Author Archives: Sydney Pujadas

With the rise of remote and hybrid work, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, cybersecurity threats, data privacy concerns, and AI-based tools, businesses must establish clear guidelines for their employees’ technology usage. Without proper governance, businesses expose themselves to security risks, compliance violations, and operational inefficiencies that can be costly.

The Importance of Technology Governance Policies

A well-defined policy on technology use ensures that employees, contractors, and other business stakeholders understand the rules and expectations for utilizing company systems, networks, and data. This includes:

• Remote and hybrid work security guidelines
• BYOD policies and security measures
• Acceptable use of AI-based tools
• Data privacy and compliance considerations
• Consequences for policy violations

By implementing a clear governance strategy along with an Acceptable Use Policy, organizations can reduce security risks, protect sensitive data, and enhance operational efficiency.

The Cybersecurity and Compliance Risks

• Mitigating Risks from Remote and Hybrid Work: Employees working outside the office increase the risk of data exposure and cyber threats. Organizations can implement security measures such as VPNs, multi-factor authentication, and encrypted communication to ensure secure remote work.
• Securing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policies: Personal devices introduce potential vulnerabilities into corporate networks. Establishing tight security policies for personal devices, such as endpoint protection and controlled access, helps mitigate these risks.
• Managing AI-Based Tools and Their Implications: AI-powered tools can enhance productivity but also pose risks related to data security and ethical concerns. Organizations need guidelines on how AI tools can be used responsibly to prevent data leaks and biased decision-making.
• Ensuring Compliance with Data Privacy Regulations: Businesses must comply with regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA. Governing technology use ensures that data handling, storage, and sharing practices align with regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of legal consequences.
• Protecting Against Cybersecurity Threats: Unauthorized software, malware, and phishing attacks can disrupt business operations. Clear technology usage policies minimize the chances of employees engaging in risky behaviors that could compromise security.

Best Practices for Effective Technology Governance

• Develop Comprehensive Policies: Cover all aspects of technology use, including AI tools, remote access, and BYOD security.
• Regularly Train Employees: Provide ongoing education on cybersecurity best practices and compliance requirements.
• Continuously Update Policies: As technology evolves, governance policies should be reviewed and updated regularly.
• Enforce Policies Consistently: Ensure that policies apply fairly to all employees and stakeholders.

Governing technology use within an organization has never been more critical. With remote and hybrid work not going anywhere, AI-powered tools growing in popularity, and increasing cyber threats, businesses must implement strong policies to protect their data, maintain compliance, and enhance security. Taking proactive steps in technology governance will help organizations adapt to modern challenges while maintaining a secure and efficient work environment.

Download Thrive’s Acceptable Use Policy template today to get started on implementing robust, company-wide data governance policies and privacy protocols that make safeguarding sensitive information a priority.

Contact Thrive today to learn more about establishing a clear technology governance policy because now is the time to take action. A secure and compliant workplace starts with well-defined guidelines that protect both the organization and its employees.

2025 is shaping up to be a year where businesses must double down on proactive security measures. With AI-driven threats on the rise, regulatory pressures increasing, and cyberattacks growing in sophistication, companies must take a strategic approach to cybersecurity. Here are the key trends that will shape the cybersecurity landscape in 2025 and how businesses can stay ahead.

Establishing an AI Policy to Govern Usage and Mitigate Risk

AI has transformed cybersecurity, both as a defense mechanism and a tool leveraged by cybercriminals. Organizations must implement formal AI policies that regulate the use of AI tools across business operations, ensuring compliance, ethical AI deployment, and security best practices. An AI policy should cover:

• Usage guidelines: Defining permitted AI applications within the organization.
• Security measures: Addressing risks such as AI-generated phishing attacks and deepfake scams.
• Compliance considerations: Aligning AI use with industry regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, DORA, and emerging AI laws.
• Data protection: Preventing sensitive company and customer data from being fed into AI models.

By proactively setting AI policies, businesses can harness AI’s potential without exposing themselves to unnecessary risks.

Continuous Threat Exposure Management

Traditional vulnerability management is often too infrequent and fails to prioritize the biggest threats to your business. Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is a trending approach that takes an attacker’s point of view to discover and prioritize weaknesses based on how likely they are to be exploited.

