Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Last July, I traveled with my wife and two-year-old daughter to my parent’s house on the coast for a week of summertime fun-in-the-sun. It’s a trip we try to make at least once a year to escape the day-to-day grind, see family, and lounge beside various bodies of water, all while enjoying complimentary, around-the-clock childcare (aka grandparents). At least that was the plan. Instead, I awoke on the very first morning of our trip feeling just about as sick as I’ve ever felt.

Today’s IT leaders face a non-stop escalation of stealthy cyberattacks designed to hold organizations hostage. The dialogue has shifted from if you will be compromised to when. The financial stakes are incredibly high. According to a 2024 study by Splunk and Oxford Economics, “outages cost businesses over $400 billion in revenue each year.” For many Technology decision-makers, the instinct is to rely on traditional disaster recovery plans.

When disaster strikes—whether it’s a natural catastrophe, a cyberattack, or a simple power outage—your job is to keep things up and running. But where do you even start? Do you need a backup solution, a disaster recovery (DR) solution, or a bit of both? In a recent article, Gartner analyst Michael Hoeck predicted that by 2028, 75% of enterprises will prioritize backing up their SaaS applications, a significant increase from just 15% in 2024.

For many organizations, the network has quietly become one of the biggest barriers to growth. It is the almost invisible nervous system of the enterprise, yet when it fails or becomes overly complex, it is the only thing anyone talks about. As projects expand, offices multiply, and cloud adoption accelerates; IT teams are finding the network is an increasingly difficult piece of the puzzle, and hard to control.

Regulators view operational resilience as a top priority. This is not surprising as according to Sophos, in 2024 nearly two-thirds of energy, oil, gas, and utilities organisations reported ransomware attacks, with average recovery costs rising to around $3 million. This is a clear reminder that real-world disruptions are already affecting the sector.

The UK Government’s Cybersecurity and Resilience Bill marks a significant shift in how the nation safeguards critical infrastructure. The Bill moves beyond voluntary measures and fragmented self-regulation and introduces a mandated framework for resilience, signalling that cyber protection is now a strategic obligation for many sectors including healthcare, critical national infrastructure (CNI) transport and digital infrastructure.

Predicting the future of technology is rarely straightforward. Just when a trend seems permanent, a new innovation or disruption shifts the landscape entirely. To help IT leaders navigate these changes, Last month 11:11 Systems hosted our annual webinar featuring a panel of experts from 11:11 Systems, Cohesity, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Our subject matter experts unpacked the trends that defined the past year and explored what lies ahead for 2026.

Artificial intelligence is no longer just an overused buzzword; it’s a fundamental shift in how businesses operate. The Architects of AI were just named as Time’s person of the year for 2025. From generative AI creating code to machine learning algorithms optimizing supply chains, the demand for AI is reshaping the technology landscape. But here’s the thing: all that computational power is useless if your data can’t move fast enough.

Can you believe it? The holiday season is finally here! For many of us, that means nostalgic traditions, quality time with family, and—let’s be honest—a significant amount of online shopping. The convenience of browsing for gifts from the comfort of our homes is undeniable, especially in our hybrid work environment. However, this surge in digital activity and scams also signals the busiest time of year for cybercriminals.