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AWS Network Firewall Expansion

AWS Network Firewall, a managed firewall service, now expands its availability to four additional AWS Regions. This expansion ensures that organisations worldwide can benefit from the advanced network protection it provides. With AWS Network Firewall, users can effortlessly enforce network security rules and gain granular control over traffic flow. This enhanced capability fortifies the first line of defence, safeguarding against potential threats and attacks.

Enhanced Management with AWS Security Hub and AWS CloudFormation

AWS Security Hub announces a significant improvement in management capabilities by integrating with AWS CloudFormation. This powerful integration simplifies managing security and compliance resources across the AWS infrastructure. Now, organisations can automate the deployment and configuration of security standards using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles, ensuring consistent and secure cloud environments across their operations.

AWS Control Tower Integration

The general availability of AWS Control Tower's integration with Security Hub marks a crucial milestone in maintaining control and compliance over AWS accounts. AWS Control Tower streamlines setting up a well-architected and compliant multi-account environment. With Security Hub integration, administrators gain enhanced visibility and control over security findings, enabling enforcement of centralised governance and security best practices.

You can now activate more than 170 Security Hub detective controls, aligning them with corresponding control objectives from AWS Control Tower. Notably, AWS Control Tower can now detect when a control is disabled in Security Hub, indicating a 'Drifted' control state. This new drift detection capability simplifies the monitoring of control deployment status, enabling you to promptly manage the security posture of your AWS Control Tower environment by taking necessary actions.

Amazon Inspector Code Scans for AWS Lambda Function

Ensuring secure serverless applications are now more accessible with the general availability of Code Scans for AWS Lambda functions. Amazon Inspector Console, a robust security assessment service, now offers code-level security assessments for Lambda functions, identifying vulnerabilities and potential security risks. This capability empowers developers to take proactive measures to strengthen the security posture of their serverless applications.

Amazon Verified Permissions

With the introduction of Amazon Verified Permissions, AWS simplifies the permissions management process for cloud resources. Organisations can streamline security audits and compliance checks, saving time and effort. This capability provides an extra layer of confidence, ensuring that only authorised users can access and modify critical resources.

Utilise your current identity provider, responsible for managing users and groups, to effectively manage application permissions and control access. With this integrated authentication and authorisation solution, applications utilising Amazon Cognito now benefit from seamless policy validation based on attributes in Amazon Cognito while also being able to authorise requests using Amazon Cognito tokens.

AWS Security Hub Automation Rules

AWS Security Hub Automation Rules introduce a game-changing capability for proactive incident response. Users can now define automated actions responding to security events, enabling faster and more efficient incident resolution. This empowers organisations to respond swiftly to potential security threats and minimise the impact of security incidents.

AWS Global Partner Security Initiative

Security is a shared responsibility, and AWS takes a collaborative approach to empower its users and partners in fortifying their cloud security. The AWS Global Partner Security Initiative provides valuable insights, resources, and tools to help partners enhance their security offerings and better protect their customers' data. This initiative fosters a more robust security ecosystem and builds trust among AWS users worldwide.

AWS continues to demonstrate its commitment to cloud security with these latest capabilities. As organisations navigate an ever-changing threat landscape, the robustness of AWS security offerings ensures that cloud environments remain fortified and data remains secure. By leveraging these new features and capabilities, users can confidently embrace the cloud's potential without compromising security.

Beinex Offering

Beinex is an AWS consulting partner, and we empower customers to host their BI solutions and much more on the cloud. Our cloud migration experts bring in best-in-class stability and reliability by understanding your business strategy and working closely with you to deploy AWS infrastructure as a service.

Benefits of Snowflake Time Travel

With Snowflake Time Travel, you can access historical data, including data that has been altered or deleted, at any given point. This feature is helpful for various tasks, such as:

• • Querying data that has been modified or erased in the past
• • Duplicating entire tables, schemas, or databases at or before specific dates
• • Restoring deleted tables, schemas, and databases

How to activate Snowflake Time Travel?

