ISP continues to ensure that its partners in the LatAm market can access its full suite of products and services via a new data centre and point of presence in Puerto Rico
Continent 8 Technologies, the leading provider of global managed hosting, connectivity and security solutions to the online gaming industry, continues to expand its presence in the fast-growing Latin American market with the opening of a data centre in Puerto Rico.
Continent 8 is now offering its full suite of services based out of Puerto Rico. Diverse geographical routes into Continent 8’s private and highly secure location connects the Puerto Rico facility to the company’s global backbone of more than 80 locations across four continents.
The data centre and strategic point of presence (PoP) in Puerto Rico adds to the company’s data centre and PoP in Bogota, Colombia, which includes a public cloud solution. Services in Peru are set for launch in the second quarter of the year, expanding the company’s footprint even further.
Gabriel Szlaifsztein, General Manager for Latin America at Continent 8 Technologies, said:
“The LatAm market is opening up at pace and in Puerto Rico we have a jurisdiction that offers a great deal of potential for operators and suppliers. The launch of our services in Puerto Rico aligns with efforts to be first to market in the key regions being targeted by our customers and also in our belief that Latin America will become one of the most significant online gambling markets in the world.”
Back in November, the Puerto Rico Gaming Commission started to accept applications from operators wanting to secure an online sports betting licence in the market, which is estimated to generate upwards of $18million in its first full year.
Managed hosting, connectivity, cloud and security provider to iGaming businesses recognised as top-level partner to Amazon Web Services less than a year after being approved as a Select Consulting Partner
Continent 8 Technologies has strengthened its position as the leading cloud and connectivity provider to the global gambling industry having been approved as an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Advanced Consulting Partner.
The recognition comes less than a year after Continent 8 was approved as an AWS Select Consulting Partner. Having spent the past few months building out its capabilities, it has now been elevated into the advanced tier of AWS partners.
This status is reserved for partners at the top of their game, and Continent 8 has been able to achieve this by expanding the scale and scope of its capabilities across the organisation with additional training and certification for its existing technical team, as well as hiring experienced AWS specialists.
The company has been busy assisting customers with AWS projects and deployments, particularly in North America, with positive customer feedback required to satisfy AWS’ requirements. This includes America’s no. 1 sportsbook, FanDuel.
Shane Sweeney, VP of IT at FanDuel, said:
“Continent 8 are a key and strategic partner for FanDuel and the combination of Continent 8 Data Center services and Amazon Web Services has enabled FanDuel to focus on its mission of being absurdly fan-focused by delivering the best product in the industry.”
Providing value added solutions and services to customers during their AWS deployments was another key factor in Continent 8 achieving advanced tier status.
Having achieved AWS Advanced Consulting Partner status, Continent 8 will continue to expand its AWS offering, developing additional competencies within its existing teams and functions, to deliver best practice adoption, migration and security to customers via its AWS Cloud Accelerator service.
Justin Cosnett, Chief Product Officer at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “Achieving AWS Advanced Consulting Partner status is the next strategic step for Continent 8 as we continue to broaden our hyperscale cloud offering. It supports our mission to be the multi-cloud provider for the global online gambling industry.”
Keith Stafford, Head of Cloud Architecture at Continent 8 Technologies, added: “Since achieving Select Consulting Partner status in February 2021 we have continued to build out our capabilities and team to help customers accelerate the adoption of cloud technologies, supporting over 20 Outpost location deployments, as well as many more direct private cloud connectivity to our customers, to date. To achieve advanced tier status is further evidence that we are delivering the best solutions and services – well done to all involved.”
To learn more about Continent 8’s AWS Outpost Enablement Package, click here.
Our latest statistics show a significant increase in the number of attacks and attack size in 4Q21 compared to the previous quarter. Our expert security team has been closely monitoring the threats and have analysed the data for the period.
The stats relate to our customers based in different locations around the world. Key highlights include:
December saw the highest number of attacks (406 in total), while the location subject to the largest number of attacks in the 3-month period was Kahnawake.
Our latest statistics align with wider trends that show a steep rise in the number of cyberattacks being launched against business and organisations around the world, with DDoS and Ransomware the most prevalent methods of attack.
