Cloud-in-a-box promises to be revolutionary for businesses across the board, taking efficiency and innovation to new heights, ultimately allowing them to delight their customers.

Imagine youre a healthcare provider, retail chain, or large bank with hundreds of locations scattered across dozens of communities. Each location may require servers for critical business applications and an ever-increasing number of IoT devices to deliver the desired customer experience. Connecting everything to allow access to data, content, and any enterprise applications housed in remote data centers or public clouds will usually also require additional on-site network devices such as routers, firewalls, and session border controllers, among others. Enter cloud-in-a-box.

What if we said goodbye to the typical collection of disparate hardware at each site and instead used a single, more capable device that combined virtual network functions with the virtual applications required to run the enterprise? To deliver improved customer experiences, businesses like manufacturers, retailers, and hospitals can embrace the adaptability, reliability, and scalability that virtualized networks provide. Those that do can increase efficiency, reach new heights in customer satisfaction, and see reduced OpEx along the way.

For example, a retailer will typically have servers running applications that support secure payment processing, inventory management, Point-of-Sale promotions as well as network devices for routing, firewalls for security, and load balancing to manage connectivity to other sites, suppliers, and cloud providers.

If any one application or network function goes down or the device needs to be replaced, upgraded, or patched, IT staff are usually required to make an in-person visit for troubleshooting and maintenance. In-person visits are known to be service velocity killers and significant cost drivers. They can disrupt operations at the site for hours or days. Whats worse is that any issue, and its associated costs, can crop up in multiple sites simultaneously, multiplying the time and money required to get sites up and running again.

Virtualization eliminates this kind of business disruption. Better yet, it supercharges innovation, eliminating pains while delivering gains at the same time.

Cloud-in-a-box, which is perhaps more commonly referred to as Business in a Box or Infrastructure in a Box, is ushering in a new era of efficiency and innovation for enterprises in our increasingly application-heavy world. With this approach, business applications and Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) are rolled into a single physical device, which sits at the edge and is managed from a central location.

Think about when you install or update an application on your smartphone; what if a technician had to meet you in person rather than just clicking a button yourself? That would take a lot of time, money, and resources to happen since applications are constantly being updated.

With smartphones, were able to download new applications and updates as fast as download speeds permit. New security patches and features are rolled out within minutes, and developers are able to use insights from application usage to optimize and improve the user experience.

This scenario is the reality for enterprises today as workloads are moving more quickly, the virtualized edge enables quicker innovation and faster deployment of applications to branch locations.

Lets look at a manufacturer as an example. Smart milling machines within this enterprises Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) require low latency to function at their designed precision. They are able to run unique IIoT and private 5G applications. With a cloud-in-a-box deployment, all applications and VNFs can be deployed across all plants, regardless of where theyre based in the world. That increases consistency, improves reliability, and provides additional paths for business continuity. These intelligent cloud platforms allow the development of applications that improve process controls, assist inventory tracking, and provide real-time performance measurement. They can provide insight from different manufacturing operations management systems and aid in accelerating root-cause analysis.

Service providers can generate new revenue by providing both the onsite cloud-in-a-box capabilities as well as by providing multi-tenant application hosting/compute capabilities in a central office serving multiple customer locations in a metro area.

How close are we to this technology being a reality? Closer than you may think! To get there, we need software-enabled adaptive networks with open architectures, which not only allow service providers to adaptably support multiple customers with a variety of application needs but which also allow enterprises the choice and flexibility of VNF and application vendors in a best-of-breed method. According to our estimates, this can save the business up to 40% in OpEx.

Cloud-in-a-box is set to provide a way for us to make the management of branch IT simpler. This promises to be revolutionary for businesses across the board, taking efficiency and innovation to new heights, ultimately allowing them to delight their customers. Service providers must now aim to do the same.

Originally posted here:
Ushering in the Next Era of Innovation with Cloud-in-a-Box - RTInsights

On July 2, news emerged of a large-scale attack leveraging the Kaseya VSA network monitoring and management solution to deploy a variant of the REvil ransomware. The attackers claimed that more than a million devices had been infected and they demanded $70 million in Bitcoin to publish a tool to decrypt the files of all victims.

