Serverless at the Edge: Enabling Magical Unicorns

Before we dive straight into the magical unicorn from heaven that is serverless computing embedded within the CDN edge a direct customer quote that I want on a team T-shirt soon, let's first level-set on some basic concepts of computing. In the context of web experiences, IoT device messaging, an...

My Journey to Akamai and Back

As a region, it's very diverse and dynamic, with a lot to experience. Although I'm based in the Beijing office, I have opportunities to collaborate closely with my colleagues in Japan, India, Singapore and Australia. We find synergies and uniqueness in each market, and constantly share ideas and...

The Importance of Listening

Akamai has been a leader in customer service for years, and we've leveraged that experience to best support our customers through the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes our internal customers, our employees who are working hard to do their jobs while adjusting to a full-time remote environment. Thi...

Smart DNS for the New Network Edge

This is the first in a series of blog posts that will discuss how smart DNS resolvers can enhance ongoing ISP and MNO network transformation efforts such as the transition to 5G, better integration of Wi-Fi, and new network designs that optimize the edge to improve service delivery and network...

Smart DNS for the New Network Edge

People depend on the internet for just about everything: interacting, learning, transacting, traveling, working, and more. At the same time, the wireless evolution to 4G -- and soon 5G and Wi-Fi everywhere -- has given birth to an era of connected cars, smart sensors, and a multitude of other...

How to Start Growing and Never Stop

My heritage is Sri Lankan. But, at the age of 15 I moved to France as a refugee, fleeing a civil war. Starting a new life from scratch in France, without speaking French, was certainly an interesting journey. But I was lucky enough to have support from my parents. They lived by the mantra of "whe...

FFEM: A Simple Device to Crowdsource Water Quality Data

Akamai has been a strong advocate for water conservation by supporting early-stage innovations. This World Water Monitoring Day September 18, we present the inspiring work of one of our innovators -- Foundation For Environmental Monitoring FFEM, based in Bangalore, India -- that is working on...

Rethinking Defensive Strategy at the Edge, Part 3: Strategies for Protective Action

Our three-part blog series, Re-thinking Defensive Strategy at the Edge, has been focusing on outlining a new defensive edge strategy for today's enterprise. We began with a discussion of data and indicators. Most recently, our second post focused on using risk signals and correlating them for...

Getting Sassy About SASE - the Value of Edge Security

As a former Gartner analyst and now a strategist at Akamai, I have had several conversations with CISOs across the world on the topic of 'designing a future-ready security architecture'. The fact that so many CISOs are seeking a newer, and more effective, security model is a sign that the busines...

Rethinking Defensive Strategy at the Edge, Part 2: Risk Signals as Security Controls

In the first post in our blog series Rethinking Defensive Strategy at the Edge, we began to outline why a new defensive edge strategy is needed for today's enterprise. As previously mentioned, the strategy enhances those in place and introduces another layer of defense that includes the following...

Headwinds and Tailwinds - Cycling For Climate Awareness in a Global Pandemic

If you told me at the beginning of 2020 that I'd be cycling 250 miles in the remote Upper Peninsula of Michigan, fundraising for an organization called "Climate Ride", and wearing a face mask to go grocery shopping - I would not have believed you. Yet, since March 2020, we've all been living the...

Rethinking Defensive Strategy at the Edge, Part 1: A Changing Landscape for Securing Users

In recent years, new enterprise remote access architectures and frameworks have been introduced, such as Zero Trust Access ZTA. Those concepts have driven changes in the way the network perimeter has been defined -- specifically, from the outside in, not the inside out. Access to applications and...

Unprecedented Levels of Ransom DDoS Extortion Attacks

The FBI has released a flash warning that thousands of organizations around the world, and across multiple industries, have been threatened with DDoS attacks unless they pay a bitcoin ransom. This ransom DDoS, or RDoS, threat was covered by Akamai's Security Intelligence Response Team SIRT in a...

When Hackers Take Advantage of Your Trusted Vendors

As JavaScript-based client-side attacks continue to evolve, we see how attackers are getting more sophisticated and employing more advanced techniques. Unfortunately, it has been proven many times that any website partner can be exploited to carry out an attack. In the past month, we witnessed on...

When Hackers Take Advantage of Your Trusted Vendors

As JavaScript-based client-side attacks continue to evolve, we see how attackers are getting more sophisticated and employing more advanced techniques. Unfortunately, it has been proven many times that any website partner can be exploited to carry out an attack. In the past month, we witnessed on...

Unprecedented Levels of Ransom DDoS Extortion Attacks

The FBI has released a flash warning that thousands of organizations around the world, and across multiple industries, have been threatened with DDoS attacks unless they pay a bitcoin ransom. This ransom DDoS, or RDoS, threat was covered by Akamai's Security Intelligence Response Team SIRT in a...