Craig Lusher, Senior Product Specialist – Secure, at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “We continue to see the number and scale of attacks rise each quarter. December was a particularly busy month for us, as expected due to the festive holidays, with hackers seeing this as a peak opportunity to launch cyber attacks.
“This year, quarter on quarter, we have seen record breaking DDoS attack numbers. In 1Q21 we saw 228 attacks, in the final quarter it’s up to 641, almost triple the amount. It’s evident that DDoS attacks are a huge threat to businesses of all sizes. Now is the time for organisations to establish efficient cybersecurity strategies, to defend themselves from this growing threat.”
The graphs below show the quarterly breakdown of DDoS attacks on Continent 8 customers for 2021.
DDoS attacks increased each quarter, and there was a sharp rise in the number of DDoS attacks for the second half of the year.
3Q21 saw the longest sustained attack ever at Continent 8 at 22.1 hours.
Finally, the largest attack per quarter increased substantially from 1Q21 to 4Q21, to a staggering 1,900Gbps.
In today’s world, adequate DDoS protection is a must for any online business. Learn more about our comprehensive DDoS solutions here
In our second blog in our Cultiv8 Employee Series; our HR Manager Jordan Holmes sat down with Anthony Abou-Jaoude to discuss his recent appointment of Chief Data Officer and the value of data to Continent 8 and its customers.
Continent 8 was my first job after graduating from university and I was actually the first software engineer the company hired when I joined in 2008. I’d had various jobs to pay my way through university, but this was my first full time role, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
I left in 2013 to explore an opportunity that I simply couldn’t say no to, but I left with a very heavy heart. Michael Tobin, Continent 8’s CEO, was very supportive of my decision and encouraged me to stay in touch with him and the wider team, who had become a second family to me. And I did exactly that.
Seven years later, I am very happy and blessed to be back at Continent 8 and try to give back some of the knowledge and experience I have gained throughout the years and continue this journey together, as well as continue learning and collaborating with my previous colleagues and friends and work alongside new ones.
I oversee all aspects of data within the Continent 8 organisation. I built a lot of the initial tools that are still being used today. These tools, married with the knowledge and experience of big data that I gained during my time outside of the company, has allowed us to revolutionise how we use our data and add to the products and services we offer to our customers.
I have also been looking at ways we can automate processes and tools relating to our data and processes and how best to integrate all our systems. In addition, we have taken steps to bring all enterprise systems, development, and internal IT under one division which will benefit both our employees internally and customers externally. This is allowing us to drive incredible efficiencies.
The business has been enjoying exponential growth and to maintain this, we know we need to keep investing in more automation and integration within our systems. Today, we have data centres and strategic points of presence in more than 80 connected locations spanning Europe, the Americas and Asia, and we are continuing to expand rapidly.
This means we need to invest and improve if we are to keep up with the best-in-class service we have built our reputation on, but to also ensure that our employees are as productive as they can be. Bringing everything under one division means that we are working in unison, and this in turn means that we can be more agile, make quicker decisions and deliver much faster than before.
Continent 8 is one of the few companies in the sector that has been around for 20+ years. This means we have a lot of data to look at, data that has been gathered over more than two decades. As data enthusiasts, this is incredibly exciting, and we can look at this data to see how our company and the wider industry has changed and grown over the years.
The biggest breakthrough and ‘aha’ moment was when we were able to prove the long-time theory that our customers are indeed talking with each other. We were able to achieve that by tapping into our own traffic data and clearly visualise and prove the customer traffic leaving one of our data centres is coming back to another customer in our data centres. Having this information at our fingertips and our customers fingertips is invaluable and enables us to provide better services, decisions, and for our customers to know what is going on with their traffic.
This has enabled us to build and deliver a truly game-changing product and service, the Gaming Exchange, which will be launched this year and will allow our customers to exchange traffic with each other and themselves in various sites in a more secure, reliable, and faster manner, so stay tuned for that as it will be a game changer.
As mentioned above, our Gaming Exchange is a major breakthrough that will provide incredible upsides for our customers. On learning that they were talking to each other over the public internet, we have created a private network for them to send and receive data and information. It is secure, reliable and much faster than the public internet.
We are also experimenting with machine learning algorithms to predict future growth and usage. One use for this forecasting is that it will allow us to assist our customers as well as our own future capacity needs based on historical trends and data so we become more proactive rather than reactive with the unprecedented growth and needs of the industry.
