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    28Nov, 2022
    IT Support Tips For Remote Workers

    IT Support Tips For Remote Workers

    Working from home has become the new normal for many Australian employees. While in some areas of the country, remote working is compulsory during lockdowns and government restrictions, many companies are now offering employees the choice of ongoing remote work arrangements.

    It is expected remote working is here for the long-term, which means it is more important than ever before to ensure adequate IT support is available. Below we outline some challenges and tips for providing technology support for a remote workforce.

    What Are The Challenges Of Working Remotely?

    While the remote workforce has been growing over the last decade, for most businesses, remote work was not considered to be a viable option. As a result, the rapid changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic caught many businesses unprepared for the impact of stay-at-home orders on keeping their operations functioning and employees productive.

    Traditional IT support and security systems are designed for offices where all employees are connected to a single secure network environment and in proximity to each other. This pivot to a remote work environment has left companies wondering if they had the right technology and staff to support this change. There were also concerns about cybersecurity, and how to ensure employees were able to engage and communicate, while being mindful of the business budget.

    Home Network Infrastructure

    The biggest IT challenge of remote work is the network infrastructure of employees at home. Very few employees have an internet setup to handle their company’s workload. The typical home internet set up is adequate for streaming movies, playing online games, or internet browsing. But consumer-grade network equipment is not designed to handle the load when everyone at home uses it at the same time, leading to lagging video conferencing, or continual dropping out of the company network.

    IT support tip: Employees should plug their desktop or mobile device into a dedicated ethernet wire if possible. Alternatively, set up their remote workstation as close to their Wi-Fi access point as possible. Otherwise, they may need to update their home router to handle the increased demands of work from home on top of regular internet use.

    Tools Of The Trade

    Creating a work environment that is as close to the physical workspace as possible can be a challenge when it comes to a remote workforce, especially if some employees work remotely part time, or are in different time zones. Maintaining productivity, employee engagement, and communication are key to ensuring your business does not experience any negative impact of a remote workforce.

    IT support tip: Providing the tools and training to use them will empower your employees to work as efficiently as if they were in the office. Collaboration and communication solutions such as Microsoft 365 offer your company unparalleled capabilities to share and collaborate on documents in real-time, as well as chat and video functions that keep you all in the loop.

    Cybersecurity Threats

    Next on the list of IT support challenges for remote working is how to keep businesses safe from cybersecurity threats. Employees using their own IT infrastructure are very unlikely to be using the latest cybersecurity tools and may not adhere to standard security protocols. They may click on malware links or have poor password habits, which can lead to a risk of security problems for your company’s network. It takes most companies almost one year to detect and contain breaches, and this can lead to profound consequences both financially and to a loss of business reputation.

    IT support tip: Ensure employees are trained on remote security measures, and use multifactor authentication, strong passwords, and equip them with appropriate cybersecurity software. Understanding the dangers of malware and phishing attacks can help employees to be better equipped to avoid these situations and bolster the efforts of IT teams to bolster network security.

    Compliance Issues

    Data protection and privacy regulations in Australia must be complied with, and failure to do so can result in fines of up to $2 million AUD. One of the big challenges for supporting remote employees is staying compliant with data security legislation. Businesses can find it difficult to control how employees connect to networks and where they store data, increasing the risk they could be downloading and sharing protected data and information.

    Provide company-owned devices to employees to retain control over security protocols and enable better support for issues. If employee devices are used, ensure they are secure and up to date, and provide a strong virtual desktop or cloud communication options to stay connected.

    IT support tip: Implement and enforce security and compliance policies, to ensure compliance with legal requirements in your industry. Deploy firewalls and virtual private networks (VPN) to maintain security and protect data.

    Outsourced Tech Support

    Once a company switches to remote working, it is more likely there will be an increase in IT issues. This can put increased pressure on existing IT staff, who may not have a wide enough range of experience to support remote workers. Or you may not have a dedicated IT team within the business and cannot justify the cost of hiring more staff for this purpose. Lack of IT support can mean less productivity, less employee engagement, and higher costs as you try to fix infrastructure that is redundant for remote work purposes.

