Evolution of managed services
The world as we know it has changed significantly in the past couple of years, and so have managed services. While IT infrastructure and security continue to be more important than ever with large numbers of companies across the globe implementing remote and hybrid working policies, this situation has created the need for additional services that go beyond the standard managed services package. As the future of work continues to evolve, so too will the offering of experienced managed service providers (MSPs).
Prior to the global pandemic, MSPs were primarily focused on IT security and infrastructure. Companies would often outsource all or part of their IT in order to keep costs low and ensure that they had the crucial expertise and systems at hand without having to hire in-house specialists. Ensuring that their IT systems are secure and working at optimal capacity makes it possible to focus on other tasks that will help move the needle and big-picture goals. This is why MSPs are still very popular with businesses of all sizes. Despite large in-house IT teams, an estimated 90% of Fortune 1000 companies use MSPs for part of their IT management.
How rampant robotic process automation (RPA) adoption is introducing new threat vectors
Robotic process automation (RPA) is nothing new. In fact, it’s an automation toolkit that was first introduced back in the 1990’s. But in 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic and the all new remote work norm, RPA interest and adoption hit a new high. Why? Because with RPA, digital workers are able to take over repetitive, manual tasks traditionally performed by their human counterparts -- freeing up time, energy and critical human resources.
Gartner’s Fabrizio Biscotti, research vice president, put it best: "The key driver for RPA projects is their ability to improve process quality, speed and productivity, each of which is increasingly important as organizations try to meet the demands of cost reduction during COVID-19. Enterprises can quickly make headway on their digital optimization initiatives by investing in RPA software, and the trend isn’t going away anytime soon."
Vulnerability management is complex, so how can we work smarter to reduce risk?
The saying "too many cooks spoils the broth" could well be true in the case of how we currently approach vulnerability management (VM). The process around vulnerabilities has become increasingly complex, with high levels of pressure to ensure that it is done right.
Vulnerabilities have long been one of the most prominent attack vectors, yet so many are left unpatched by organizations of every size and across every vertical -- the root of catastrophic issues. The Ponemon Institute conducted a recent study that found almost half of respondents (48 percent) reported that their organizations had one or more data breaches in the past two years. In addition, the discovery of high-risk vulns in 2020 alone, has drastically increased by 65 percent -- ultimately alluding to the fact that breaches could potentially become increasingly impactful. The longer a vulnerability remains present, the higher the chance that it will be exploited by bad actors.
Protecting your business' legacy systems from ransomware attacks
Despite the significant shift and adoption of new technologies over the past few years, many businesses still rely on legacy infrastructure. Legacy servers are often still in operation because they are far too critical, complex, and expensive to replace. Famous examples include Oracle databases running on Solaris servers, applications using Linux RHEL4, or other industry-specific legacy technology.
Although critical to the business, these legacy systems can increase a company's risk -- gaining access to just one unpatched legacy device can be relatively simple for cybercriminals. Once inside, said criminals will move laterally to gain a deeper foothold inside the network and deploy more significant attacks.
Google Fi gets end-to-end encryption for phone calls, but there's a big catch
Google Fi is the search giant's affordable MVNO cellular service, where it piggybacks off of the T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular networks. Despite being a Google service, it is actually compatible with Apple iPhone devices too. In other words, it is not an Android-only affair. While Google Fi is not wildly popular, many of its users speak favorably of the service -- it is apparently quite good.
And now, Google Fi is getting even better. You see, the search giant has introduced end-to-end encryption for phone calls -- a huge benefit for privacy. Unfortunately, there are some caveats here. For the calls to be encrypted, the speakers on the call must both be using Google Fi service -- that should be fairly obvious. However, there is one very big catch that might surprise you -- this feature is only compatible with Android devices. In other words, iPhone users with Google Fi are being left out of the encryption party.
Microsoft Edge stable now available on Linux
Linux users have been able to use Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser for a while now, but in Dev Build and beta versions.
