Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

The United States has faced some significant economic headwinds and shifts in the last few years. Even the geographical spread of wealth in the U.S. economy has shifted considerably since the pandemic. Now, an already struggling economy is forecast to continue to slow. What does this mean for small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the U.S.? In a recent survey, JumpCloud asked this question to over 300 IT professionals working at SMEs in the U.S. Read on to learn the results.

Think about all the vendors your company pays for. How many do you think there are? Out of those, how many do you think it actually uses? Spendesk examined this question in over 5,000 small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the U.K., France, Germany, and Spain. The results were surprising. The study found that the average SME has 800 suppliers. That’s nine times the average SME headcount. What’s more, SMEs are only using about a quarter of them.

When we look back–in six months, 12 months, or even several years–at the global IT outage that severely disrupted major industries around the world, I don’t think that it will be hyperbole to say that July’s global outage is a watershed moment for IT. Just as the SolarWinds breach was security’s watershed moment, this will end up being IT’s.

Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD) runs your Windows network and keeps mission-critical legacy apps and workflows running at some organizations. Replacing can be a big commitment and migration planning is an essential step to undertake before kicking off your project. Big commitments are made for very good reasons. Consider that AD has become a top target for cyber attackers and doesn’t meet modern IT requirements.

IT asset management (ITAM) is a structured system for organizing, provisioning, deploying, maintaining, and deprovisioning business assets. It allows organizations to keep track of IT assets like hardware and software systems, as well as the data those systems process.

Cloud environments have revolutionized how organizations operate, providing scalable, efficient, and cost-effective resources. However, this shift to the cloud introduces new challenges, particularly in managing and securing many Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications that businesses rely on. AWS AppFabric exists to address these challenges by providing a solution for integrating, managing, and securing various applications.

Twice a year, JumpCloud commissions a survey of IT professionals working at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These surveys examine pressing current matters like the security landscape, emerging technologies, job outlook, and more. JumpCloud’s latest report was released on July 16. It surveyed 612 IT decision-makers in the U.K. and U.S. to get a read on the SME IT market, both today and where IT professionals think it’s headed in the future.

Mobile devices have become so integral to both business and personal lives that it is difficult to imagine a life without them. There’s more attack surface area as a result, and it’s IT’s job to mitigate the risk of cyberattacks. Insider threats are often involved, because employees and their devices can be one of the weakest links in the security chain.

There is a lot to keep track of these days. Organizations face an array of challenges that can hit anywhere on the spectrum from the mundane to the existential. Heightened security concerns affect how tightly you control user access. The proliferation of devices adds complexity and bloat to your management stack. And almost every organization, regardless of size, is expanding its distributed workforce across global time zones and native languages. Getting this right falls to you as well.

While the Fourth of July is typically considered a day of celebration for those in the U.S., many don’t realize it’s also a period of heightened risk. In fact, this isn’t unique to the Fourth of July: holidays often see an uptick in cybersecurity threats. With the Fourth of July nearly upon us, let’s examine why this happens and how you can protect yourself and your business.