    IT support tip: Instead of taking on additional staff, you should consider outsourcing your IT support. Managed services providers (MSP) offer diverse types of plans which can cover the support your remote workers need on an ongoing basis, as well as ensure areas such as cybersecurity and cloud computing are covered. A MSP can also provide expert advice about how best to make your company’s transition to remote working. By choosing to outsource to a managed service provider, you have access to more modern IT solutions, which optimises your business efficiency and productivity, and provides your employees with the best available support.

    If your business is making the shift to remote work models, talk to the Essential Tech team about the perfect IT solution for your modern office.

    Resource : https://www.essentialtech.com.au/blog/it-support-tips-for-remote-workers

    28Nov, 2022
    IT Strategy: The Difference Between Business Success And Failure

    Business success is not a matter of luck. It is a matter of proper planning and execution.

    With new technologies and trends coming out every day, companies are struggling to find ways to stay ahead of their competitors.

    The key is to have an IT strategy that can help you not only survive, but thrive, in this ever-changing digital landscape.

    A successful IT strategy is based on an understanding of the business needs and expectations, while failure can be attributed to lack of understanding or poor execution.

    What Is An IT Strategy?

    An IT strategy is a comprehensive plan that describes what an organisation wants its IT department to do, how it will do it, and why. It also includes a list of goals, which are concrete tasks, and objectives that should be accomplished by specific dates.

    The objective of an IT strategy is to provide a framework for your business to use technology in order to achieve both your short-term and long-term goals.

    A business can create an IT strategy by looking at their current environment, analysing the market, identifying their goals, and then creating strategies for how they will reach those goals through the use of technology.

    An IT strategy should not be confused with business strategy; while they are both important and intertwine in terms of goals and objectives, they often take different paths in terms of usage. Your business strategy should consider the technological infrastructure that IT plans to develop, while IT strategy should integrate plans related to your overall operations.

    What Is The Importance Of An IT Strategy?

    The difference between success and failure is strategic planning.

    IT strategy can be seen as one of the most important parts of a business. It is not only crucial for the success of any business, but it also impacts employee workflows, processes, day-to-day operations, customer service, and how well your employees are performing.

    It is important to have an IT strategy in place as it helps you make decisions about what technology you should invest in, and where your company should focus its efforts.

    Without an IT strategy, businesses will be at risk for not being able to compete effectively with their competitors.

    Creating An IT Strategy For Success

    In order to be successful, an IT strategy should state clear objectives and show how it can deliver on those objectives. It should also have a process that allows the company to measure progress and identify areas of improvement.

    An IT strategy should also have a plan for managing change, which should include planning for future technology advancements, as well as anticipating potential problems. Flexibility is vital, as it allows for any issues or opportunities that may arise.

    Key areas to be considered when creating an IT strategy:

    • Overall business vision
    • Core values
    • IT roadmap
    • Competitive advantage
    • Long-term adaptability
    • Continual monitoring
    • IT infrastructure
    • Budget

    An IT strategy aims to answers questions like:

    • What are the key technologies we need for our business?
    • How will these technologies be used in the future?
    • What is our current IT infrastructure, and what does it look like?
    • How can we get the most out of our current resources?
    • How can we ensure that these technologies will provide value for our customers and shareholders?

    There are always new advancements, hindrances, and trends in today’s digital landscape. It will take some time to implement these changes into your IT strategy, so you may want to begin focusing on your adaptability earlier rather than later.

    What To Avoid When Creating Your IT Strategy

    One of the most important parts of your strategy is to avoid being caught up in the hype.

    Some IT strategies can be so ambitious that they become difficult to implement. It’s important to remember that your strategy should be realistic and achievable, not just a pipe dream.

    Avoid these pitfalls:

    • Failing to include all stakeholders in the decision-making process and understanding their needs.
    • Not considering the full range of risks and threats that could arise when implementing new technology.
    • Not having a clear idea of the requirements of your business.
    • Not considering the needs of your customers.
    • Not having a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your IT strategy.
    • Creating a strategy that is too rigid or doesn’t allow for flexibility.

    Strategise With The IT Experts

    With the help of a scalable, flexible IT strategy, companies can avoid business failure by ensuring they have a strong foundation and clear goals achievable through key technologies.