In 2025, organizations should increasingly rely on autonomous penetration testing to conduct regular, AI-driven security assessments as part of their CTEM program.

Autonomous pen testing offers:

• Continuous system weakness detection: Unlike annual pen tests, automated solutions provide ongoing security insights.
• Faster remediation: Identifies and prioritizes security gaps based on real world attack techniques.
• Reduced costs: Automating penetration testing minimizes the need for expensive manual engagements.

By integrating autonomous testing into their security strategy, organizations can reduce their attack surface and improve overall resilience.

Strengthening Preventative Controls and Threat Detection Capabilities

A reactive approach to cybersecurity is no longer sufficient. Organizations must proactively assess their security posture and implement a multi-layered defense strategy that includes both preventative and detective controls.

Preventative Controls: Reducing the Attack Surface

The right safeguards can prevent one compromised user account from becoming a sprawling security incident.

• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Enforcing MFA for all user accounts, particularly for privileged access.
• Strict Access Controls & Least Privilege: Limiting access to only what is necessary for each user, minimizing insider and external threats.
• Zero Trust Security: Continuously verifying access requests rather than assuming internal network trust.

Threat Detection: Respond Faster to Evolving Attacks

While monitoring firewall logs is still important, it is no longer a sufficient threat detection strategy.

• Threat Intelligence: Leveraging real-time threat feeds to stay ahead of emerging attack techniques.
• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Providing advanced monitoring and automated responses to endpoint threats.
• SaaS Threat Detection: Monitoring security logs for Microsoft 365 and other business-critical applications allows you to proactively disable accounts exhibiting suspicious behavior.

By implementing a mix of preventative and detective measures, businesses can significantly improve their security posture and resilience against cyber threats.

Virtual CISOs (vCISOs) for Compliance and Strategic Security Leadership

With cyber regulations becoming more stringent and security risks increasing, businesses—especially mid-market companies—are turning to Virtual CISOs (vCISOs) to fill critical leadership gaps. A vCISO provides:

• Compliance expertise: Helping businesses navigate evolving regulations like CMMC 2.0, SEC cyber disclosure rules, and ISO 27001.
• Security strategy development: Aligning cybersecurity initiatives with business goals.
• Incident response planning: Preparing organizations for rapid and effective breach response.

For organizations that lack the budget for a full-time CISO, a vCISO offers an effective and scalable solution to drive security and compliance forward.

Contact Thrive today to learn more about embracing these emerging trends, organizations can build a robust cybersecurity framework that protects their data, employees, and customers from the evolving threat landscape.

A ransomware event is every organization’s worst nightmare, but it’s also a critical moment where preparation and expertise can make all the difference. Recently, Thrive’s Security Operations Center (SOC) was called into action through our Incident Response and Remediation (IRR) service to assist a client in navigating such a crisis. While no one celebrates a ransomware attack, this success story highlights how Thrive’s proactive tools and experienced team can turn a chaotic situation into a manageable one.

This client had recently begun onboarding Thrive’s IRR service, a decision that proved invaluable during the incident. During the onboarding process, they installed the Binalyze agent—our advanced digital forensics and incident response solution—on their endpoints. This proactive step ensured that when the ransomware event occurred, they were ready to utilize the powerful tools and expertise provided by their dedicated team of Thrive experts.

The ransomware incident was promptly reported to Thrive and escalated to our Cybersecurity Incident Response Team (CIRT). Thanks to the pre-installed Binalyze agents, the Thrive team was able to initiate a compromise assessment immediately. Within minutes, they were analyzing network activity and gathering critical data to understand the scope and scale of the attack.

By the time CIRT members joined the first call with the customer, they weren’t just discussing what they planned to do; they were reporting what they’d already accomplished.

Within hours of the initial report, the Thrive team triaged 84 systems, including the client’s Microsoft 365 environment. Thrive provided the customer with a detailed report identifying:

• Point of Intrusion: Where and how the attackers gained access
• Scale of Impact: The accounts and systems that were compromised during the attack

This rapid turnaround was achieved despite the client not yet subscribing to other Thrive SOC security services.
To ensure accuracy and transparency, the customer’s cybersecurity insurance company engaged a third-party forensics firm to review Thrive’s findings. The firm validated the accuracy of the assessment, confirming both the thoroughness and precision of Thrive’s work.

