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What Is VDI?

In the past, computing was much simpler, because all that was needed was for employees to come to their offices and access their desktop computers. All applications, files, and business data are in these on-premise devices. But as remote work is becoming more commonplace and organizations are looking for more cost-efficient and flexible alternatives, virtual desktops have become a good option. If you want to know what VDI is, keep reading to learn more.

What is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)?

Virtual desktop infrastructure, or VDI, is a desktop virtualization technology that involves hosting desktop environments on a centralized server in an organization’s data center. These are deployed to end-users and accessed over a network with a device, such as a laptop or a tablet.

What Is VDI Used For?

A VDI solution allows users to work and access applications in the office, outside the office, or from another location. It is a necessity for organizations in various industries. It allows task workers, kiosk users, knowledge workers, medical professionals, teachers, field technicians, remote employees, and hybrid workers to access a virtual desktop.

For instance, task workers can benefit from non-persistent VDI. Take for example call center employees, who often use the same software to do their job. Since they only need to do a specific set of tasks, a standard non-persistent desktop is suitable.

VDI is also beneficial for remote work, since it’s easy to deploy from a centralized location. It’s convenient for providing access to standard desktop environments across a range of devices.

A VDI is the ideal solution for third-party access when an organization needs outsiders to access company information for short projects. This is why it’s also beneficial when hiring temporary contractors, as administrators can provide access to core assets while limiting access to systems not related to the job. This allows contractors to work immediately.

For IT teams, they can deploy data, applications, and desktops to end-users via the internet. Developers can also use virtual desktop workstations to test the end-user functionality of a program.

Benefits Of VDI

A VDI solution can serve many benefits for your organization, such as the following:

Accessibility and mobility. A VDI solution makes it easier to work remotely because end users can connect to a virtual desktop from any location or device. It’s like having an office available on-demand, which is useful for people working on the go. This improves user experience as users can access the same interface, no matter what device is used.
Centralized management. VDI allows administrators to manage virtualized desktops more conveniently. Patches, updates, configurations, and policies can be applied easily, without the need to apply them individually for the whole organization. It’s also beneficial for regulatory compliance because it eliminates the problem of incorrectly storing data and applications.
Better security. Applications and data are stored on a host server, not the device used to access a virtual desktop. This protects data from being leaked or lost when a device is stolen or corrupted.
Cost-efficiency. Hardware requirements for end-users are lower because the processing is done on the server. Less powerful and less expensive computing devices can be bought to implement VDI. This also provides device flexibility, as old PCs can still be used as VDI endpoints.
Scalability. The VDI environment can be quickly scaled up when the need arises.

Types of VDI

There are two types of virtual desktops administrators usually deploy:

Persistent VDI operates on a one-is-to-one ratio, so every user will have their own desktop image that they can personalize, much like a traditional desktop. In this virtual desktop, users can store passwords, shortcuts, files, etc. A user will log in to the same desktop image, including all the changes they saved.

This type of VDI is often used for work and school purposes because users can easily save their files and easily pick up where they left off.

Non-persistent VDI runs on a many-to-one ratio, so more than one user will share one desktop image or be connected to a randomized one. Unlike persistent VDI, non-persistent VDI doesn’t save changes upon restarting. Instead, a fresh desktop image is provided upon log-in.

This type of VDI is typically used in computer laboratories, public libraries, kiosks, call centers, and the like. It’s simpler to manage and requires less storage too.

Key Takeaway

Virtual desktop infrastructure involves hosting desktop environments on a centralized server and deploying them to endpoint devices. This solution is beneficial for organizations in various industries, so it’s worth taking a look at if you need your team to have reliable access to virtual desktops for their tasks.