Activating Snowflake Time Travel is a simple process that requires no additional effort. It is automatically activated with a retention period of one day. Nonetheless, upgrading to the Snowflake Enterprise Edition is necessary to customise the Data Retention Period and extend it to 90 days for Databases, Schemas, and Tables. It's important to note that increasing the Data Retention Period results in additional storage usage, reflected in your monthly Storage Fees.

Data Retention Period in Snowflake

In Snowflake, Data Retention Period determine how long historical data is retained to support Time Travel functionality. When data in a table is altered, such as through deletions or updates, Snowflake maintains the previous state of the data so that Time Travel operations (like SELECT, CREATE...CLONE, UNDROP) can be performed on it. By default, all Snowflake accounts have a standard retention period of one day (24 hours).

However, the Retention Period can be adjusted at the account and object level in the Snowflake Standard Edition to 0 (or unset to the default of 1 day) for databases, schemas, and tables.

In the Snowflake Enterprise Edition or higher, the Retention Period can be set to 0 for temporary databases, schemas, tables, and temporary tables. For permanent databases, schemas, and tables, the Retention Time can be configured to any duration between 0 and 90 days.

Functions of Snowflake Time Travel SQL Extensions

Snowflake Time Travel SQL Extensions are special SQL commands that allow users to query historical data from a specific point in time using the Time Travel feature. These extensions enable users to perform various Time Travel operations, including:

• a. CLONE: This command creates a copy of a table, schema, or database at a specific point in time using Time Travel.
• b. UNDROP: This command restores a dropped table, schema, or database to a specific point in time using Time Travel.
• c. HISTORY: This command retrieves the history of changes made to a table, schema, or database over time using Time Travel.
• d. AS OF: This command retrieves data from a table as it appeared at a specific point in time using Time Travel.

Specifying a Custom Data Retention Period for Snowflake Time Travel

To specify a custom Data Retention Period for Snowflake Time Travel, you can use the DATA_RETENTION_TIME IN_DAYS argument in the command when creating a table, schema, or database. By default, the maximum Retention Time in Standard Edition is set to 1 day (i.e. 24 hours), while in Snowflake Enterprise Edition (and higher), it can be set to any value up to 90 days.

The Data Retention Time can be set in the way it has been placed in the example below.

To create a schema with a custom Data Retention Period of 60 days, you can use the following SQL command:

create table mytable(col1 number, col2 date) data_retention_time_in_days=60;

Modify the Data Retention Period for Snowflake Objects

To modify the Data Retention Period of a Snowflake object, any change made to the Retention Period affects both active data and data in Time Travel. Depending on whether the period is increased or decreased, the following impacts occur:

• a. Increasing Retention
• b. Decreasing Retention

Let’s dive deep into more details:

a. Increasing Retention
Snowflake Time Travel preserves the data for a more extended period. For instance, if a Table’s Retention Time is increased from 10 to 20 days, the data set to be deleted after ten days will be retained for an additional ten days before being moved to Fail-Safe. However, data over ten days old and already transferred to Fail-Safe mode is unaffected.

b. Decreasing Retention
The duration of data stored in Time Travel is reduced. The shorter Retention Period applies only to active data updated after the Retention Period is shortened. If the data is still within the new Retention Period, it stays in Time Travel; otherwise, it is placed in Fail-Safe Mode. For instance, if a table with a 10-day Retention Period is reduced to 1 day, data from day 2 through day ten will be transferred to Fail-Safe, and only data from day one will be accessible through Time Travel.

Since the background process moves the data from Snowflake Time Travel to Fail-Safe, it may take some time to see the changes. Although Snowflake guarantees that the data will be transferred, it does not specify when the process will be finished. The data remains accessible via Time Travel until the background process is completed. To change an object's Retention Period, use ALTER object command, such as the following command for modifying a table's Retention Period:

alter table mytable set data_retention_time_in_days=30;

Snowflake Time Travel Data Query

To query previous versions of data in Snowflake Time Travel, you can use the AT | BEFORE Clause after making any DML actions on a table. This clause allows you to query data at or before a certain point in the table's history throughout the retention period. The specified threshold can be either time-based (e.g., a timestamp or time offset from the present) or a statement ID (e.g., SELECT or INSERT).