In November, we launched a new version of our customer portal. In addition to a better user interface, we are now providing customers with access to more data and in real time. We plan to increase the scale and scope of the data we make available to our customers over the coming months.
Data will continue to be crucially important for all businesses and we will see more undertake data transformation initiatives. More businesses and people now understand the power of data and I believe data awareness will only increase. Continent 8 is here to support our customers in better understanding data and undertaking data transformations through both the infrastructure we provide but also our unrivalled expertise.
Companies also need to be mindful of changes to virtual desktop infrastructure as the industry settles into new ways of working with employees based from home as well as the office. I believe we will see changes in how we deploy laptops and devices to the workforce.
The industry and Continent 8 have been through a period of massive growth, which is great to see. It has aligned with my own personal growth that I have enjoyed since leaving Continent 8 and then making my return. The company has also grown both in terms of the products and services that it offers, but also headcount. That being said, the culture remains the same in the sense that employees are made to feel like part of a family.
This really is important to me and my colleagues, and no more so than during the pandemic when everyone really had to pull together to support one another. This really is a great organisation!
Good luck with your new role, Anthony! This is the second interview in our Cultiv8 series. Read the first with our Cybersecurity Director Leon Allen here
Our latest statistics show the number of DDoS attacks more than doubled in 3Q21 compared to the previous quarter. Our expert security team has been closely monitoring the threats and have analysed the data for the period 1 July – 30 September 2021.
The stats relate to 25 of our customers based in different locations around the world. Key highlights include:
We recorded the highest number of attacks in August (371 in total). In July, a total of 94 attacks were recorded with a further 81 observed in September. The location subject to the largest number of attacks during the period was Taiwan – this is an emerging trend.
Our latest statistics align with wider trends that show a steep rise in the number of cyberattacks being launched against business and organisations around the world, with DDoS and Ransomware the most prevalent methods of attack.
Craig Lusher, Senior Product Specialist – Secure, at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “During the third quarter of 2021, Continent 8 has blocked a record number of DDoS attacks and the increase in frequency, size and sophistication is clear to see.
“For the first time, most attacks were more than 10Gbps in size opposed to under 10Gbps for every other period on record. The increase in attacks and repeat attacks, which we define as multiple attacks occurring against the same customer within 24-hours, align with wider global trends.
“Interestingly, the most popular attack vector was UDP floods. In addition, most attacks encountered were attacks where the received PPS (packets per second) for UDP traffic exceeded the threshold for a /32 address range.
“Thresholds were also breached multiple times for received TCP PPS against a /32 and the high ratio of SYN packets compared to other.”
Globally there has been a significant rise in the number of cyberattacks over the past 12 to 18 months. No business is immune and companies and organisations of all shapes and sizes are being hit by increasing sophisticated and sinister attacks.
In fact, the average cost of a data breach in 2020 was $3.86m. This is a staggering figure and one that should prompt you to ask the question – is your business protected?
We have more than 20 years’ experience in protecting the world’s most valuable information, making us the leading provider of cybersecurity solutions to the iGaming industry. This includes effective and scalable protection against DDoS attacks.
Our mitigation service provides an effective defence against multi-vector volumetric attacks. Key features include:
Our proven platform is one you can rely on with a capacity only matched by the largest DDoS providers on the planet. Learn more about our DDoS solutions here
Welcome to our Cultiv8 Employee Series; a monthly blog where our HR Manager Jordan Holmes will sit down with a member of the Continent 8 team to discuss their role, passion projects and career development. First up, meet Leon Allen.
Leon is Continent 8 Technologies’ Cybersecurity Director and has recently decided to undertake a PhD at City University in London.
Leon’s PhD aims to research and create a Cyber Threat Intelligence Service that will help Continent 8 and the wider security community access more information and insight about cybersecurity threats, allowing businesses to better prepare for and defend against attacks.
Continent 8 is supporting Leon’s PhD and the entire team is encouraging of his professional development. Jordan chatted with Leon to learn more about how his PhD came about, the topic it will cover and what he hopes to achieve by completing it.
I have been with Continent 8 for more than four years and my current role is Cybersecurity Director. In this position, I oversee the full range of security products we offer to our customers including advanced cyber defence, applied cybersecurity solutions and managed security services.
