Great Lakes Computer Corporation

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Bob Martin

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Keeping up with Employee Demand for BYOD

BYODIf you have not adopted a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy for your business, you may no longer have the luxury of delaying.  According to the article, Business trends for 2015: the mobile workforce and BYOD maturing, employee demand will be the main component of growth for BYOD:

In 2015, technology, more than ever, will be expected to keep up with business growth, the need for transformation, but most of all, employees’ demands. In the last five years, it’s been challenging for businesses to keep up with the rate at which technology has evolved, but now the tables have turned.

Employees’ expectations around having the freedom to choose the type of device and operating system they use for work, as well as capability for fast, seamless delivery of content and information, continues to increase at a rapid pace due to device innovation and increasing 4G coverage.

The projected uptake of tablets, in particular, will be a strong example of these growing consumer expectations as these devices become even more prominent within large and small businesses, as well as across the public sector.

Tablets provide greater ease and portability than a traditional laptop, and this combined with people’s ever increasing demand for high speed access to information anytime, anywhere, is expected to drive wider adoption across all business sectors through 2015.

Therefore, by acknowledging employees’ desires for ‘bring your own’ tablets, and organizations ensuring they are able to offer staff the devices and systems they prefer and need to be more productive, businesses can support the wider trend while fostering greater information sharing and cost efficiencies across the company.

To read more about BYOD, read our blog article: BYOD: Companies are inviting staff to bring their own computer to work.  And to learn more about implementing a BYOD policy for your company, let us help!

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What Does the End of SBS 2003 Mean For Me?

Windows small business server 2003If you’ve been relying on Windows Small Business Server 2003 to manage your company’s IT infrastructure, it’s time to begin investigating other options. Beginning on July 14, 2015, Microsoft will end support for the mainstay OS, and many users will be scrambling to update to a supported platform. There are several options available, but you need to be aware of the timeframe of the migration and also the potential pitfalls.

Depending on the size of your company, it can take approximately 200 days to complete a successful migration from Windows Small Business Server 2003. It can be a painstaking process, and you will need to carefully review the applications upon which you are relying to see if they will be easily supported on your new platform of choice. Even small changes in one area of your IT support system can have significant effects that reverberate throughout your ecosystem. Needless to say, no matter what path you choose it’s important to begin formulating a plan as soon as possible, lest you be exposed to security threats and bugs that will never be patched.

Windows Server 2012

Windows Server 2012 is the modern version of the platform which Microsoft is encouraging users to adopt. Although Microsoft has eliminated the dedicated small business server product line from the 2012 offerings, Windows 2012 Server is available in several variations to suit the diverse needs of Microsoft’s customers. Windows Server Essentials features Microsoft’s latest SMB 3.0 protocol, and may allow longtime users of Windows Small Business Server to retain core IT infrastructure while incorporating Microsoft’s latest advancements in SMB security, networking, and data storage. In addition, many end-users may find the transition seamless, or at least mostly trouble-free, as they will be employing applications and a platform with which they are likely already familiar. Windows Server 2012 also offers the option to integrate certain cloud-based solutions, such as collaboration with Office 365. Microsoft unveiled a sponsored whitepaper detailing what to consider when migrating to Windows Server 2012.

However, migrating to Windows Server 2012 could have important consequences for your business. Depending upon the workload you are currently putting on SBS 2003, the migration may require extensive hardware upgrades which bring costs that may not have been included in the budget. Also, If you consistently rely on 16- or 32-bit applications that have been developed in-house, it may take some time and effort to have them reconfigured for a 64-bit environment, if they can be made compatible at all.

Office 365

While Windows Server 2012 does offer the option of cloud integration, you may use the migration as an opportunity to move completely into the cloud with a product such as Office 365. This choice offers obvious benefits, such as less up-front cost for software and ease-of-access to your crucial data from any location. Many companies may, however, not be comfortable with their secure data being hosted outside of the organization. 

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Ransomware: To Pay or Not To Pay the Ransom?

ransomewareThe following post was featured on TechTarget SearchSecurity earlier this week and is being shared as we have many clients who have asked us this hypothetical question, in the hopes that the day doesn’t come that they have to know the answer. Thankfully, they are working with us and have a sound Data Backup and Recovery Plan in place. Read on for an insightful and good read we hope you will never need to reference:

“Our organization is developing a short policy statement to deal with future ransomware outbreaks. However, a key point we disagree on internally is that some people believe it’s okay to pay a ransom for data depending on the cost/value equation, while others think paying the ransom is like negotiating with a terrorist and should just never be done. What approach should we take?”

Ransomware is surreptitious software that overtly takes control of a computer’s hard drive and encrypts it. It holds the information hostage until a ransom is paid for release of the decryption key. Payment of the ransom is often made in bitcoin, which is anonymous and untraceable. The ransom can be — and typically is — paid if the information or computer taken hostage is critical to the operation of a business or victim. The underlying question is how this could have happened and what recourse is available. On June 5, 2014, Cisco foretold of a rash of ransomware attacks and this is starting to come to pass.

Companies falling victim to ransomware and that wind up paying the ransom, tend to either have poor backups or insufficient controls; or, if both systems are working effectively but still succumb to more sophisticated attacks, there are greater concerns regarding reputational or financial risks if the incident goes public.

Should a company pay ransom for information or computers taken hostage? Ethically speaking, the answer is no. But in a practical sense, given the criticality of the asset, it might have to. If not paying the ransom has an adverse effect on a business’ viability, then there are few choices. If the organization can accept a loss in business, then the ransom should not be paid and attention should be focused on preventing reoccurrence.

There are several steps organizations can take to prepare for a ransomware attack, including backing up critical data daily, running incrementals to make the backup process less cumbersome and time consuming, ensuring strong network security, verifying and periodically testing malware detection and application controls and also deploying comprehensive monitoring processes to detect unauthorized access attempts and unknown or unexpected changes in environments. The key is to have sufficient controls and recovery processes in place to render a hostage situation merely an inconvenience and not a critical business threat.

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