For example, to select historical data from a table as of a specific date and time, you can use a query like:

sql
SELECT * FROM my table AT (TIMESTAMP => 'Fri, 05 May 2023 16:20:00 -

If you want to pull data from a table that was last updated a certain number of minutes ago, you can use a query like:

sql
SELECT * FROM my_table AT(OFFSET => -60*5);

And to collect historical data from a table up to a specified statement's modifications, but not including them, you can use a query like:

Sql
SELECT * FROM my_table BEFORE(STATEMENT => '8e5d0ca9-005e-44e6-b858-a8f5b37c57

How to Restore Deleted Objects by Utilising the UNDROP Command?

To restore a deleted object that hasn't been permanently removed from the system (meaning it can still be seen in the "SHOW object type> HISTORY" output), you can use the UNDROP command in conjunction with Snowflake Time Travel. This command can be applied to various objects, such as tables, schemas, and databases. It effectively reverts the thing to its previous state before it was deleted with the DROP command. For example, the UNDROP command can also restore a dropped database.

Summing Up

Snowflake Time Travel’s features can enhance your decision-making process and overall data experience. If you're looking for a Snowflake service provider, Beinex is an excellent option. Our partnership with Snowflake enables us to offer advanced features like automated tuning, elastic compute, and analytics modernisation services to help your organisation realise exponential Returns on Investment.

Geo Spatial Tableau 10.4 brings to its user’s new geospatial capabilities with linear geometry shapefile support. You could also use Tableau’s Web Data Connector to import spatial data from the web by connecting directly to GeoJSON. For the Technical minds, Tableau has also deployed MATLAB models for predictive business insights. Data Source Certification Have you ever wondered about the authenticity of your data, its credibility for retrieving business insights? Tableau 10.4 allows the site administrators and project leaders to set the certification for the data source which meet the organization’s compliance and security standards. This appears as a unique badge, giving users the confidence over their data. Discussions With Tableau 10.4, you can now benefit from the collective knowledge of your team. The real time commenting capability allows data discoveries and analytics based on the discussion and viz snapshots. Administrators can also disable this feature if required. Additionally, Tableau gives data source recommendations helps you to find the right data source for your analysis. It also gives an option of publishing to older versions of Tableau Server using the latest version of Tableau desktop using downgrade and publish option.

These days we are into the 2-D screen of our mobile phones and watch videos and shows and engage in many more activities. But we are not carried away to that place or get immersed in it. Through the metaverse, that is possible. Here you can have an avatar which can act as a replica of your physical self. You can indulge in anything from hanging out with pals, participating in sports or workout sessions, learning new courses or activities, attending events, or shopping.

What are the possibilities Metaverse offers?

Using the limitless opportunities, you can virtually own digital clothing, buy land, construct buildings, start businesses, visit nightclubs and shopping centres, and even buy digital artworks. Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) are used in the metaverse to digitally represent physical assets like art, music, in-game goods, and videos. They can be purchased and sold online. An evolving business strategy called "Direct-to-avatar" (D2A) makes it possible to sell and buy goods directly to avatars or other digital identities in virtual environments. Here, the possibilities are just boundless. Considering the future prospects, many brands like Adidas, Nike and Gucci, to name a few, have invested in the metaverse. As Gen Z and millennials are already spending a considerable amount of time in the virtual world, it is anticipated that by the end of 2022, the global VR sector will generate over $6.71 billion in revenue, and by 2024, it will be around $12.19 billion.

Metaverse generates value in customer experience by providing real-life interactions and can revolutionise user experience. Let’s see how it can be done:

1. Providing Unique Customised Experiences

Customisation plays a crucial part in today’s business world, as does in the metaverse. Businesses struggle to tailor the experience for each consumer, whether they prefer to purchase online or go to a physical store. Thankfully, the metaverse can guarantee that each customer's experience in an online store is distinctive. Customers can browse products geared toward their unique needs rather than browsing products that are of no interest to them. Additionally, the metaverse encourages connectedness, so consumers may share their experiences with other metaverse users and read reviews of goods and services before making a purchase.

