Staying informed is a constant challenge. There’s so much to do, and so little time. But we have you covered. Grab a coffee and take five while you nibble on these tidbits.
Cloudflare releases data protection suite
Cloudflare has announced Cloudflare One Data Protection Suite, a unified set of security offerings designed to protect data across every environment – web, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and private applications.
Powered by Cloudflare’s Security Service Edge (SSE), customers can streamline compliance in the cloud, mitigate data exposure and loss of source code, and secure developer and AI environments from a single platform, a release stated.
It added that the Cloudflare One Data Protection Suite, built natively on Cloudflare’s global network, allows organizations of all sizes to:
- Implement a programmable network architecture: Organizations can build new capabilities and adopt new security standards and protocols quickly, to ensure data protection controls address modern use cases, like protecting code in generative AI.
- Streamline data visibility and controls onto a single platform: With one management interface, administrators have multiple, flexible options to send traffic to Cloudflare for enforcement — including API-based scans, clientless deployments of ZTNA and RBI, a single device client, direct or virtual interconnects, and SD-WAN partnerships.
- Enforce data protection controls with single-pass inspection: Across each of Cloudflare’s network locations – spanning 300 cities in over 100 countries – policy enforcement is reliable, unintrusive, and fast. This ultimately means that data controls never disrupt end-user productivity, and allow efficacy and scalability.
- Customize detections: DLP exact data match will equip customers with flexibility to detect organization-specific data defined in custom datasets. More predefined data detection profiles are available for source code files and protected health information (PHI).
- Converge API-driven CASB and DLP: Customers can discover sensitive data at rest and in line. Integrations will cover the majority of cloud collaboration, productivity and code repository tools for enterprises.
- Provide risk-based data protection: Control access to data and apps based on a behavioral user risk scores, which incorporates signals from across Cloudflare One such as a user’s activities, posture, settings
Tenable to acquire Ermetic
Tenable has announced its intention to acquire cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM) company Ermetic for approximately US$240 million in cash plus US$25 million in restricted stock and restricted stock units (RSUs).
The acquisition, which is expected to close in early Q4 2023, is Tenable’s sixth since its 2018 IPO, and will add Ermetic’s insights into Tenable One to expand Tenable’s cloud security capabilities – including risk visibility, prioritization and remediation across infrastructure and identities, both on-premises and in the cloud.
Cohesity, Carahsoft partnership aimed at U.S. public sector
Data security and management vendor Cohesity and government IT solutions provider Carahsoft Technology Corp. have announced a partnership in which Carahsoft plans to serve as a distributor for Cohesity, making Cohesity’s Data Cloud platform available to the public sector through Carahsoft’s reseller partners, NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V, Information Technology Enterprise Solutions – Software 2 (ITES-SW2), National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) ValuePoint, National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance (NCPA), OMNIA Partners and E&I Cooperative Services Contract.
“We are pleased to partner with Carahsoft and its resellers to provide U.S. government agencies with new capabilities based on our position in data security and management,” said Kit Beall, chief revenue officer, Cohesity. “We look forward to expanding our strategic partnership with Carahsoft to help public sector customers strengthen their cyber resilience in the face of evolving sophisticated adversaries.”
Wi-Fi World Congress coming to Toronto
This month, for the first time, the Wi-Fi World Congress and Expo is coming to Canada, featuring training programs, sessions on all facets of Wi-Fi, from standards and new technologies to network and device design, plus an expo showcasing all things Wi-Fi.
The three day event will take place from Sept. 18 – 20 at the Omni King Edward Hotel in downtown Toronto.
Microsoft changes Excel workbook support in Power BI
Microsoft has announced that, as of Sept. 29, upload of local Excel workbooks to Power BI workspaces will no longer be allowed, nor will configuring of scheduled refresh and refresh now for any Excel files that don’t already have scheduled refresh configured.
As of Oct. 31, scheduled refresh and refresh now will cease to be supported for all files, and local workbooks uploaded to Power BI workspaces will no longer open in Power BI. However, existing workbooks will be downloadable, and Excel workbooks may be imported from OneDrive and SharePoint Document libraries for viewing in Power BI. Excel data models may also be published as Power BI datasets.
In the announcement, Microsoft offers guidance to Power BI admins to help them discover affected workbooks.
Microsoft announces end of support for Skype for Business server connections
Microsoft has announced that, effective Oct. 1, Teams Rooms will no longer support connections to the Skype for Business server, impacting, it says, a small number of customers using on-premises configurations. With this change, the following meeting mode options will no longer be available on the Teams Rooms on Windows app (version 4.19) settings:
Skype for Business only
Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams (default)
Skype for Business (default) and Microsoft Teams
The announcement stated that, in addition to the modes listed above, all Skype for Business related settings will be removed from the device settings and setup experience. The legacy home screen that allowed support for Skype for Business Server in Teams Rooms on Windows will also no longer be available. With this change the setting used to ‘opt-out’ of the new experience (TeamsRoomsNewExperience) will also be removed.
The company offers guidance on migrating to Microsoft Teams at: