NC1805

COMMENT
COMMENT
STOP: DON'T DRAIN THE SWAMP
BY RAY SMYTH, EDITOR
We are quite well adjusted to the continual development of our world and its
elements, and even the much higher rate of change that applies where technology
is concerned. But the fact is that if you stop, just for a short while, and
consider the evolution of your network-based infrastructure and the resources that
depend on it, it can all look a little bit haphazard and reactive.
This is not meant to be a judgement on poor networking and IT practice: it is meant to
be a prompt, a call to action to evaluate and fully understand where you are. What did
transferring the organisation's operationally critical software application to AWS do to the
attack surface? Did it affect the assessed risk level for a ransomware attack, and has it
breached any compliance responsibilities? Oh, and what about the ability of the network
team to map out and manage the extended, always changing network infrastructure?
My point is that a simple no-brainer decision to, for example, move a CRM system to
the cloud can impact so many aspects of organisational, business and IT operations
that, if you considered them before making the move, you probably wouldn't do it.
However we are all learning, and in much the same way that network topology is now
changing at network speed, digital transformation cannot wait for all the issues to be
understood and addressed before the move - especially if it allows a competitor to steal
an edge.
On the other hand, being exclusively led by the operational demands for digital transformation
could also usher in disaster, so once again my friends we have a circle that
needs to be squared.
EDITOR: Ray Smyth
(ray.smyth@btc.co.uk)
REVIEWS:
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Ray Smyth
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What I have set out here does not create a conundrum that cannot be resolved. It
does however create a professional obligation to remove yourself from the operational
swamp and take a cold, detached look at what you have got by asking a few challenging
questions, such as 'do my security assumptions stand up?' Test them. 'Are my commitments
around business continuity still deliverable?' Test them. 'Do I understand what
my borderless network looks like and can I manage it in real time?' Prove it.
Every so often you need to climb out of the 'swamp', not drain it, and apply what you
know but from a different, objective and critical point of view. Test what you find and
repeat… NC
Ray Smyth - Editor, Network Computing.
Ray.Smyth@BTC.CO.UK | https://twitter.com/ItsRay?
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MAY/JUNE 2018 NETWORKcomputing 3