Great Lakes Computer Corporation

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Archives for March 2013

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SMBs in Saudi Arabia waking up to cloud IT potential

SMB’s worldwide embracing Cloud Computing

Cloud ComputingSmall and medium sized businesses around the world are increasingly investigating the potential that cloud infrastructure offers for streamlining and simplifying their business operations.  A strong example of this trend is currently being seen in Saudi Arabia.

This large Middle Eastern nation is generally classified as being in the earliest phases of cloud adoption. According to international advisory and market research firm IDC, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia only has a few providers offering full-fledged cloud services.  Despite this, IT managers and other decision-makers are giving cloud technologies a good deal of time and attention at the moment as they strive to understand the benefits they can offer to businesses both small and large.

IDC research analyst Hamza Naqshbandi has seen this process first-hand.  “Organizations across the kingdom have traditionally preferred to manage their IT operations internally,” he recently explained.  “However, there has been growing interest in outsourcing models, with organizations increasingly using hosting and managed services.  This growing adoption of outsourcing services is seen as a first step toward moving to a cloud-based model, as companies become more comfortable with the concept of remote services delivery.”

The outcome of such adoptions will be a near explosion in the adoption rate for cloud IT solutions.  According to IDC, 2013 figures should surpass those of the previous year by almost 35%.  Even more astoundingly, the research firm estimates that annual growth in the Saudi cloud IT market between 2012 and 2016 could surpass 49% when compounding is taken into account.

The benefits that come from transitioning to software located in the cloud are available to U.S.  businesses as well.  When cloud technology is in place, firms can concentrate on their core competencies instead of having their attention diverted by the need to take care of their own IT support issues.

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Malware Attack on NBC.com & more Data Security Threats

Malware: a cautionary tale for SMBs without a companywide policy

Data protectionThe news of late has been filled with reports about widespread hacking of United States businesses by official branches of the Chinese government.  Amid the hubbub, however, a hacking report of more potential interest to SMBs may have been overlooked.  The National Broadcasting Network announced late last week that its own website, NBC.com, had been infiltrated by hackers who infected it with links leading to malware.  NBC.com is a popular entertainment site that could conceivably be visited by employees of any SMB in the nation during non-working time such as lunch hours.

The news broke on a blog maintained by NBC News Digital Technology and Science Editor Wilson Rothman.  Shortly afterwards, NBC itself released a statement reading: “We’ve identified the problem and are working to resolve it.  No user information has been compromised.”

SMB’s especially vulnerable to breaches in data security

The true danger posed by the website alterations, however, was not that account names or passwords for NBC.com itself might be harvested.  Instead, the point of the intrusion appears to have been to lead unsuspecting users to click on suspect links.  These would cause the Redkit Exploit Kit to be downloaded onto visiting computers.  It is this same exploit kit that has been spreading the Citadel Trojan horse onto banking sites recently.

Dutch IT firm founder Ronald Prins detailed the danger, explaining: “Users presume these large organizations websites to be free from malware.  If an attacker can gain access to these Web servers, they can use them to distribute malware to every visitor of that Web server.”

This is precisely the scenario that SMBs need to keep in mind as they formulate companywide policies and practices designed to promote in-house computer safety.  Reports have surfaced that the Chrome browser, among others, managed to pick up on the malicious links and warn users away from the site.  This greatly limited the potential extent of the damage that could have ensued, but SMBs without up-to-date browser software may have found themselves left without this necessary protection.

Consistent data protection requires a coordinated strategy when it comes to the software present on company machines.  When users are responsible for updating their own operating systems or browsers, the results will be hit-or-miss at best.  This leaves SMBs in a vulnerable position when highly popular websites – ones their employees might very well visit for personal or even work-related reasons – are victimized by hackers hoping to spread malware onto computers nationwide.

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50 Million Evernote Users Effected by Huge Data Security Hacking

Fifty million users should pay close attention to data loss prevention

Data ProtectionIn one of the most extensive hacking events in recent years, an estimated 50 million individuals are being urged to reset their passwords on the Evernote service.  The cloud-based Evernote platform is popular with a variety of end users ranging from college students to small- and medium-sized businesses, providing them with a way to keep track of disparate types of data across many types of platforms.  Early this weekend, the Evernote company emailed its millions of users to reveal that the service had been compromised and that user names and passwords might be out in the open.  As a result, Evernote has implemented a reset requiring all users to access the site and change their passwords.

One of the Largest Security Breaches

The security notice emanating from Evernote revealed only basic information about the breach, saying in part: “Evernote’s Operations & Security team has discovered and blocked suspicious activity on the Evernote network that appears to have been a coordinated attempt to access secure areas of the Evernote Service.”

The problem could potentially affect millions of business users, many of whom find Evernote’s automatic syncing of notes and productivity features indispensable.  The intrusion, however, demonstrates how important it can be for companies to develop and enforce robust policies regarding computer protection.  Such policies can minimize the damage caused by breaches that are outside the SMG’s control.  For example, it should be a companywide standard that passwords on cloud-based services such as Evernote not show similarity with the passwords used on email accounts associated with such services.

When such passwords are identical or similar enough to make guessability an issue, SMBs may find that company email accounts become casualties of a hacker gaining access to an associated service.  Since business email messages can potentially include private information such as a client’s purchase history or even a credit card number, this can lead to serious data security problems.

Time to do a Free System Security Audit

As history continues to tell us, most computer problems that turn into extended downtime and data loss could have been prevented.  Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that there were problems brewing until it’s too late, and then it’s an emergency that threatens your business.  Our 27 point problem prevention network audit will let you know where you stand.

Source:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/82568

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