Intelligent CIO North America Issue 22 | Page 15

NEWS

Orange Business Services delivers Flexible SD- WAN to Siemens

“ It ’ s a critical business enabler that has to be agile enough to evolve with our business . As a pioneer in innovation and technology , we set the highest standards for our transformation project .
“ With the global capabilities , expertise and orchestration of Orange Business Services , we were able to successfully complete the massive deployment of Flexible SD-WAN , which delivers decisive advantages for our business and users alike , including a streamlined user experience with dynamic traffic routing for applications as well as dynamic bandwidth allocation .”

Siemens AG , together with Orange Business Services , has successfully migrated 1,168 of its worldwide locations to a global and secure SD-WAN infrastructure .

Overcoming potential implementation challenges during the pandemic , Orange Business Services , with Cisco , has been able to now fully deliver one of the biggest SD-WAN deployments in the world across 94 countries .
“ Siemens is a global company with offices and production sites all over the world and we need a reliable and future-proof communications network ,” said Hanna Hennig , CIO , Siemens AG .
Flexible SD-WAN , leveraging Cisco technology , delivers significant benefits for Siemens ’ locations globally . By consolidating network design and maintenance with Orange Business Services as its digital services provider , Siemens has simplified the management of complex environments and further improved performance and agility .

Palo Alto Networks reveals ransomware payments hit new records in 2021

Ransomware payments hit new records in 2021 as cybercriminals increasingly turned to Dark Web ‘ leak sites ’ where they pressured victims to pay up by threatening to release sensitive data , according to research released from Unit 42 by Palo Alto Networks .

The average ransom demand in cases worked on by Unit 42 incident responders rose 144 % in 2021 to US $ 2.2 million , while the average payment climbed 78 % to US $ 541,010 , according to The 2022 Unit 42 Ransomware Threat Report .
The most affected industries were professional and legal services , construction , wholesale and retail , healthcare and manufacturing .
“ In 2021 , ransomware attacks interfered with everyday activities that people all over the world take for granted – everything from buying groceries , purchasing gasoline for our cars to calling 911 in the event of an emergency and obtaining medical care ,” said Jen Miller-Osborn , Deputy Director , Unit 42 Threat Intelligence .
The report describes how the cyber extortion ecosystem grew in 2021 , with the emergence of 35 new ransomware gangs .
The number of victims whose data was posted on leak sites rose 85 % in 2021 , to 2,566 organizations , according to Unit 42 ’ s analysis . A total of 60 % of leak site victims were in the Americas , followed by 31 % for Europe , the Middle East and Africa , and then 9 % in the Asia-Pacific region .
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