This independent confirmation saved the customer substantial time, allowing them to focus their energy on critical remediation and recovery tasks instead of second-guessing the initial analysis.
While no organization wants to face a ransomware event, this case demonstrated the critical value of Thrive’s new IRR service. From immediate action to validated findings, Thrive’s SOC delivered peace of mind and actionable intelligence when it mattered most.

This success story underscores the importance of preparedness and the benefits of partnering with a dedicated team of experts like Thrive. Whether it’s through robust endpoint protection, expert incident response, or ongoing cybersecurity support, Thrive is dedicated to keeping organizations secure—even in the most challenging moments. Contact Thrive today to learn more about our IRR service and how we can support your business in building resilience against cyber threats.

For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), achieving a robust cybersecurity posture is no longer optional in today’s fast-paced digital world. For organisations in the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) Cyber Essentials control framework provides a solid foundation for protecting against common cyberattacks. Thrive, as a recognised certification body for Cyber Essentials (CE) and Cyber Essentials Plus (CE+) through IASME, is here to guide businesses through the journey to CE compliance and a stronger cybersecurity posture.

Why Cyber Essentials Matters

Cyber Essentials is a government-backed scheme designed to help organisations safeguard sensitive information by implementing baseline security measures. Achieving a CE certification demonstrates to customers, stakeholders, and partners that your organisation is committed to cybersecurity best practices. It also provides an additional benefit—organisations with this certification may qualify for certain types of cyber insurance coverage.

Thrive: A Trusted Partner for CE and CE+ Compliance

Thrive is uniquely positioned to help SMBs navigate IASME’s compliance process, offering tailored services for both CE and CE+ certifications. Thrive’s role as a certification body ensures your path to compliance is smooth, efficient, and aligned with your business objectives.

Elevating Compliance with Cyber Essentials

For organisations looking to enhance their cybersecurity credentials with a Cyber Essentials (CE) certification, Thrive provides Readiness Assessments to help prepare for both CE and CE+ certifications, which include:

• Gap Analysis Report: Identifying areas of non-compliance with CE and CE+ requirements.
• Roadmap to Compliance: Detailed steps to address identified gaps and align with the certification standards.

Getting Started with Cyber Essentials

The first step toward compliance is obtaining the Cyber Essentials certification. This process involves completing a self-certified questionnaire, which is submitted online to the IASME portal. Thrive’s experts are available to support organisations in understanding and accurately completing this essential step.

Upon successful submission of the questionnaire, Thrive will assess whether the answers meet the requirements and issue the CE certification, confirming your organisation meets the baseline requirements for cybersecurity.

Once the Cyber Essentials certification is complete, Thrive will guide organisations through the CE+ certification process.

The CE+ Audit

Achieving CE+ certification involves a hands-on technical assessment of your systems. A Thrive-certified CE+ assessor will conduct a comprehensive audit of all in-scope systems, including:

• Representative User Devices: Ensuring secure configuration and malware protection meet requirements.
• Firewalls: Ensuring that only secure and necessary network services can be accessed from the internet.
• Security Update Management: Ensuring that devices and software are not vulnerable to known security issues

This rigorous evaluation ensures that your organisation’s cybersecurity measures are not only compliant but also resilient against commodity-based threats.

Choose Thrive for Your Cyber Essentials Journey

Thrive’s expertise as a certification body goes beyond issuing certificates. Our end-to-end support enables SMBs in the UK to confidently achieve compliance while strengthening their overall security posture. Key benefits include:

• Expert Guidance: Thrive’s team of cybersecurity professionals simplifies the certification process.
• Customisable Support: From self-assessments to readiness assessments and audits, Thrive tailors services to your unique needs.

Take the Next Step Toward Compliance

Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus certifications are crucial milestones for any UK-based SMB aiming to improve cybersecurity. Thrive’s comprehensive approach ensures your organisation is not only compliant but also equipped to face future challenges.

Contact Thrive today to achieve CE and CE+ compliance, enhance your cybersecurity posture, and protect your business against the ever-evolving threat landscape.

Secure Your Company’s Cybersecurity Future

Stay ahead of evolving threats with Thrive’s Mid-Market Company’s Cybersecurity Guide. Tailored for growing businesses, this guide covers essential strategies to protect your IT infrastructure, avoid common security missteps, and meet compliance standards.

