David Carrero Fernández-Baillo, Stackscale: “the main reason why users are reluctant to adopt new solutions is a lack of awareness of the advantages”

We can finally sit back and take a minute to reminisce on the threats and challenges brought to the cyberworld by the pandemic.

Obviously, one of the biggest obstacles was automatization and moving to remote working. It completely changed our social life. The only way to maintain most human connections was through the Internet.

It saved many businesses and relationships. However, it brought a significant downside – an endless tide of cyberattacks.

To discuss this painful problem and to once again determine areas in which everyone should be the most vigilant, we reached out to David Carrero Fernández-Baillo, VP of Sales at Stackscale – a Private Cloud provider that offers a hybrid solution between the traditional environment and Public Cloud services.

What has your journey been like? How did the idea of Stackscale come about in 2012?

I founded my first company, Ferca Network, in 1998 to offer shared hosting solutions, domains, and, later on, dedicated servers as well. The company merged with another hosting company and gave rise to a bigger group, which was sold to Telefónica in Spain in 2011.

Leveraging our years of experience, my partners and I decided to start a new adventure and founded Stackscale in 2012. Our original idea was to offer infrastructure and private cloud solutions to big consumers of computing, RAM, storage, and bandwidth resources. Besides, offering excellent technical support and remaining approachable to customers has always been our priority.

Can you tell us a little bit about what you do? What are the main challenges you help navigate?

My mission at Stackscale is to lead the sales and marketing department. One of our current challenges is increasing Stackscale’s visibility to spread the benefits of our solutions and, above all, boosting operations at the European level.

What threats affecting websites do you find the most concerning nowadays?

There are many threats to websites nowadays. However, from our point of view, the most significant threats may be DDoS attacks and the security of applications deployed by customers.

That is why it is important to proactively approach security in IT. For example, many organizations are adopting new security models such as Zero Trust.

Do you think the recent global events altered the way people approach cybersecurity?

There is no doubt that global events have had an impact on the cybersecurity approach of companies around the world. Organizations are increasingly focusing on prevention and protection measures. They rely on better Disaster Recovery solutions — from geo-replication to a cold spare where restoring replicas and backups — to be prepared against any contingency they might face.

At Stackscale, we deeply care about business continuity and data durability and, as a result, our customers benefit from geo-replication by default in their network storage volumes, except for the volumes which are specially designed for backups and archival.

Why do you think companies often hesitate to try out new and innovative solutions that would enhance their IT operations?

I would say that the main reason why users are reluctant to adopt new solutions is a lack of awareness of the advantages companies can benefit from in IT operations.

At Stackscale we like giving the chance to make a POC so that customers can see first-hand the benefits of implementing particular solutions in their infrastructure.

What mistakes do you notice new website owners make most often?

From our experience, the provisioning of resources is a common issue for a wide range of businesses. For instance, not anticipating spikes in traffic during important campaigns, such as Black Friday or Christmas, is a usual mistake among new eCommerce players. Nevertheless, mistakes depend considerably on the project.

That is why it is important to rely on a trustworthy provider that completely understands the business needs and works closely with its IT department.

What security features do you think are essential for websites nowadays?

Having a security certificate is basic, but so is having a strong system to support operations. This should also be powered by a firewall service and a CDN solution that provides protection against DDoS attacks and a powerful WAF.

Talking about average Internet users, what details do you think everyone should be especially vigilant about when browsing? Are there any security tools that you would like to recommend?

It is very important taking notice of the visited website address, check if the security certificate is valid, and even review the legal notice to verify the company’s authenticity. In case of doubt, it is better to avoid providing personal information and, if necessary, it is recommended to consult an expert.

Moreover, installing a strong antivirus and security system in all equipment can help mitigate any potential threats.

What does the future hold for Stackscale?

We continue increasing our portfolio of products and services, as well as opening new locations to expand our data center network. In addition to our three data centers in Madrid and two data centers in Amsterdam, our goal is to broaden our presence in other European countries.

Moreover, our efforts are especially focused on offering reliable IT solutions to businesses, completely adapted to their real needs. With a clear objective of providing High-Availability, high-performance, and maximum security products and services, we have recently launched new Disaster Recovery solutions and a CDN solution.