    The IT specialists at Essential Tech can help you create an IT strategy that aligns with your future visions and business targets. They’ll endeavour to understand your company from the inside out to help you find the right IT infrastructure that will help you grow and keep ahead of the competition.

    Resource : https://www.essentialtech.com.au/blog/it-strategy-the-difference-between-business-success-and-failure

    24Nov, 2022
    Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    Artificial intelligence leverages computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind.

    What is artificial intelligence?

    While a number of definitions of artificial intelligence (AI) have surfaced over the last few decades, John McCarthy offers the following definition in this 2004 paper (PDF, 106 KB) (link resides outside IBM), ” It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable.”

    However, decades before this definition, the birth of the artificial intelligence conversation was denoted by Alan Turing’s seminal work, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” (PDF, 89.8 KB) (link resides outside of IBM), which was published in 1950. In this paper, Turing, often referred to as the “father of computer science”, asks the following question, “Can machines think?”  From there, he offers a test, now famously known as the “Turing Test”, where a human interrogator would try to distinguish between a computer and human text response. While this test has undergone much scrutiny since its publish, it remains an important part of the history of AI as well as an ongoing concept within philosophy as it utilizes ideas around linguistics.

    Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig then proceeded to publish, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (link resides outside IBM), becoming one of the leading textbooks in the study of AI. In it, they delve into four potential goals or definitions of AI, which differentiates computer systems on the basis of rationality and thinking vs. acting:

    Human approach:

    • Systems that think like humans
    • Systems that act like humans

    Ideal approach:

    • Systems that think rationally
    • Systems that act rationally

    Alan Turing’s definition would have fallen under the category of “systems that act like humans.”

    At its simplest form, artificial intelligence is a field, which combines computer science and robust datasets, to enable problem-solving. It also encompasses sub-fields of machine learning and deep learning, which are frequently mentioned in conjunction with artificial intelligence. These disciplines are comprised of AI algorithms which seek to create expert systems which make predictions or classifications based on input data.

    Today, a lot of hype still surrounds AI development, which is expected of any new emerging technology in the market. As noted in Gartner’s hype cycle (link resides outside IBM), product innovations like, self-driving cars and personal assistants, follow “a typical progression of innovation, from overenthusiasm through a period of disillusionment to an eventual understanding of the innovation’s relevance and role in a market or domain.” As Lex Fridman notes here (01:08:15) (link resides outside IBM) in his MIT lecture in 2019, we are at the peak of inflated expectations, approaching the trough of disillusionment.  

    As conversations emerge around the ethics of AI, we can begin to see the initial glimpses of the trough of disillusionment. To read more on where IBM stands within the conversation around AI ethics, read more here.

    Resource : https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/what-is-artificial-intelligence

    24Nov, 2022
    The Top 9 Most Profitable Skills to Learn in 2022

    Learning a new skill or learning how to monetize an existing skill can help you land new opportunities. The best part is, you’ll likely be able to learn most of these skills for free!

    Are you thinking of learning some new skills to increase your earnings in 2022? If yes, there will be quite a few to choose from. Here they are:

    1. Blockchain Development

    Despite being a relatively recent development, blockchain technology has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. According to Statista, global expenditure on blockchain solutions will reach $19 billion by 2024. This is partly due to its application in creating and managing cryptocurrencies.

    As the world continues to figure out ways to apply blockchain technology, there will be an abundance of jobs for people with blockchain skills in 2022 and beyond.

    Blockchain Career Paths:

    • Blockchain Developer
    • Blockchain Quality Engineer
    • Blockchain Solution Architect
    • Smart Contracts Engineer

    2. Web Development

    Web development skills are in high demand across a broad range of industries, giving birth to an equally wide range of careers. These include more traditional roles as front-end, back-end, or full-stack developers, cybersecurity specialists, etc.

    One interesting niche to pay attention to is low-code programming—where developers are able to build highly functional, beautiful websites with little or no raw code at all.

    Much of web development is now done with low-code platforms such as WordPress that make it easy for total non-techies to build beautiful, professional websites in very little time.