Now that you know what VDI is, you can make an informed decision on whether it can be useful for your organization. But if you still require help in understanding some details, you can send us a message here at CT Link. As an information technology solutions provider in the Philippines, we can help you find out more if this infrastructure best fits your organizational requirements.

iboss: Eliminate VPN With Zero Trust

March 18, 2022April 20, 2023 blog-manager News and Events eliminate vpn with zero trust

With the prevalence of remote work setups, organizations needed to find a way to provide private access to their network’s resources to employees from any location. This way, they can maintain productivity while securing their business data. Both VPNs and ZTNA provide access to private resources, but more and more companies are opting for the latter. This article will discuss their differences, and why it’s beneficial to eliminate VPN with Zero Trust — specifically through the iboss ZTNA solution.

What Is A Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A virtual private network (VPN) is an Internet security service that creates an encrypted connection between user devices and one or more servers. It can securely connect a user to a company’s internal network or to the public internet.

By using a VPN, your remote employees can log in to the office network from anywhere, so they can have the resources to accomplish their tasks.

A VPN also acts as access control to authenticate users that have the required credentials. This means only verified individuals can gain access to sensitive files and information. Lastly, a VPN solution is also effective at securing business data from unwanted outsiders.

Despite these features, a VPN also has its limitations:

Lacks granular security. Once a user is granted access to a network, they will have full access to the entire network. This can put your organization’s data and application at risk. If an outsider gets access to a remote worker’s VPN credentials, then that outsider will have access to all the data and applications on the network.
Time-consuming and costly. VPNs are time-consuming and costly to maintain because you will need to install a VPN client on every remote employee’s computer and ensure that the software is updated.

What Is Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) uses the concept of “Zero Trust” security framework — “Never trust, always verify”. It assumes that users and devices, whether inside or outside the network, need to be authenticated, authorized, or validated before being granted access to applications and data.

More and more organizations are switching to ZTNA for remote work because of its benefits:

Improved access control and security. Like a VPN, ZTNA can also provide private access to resources for remote workers. A VPN assumes that users and devices that pass through the network perimeter controls can be trusted. But on the other hand, ZTNA assumes that no user or device can’t be trusted until proven otherwise. Access is granted based on the principle of the least privilege, which means that only the minimum permissions needed will be given, so a user can perform their role.
Better user productivity. ZTNA is seamless and can work transparently in the background. Users don’t have to worry about setting up a connection. Additionally, ZTNA offers flexibility to Bring Your Own Devices.
Reduced network complexity and cost. ZTNA can provide fast and direct-to-cloud access to your organization’s resources, improving performance and reducing network complexity and expenses.

iboss ZTNA Solution

If you’re interested in eliminating VPN connections and enjoying the productivity and security benefits of ZTNA, the iboss ZTNA solution will fit your needs. The iboss cloud platform is built for ZTNA, so you can allow employees to work from anywhere and access resources in the cloud.

By leveraging this solution, users will only be given access to specific cloud resources and applications instead of the full network. This access is granted based on identity and user context. By allowing users access to only specific resources and applications, you can reduce the risk of data loss.

The iboss ZTNA solution also eliminates the need for slow and overloaded VPN connections because the traffic is sent directly to the cloud resources and applications. It simplifies user connectivity because end users don’t need to privately connect to different private networks to have resources at their disposal.

This allows your organization to grant access to various resources located in different networks, branch offices, cloud providers, and regions from a central location.

Key Takeaway

VPNs have always been the go-to option when it comes to providing secure access to a distributed workforce. But with large-scale remote work or hybrid work likely becoming the norm even after the pandemic, ZTNA has been gaining more support. It can provide an improved user experience to remote workers while securing your organization’s data and applications.

If you want to eliminate VPN with zero trust network access, you will benefit from the iboss cloud platform. It’s natively built for ZTNA, so you can allow your employees to work from anywhere with a secure connection to your organization’s resources. If you’re interested, you can send us a message here at CT Link.

4 Types Of Social Engineering Attacks

March 16, 2022April 20, 2023 blog-manager News and Events Types of social engineering attacks

What are the types of social engineering attacks?