Learn how Thrive’s next-gen managed services deliver scalable, cost-effective solutions to safeguard your business and maintain peace of mind and ensure business growth and continuity.

As organizations become more reliant on technology to drive innovation and maintain a competitive edge, the roles of a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and a Chief Information Officer (CIO) have evolved significantly. No longer confined to isolated silos, these positions now require a broader, more collaborative approach to leadership, aligning technology, security, and business objectives.
Historically, CIOs managed IT systems and ensured uptime, while CISOs safeguarded those systems from cyber threats. Today, their responsibilities overlap as digital transformation blurs the boundaries between IT infrastructure and cybersecurity.

CIO Evolution: From Operations to Innovation

Being a CIO has expanded from ensuring the operational stability of their business’s IT systems to spearheading digital innovation. Today, CIOs are expected to:

• Drive Business Strategy: Align IT projects with overarching business goals, enabling growth and efficiency.
• Champion Cloud and AI Adoption: Implement cutting-edge technologies to create scalable, secure, and efficient IT ecosystems.
• Enhance Collaboration: Partner with other executives, including the CISO, to ensure that technology investments support both operational needs and security imperatives.

CISO Evolution: From Gatekeeper to Risk Manager

Similar to the CIO, CISOs are now seen as strategic advisors focusing on risk management. Their expanded scope includes:

• Building Cyber Resilience: Establishing a proactive security posture that incorporates incident response and recovery plans.
• Enabling Business Agility: Providing security solutions that support rather than hinder innovation and speed.
• Regulatory Expertise: Ensuring their organization stays in compliance with an increasing number of complex data protection and privacy laws.

Key Trends Shaping the CISO and CIO Roles

1. Increased Collaboration
   CISOs and CIOs must work closely to bridge the gap between innovation and security, ensuring initiatives like cloud migrations and connected device deployments don’t expose organizations to undue risk.
2. Data-Driven Decision Making
   Leveraging analytics and real-time monitoring tools, CIOs and CISOs are expected to use data to guide their strategies. From predicting IT system performance to identifying potential vulnerabilities, actionable insights are key.
3. Emphasis on Cyber Insurance
   CISOs are increasingly involved in discussions about cyber insurance. They work with CIOs to ensure the organization meets the stringent security requirements needed for favorable coverage terms.

The Future of the CIO and CISO Partnership

The most successful organizations will be those where the CIO and CISO form a dynamic duo, balancing innovation with security. Together, they must anticipate future challenges, such as:

• Quantum Computing: Preparing for a world where traditional encryption methods become obsolete.
• Global Threat Landscapes: Navigating geopolitical cyber threats and ensuring supply chain security.
• Sustainability in IT: Adopting eco-friendly technologies without compromising security or performance.

The roles of the CISO and CIO are no longer confined to separate domains. As the digital landscape grows more interconnected, their collaboration is critical to building resilient, innovative, and secure organizations. By aligning their strategies, these leaders can ensure technology serves as a powerful enabler, not a vulnerability. Contact Thrive today to learn more about the future of digital transformation.

Canadian businesses and organizations need cybersecurity solutions in place along with robust backup and disaster recovery capabilities to ensure they’re resilient and protected against all threats and disruptions to their critical and everyday operations.

In today’s digital-first landscape, a growing number of Canadians rely on technology to drive their operations. However, with greater tech reliance comes heightened vulnerability to cyber threats. Organizations need to implement multi-layered cyber resiliency and disaster recovery solutions for effective prevention, detection, incident response, and recovery from downtime.

Under-estimating the requirements, likelihood, and consequences from cybersecurity attacks, data breaches, and malicious insider threats can result in potentially business-ending events.

Building a robust Business Continuity Plan (BCP) with IT disaster recovery strategies that are tailored to meet modern cybersecurity demands requires a blend of strategic foresight, advanced technology, and flexibility.

Understanding the Current Cyber Threat Landscape

Cyber threats continue to evolve at an alarming rate. Ransomware, phishing attacks, data breaches, and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) incidents are increasing daily, often targeting critical infrastructure. Specifically, Canadian businesses spent $1.2 billion recovering from cybersecurity incidents last year, double what was paid a couple of years earlier. Canadian organizations, particularly small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), face challenges maintaining strong defenses due to limited resources and a lack of cybersecurity expertise. For example, RCMP’s cybercrime investigative teams experienced ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining staff with the needed technical skills, resulting in a 30% position vacancy since January 2024, affecting their capacity to address cybercrime.