I also lead the Security Innovation Program at Continent 8 which discovers and delivers new and innovative cybersecurity technologies and techniques to our customers but also to the wider cybersecurity community.
Part of my role sees me take part in webinars and join panels at industry events. I also author blogs and articles, sharing my knowledge and understanding of cybersecurity with our customers and partners, as well as the wider industry. It is a varied role and one that I thoroughly enjoy.
This is a good question as the first answer that comes to mind is that I am not entirely sure given the large amount of work that is required! Jokes aside, it is important to note that a PhD wasn’t my first go-to for further professional development – I had no idea what it entailed and am still learning.
In terms of how it came about, I am a keen advocate of continued professional development and was in the process of researching the various security accreditations (CEH, CISSP, CISM, etc.) to find the most appropriate one to compliment my master’s degree in information security.
At this point I had a sort of epiphany and remembered that my lecturer once asking me to consider returning to undertake a PhD at some point in the future. So, I did just that and reached out to my lecturer who is now the Head of Computer Science at City University.
I hoped to get the answer to the following three questions:
His responses and subsequent advice and guidance was instrumental in starting the process especially as he explained that a PhD does not have to be purely research based – I had always assumed it was – and it could be a combination of research and developing a practical solution.
As I am not a naturally academic person, this fitted perfectly with my own capabilities and learning objectives. As I already had an idea for my PhD topic, the next step was to create a formal PhD proposal which is a fairly substantial document in itself.Once I had written this, I submitted it to City University and, thankfully, it was accepted a few weeks later.
The full title of my PhD is “Creating a Unique and Effective Cyber Threat Intelligence Service”. In terms of the practical element, it will allow me to create a Threat Intelligence Service that will be of benefit to Continent 8 and its customers as well as the wider cyber security sector.
Threat intelligence is a collection of certified cyber threats which can be used by companies to understand the threats they are likely to encounter whilst operating their business. By using a Threat Intelligence Service, they can take action to prepare for and defend against these threats.
Continent 8 operates multiple cybersecurity platforms to protect its customers which include a Multivendor Global Distributed Denial of Service mitigation solution (DDoS), Enterprise Web Application Firewall (WAF), Threat Prevention, Detection and Response solution backed by a 24/7 Security Operations Centre (SOC).
These three products, offered in conjunction with providing hosting and connectivity for a multitude of customers around the world, generates a large amount of potentially useful threat data. I plan to use this to create a new, anonymised, Threat Intelligence Service.
This can then be accessed and used by organisations and businesses to aid in defending the world from cybersecurity threats.
Exactly! I want to add to the greater good and what better way to do this than by leveraging the huge volumes of data generated by Continent 8 and sharing it with the wider security community to help prevent cybersecurity attacks across the world.
Of course, by doing this through a PhD I get to access City University’s lectures and facilities which provides an excellent opportunity for as much further learning as I could ever wish for.
I am also excited by the challenge that it presents. Writing the proposal – which was just six pages – was tough and I am having to retrain my brain to use a more formal writing style with Harvard Referencing.
My PhD could take up to eight years to complete so it is a big undertaking, but I am certain it will be worth the effort both in terms of my own development goals and also in the end product that will benefit Continent 8 and the wider security community.
From the very start of the process, I have been in discussion with Continent 8’s CEO Michael Tobin. Even before we realised it could be done in conjunction with Continent 8, he has been incredibly supportive and even asked to see a draft of my proposal so he could offer thoughts and comments.
Having read my proposal, Michael and Continent 8 offered to sponsor my PhD which I am incredibly grateful for. I have also spoken with members of the team about this and what I want to achieve, and everyone have been massively supportive and offered to assist where they can.
Absolutely. Traditionally, cybersecurity is a closed ecosystem in the sense that threats, types of attacks, mitigation tools and techniques are not widely talked about. I think this has a lot to do with fear and potentially the worry that being a victim of an attack reflects badly on the company.
That is not the case – cyberattacks can happen to anyone at any time and in order to win the war on cybersecurity it is more important than ever before to share knowledge and pool our efforts. I hope my PhD and Threat Intelligence Service can act as a catalyst for this.
Because we are seeing more threats and attacks than ever before. For the past 20 years, and following the incredible growth of internet connected devices, cybersecurity has emerged as a critical consideration for business and individuals.