Web Application and API Protection -- From SQL Injection to Magecart

SQL injections were first discovered in 1998, and over 20 years later, they remain an unsolved challenge and an ongoing threat for every web application and API. The Open Web Application Security Project OWASP highlighted injection flaws in its Top 10 lists for both web application security risks...

Web Application and API Protection: From SQL Injection to Magecart

SQL injections were first discovered in 1998, and over 20 years later, they remain an unsolved challenge and an ongoing threat for every web application and API. The Open Web Application Security Project OWASP highlighted injection flaws in its Top 10 lists for both web application security risks...

Every Application Should Be Behind a WAF

It's no secret that security threats continue to expand in volume and variety, making headlines on virtually a daily basis. From nation-state attacks, corporate espionage, and data exfiltration campaigns to all-in-one and sneaker bot campaigns, businesses across the globe find themselves dealing...

Every Application Should Be Behind a WAF

It's no secret that security threats continue to expand in volume and variety, making headlines on virtually a daily basis. From nation-state attacks, corporate espionage, and data exfiltration campaigns to all-in-one and sneaker bot campaigns, businesses across the globe find themselves dealing...

Metrics That Matter: Continuous Performance Optimization

To attract and retain customers, you must offer an exceptional digital experience. In an increasingly competitive business climate, organizations are fighting to maintain loyalty and keep users engaged online. The cost of switching is low, consumers are transient, and user expectations for how...

Tackling Video Piracy Head-On

We are clearly in a "new" golden age of TV. Audiences around the world have never had so many viewing options available. This has led to a creative surge in new groundbreaking storytelling and entertainment as both broadcasters and digital giants try to maintain the loyalty of their viewers. This...

Akamai, CISA, and CIS Join Forces to Improve SLTT Cyber Defenses

Cybercriminals continue to target U.S. state, local, tribal, and territorial SLTT government organizations. In 2019, there were more than 100 ransomware attacks -- including an attack on Baltimore's IT systems that locked out thousands of computers and disrupted nearly every city service. This...

Metrics That Matter: Continuous Performance Optimization

To attract and retain customers, you must offer an exceptional digital experience. In an increasingly competitive business climate, organizations are fighting to maintain loyalty and keep users engaged online. The cost of switching is low, consumers are transient, and user expectations for how...

Women's Foundation of Boston Empowerment Webinar for Girls and Young Women

Akamai is thrilled to have been the lead sponsor for the recent Women's Foundation of Boston Empowerment Webinar for Girls and Young Women: Girl Decoded: An Intimate Conversation with Author Rana el Kaliouby about finding your voice, pursuing education and excelling as a woman in STEM...

Becoming a Comms and Analyst Relations Leader, Rita Aspen - Head, Communications & Analyst Relations, APJ

My parents were first-generation immigrants from India. They worked hard, made Singapore their home and took all and any challenges head on. They have always lived by the simple philosophy, 'to be the change'. It's a philosophy that I try to live too, and in many ways it's what attracted me to...

Enterprise Application Access Client (EAA) Vulnerability (CVE-2019-18847)

On October 15, 2019, Tesla discovered, and responsibly disclosed, a vulnerability within Akamai's Enterprise Application Access EAA client that allows privilege escalation and remote code execution RCE when an attacker is within privileged locations on a network. This vulnerability has been...

The Changing Face of Loyalty Programs Amid and Post-COVID-19

COVID-19 has undoubtedly prompted the Hospitality and Travel industry into a new era of customer loyalty. Currently, "shelter in place" or similar nonessential travel bans are instituted by many countries and companies across the world. Once travel restrictions are lifted, there will be a...

How Criminals Attack the Games Industry

If you work in the video games industry, it's already obvious that security is a challenge, and criminals are a threat. But how much do you know about how the criminal economy works? What actually motivates them? What specific methods do they use? And how do they interact with one another? If you...

Enterprise Threat Protector Now Includes One-Click Performance Optimization for Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is becoming the essential productivity suite for enterprises. Over 1 million companies have now signed up for the service, and every month there are more than 200 million active users. Microsoft Teams alone has 75 million active users every day. If your company already uses or is...

How Criminals Attack the Games Industry

If you work in the video games industry, it's already obvious that security is a challenge, and criminals are a threat. But how much do you know about how the criminal economy works? What actually motivates them? What specific methods do they use? And how do they interact with one another?...

How Criminals Attack the Games Industry

If you work in the video games industry, it's already obvious that security is a challenge, and criminals are a threat. But how much do you know about how the criminal economy works? What actually motivates them? What specific methods do they use? And how do they interact with one another?...

As the 2020 Holiday Season Approaches, Optimized Digital Experiences Are Vital for Retailers

This article originally appeared in Digital Commerce 360. The most effective digital retail will happen in step with everyday life. Retailers must invest in tools and infrastructure needed to balance consumer expectations with regulatory responsibilities -- and focus on serving customers. Overall...

