What online spies are after Cyberespionage goes after whatever information is valuable. Sometimes the spies want it for their own use, but more after they expect to sell it. Crime has its specialists, and networks exist for black markets. The thieves don’t care much about where they get the information, just about how much they can get for it. These are a few samples of what criminals like to grab from business servers and networks: Information on top management. What are their plans? Where do they think the markets are going? Should investors buy or sell their stock? Account access. Getting into servers and databases is the first step toward grabbing vast amounts of information or installing malware. The techniques include password guessing, exploiting application vulnerabilities, privilege escalation, and luring people to fake login pages. Trade secrets. Any employee might have access to valuable inside information. Intercepting email or other communications lets a thief get a steady stream of data. Badly configured Wi-Fi networks make it easy for someone nearby to snoop. Unauthorized access to servers can yield whole documents full of information that competitors would love. Supplier information. Where a company gets its supplies and materials and what it pays is valuable information to competing suppliers. It also helps someone whose aim is to disrupt the supply chain. Information on employees. Recruiters would love to know how much employees are making, whether they show signs of dissatisfaction, and what their promotion record is. Negative information such as reprimands is also useful to recruiters. Damage to reputation. Someone who doesn’t like a business might pay for information that makes it look bad. A more direct form of damage is to publish confidential information for everyone to see, killing trust in the company’s data privacy. Types of threats Spies use whatever methods will work best, and they constantly change their approach to stay ahead of system defenses. Several kinds of attacks remain perennially popular, though. Targeted phishing. It’s called “whaling” or “spearphishing.” Carefully crafted email messages trick executives into disclosing valuable secrets. Those messages are the result of careful profiling and research, so they look as if they come from a trusted employee or colleague. Password acquisition. The techniques for grabbing passwords and breaking into accounts include brute-force guessing, luring employees to fake login pages, and finding poorly protected information that contains passwords. Advanced persistent threats (APT). That’s security jargon for malware which gets onto a server and stays unnoticed for weeks or months. It steadily gathers information and sends it to the thief’s server. It works slowly enough that there isn’t an obvious burst of unexplained activity. Exploitation of software vulnerabilities. Old software that hasn’t been patched in a long time has known vulnerabilities. An outsider can exploit them to deliver malware or gain access to files. Information worth stealing isn’t just on servers. Mobile devices and desktop computers are favorite targets. They usually aren’t as well protected, and keeping their software up to date is a lower priority. Data on mobile devices can be stolen the old-fashioned way: by grabbing and running. If they aren’t encrypted, they could have a wealth of data ready for the taking. Wi-Fi access points that aren’t properly configured are vulnerable points. A spy just has to bring a device somewhere close by […]
Getting a Hold on IT Infrastructure Monitoring Infrastructure monitoring covers quite a few critical business considerations. They include the physical condition of your infrastructure, how your software is being utilized, and how much of your bandwidth is being consumed. It also encompasses how well your systems are performing. Of course, hardware failures are the priority as they can have a major impact on your business. Teleworkers often need access to centrally-stored data and if something were to happen to the systems, productivity has the chance to grind to a complete halt. In order to avoid this situation, it?s important that you deploy the right infrastructure monitoring platform and have the right practices in place to mitigate potential interruptions. How to Make the Most of Infrastructure Monitoring Today, we?ve assembled a couple important considerations about infrastructure monitoring. Let?s take a look: Identify the Most Crucial Parts of Your Infrastructure There are parts of your IT infrastructure that are more important than others, especially if you are looking to support a remote workforce. Since your staff probably relies on nearly every piece of your IT, however, you need to identify which part of your IT gets the most attention, and then ensure each subsequent part is monitored properly. You?ll also want to consider adding backups of your climate control systems to take over if your primary ones should fail. You?ll also want systems in place that will allow technicians to reboot unresponsive systems remotely to ensure that they remain accessible for your remote team. Ensure Your Alerts Are Routed Properly. You will want to ensure that if something were to go wrong that the detection system contacts the person that will be able to fix it properly. Make sure that whomever is supposed to be contacted when something goes haywire, is the one being contacted. This will typically speed up the remediation process. Check In Periodically Have a technician routinely go to the office and check around your infrastructure for both issues with your infrastructure and with your monitoring system. This means checking connections, sensors and other tools used for successful reporting. To learn more about implementing tools to successfully monitor your infrastructure while you are out of the office call the IT professionals at White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800.