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, there have been over 21,604 reports of fraud in Canada with over $284 million stolen since the start of 2024. The risk of downtime, data and monetary loss, and reputational damage makes having a robust business continuity plan essential.

The Role of Business Continuity Planning in Cyber Resilience

Business Continuity Planning involves creating systems of prevention and recovery to deal with potential threats to a company’s operations. For Canadian businesses, a well-crafted BCP ensures critical business functions continue operating during and after a disaster—whether it’s a natural event, cyberattack, IT system failure, or sudden disruption to your workforce or critical third-parties. Effective BCPs must now include comprehensive strategies for maintaining cybersecurity, data integrity, and IT infrastructure resilience.

Cyber resilience is a key component of BCPs because business disruptions are more likely to come from cyber incidents than physical ones, like a natural disaster. However, traditional approaches to BCP, which focused solely on backup systems and disaster recovery, are no longer sufficient. Organizations must focus on agile solutions that incorporate robust cybersecurity measures into their continuity planning.

Offering More Choices for Greater Cyber Resilience

The backbone of a strong IT continuity plan lies in offering businesses choices—choices that ensure they can tailor their strategies based on specific operational needs and risk profiles. Canadian businesses are looking for flexibility in the following key areas:

Cloud-Based vs. On-Premise Solutions: Different managed Cloud solutions provide Canadian businesses with greater resilience by diversifying their IT infrastructure. Cloud-based backups, for instance, ensure that businesses can recover critical data even if local systems are compromised during a cyberattack. Offering options to choose between Cloud-only, or on-premise allows businesses to implement a tailored approach that best suits their needs and budget.

Managed Services for Cybersecurity: Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) offer businesses the ability to offload critical cybersecurity functions to experts. By partnering with an MSSP, businesses gain access to advanced threat detection, incident response, and compliance management. MSSPs also ensure that companies stay current with the latest security patches and updates, further strengthening BCP. Advanced MSSPs like Thrive, which provide next-generation cybersecurity solutions, are key to ensuring cyber resilience. Thrive’s integrated approach to cybersecurity management helps organizations defend against advanced threats, mitigate risks, and recover from attacks quickly.

Autonomous Penetration Testing: Autonomous penetration testing is a cutting-edge service that Canadian businesses can leverage to strengthen their cyber resilience. By continuously identifying and addressing vulnerabilities in IT systems, businesses can ensure that their BCP remains aligned with current cyber risks. This proactive approach helps organizations to stay ahead of potential attacks, giving them more control over their cybersecurity posture.

Managed Detection and Response: MDR services are a human-led approach to cybersecurity aimed at detecting and mitigating threats to networks, cloud infrastructure, servers, and SaaS applications in real time. Thrive combines cutting-edge technology with the expertise of skilled cybersecurity professionals to provide frontline protection from costly cyber threats such as ransomware, phishing, and crypto-jacking.

Endpoint Detection and Response: Specifically designed as a proactive security solution for workstations and servers, EDR reduces security risk by detecting malicious activity, preventing malware infection, and disabling potential threats. EDR can be difficult to implement and utilize to its full potential without experienced IT support resources who can quickly respond to threats to endpoints when they happen.

Scalable Disaster Recovery Solutions: Not all businesses require the same level of disaster recovery preparedness. Small businesses may need basic backup and recovery solutions, while larger enterprises might require more robust systems that ensure minimal downtime. Scalable managed disaster recovery services allow companies to pay only for the resources they need, with the flexibility to scale as their business grows.

Scalability also extends to cybersecurity solutions such as real-time network monitoring, automated vulnerability scanning, and penetration testing, which can be adapted as companies’ needs evolve.

Strengthening Business Continuity Through Collaboration

Canadian businesses are also realizing the importance of collaboration when it comes to continuity planning. Cyber resilience is not achieved in isolation; it requires coordination across teams, departments, and external partners. For example, partnering with third-party cybersecurity firms and MSSPs, like Thrive, ensures that companies have access to the latest security tools and expertise. Thrive has deep experience in applying NIST and CIS frameworks and best practices for businesses and organizations of all sizes and industries.

