IoT startups fill security gaps

As the volume of IoT devices connecting to enterprise networks continues to climb, the number of security threats has been increasing in lockstep. Cybersecurity threats, alongside supply chain issues, chip shortages and geopolitical instability, are a major reason that IoT growth has been slower than many analysts had predicted.Even so, the scale of the IoT security problem is great enough that 52 IoT startups raised a total of $840 million in the latest quarter, and even cautious analysts believe the IoT market will grow steadily in the coming years. In fact, research firm IDC predicts that the IoT market will expand to 55.7 billion connected IoT devices by 2025, with those devices generating 80B zettabytes (ZB) of data.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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IoT security strategy from those who use connected devices

Freeman Health System has around 8,000 connected medical devices in its 30 facilities in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Many of these devices have the potential to turn deadly at any moment. “That’s the doomsday scenario that everyone is afraid of,” says Skip Rollins, the hospital chain’s CIO and CISO.Rollins would love to be able to scan the devices for vulnerabilities and install security software on them to ensure that they aren’t being hacked. But he can’t.”The vendors in this space are very uncooperative,” he says. “They all have proprietary operating systems and proprietary tools. We can’t scan these devices. We can’t put security software on these devices. We can’t see anything they’re doing. And the vendors intentionally deliver them that way.”To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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What is NAC and why is it important for network security?

Network Access Control (NAC) is a cybersecurity technique that prevents unauthorized users and devices from entering private networks and accessing sensitive resources. Also known as Network Admission Control, NAC first gained a foothold in the enterprise in the mid-to-late 2000s as a way to manage endpoints through basic scan-and-block techniques.As knowledge workers became increasingly mobile, and as BYOD initiatives spread across organizations, NAC solutions evolved to not only authenticate users, but also to manage endpoints and enforce policies.How NAC works
NAC tools detect all devices on the network and provide visibility into those devices. NAC software prevents unauthorized users from entering the network and enforces policies on endpoints to ensure devices comply with network security policies. NAC solutions will, for instance, make sure that the endpoint has up-to-date antivirus and anti-malware protections.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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5 best practices for making smart-building LANs more secure

Power, they say, corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. While that was said about politics, it sure seems like it was tailor-made for smart buildings.Facility-control technology is exploding because the concept is useful and often saves money. Unfortunately, smart devices have also proven to be an on-ramp for major intrusions. Smart buildings are surely absolutely powerful in a way; are they absolutely corruptible? Maybe, if we’re not very careful.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
If corruption means overall bad-ness, then hacking a smart building surely qualifies. It could let intruders mess with lights, heating and air conditioning, and maybe other critical systems, too. We also know from news stories that a hacker could use a successful smart building intrusion to sneak into other business applications, potentially compromising them and  critical company information. It’s important to address these risks, and that means starting with how they arise.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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3 steps to improve collaboration between networking and security pros

(Enterprise Management Associates finds that enterprises are trying to improve collaboration between their network-infrastructure and operations teams and their information-security and cybersecurity teams. This article discusses challenges faced by these teams based on a survey of 366 IT and security professionals detailed in the report “NetSecOps: Aligning Networking and Security Teams to Ensure Digital Transformation”, by EMA Vice President of Research Networking Shamus McGillicuddy.)To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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3 steps to better collaboration between networking and security pros

(Enterprise Management Associates finds that enterprises are trying to improve collaboration between their network-infrastructure and operations teams and their information-security and cybersecurity teams. This article discusses challenges faced by these teams based on a survey of 366 IT and security professionals detailed in the report “NetSecOps: Aligning Networking and Security Teams to Ensure Digital Transformation”, by EMA Vice President of Research Networking Shamus McGillicuddy.)To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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Edge computing: 5 potential pitfalls

Edge computing is gaining steam as an enterprise IT strategy with organizations looking to push storage and analytics closer to where data is gathered, as in IoT networks. But it’s got its challenges.
Tech Spotlight: Edge Computing

Proving the value of analytics on the edge (CIO)
The cutting edge of healthcare: How edge computing will transform medicine (Computerworld)
Securing the edge: 4 trends to watch (CSO)
How to choose a cloud IoT platform (InfoWorld)
Edge computing: 5 potential pitfalls (Network World)

Its potential upsides are undeniable, including improved latency as well as reduced WAN bandwidth and transmission costs. As a result, enterprises are embracing it. Revenues in the edge-computing market were $4.68 billion in 2020 and are expected to reach $61.14 billion by 2028, according to a May 2021 report by Grand View Research.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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Water-authority network upgrade spots problems faster

The Albuquerque water authority says recent network upgrades give it greater visibility and control over its remote sites and makes for faster responses to leaks and other problems.The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority manages more than 3,000 miles of water-supply pipeline covering more than 650,000 users. The authority manages 135 remote locations, which include well sites, tanks, and pump stations, all of which have programmable logic controllers (PLC) connected to a dedicated, fixed-wireless network running at 900MHz back to the core network.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
“The [main treatment] plant was built [about] 15 years ago,” said Kristen Sanders, the authority’s chief information security officer. “So if a piece of equipment went out, replacing it would be about shopping on eBay.” Also the authority’s fiber backbone that connects the sites with the main plant was past it’s service life and had to be replaced.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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