Kaspersky: DDoS attacks are a smokescreen

DDoS attack

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks make a lot of noise, and according to a new Kaspersky Lab report, that’s exactly what hackers are using them for.

As businesses are preoccupied with handling DDoS attacks, hackers use the opportunity for another, more targeted, and more deadly type of attack. Basically, DDoS is nothing more than a smokescreen. The conclusion comes in Kaspersky Lab’s report, which polled businesses about their cybersecurity experiences. More than half (56 percent) say DDoS is being used to cover something else.

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CERT warning: Windows 10 is less secure than Windows 7 with EMET

keyboard padlock

In direct contrast to Microsoft's assertion that Windows 10 is its most secure operating system ever, the US-CERT Coordination Center says that Windows 7 with EMET offers greater protection. With EMET due to be killed off, security experts are concerned.

A vulnerability analyst from CERT, Will Dormann, advises Microsoft to continue the development of EMET. Microsoft says 'many' of EMET's features have been integrated into Windows 10, but the concern is that key components are missing, and others have been implemented in such a way that reduces their security.

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Consumers want to know more about how their data is used

data-collection-book

The world is ever more reliant on data, but consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about where their personal details are stored and who has access to them.

Professional technology standards body IEEE has carried out a survey of 1,000 UK adults which finds that 81 percent believe the public should be better educated on how their data is being used online.

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Things to keep an eye on in the eCommerce space

eCommerce

ECommerce has come a long way in recent years. We’ve all heard about how online shopping was responsible for the death of the high street, but eCommerce is now about much more than the likes of Amazon and eBay. As an industry, eCommerce is expected to be worth $6.7 trillion by 2020 and now encompasses relatively recent technological developments such as mobile payments and cryptocurrencies.

The convenience offered by eCommerce is proving hugely popular with consumers and so it is not surprising that some of the tech industry’s biggest players are looking to dominate the market. However, eCommerce is becoming increasingly diverse, so there are plenty of options for businesses that are looking to make inroads, whether you specialize in retail, security, or something else.

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Druva launches pay-as-you go disaster recovery on AWS

cloud backup

Disaster recovery is something that all businesses need but few like to contemplate. It's tempting therefore to think that storing data in the cloud makes the problem go away, but of course it doesn't.

You need to look after your data wherever it's stored and to help AWS users with this, data protection specialist Druva is launching its Phoenix cloud-native solution for backup, archive and disaster recovery on the AWS Marketplace.

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How businesses should respond to unplanned downtime

Angry businessman

Today's businesses face a wave of challenges when it comes to protecting their data. Securing data in the cloud, a rise in ransomware attacks, and increases in unstructured data all make it hard to plan operations effectively and can lead to unscheduled downtime.

Cloud data protection company Arcserve, however, sees this as an opportunity for organizations to re-assess their ability to cope with problems. The company has released a report setting out five strategies to help organizations prepare for and respond to unplanned downtime.

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What you need to know about supply chain management

supply chain

Supply chain management (SCM) is a vitally important business feature for many industries, having an impact on every aspect of the supply chain, from supplier to customer. Every detail of this process must be managed carefully, as even the smallest mistake could lead to delays, customer frustration and lost revenue.

What’s more, supply chain management does not only refer to the movement of physical products through the supply chain. Any data associated with these products, including invoices, schedules and delivery information, also needs to be managed appropriately to ensure that businesses have visibility and clarity across the length of the supply chain. When employed effectively, SCM can help reduce stock levels, boost transaction volume and increase revenue, which is why many businesses are now looking at software solutions in order to gain a competitive edge.

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IBM launches new services to help enterprises with cloud migration

IBM logo

Businesses are turning to the cloud as a way of coping with ever larger amounts of data. But moving to the cloud at the same time retaining control of where data resides and how it’s accessed is a challenge.

To help enterprises migrate and more easily generate business insights, IBM is announcing a range of new services on its Bluemix cloud platform.