Moreover, the collaborative efforts between the private sector and the Canadian government, through initiatives such as the CyberSecure Canada certification, help SMBs implement recognized cybersecurity standards. This certification helps businesses strengthen their cybersecurity posture while providing assurance to their customers and partners.

By adopting flexible, scalable, and collaborative approaches, businesses can not only survive a cyber incident but also thrive in an increasingly complex threat landscape. With the right mix of tools and strategies, Canadian businesses can ensure that their IT infrastructure remains robust, responsive, and ready for whatever challenges lie ahead. Contact Thrive today to learn more about how our Canada-based managed services can help your organization stay resilient against ongoing cyber threats.

Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Security Operations provides a strategic view of how various security technologies and practices evolve, mature, and are adopted by businesses. Leveraging this framework allows organizations to understand which tools and approaches are on the rise, at their peak, or mature enough to offer them a significant ROI.

Understanding the Hype Cycle Stages for Better Decision-Making

The Hype Cycle is comprised of five stages:

1. Innovation Trigger
2. Peak of Inflated Expectations
3. Trough of Disillusionment
4. Slope of Enlightenment
5. Plateau of Productivity

By understanding these stages, organizations can time their adoption of security technologies to maximize productivity and prevent wasted resources.

Enhance Productivity Through Informed Security Investments

With the Hype Cycle as a guide, organizations can identify which emerging security technologies are worth pursuing early and which may yield better results once they mature.

Early Adoption for High-Impact Solutions: Tools that reach the Slope of Enlightenment are often at a maturity level where organizations can realize their benefits without the risks associated with early adoption. For example, if Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services are at this stage, companies can adopt them to improve incident detection and response capabilities, enhancing productivity by reducing downtime and improving security outcomes.

Avoid the Trough of Disillusionment: Security tools or trends that are in the Trough of Disillusionment can indicate a high potential for over-promising and under-delivering. Gartner’s framework helps organizations avoid these pitfalls by showing which tools may not be living up to the initial hype. Security leaders need to decide whether these tools will ever mature to a point where they contribute directly to productivity.

Foster Peace of Mind with a Clear Security Roadmap

With security threats constantly evolving, peace of mind for organizations hinges on proactive, forward-looking security strategies.

Strategic Adoption for Enhanced Security Posture: The Hype Cycle clarifies where certain technologies stand in terms of reliability and effectiveness. For instance, solutions such as Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) reach the Plateau of Productivity after several iterations, offering proactive, real-time security with orchestrated incident response. When adopted, these mature tools provide peace of mind as they have been validated by other users and experts alike.

Reduce Risk Through Timely Adoption: Following Gartner’s roadmap helps organizations prevent adopting tools that may increase risk or strain their limited IT resources. By prioritizing mature, effective technologies, companies avoid common missteps associated with adopting unproven tools, thereby maintaining robust protection without disrupting operations.

Use the Hype Cycle as Part of a Security Strategy

For organizations, the Hype Cycle offers a strategic map that aligns well with productivity and risk management goals.

Continual Adaptation to New Threats: As new threats emerge, the Hype Cycle can help identify promising innovations and determine if their adoption is practical based on current resources and risk. Security leaders can continuously adapt their strategy without overwhelming their teams or overextending budgets.

Build a Security Roadmap Based on Realistic Expectations: Organizations can use the Hype Cycle to plan for gradual adoption of new technologies, allowing them to prioritize solutions that align with both their immediate needs and long-term security objectives. This staged approach leads to more manageable, sustainable security transformations and fosters confidence at all organizational levels.

The Gartner Hype Cycle for Security Operations is more than a list of tech trends; it’s a critical tool that helps organizations build a forward-thinking security strategy. By using this framework to guide their investments, organizations can enhance productivity, align technology with risk tolerance, and ensure peace of mind. With a clear path toward strategic adoption, organizations can not only stay secure but also support a streamlined, productive IT environment.

Contact Thrive to learn more about implementing a robust security strategy to help your organization reach its business goals. The Thrive team is comprised of industry and technical subject matter experts dedicated to ensuring that customers optimize their business performance through the strategic implementation of their IT infrastructure.