    Programming Career Paths:

    • Frontend Development
    • Low-Code Web Designer
    • Backend Development
    • Full-Stack Development
    • Cybersecurity
    • Database Management

    3. Cloud Computing

    Cloud computing is an exciting new field that promises to change much about the way people work online. Essentially, what cloud computing does is allow organizations of all sizes to use remote servers and data centers, instead of having to install and maintain their own physical IT architecture.

    As more and more organizations seek to modernize their operations, we can expect to see rapid and sustained adoption of cloud computing technologies. And with this, there will be a higher demand for cloud computing experts.

    So how do you get into cloud computing? Well, there isn’t one skill to learn in particular. There are various pathways to consider, most of which leverage other skills such as web development or cybersecurity.

    Cloud Computing Career Paths:

    • Cloud Engineer
    • Cloud Architect
    • Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
    • Cloud Security Engineer
    • Cloud Administrator

    4. Content Marketing

    As long as new brands continue to emerge and older brands continue to attempt to maintain or grow their market share, content marketing will remain a high-demand skill.

    According to a report, content marketing will experience a whopping $417.85 billion growth between 2021 and 2025.

    While the market for content is currently very competitive, with such high levels of growth, there will continue to be room for new entrants.

    Content Marketing Career Paths:

    • Content Manager
    • Content Marketer
    • Content Strategist
    • Content Writer
    • Search Engine Optimization Specialist

    5. Big Data

    Big Data is broadly the science of harvesting and processing massive amounts of data to derive useful information that improves decision-making, both in business and otherwise. More accurate decision-making can save money and time, and this explains why data analysts are in such high demand.

    According to the World Data Science Initiative, the income of data analysts may go as high as $130,000 in 2022, making this a lucrative field for anyone seeking a new career.

    Big Data Career Paths:

    • Data Architect
    • Data Engineer
    • Data Analyst
    • Database Manager
    • Data Scientist

    6. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

    In an age of unprecedented technological breakthroughs, few innovations offer as much promise as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. With the aid of both, technologies such as self-driving cars, facial recognition software, and surgical robots are emerging, with a wide range of applications for business, health, the environment, and so on.

    Semrush predict that the global AI market will experience a snowball effect in the next few years, reaching a size of $190.61 billion by 2025. As AI and machine learning are still emerging fields, the demand for AI and machine learning experts will likely exceed its supply for some time.

    Artificial Intelligence Career Paths:

    • Machine Learning Developer
    • Data Engineer
    • Software Engineer
    • Data Scientist

    7. UX/UI Design

    User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design are emerging fields within web development, both geared towards ensuring that users are able to derive the most value out of their visit to a website.

    Organizations all over the world are scrambling for UX/UI designers to design and help implement user-friendly experiences and products that will drive demand for their products and services.

    At the time of writing this article, there are over 6,000 job listings related to UI/UX on Indeed alone. A similar search on Glassdoor and LinkedIn brings up about 3,000 and 1,500 job listings respectively, clearly showing that there is no shortage of jobs for product designers in 2022.

    UX/UI Career Paths:

    • UX Strategist
    • Information Architect
    • UX Researcher

    8. Video Marketing

    Search Engines like Bing may seem like Google’s most immediate rival, but they aren’t—not even close. As it turns out, YouTube, with over 2 billion logged-in users per month—according to Search Engine Journal, is the world’s second-largest search engine.

    Video is predicted to be the major source of viewed web content by 2022, amassing 85% of all web-related traffic, coupled with the fact that 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. Video marketing is an unsaturated gold mine that promises so many opportunities for people with the right skills.

    Video Marketing Career Paths:

    • Content Creator
    • Video Producer
    • Video Editor
    • Search Engine Optimization Specialist

    9. The Internet of Things

    The Internet of Things (IoT) is the bridge that links digitally enabled devices and enables them to communicate, share data, and so on, across the internet. In the past, the internet was mainly used on computers—but today, you can connect to devices such as watches, fridges, cars, and so on.

    As you might imagine, this could have a wide range of applications including in industries such as healthcare, agriculture, transportation, consumer products, etc. This suggests Is that there will be a high volume of IoT jobs in 2022 and beyond.

