Rational Survivability

Our digital lives and the transactions that enable them are based upon crumbling service delivery foundations and we’re being left without a leg to stand on…

I’ve blogged about this subject before, and it’s all a matter of perspective, but the latest high-profile Internet-based service failure which has had a crippling effect on users dependent upon its offerings is PayPal. 

Due to what looks to be a recent roll-out of code gone bad, subscription payment processing went belly-up. 

On September 1st, PayPal advised those affected that the issue should be fixed "…by September 5 or 6, and that all outstanding subscription payments would be collected."  That’s 4 days on top of the downtime sustained already.

This has been a tough last few weeks for parent company eBay as one of its other famous children, Skype, suffered its own highly-visible flame-outs due to an issue they company blamed upon overwhelmed infrastructure due to a Microsoft Patch Tuesday download.  This outage left several million users who were "dependent" upon Skype for communicating with others without a service to do so.

This is getting to the point that the services we take for granted will always be up are showing their vulnerable side, for lots of different reasons.  Some of these services are free, so that introduces a confusing debate relating to service levels and availability when one doesn’t pay for said service.

The failures are increasing in frequency and downtime.  Scary still is that I now count five recent service failures in the last four months that have affected me directly.  Not all of them are Internet-based, but they indicate a reliance on networked infrastructure that is obviously fragile:

1) United Airlines  Flight Operations Computer System Failure
2) San Francisco Power Grid Failure
3) LAX Passenger Screening System Computer System Failure
4) Skype Down for Days, and finally…
5) PayPal Subscription Processing Down

That’s quite a few, isn’t it?  Did you realize these were all during the last few months?

Most of these failures caused me inconvenience at best; some missed flights, inability to blog, failed subscription processing for web services, inability to communicate with folks…none of them life-threatening, and none of them dramatically impacting my ability to earn a wage.  But that’s me and my "luck."  Other people have not been so lucky.

Some have reasonably argued that these services do not represent "critical" infrastructure and at the level of things such as national defense, health and safety, etc. I’d have to agree.  But they could, and if our dependence on these services increases, they will.

As these services evolve and enable the economic plumbing of an entire generation of folks who expect ever-presence and conduct the bulk of their lives online, this sort of thing will turn from an inconvenience to a disaster. 

Even more interesting is a number of these services are now owned and delivered by what I call service monocultures; eBay provides not only the auction services, but PayPal and Skype, too.  Google gives you mail, apps, search, video, ads and soon wireless and payment.

While the investment these M&A/consolidation activities generates means bigger and better services, it also increases the likelihood of cascading failure domains in an ever-expanding connectedness, especially when they are operated by a single entity.

There’s a lot of run-and-gun architecture servicing these utilities in the software driven world that isn’t as resilient as it ought to be up and down the stack.  We haven’t even scratched the tip of the iceberg on this one folks…it’s going to get nasty.  Web2.0 is just the beginning.

I think we’d have a civil war if YouTube, FaceBook, Orkut or MySpace went down.

What would people do without Google if it were to disappear for 2-3 days.

Yikes.

Knock on (virtual) wood.

/Hoff

I’m a big advocate of software as a service (SaaS) — have been for years.  This evangelism started for me almost 5 years ago when I become a Qualys MSSP customer listening to Philippe Courtot espouse the benefits of SaaS for vulnerability management.  This was an opportunity to allow me to more efficiently, effectively and cheaply manage my VA problem.  They demonstrated how they were good custodians of the data (my data) that they housed and how I could expect they would protect it.

I did not, however, feel *more* secure because they housed my VA data.  I felt secure enough that how they housed it should not fall into the wrong hands.  It’s called an assessment of risk and exposure.  I performed it and was satisfied it matched my company’s appetite and business requirements.

Not one to appear unclear on where I stand, I maintain that the SaaS can bring utility, efficiency, cost effectiveness, enhanced capabilities and improved service levels to a corporation depending upon who, what, why, how, where and when the service is deployed.  Sometimes it can bring a higher level of security to an organization, but so can an armed squadron of pissed off armed Oompa Loompa’s — it’s all a matter of perspective.