Today, businesses face an increasing volume and sophistication of cyber attacks. To protect sensitive data and systems, organizations often rely on penetration testing to identify system weaknesses and vulnerabilities before bad actors exploit them. However, many organizations still conduct manual penetration tests, a method that, while effective, presents several challenges.

The State of Manual Penetration Testing

Traditional pen testing involves cybersecurity professionals simulating an attack to identify weak points in an organization’s network. These tests, often conducted quarterly or annually as part of an overarching vulnerability management plan, provide a snapshot of a company’s system weaknesses and identify vulnerabilities at a specific moment. However, as cyber threats evolve rapidly and become more sophisticated, these infrequent tests can leave businesses exposed between test cycles. Additionally, manual pen testing requires significant company resources, both in terms of time and expertise.

Challenges with Manual Penetration Testing:

• Infrequent Testing: Cyber threats are constantly evolving, and manual tests are often conducted too infrequently to keep up. This leaves gaps where newly discovered weak points and vulnerabilities could go undetected until the next scheduled test.
• Time-Consuming: A traditional pentest can take days or even weeks to complete, depending on the size and complexity of the system. This delay can slow down the remediation process, leaving businesses vulnerable for longer.
• Resource Intensive: Skilled cybersecurity experts are essential for effective manual penetration testing, and the process often diverts internal resources. These professionals must be well-versed in the latest attack vectors and testing methodologies, which can make the tests costly and difficult to scale.
• Human Error: Despite their expertise, penetration testers are still human and can make mistakes or overlook system weaknesses, especially when dealing with large, complex systems and the myriad of security tools companies already utilize

Thrive’s Autonomous Penetration Testing: A Smarter Solution

Thrive’s autonomous penetration testing service offers a modern, scalable alternative to traditional manual tests. Using advanced algorithms and automation, Thrive’s black box solution continuously simulates attacks on your network, identifying weaknesses and vulnerabilities in real-time, while ensuring that no gaps go unchecked between testing cycles.

How Autonomous Penetration Testing Works:

Autonomous penetration testing (pen testing) is designed to provide organizations an affordable, unbiased, and thorough view of their system. Highlights include:
Regular Testing: Unlike manual tests that happen periodically, autonomous penetration testing operations can be run more frequently, providing up-to-date insights into your security posture. As new weaknesses emerge or your system changes, they’re identified immediately, allowing for a proactive approach to risk management.

• Faster Results: Automation significantly reduces the time it takes to conduct a penetration test. What could take a manual tester days or weeks to uncover, Thrive’s pen testing can detect in hours. This speed translates into faster remediation, minimizing the window of opportunity for attackers.
• Cost-Effective: By leveraging automation, Thrive’s service is more scalable and cost-effective than manual penetration testing. Organizations can run more frequent tests without needing to allocate additional internal resources or hire expensive external experts.
• Reduced Human Error: Thrive’s pen testing eliminates the risk of human error. With sophisticated machine learning algorithms and a comprehensive approach to testing, every potential vulnerability is thoroughly examined and flagged for remediation.

Actionable Remediation Insights

The true value of penetration testing isn’t just in identifying system weaknesses but also in providing a clear path to remediation. Thrive’s autonomous penetration testing service delivers detailed remediation guidance that outlines the vulnerabilities found, along with actionable recommendations to address each issue.

The test results dashboard gives you a digestible way to review prioritized vulnerabilities based on the level of risk they pose to your business, ensuring that the most critical issues are addressed first. It also shows the attack path in which a real-world cyber criminal can take to get into your system, giving you a high-level view of how seemingly small weak points can lead to catastrophic breaches. With clear guidance, businesses can take the necessary steps to patch vulnerabilities and weak points of entry, improve security configurations, and reduce their overall risk.

Boost Your Security Posture with Thrive

The cyber threat landscape is constantly changing, and businesses need a solution that evolves just as quickly. Thrive’s autonomous penetration testing service offers a proactive, cost-effective way to uncover weaknesses in your system and provide clear, actionable steps to mitigate risk. By adopting this automated approach, businesses can strengthen their security posture, stay ahead of emerging threats, and ultimately reduce the likelihood of a successful cyberattack. Download our definitive guide to autonomous penetration testing today!

Don’t wait for the next manual penetration test to uncover hidden vulnerabilities. Contact Thrive today to learn more about how our autonomous penetration testing service can help your business stay secure and stay ahead of threats.

