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Best Practices for Cloud Database Security

Bineesh Mathew | February 18, 2022 | 948 views

Cloud Database Security

Introduction

While databases can be run on-premise, 95% of US businesses have decided to move most of their apps and infrastructure to the cloud. In a cloud database, information is collected and stored in either structured or unstructured formats on a public, private, or hybrid cloud platform.

As numerous companies move their databases online, they need to be aware of the risks of cloud database security. This can help security teams plan for possible intrusions and lessen the damage caused by successful breaches.

The burden on databases is growing steadily as the global exchange of data expands exponentially with the number of systems and devices that transmit and generate data. The more data an organization collects, the more controls are required to keep the data flowing smoothly.

"I do think that cloud adoption is a pivotal part of our journey, but the cloud carries some significant risks. Your adoption strategy has to have equal parts of progressiveness and conservatism. Due diligence is required. The idea of the traditional corporate network is changing. And we need to be out in front of that change to ensure our users are secure, and that we're giving them the best experience that we can."

— Adam Leisring, CISO, Paycor.

Let’s discuss some of the cloud database security vulnerabilities and how they can be mitigated.

Possible Threats to Cloud Database

Many of the dangers that affect cloud technology also harm cloud database security and systems. However, due to the enormous amounts of potentially sensitive data being stored in databases, the consequences can be severe if left unchecked. These consequences, while not exhaustive, give an idea of the types of dangers that network managers may face as firms embrace large-scale cloud database storage systems. Some of the common cloud database security threats are:
  • Data breaches
  • Account hijacking
  • APIs
  • Data loss
  • Cloud servers as malware platforms


Secure Your Cloud Database with Best Practices

Although the risks associated with cloud databases security are frightening, understanding them can help users minimize potential damage. These broad methods also give system administrators advice on how to keep their networks safe from intrusions.


Monitor the Network Constantly

Effective network security teams are proactive, constantly scanning system security policies and logs for exceptions that could indicate data misuse. Semi-annual cloud database security audits should be conducted to provide a more systematic and structured look at how information is used and what defensive procedures are in place. Understanding your network’s flaws and how hackers could use them for their own benefit is often the best way to protect yourself from hackers.


Use Security Intelligence Technologies to Protect your Data in Cloud

SIEM (Security Intelligence and Event Management) technologies provide active network monitoring and the detection of cloud database security flaws. These technologies run continuous system analysis and help to detect potential security breaches in real-time. Individual monitoring should not be used to replace SIEM. It can help with manual searches and provide a more comprehensive picture of network safety.


Have a Cloud Database Security Strategy in Place

A cloud database security strategy is a road map that shows all of the elements of cloud data management.

Before transferring any organizational resources to the cloud, it is ideal for developing a security strategy to guarantee that the cloud infrastructure meets its demands.

A cloud database security plan entails the fundamentals of data management. It can assist enterprises in standardizing all aspects of data management, from analysis and corporate intelligence to performance, efficiency, security, and privacy. In addition, control becomes an essential gear in your data machine once you've established a strategy for continuing data operations.


Utilize Identity and Access Management to Secure Data

Identity and access management (IAM) is a way for organization to make sure that only authorized people have access to company-owned resources.

IAM allows you to manage user roles based on criteria such as role, access, privileges, and behavior.

IAM gives enterprises the control they need to safeguard data against illegal access. For example, an ex-employee's privileges are revoked by IAM, which helps organizations prevent the theft of trade secrets. Additionally, a corporation can utilize IAM to protect themselves against outbound assaults by implementing rules that deter thieves from accessing data. Dedicated IAM tools include the following:
  • Active Directory (AD)
  • Biometric authentication


Summing Up

Cloud security risks can eclipse its benefits, but adequate security measures can help to achieve the business goals as you want to. Security concerns may be reduced with sufficient education and a practical response approach, just like with any other technology. Administrators may significantly improve incident reaction time and keep most cloud data safe by maintaining a solid and proactive familiarity with network behavior. It may help this process if systems like SIEM are used in addition to personal attention and surveillance.