Phishing
Business email compromise (BEC)
Pharming
Diversion theft

Social engineering attacks are a wide range of malicious actions that are carried out through human interactions. These involve manipulating people to try and trick them into giving up important information — such as passwords and bank information. This article will discuss the different types of social engineering attacks such as phishing, business email compromise, pharming, and diversion theft. Read on to learn more.

Phishing

Phishing is considered the most common social engineering attack. It is used to trick targets into revealing sensitive data through fake emails or texts that come from people pretending to be a member of a legitimate institution. This information often includes login credentials, banking information, and personal information. Once a criminal has access to these, they can be used for identity and financial theft.

For example, an attacker would email a victim pretending to be from another recognized organization — like a customer support representative from a partner vendor. The message would include a request for the victim to click on an attachment to update their password. The link sends the victim to a fake website asking them for their current login credentials, which will be sent to the cybercriminal.

Phishing attacks can be prevented by knowing what to look out for. Some red flags of this social engineering attack include an unrecognizable sender email, a message that’s unusual or out of character, and an unexpected email with an embedded hyperlink.

Aside from keeping abreast of the most effective cybersecurity practices, email security solutions like Trend Micro Email Security can help screen out phishing emails. This is done by analyzing malicious senders and email content and sending a prompt to the user that the attachment or message may be suspicious.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Business email compromise (BEC) is a type of social engineering attack and phishing scam which involves sending victims emails from senior members of staff. Email accounts of these individuals are spoofed or compromised to do fraudulent transfers, which could lead to financial loss for organizations.

For instance, an attacker will pose as the CEO of a company and send an email requesting a money transfer from employees in the finance department. Or cybercriminals could pretend to be one of the suppliers for the company and request a fund transfer in exchange for services.

Employee training and awareness can help organizations spot BEC attacks. It’s a good practice for employees to confirm requests first before proceeding. Enable multi-factor authentication for email accounts to make it more difficult for a cybercriminal to gain access to them.

Pharming

Pharming is a combination of “phishing” and “farming”. It involves manipulating a website’s traffic and stealing confidential information. In this social engineering attack, users who are trying to reach a legitimate website will be redirected to a fake website.

The criminal’s goal is to retrieve financial data or login credentials. In pharming, the attacker hijacks the browser settings of the victim or runs a background process to redirect the victim to a fake website. Pharming attacks don’t rely on email, but malware. This malware installation file is first executed, so it can run on the computer of the victim.

To avoid being a victim of a pharming attack, it’s important to follow the best practices to prevent viruses. Never click on links from popups and unknown senders, check website addresses for typos, enable two-factor authentication, change default settings of the Wi-Fi router, and use a robust anti-malware and antivirus solution.

Diversion Theft

In real-world situations, a diversion theft occurs when a delivery carrier (like a van, for example) is intercepted in transit to redirect its location from the original address. This allows criminals easy access to the goods or packages inside the van.

Similarly, in an online diversion theft scheme, a criminal tricks the victim into sending sensitive data to the wrong person. This is done through phishing practices when a criminal impersonates the email of an employee in the victim’s company.

To avoid diversion theft, it’s important to follow the best practices when it comes to countering phishing attacks. For example, if a request to be redirected to a new location comes up, then it’s important to confirm with the legitimate representative or proper authority before proceeding with the redirection.

Key Takeaway

These are just a few types of social engineering attacks. There’s more to be aware of – such as baiting, honey trap, scareware, watering hole, and many more. That’s why organizations need to educate their employees when it comes to the best practices for cybersecurity. It’s also beneficial to have the right IT solutions in place to provide another layer of security to critical business data.

If you’re interested in finding out what IT solutions would best protect you from cybercriminals, you can contact us here at CT Link! From email security service, multi-factor authentication, and many more — we are always evolving our solutions to fit with the current developing IT landscape. This way, you can protect your important business data from theft or breach.

7 Tips On Implementing Zero Trust Security

March 4, 2022April 20, 2023 blog-manager News and Events Tips on implementing zero trust security

What are some tips on implementing zero trust security?

