A Partnership Already Paying Dividends

I want to take a minute and congratulate our newest corporate partner, TraceSecurity, for winning the 2014 GRC Value Award in the IT GRC Management category by GRC analyst firm GRC 20/20.

The reason they’re being recognized as thought and service delivery leaders in this space is because they realize companies are looking for reasonable solutions that make sense and that are responsive. They’re delivering solutions that fit those criteria and it’s allowing for dynamic growth and success. We understand how critical it is for professional service companies to develop and enact functional, working, solutions to the Governance, Risk and Compliance challenges industries are facing every day.

Because of our expertise in infrastructure as a service and in security, we field a number of inquiries every month from companies wanting to form strategic alliances.  We’re meticulous in the way we design and install networks and we’re just as meticulous with who we take on as partners.

We feel joining forces with TraceSecurity allows us to deliver unmatched expertise in the area of secure network infrastructure with our ISVN® (Intelligently Scalable Virtual Network) solution.  We know our clients will be pleased with the results.

WARNING: A severe threat greater than Heart Bleed has been revealed.

This is a very important warning, and it is recommended that any Linux-based system be patched immediately.

A bug discovered in the widely used Bash command interpreter poses a critical security risk to Unix and Linux systems – and, thanks to their ubiquity, the wider internet.

It lands countless websites, servers, PCs, OS X Macs, various home routers, and more, in danger of hijacking by hackers.

Read more here:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/24/bash_shell_vuln/
or here: https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2014/09/24/Bourne-Again-Shell-Bash-Remote-Code-Execution-Vulnerability

Cywest has already deployed patches to critical systems, and we are recommending that all customers do the same as quickly as possible. A reverse shell possibility also exists with this bug, requiring Cywest to isolate and shut down any breached systems.

Asking The Right Questions

I found myself with a career in technology for a lot of reasons but one of the most telling was due to a pursuit of knowledge.  When I was a kid my parents would be delighted by the amount of research I would do on any topic of interest.  They thought it would enable me to go far in life.  I still have a profound thirst for knowledge.  I always want to know the reasons why an action or decision has occurred.  I’m just as happy to answer any and all questions from our customer base about the service we provide.

Asking - and getting the answers to questions is something I still find many folks are unwilling to do when considering critical technology questions.  They cover the basics – they just don’t ask the more detailed questions possibly because they don’t know what they should be.  If you’re looking at an infrastructure or telecom project, these are some of the additional things I’d want to know.  I encourage you to compare the answers we give to any of our competitors.

1.    What is the average retention rate of the company’s customer base?

2.    Does the provider directly operate/manage the services platform its providing or is it reselling the services of a third party?

3.    What kind of technical certifications or qualifications have the company’s employees achieved?

4.    Does the company you’re considering actually offer a broad array of services including configuration and legitimate network design?

There are a number of other things I’d want to know including any strategic partnerships the provider has with existing companies so that I was aware of any synergy with companies I already used but if you just start by asking the four listed above you’ll be off to a good start in your research.

International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Roadshow - Salt Lake City

Cywest hit the road last week for our first ILTA roadshow of  2014. We were honored to work with ILTA in providing educational content and talk with some of the legal industry's thought leaders about what the future of network security looks like. The main topic of the show was "New Encryption Strategies For Communications".

Clients are beginning to demand that law firms address security in a more proactive manner and Cywest is leading the way with its innovative encryption technology that is embedded in the Intelligently Scalable Virtual Network (ISVN).

There was a lively discussion and one attendee even gasped as we demonstrated ways that today's threat actors go about obtaining sensitive and proprietary information. We realize the value in putting our minds together to solve today's challenges. Listen to what some of the attendees said.

"Very informative!'

"Great info."

We are really looking forward to the next show! Houston here we come!

Cywest at 2014 ILTA LegalSEC® Summit

Cywest is proud to be presenting at the 2014 ILTA LegalSEC® Summit on June 11th and 12th at the Westin Lombard in Chicago. This special two day event is a gathering of experts from across the legal industry security field talking about their experiences and sharing best practices for strategic information technology leaders tasked with managing their own vulnerable infrastructures.

We are delivering the first of its kind approach to network security and excited to offer a glimpse at that technology during this year’s summit. With internal and external security threats looming on the horizon it is important to take a more pro-active and innovative approach to securing your confidential and proprietary information. Law firms must be diligent in addressing these challenges by implementing industry standard technologies, performing reviews of their providers, and including the right contract provisions in their agreements.