Our awareness of attacks has increased over this period and certainly in recent years due to some of the targets of cyberattacks being high profile – the Irish Health Service, Colonial Pipeline, etc. – and the massive impact these attacks have had on their targets.
In general, recent attacks reported by the media have been focused around two key areas – Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and Ransomware, which is the most prevalent. According to Check Point’s mid-year security report, there was a 93% increase in the number of ransomware attacks carried out in 1H21 than in 1H20.
The reason for this dramatic rise is due to attackers exploiting changes caused by the pandemic, including the shift to hybrid working with employees operating both remotely and in the office. This has opened up a multitude of new attack vectors for criminals.
Criminals are now also targeting an organisation’s supply chain and network links to achieve maximum disruption. This is why cybersecurity is critical for businesses and individuals and thankfully organisations such as Continent 8 are here to help.
Learn more about Continent 8’s Secure offering here
Thanks for your time Leon and best of luck with your PhD!
This is the first interview in the Cultiv8 Employee Series with Jordan.
Aidan Rees-Williams and Lee Bridge join the fast-growing hosting, connectivity, cloud and security solutions provider as Sales Account Director and Account Relationship Supervisor
Continent 8 Technologies, the provider of hosting, connectivity, cloud and security solutions to the global gambling industry, has strengthened its sales and account management team with two hires as it continues to grow at pace.
The company has welcomed Aidan Rees-Williams and Lee Bridge into the roles of Sales Account Director and Account Relationship Supervisor respectively.
Rees-Williams, based in England, will be responsible for ensuring that the company’s existing customers receive the best possible service and support, aligning their requirements with Continent 8’s growing suite of products and solutions. He will also work with the global sales team to grow the company’s customer base.
He joins the company from Viadex Global where he held several senior roles over a six-year career. This includes Global Sales and Operations Manager and most recently Gaming Account Manager where he gained tremendous knowledge and insight into the gambling industry.
Bridge, based in the Isle of Man office, will be responsible for building and leading a new customer success team and to maintain strong working relationships between Continent 8’s Sales Account Directors and customers, working closely and collaboratively to achieve the best outcome for both parties.
He joins from a well-known Isle of Man-based business where he spent 30 years working in business analytics and logistics.
Rees-Williams and Bridge join Continent 8 at a time when the company is rapidly expanding into new global markets with a particular focus on the Americas, while also strengthening its presence in established jurisdictions in Europe such as Gibraltar, Malta and the Isle of Man.
Roberta Castle, Chief Revenue Officer at Continent 8 Technologies, commented: “I am thrilled to welcome Aidan and Lee to the team and for Continent 8 to be able to leverage their talents, skills and experiences.
“While we continue to focus on our expansion plans, as a customer-centric business we go to great lengths to ensure that existing customers receive the best possible experience and that the solutions we provide meet their individual needs and requirements.
“This can only be achieved by having a highly experienced team, and in Aidan and Lee we have two people that are at the top of their game. They are a great addition to Continent 8.”
Aidan Rees-Williams, Sales Account Director at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “It is an honour to join the Continent 8 team and to be working so closely with its respected partners and customers.
“The gambling industry is fast moving so we need to work closely with our customers to ensure the services and solutions we provide meet their needs. Of course, it is imperative that we deliver the highest levels of assistance and support and that is what I am here to do.”
Lee Bridge, Account Relationship Supervisor at Continent 8 Technologies, added: “I am delighted to join Continent 8 and to be playing a key role in shaping its new customer success team as the business continues to expand. I’m looking forward to using my skillset and experience to ensure that our customers receive the highest level of support.”
Continent 8 continues to grow, employing almost 170 talented individuals worldwide. View the current vacancies here
Continent 8 Technologies (C8) has delivered multiple AWS Outpost implementations in various scenarios for customers over the last 9 months. These have been predominantly across the US in a state-by-state method to the iGaming or “real money gaming” customer base. However, C8 has capability globally, and can additionally support an AWS Outpost with specific iGaming or regulatory advantages in specific locations.
In this post I will demonstrate how we can position an AWS Outpost in C8 locations at a high level and provide a template for customer deployment and the advantages that brings.