What?s So Important About Having a Secure Conferencing Solution? In the spirit of security that should surround your information technology, it is important to understand where the threats to your business come from. When looking at your conferencing solution, you should know that webcams and other IoT video devices, that make the conferencing solution what it is, are known to be some of the most targeted solutions by cybercriminals. In order to trust that your staff is working to keep your central IT secure and working as intended, there needs to be some diligence in choosing the right technology and practices to use to keep your business safe. More people than ever are utilizing these solutions, as well, and some are more secure than others. Since so many people are using these applications, it becomes extremely important to do what you can to promote solid security practices. Today, we?ve outlined four. They include: Develop Solid Policies An organization?s conferencing policy is similar to their BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy. It?s important for your staff to understand the role they play in maintaining your business? network security. This goes double for businesses that have to deal with sensitive information such as health or financial data. Here are some guidelines to consider implementing: Users need permission from all attendees in order to record a meeting. Personal devices should not be used to record meetings. Confidential or sensitive information should not come into view during the meeting unless it is expressly relevant or requested by meeting attendees. All cameras and microphones should be disconnected when not in use. If sensitive information is to be shared, it should be done so securely and not in group meetings. Use Encryption To ensure that data is shared securely, you will want your video conferencing software and your hardware to both have 128-bit AES encryption installed. Not only will this work to protect sensitive data, it will deliver peace of mind that any data that is sent will get to its destination without issue. Authentication and Control A lot of today?s most utilized conferencing apps have single-login authentication. Sign-in strategies such as single sign-on (SSO) are great because they allow administrators to simply control the secure authorization of users. To enhance control, however, you will want to set up a domain-based security system that will more effectively allow administrators to set permissions and monitor access. This will go a long way toward securing your SSO-based authentication strategy. Update Your System Like any other piece of software, your conferencing applications have to be updated and patched in order to avoid being vulnerable to outside threats. Since it is an Internet-facing system, you need to ensure that any conferencing app that is routinely used is up to date and managed properly. For the time being, we?re all going to be relying on our conferencing solutions. To learn more about conferencing, or to talk to one of our experts about keeping your systems secure, call White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800.
What Is the Cloud? Most people today use cloud services, but they may not completely understand what the cloud is. Essentially, the cloud is computing that is hosted on what is effectively rented hardware. Anything you can do with your onsite IT, you can pretty much do with cloud computing resources. Cloud options are typically managed and maintained by the provider while also being made available for a static monthly rate. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), the leading cloud service is often priced per user, while Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platforms are billed per gigabyte. The benefit of cloud computing is that businesses and individuals can get high-tech tools through cloud providers at a fraction of the cost than they would pay to set up their own private cloud platform with the applicable licenses and the hosting and management of that hardware. This provides the opportunity to fit the solutions to your business without taking on the often hefty expenses associated with implementing new information systems. Cloud Options As stated above there are options for most parts of your business, including: Hardware For the business that needs extra computing resources for specific applications or for application development, the cloud is a good resource. Moreover, many businesses have chosen to virtualize their local resources and run their systems in virtualized environments, allowing them to maximize their investment into their hardware systems. Software This covers a lot of ground. Let?s look at some of the most popular options: Line of Business – Many businesses have chosen to host their line of business software in the cloud. While they lose control over the management of the software, they do pick up some serious benefits including anywhere/anytime access to the software with an Internet connection and cost stabilization provided by the hosted environment. Productivity – Today there are numerous software titles developed just for productivity. Titles like Microsoft Office 365 and Google?s G Suite are two of the most utilized cloud productivity options. They provide the software needed to be productive with integrations designed to enhance collaboration. Communication – Solutions like Hosted VoIP have revolutionized business communications, providing businesses with the telephone system and conferencing features they need to connect remote and in-house teams, alike. Security – Today, there are many network security tools available through the cloud. Not only does this reduce the management costs a business is responsible for, it also ensures that, since it is delivered as a service, that it gets the coverage it needs to keep their business secure. The cloud has also made the Internet of Things relevant. Businesses of all types, and individuals, use a litany of smart devices and ?things?. In fact, today there are dozens of different cloud-based platforms available through your pick of reliable cloud hosting services. To get more information about how cloud computing can help you build a more productive and efficient business call the IT experts at White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800.
What Is Video Conferencing? For the business that holds regular meetings, not having your team in the office can be a major hindrance. People get behind on their work, messages get crossed, and business slows down. To promote efficiency, businesses need a way to have the meetings they depend on when it is impossible for them to be at the same location. A video conferencing system works by allowing individuals to have virtual meetings over an Internet connection using devices with built-in ( or stand-alone) webcams. In being able to bring people together, share ideas and data, video conferencing can get entire teams on the same page in a manner that is much more effective than audio-only conferencing solutions. What Are Some of the Features of a Video Conferencing Solution? If you are in the market for a solution that will allow you to get your team together from anywhere, there are dozens of them on the market. What you will have to weigh are the features that you want to have. Let?s take a look at some of the best features that are offered with video conferencing solutions: An Acoustic Fence – This feature provides noise canceling in a designated meeting area. Interoperability – As was mentioned above, there are dozens of different video conferencing solutions, but they need to work with one another to ensure that whatever solution you choose, you can get through to people that have a different solution. Speaker tracking – Today?s solutions mostly all have a feature called speaker tracking that follows the participant?s voices and shows the person who is speaking on the screen. 70-Degree Field of View – To get the coverage your team needs, choosing a solution that has a medium focal length that provides solid coverage is important. Software Integration – With solid software integrations, sharing and broadcasting files is much simpler. Content Sharing – Speaking of sharing files, having integrated content sharing can go a long way to making your solution work for your entire business. If your business is in the market for a dynamic video conferencing solution to improve your business? communications, call the IT professionals at White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800.