    The Internet of Things Career Paths:

    • Data Analytics
    • Network Specialist
    • Cybersecurity Engineer
    • Artificial Intelligence Engineer

    Find a New Career in 2022

    As technology evolves, more and more job roles and functions will be created. For 2022, these are some of the most promising fields for employment.

    Resource : https://www.makeuseof.com/top-profitable-skills-to-learn/

    23Nov, 2022
    Cyber Resilience: The New Strategy to Cope With Increased Threats

    As part of last month’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month, I was traveling around the globe to provide organizations actionable tips on how to strengthen their cybersecurity posture and allow for accelerated recovery from cyberattacks. Through my conversations with hundreds of analysts, system integrators, and security professionals one thing became apparent – many of them understand that it’s no longer a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ an organization will suffer a data breach. This means that instead of primarily focusing efforts on keeping threat actors out of the network, it’s equally important to develop a strategy to reduce the impact. In turn, many organizations have started adopting a new strategy to cope with today’s increased cyber threats, which is called ‘cyber resilience’.

    But what exactly is cyber resilience and how does it compare to traditional cybersecurity practices?   

    According to MITRE, cyber resilience (or cyber resiliency) “is the ability to anticipate, withstand, recover from, and adapt to adverse conditions, stresses, attacks, or compromises on cyber resources.” The need for cyber resilience arises from the growing realization that traditional security measures are no longer enough to protect systems, data, and the network from compromise. The objective of cyber resilience is to ensure that an adverse cyber event (intentional or unintentional, i.e., due to failed software updates) does not negatively impact the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of an organization’s business operation. 

    Cybersecurity vs. Cyber Resilience

    Cybersecurity applies technology, processes, and measures that are designed to protect systems (e.g., servers, endpoints), networks, and data from cyberattacks. In contrast, cyber resilience focuses on detective and reactive controls in an organization’s IT environment to assess gaps and drive enhancements to the overall security posture. Most cyber resilience initiatives leverage or enhance a variety of cybersecurity measures. Both are most effective when applied in concert. 

    More and more cyber risk and security management frameworks are adopting the concept of cyber resilience (e.g., the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Resilience Review (CRR) or the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-160 Volume 2). Furthermore, leading analyst firms like Gartner are advising clients to shift their cybersecurity priorities from defensive strategies to the management of disruption through resilience to make a real difference to the impact of cybersecurity incidents.

    Benefits of Cyber Resilience

    A cyber resilience strategy is vital for business continuity and can provide a range of benefits prior, during, and after a cyberattack, such as:

    • Enhanced Security Posture: Cyber resilience not only helps with responding to and surviving an attack. It can also help an organization develop strategies to improve IT governance, improve security across critical assets, expand data protection efforts, and minimize human error.

    • Reduced Financial Loss: According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2022, the average cost of a data breach is now $4.35 million globally. In addition to financial costs, the reputational impact of data breaches is increasing due to the introduction of general data protection laws and stringent data breach notification requirements. Cyber resilience can help minimize recovery costs by accelerating time-to-remediation.

    • Improved Compliance Posture: Many industry standards, government regulations, and data privacy laws nowadays propagate cyber resilience. 

    • Enhanced IT Productivity: One of the understated benefits of cyber resilience is its ability to improve the daily IT operations, including threat response and ensuring day-to-day operations run smoothly.

    • Heightened Customer Trust: Implementing a cyber resilience strategy helps improve trust as it enhances the chances of responding to and surviving a cyberattack, minimizing the negative impact on an organization’s customer relationships. 

    • Increased Competitive Edge: Cyber resilience provides organizations a competitive advantage over companies without it. 

    Both the range of cyber resources within an organization (e.g., networks, data, workloads, devices, and people) and the threats to which they are susceptible will determine what steps are needed to achieve cyber resilience. As a result, cyber resilience measures should be implemented based on an assessment of the tactics, techniques, and procedures (so-called TTPs) that hackers are commonly applying when exploiting their victims. 

    For instance, endpoints are often used as an access point for hackers and cybercriminals to launch attacks that could infect an organization’s entire network or function as a beachhead to laterally move within the network. In fact, a Ponemon Institute survey revealed that 68 percent of organizations suffered a successful endpoint attack within the last 12 months. 

