Yonas Tibebu

Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is the replication and hosting of physical or virtual servers by a third party to provide failover in the event of a natural catastrophe, power outage or another type of business disruption.  Typically, DRaaS requirements and expectations are documented in a service-level agreement (SLA) and the third-party vendor provides failover to a cloud computing environment, either through a contract or on a pay-per-use basis. In the event of an actual disaster, an off-site vendor is less likely than the enterprise itself to suffer the direct and immediate effects, which enables the provider to implement the disaster recovery (DR) plan even in the event of the worst-case scenario: a total or near-total shutdown of the affected enterprise. DRaaS offers an off-site DR capability that lets customers avoid the cost of maintaining secondary data centers. The approach has opened DR to organizations that wouldn't have been able to affor...

  Hybrid IT is an approach to enterprise computing in which an organization provides and manages some information technology (IT) resources in-house but uses cloud-based services for others. A hybrid approach allows an enterprise to maintain a centralized approach to IT governance while exploiting the benefits of cloud computing. Hybrid IT vs. hybrid cloud The term hybrid IT is often used interchangeably with the term hybrid cloud.  Hybrid cloud, however, can also refer to a cloud architecture in which a vendor who has a private cloud forms a partnership with a public cloud provider -- or a public cloud provider who forms a partnership with a vendor that provides private cloud platforms. So, while hybrid IT is a form of hybrid cloud, not all hybrid clouds are considered hybrid IT. The benefits of hybrid IT There are three forces driving the adoption of hybrid IT: an enterprise's need to maintain control of data for security purp...

  An intrusion detection system (IDS) is a system that monitors network traffic for suspicious activity and alerts when such activity is discovered. While anomaly detection and reporting are the primary functions of an IDS, some intrusion detection systems are capable of taking actions when malicious activity or anomalous traffic is detected, including blocking traffic sent from suspicious Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. An IDS can be contrasted with an intrusion prevention system (IPS), which monitors network packets for potentially damaging network traffic, like an IDS, but has the primary goal of preventing threats once detected, as opposed to primarily detecting and recording threats. How do intrusion detection systems work? Intrusion detection systems are used to detect anomalies with the aim of catching hackers before they do real damage to a network. IDSes can be either network- or host-based. A host-based intrusion detection system is...

  The CISO (chief information security officer) is a senior-level executive responsible for developing and implementing an information security program, which includes procedures and policies designed to protect enterprise communications, systems and assets from both internal and external threats. The CISO may also work alongside the chief information officer to procure cybersecurity products and services and to manage disaster recovery and business continuity plans. The chief information security officer may also be referred to as the chief security architect, the security manager, the corporate security officer or the information security manager, depending on the company's structure and existing titles. While the CISO is also responsible for the overall corporate security of the company, which includes its employees and facilities, he or she may simply be called the chief security officer (CSO). CISO role and responsibilities Instea...

  Zero-day is a flaw in software, hardware or firmware that is unknown to the party or parties responsible for patching or otherwise fixing the flaw. The term  zero day  may refer to the vulnerability itself, or an attack that has zero days between the time the vulnerability is discovered and the first attack. Once a zero-day vulnerability has been made public, it is known as an n-day or one-day vulnerability. Ordinarily, when someone detects that a software program contains a potential security issue, that person or company will notify the software company (and sometimes the world at large) so that action can be taken. Given time, the software company can fix the code and distribute a patch or software update. Even if potential attackers hear about the vulnerability, it may take them some time to exploit it; meanwhile, the fix will hopefully become available first. Sometimes, however, a hacker may be the first to discover the vulnerability. Sin...

  A digital signature is a mathematical technique used to validate the authenticity and integrity of a message, software or digital document. It's the digital equivalent of a handwritten signature or stamped seal, but it offers far more inherent security. A digital signature is intended to solve the problem of tampering and impersonation in digital communications. Digital signatures can provide evidence of origin, identity and status of electronic documents, transactions or digital messages. Signers can also use them to acknowledge informed consent. How do digital signatures work? Digital signatures are based on public key cryptography, also known as asymmetric cryptography. Using a public key algorithm, such as RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman), two keys are generated, creating a mathematically linked pair of keys, one private and one public. Digital signatures work through public key cryptography's two mutually authenticating cryptographic keys. The individu...