Since then Kaseya recommended customers to disable on-premise VSA servers immediately, took their SaaS offering offline, then released patches for the on-premise vulnerabilities and restored the SaaS servers.

This recent event is illustrative of three very important trends in the current attacker landscape. First, the rise of Cybercrime-as-a-Service. Second, the use of ransomware, which is sometimes coupled with extortion and threats of publishing exfiltrated data to increase financial gains. Third, the leveraging of supply-chain components to compromise several organizations at the same time, which makes this attack reminiscent of the SolarWinds hack at the end of 2020.

Below, we discuss the attack and what Forescout customers should do.

REvil, also known as Sodinokibi, is a Ransomware-as-a-Service group, which means that the same encryption malware can be used by many different affiliate malicious actors who only have to figure out how to compromise target networks and deploy the malware. The revenue is then divided between ransomware developers and affiliates.

Forescout first noticed REvil in September, 2019 and they have been very active ever since. The group was behind recent attacks on meat supplier JBS (which resulted in the company paying $11 million to recover their systems) and computer manufacturer Acer (when they demanded a $50 million ransom, the largest ever until now), to name a few.

The current attack leveraged Kaseya VSA, which is a remote monitoring and management solution used by several managed service providers (MSPs) companies that use Kaseya software to manage smaller businesses. The tool provides a central dashboard to monitor and manage endpoints and deploy security patches, among other functions.

The main vulnerabilities used in the attack were CVE-2021-30116 (a credentials leak and business logic flaw), CVE-2021-30119 (a cross-site scripting) and CVE-2021-30120 (a two-factor authentication bypass). The vulnerabilities were discovered by the Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure (DIVD) and reported to Kaseya, who was working on the patches even before the REvil attack happened. Using these vulnerabilities, the actors delivered ransomware via an automated (fake) software update from compromised VSA servers to VSA agents running on managed Windows devices.

Kaseya reported that 50 customers were affected. Around 40 of those were MSPs, which means that their customers could also be affected. In the end, the company said that around 1500 organizations were affected, many of which are small and medium sized businesses.

As recommended by Kaseya, any on-premise VSA server should be immediately patched.

We see 116 customers on Device Cloud with Kaseya installed on their devices (close to 7% of the total 1,688 customers uploading data to Device Cloud). On these customers, we see close to 30,000 devices with the agent and 9 with the server, divided by industry verticals as shown below.

These customers can use eyeSight to locate devices running the VSA server or agent using the Windows Applications Installed attribute given by the HPS Inspection Engine plugin. The values to look for are Kaseya Agent and Kaseya Server.

Once devices running Kaseya are identified, users can procced with patching as described by Kaseya. CISA/FBI also recommend to download and run the IoC detection tool provided by Kaseya on both servers and managed endpoints to detect signs of intrusion.

The post Thousands of companies compromised by REvil Ransomware the supply chain strikes again appeared first on Forescout.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Forescout authored by Forescout Research Labs. Read the original post at: https://www.forescout.com/company/blog/thousands-of-companies-compromised-by-revil-ransomware-the-supply-chain-strikes-again/

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Thousands of companies compromised by REvil Ransomware the supply chain strikes again - Security Boulevard

Cloud computing has become the talk of the town, especially within the healthcare niche. The adoption of this state-of-the-art tech innovation has been escalating at a frenetic pace. One recent research study suggests that the global market for cloud technologies in healthcare is projected to reach $64.7 billion by 2025.

The reason behind its recent exponential growth is simple though. If healthcare businesses were simply service providers before, today they're true progressive institutions that depend on their IT infrastructure and departments to gain better clinical, administrative, and financial insights. This helps them make informed decisions.

And that's not all - as patient expectations change with each passing day, and new payment models get added to the equation, cloud technology has become vital to drive efficiency and improve patient care.

There are several things that have been made possible in healthcare due to the rapid adoption of cloud technology.

Most cloud platforms offer better infrastructure and services than individual on-premise storage systems set up by healthcare facilities.

Renting out rack space in a data centre would cost you only a fraction of what it would to set up and maintain an in-house system at such a scale. Additionally, there are substantial savings on technical upgrades, staff, and licenses.