    Despite widespread attempts to secure endpoints, this finding suggests that security has been rapidly eroding in today’s work-from-anywhere environment and therefore requires Endpoint Resilience, which is just one flavor of cyber resilience. Endpoint Resilience enables organizations to always know where their endpoints are, apply deep security control, and take defensive actions on those devices, which includes repairing protective security applications if they’re disabled, altered, or otherwise compromised.

    Conclusion

    When implemented properly, cyber resilience can be considered a preventive measure to counteract human error, malicious actions, and decayed, insecure software. The goal of cyber resilience is to aggressively protect the entire enterprise, covering all available cyber resources.

    Resource : https://www.securityweek.com/cyber-resilience-new-strategy-cope-increased-threats

    23Nov, 2022
    Docs, Sheets, and Slides are Google’s first apps to use the new Material You toggle

    Google’s biggest apps already feature the main elements of Material You but additional aspects are now making their way through, with Docs, Sheets, and Slides using the new toggle design.

    The Material 3 switch is larger and even more of a pill than before as the entire container is shaped that way. According to Google:

    • M2: Switches have circular thumb that extends beyond the edge of the track.
    • M3: Switches have a taller and wider track, new color mappings, and the ability to hold an icon in the switch thumb.

    Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides use the switch directly in the editor’s overflow menu for Print layout, Suggested changes, Available offline, and Star. It does not leverage the optional icon (checkmark) within the circle, which grows in size from the off to on state.

    Compared to toggle in system Settings on Android 12/13, it’s now as wide and more compact.

    • Accessibility: Visual presentation is more accessible
    • Color: New color mappings meet non-text-contrast requirements in addition to compatibility with dynamic color
    • Icons: Ability to have an optional icon within the switch thumb
    • Layout: Track is taller and wider

    Since it’s in overflow, you don’t get to appreciate the animation fully since the menu quickly disappears after a selection is made. This change is not live anywhere else in the app, like Settings.

    The Material You toggle is rolled out with version 1.22.442.03.90 of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The Google app, as part of its Material You redesign, will use the new element in settings.

    More on Material You:

    Resource : https://9to5google.com/2022/11/18/google-docs-material-you-toggle/

    22Nov, 2022
    Top Five Cybersecurity Predictions for 2023

    KnowBe4 today announced its 2023 cybersecurity predictions from its team of industry experts.  

    The top five predicted cybersecurity trends for 2023 include:  

    • A shift in focus to creating a security culture within organisations across the globe 
      The need for security awareness training is now clear to most organisations and they are starting to evolve from just training to additional emphasis on behaviour and culture. There has been a positive momentum toward building a strong security culture globally that involves support from executives and the employee base as a whole.  
    • A new social engineering battleground purported by an increase in social media scams
      Social media scams will blossom, putting friends, family, organisations and colleagues at risk. With the ever-growing industry of social media commerce and marketplaces, people will be relying even more on indicators of trust, such as how many connections an account has and how long the account has been active, making them susceptible to scams that use stolen social media accounts to trick individuals and organisations. Also, with official verification now for sale for a small fee on various platforms, scammers are sure to take advantage.  
    • A rise in catastrophic attacks on critical infrastructure
      It is also likely that a major outage will occur due to critical infrastructure being compromised, especially given the ongoingwar in the Ukraine with Russia. This could have the potential to have societal and economic impacts for a large number of people or even an entire nation. With a global recession and rising cost of living, we may also see digital civil disobedience occurring in the form of people attacking their own government sites or national infrastructure as a form of protest. 
    • Dangerous deepfake attacks will become more convincing and damage reputations 
      Deepfakes are a dangerous tool used to build a level of trust, convincing unsuspecting people to accept the words and actions of someone at face value. Organisations do not have a deep level of understanding about the dangers this can present regarding reputation and thus do not yet train their employees enough on the topic.  
    • Larger attack surface introduces new threats with the Metaverse  
      There is an increasing number of threat vectors that are subsequently creating a larger attack surface, making it more difficult to adequately protect organisations worldwide. With the proliferation of the Metaverse, there are more opportunities for cybercriminals to perpetrate attacks.  

    “This list of predictions in cybersecurity trends has been gathered from our global group of experts who have decades of experience in the cybersecurity field,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4.

