Data Breaches Caused by Misconfigured Servers Within a Healthcare Environment
Considering high-profile data breaches in the past decade, data security has become a critically important issue within organizations which handle user data online. Particularly for healthcare professionals, protecting confidential and sensitive information is a significant compliance requirement. The mass media is flooded with news headlines and articles about the latest organization to be hit with a large-scale data breach: all-too-familiar stories about the theft of an abundance of personally identifiable information, the negligence of the officials guilty of inadequately securing that data, and the actions to be taken by the victims.
Why Ashburn, Virginia is for [Data] Lovers
Nearly 50 years ago, the Virginia State Travel Service hit it big with its famous “Virginia is for Lovers” slogan. Ashburn, located in Loudoun County, Virginia, caters to a specific form of lover: tech professionals who love Ashburn’s access to what has been called “the bullseye of America’s Internet.”
Atlantic.Net announces Cloud Services Location in Ashburn, Virginia!
If you need the lowest latency and fastest routes to 70 percent of the world’s web traffic, our new Ashburn, VA (USA-EAST-3) location is now available. This latest addition is located in the heart of the world’s data center capital. You can now utilize our full suite of hosting services with the same power, speed, and reliability Atlantic.Net is known for in our Ashburn, VA (USA-EAST-3) location:
Seismic-Compliant Data Center Requirements
A Long Beach hospital that nearly reached 100 years in operation had to shut its doors because it was built on an active earthquake fault and is incapable of meeting state-mandatory seismic safety law. The hospital, Community Medical Center Long Beach, sent the city notice to end the lease in four months at the beginning of March, taking effect on July 1st. Earthquake research performed in November discovered an active fault beneath the 200-bed hospital.
Why Choose Atlantic.Net Over the Big Guys
Our knowledge and available time drive our choices. For example, suppose you have a leaky faucet. Should you call a handyman or fix it yourself? If you feel comfortable with plumbing, know how things work inside a faucet, and have the time, you’ll probably go to your nearest big box hardware store, buy a few parts, and fix the faucet yourself. On the other hand, if you don’t know anything about faucets, or if you don’t have time to do the repair yourself, you’ll probably call a handyman. Your knowledge about how faucets work and how much time you have to drive your decision about how to fix your leaky faucet.
When it comes to cloud server hosting, these factors also apply. If you know a lot about cloud hosting or have people who can manage things for you, selecting a do-it-yourself cloud hosting provider like Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Compute Engine might be a good option for you. However, if you don’t know a lot about cloud server hosting or don’t have the time or people to take care of it, you’ll probably look for a cloud hosting provider who can set you up with the right solution and then make sure it stays up and running.
We can’t keep up with IT and we need help!
Until recently, businesses adapted to the computer age by purchasing desktop systems and possibly servers, to run a local area network, and maybe a website. IT needs have changed, however, with cloud-based productivity applications, electronic records, and mobile workforces. Keeping up with these and related innovations is vital to business efficiency and profitability, but IT teams tasked with making every digital element in the organization work — and work together – are often overwhelmed, leading to system failures and major problems for business operations.
Businesses typically have different expectations from their IT systems than even a decade ago, and therefore should adapt their approach to IT. For many, this means closing down that old server room; the number of businesses hosting their network on-premises is projected to fall from 31 percent to 17 percent by 2018. Correspondingly, budget allocations for hosting services will rise by an average of 20 percent for 2017, according to 451 Research.
RAID 10 (RAID 1+0) – What Is It & Should I Use It?
Utilization of RAID 10 in a server provides an increase of disk capabilities while simultaneously providing redundancy and preventing system failure.
What is RAID?
RAID is an acronym that stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks or Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, depending on what specialist you ask. The term “independent” is arguably more appropriate, as RAID arrays may sometimes be made with extremely expensive disks.
In layman’s terms, RAID is a method of configuring two or more hard drives to work as a single unit with differing levels of redundancy and allowing better fault tolerance. “A fault-tolerant design enables a system to continue its intended operation, possibly at a reduced level, rather than failing completely, when some part of the system fails.”[i]
Study: Cloud Beats Dedicated Systems on Availability
Availability is one of the biggest concerns of information technology chiefs. The NIH ran a study comparing availability of cloud and dedicated machines. Cloud won.
- Availability Among Top Three CIO Concerns
- Availability: Cloud Hosting vs. Dedicated Servers
- Cloud for Fast Processing of Huge Datasets
Availability Among Top Three CIO Concerns
Unfortunately for CIOs, there are many aspects of their role that can be stressful. For a survey featured in CIO magazine in 2015, 276 CIOs and other top IT leaders discussed the elements that can give them the most trouble; and the top three were security, availability, and making the right hires.
Let’s look specifically at the issue of downtime; in other words, the need to optimize availability.
How to Achieve Operational Excellence in the Era of Cloud Hosting
In the age of cloud server hosting, as it’s increasingly adopted by enterprises, chief information officers can struggle to maintain operational excellence. Here’s how to deliver consistency with OE as you adopt cloud.
- Challenges of the Multiple-Vendor Cloud World
- Knowing What You Mean by “Operational Excellence”
- Partner with the Provider so You Can Achieve OE
- Governance of the OE Plan
- Protecting Your Partnerships
- Choosing a Strong, Secure Cloud Hosting Partner
Challenges of the Multiple-Vendor Cloud World
In 2016, the business world is benefiting from an increasingly broad variety of cloud tools; and the extent to which they are being adopted continues to grow. For information chiefs in enterprises with sizable on-site app hosting infrastructures who are in the process of adopting cloud more aggressively, you are going to face some threats to the continuity of strong computing operations. In a multi-vendor hosting scenario (i.e., that of cloud), on-site ways to check systems, strategize for disaster recovery, process transactions, manage system modifications, and schedule tasks are a few examples of the many IT responsibilities that can become unexpectedly complicated. Leaders both in business and IT will often not think it’s necessary to pay as much attention to these elements in the expanding cloud climate. However, everything must be integrated in some manner, and with the multi-cloud or multi-vendor situation which is becoming so common, it’s challenging for the quality of operations of your IT services not to suffer.