Frequently Asked Questions


Is cloud database secure?

Encryption is used to store files on cloud servers. This is cluttered, making it more difficult for fraudsters to access them. Following cloud database security best practices makes them more secure.


Is it possible to hack the cloud?

After gaining access to one account, a hacker can exploit the cloud infrastructure to access additional accounts. The attack would be far more extensive if they could gain access to a cloud provider's account.


Can businesses trust the cloud?

Yes, your data is safe in the cloud—probably far safer than it is on your hard drive. Furthermore, files are simple to access and maintain.

Spotlight

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Stormshield, a fully-owned subsidiary of Airbus CyberSecurity, offers innovative end-to-end security solutions to protect networks (Stormshield Network Security), computers (Stormshield Endpoint Security) and data (Stormshield Data Security).

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The idea behind this approach is to prioritize security and other critical aspects of software development at the earliest possible stage in the development process. By doing so, organizations can make more informed security decisions and identify and address security vulnerabilities before they cause any damage. As the pace of development continues to increase, organizations are increasingly adopting this approach in their software development processes to protect their systems and data from security risks. Trend 5: Upsurge in Demand for Vulnerability Prioritization Managing vulnerabilities in a software system requires analyzing vast amounts of data to determine issues that require immediate attention and prioritization. However, the growing presence of false positives is negatively impacting this process, resulting in decreased efficiency and wasted resources. Organizations are increasingly looking for vendors to provide vulnerability management tools that can reduce false positives, differentiate between low-priority issues and severe security threats, and offer actionable insights to mitigate them. Moving Forward with Application Security Applications security has become more critical than ever before for businesses in the current digital scape. With the attack surface constantly expanding and the frequency of threats on the rise, organizations must remain agile and employ the best effective strategies to protect their applications from potential cyberattacks. The significance of application security has not gone unnoticed. As organizations continue to invest in security measures, they are increasingly upgrading themselves as per emerging security trends to protect themselves against evolving cyber threats. This includes adopting the ‘shift left’ approach, tightening controls, and having a clear definition of remediation processes.

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Skyflow launches Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault

Businesswire | May 22, 2023

Today, Skyflow, the data privacy vault company, unveiled Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault, a robust privacy solution that enables organizations to safely and securely leverage the full power of large language models such as GPT. Companies are rushing to adopt AI, whether to increase productivity, enhance decision-making powered by data-driven insights, or to improve customer experience. However, privacy concerns hinder organizations from fully embracing AI. The Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault can provide enterprises with unparalleled data protection throughout the entire lifecycle of GPT models, and offers a comprehensive range of features tailored to meet the evolving needs of enterprises: Data Privacy and Security: Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault establishes a secure environment for sensitive data, protecting it from unauthorized access, breaches, and data leaks. Granular Data Control: Organizations can maintain strict control over sensitive data, ensuring that only authorized individuals or entities can access specific data sets or functionalities within GPT systems. Privacy-Preserving AI: Sensitive data is redacted and anonymized during data collection, model training, and interactions, enabling organizations to maximize AI capabilities without compromising privacy. Compliance and Regulatory Requirements: With Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault, global companies can leverage AI while complying with data residency requirements, such as GDPR, LGPD, and others. Here’s how organizations can leverage Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault: Data Collection and Preparation: Redact or tokenize sensitive information as it flows through GPT without lessening the value of the output. Skyflow’s proprietary polymorphic encryption technique enables the model to seamlessly handle protected data as if it were plaintext. Model Training: Safely train GPT models on content where sensitive data is redacted and anonymized. Robust multi-party training is also available, so that two or more entities can share anonymized datasets and safely use AI to unlock substantial insights. Interaction with GPT Models: De-identify sensitive data during interactions with GPT models, ensuring that privacy is preserved throughout the entire user interaction process. Secure Deployment and Integration: Seamlessly integrate Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault into existing data infrastructures to add a robust layer of data protection. Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault will protect all sensitive data flowing into GPT models and only reveal sensitive information to authorized parties once it has been processed by the model and returned. Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault delivers significant value across industries. Here are two specific use cases: Pharmaceutical Research: Pharmaceutical companies rely on Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault to protect sensitive data throughout the drug development lifecycle. It ensures the privacy and security of clinical trial data, safeguards proprietary research and intellectual property, and enables secure collaborations with external partners. Additionally, it supports personalized medicine initiatives by preserving the privacy of genetic data. Online Travel Booking: Online travel booking companies utilize Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault to protect customer data while leveraging AI models for personalized recommendations and enhanced customer experiences. It allows them to anonymize and protect personally identifiable information (PII) and payment data, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations while delivering superior travel experiences. “Generative AI can be a powerful tool for teams to maximize their output and scale their products. But the risk of a sensitive data leak is high, and with other providers, the cost of deploying a private GPT can be 10x what it is in a shared environment,” said Anshu Sharma, co-founder and CEO of Skyflow. “Skyflow can offer world-class data privacy throughout the lifecycle of GPT models, seamlessly and affordably.” The Global Partner in Cybersecurity and Privacy at Infosys, Joseph Williams, said, "Companies are eager to adopt ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms but they need to solve for privacy and regulatory compliance. Like we laid out in our seminal paper on the future of privacy engineering, data privacy vault architecture is a right way to go about this." Read more about Skyflow for GPT here. About Skyflow Skyflow is a data privacy vault company built to radically simplify how companies isolate, protect and govern their customers’ most sensitive data. With its global network of data privacy vaults, Skyflow helps companies meet complex data localization requirements. Skyflow customers span verticals like fintech, retail, travel, and healthcare. Skyflow is headquartered in Palo Alto, California and was founded in 2019. For more information, visit www.skyflow.com or follow on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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ENTERPRISE IDENTITY, SOFTWARE SECURITY, CLOUD SECURITY

Lookout Announces the Successful Divestiture of Its Consumer Mobile Security Business Segment

Businesswire | June 05, 2023

Lookout, Inc., the endpoint-to-cloud security company, today announced it has closed the previously announced sale of its consumer mobile security business to F-Secure, a global provider of consumer security products and services. With this strategic divestiture Lookout will focus on expanding its core enterprise business, built around the Lookout Cloud Security Platform. The sale of Lookout’s consumer mobile security business represents a deliberate and strategic decision to optimize its enterprise product portfolio and concentrate its product innovation and go-to-market on the expansion of these core competencies. The divestiture sets Lookout up for long-term growth and further positions the Company to address the security transformation impacting organizations today, including the increase in remote work, the shift to cloud-based delivery models and the transition to zero trust architectures. “We are pleased to announce the successful divestiture of our mobile consumer security business, which represents a significant milestone in our strategic transformation to become a pure-play enterprise cybersecurity company,” Jim Dolce, CEO at Lookout. “With this refined focus, we will continue to drive innovation, invest in the development of cutting-edge solutions and drive greater value for our customers.” Lookout’s core enterprise business includes Lookout Mobile Endpoint Security and its security services edge (SSE) cloud-native solution, the Lookout Cloud Security Platform. The Company entered the cloud security market through its acquisition of CipherCloud in March 2021. Its Cloud Security Platform was recently scored among the highest three vendors in the 2023 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Security Service Edge (SSE)1 report in each of the four use cases. The Gartner Critical Capabilities for SSE – an essential companion to the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for SSE2 in which Lookout was named a Visionary for the second year in a row – is a comparative analysis that scores products or services against a set of critical differentiators that every business needs, as identified by Gartner. These four use cases include Secure Web and Cloud Usage, Detect and Mitigate Threats, Connect and Secure Remote Workers and Identify and Protect Sensitive Information. As part of the sale agreement, F-Secure acquires all of the Lookout consumer mobile security products and technology and assumes all responsibility for ongoing operations and customer relationships. Additionally, the Company’s consumer employees will become part of F-Secure. About Lookout Lookout, Inc. is the endpoint-to-cloud cybersecurity company that delivers zero trust security by reducing risk and protecting data wherever it goes, without boundaries or limits. Our unified, cloud-native platform safeguards digital information across devices, apps, networks and clouds and is as fluid and flexible as the modern digital world. Lookout is trusted by enterprises and government agencies of all sizes to protect the sensitive data they care about most, enabling them to work and connect freely and safely. To learn more about the Lookout Cloud Security Platform, visit www.lookout.com and follow Lookout on our blog, LinkedIn and Twitter. © 2023 Lookout, Inc. LOOKOUT®, the Lookout Shield Design®, LOOKOUT with Shield Design®, and SIGNAL FLARE® are registered trademarks of Lookout, Inc. in the United States and other countries. DAY OF SHECURITY®, LOOKOUT MOBILE SECURITY®, and POWERED BY LOOKOUT® are registered trademarks of Lookout, Inc. in the United States. Lookout, Inc. maintains common law trademark rights in EVERYTHING IS OK, PROTECTED BY LOOKOUT, CIPHERCLOUD, SCREAM, the 4 Bar Shield Design, and the Lookout multi-color/multi-shaded Wingspan design.

