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Tag: security

Haloween picture - PHP is scary!

PHP – It’s Scary!

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

Critical Vulnerabilities, Legacy Code and the Cost of Looking Away The final post in STEP Software’s October Cybersecurity Awareness Month series Nothing says Halloween quite like discovering something dangerous has been lurking in your systems for years. Unfortunately, this year’s real-world cybersecurity horror story is not fiction. It is PHP, one of the internet’s most widely used programming languages, and a reminder that even familiar, dependable technology can harbour serious vulnerabilities. On October 21, 2026, the PHP development team released...

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Piggy Bank Budget

Cybersecurity Debt: Risks & Budget 2027

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

You know the risks are accumulating. Your budget committee wants to know why they should pay to fix them now. If you lead an IT team, this conversation probably feels familiar. You have unsupported software that needs attention, dependencies that have not been reviewed, legacy applications that nobody wants to touch, and security findings that keep getting pushed to next quarter. Your team knows these issues will not resolve themselves but when budget season arrives, the pushback begins. Cybersecurity debt can be difficult to explain to people who see only the cost of fixing it,...

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DPR on Fire

Canadian Wildfires Are a Wake-Up Call: Why Every IT Leader Should Review Their Disaster Recovery Plan

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

As wildfires continue to impact communities across Canada, they should serve as a powerful reminder that disasters don’t always look like cyberattacks or hardware failures. Sometimes they are environmental events that happen with little warning and create widespread disruption for employees, customers, suppliers, and critical infrastructure. According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC), recent wildfire seasons have repeatedly stretched emergency response resources across multiple provinces, while Natural Resources Canada – Annual Report 2025 notes that...

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Credential Sprawl

Credential Sprawl: The Hidden Risk Growing Inside Your Organization

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

Over the past several months, we’ve explored some of the biggest challenges facing technology leaders today. We’ve discussed technical debt, AI technical debt, digital sovereignty, workplace mental health, and the importance of maintaining a human-centered approach to technology. These topics may seem unrelated. The reality is, they all connect to a growing problem that many organizations are struggling to manage: Credential Sprawl It’s one of the most overlooked risks in modern IT environments, yet it has direct implications for cybersecurity, operational...

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AI Tech Debt

AI Technical Debt: The Hidden Cost, Can You Feel it?

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog. 2 Comments on AI Technical Debt: The Hidden Cost, Can You Feel it?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly shifted from an innovation experiment to an operational necessity. Organizations are deploying AI copilots, automation platforms, customer service bots, analytics engines, and AI-generated software at record speed. But many businesses are discovering an uncomfortable reality: the faster AI is ‘adopted,’ the faster technical debt can accumulate. And you can’t ask AI ‘what were you thinking?’ because AI doesn’t think. It determines what the next token of code is(most likely) and outputs it (with some random variability) without thinking. This...

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Linux for Business

Linux for Business: Scalable, Secure, Innovation Foward

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

In technology boardrooms and engineering teams alike, a quiet but decisive shift has been underway over the last 25 years. Linux is not just a developer preference; it has become a strategic business choice.  From cloud infrastructure to embedded systems, Linux has  positioned itself as the backbone of modern software development. Have your non-tech teams caught up? For executives evaluating digitalization & technology strategy, understanding why developers prefer Linux offers valuable insight into scalability, security, and long-term innovation. Linux Basics ...

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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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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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Tackle Tech Debt

The True Cost of Technical Debt — And How IT Leaders Are Tackling It in 2025 

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog. 1 Comment on The True Cost of Technical Debt — And How IT Leaders Are Tackling It in 2025 

In today’s digital-first economy, the pressure to innovate faster than the competition is unrelenting. But in that urgency, many organizations find, when looking back, that they cut corners; choosing short-term fixes over scalable, sustainable solutions. The result? Technical debt — a growing challenge that affects productivity, innovation, business continuity and even client relationships.  While some technical debt is strategic and manageable, much of it becomes a silent killer, slowly eroding an organization’s ability to evolve. In 2025, IT leaders are treating tech debt as a...

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Knowledge is Power

Stability at Speed, Innovation at Scale: Explore What We Can Do for You

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

At STEP Software we know that choosing a software development partner is a critical business decision. Whether you’re looking to modernize legacy systems, build a custom platform from the ground up, or scale your digital infrastructure, it’s essential to understand who you’re working with and what they bring to the table.   That’s why we’ve created an updated Capabilities Deck, now available for download directly from our website. It’s designed to give you a clear, concise overview of our technical expertise, industry experience, and the value we deliver on every...

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