Cloud – Page 6 – Scriptingthewhy.com

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City in the clouds — We’re years into the future and we’re still not living like this, uh humans.
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Have you ever had that moment where you’re seated at your computer and thought to yourself, “there’s a lot of news on cloud computing. Seems like it’s a big deal. I wonder who puts everything in the cloud together.”

Well let me tell you, there are a certain group of people that have set things in place for any data you send to be able to reach your cloud (it may go to someone else’s cloud if you got hacked) and they even have contingency plans just in case something was to go awry.

Yes, these people have a particular set of skills (had to make a Taken reference, sorry), some of which may surprise you that you already have. Looks like after reading this, it might be time for that career change you were always thinking about.

So, we’ll be going over the mysterious shadow group in the sky, the masterminds powering your crippling addiction, and as usual, we’ll tackle what, who, how, and if you can join the ranks without having to live off a steady diet of ramen noodles to get a degree.

man talking on phone in front of window — Sir, I do cloud computing, that does not mean I have control over the weather.
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Sky of Architects

To answer the question, you may be asking about the big group of people in the sky (where again your information does not go) the people that make like Scarface and put this thing together are the all-mighty Cloud Architects (I’m going to refer to them as CA for short).

But before you can understand what they are, you first have to understand what cloud architecture is. Cloud architecture is a group of resources and services provided by a cloud provider that is structured in such a way as to work in tandem with one another.

These professionals handle everything running in the cloud and at times handle everything running around it. There are times when they may have to be the developer, negotiator, and consultant so in short, this role wears many hats, again at times they might be wearing several at once.

This role is not to be confused with Cloud Engineers, the difference is engineers focus on the day-to-day operation of the cloud architecture, and the architects focus on the creation of the infrastructure and providing possible solutions for the future of the organization’s cloud.

With so much on the line, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a CA who doesn’t like to have a little coffee in their system to keep focused. A little Java anyone?

young woman mapping out an idea — The one to overview the many…a six-figure salary just means I’m never off the clock.
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Jack of all Clouds

Who uses these Jack of all trades players? Almost everyone, thing, or company you can think of is using a Cloud Architect to build, manage, monitor, and even keep up to date their cloud operation.

There’s not one business (unless it’s brand new and does not have the capital) that isn’t or hasn’t moved to the cloud. Being a CA is such a hot career that its demand is the highest in the world.

This makes sense seeing the number of skills you must have in your toolbox and the number of interactions that you must have throughout the creation and maintenance of the architecture. What are some of these interactions you ask?

Well, if you could imagine going back and forth with DevOps engineers, software developers, and whatever third-party vendor brought on to help deliver final projects that solve organizations’ cloud computing needs.

So, yeah CAs talk to and are wanted by a lot of people. Pimping out that cloud baby.

man seated looking at laptop — After five cups of coffee, three bathroom breaks, and screaming match between me and the monitor, the EC2 instance is finally connects.
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Cloud Before and After

Let’s take a trip back in time before the cloud was even thought of (fun fact, the cloud has been around since the 60s, just not to the extent that we have today), before if you were to start or have a business running, you would have to go out and acquire a space then get your hands on the hardware, software, and accessories.

Not only with making those large purchases you would also have to hire someone or a team to come in and set up everything for you in order to even get your business to run virtually. You would have to worry about how large of a space you could rent and where you were going to be able to have your setup.

Then you would have to worry about ventilation to keep your machines cool and running, and storage for when your business becomes larger and starts to house more data. Eventually, you would either have to expand your space which would see you making more purchases or be forced to stall until something comes along.

This is called on-premises or on-prem for short, since cloud computing is around now, there’s no longer a need to seek out hardware or even software. CAs can simply plan and design a cloud adoption strategy that suits your needs.

So, basically, a CA had a hand in everything you use that connects to the cloud.

Person in a field looking upward to the sky — I just connected a load balancer to my instance, why is it still cloudy out here?
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Architect Skyward

So, now you’re probably pondering,” can I get into this job without a degree?” Well, yeah of course if you’re willing to go out and obtain one or more certifications, again multiple held certs better your odds.

This is a grey area and not sure how much I trust it but if someone had any luck with this please feel free to script a comment below about your experience, it is possible for you to get a cloud computing job with no experience.

Again, I haven’t had any luck and I hold a cert with AWS with little experience. Things you’re going to want to know are networking (both computing and actual networking), working knowledge of operating systems, security, and as you could guess a fundamental knowledge of programming language.

Another thing to consider is that being a CA is a challenging and stressful career, I mean you’re dealing with your fellow humans, and humans are stressful enough without the presents of being on the job.

older fellow thinking to himself — These humans’ human too hard.
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Made it this far and found this to be entertaining? Then a big thanks to you and please show your support by cracking a like, scripting a comment, launch a share, or plug-in to follow.

Would like to give sincere thanks to current followers and subscribers, your support and actions mean a lot and has a play in the creation of each script.

Think you have what it takes to be a Cloud Architect?

Script a comment below on what you find interesting about cloud architecture.

Also, if you found this script on cloud to be interesting and would like to read more then check out my script on things I wish I knew before jumping to the cloud.