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DATA SECURITY, PLATFORM SECURITY, SOFTWARE SECURITY

New KnowBe4 SecurityCoach Integrates With Bitdefender GravityZone

PRWeb | May 22, 2023

KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today announced that its new SecurityCoach product integrates with Bitdefender GravityZone, a leading next-generation endpoint protection platform for threat prevention, detection and response. The new partnership and product integration between the two cybersecurity leaders will help reduce risky behavior, support real-time security coaching and help organizations become more cyber resilient. SecurityCoach helps IT/security professionals develop a strong security culture by enabling real-time security coaching of their users in response to risky security behavior. Leveraging an organization’s existing security stack, IT/security professionals can configure their real-time coaching campaigns to immediately deliver a SecurityTip to their users related to a detected event. “Bitdefender joins our ecosystem of technology partners, which is growing rapidly, to enrich the support we provide to our customers and fortify their organization’s human firewall,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4. “KnowBe4 is proud to partner with Bitdefender to provide a seamless integration with our new SecurityCoach product, which aims to deliver real-time security coaching and advice to help end users enhance their cybersecurity knowledge and strengthen their role in contributing to a strong security culture. KnowBe4 is actively working with Bitdefender to provide an API-based integration to connect our platform with systems that IT/security professionals already utilize, making rolling out new products to their teams an easy and unified process.” “We are pleased to partner with KnowBe4 to integrate Bitdefender GravityZone with SecurityCoach,” said Daniel Daraban, senior director of product management at Bitdefender Business Solutions Group. “Businesses and organizations are under constant assault from ransomware, trojans, and other malware infecting systems. This integration leverages GravityZone’s behavioral analytics, machine learning, and root cause analysis for contextualized alerts resulting in actionable SecurityTips that help minimize risky user behavior.” KnowBe4 will provide step-by-step instructions and recommendations to help IT/security professionals achieve quick and pain-free integration and data syncing during the implementation process. KnowBe4 now integrates or partners with over 20 of the world's top cybersecurity platforms across Endpoint, Network, Identity, Cloud and Data Security https://www.knowbe4.com/integrations. For more information on SecurityCoach, visit http://www.knowbe4.com/securitycoach. About Bitdefender Bitdefender is a cybersecurity leader delivering best-in-class threat prevention, detection, and response solutions worldwide. Guardian over millions of consumer, enterprise, and government environments, Bitdefender is one of the industry’s most trusted experts for eliminating threats, protecting privacy, digital identity and data, and enabling cyber resilience. With deep investments in research and development, Bitdefender Labs discovers hundreds of new threats each minute and validates billions of threat queries daily. The company has pioneered breakthrough innovations in antimalware, IoT security, behavioral analytics, and artificial intelligence and its technology is licensed by more than 180 of the world’s most recognized technology brands. Founded in 2001, Bitdefender has customers in 170+ countries with offices around the world. For more information, visit https://www.bitdefender.com. About KnowBe4 KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, is used by more than 56,000 organizations around the globe. Founded by IT and data security specialist Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4 helps organizations address the human element of security by raising awareness about ransomware, CEO fraud and other social engineering tactics through a new-school approach to awareness training on security. Kevin Mitnick, an internationally recognized cybersecurity specialist and KnowBe4's Chief Hacking Officer, helped design the KnowBe4 training based on his well-documented social engineering tactics. Tens of thousands of organizations rely on KnowBe4 to mobilize their end users as their last line of defense.