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The paperless office is a dream

looking ahead

After last month’s report from AIIM, which said we were actually inching closer to a paperless office thanks to the unrelenting digitization, a new report from Danwood now says exactly the opposite.

Not only are we not moving towards the paperless office, but away from it, and worse of all -- it’s digitization’s fault. After surveying 1,000 office workers, almost half (46 percent) say they print something every day and 84 percent say this is an "important aspect of work". So how does this relate to the digital transformation?

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Almost half of businesses have suffered a ransomware attack in the last year

ransom_note

A new survey of over 500 businesses in the US, UK, France and Germany shows that in the last 12 months, 48 percent have fallen victim to a ransomware campaign, with 81 percent having suffered three or more attacks.

The study from endpoint security company SentinelOne reveals employee information (42 percent), financial data (41 percent) and customer information (40 percent) are the types of data most often affected by these attacks.

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Why Facebook Workplace has no future

End of the road

On October 10, Facebook debuted its long-incubated and much-anticipated platform for business: Workplace. But within days it was already clear that it wasn't going to live up to the hype. In fact, there's no way it could have.

This is not meant as a snub of Facebook. It makes perfect sense that Mark Zuckerberg would want his platform to become as popular for work as it is for fun. It has even made some initial converts. Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes defended Workplace -- which he has implemented at his offices -- in a Fast Company article because it represents "part of a broader wave of the consumerization of IT".

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UK businesses are not keen to embrace AR

Augmented Reality Glasses

Businesses are reluctant to accept augmented reality, a new survey by ISACA has shown. The main reasons for this reserved stance is that they don’t believe the benefits are bigger than the risks of implementing the new technology.

The findings were published in ISACA’s new report, entitled IT Risk/Reward Barometer, which polled 363 UK professionals. Less than a fifth (18 percent) currently believe the benefits of AR are bigger than the risks, and 40 percent say that both organizations and consumers should be "very concerned" about the privacy risks that go with the implementation of augmented reality tech.

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Cloud use could be putting businesses at risk

Cloud risk

According to a new study, 69.7 percent of cloud applications do not specify whether the customer keeps ownership of uploaded data, just 8.7 percent commit to not sharing data with third parties, and only 16 percent delete data immediately after contract termination.

All three of these things could leave businesses open to non-compliance files under the EU's GDPR requirements. The report from cloud security company Skyhigh Networks analyses real life cloud usage data from 30 million cloud users worldwide to assess the risk the cloud presents.

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What you need to know about fog computing

Cloud server

You could be forgiven for thinking it’s something to do with improving weather forecasts, but in fact fog computing is a type of decentralized infrastructure. In a fog computing -- sometimes referred to as edge computing -- model, computing resources and applications are placed at the most logically efficient point, whether that’s in the data center or in the cloud or somewhere in between.

The idea of this is to boost efficiency, return faster responses and to minimize the amount of data that has to be moved around. It is a key part of implementing the Internet of Things as computing, storage and networking can be placed anywhere along the line between the thing and the cloud. But while the main driver is efficiency, fog computing is sometimes also adopted to meet compliance and security requirements.

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CEOs not deemed responsible for cyber-security -- but they should be

Business security

Chief executive officers in the UK are still far from being considered responsible for keeping their organizations safe from cyberattacks, according to a new report by NCC Group. The report, which the risk mitigation and cybersecurity company just released, is based on a poll of 200 UK board of directors, where they were questioned on cybersecurity. Just 13 percent say the managing director was responsible for cyber risks in their company.

Also, just nine percent named the financial director. The biggest burden is still on the shoulders of CTOs and CIOs -- 52 percent. "Boards continue to pass the cyber buck by delegating accountability to technical leads likes CIOs and CTOs. Cyber security is the responsibility of the CEO and the main board as it is the most significant issue facing businesses today", comments Rob Cotton, CEO at NCC Group.

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