Determine your protect surfaces
Identify the users who have network access
Adopt an “assume breach” mindset
Utilize multi-factor authentication
Grant the least privilege
Focus on adaptive control
Delegate the implementation to experts

Zero trust security is a type of security framework with a principle of the least privileged access, so no user or application is inherently trusted. Its main principle is to “never trust, always verify”. When implemented properly, it leads to better access control, reduced risk of a data breach, and improved security of your remote workforce. If you’re interested, keep on reading for some tips on implementing the Zero Trust Security model.

Determine Your Protect Surfaces

The first thing you need to do is to identify your protect surfaces. These are the things that are valuable to your business — such as data, applications, assets, and services. You need to protect these to ensure the normal operation of your business. By doing this first, you can focus on securing what really matters.

By knowing the things you need to prioritize protecting, you can better control who is granted access, how they access them, and when they access them. This is important as cyberattacks and data breaches today can be done through weak, stolen, or compromised credentials.

Identify The Users Who Have Network Access

Identify the users who need access to your digital resources. Aside from regular employees, these could be third-party contractors, service accounts, administrative accounts, and others.

Figure out if there are users with high-value access and data that are most likely to be targeted by attackers. This is important as attackers are increasingly focusing on targets that have access to highly valuable data.

Adopt An “Assume Breach” Mindset

Cyberattackers can steal credentials and use them to access your system and move laterally in the network. This is why you cannot put trust in whether a user or device is inside or outside your network.

The Zero Trust model requires you to have an “assume breach” mindset, which means that you always assume that cyber-attacks will happen. This shift in mindset changes your defense strategies from a passive to a more active stance. This way, instead of assuming that everything behind the corporate firewall is safe, you will fully authenticate first before granting access.

Utilize Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) plays a significant role in achieving Zero Trust Security. It provides an additional layer of security by requiring additional factors before a user can access a network. Aside from passwords, these factors could be something that a user knows, like an answer to a security question. Or something that a user has, like a one-time password sent through an authenticator app, instead of SMS. This is because the latter is prone to spoofing and may incur extra charges, making authenticator apps the more reliable of the two. Lastly, an MFA factor can also be something that the user is, which refers to biometric authentication.

MFA is an important part of the Zero Trust model because it makes it more difficult for an attacker to gain access to network resources.

Grant The Least Privilege

The principle of the least privilege refers to only giving the minimum levels of access needed to perform a job. Granting limited access to only the required resources can help minimize the effects of a potential intrusion. By doing this, an attacker will have a smaller footprint where they can move in.

This is considered one of the best practices in cybersecurity and Zero Trust Security, as it protects privileged access to high-value data and assets. Aside from human users, the least privilege principle is also applied to applications, systems, and connected devices that require permissions to perform a function or task.

Focus On Adaptive Control

Access requests in a Zero Trust Network should be adaptive to the risk context. Each user’s risk profile will depend on several factors such as the role of the user, their location, resources to be accessed, and user behavior. For example, if the request comes from a potentially risky location, a higher level of verification should be required before being granted entry.

Adaptive authentication also looks at a user over a period to learn their baseline behavior. Through machine learning, it is possible to study their behavior and find unusual activities. This type of preventive action is done in order to minimize security risks.

Delegate The Implementation To Experts

With all its benefits, some businesses still haven’t given Zero Trust Security any thought, even though it has become a standard today, especially with the adoption of remote work. By giving employees the chance to use any device, they can work more flexibly. But there is no guarantee that they’re keeping their devices safe and following best practices when working.

But even if businesses want to implement Zero Trust Security, it might take time and effort to work out how to incorporate this framework into an existing IT infrastructure.

For this reason, it’s beneficial to delegate the implementation to the experts. By opting for Zero Trust Service, a professional team will work with your company to implement this framework successfully. This is beneficial because each Zero Trust network is customized around the protect surfaces.