On-premise data centres not only necessitate an investment in hardware early on, but they also come with ongoing costs of managing physical servers, spaces, and cooling solutions among other things.While EHRs have become mainstream in healthcare, storage of data on cloud servers is set to become the new normal, explains Dr Vinati Kamani in one of her recent articles. The use of cloud computing in healthcare saves up on the additional server costs, wherein you only pay for the computing capacity you use while ensuring the safety of sensitive PHI at the same time, she continues.

Therefore, by carefully choosing a cloud hosting platform that will fit the needs of their particular practice, healthcare leaders can easily lower the costs associated with data storage and concentrate both their efforts as well as budget on making the patient experience seamless.

Cyber attacks and thefts have been on the rise in the healthcare space of late. Now is the time that practices and hospitals alike need augmented security protocols that safeguard sensitive patient data.Healthcare leaders are swiftly moving toward hybrid cloud environments which offer the benefit of both private and public cloud to achieve optimum compliance, security, flexibility and the ease to move applications between the two.

In a press release issued by Nutanix, the CIO of the Anne Arundel Medical Center, Dave Lehr said: As a healthcare organisation, were responsible for managing critical clinical and IT applications such as EHR and PACS as well as making sure we have an infrastructure that is secure and scalable to support changing needs such as hybrid cloud-based disaster recovery."

We knew that the right hyperconverged infrastructure would allow us to manage these workloads on a single, cost-effective solution, Lehr continues.

A number of cloud vendors now also offer compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Opting for a compliant cloud service can further ensure that the sensitive patient data within your systems remains protected and adheres to HIPAA rules at all times. This can help you avoid any hefty penalties and keep your facilitys reputation from getting tarnished.

The rapid adoption of collaboration tools like video conferencing and enterprise messaging since the COVID-19 public health emergency hit us last year has presented immense potential towards positively influencing healthcare teams and leadership.

The cloud-based software behind these applications helps ameliorate the clinical workflow and enhances patient care, irrespective of the providers or patients physical locations.

Today, with the developments happening on the cloud technology front, the data collected from remote patient monitoring devices can also be uploaded to the healthcare facilitys dedicated cloud server or the user's private centralised cloud. The platform then keeps a record of all the monitored data which can be retrieved for analysis by the medical personnel during treatment.

The utilisation of cloud storage for storing data from electronic health record systems (EHRs) has helped revolutionise collective patient care, making it less complicated for care providers and their staff to retrieve patient details at any given point in time, even from a remote location.

The majority of cloud platforms also employ essential security features such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and access controls, that can provide patients with a greater sense of security when it comes to sharing credit card details or social security numbers.

Web-based software also makes it easier for physicians, staff members and patients to access patient portals and employ mobile health applications to receive important health information, such as lab test results, medication reminders and activity trackers.

All in all, cloud computing has presented us with an unprecedented opportunity to make value-based, patient-centric healthcare a reality.

The advantages mentioned above only scratch the surface of cloud technologys true potential. Only those forward looking healthcare leaders that are ready to embrace this technology will know how much more it has in store for healthcare.

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How is cloud computing revolutionising healthcare? - Healthcare Global - Healthcare News, Magazine and Website

Cloud web hosting is no more considered a futuristic technology, as it is now becoming a very serious alternative to conventional servers and turning out to be a cost-effective storage solution, which is not just flexible, and reliable, but also scalable at the same time!

While there are issues like privacy concerns with the technology, there are a large number of benefits of cloud website hosting that are converting the critics into enthusiasts at a fast rate.

Here we mention some of the most important benefits of cloud hosting -

Cloud hosting is capable of handling immense server load effortlessly...

This is achieved with the help of additional updates, adding hardware, and the use of technologies related to loading balancing. There is no worry about the website going down due to a particular server crash, which was hosting your website, as there always are other servers picking the slack at the right time. It means that a website hosted on cloud infrastructure has very rare chances of crashing out.

Cloud hosting makes use of centralized management of network services and servers, which makes things very easy to manage and ensures impeccable operation without compromising on the quality.

Cloud hosting services are billed just like an electric meter, which means you pay for what you use and nothing is spent towards any sort of monthly rentals; this is probably the biggest advantage of cloud hosting. With the help of this technology, the websites that see variable traffic no longer need to cough out cash on dedicated resources like high bandwidth and server space.

In this system, you get billed for the amount of traffic you receive, and the number of resources you use rather than a very high predefined limit.

