The Attivo Blog

Disaster is a word that nobody likes.  Whether it is a flood, hurricane, tornado, oil spill, a 15 year old girl getting a pimple, or a security threat to an IT infrastructure it poses a threat to life, health, property, money or a bad week at the local high school. One of the toughest aspects regarding a disaster is the management and recovery of it after the fact.  Imagine the recovery and management operation that BP Oil must undergo in the years to come after its spill in the Gulf Coast. This is why it is vital for a company to prepare for a man-made or natural disaster to its business infrastructure.  For 15 year old Jenny getting a pimple on Monday (I know, I know… but trust me in Jenny’s mind this is a disaster) the management and recovery of the problem is as simple as a bottle of Proactive and time.  For a company or corporation, a disaster to its IT infrastructure can result in a massive loss in time, money and possibly closure of the business. For any company there are three control measures to manage safety. Businesses can prevent an event from occurring, detect or discover unwanted events, and have controls in place to correct or restore the system after the disaster. There are several strategies for a business to take in order to secure its IT infrastructure.  A simple example would be to have backups of data transferred to tapes and sent off-site at regular intervals.  This way, if the data was damaged on-site the info would be easily recovered.  Here at The Attivo Group we offer Customer web portals where a customer’s information is secure and safe from any disaster.  Being prepared for any disaster is the smart way to go.  Obviously not all disasters are equal in scale but if companies and people take calculated measures to prepare for them the recovery and rebuilding of the damage caused will be quicker and a lot more efficient.

When I first heard of the term “cloud computing” I wasn’t really sure what to think?  At the risk of sounding ignorant the first thing that came to my mind was sitting on a puffy cloud while using your PC or Mac.  I know, I know, completely idiotic, but I am just being honest.  I soon found out that “cloud computing” can be a pretty efficient and cost effective way to manage the IT infrastructure of your business. So what on Earth is “cloud computing?”  Simply put it is moving software applications which would typically be on the user’s network infrastructure out onto the internet by having control remote servers to maintain data and applications.  Did I say simply put?  I know, confusing! So basically you are having your IT hardware being shared amongst many companies.  By sharing costs including electricity, internet bandwidth, data storage, security and IT management, cloud computing can provide higher quality resources at a lower cost than most companies can provide with their own resources. Another example to explain this would be if you want milk, do you need to have a cow living in your backyard?  No, let the grocery store handle that for you!  Another advantage to “Cloud” environments is that they are generally managed in a secure, disaster-ready environment.  So if a major flood, tornado, or earthquake takes place, your equipment will remain safe. Now that you know that “cloud computing” isn’t working with your computer up in the sky, it is up to you to decide whether or not it is right for your business.   A lot of business’s today use a combination of “cloud” and “on-site” technology to handle their needs.  Whatever your choice is, it is nice to have an option of having your own in house infrastructure or sharing it with other companies.