Monday Morning Impact – November 1

IDC: Cloud Infrastructure Spending Decreased in Q2 But Is on Track for Growth

According to a recent IDC report, spending on compute and storage infrastructure products for cloud infrastructure decreased 2.4% year over year in the second quarter to $16.8 billion. This decrease comes after six quarters of year-over-year growth, and most notably compares to the 39.1% annual growth seen by the market in 2Q20, when the world just entered the pandemic with the first wave of business and country closures causing a spike in investments in cloud services and infrastructure. Investments in non-cloud infrastructure increased 3.4% year over year in 2Q21 to $13.4 billion recovering from a 7.2% decline in 2Q20.

Spending on shared cloud infrastructure reached $11.9 billion, a decrease of 6.1% compared to 2Q20, and a 17% increase from 1Q21. Weakness in year-over-year demand from public cloud service providers comes after an exceptionally strong 2Q20, in which spending increased 55.5% driven by the spike in demand for cloud services in the first months of the pandemic.

Despite weakness in 2Q21, IDC is forecasting cloud infrastructure spending to grow 12% to $74.3 billion for 2021, while non-cloud infrastructure is expected to grow 2.7% to $58.9 billion after two years of declines. Shared cloud infrastructure is expected to grow by 11.1% year over year to $51.4 billion for the full year. Spending on dedicated cloud infrastructure is expected to grow 14.1% to $22.8 billion for the full year.

IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: Buyer and Cloud Deployment is designed to provide clients with a better understanding of what portion of the compute and storage hardware markets are being deployed in cloud environments.

Channel Impact^®
The report underscores the opportunity for channel partners to offer better protection to their customers at a time when Zero Trust security architectures are gaining momentum.

Survey: 80% of SMBs Feel More Secure

Untangle, Inc., a San Jose-based company specializing in network security for small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) and distributed enterprises, has released survey data suggesting that, despite the flurry of cyberattacks, SMBs are expanding and embracing new work environments, and investing in and investigating new technologies to enhance IT security.

The survey shows that even with limited budget and resources, SMBs have implemented foundational strategies to address network security issues and lay the groundwork for future investments: 80% of respondents shared that they are more secure now than last year.

According to the survey, SMBs have increased their annual IT security budgets compared to 2020. More small businesses – those with under 25 employees – are making investments in IT: only 28% had annual budgets of $1,000 – $5,000, compared to 35% in 2021.

Half of SMBs now have the majority of their employees working back in the office. However, in keeping with the current workplace transformation trend, 41% have transitioned a quarter or more of their workers to hybrid work permanently. Because of this, 20% of SMBs have implemented some type of SD-WAN technology with another 19% having plans to implement or are looking into it.

SMBs realize that they, too, are targets of cyberattacks and are looking at IT security from a problem/solution standpoint. More than 60% identify breaches as their top security concern.

“With a changing workplace landscape, and a continued rise in cyberattacks, SMBs have shifted their mindset from ‘it can’t happen to me’ to taking security threats seriously,” said Untangle CEO Scott Devens. “To that end, they have increased their focus on IT Security, they have stronger networks than a year ago and have plans for further attack-prevention for the future. There’s a definite trend towards putting more IT in the cloud and following a multi-layered security approach.”

The research initiative surveyed more than 740 SMBs on how they’ve adapted to a changing work environment, how they’ve addressed an influx of cyberattacks and defined their approach to IT Security.

Channel Impact^®
These survey results are good news for channel partners who often find SMBs to be reluctant to invest in IT security. Historically, many customers in this market segment have viewed themselves as too small to be viable targets for cybercriminals.

Mandiant Launches Training Initiative for Frontline Cyber Experts

Mandiant, a Milpitas, California-based cybersecurity company, has launched its new training program, known as the “Mandiant Academy.” The program provides education courses, incident response and threat intelligence analysis certifications, and operational skills training to meet the shifting needs of security teams. The initiative is designed to help close the cybersecurity skills gap by developing on-the-job capabilities and improving their ability to prevent, detect and respond to today’s threats.

Areas of focus include threat intelligence frameworks, attacker tradecraft, and RFI analysis.

“Creating a strong cyber security team goes beyond implementing the latest tools and solutions,” said Mandiant Consulting Vice President Nick Bennett. “It is about finding and developing the right people to cultivate a high-performance team equipped to navigate the rapidly changing cyber landscape.”

Training deliverables include a proctored certifications program designed to test security teams’ incident response capabilities and threat intelligence knowledge against real-world cyber threats. Instructor led courses can be provided to a single organization or delivered remotely to individual security professionals. On-demand sessions are also available, as well as a three-day, hands-on cyber simulation exercise that emulates real-world threats.

Courses are taught by active security practitioners with first-hand knowledge of attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as related tools and malware.

Mandiant is also introducing a new book, “The Defender’s Advantage”, for cyber security professionals and organization leaders. “The book provides expert insights on cyber defenses and employing accelerators to gain an advantage in the evolving cyber security landscape. The book also includes advice on building security teams with the right people, right processes, and right capabilities to hunt for threats and manage incidents.

In addition, the company is collaborating with VetSec, Inc., a non-profit organization that helps veterans enter careers in cyber security, to offer 33 VetSec, Inc. members complimentary access to Mandiant Academy’s On-Demand Cyber Threat Intelligence Training courses.

Channel Impact^®
Organizations need to implement strategies that involve training their security teams to develop and grow their problem-solving and critical thinking skills to defeat threats at hand. Initiatives like this one can help move the ball forward.