As there's a vast network of servers, the user can have almost infinite hosting solutions whenever the need arises... In other words, you can create servers with as much capacity as you want; these can also be accessed through online control panels, for example, API services.

Deploying cloud hosting solutions is like a cakewalk, and it can be done at a fraction of the cost that you'd shell out on an identical on-premise hosting solution. You don't need anything like hardware, implementation, or software licensing. To top it all, you do this in a record time that can not be beaten by any other kind of hosting solution.

The use of virtual pooling of available resources makes the entire system very efficient and the performance of individual resources like software, servers, and networks also adds up to the performance.

By outsourcing the server and storage needs to a third party, which offers cloud hosting, a company can free up the internal resources and reduce their burden. This way, it can make use of the resources in a more efficient manner for its core operations without worrying about storage and servers.

Just as in the case of other conventional forms of hosting, cloud website hosting providers also offer 24x7 customer support, which is extremely important in this type of service.

Well, it is an old thing to say that cloud computing has numerous advantages right from being inexpensive, scalable, elastic to be quick. But, one of the least discussed advantages, despite being a very important one, is how it has changed the disaster recovery process for big and medium-sized enterprises.

Disaster recovery is now obviously more inexpensive, and it helps in lowering the pressure on enterprises to bring in the right disaster recovery plans for their entire infrastructure. This is yet again a strong reason for you to offer cloud hosting solutions to your clients if as a web hosting provider you want to cater to big enterprises or companies that deal with risky and confidential data. With cloud computing on your side, you can now offer much faster recovery to your clients at a much smaller cost compared to what you would have to spend on the regular disaster recovery process.

So, what is it that makes clouds different in terms of disaster recovery? We know that cloud is based on the concept of virtualization and its route to disaster recovery is very different. In a virtual environment, all of the servers along with applications, operating systems, data, and patches are encapsulated in just one virtual server or one software bundle. This virtual server can be easily backed up to an offsite data center and can be spun upright on one of the virtual hosts in just a few minutes.

As this virtual server is independent of any hardware, the applications, operating system, data, and patches can be accurately and very safely transferred to any data center from any data center without the need of reloading every server component. This drastically cuts down the disaster recovery time when compared to the conventional methods in which the servers are required to be loaded again with applications and operating systems and it should be properly patched to the last used configuration that is in production before all the data is restored.

When you introduce the concept of online connectivity between two different data centers plus the cost-effectiveness of this form of disaster recovery to your clients, it would only astonish them for good. You should know that in such an environment there is no room for tape backups as they can't be justified in terms of recovery speed and cost-effectiveness.

With cloud computing, disaster recovery also becomes very easy and viable, since all the backups can be taken within no time. As there is SAN-to-SAN replication involved in between the sites, disaster recovery for hot sites with a short recovery duration also becomes a cost-effective and attractive option. This was something rarely available with conventional disaster recovery methods because of the testing and cost challenges.

Yet another big advantage of cloud disaster recovery is its ability to deliver multi-site availability. SAN replication provides a very rapid fail-over along with offering the ability to come back to the production site after a disaster event or disaster recovery test is done.

So, isn't it quite evident how disaster recovery with cloud computing can be very advantageous to enterprises! And, if you haven't tried out its benefits, it's about time you started testing waters and made a switch to cloud-based systems.

So, what does all of this mean to a cloud hosting provider? Well, it simply means that the benefits of cloud website hosting aren't unknown to your potential customers anymore, and you won't have to convince your customers to opt for cloud hosting. Therefore, this is just the right time to enter the cloud market if you've any plans of doing so over the next few months, or even perhaps a year or two!

Diane H. Wong, writer, DoMyWriting

Originally posted here:
Benefits of cloud website hosting - ITProPortal

Hybrid cloud provides a flexible solution for companies who want to take advantage of the cloud but still need to keep some applications on premises. But every business has a wide range of software applications and needs theyre trying to address with them. A hybrid solution needs to be able to meet the diversity of each businesss applications, while providing the consistency of infrastructure, services, Intel-powered compute, APIs, and development toolswherever its needed. At AWS, were reinventing hybrid cloud by providing a rich set of solutions that extend the cloud to the places our customers need it most.