    “They are at the forefront of what is happening in the industry, constantly following trends and staying up to date on the latest threats, tools and techniques. Many of them noted a fundamental shift in focus for organisations beyond security awareness training alone to striving for a strong security culture that is driven by measurable behavioural change. Also, social engineering will continue to dominate as an overwhelmingly successful method for cybercriminals to execute attacks.” said Sjouwerman.

    Resource : https://australiancybersecuritymagazine.com.au/top-five-cybersecurity-predictions-for-2023/

    22Nov, 2022
    Data Leakage Protection – Online Security | VPN | Password Manager

    Data Leakage Protection

    In this article we will be looking into how businesses can increase their cyber security and data protection through utilising various data protection solutions. We will unpack the following topics:

    · Why is data leakage protection important?

    · Types of data leakage protection solutions

    In today’s world people no longer fuss about buying computers with large storage capacity, performance has become the key feature to focus on when purchasing a suitable computer. This sounds a bit like an anomaly, especially because people today are consuming more information than ever before and yet, here we are. A one Terabyte (1TB) storage computer has become an unpopular consumer choice simply because of cloud-computing.

    Cloud computing is where the world has moved, think of it as a virtual computer that is used for running processes like software over the internet and cloud storage as a virtual hard drive for storing files on servers to make it accessible over the internet. This is among many reasons why cyber security and data protection should be prioritised.

    Sites like Google, Facebook, and Twitter are where some of our most personal details is stored. Billions of people around the world now rely on their social media apps to remind them of the birthdays of close people in their lives, for some they serve as archives for the videos and photos they once shared on their social media, and these sites have stored in their servers, information containing email addresses, phone numbers, and a lot more about their users. While all this has become a norm, the unauthorized passage of information from within an organization to a destination outside its secured network has become a norm too, this is referred to as Data leakage.

    To combat this problem, companies must invest in cyber security and data leakage solutions. These data protection solutions will safeguard against cybercrimes.

    In recent times companies have seen elements of criminality present themselves to the cyber world, making it clear that personal information is far more attractive than gold and cyber security and data protection must be taken seriously. Fortunately, organizations do not have to suffer from important information being leaked because data leakage protection solutions are available to help mitigate these unethical and/or criminal attacks. Cyber security and data leakage protection today are as important as the need to assure that your vehicle and home are secured. When you have any critical info shared and stored somewhere on the net, you should consider protecting it by using cyber security and data protection solutions at your disposal.

    There are different types of cyber security and data protection solutions available to use. These data leakage protection solutions safeguard important information from being leaked. We will briefly explain how these cyber security and data protection solutions work to protect you from malicious threats.

    Types of Data Leakage Protection Solutions

    Access Controls

    This security measure through authentication and authorization limits who is allowed access and use of company information. This includes compulsory login requests which are responsible for making sure that only authorized persons are granted appropriate access.

    Authentication

    PIN numbers, passwords, security cards, or biometrics are all measures that are put in place for access control, they are important for accurately verifying the identity of a user or process.

    Encryption

    When plain text, like a text message or email is scrambled into an unreadable format, this process is referred to as encryption. Only authorized users with the proper corresponding keys can unlock and access these encrypted files. Encryption should be performed on information that is either stored on your computer or transmitted through the internet to prevent it from being leaked. This is one of the best cyber security and data protection solutions.

    Data Erasure

    When information is deleted from a computer, it does not completely get disposed and it may still be found by hackers. This solution is done through software that permanently overwrites information on storage devices and verifies it as non-recoverable.

    Data Masking

    Confidential information can be hidden using information masking software. This software effectively masks files by obscuring letters and numbers with proxy characters and cannot therefore be accessed by any unauthorized persons or devices. The text changes back to its original form only when an authorized user receives it.

    Resource : https://password-saver.com/data-leakage-protection/

    21Nov, 2022
    Asana to lay off 9% of its workforce to improve operating costs

    Joining other technology companies that are laying off workers to battle global economic headwinds, work management software provider Asana on Tuesday said it was laying off 9% of its total workforce in order to cut operating expenses.

    The company’s chief operating officer (COO), Anne Raimondi, took to LinkedIn on Tuesday to announce that the company was reducing the size of its global workforce, estimated to be over 1,600 employees.