I suggest that attempting to qualify the benefits of SaaS by generalizing in any sense is, well, generally a risky thing to do.  It often turns what could be a valid point of interest into a point of contention.

Such is the case with a story I read in a UK edition of IT Week by Phil Muncaster titled "On Demand Security Issues Raised."  In this story, the author describes the methods in which the security posture of SaaS vendors may be measured, comparing the value, capabilities and capacity of the various options and the venue for evaluating an SaaS MSSP:  hire an external contractor or rely on the MSSP to furnish you the results of an internally generated assessment.

I think this is actually a very useful and valid discussion to have — whom to trust and why?  In many cases, these vendors house sensitive and sometimes confidential data regarding an enterprise, so security is paramount.  One would suggest that anyone looking to engage an MSSP of any sort, especially one offering a critical SaaS, would perform due diligence in one form or another before signing on the dotted line.

That’s not really what I wanted to discuss, however.

What I *did* want to address was the comment in the article coming from Andy Kellett, an analyst for Burton, that read thusly:

"Security is probably less a problem than in the end-user organisations
because [on-demand app providers] are measured by the service they provide,"
Kellett argued.

I *think* I probably understand what he’s saying here…that security is "less of a problem" for an MSSP because the pressures of the implied penalties associated with violating an SLA are so much more motivating to get security "right" that they can do it far more effectively, efficiently and better than a customer.

This is a selling point, I suppose?  Do you, dear reader, agree?  Does the implication of outsourcing security actually mean that you "feel" or can prove that you’re more secure or better secured than you could do yourself by using a SaaS MSSP?

"I don’t agree the end-user organisation’s pen tester of choice
should be doing the testing. The service provider should do it and make that
information available."

Um, why?  I can understand not wanting hundreds of scans against my service in an unscheduled way, but what do you have to hide?  You want me to *trust* you that you’re more secure or holding up your end of the bargain?  Um, no thanks.  It’s clear that this person has never seen the results of an internally generated PenTest and how real threats can be rationalized away into nothingness…

Clarence So of Salesforce.com
agreed, adding that most chief information officers today understand that
software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors are able to secure data more effectively
than they can themselves.

Really!?  It’s not just that they gave into budget pressures, agreed to transfer the risk and reduce OpEx and CapEx?  Care to generalize more thoroughly, Clarence?  Can you reference proof points for me here?  My last company used Salesforce.com, but as the person who inherited the relationship, I can tell you that I didn’t feel at all more "secure" because SF was hosting my data.  In fact, I felt more exposed.

"I’m sure training companies have their own motives for advocating the need
for in-house skills such as penetration testing," he argued. "But any
suggestions the SaaS model is less secure than client-server software are well
wide of the mark."

…and any suggestion that they are *more* secure is pure horsecock marketing at its finest.  Prove it.  And please don’t send me your SAS-70 report as your example of security fu.

So just to be clear, I believe in SaaS.  I encourage its use if it makes good business sense.  I don’t, however, agree that you will automagically be *more* secure.  You maybe just *as* secure, but it should be more cost-effective to deploy and manage.  There may very well be cases (I can even think of some) where one could be more or less secure, but I’m not into generalizations.

Whaddya think?

/Hoff

The last few days of activity involving Google and Microsoft have really catalyzed some thinking and demonstrated some very intriguing indicators as to how the delivery of applications and services is dramatically evolving. 

I don’t mean the warm and fuzzy marketing fluff.  I mean some real anchor technology investments by the big-boys putting their respective stakes in the ground as they invest hugely in redefining their business models to setup for the future.

Enterprises large and small are really starting to pay attention to the difference between infrastructure and architecture and this has a dramatic effect on the service providers and supply chain who interact with them.

It’s become quite obvious that there is huge business value associated with divorcing the need for "IT" to focus on physically instantiating and locating "applications" on "boxes" and instead  delivering "services" with the Internet/network as the virtualized delivery mechanism.

Google v. Microsoft – Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!

My last few posts on Google’s move to securely deliver a variety of applications and services represents the uplift of the "traditional" perspective of backoffice SaaS offerings such as Salesforce.com but also highlights the migration of desktop applications and utility services to the "cloud" also.