1. DIVERSE OPTIONS FOR DIVERSE APPLICATIONS

With such diversity across businesses software applications, businesses also need a hybrid cloud solution that has a diverse set of options. Most of these applications are a natural fit for the cloud and can easily be set up in any AWS Region (easily thought of as data centers run by AWS across the globe), as is often the case with back-end web and business applications like email and office collaboration. With AWS Regions, businesses can take advantage of a rich set of cloud services that provides clear cost benefits due to low overhead and the ability to burst capacity only when its neededallowing opportunities for customers to innovate at a rapid pace.

Some applications need to remain on premises or as close to the end user as possible. Real-time gaming, video and graphics rendering, or augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR)-based solutions need ultra-low latencies, sometimes down to the single-millisecond range, as well as local data processing. With Local Zones, businesses can take advantage of cloud services in metropolitan hubs that are tens of miles away, providing them the opportunity to render video workloads or host cloud gaming servers, with reliable and Intel-powered low latency and compute. Businesses can also power latency-sensitive mobile applications, like real-time medical diagnostics, with AWS Wavelength. For applications like autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in a manufacturing plant, AWS Outposts can host the control logic onsite to ensure rapid responses to vital events like humans crossing an AMRs path on the factory floor.

In addition to the diversity a business needs for its hybrid solution, its also paramount to have consistency across its solutionwhether thats in the cloud, on premises or at the edge.

DISH, a U.S. mobile operator and an AWS customer we previously introduced, benefited from the consistency and wide range of AWS hybrid solutions, as well as AWS Regions, to transform legacy mobile networks into a cloud-powered modern 5G network. To do this, they needed to provide mobile subscribers with ultra-low latency response timessomething Dish was able to accomplish by hosting their 5G radio access network components on AWS Outposts. They were also able to take advantage of on-demand cloud elasticity (while meeting tight latency requirements) by running 5G core management functions on AWS Local Zones. DISH also benefited from the full range and scale of cloud services by hosting elements, like business analytics and back-office applications, on AWS Regions.

The consistency of using AWS Regions in concert with AWS hybrid cloud solutions gives DISH a business advantage by providing them with multiple hybrid solutions, all while using the same infrastructure, services, APIs and tools as they use in the cloud. Their engineers interact with just one set of interfaces, benefitting from a uniform development and deployment process and coherent management and operational framework.

We usually think of the cloud as an always-connected solution. However, there are situations such as natural disasters where connectivity may be impacted. AWS customer, Novetta, is an analytics solutions company serving the public sector, defense, intelligence, and federal law enforcement communities. Novetta provides a real-time, command and control and communications application used by incident command centers during massive disaster-response events.

To build this application, Novetta needed a reliable, always-available cloud service. Novetta recreated a slice of their cloud environment locally using AWS Snowball Edge, a ruggedized, small form factor. The solution functions even when disconnected, allowing Novetta to offer nonstop services during disasters. Novetta also used Snowball Edge to process video surveillance feeds locally, saving precious upstream network bandwidth when uploading to an AWS Region for data sharing.

Businesses today need three main benefits from their hybrid solution: diversity of hybrid cloud options to match an equally diverse set of applications, consistency of development and IT pipelines, and the ability to take advantage of a hybrid model in the cloud, on-premises, or at the edge. Bringing AWS hybrid cloud solutions closer to users and devices provides clear opportunities for businesses like DISH and Novetta to build new and innovative user experiences. It improves IT and developer productivity for businesses by seamlessly extending a consistent set of AWS infrastructure, Intel Xeon-powered compute, services, and tools in the cloud, on-premises, and at edge locations. The rich collection of hybrid cloud solution choices enables digital transformations by allowing businesses to pick the best option that meets their needs and innovate at scale with the right day-to-day efficiencies.

For more details on the AWS solutions that are reinventing hybrid, check out ourwebsite.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Intel have a 15-year relationship dedicated to developing, building, and supporting services designed to manage cost and complexity, accelerate business outcomes and scale to meet current and future computing requirements. Intel processors provide the foundation of many cloud computing services deployed on AWS. Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances powered by Intel Xeon Scalable processors have the largest breadth, global reach, and availability of compute instances across AWS geographies.

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Three things every business needs from hybrid cloud To match a company's diverse range of software - Fast Company