LESSONS LEARNED THROUGH
CLOUD TRANSFORMATION
Jim Rutt
Director of IT, Dana Foundation
October 28, 2015
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
• 20 years of client-side practioning in technology
• Primarily in healthcare (payer/managed care) but also significant experience in
financial and pharmaceutical.
• As Director of IT for The Dana Foundation, responsible for all domains
encompassing the use of technology (infrastructure, application development, data,
network, etc.)
• First experience in the non-profit sector
DANA FOUNDATION BACKGROUND
• http://www.dana.org
• Founded in 1950
• Endowment based foundation supporting brain research through grants,
publications and educational programs
• Chief importance centered around scientific inquiry (funding of research into
neuroscience) and the engagement of the general public (publications and
programs)
DECEMBER 2010: FIRST DAY
BEGINNING STATE
• Traditional on-premise infrastructure with a limited amount of IaaS/private cloud
• Limited human resources
• No application lifecycle
• No real strategy around risk, security, compliance
• Traditional problems (too much time spent supporting infrastructure issues and not
enough time developing new features and enhancing end-user experience)
MARCH 2011: TRIGGER EVENT
• Foundation moved to new location
• Opportunities for consolidation as well as re-thinking existing cloud environment,
with an eye towards optimizing from a performance, security, and cost perspective.
• Addressing macro trends affecting everyone in our industry (consumerization of IT,
rise of mobile, demographic trends).
• Time to test the waters with the first application…
OFFICE 365
• Existing Exchange Server environment:
• Total of 15 VM’s, way too complex
• Uptime way below five nines
• All resources (CPU/RAM/storage) reaching 100% utilization
• Active Directory environment supporting Exchange badly neglected with serious
integrity issues.
• Maybe an opportunity to embrace a new security model rather than pour significant
resources into maintaining AD.
OFFICE 365: APRIL 2011-JAN 2012
• Migration considerations specific to governance:
• Ruled out AD Federation due to previously identified issues with AD.
• However, slightly complicating authentication model temporarily (going from AD pass
through authentication to adding an additional Office 365 credential in addition to
existing AD)
• Already risking “password fatigue” with end users.
• Time to look at a possible new solution for cloud-based identity…..
OKTA (ID AS A SERVICE)
• Essentially a single sign on solution primarily for SaaS
• Great leverage with web based SaaS offerings,also integratable with AD
• Also streamlines provisioning/deprovisioning.
• Clean user interface and simple administrative console
• We began to see this model as the future.
SALESFORCE
GREAT PLAINS TO AZURE
ZENDESK
• SaaS based Help Desk solution
COMPLIANCE/GOVERNANCE
CONSIDERATIONS
• No technology audits prior to 2010.
• Using the new technologies and strategies we were able to craft a compliance
structure, along with guiding our external auditors, that truly represented an
actionable governance program, rather than just a checklist of useless items.
NEXT GENERATION SECURITY
SOLUTIONS
• Netskope (CASB)
• Vera (hardening at the actual file level)
• Menlo Security (malware isolation)
• Ensilo (Exfiltration
• Lesser reliance on legacy antivirus solutions
REMAINING IAAS VIRTUAL
ENVIRONMENTS
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
• Signifigant security cost/risk mitigation now transferred to top tier providers
(Microsoft, Salesforce, etc.)
• Trust factor is this case resembles a reverse of the “prisoners dilemma” theory.
LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
• Calculated risk moving our most visible application (Exchange) to the cloud first, but
mitigated by existing pain felt.
2016 AND BEYOND
• Eventual retirement of legacy AD
• Harden end-user devices
• Expansion of two factor authentication
• Continue to adopt next generation endpoint security solutions.
THANK YOU
• Questions?

Lessons Learned Through Cloud Transformation CSA PRESENTATION 10-19-15

  • 1.
    LESSONS LEARNED THROUGH CLOUDTRANSFORMATION Jim Rutt Director of IT, Dana Foundation October 28, 2015
  • 2.
    PERSONAL BACKGROUND • 20years of client-side practioning in technology • Primarily in healthcare (payer/managed care) but also significant experience in financial and pharmaceutical. • As Director of IT for The Dana Foundation, responsible for all domains encompassing the use of technology (infrastructure, application development, data, network, etc.) • First experience in the non-profit sector
  • 3.
    DANA FOUNDATION BACKGROUND •http://www.dana.org • Founded in 1950 • Endowment based foundation supporting brain research through grants, publications and educational programs • Chief importance centered around scientific inquiry (funding of research into neuroscience) and the engagement of the general public (publications and programs)
  • 4.
  • 5.
    BEGINNING STATE • Traditionalon-premise infrastructure with a limited amount of IaaS/private cloud • Limited human resources • No application lifecycle • No real strategy around risk, security, compliance • Traditional problems (too much time spent supporting infrastructure issues and not enough time developing new features and enhancing end-user experience)
  • 6.
    MARCH 2011: TRIGGEREVENT • Foundation moved to new location • Opportunities for consolidation as well as re-thinking existing cloud environment, with an eye towards optimizing from a performance, security, and cost perspective. • Addressing macro trends affecting everyone in our industry (consumerization of IT, rise of mobile, demographic trends). • Time to test the waters with the first application…
  • 7.
    OFFICE 365 • ExistingExchange Server environment: • Total of 15 VM’s, way too complex • Uptime way below five nines • All resources (CPU/RAM/storage) reaching 100% utilization • Active Directory environment supporting Exchange badly neglected with serious integrity issues. • Maybe an opportunity to embrace a new security model rather than pour significant resources into maintaining AD.
  • 8.
    OFFICE 365: APRIL2011-JAN 2012 • Migration considerations specific to governance: • Ruled out AD Federation due to previously identified issues with AD. • However, slightly complicating authentication model temporarily (going from AD pass through authentication to adding an additional Office 365 credential in addition to existing AD) • Already risking “password fatigue” with end users. • Time to look at a possible new solution for cloud-based identity…..
  • 9.
    OKTA (ID ASA SERVICE) • Essentially a single sign on solution primarily for SaaS • Great leverage with web based SaaS offerings,also integratable with AD • Also streamlines provisioning/deprovisioning. • Clean user interface and simple administrative console • We began to see this model as the future.
  • 10.
  • 11.
  • 12.
    ZENDESK • SaaS basedHelp Desk solution
  • 13.
    COMPLIANCE/GOVERNANCE CONSIDERATIONS • No technologyaudits prior to 2010. • Using the new technologies and strategies we were able to craft a compliance structure, along with guiding our external auditors, that truly represented an actionable governance program, rather than just a checklist of useless items.
  • 14.
    NEXT GENERATION SECURITY SOLUTIONS •Netskope (CASB) • Vera (hardening at the actual file level) • Menlo Security (malware isolation) • Ensilo (Exfiltration • Lesser reliance on legacy antivirus solutions
  • 15.
  • 16.
    RETURN ON INVESTMENT •Signifigant security cost/risk mitigation now transferred to top tier providers (Microsoft, Salesforce, etc.) • Trust factor is this case resembles a reverse of the “prisoners dilemma” theory.
  • 17.
    LESSONS LEARNED ALONGTHE WAY • Calculated risk moving our most visible application (Exchange) to the cloud first, but mitigated by existing pain felt.
  • 18.
    2016 AND BEYOND •Eventual retirement of legacy AD • Harden end-user devices • Expansion of two factor authentication • Continue to adopt next generation endpoint security solutions.
  • 19.