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When the Cloud turns Spooky
It’s Halloween, so we’re discussing the horrific consequences that can come from common IT mistakes.
It’s that time of year. The time of scary ghost stories and tales of horror. So, for this Halloween, we’re discussing some of the spookier aspects of the cloud, and how some common mistakes can lead to problematic spending and security vulnerabilities.
Zombie Infrastructure
One of the worst ways that cloud utilization can backfire and become a horror story for others is when more infrastructure is used than is needed. Like a mad scientist playing with powers beyond his imagining, cloud infrastructure resources are created but become difficult to destroy. According to Fugue, some operating enterprises can have 20% or more of their cloud resources running unaccounted for. And while some instances may have legitimate reasons, much of it is found to be useless.
These unaccounted for and useless resources are zombie infrastructure that can haunt your budget and run up costs very quickly. However, increasing your spend isn’t the only problem that these zombie cloud resources can create.
Bad Actors
Oftentimes in horror movies, the scariest things aren’t necessarily the monsters present; instead, it’s the people who are willing to exploit a bad situation to harm others. Much like these antagonists, a bad actor may try to exploit vulnerabilities left by zombie infrastructure to cause damage to your network.
In most instances, managing a breach of infrastructure is difficult even when detected. But an attack on a system that is unmonitored and unregulated may mean you’ll never even be aware of the infiltration.
There are solutions
Most instances of zombie infrastructure come from mismanaged IT resources. Usually, the only way to identify it is from a usage bill, and then there’s the actual job of tracking down the zombie resources. Next is optimization to make sure that those unused resources don’t begin to creep back in. Finally, you need to establish a plan for going forward to adjust accordingly.
However, the guesswork in all these steps can be eliminated by trusting your cloud platform to individuals who are trained and ready to service your IT needs. Reach out and see how Global IP Networks’ CloudKeySM platform can help you better utilize your resources.
