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All the relevant news concerning network monitoring, server availability monitoring and the surveillance of the state of devices and interfaces are the core of this section. Get to know the best practices, news, solutions and tools available for monitoring all types of IT infrastructure
Application Performance Monitoring – or APM – deals with the performance monitoring of applications. The goal is to provide users with an optimal operating experience when using a particular piece of software or an entire software package. APM tools provide administrators with data that they can use to identify negative influences and problems in application performance. Ideally, admins will be presented with data straight away that will help them eliminate the problems. APM monitoring tools can be designed specifically for one application or for monitoring multiple applications on the same network. They collect data on CPU performance, memory usage, bandwidth, and data flow.
Storage systems have a significantly weaker security posture than the other two layers of IT infrastructure, computing, and networking resources. The conclusion came after a study looked at vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in storage systems from multiple vendors, including Dell EMC, IBM, Hitachi Data Systems, Cisco, Brocade, and NetApp. “Of the three main classes of IT infrastructure, storage is often the most valuable, both from a security and a business perspective,” said Gil Hecht, CEO of Continuity, responsible for the survey. “Security vulnerabilities and misconfiguration of storage devices pose a significant threat, especially as ransomware attacks have taken over companies in recent years. Still, based on our analysis, the security posture of most storage systems in companies is extremely weak,” adds the executive.
Vulnerabilities recently found in software used by medical equipment could lead to failures in hospital control systems. The warning came from researchers at Forescout Research Labs who identified problems in the Nucleus TCP/IP stack, which handles the basic communication in networks and is widely used, for example, in anesthesia machines, ventilators, patient monitors, and other healthcare devices. The vulnerabilities allow remote code execution or denial of service attacks. Three of the 13 breaches are considered critical, with Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) scores of 9.8 and 8.8. This ranking analyses the key characteristics of a vulnerability and produces a numerical score that reflects its severity (between 0 and 10).
The convergence of the physical and digital worlds in our routines is becoming increasingly evident, and industrial environments are no exception to this rule. In this scenario, we can see that IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) systems work closely so that digital data can support operational actions and, in the opposite direction, data from OT infrastructures can be analyzed by IT systems, facilitating the generation of insights and decision-making. However, OT and IT systems are so close that they can put one side at risk if the other is being threatened. In other words, if we follow daily news about cyber attacks on IT systems, it is not surprising to see a recent Kaspersky survey reveal that a third of industrial control systems (ICS) have also been targeted by cybercriminals in the first half of 2021. Since the Stuxnet malware, deployed via a USB drive, attacked nuclear facilities in Iran in 2010...
The term “business process” has a relatively high significance in this context, because it can be used to make meaningful distinctions in the monitoring effort. A business process comprises various activities that support a company in achieving a specific goal. These activities are again very individual, depending of course on how a company is structured and also in which business area it operates. Business Process Monitoring then makes it possible to evaluate these business processes and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce costs and avoid or at least reduce any errors. Incidentally, the Gartner definition, which can be found here, is somewhat broader. According to it, Gartner describes business processes as the coordination of the behavior of people, systems and things in order to achieve specific business results.