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DATA SECURITY, PLATFORM SECURITY, SOFTWARE SECURITY

Skyflow launches Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault

Businesswire | May 22, 2023

Today, Skyflow, the data privacy vault company, unveiled Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault, a robust privacy solution that enables organizations to safely and securely leverage the full power of large language models such as GPT. Companies are rushing to adopt AI, whether to increase productivity, enhance decision-making powered by data-driven insights, or to improve customer experience. However, privacy concerns hinder organizations from fully embracing AI. The Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault can provide enterprises with unparalleled data protection throughout the entire lifecycle of GPT models, and offers a comprehensive range of features tailored to meet the evolving needs of enterprises: Data Privacy and Security: Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault establishes a secure environment for sensitive data, protecting it from unauthorized access, breaches, and data leaks. Granular Data Control: Organizations can maintain strict control over sensitive data, ensuring that only authorized individuals or entities can access specific data sets or functionalities within GPT systems. Privacy-Preserving AI: Sensitive data is redacted and anonymized during data collection, model training, and interactions, enabling organizations to maximize AI capabilities without compromising privacy. Compliance and Regulatory Requirements: With Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault, global companies can leverage AI while complying with data residency requirements, such as GDPR, LGPD, and others. Here’s how organizations can leverage Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault: Data Collection and Preparation: Redact or tokenize sensitive information as it flows through GPT without lessening the value of the output. Skyflow’s proprietary polymorphic encryption technique enables the model to seamlessly handle protected data as if it were plaintext. Model Training: Safely train GPT models on content where sensitive data is redacted and anonymized. Robust multi-party training is also available, so that two or more entities can share anonymized datasets and safely use AI to unlock substantial insights. Interaction with GPT Models: De-identify sensitive data during interactions with GPT models, ensuring that privacy is preserved throughout the entire user interaction process. Secure Deployment and Integration: Seamlessly integrate Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault into existing data infrastructures to add a robust layer of data protection. Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault will protect all sensitive data flowing into GPT models and only reveal sensitive information to authorized parties once it has been processed by the model and returned. Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault delivers significant value across industries. Here are two specific use cases: Pharmaceutical Research: Pharmaceutical companies rely on Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault to protect sensitive data throughout the drug development lifecycle. It ensures the privacy and security of clinical trial data, safeguards proprietary research and intellectual property, and enables secure collaborations with external partners. Additionally, it supports personalized medicine initiatives by preserving the privacy of genetic data. Online Travel Booking: Online travel booking companies utilize Skyflow GPT Privacy Vault to protect customer data while leveraging AI models for personalized recommendations and enhanced customer experiences. It allows them to anonymize and protect personally identifiable information (PII) and payment data, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations while delivering superior travel experiences. “Generative AI can be a powerful tool for teams to maximize their output and scale their products. But the risk of a sensitive data leak is high, and with other providers, the cost of deploying a private GPT can be 10x what it is in a shared environment,” said Anshu Sharma, co-founder and CEO of Skyflow. “Skyflow can offer world-class data privacy throughout the lifecycle of GPT models, seamlessly and affordably.” The Global Partner in Cybersecurity and Privacy at Infosys, Joseph Williams, said, "Companies are eager to adopt ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms but they need to solve for privacy and regulatory compliance. Like we laid out in our seminal paper on the future of privacy engineering, data privacy vault architecture is a right way to go about this." Read more about Skyflow for GPT here. About Skyflow Skyflow is a data privacy vault company built to radically simplify how companies isolate, protect and govern their customers’ most sensitive data. With its global network of data privacy vaults, Skyflow helps companies meet complex data localization requirements. Skyflow customers span verticals like fintech, retail, travel, and healthcare. Skyflow is headquartered in Palo Alto, California and was founded in 2019. For more information, visit www.skyflow.com or follow on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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ENTERPRISE IDENTITY, SOFTWARE SECURITY, CLOUD SECURITY