But is that enough? Cywest believes that the magnitude of the problem necessitates that law firms go well beyond the norm. The future of network design will include 24/7/365 proactive network monitoring, innovative encryption technologies and regular auditing to test the integrity of your network with services like vulnerability scanning and penetration testing. All of this needs to be done without affecting the performance or availability of the network and without significantly increasing IT spend.

If you’re coming to the show, we invite you to stop by Booth 10 and take a peak at our ISVN® (Intelligently Scalable Virtual Network) offering and how its embedded Expert Security Services include the following:

• Network Security Assessments
• 24/7/365 Proactive Network Monitoring
• Penetration Testing
• Encryption as a Service (EaaS)

State of the Industry – Q2 Snapshot

I thought I’d comment on two recent studies centered around trends in the telecommunications area that are generating a number of headlines with different providers. Interestingly, both studies point to a common trend, that the majority of companies are wholly unprepared to handle the continuing increase in demand required by cloud computing, social media, mobile devices and data analytics. In fact, according to an IBM analysis of more than 750 CIOs across the country, less than 10% say their infrastructure is properly scaled to meet demand and 62% intend to increase infrastructure spending over the next 18 months in order to try and meet the demand. The IBM study also points out that 46% of respondents struggle with maintaining a secure environment and self-admit that they lack a strategic infrastructure road map. The full study will be published in July but the preliminary results do not come as a surprise to us. We see many of the same issues confronting both our existing and prospective customers during our conversations.

Thankfully, according to another just released study by Akamai, the world just recently reached a critical plateau in terms of available average connection speed in that all ten of the most populated countries or regions in the globe now surpass the high broadband threshold. In fact, on a year over year comparison, global average peak connection speeds increased 38% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to 2012 and analysts forecast another sizable jump when the end of year numbers come in for 2014.

All of this means it’s a buyers market out there and a good time to evaluate your options about infrastructure planning – even if your existing contract has plenty of months remaining. These types of projects require significant advanced planning to deliver quality service and a clean, painless transition

Big Telco Customer Service Levels Rise?

In a joint news conference today, the major domestic telecom carriers announced that they were adopting new customer service protocols for all customers.  "We believe that, as a group, we can do much better by the people who use our networks," said organization leader Jack B. Quick in a prepared statement, "it's time for us to work together and to take responsibility for our service rather than blame the local loops or the communications equipment at a customer's location.  In fact, we are so tired of finger pointing that we're literally cutting our fingers off just to show how serious we are."  Mr. Quick attempted to wave to the crowd following the announcement but onlookers were horrified by the bloody stumps on his hands where his fingers used to be.

Hopefully you realize this is an April Fool's Joke.  Sadly it's probably more likely for Telco execs to cut off their fingers than to improve their customer service commitments and take true responsibility for the performance of your services.   That's why customer service is - and will always be - our most important deliverable to our clients.

WIFI Spectrum To Increase

The FCC is likely going to vote in the next few weeks to week to increase the available spectrum for wifi access in North America - primarily to increase carrier connectivity in significantly crowded areas like airports, resorts, parks and convention centers in large cities.  Broader connectivity means that corporate workers can do more and more while traveling away from the office.  That same connectivity allows those who want to illegally access that info more throughput as well.  One of the advantages of the ISVN approach is to allow your company's cloud based resources to be fully featured and well provisioned without having to sacrifice security or reliability in order to gain that increased connectivity.  While the FCC is expanding the spectrum, it is increasing the requirements on manufacturers to better secure their devices against potential unlicensed modification.  Corporate companies can't depend on device manufacturers to block cyber threats.  We are continuing to evolve our encryption methodology to help you in that battle.

          Update - this vote was held Monday, March 31st and passed.

Europe/Asia Changing Telecom Spending Patterns

Recently released spending forecasts say that telecom equipment investments outside of America will significantly outpace its domestic counterparts in 2014.  That’s partially due to the fact that so many of the major US carriers have largely completed the building of their 4G structures and will move to a much slower growth model that is driven solely by customer demand.  Now that mobile networks have generally stabilized, it’s a perfect opportunity for companies to review both their overall infrastructure spending and how they are provisioning services across those networks in order to provide maximum quality of service.

As professionals increase their desire to access company networks across a multitude of devices, and peripheral prices continue to drop thanks to pressure being brought by Chinese manufacturers, IT executives need to take a much more proactive stance on appropriately scaling their networks to meet that rapid advance.

You don’t want to be the one sitting in that office chair telling key decision makers you need 60 to 90 days to order new circuits just to try to keep up with demand.  You want to be the trusted resource that can respond with a quick, "no problem - we can certainly meet your needs."