Sports gear giant Adidas is one step ahead of the game by providing virtual gear for the virtual world and metaverse. Major apparel retailers like Macy's, Adidas, and Modcloth have already adopted virtual dressing rooms to enable customers to visualise a garment on their body without actually trying it on. The Swedish furniture retailer IKEA has already released an augmented reality catalogue app that lets you view how various pieces of furniture would look in your home. Nike owns Nikeland, a virtual world which is a free immersive sports space where you participate in sporting events from your computer or phone through your unique avatar.

2. Trials Using Virtual and Augmented Reality

Earlier trials were provided only for digital products, but with the help of the metaverse, we can experience every product virtually. For instance, we can choose a hotel to stay in after virtually experiencing the facilities provided by it. That’s cool, isn’t it? The metaverse uses augmented and virtual reality to give users a fully immersive experience. Customers who engage in immersive experiences may be able to do things that they otherwise might not have been able to do or uniquely do things. From buying lipstick after a virtual trial to buying a car after a virtual drive allows customers to explore and experience more realistically. Customers can currently utilise augmented reality through apps in a limited way, but the metaverse will allow them to experience the product from a close-up and personal perspective. For instance, Hyundai’s mobility adventure enables a vivid virtual experience.

BMW's augmented reality experiences enable automobile buyers to modify their desired vehicles in showrooms with the help of their tablets or smartphones. Alternatively, consumers can don virtual reality goggles to experience what it's like to drive cars, which will help them comprehend their options and select the best option available for their new car.

3. Accessible from Anywhere

The metaverse offers businesses plenty of advertising opportunities, but it also enables customers to interact with the people, places, and brands that interest them. Businesses can provide customers with experiences that let them explore their interests in greater detail without leaving the comfort of their homes and provide free samples of real-world events.

For people for whom it is not always feasible or economical to attend events in real life, the metaverse is the ideal replacement. Through 3D virtual worlds and avatars, users can enjoy affordable front-row access to various events with a level of immersion that must be experienced. Thanks to simple navigation, which places them in a metaverse tailored to their interests.

If you want to go shopping and there is no time for that, you can access it virtually from anywhere. To cite an example, for interior designing of your house, you can try different pieces or types of furniture from a virtual shop by arranging those in a digital representation of your house. Customers could quickly see whether the sofa would go with the colour scheme of their floor or wall or whether a wardrobe would fit in the available area. Ikea, the furniture brand, has already provided virtual experiences for customers. Buying land without the help of an agent is possible through Upland, a virtual real estate software that lets users browse and buy virtual property connected to actual towns and cities.

4. Strengthen Customer Experience

Companies now offer advice and assistance in addition to goods and services. Metaverse enables businesses to develop natural relationships with clients that weren't feasible with earlier forms of technology. Through virtual reality, customers experience ‘story-living’ rather than just ‘story-telling’. Shoppers can have a distinctive customer experience as they can purchase through experiencing it, have opinions about it, interact with other users and ask questions in the metaverse itself.

The businesses are testing out virtual and augmented retail on various platforms. Within the Roblox online multiplayer game, Gucci and Nike have unveiled fashion shows. In Fortnite, Balenciaga has begun offering high-end clothing. Additionally, the South Korean social avatar app Zepeto, Ralph Lauren, and Adidas have introduced interactive experiences. In the meantime, Charlotte Tilbury has established a virtual cosmetic store.

The journey doesn't end with how companies interact with customers in the metaverse. Businesses that use the metaverse's advantages ensure their clients have a customised experience that develops at the same rate as the metaverse. It's time for businesses to be prepared to adopt the impending metaverse and become early adopters before it is too late. Even though the metaverse is the next frontier of internet technology and consumer experience enhancement, massive adoption and accessibility are crucial. It's vital for business owners to begin learning about how these virtual worlds function, what opportunities and problems there are, and how to take advantage as soon as possible.