each other (known as East-West traffic) without traversing a router or firewall (known as North-South traffic). If a hacker gets into a VM behind the firewall, they can exploit this lack of security in East-West traffic and cause havoc inside the perimeter.Virtual and distributed networks are now more advanced and can apply policies to the virtual ports that a VM uses to identify itself on the network. Traditional network configurations to stop VMs doing naughty hacker things like DHCP spoofing (pretending to be the server that gives out addresses) were possible, but these didn’t prevent contact between VMs behind the firewall.The answer to this is using more advanced virtual network security products that can do what’s called “microsegmentation” on a software defined network. Using a combination of advanced security products deployed behind the perimeter, VMs can no longer speak to each other unless explicitly allowed. So that’s the top three virtual infrastructure challenges and, to help, Alemba has recently launched vxStore – which is designed to help companies deliver the end-to-end functionality needed to create a true private cloud. It provides the vital missing layer from existing private/hybrid cloud software stacks to truly connect businesses to the cloud. For more information, please visit http://ift.tt/2tHB9aWThe post The Top 3 Virtual Infrastructure Challenges (and How to Overcome Them) appeared first on ITSM.tools.

https://itsm.tools/2017/07/04/top-3-virtual-infrastructure-challenges-overcome/

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Gartner Identifies the Top Technologies for Security in 2017

Gartner, Inc. today highlighted the top technologies for information security and their implications for security organisations in 2017. Analysts presented their findings during the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, being held in the US through Thursday.

“In 2017, the threat level to enterprise IT continues to be at very high levels, with daily accounts in the media of large breaches and attacks. As attackers improve their capabilities, organisations must also improve their ability to protect access and protect from attacks,” said Neil MacDonald, vice president, distinguished analyst and Gartner Fellow Emeritus. “Security and risk leaders must evaluate and engage with the latest technologies to protect against advanced attacks, better enable digital business transformation and embrace new computing styles such as cloud, mobile and DevOps.”

The top technologies for information security are:

Cloud Workload Protection Platforms

Modern data centres support workloads that run in physical machines, virtual machines, containers, private cloud infrastructure and almost always include some workloads running in one or more public cloud infrastructure as a service providers. Hybrid cloud workload protection platforms provide information security leaders with an integrated way to protect these workloads using a single management console and a single way to express security policy, regardless of where the workload runs.

Remote Browser

Almost all successful attacks originate from the public internet, and browser-based attacks are the leading source of attacks on users. Information security architects can’t stop attacks, but can contain damage by isolating end-user internet browsing sessions from their organisation’s endpoints and networks. By isolating the browsing function, malware is kept off of the end-user’s system and the organisation has significantly reduced the surface area for attack by shifting the risk of attack to the server sessions, which can be reset to a known good state on every new browsing session, tab opened or URL accessed.

Deception

Deception technologies are defined by the use of deceits, decoys and/or tricks designed to thwart, or throw off, an attacker’s cognitive processes, disrupt an attacker’s automation tools, delay an attacker’s activities or detect an attack. By using deception technology behind the firewall, organisations can better detect attackers that have penetrated their defences with a high level of confidence in the events detected. Deception technology implementations now span multiple layers within the stack, including endpoint, network, application and data.

Endpoint Detection and Response

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions augment traditional endpoint preventative controls such as an antivirus by monitoring endpoints for indications of unusual behaviour and activities indicative of malicious intent. Gartner predicts that by 2020, 80 per cent of large enterprises, 25 per cent of midsize organisations and 10 per cent of small organisations will have invested in EDR capabilities.

Network Traffic Analysis

Network traffic analysis (NTA) solutions monitor network traffic, flows, connections and objects for behaviours indicative of malicious intent. Organisations looking for a network-based approach to identify advanced attacks that have bypassed perimeter security should consider NTA as a way to help identify, manage and triage these events.

Managed Detection and Response

Managed detection and response (MDR) providers deliver services for buyers looking to improve their threat detection, incident response and continuous-monitoring capabilities, but don’t have the expertise or resources to do it on their own. Demand from the small or midsize business (SMB) and small-enterprise space has been particularly strong, as MDR services hit a “sweet spot” with these organisations, due to their lack of investment in threat detection capabilities.

Microsegmentation

Once attackers have gained a foothold in an organisation’s systems, they typically can move unimpeded laterally (“east/west”) to other systems. Microsegmentation is the process of implementing isolation and segmentation for security purposes within the virtual data centre. Like bulkheads in a submarine, microsegmentation helps to limit the damage from a breach when it occurs. Microsegmentation has been used to describe mostly the east-west or lateral communication between servers in the same tier or zone, but it has evolved to be used now for most of communication in virtual data centres.

Software-Defined Perimeters

A software-defined perimeter (SDP) defines a logical set of disparate, network-connected participants within a secure computing enclave. The resources are typically hidden from public discovery, and access is restricted via a trust broker to the specified participants of the enclave, removing the assets from public visibility and reducing the surface area for attack. Gartner predicts that through the end of 2017, at least 10 per cent of large organisations will leverage software-defined perimeter (SDP) technology to isolate sensitive environments.

Cloud Access Security Brokers

Cloud access security brokers (CASBs) address gaps in security resulting from the significant increase in cloud service and mobile usage. CASBs provide information security professionals with a single point of control over multiple cloud service concurrently, for any user or device. The growing significance of SaaS, combined with persistent concerns about security, privacy and compliance, continues to increase the urgency for control and visibility of cloud services.

OSS Security Scanning and Software Composition Analysis for DevSecOps

Information security architects must be able to automatically incorporate security controls without manual configuration throughout a DevSecOps cycle in a way that is as transparent as possible to DevOps teams and doesn’t impede DevOps agility, but fulfils legal and regulatory compliance requirements as well as manages risk. Security controls must be capable of automation within DevOps toolchains in order to enable this objective. Software composition analysis  tools specifically analyse the source code, modules, frameworks and libraries that a developer is using to identify and inventory OSS components and to identify any known security vulnerabilities or licensing issues before the application is released into production.

Container Security

Containers use a shared operating system (OS) model. An attack on a vulnerability in the host OS could lead to a compromise of all containers. Containers are not inherently unsecure, but they are being deployed in an unsecure manner by developers, with little or no involvement from security teams and little guidance from security architects. Traditional network and host-based security solutions are blind to containers. Container security solutions protect the entire life cycle of containers from creation into production and most of the container security solutions provide preproduction scanning combined with runtime monitoring and protection.

Gartner analysts will provide additional analysis on IT security trends at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summits 2017 taking place in Tokyo; Mumbai, India; Sao Paulo; Sydney; London; and Dubai. Follow news and updates from the events on Twitter at #GartnerSEC.

  Visit the Gartner Digital Risk & Security hub for complimentary research and webinars.

  Gartner clients can learn more about security & risk in the Gartner Trend Insight Report “Digital Trust — Redefining Trust for the Digital Era.”

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