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Cybersecurity Glossary

AI – Cybersecurity Glossary: 12 Terms IT Wish You Knew

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

In 2023 we published the Artificial Intelligence Glossary: The Top 15 Definitions You Need To Know, and promised to update the list as AI evolved. With cyber crime predicted to grow 15% annually over the next 5 years, arming yourself and your stakeholders with relevant terms is your first line of defense to ensuring your business stays protected. This leads us to our last post for Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a new list of a dozen terms IT pros wish you knew about AI and cybersecurity. Let’s dive in: 1. Adversarial Machine Learning (AML) Adversarial Machine Learning (AML) is a...

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Shadow AI

Questions From the C-Suite: Shadow AI

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

This week we continue our series “Questions from the C-Suite” with a question that is coming up around boardroom tables a lot lately: What is Shadow AI and is it an HR or IT Issue? The answer is not as cut & dry as you might think. Shadow AI, a subset of Shadow IT, is the use of AI tools and models inside a company without IT, security, or legal knowing. It is a people problem that rapidly becomes an IT, operational and financial problem. Let’s unpack the risks associated with Shadow AI, why you should care, and why HR and IT must act together to limit risk and prevent...

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Vendor Chat

10 Cybersecurity Questions to Ask Your Software Vendor (Before You Sign Anything)

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

When you hire a software development firm, you’re not just buying code; you’re trusting someone to build a digital extension of your business. It’ll hold your data, power your operations, and (if done wrong) provide a nice open window for cybercriminals to crawl through. We’ve compiled a list of questions to help you ensure your custom software is not a cyber-liability. No technical degree required; you just need to know what to listen for. Q1: Do you follow a Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)? This is software lingo for “Do you think about security from the...

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Document like your code depends on it

Document Like Your Code Depends on it!

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

The Most Important Thing Nobody Wants to Write Documenting software is the software developer equivalent to washing your windows. Ask any developer how they feel about documentation, and you usually get a sigh, a grimace, or possibly a vague promise that they’ll “get to it later.” Unfortunately, just like windows, later means, harder, more work and in the worst-case scenario, a complete renovation. When “later” turns into “never”, organizations pay the price with onboarding delays, security gaps, and in some infamous cases — catastrophic project failures. As most IT pros...

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Last Minute Change Requests?

Series: Questions from the C-Suite

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

Cybersecurity & Final Stretch Change Requests As a company we provide custom software, advisory, and legacy system services. But the challenges we see with our client’s often cross pollinate between divisions, cybersecurity is a regular topic. In October we are launching a blog series called, “Questions from the C-Suite”.  We will cover topics that come up from all three divisions, questions asked by nontechnical members of our client’s teams, and scenarios where we suspect our readers could use some clarity. Cybersecurity and change requests (CR) are two topics on repeat,...

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Fuzzing

What the Fuzz?

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

Fuzz Testing: Breaking Things on Purpose (So Hackers Can’t Do It First) One of our recent blog posts – The 90-90 Aphorism brought up the subject of ‘fuzzing’, which led to several rabbit hole conversations with our team. Many of the non developers on staff assumed it was a made-up term, an autocorrect incorrect, a typo missed during our collaborative blog writing and editing process. As with all things nerdy here at STEP, we embrace every opportunity presented to increase our knowledge or share our expertise. Thanks to our development team and their passionate referrals to sources...

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This is How We Do It!

SDLC: Software’s Sheet Music

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

♪♫ This is How We Do It ♪♫ Whether you are a tech savvy business leader who eagerly anticipates finding the newest hit on SoundCloud or are a more traditional leader who prefers a harmonic acoustic session around the bonfire, seeking a company to help turn your “great idea” into software that sings can feel like a daunting task. Often, leaders focus on what the solution will do for their business, without concern for how its going to be built. They can see the full album complete with digital downloads and liner notes from the newly minted vinyl edition but not the sheet music or...

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90 90 Aphorism

The 90-90 Aphorism of Great Software

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

Why 180% = 100% Aphorism /ˈafəˌrizəm/ noun “a short clever saying that is intended to express a general truth” The 90-90 rule in software is the persistent illusion of “it’s almost done”. Tom Cargill of Bell Labs coined this aphorism back in 1985: “The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the development time.” You read that right, 180%. Welcome to software engineering. 180% = 100%, Really? Yes, really! If you’ve ever...

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Middleware

Middleware: The Smart Path to Legacy Modernization

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

Keeping on trend with our focus this year of writing about Legacy Software and budget conscious strategies to modernize them, we turn to Middleware and how it can help bridge the gap between legacy systems and modern applications. For many organizations, legacy systems still power their core operations. They are proven, reliable work horses that are increasingly expensive to maintain. Businesses are continuously looking at ways to do more with less as budgets are trimmed while systems are expected to chug along at the expense of innovation and modernization. Last week we touched on...

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Containerization

Containerization and Orchestration: Modernizing Legacy Systems for the Future

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you may have noticed our recent focus on Legacy Systems and their ubiquitous need for updates. These core systems are running mission-critical workloads but struggle to adapt to evolving business demands, scalability requirements, and cloud-native ecosystems. This is a global problem, eating up 80% of IT budgets annually and contributing to developer burnout and innovation drag. But there is good news! Containerization and orchestration have emerged as a powerful strategy to bridge the gap between traditional infrastructure and modern software...

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