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The Chief Zero Trust Officer: a new role for a new era of cybersecurity

Setting the stage for Zero Trust

Over the last few years the topic of cyber security has moved from the IT department to the board room. The current climate of geopolitical and economic uncertainty has made the threat of cyber attacks all the more pressing, with businesses of all sizes and across all industries feeling the impact. From the potential for a crippling ransomware attack to a data breach that could compromise sensitive consumer information, the risks are real and potentially catastrophic. Organizations are recognizing the need for better resilience and preparation regarding cybersecurity. It is not enough to simply react to attacks as they happen; companies must proactively prepare for the inevitable in their approach to cybersecurity.

The security approach that has gained the most traction in recent years is the concept of Zero Trust. The basic principle behind Zero Trust is simple: don't trust anything; verify everything. The impetus for a modern Zero Trust architecture is that traditional perimeter-based (castle-and-moat) security models are no longer sufficient in today's digitally distributed landscape. Organizations must adopt a holistic approach to security based on verifying the identity and trustworthiness of all users, devices, and systems that access their networks and data.

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Some Operations Are Not Worth Automating

Ish wrote an interesting comment on my Network Automation Expert Beginners blog post. He started with:

[Our network has] about 40 sites, but we don’t do total refresh cycles in bulk, just as needed. Everything we do is sporadic, and I’m trying to see the ROI on learning automation for things that are done once in a while that don’t take much time to do manually anyway.

There are two aspects to this part of his comment:

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Some Operations Are Not Worth Automating

Ish wrote an interesting comment on my Network Automation Expert Beginners blog post. He started with:

[Our network has] about 40 sites, but we don’t do total refresh cycles in bulk, just as needed. Everything we do is sporadic, and I’m trying to see the ROI on learning automation for things that are done once in a while that don’t take much time to do manually anyway.

There are two aspects to this part of his comment:

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Bash scripting tips that can save time on Linux

Committing routine and even rarely required tasks to scripts is almost always a big win because you don’t have to reinvent the approach to getting work done each time it’s needed, and you save a lot of time on issues you handle often.Here are some tips for writing bash scripts and ensuring that they’ll be easy to use, easy to update/ and hard to misuse.Comments One important thing to do when you're preparing a script on Linux is to add comments – especially for commands that might be a little complex. If you don’t run a script very often, comments can help ensure that you quickly grasp everything that it’s doing. If someone else has to use your scripts, the comments can make it a lot easier for them to know what to expect. So, always add comments. Even you might appreciate them! You don’t need to comment every line, just every significant group of commands. Here's a simple example.To read this article in full, please click here

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Bash scripting tips that can save time on Linux

Committing routine and even rarely required tasks to scripts is almost always a big win because you don’t have to reinvent the approach to getting work done each time it’s needed, and you save a lot of time on issues you handle often.Here are some tips for writing bash scripts and ensuring that they’ll be easy to use, easy to update/ and hard to misuse.Comments One important thing to do when you're preparing a script on Linux is to add comments – especially for commands that might be a little complex. If you don’t run a script very often, comments can help ensure that you quickly grasp everything that it’s doing. If someone else has to use your scripts, the comments can make it a lot easier for them to know what to expect. So, always add comments. Even you might appreciate them! You don’t need to comment every line, just every significant group of commands. Here's a simple example.To read this article in full, please click here

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Multicloud: Keep providers separate and distinct or integrate them?

Most organizations use both on-prem data centers and cloud-based IaaS services, often employing multiple IaaS platforms.For some, this multicloud reality has come about as part of a steady, one-way migration to the cloud, and they may have intentionally kept their cloud networks distinct as part of that goal. Others may have a business strategy for keeping them distinct, such as providing services for a stand-alone division or a particular geography.As a consequence, they are almost certainly already tying their on-premises and cloud infrastructure networks together in some way or are about to be.Those with limited integration among their networks are often dealing with a patchwork of solutions that evolved haphazardly as cloud systems went from being experimental and isolated to being developmental and peripheral and then to being central and in-production.To read this article in full, please click here

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The Magic of Multi-cloud Networking

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. – Arthur C. Clarke.

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12 Practical Tips for Entry-level Job Seeker and Interns in Tech

It’s been almost 25 long years since I started my bachelor’s degree, some 17 years since I began my master’s degree, and around 15 years since I decided to leave a Ph.D. scholarship behind and go back to full-time professional work. Many things have changed, yet one thing has remained the same: the race among […]

The post 12 Practical Tips for Entry-level Job Seeker and Interns in Tech appeared first on Packet Pushers.

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Discover Cloud Networking and Security with VMware at Mobile World Congress 2023

They say you should work smarter, not harder. We agree, which is why we’ll be showcasing work at MWC 2023 that brings efficiency and intelligence to modern networking designed to help businesses thrive in the digital era through telco-friendly, smarter networking solutions.

Keep reading for a preview of what to expect from the VMware Networking and Security team at the event – and join us in person in Hall 3, stand 3M11, to check out the latest innovations in cloud networking and security for yourself.

Smarter, More Efficient Networks

The overall vision that we’ll be displaying in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress from February 27 to March 2 focuses on two key concepts – increasing network efficiency and generating value through smart networking solutions.