This is really executing on the vision of the thin-client Internet-centric vision from back in the day o’ the bubble when we saw a ton of Internet-borne services such as storage, backup, etc.  using the "InternetOS" as the canvas for service.

So we’ve talked about Google.  I maintain that their strategy is to ultimately take on Microsoft — including backoffice, utility and desktop applications.  So let’s look @ what the kids from Redmond are up to.

What Microsoft is developing towards with their vision of CloudOS was just recently expounded upon by one Mr. Ballmer.

Not wanting to lose mindshare or share of wallet, Microsoft is maneuvering to give the customer control over how they want to use applications and more importantly how they might be delivered.  Microsoft Live bridges the gap between the traditional desktop and puts that capability into the "cloud."

Let’s explore that a little:

In addition to making available its existing services, such as mail and
instant messaging, Microsoft also will create core infrastructure
services, such as storage and alerts, that developers can build on top
of. It’s a set of capabilities that have been referred to as a "Cloud OS," though it’s not a term Microsoft likes to use publicly.

…

Late last month, Microsoft introduced two new Windows Live Services,
one for sharing photos and the other for all types of files. While
those services are being offered directly by Microsoft today, they
represent the kinds of things that Microsoft is now promising will be
also made available to developers.

Among the other application and infrastructure components,
Microsoft plans to open are its systems for alerts, contact management,
communications (mail and messenger) and authentication.

…

As it works to build out the underlying core services, Microsoft is
also offering up applications to partners, such as Windows Live
Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and the Spaces blogging tool.

Combine the emerging advent of "thinner" end-points (read: mobility products) with high-speed, lower latency connectivity and we can see why this model is attractive and viable.  I think this battle is heating up and the consumer will benefit.

A Practical Example of SaaS/InternetOS Today?

So if we take a step back from Google and Microsoft for a minute, let’s take a snapshot of how one might compose, provision, and deploy applications and data as a service using a similar model over the Internet with tools other than Live or GoogleGear.

Let me give you a real-world example — deliverable today — of this capability with a functional articulation of this strategy; on-demand services and applications provided via virtualized datacenter delivery architectures using the Internet as the transport.  I’m going to use a mashup of two technologies: Yahoo Pipes and 3tera’s AppLogic.

Yahoo Pipes is  "…an interactive data aggregator and manipulator that lets you mashup your favorite online data sources."  Assuming you have data from various sources you want to present an application environment such as Pipes will allow you to dynamically access, transform and present this information any way you see fit.

This means that you can create what amounts to application and services on demand. 

Let’s agree however that while you have the data integration/presentation layer, in many cases you would traditionally require a complex collection of infrastructure from which this source data is housed, accessed, maintained and secured. 

However, rather than worry about where and how the infrastructure is physically located, let’s use the notion of utility/grid computing to make available dynamically an on-demand architecture that is modular, reusable and flexible to make my service delivery a reality — using the Internet as a transport.

Enter 3Tera’s AppLogic:

3Tera’s AppLogic is used by hosting providers to offer true utility computing. You get all the control of having your own virtual datacenter, but without the need to operate a single server.

Deploy and operate applications in your own virtual private datacenter

Set up infrastructure, deploy apps and manage operations with just a browser    
Scale from a fraction of a server to hundreds of servers in days

Deploy and run any Linux software without modifications

Get your life back: no more late night rushes to replace failed equipment

In fact, BT is using them as part of the 21CN project which I’ve written about many times before.

So check out this vision, assuming the InternetOS as a transport.  It’s the drag-and-drop, point-and-click Metaverse of virtualized application and data combined with on-demand infrastructure.

You first define the logical service composition and provisioning through 3Tera with a visual drag-drop canvas, defining firewalls, load-balancers, switches, web servers, app. servers, databases, etc.  Then you click the "Go" button.  AppLogic provisions the entire thing for you without you even necessarily knowing where these assets are.

Then, use something like Pipes to articulate how data sources can be accessed, consumed and transformed to deliver the requisite results.  All over the Internet, transparent to you securely.

Very cool stuff.

Here are some screen-caps of Pipes and 3Tera.