Lookout Announces the Successful Divestiture of Its Consumer Mobile Security Business Segment

Businesswire | June 05, 2023

Lookout, Inc., the endpoint-to-cloud security company, today announced it has closed the previously announced sale of its consumer mobile security business to F-Secure, a global provider of consumer security products and services. With this strategic divestiture Lookout will focus on expanding its core enterprise business, built around the Lookout Cloud Security Platform. The sale of Lookout’s consumer mobile security business represents a deliberate and strategic decision to optimize its enterprise product portfolio and concentrate its product innovation and go-to-market on the expansion of these core competencies. The divestiture sets Lookout up for long-term growth and further positions the Company to address the security transformation impacting organizations today, including the increase in remote work, the shift to cloud-based delivery models and the transition to zero trust architectures. “We are pleased to announce the successful divestiture of our mobile consumer security business, which represents a significant milestone in our strategic transformation to become a pure-play enterprise cybersecurity company,” Jim Dolce, CEO at Lookout. “With this refined focus, we will continue to drive innovation, invest in the development of cutting-edge solutions and drive greater value for our customers.” Lookout’s core enterprise business includes Lookout Mobile Endpoint Security and its security services edge (SSE) cloud-native solution, the Lookout Cloud Security Platform. The Company entered the cloud security market through its acquisition of CipherCloud in March 2021. Its Cloud Security Platform was recently scored among the highest three vendors in the 2023 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Security Service Edge (SSE)1 report in each of the four use cases. The Gartner Critical Capabilities for SSE – an essential companion to the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for SSE2 in which Lookout was named a Visionary for the second year in a row – is a comparative analysis that scores products or services against a set of critical differentiators that every business needs, as identified by Gartner. These four use cases include Secure Web and Cloud Usage, Detect and Mitigate Threats, Connect and Secure Remote Workers and Identify and Protect Sensitive Information. As part of the sale agreement, F-Secure acquires all of the Lookout consumer mobile security products and technology and assumes all responsibility for ongoing operations and customer relationships. Additionally, the Company’s consumer employees will become part of F-Secure. About Lookout Lookout, Inc. is the endpoint-to-cloud cybersecurity company that delivers zero trust security by reducing risk and protecting data wherever it goes, without boundaries or limits. Our unified, cloud-native platform safeguards digital information across devices, apps, networks and clouds and is as fluid and flexible as the modern digital world. Lookout is trusted by enterprises and government agencies of all sizes to protect the sensitive data they care about most, enabling them to work and connect freely and safely. To learn more about the Lookout Cloud Security Platform, visit www.lookout.com and follow Lookout on our blog, LinkedIn and Twitter. © 2023 Lookout, Inc. LOOKOUT®, the Lookout Shield Design®, LOOKOUT with Shield Design®, and SIGNAL FLARE® are registered trademarks of Lookout, Inc. in the United States and other countries. DAY OF SHECURITY®, LOOKOUT MOBILE SECURITY®, and POWERED BY LOOKOUT® are registered trademarks of Lookout, Inc. in the United States. Lookout, Inc. maintains common law trademark rights in EVERYTHING IS OK, PROTECTED BY LOOKOUT, CIPHERCLOUD, SCREAM, the 4 Bar Shield Design, and the Lookout multi-color/multi-shaded Wingspan design.

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