October Release: Q&A with Ari Weil

Shortly after Akamai announced the October 2019 Release with new features and capabilities across its security, performance and media product lines, Akamai's VP of Product Marketing, Ari Weil, took over Akamai's Twitter account for a live October Release Q&A.

For those that missed the live event, here's an overview of all the questions submitted, as well as Ari's answers.

Q1: What can you tell us about the new #bot intelligence improvements and updates?

A1: @Akamai now shows how #bots relate to customers and their industry - the broader threat they represent, how the bots operate, and effective mitigations

Q2: What @Akamai product update are you most personally excited about @aweil?

A2: #Bot intelligence! It brings detection, insight, and mitigation together to augment our customers' #security teams in a unified set of controls

Q3: What is the timeline for user fraud detection in Akamai Identity Cloud?

A3: Identity Cloud identifies early stages of the #fraud kill chain; insight from #bot mgr for #credentialstuffing & #accountchecking + a framework to act

Q4: How will @Akamai's October Release impact #developers?

A4: We're improving how #developers leverage @akamai as code and be more focused on their #apps and #infrastructure. Ream more here! https://developer.akamai.com/blog/2019/10/15/october-2019-release-whats-it-developers-admins-and-architects%20?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q5: How can I optimize animated #GIFs now with the recent release?

A5: There's a great blog on this on our #developer site here! https://developer.akamai.com/blog/2019/08/26/introducing-animated-gif-optimization-akamai-image-manager?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q6: Which product update will make the greatest impact on #websec?

A6: #WAF rule improvements and eval capability will help businesses be #secure by design and evolve protections in complex environments.

Q7: How does @Akamai decide what updates to make to products?

A7: #Customer input, our #threat intel, #analyst insights, and our #services engagements all factor in - it's been a recipe for industry leadership.

Q8: Large-scale #DDoS attacks continue to be on the rise in 2019, what does this latest release do to address both the increase in size and severity of DDoS attacks on the web?

A8: We continue to increase detections and automated #ddos mitigations, and are building out scrubbing centers in more regions. Check out https://www.akamai.com/us/en/security/ddos-resource-center.jsp?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q9: How can orgs continue to improve video #streaming performance in 2019 and beyond?

A9: Here's a great blog on origin-assisted prefetching that will provide insight and links to more! https://blogs.akamai.com/2019/10/optimizing-video-streaming-performance-with-origin-assisted-prefetching.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q10: What kinds of insights can be gained by using the #Bot Intelligence Console?

A10: The Bot Intelligence Console can answer many questions, including: What #bots are hitting your sites and #apps? Are these common to your industry? How does the #bot operate? What controls are effective?

Q11: We are an #AWS shop. Why would I use something besidesin addition to the native AWS services?

A11: 2 words: Shared responsibility. @Akamai handles #DDoS, #app protection & #bot mgmt while you focus on your #AWS deployment. https://www.akamai.com/us/en/solutions/akamai-architectures.jsp?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q12: How does this release address the growing threat of video piracy?

A12: With watermarking and access revocation. There are two blogs on the topic: https://blogs.akamai.com/2019/10/watermarking-a-content-owners-mark-to-prevent-piracy.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate and https://blogs.akamai.com/2019/10/access-revocation-a-content-providers-tool-to-block-pirates-in-real-time.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q13: What are the benefits of using @Akamai's #streaming services over current social media based solutions (Twitch/Mixer/Facebook/etc)?

A13: Scaling IP #video at #broadcast quality globally. This year we delivered flawless QoE for 18.6 million concurrents and just hit a traffic peak of 106.591tbps this week. See our site for more: https://www.akamai.com/us/en/about/news/press/2019-press/with-18.6-million-simultaneous-viewers-streaming-vivo-ipl-hotstar-shatters-viewership-record-again.jsp?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q14: What can you give a sneak preview of for 2020? What product enhancements will you be focusing on?

A14: We're expanding our industry leading #security portfolio to protect against #magecart style attacks. We're seeing strong results with early betas.

Q15: What new #DevOps capabilities is Akamai providing customers?

A15: EdgeWorkers is really exciting because it allows #developers to push business logic to the #edge to solve problems without modifying #apps https://developer.akamai.com/akamai-edgeworkers-overview?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q16: Why is the edge so important for companies to deliver great & secure digital experiences?

A16: The #Edge enables a consistent #security posture across a hybrid/multi #cloud architecture, and that has a real financial impact. https://www.akamai.com/us/en/campaign/assets/reports/forrester-tei-oct-study.jsp?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q17: How can customers use the new #bot activity insights to enhance #security?

A17: Customers can use it to get clarity: is the #bot targeting my industry or just me? How does it behave? What are the most effective mitigations?

Q18: What is the single most formidable, #cybersecurity threat facing businesses today? And how is @Akamai mobilizing to mitigate against it?

A18: There are many, but complexity is a massive challenge. #Risk is compounded by evolving architectures, #shadowIT, and more sophisticated attackers.

Q19: What's new that will help safeguard against video #piracy?

A19: Check out this great #ebook on #media #security https://www.akamai.com/us/en/multimedia/documents/white-paper/the-state-of-media-security-white-paper.pdf?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q20: Also, how do the new enhancements in the October Release help maintain consistent #security controls?

A20: A picture's worth 1000 words (or 150 characters) - check out this reference architecture: https://www.akamai.com/us/en/multimedia/documents/infographic/securing-multi-cloud-reference-architecture.pdf?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q21: How does @Akamai's new Enterprise Application Access functionality help companies further strengthen their #ZeroTrust platforms?

A21: By making the #app and #user the perimeter. A key update is how we use enhanced #security signals to help create a profile for a user risk assessment https://blogs.akamai.com/2019/10/walkdont-walk-secure-intelligent-application-access-with-enhanced-security-signals.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q22: What does it mean for #IT and #security teams to deploy @Akamai's #WAF solutions in evaluation mode?

A22: They can deploy @Akamai's curated rule updates faster and keep protections up to date by better understanding their impact - see https://blogs.akamai.com/2019/10/tune-your-waf-with-greater-confidence-using-krs-evaluation-mode.htm?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate.

Q23: What can @Akamai customers expect from the new enhancements for Akamai's #Bot Manager?

A23: Understand how sophisticated, pervasive & active a #bot is plus how to mitigate it - see https://blogs.akamai.com/2019/10/enhance-visibility-into-the-bot-landscape-with-bot-intelligence-console.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_corporate

Q24: Does the rollout of #5G and the increased speed level impact how @Akamai develops security solutions? The increased speed could potentially enable bad actors to cause harm much quicker.

A24: We're actively testing #edgecomputing scenarios with #network operators for #mobile use cases, where reducing latency really matters https://www.lightreading.com/the-edge/akamai-testing-edge-computing-scenarios-with-5g-operators/d/d-id/753485?

Q25: What does this release mean for @Akamai's products and customers overall?

A25: Deliver superior quality, consistently at scale: with security that is critical when #privacy concerns are paramount. @Akamai helps you own the #Edge!

Learn More: Visit the October Release page on Akamai.com to see everything that was announced.