C8 is live in over 70+ global connected locations, including 20+ US states with new locations being added to the C8 global network monthly. Connectivity services – such as connecting to cloud providers like AWS via Cloud Connect, “Into” and “Out of” jurisdiction peering combining local and global internet capability, and private highly resilient MPLS services between customers and partners – are available in every C8 site on that network.
Furthermore, a public cloud platform is available in the below locations, and we expect to increase this footprint and capability in the future:
Globally, including within the US on a state-by-state basis, C8 can support an AWS outpost as demonstrated below.
As shown on this overview diagram:
Beyond service availability, C8 provides and end to end deployment professional service, inclusive project management, as part of its AWS Outpost Enablement Package.
In both Atlantic City and Malta, C8 has a dual site and approved or regulated (in the case of Atlantic City) public cloud capability, as well as shared rack co-location option. This means that both locations are ready for 1U and 2U AWS Outpost form factor when available, as well as NEaaS solutions.
In addition, both locations benefit from an off-site public cloud backup capability (powered by Veeam), and in the case of Atlantic City this specifically enables compliance with New Jersey DGE (Division of Gaming Enforcement) requirements for an off-site in jurisdiction data backup.
As shown on the overview diagrams:
C8 recently launched a public cloud in Gibraltar, this means in addition to hybrid or new customer environments, we can deliver a network edge (NEaaS) capability for customers to deploy an AWS Outpost in a “greenfield” scenario – customers don’t need to implement specific dedicated infrastructure to support connectivity. We can therefore confirm high level the Gibraltar capabilities as below that are now available:
Learn more about our AWS partnership via https://www.continent8.com/aws/ or contact me via justin.cosnett@continent8.com
Justin Cosnett, Chief Product Officer at Continent 8 Technologies. With 20+ years’ experience in the hosting and SaaS sectors in a number of customer facing roles, Justin has a strong technical background. He joined Continent 8 in 2012 and was Head of Solution Architect before being promoted to Chief Product Officer.
Justin Cosnett, Chief Product Officer at Continent 8 Technologies, talks about the increase in DDoS and Ransomware attacks and why companies should be prioritising cyber security
With cyber attacks rising at an unprecedented rate, it is predicted that cyber crime will cost the world $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.
Globally, there has been a huge rise in the number of cyber attacks over the past 12 months. No business is immune and companies of all sizes are being hit by increasingly sinister and sophisticated events that have the potential to take them offline, causing disruptions to products, services, revenues and reputations.
Significant attacks are being reported almost daily. Recent high profile attacks include a serious ransomware attack against Ireland’s health services forcing the health service to temporarily shut down its IT system, and a cyber attack on major US fuel company Colonial Pipeline which forced the company to shut off gasoline supply to much of the Eastern Seaboard, causing shortages throughout the South.
Here at Continent 8 we have seen a substantial increase in cyber activity globally, as shown in the video below. Not only that, but the severity and longevity of attacks is increasing – we even mitigated the longest DDoS attack in our history lasting 36 hours.
Before discussing why the number of attacks is on the rise, the bad actors behind them and how best to protect your business from falling victim to an attack, it is worth briefly defining what is meant by DDoS and Ransomware and how they differ.
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is when your website or systems are inundated with so many requests – this can be tens of thousands a minute – that ultimately the servers collapse under the pressure and your website or system is taken offline.
Cyber criminals will often ransom the business prior to launching the attack and if they don’t receive payment will unleash the bots they use to inundate the website or system until it crashes. They will then re-issue the ransom and only when it has been paid call off the bots overwhelming the website or system.
Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a device or system until a ransom is paid. But the sophistication of these attacks has been taken to the next level in recent months – instead of blocking access, they are now capturing and exploiting data.
Once cyber criminals have captured this data, they then contact the business and tell them that their valuable data is in their hands and if they do not pay a ransom, the information will be made public.
The Ransomware is injected into the system or device through hacking, phishing emails or other vulnerabilities such as devices connected to public WiFi hotspots.
One of the greatest frustrations when it comes to falling victim to cyber crime is that you are unlikely to ever know the organisation or person behind it. That being said, they broadly fall into the following categories:
The motivation for attacking businesses differs, but the most common is for financial gain followed by taking down a competitor and causing reputational damage or embarrassment to the organisation being hit.
A successful cyber attack is devastating for a business; it can take a business completely offline for several days. It can also see customer databases raided and stolen or sensitive data breached and published for the world to see.