As digital transformation sweeps across industries, organizations that still rely on legacy on-premise servers face growing risks, including increased operational costs, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. While cloud computing has evolved into a secure and scalable alternative, the potential business performance and business risk gaps between legacy on-prem systems and the cloud can no longer be ignored.

The Hidden Risks of Legacy On-Prem Servers

Security Vulnerabilities
Legacy on-prem servers are vulnerable to a range of threats including outdated software, end-of-life operating systems, and unpatched vulnerabilities. Many businesses struggle to keep up with security patches and updates, leaving their sensitive data exposed for cyber criminals. Hackers often target these security weaknesses, leading to data breaches, ransomware attacks, or complete system failures.

In contrast, cloud providers, like Thrive, implement advanced security mechanisms such as continuous patch management, AI-driven threat detection, and encryption at rest and in transit. Cloud environments are also maintained by teams of security experts who ensure compliance with stringent industry regulations such as DORA, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR.

High Operational Costs
On-premises infrastructure can be very costly to maintain. The upfront investment is significant, and the ongoing maintenance costs quickly add up too. Organizations also have to allocate resources to IT staff for routine tasks such as updates, troubleshooting, and backups. Plus, mainframe expertise is harder and more expensive to come by because skilled workers are reaching retirement age with no replacements on deck.

Cloud solutions, however, offer better scalability, and there’s no need to invest in hardware or worry about lifecycle management. With cloud-based infrastructure, businesses can focus on innovation and reaching their business goals rather than maintenance.

The Benefits of Migrating to the Cloud

• Enhanced Security Measures: One of the biggest advantages of cloud migration is an improved security posture. Cloud providers continually invest in cutting-edge cybersecurity technologies, offering real-time monitoring, automatic updates, and advanced encryption standards for customers. Most cloud platforms also feature dedicated security tools like firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and security information and event management (SIEM). Migrating to the cloud also significantly reduces the risk of breaches, due to regular patching and updates.
• Long-Term Cost Savings: The shift to the cloud can lead to substantial cost savings for businesses. Moving away from legacy hardware eliminates the need for expensive hardware upgrades, space for servers, energy, and cooling costs associated with maintaining an on-prem server room. Using the cloud reduces maintenance, fewer IT staff for routine updates, and less frequent downtime, leading to lower operational costs.
• Increased Agility: Modern businesses require agility to adapt to fast-changing market conditions. Utilizing the cloud provides businesses with the ability to quickly deploy new services, scale infrastructure quickly, and respond rapidly to ever-changing customer demands.

Migrating Your Legacy Servers to the Cloud

Moving from a legacy infrastructure to the cloud requires a well-planned approach to ensure minimal disruption and maximize long-term benefits. Below are some key steps to help your business migrate to the cloud successfully:

• Assess Your IT Infrastructure: Before starting your cloud migration, assess your current IT stack to understand what applications, services, and data need to be moved. Evaluate which workloads are cloud-ready, which may need modification, and if any should remain on-prem for specific reasons (such as compliance).
• Choose the Right Cloud Model For Your Business: Determine which cloud deployment model fits your business’s needs: public, private, hybrid, or multi-cloud. Public cloud solutions like Microsoft Azure are cost-effective and highly scalable. Private cloud options offer greater control over data and may be more suitable for regulated industries. No matter your choice, Thrive’s team of expert Cloud engineers can help design, build, and support the Cloud solution that best meets your business needs.
• Plan for Migrating Your Data: Data migration can be one of the most challenging aspects of the move to cloud. Businesses must ensure that their data is securely transferred to the cloud without any loss or corruption.
• Implement Strong Security Controls: Security should be a priority during and after cloud migration. Leveraging cloud-native security features such as identity and access management (IAM), data encryption, and multi-factor authentication (MFA) can ensure your data stays safe. Continuous monitoring and regular audits should also be a part of your post-migration plan to maintain a strong security posture.

How Thrive Can Help

Migrating to the cloud can dramatically improve security, reduce costs, and unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation. With Thrive, you have access to a secure hybrid cloud solution that can help keep your data secure, scale with your business, and help you meet your business goals. Don’t wait until it’s too late— contact Thrive today and embrace the cloud and mitigate the risks of outdated infrastructure.