Specifically, we’ll be displaying:

• Technology that enhances the Telco Efficiency of Communications Service Provider networks by guiding customers in boosting network density and reducing energy usage. Visit our booth to learn how optimizing the technology stack helps cut costs and enhance service flexibility.
• Solutions for building Smarter Networks by leveraging breakthroughs in RAN to Edge to Core Networks and creating programmable settings that Communications Service Providers can leverage to provide advanced next-generation services. These elevated service Continue reading

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Broadcom, VMware extend deadline to complete acquisition by 90 days

Software and semiconductor maker Broadcom and its acquisition target VMware have agreed to give themselves another 90 days to complete the $61 billion acquisition they announced on May 26, 2022.  A regulatory filing by enterprise cloud vendor VMware showed that both the companies had delivered a mutual notice to extend the final date of the merger to twelve months from the day the deal was announced.To read this article in full, please click here

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Broadcom, VMware extend deadline to complete acquisition by 90 days

Software and semiconductor maker Broadcom and its acquisition target VMware have agreed to give themselves another 90 days to complete the $61 billion acquisition they announced on May 26, 2022.  A regulatory filing by enterprise cloud vendor VMware showed that both the companies had delivered a mutual notice to extend the final date of the merger to twelve months from the day the deal was announced.To read this article in full, please click here

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Why Aren’t There More Technical MBAs?

This weekend I was listening to the latest episode of the Art of Network Engineering podcast featuring Russ White. Russ is one of those guests that has a breadth of knowledge outside of technology that colors the way he looks at things in the realm of enterprise IT. Plus he’s a fun interview.

One of the questions he asked was around the idea of technical MBAs. For those that might not know, MBA stands for Masters of Business Administration, which is a post-graduate college business degree. An MBA is widely regarded as a way to put yourself on a track to be a manager for a company in some capacity. An MBA is punching a ticket to be a future CEO. Why does it seem like the number of MBAs coming out of prestigious business schools don’t have a technical background then?

Where the Action Is

I’m going to quote liberally from a book I’ve been reading called The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman. In it, Kaufman lays out the reasoning behind using his book to study the principles behind the information given in MBA classes instead of spending $200,000 to go to a business school for two years for Continue reading

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Network Dictionary: “Send-Forth”

Replacing 'leaving do' with 'send forth'

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Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform now available on Google Cloud Marketplace

Breaking news! Red Hat just announced Ansible Automation Platform’s availability on Google Cloud Marketplace. 

I’d like to take a few moments to provide some more details about this offering and why you should consider accessing Ansible Automation Platform directly from the Google Cloud Marketplace.

As organization’s hybrid cloud environments continue to grow in complexity, so does the need to increase efficiency and speed. The solution is to leverage an automation platform that can help any organization create, manage, and scale their automation efforts across the entire IT infrastructure. Ansible Automation Platform is the glue that coordinates and scales automation across all IT domains, and fosters a culture of collaboration across the disparate teams within an organization.

 

Google Cloud Marketplace deployment

Ansible Automation Platform deploys directly from the Google Cloud Marketplace as a self-managed application. The many benefits include:

1. It deploys into your environment, where you have total control over how you deploy, configure, and operationalize the solution.
2. Ongoing upgrades will be simpler because of this deployment model, so while this is a self-managed solution, it’s still simpler to maintain than if you had started from scratch yourself.
3. The ability to scale out the Ansible Automation Platform environment using Continue reading

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Chat-based AI LLMs and Certification Testing

The end of multi-choice answers might be in sight

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Start Multiple netlab Labs on the Same Server

A heavy netlab user sent me an email along these lines:

We’re running multiple labs in parallel on the same server, and we’re experiencing all sorts of clashes like overlapping management IP addresses. We “solved” that by using static device identifiers in our labs, but I’m wondering if there’s a better way of doing it?

That’s exactly the sort of real-life challenges I love working on, so it wasn’t hard to get me excited, and the results are bundled in netlab release 1.5.

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Start Multiple netlab Labs on the Same Server

A heavy netlab user sent me an email along these lines:

We’re running multiple labs in parallel on the same server, and we’re experiencing all sorts of clashes like overlapping management IP addresses. We “solved” that by using static device identifiers in our labs, but I’m wondering if there’s a better way of doing it?

That’s exactly the sort of real-life challenges I love working on, so it wasn’t hard to get me excited, and the results are bundled in netlab release 1.5.

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Weekend Reads 021723

In Emoi Services LLC v. Owners Insurance Company, the Ohio Supreme Court recently found software is an intangible item that cannot experience direct physical loss or damage and, therefore, the plaintiffâ€s inability to access or use its software during a ransomware attack was outside the scope of its “businessowners” policy.

Searching Google for downloads of popular software has always come with risks, but over the past few months, it has been downright dangerous, according to researchers and a pseudorandom collection of queries.

Here’s a provocative question: Is it possible, given the vast array of security threats today, to have too many security tools?

This debate has proved futile for two reasons. First, the characteristics of any specific application will dictate which venue is more expensive — there is no simple, unequivocal answer. Second — the question implies that a buyer would choose a cloud or on-premises data center primarily because it is cheaper. This is not necessarily the case

The RISC-V architecture looks set to become more prevalent in the high performance computing (HPC) sector, and could even become the dominant architecture, at least according to some technical experts in the field.

Major US carriers are exaggerating the availability Continue reading

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Worth Reading: On ChatGPT

One of the best descriptions of what ChatGPT does and what it cannot do I found so far comes from an ancient and military historian. The what is ChatGPT and what is an essay parts are a must-read, the preparing to be disrupted conclusion is pure gold:

I do think there are classrooms that will be disrupted by ChatGPT, but those are classrooms where something is already broken.

I can’t help but think of the never-ending brouhaha about exam brain dumps.

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Worth Reading: On ChatGPT

One of the best descriptions of what ChatGPT does and what it cannot do I found so far comes from an ancient and military historian. The what is ChatGPT and what is an essay parts are a must-read, the preparing to be disrupted conclusion is pure gold:

I do think there are classrooms that will be disrupted by ChatGPT, but those are classrooms where something is already broken.

I can’t help but think of the never-ending brouhaha about exam brain dumps.