    “Today, Asana announced the difficult decision to reduce our force, impacting about 9% of the global team, as part of a restructuring plan intended to improve our operational efficiencies and operating costs and better align Asana’s workforce with current business needs, top strategic priorities, and key growth opportunities,” an Asana spokesperson told Computerworld when asked about the reason behind the layoffs.  

    During an earnings call with analysts discussing second quarter results, Asana had said that the company had increased expenses for many of its customer facing roles in the first half of the year in order to service growth in the second half, and that it had already had started to throttle back on hiring.

    “We front loaded many of our customer facing roles this year to build sales capacity and infrastructure for the second half and beyond,” Tim Wan, global head of finance at Asana, had said, according to an earnings call transcript from Seeking Alpha. During the same call, Wan said that the company had been taking initiatives, including moderating headcount growth, to improve operational efficiency.

    “We’ve moderated headcount growth significantly and you’ll begin to see it manifest in the G&A and R&D expenses first. We’ve already slowed headcount growth from 13% sequentially in Q1 to 5% in Q2, showing a change in momentum and highlighting our commitment to expense management,” Wan said.

    Wan went on to say that as a result of changes in the macroeconomic environment, the company was taking steps to ensure that the already-hired salespeople were closing more deals to support growth.

    Software providers such as Asana also have been facing extension of deal cycles due to uncertainty in economic conditions. While responding to a specific question on the elongation of deal cycles during the earnings call, Raimondi said that deals with large enterprises were seeing more decision-makers getting involved.

    The involvement of more decision-makers could be read as a strategy by enterprises to put a tighter clasp on expenditures. However, the company’s careers section continues to list several openings. In a statement to Computerworld, the company said that it will continue to hire for critical roles at this time.

    For the quarter ended July, the company had reported a net loss of $62.6 million despite reporting a 51% increase in revenue.

    As per the company’s financial outlook, the company expects to report a third-quarter operating loss between $66 million to $63 million on the back of $138.5 million to $139.5 million in revenue.

    During September, the company’s co-founder and CEO Dustin Moskovitz had purchased approximately 19 million shares of Class A common stock at $18.16 per share, infusing $350 million in the company.

    Resource : https://www.computerworld.com/article/3680153/asana-to-lay-off-9-of-its-workforce-to-improve-operating-costs.html

    21Nov, 2022
    Jet Engine Installed on NASA’s X-59 QueSST Quiet Supersonic Aircraft

    NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft, or QueSST, is designed to fly faster than the speed of sound without producing a loud, disruptive sonic boom, which is typically heard on the ground below aircraft flying at such speeds. Instead, with the X-59, people on the ground will hear nothing more than a quiet sonic thump – if they hear anything at all. Credit: NASA / Joey Ponthieux

    NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft now has the jet engine that will power it in flight.

    Earlier this month, at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, the F414-GE-100 engine was installed. This marks a major milestone as the X-59 approaches the completion of its assembly.

    The F414-GE-100 engine from General Electric Aviation measures 13-foot-long and packs 22,000 pounds of propulsion energy and will power the X-59 as it flies at speeds up to Mach 1.4 and altitudes around 55,000 feet.

    “The engine installation is the culmination of years of design and planning by the NASA, Lockheed Martin, and General Electric Aviation teams,” said Ray Castner, NASA’s propulsion performance lead for the X-59. “I am both impressed with and proud of this combined team that’s spent the past few months developing the key procedures, which allowed for a smooth installation.

    The X-59 team will follow the aircraft’s assembly with a series of ground tests and ultimately, first flight in 2023.

    NASA’s X-59 is the centerpiece of the agency’s Quesst mission. The aircraft is designed to reduce the sound of sonic booms, which occur when an aircraft flies at supersonic speeds, to a quiet sonic “thump.” This will be demonstrated when NASA flies the X-59 over communities around the U.S. starting in 2025, with the goal of providing the data necessary to open the future to commercial supersonic flight over land, greatly reducing flight times.

    Resource : https://scitechdaily.com/jet-engine-installed-on-nasas-x-59-quesst-quiet-supersonic-aircraft/