Key Takeaway

If you need more tips on implementing Zero Trust Security, you can send us a message here at CT Link! We offer Zero Trust Service to help you safely integrate a Zero Trust Security into your existing IT infrastructure. We will work closely with your team to define your protect surfaces, map the flow of data, design a Zero Trust Network, create Zero Trust policies, as well as, monitor and maintain the network.

What is Email Security?

February 1, 2022April 20, 2023 blog-manager News and Events

One of the largest attack surfaces for your business is your email. It’s the common target of cybercriminals in phishing and spam, where they spread malware or steal sensitive information. For this reason, email security should be a priority in your organization. This article will explore the definition of email security, its importance, common threats to be aware of, and best practices. To know what email security is, keep on reading!

What Is Email Security

Email security refers to the different methods and techniques conducted to protect your organization’s email accounts, content, and communication from common threats — such as unauthorized access, loss, or compromise.

Importance Of Email Security

Email is one of the important communication tools that you use in your organization. It empowers you to communicate with clients, potential customers, suppliers, employees, and other businesses all around the world. It is quick, cost-effective, and gets the job done. Most people know how to use email, so it doesn’t require special training.

But because it holds sensitive data, business data, personal information, and is used by everyone, email is also considered one of your organization’s largest attack surfaces. It is used by cybercriminals to spread malware, perform phishing attacks, etc. For this reason, email security should be one of your priorities when it comes to cybersecurity.

Common Email Threats

There are plenty of different methods cybercriminals use for email attacks. Here are some examples:

Spam

Malware is one of the most common threats that can be delivered into your organization’s email accounts. This is done through spam emails, which are unsolicited junk emails that are usually sent out in bulk.

These messages typically impersonate legitimate institutions and persons — such as customers, suppliers, or business partners. For this reason, the targeted recipients are tricked into downloading the malicious files, attachments, and malware contained in the message.

Phishing

Phishing attacks are commonly done through email and are similar to spam. The difference is that phishing email is more customized in nature. Phishing involves posing as a legitimate institution to lure targets into providing sensitive data — such as personal information, passwords, and banking details.

This is usually done through the dissemination of a fake link where unsuspecting individuals can fill in sensitive information. This data is often used to access accounts — which may lead to financial loss, as well as credential and identity theft.

Business Email Compromise

Business Email Compromise (BEC) involves a cybercriminal targeting your organization to defraud it. This scam relies more on impersonation and social engineering techniques rather than malware or malicious links.

The attacker impersonates someone that the recipient trusts — such as high-ranking officials in the company, the CEO, a colleague, or a vendor. It involves studying the victim’s habits and behaviors to create a realistic email. Then they request funds or obtain sensitive information that can be used for future attacks.

Email Security Best Practices

Protect your email accounts and business data from attackers by following these tips:

Train Employees: Employees should know how to spot a threat and respond accordingly when they encounter malicious emails to reduce the chances of a successful attack.
Create Strong And Unique Passwords: Using weak passwords or reusing the same ones can make it easier for cybercriminals to hack into email accounts. It’s important to use different passwords for each account, too.
Use Multifactor Authentication (MFA): MFA can add another layer of defense to your email accounts. In addition to the login credentials, the account holder will also need to provide other authentication requirements, such as a One-Time Pin, or biometrics.
Utilize Email Security Solutions: Trend Micro Email Security is security software that can help protect your organization from email threats. It can screen out malicious senders and analyze email content to prevent spam and phishing. It also protects you from malicious links which could be sent by attackers.

Email Security As A Service

To make email security implementation easier, CT Link is here to provide you with Email Security As A Service. We can work with your team to find the best security policies that will help keep your accounts and data safe and secure.

First, your current email infrastructure will be analyzed to create a customized security architecture design. Then, the security policies are tested to detect errors and misconfigurations. After implementation, the security solution is tested through spoof attacks. Once everything is in place, CT Link works with your team for the knowledge transfer.

