In my work with CDW customers, I often come across technology leaders who want to improve their cybersecurity posture but aren’t really sure where to start. They might recognize that their organizations need to improve their cybersecurity controls but don’t know where their investments will pay off the most.

When I hear concerns like this, I immediately look to the Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). While there are many different cybersecurity standards out there, I prefer this one because it uses plain language to describe the five most important activities in cybersecurity. I’d like to walk you through this framework using two different examples.

On the TV show Hoarders, the subjects of the program often explain that they allow apparently useless items to pile up around their houses because they might need them someday. Regardless of its implications for household décor, this is a poor model for data management, but we see some organizations follow it nonetheless. In some…

On average, it takes 170 days to detect an advanced attack, 39 days to contain it and 43 days to remediate it, according to a Ponemon study. Security threats are pervasive and constantly evolving. Today’s cybercriminals are smarter, bolder and more ambitious than in years past. The IT landscape is changing to accommodate mobility, cloud…

When the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation went into effect in May, the new mandate affected organizations far beyond the boundaries of the EU. GDPR’s requirements that organizations protect the privacy of any personal data they handle apply to the personal information of EU residents wherever it may exist in the world. This means…

I had the pleasure of visiting with customers and partners at the VeeamON 2018 conference in Chicago earlier this month. This event brought together data protection professionals to share knowledge and discuss backup and high-availability solutions from Veeam. The conference topics reflected the growth of Veeam from a straightforward backup solution into a full-fledged high-availability…

Recently, I asked a nonprofit executive how his organization planned to comply with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will go into effect in the European Union this spring. I expected him to rattle off a loose outline of steps that his IT team is taking to prepare for the GDPR guidelines. Instead,…