Ransom Demands Return: New DDoS Extortion Threats From Old Actors Targeting Finance and Retail

Update 08/24/2020 As mentioned below, the Akamai SIRT has been tracking attacks from the so-called Armada Collective and Fancy Bear actors, who are sending ransom letters to various industry verticals such as finance, travel, and e-commerce. In addition to the...

Partnering with Microsoft on Hackathon 2020 and Saving the Planet

During the week of July 27, thousands of participants from around the globe participated in the Microsoft 2020 Hackathon. In its seventh year -- and this year, fully virtual -- the annual worldwide event brings Microsoft employees and interns together to drum up new ideas, create change, and make...

Addressing the Video Quality and Performance Measurement Gap with Quality of Performance (QoP) Metrics

Ubiquity of Digital Video Means Meeting Viewers' Quality Expectations Digital video viewership is on an aggressive growth course. Globally, consumers will spend 84 minutes a day watching online video in 2020, up 25% from 2018i, and digital video viewership will increase from 35% in 2019 to more...

The Publishing Industry -- Where to Now?

Many of us have spent far more time at home looking at screens to keep up to date with the world than would have seemed possible at the start of the year. In the UK, as with many other countries, the lockdown rules and pandemic response were changing on a near-daily basis, and the 5 PM government...

We Love Our Customers!

Here in the States, we often get our dry cleaning returned on hangers that say "We Love Our Customers." I once inadvertently brought one into the office back in the day, and our team displayed it prominently on a shelf, because it's true. Meeting with customers is the best part of my job here at...

Ruchita Biradar - My Virtual Internship at Akamai

The year is 2020, and the Coronavirus has affected life around the world in so many ways. For me, a third-year engineering student at R.V. Bangalore , I was looking forward to starting my internship at Akamai when the pandemic took hold, and suddenly everything seemed so uncertain...

New Guide: How Akamai Helps You Protect Privacy Data

Laws and regulations related to personally identifiable information PII are continuously being enacted around the world as data breaches and abuses persist. According to the February 2020 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 132 out of 194 countries had legislation put in place to...

Back-to-School Shopping in 2020?

When I was a kid, back-to-school shopping was a really big deal. My mom and I would head out to the local T.J. Maxx and spend hours hunting for bargains on clothes, a backpack, a lunch box, and other "necessary" school supplies. We always hit the Friendly's next door after our shopping excursion,...

20 Years of Edge Computing

How long will you wait for something? That depends on what you're waiting for, of course. But in your daily interactions, think about how many "things" you interact with where you expect the response to be instantaneous - tapping on mobile apps, logging in and transacting with a retailer or a ban...

Black Hat Presentation - Web Cache Entanglement

Overview Akamai is aware of the 'Web Cache Entanglement: Novel Pathways to Poisoning' presentation at BlackHat on August 5, 2020. Two security vulnerabilities related to our content delivery networks' caching functionality were presented as part of this research. Akamai would like to thank James...

20 Years of Edge Computing

How long will you wait for something? That depends on what you're waiting for, of course. But in your daily interactions, think about how many "things" you interact with where you expect the response to be instantaneous -- tapping on mobile apps; logging in and transacting with a retailer or a...

Question Quiz—The Forgotten Scam

Over a year ago, Akamai’s threat research team published research regarding a widely-used phishing toolkit we referred to as the “Three Question Quiz”. It’s now time to review the evolution of the toolkit, the associated campaigns that we tracked in the wild, and the potential damage caused by...

Large, Complex DDoS Attacks on the Rise in 2020

While we've highlighted both record PPS and BPS attacks mitigated on the Akamai Prolexic Platform over the past few weeks, these attacks are part of a broader trend of increasingly large and complex DDoS activity. We have seen clear indications across the industry of high-water mark DDoS attacks...

Tale of the Tape: Top 5 Reasons Phishing Attacks Haven't Dried Up

One of my favourite websites is archive.org OK, so I'm a nerd. For anyone not familiar with this website, it's essentially a time machine that allows you to go back and look at pretty much any site from a point in time over the past 20-odd years. Recently I came across a story on the BBC website...

Large, Complex DDoS Attacks on the Rise in 2020

While we've highlighted both record PPS and BPS attacks mitigated on the Akamai Prolexic Platform over the past few weeks, these attacks are part of a broader trend of increasingly large and complex DDoS activity. We have seen clear indications across the industry of high-water mark DDoS attacks...

Out of the Grace Period: Trust and Communication Rises in a Post-CCPA World

Six months ago, the California Consumer Privacy Act CCPA was put into effect, granting California residents increased rights over how their personal data is gathered and shared by the companies they interact with. Leading up to its launch, organizations expressed concern over whether they were...

Greening the Digital Economy

COVID-19 and related quarantine protocols have pushed the world even more online than it already was. Global energy consumption for all things digital has been increasing by about 9% per year between 2015 and 2020, and is tracking to be responsible for about 8% of greenhouse gas GHG emission by...