Today though the software giant has updated its Edge repository to add a new stable version of the browser, so if you’re running a Linux OS and want to try out Edge alongside your existing browser you can.
Get 'Tribe of Hackers Security Leaders' ($15 value) FREE for a limited time
The Tribe of Hackers series continues, sharing what CISSPs, CISOs, and other security leaders need to know to build solid cybersecurity teams and keep organizations secure. Dozens of experts and influential security specialists reveal their best strategies for building, leading, and managing information security within organizations.
Tribe of Hackers Security Leaders: Tribal Knowledge from the Best in Cybersecurity Leadership follows the same bestselling format as the original Tribe of Hackers, but with a detailed focus on how information security leaders impact organizational security.
More than half of employees have higher workloads when working remotely
A new survey of over 4,000 global IT workers, carried out by Kaspersky shows that 54 percent of employees have reported an increased workload since switching to remote working.
While 37 percent of respondents didn't notice a change in volume, a lucky nine percent note a decrease in work due to new working conditions.
How to keep your hybrid workforce engaged
The way businesses operate has changed significantly since the first national lockdown in March 2020. But arguably one of the biggest changes has been the way businesses use technology. Data from McKinsey shows that businesses accelerated their digitization by three to four years in the first four months of the pandemic.
This adoption of new technology has not come without its teething problems, however, and this is especially true for businesses with large office contingents. These workers promptly switched to remote working in March 2020 and had to adapt to these technologies while working from home. Google data shows that searches for terms on how to use tools like Zoom rose exponentially during the first few months of the pandemic, with "how to use Zoom" increasing by 7,016.74 percent.
Best Windows apps this week
Four-hundred-sixty-two in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.
Microsoft started the rollout of the new Microsoft Store on Windows 10. It is being made available to Release Preview insider builds at first, but it will be pushed to stable versions of Windows 10 soon as well.
Who wants to be a cyborg? Quite a lot of people it seems
Would you be willing to have technology implanted in your body? A survey by marketing and communication tool Tidio reveals the extend to which people are open to 'biohacking'.
More than 75 percent of respondents say they are willing to implant a microchip for health monitoring, and 57 percent are eager to go further and transfer their consciousness to a machine or a different body and live forever as cyborgs.
Why it's vital to address cybersecurity in the wider context of the business [Q&A]
It's easy to pigeonhole cybersecurity as something for the IT or security team to look after. But a major cyberattack can have a devastating impact on the business as a whole.
It's important, therefore, that security be looked at in the context of the entire enterprise. This also means considering approaches like 'assumed breach' where you accept that sooner or later attackers will succeed in getting into your network.
Microsoft releases PowerToys v0.49 with new mouse utility and UI updates
A new release cycle has started for the PowerToys collection of utilities. Kicking off with PowerToys v0.49, Microsoft promises that this and the upcoming batch of releases include "exciting new updates".
And things get off to a great start with the arrival of not only the Video Conference Mute tool in the stable build, but also a brand-new utility -- Find My Mouse. There are also numerous fixes and improvements as a well as a UI update for PowerRename.
Meta leak shows Facebook smartwatch could be an Apple Watch killer
Meta, TCFKAF (the company formerly known as Facebook) appears to be working on a range of smartwatches that bear more than a passing resemblance to the Apple Watch.
At least two wearables are thought to be in development, one of which is codenamed Milan. But what is causing the greatest interest is an image of a smartwatch featuring a notch that is home to a camera.
Facebook's new name is just the start -- Zuckerberg says a billion people will be in the metaverse within ten years
We knew that Facebook was going to announce a name change today, but what we didn’t know for certain was what that name would be. The smart money was on something to do with the metaverse, which many firms -- Facebook especially -- believe could be the future of the internet.
Much as Google rebranded its parent company Alphabet back in 2015, so Facebook’s parent company is now called Meta, and gains a new blue infinity symbol for a logo. This change only affects the parent company -- the names of the apps everyone knows and uses -- Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp will stay the same, although the Oculus VR brand will be phased out.
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