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First day on the job. I think it’s time I read the latest script. What could go wrong?
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It’s your first day on the job as the new System Admin and you can’t wait to take on the day. Congratulations. After meeting with a few of your co-workers and the other people you are going to be helping throughout the building, you grab a cup of that fresh poisonous morning brew and head back to your office.

Quick rant, I swear toilet manufacturers and coffee companies have a secret contract together because there is no logical reason why you should down a cup and have to rush to the bathroom to exercise your sphincter moments later. They are in cahoots, and you can’t tell me otherwise.

Back on track, you’re back at your office sitting at your computer clearing out emails, and responding to tickets, and you notice a file named “Click here, there’s nothing to worry about.” You pause and think, “Maybe there is something to worry about”, you look back only for it to then say “No, really, there’s nothing to worry about. Promise.”

You wrestle with the thought and after a short time of debating you figure just checking the file out couldn’t be any harm, surely nothing could go wrong, you then receive an alert for a countdown. Let me script for you how things are about to blow up.

This is not good, Z-Daddy is ain’t good at all mate. One file is about to have me lose me job, fam.
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First Day Ticking

There’s a countdown, meaning you’re on a time clock and it’s a race to solve this problem. Relax, this is no cause for panic, you’re just having some first-day bad luck. The event you just triggered with your curiosity is called a “Logic bomb”.

Logic bombs go by other names such as “Slag code” or “Slug code” but the result is still the same. A flavor of bad things happens at the end of the countdown which leads to the involuntary clapping of your cheeks via boss or client.

Logic bombs are malicious code inserted into an application and are designed to go off when the right event has taken place. This isn’t to be confused with “time bombs” as time bombs are a subset of logic bombs.

Time bombs are coded to go off at a specific time. This is like how a typical bomb operates but the only upside is you get to keep all your limbs instead of being either wheelchair or casket bound for the rest of your existence.

Puppy, you stay as cute as you are and I’ll be your John Wick. I have the strange feeling I should looking out for something…oh well, I’ll just read another script.
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Coded Bombs Outsourced

What kind of person would leave you with such a treat for your first day on the job? Well, if you could recall how your now boss felt about the previous Sys Admin, you might have thought that it could’ve been him. But before any confirmation of them being the culprit here’s a brief history on logic bombs.

The history of Logic Bombs dates to the Cold War, you know, that good ole USA vs USSR. The CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) had launched a trojan horse- that was in code, they didn’t actually launch a trojan horse, on the Soviet Union back in 1982. This was widely considered to be the original use of the logic bomb.

In the event of a logic Bomb being launched, a trucking company had some dealings with a software contractor, leading to a disagreement. Following that disagreement was the threat of using a logic bomb unless the client paid the invoices.

This had gone to court and the client won. Finally, this great-at-outsourcing country, the USA was on the receiving end of a logic bomb. Our army found that significant amounts of data were deleted which led to reservists being delayed for deployment and in payment. The Army was able to restore the data after coughing up $2.5 million for an investigation and repairing systems.

How does any of this relate to your situation? Well, the previous Sys Admin might have been unhappy, and this is the kill from beyond the grave. You just happened to be the tool to set things in motion. Also, the individual that launched the logic bomb received jail time and had to pay $1.5 million in restitution. United States of America baby, we love our bills.

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Don’t worry kid, logic bombs aren’t the only thing we sell here. How about you turn around? You could get a trick and a treat.
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High Level and Too Close

How could the previous Sys Admin be the culprit you might be wondering. The design of a logic bomb depends on the one creating it and what their goals are. They’re usually created by someone with high-level access, granting them the ability to have many options as to where the bomb or bombs could be placed.

Being able to dress them as viruses, malware, or worms furthers an already growing attack vector list and can make it even harder to trace the origin. As mentioned before, a few conditions could be required for detonation, one being something simple like opening a file. The other could be natural as the payload goes off when a time criterion is met.

The developers’ goals could range from releasing a worm to infect the network, releasing ransomware to extort money from the company, or deletion of files and worse the hard drive. And once the dust settles, the culprit, if clever, is long gone as this could have been left months or even a year behind.

Pay my employees? How? My company makes money hand over fit.
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Build-A-Bomb Prevention Plan

At this junction, you’re probably wondering how you would be able to catch something like this from going off in your company or simply just avoiding this whole event together. One way to prevent this and I know the majority of companies are going to say, “THAT’S AN OUTRAGE!” Ensuring that the people who are closest to sensitive items and information are paid could help and seeing them paid well could be a huge benefit.

Money doesn’t solve everything but being able to pay your bills on time does help. Other forms of prevention are used up to date antivirus software as the logic bomb might have been injected into a virus or malware, scanning all files from time to time – this includes all compressed files, avoiding clicking on suspicious email attachments like “Nude Cowgirl Midgets” from known and unknown sources, keeping your OS (Operating System) up to date, and training staff not to click on anything promising them a good time. Logic bombs are tricky by design but with a watchful eye, you might be able to spot one in time and stop yourself from…well, exploding.

Like, share, and subscribe…in Scriptingthewhy we trust. America baby!
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Made it this far and found this to be entertaining? Then a big thanks to you and please show your support by cracking a like, scripting a comment, or plug-in to follow.

Would like to give sincere thanks to current followers and subscribers, your support and actions mean a lot and has a play in the creation of each script.

Have your company or someone you know experienced a logic bomb event? Feel like there’s something I may have missed? Script a comment below.