This costs businesses money – the average cost of a data breach in 2020 was $3.86m – but more worryingly it can lead to a poor customer experience and even result in consumers losing trust in your business and going elsewhere.
Another negative impact is that it can reduce employee productivity and in highly regulated industries such as online gambling, lead to a compliance breach which means licences can be at risk.
So why are these attacks on the rise? A main driver is the belief among cyber criminals and hackers that governments, banks and businesses do not have the resources available to successfully thwart an attack.
While this is not true, it could be argued they are not unlocking the full potential of the solutions and services available to them which in turn is making them vulnerable and more likely to fall victim to an attack.
These are the key areas of focus when it comes to mitigating a cyber-attack:
Primary defences
Ensuring your primary forms of protection are in place and are as robust as possible. At Continent 8 we talk about a layered approach to security, and primary defences include utilising a private network for hosting and communication, enterprise DDoS and Web Application Firewall (WAF) protection, and ensuring your public and private cloud environments are secure.
Endpoint Protection and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
Especially given the remote working situation we have found ourselves in, ensuring an organisation’s infrastructure is not breached, no matter where the perimeter may now be, is crucial. Just as important is ensuring if something untoward happens (such as a breach), the appropriate teams are immediately notified.
The global Endpoint Detection and Response Market is forecasted to grow at a rate of 22.3% from USD 1.41 billion in 2019 to USD 6.98 billion in 2027. In order to reduce their companies’ exposure to risk, EDR technologies are being utilised more and more.
Continent 8’s Managed Threat Prevention, Detection & Response offering is the most complete end-to-end proactive threat protection solution combining advanced SIEM/MDR/EDR/SOAR/Machine Learning technologies with highly-skilled 24/7 SOC resources giving organisations unprecedented visibility and response capabilities against known and unknown threats.
Awareness and education
It has been widely reported that phishing attacks, and other scams targeted to exploit our natural human fears, have increased significantly, especially during the pandemic. As such, companies need to ensure that all staff members, from the board to senior executives, are trained.
Continent 8’s cyber security solutions have been protecting the world’s most valuable information for over 20 years, in one of the most attacked industries globally – iGaming. Our security solutions continue to develop to reflect the ever-changing cyber security landscape. Our team works in partnership with our customers to design bespoke protection services, benefiting from a resilient global network spanning 70 locations and 4 continents.
For more information visit continent8.com/secure or contact our sales team via sales@continent8.com
Provider is responding to changing market conditions and the demand for innovation in infrastructure by Gibraltar businesses
Continent 8 Technologies has expanded its product range in Gibraltar with the launch of its Public Cloud solution, responding to changing market conditions and the demand for innovation in infrastructure by Gibraltar businesses.
The Continent 8 Cloud offers its partners a multi-tenanted laaS platform to host customer infrastructure as Virtual Machines.
Already live in a number of Continent 8’s locations including the Isle of Man, Montreal, Malta, Colombia and Atlantic City, the Public Cloud platform is architected on clustered Nutanix Hyper Converged Infrastructure, guaranteeing the highest levels of performance and functionality.
Key features of the platform include a self-service portal with template-based provisioning, feature-rich Edge devices, the ability to integrate with Continent 8’s Co-Location, MPLS and Cloud Connect services plus DDoS protection.
A significant benefit for customers is that moving to the Cloud eliminates the need for ongoing hardware investment, providing flexibility to pay for resources as required. What’s more, there are Usage and Fixed Subscription fee commercial models available to meet different requirements.
Continent 8 fully manages the cloud environment by up to and including the Hypervisor, whilst enabling customers to have complete control and management of their internal systems and data. This removes the need for customers to maintain and support the infrastructure, ensuring they can focus on their business.
Customers are also able to further enhance their platform via third party tools such as Kubernetes to create, manage and interact with specific data groups within their own dedicated Continent 8 Cloud.
David Black, Managing Director (EMEA) at Continent 8 Technologies, comments: “It is ten years since we first invested in our Gibraltar data centre.
“Since then, we have continued to invest in both facilities and network for customers. Launching Cloud in Gibraltar is a natural extension for our Gibraltar product family which plugs into Continent 8’s carrier grade network and 70 other locations worldwide.”
Learn more about Continent 8’s Cloud offering, here