Key Takeaway

Email security is vital for organizations that use email for communication with employees, clients, suppliers, and partners. This is because your email accounts could be targeted by cybercriminals that want to steal credentials, business data, or money.

Now that you know what email security is, you have a better idea of the next steps you could take to protect your accounts and business data. For assistance with your concerns, you may send us a message here on this website.

What Is Cloud Security Posture Management?

January 31, 2022April 20, 2023 blog-manager News and Events

Because of the cost-savings, improved collaboration, scalability, and business continuity, plenty of organizations are migrating their workloads to the cloud. But traditional security might not work in the cloud, so you might need to look for other solutions when it comes to cybersecurity. As a user, you’re responsible for configuring the cloud and securing your data and applications. To prevent misconfigurations, you’ll need to know what cloud security posture management is. Keep on reading to learn more!

Challenges Of Cloud Security

Data breaches occur because of cloud misconfigurations. Attackers can take advantage of these vulnerabilities to perform a breach — which could lead to huge financial losses or expose your company and customers’ data. Some examples of misconfigurations are providing open access to unencrypted storage buckets or having improperly configured virtualized network functions.

But how do misconfigurations happen? It often occurs when there is mismanagement of multiple connected resources, such as containers, serverless functions, etc. By not understanding which resources are interacting, you might end up applying for permissions without understanding the least privileged permissions required.

With constantly growing and evolving resources and cloud environments that are becoming large and complex, it might become more difficult for your internal IT team to manage these environments properly. These misconfigurations can go for a long time undetected.

What Is Cloud Security Posture Management

Cloud security posture management (CSPM) involves continuously improving and adapting cloud security to reduce the chances of successful attacks. It provides continuous visibility to cloud environments, so you can identify misconfigurations.

To differentiate with other cloud security tools, CSPM tools can compare the environment to a defined set of best practices and known security risks. Through this, it can provide your team with alerts if there is a threat that needs to be remediated.

CSPM tools can prevent, detect and respond to risks — helping you continuously monitor risk in the cloud. With this, you can automate cloud security management across IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS. Automation provides you with a way to quickly handle security risks, therefore protecting all your cloud assets more effectively.

Why Do You Need Cloud Security Posture Management?

Protecting a cloud infrastructure from threats and cybercriminals should be one of your priorities. But doing this is not simple, especially if you use a mixture of public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud architectures.

Old traditional security practices won’t easily apply to the cloud because there is no defined perimeter to protect, which makes access management more challenging for your team. In addition to that, the lack of centralization in the cloud can make visibility more difficult.

But CSPM can provide you with visibility to the cloud, so you can detect misconfigurations and threats quickly. It’s a must-have nowadays when more and more organizations are leaning towards cloud applications and storage.

How Cloud Security Posture Management Works

To understand how CSPM protects you, you need to know how it works.

Visibility

First, it provides you with the visibility you need into the cloud. It can provide centralized and real-time visibility, so you can monitor existing resources and continuously discover new resources. This way, you can evaluate and display security posture in one place, which helps you discover the misconfigurations, changes in policies, and more.

Management Of Misconfigurations

Second, it can help you manage and remediate security issues, such as misconfigurations and unauthorized changes, thereby reducing human error that can cause data breaches. CSPM solutions can recommend solutions to fix a misconfiguration or automatically remedy the problem.

Threat Detection

Many organizations use multiple cloud security tools to discover and protect against threats. This can lead to alert fatigue and inefficient security. Other than that, most cloud security programs focus on intentional risks — such as outside attacks and malicious insiders. But unintentional errors can also leave your important data at risk of exposure.

CSPM is effective in monitoring your cloud environments and discovering new and potential threats. With this solution, you have access to continuous threat detection. It focuses on the areas that are most likely to be targeted, therefore reducing alert fatigue and prioritizing vulnerabilities. By providing visibility to the cloud, it can also prevent unintentional mistakes.

Key Takeaway

To summarize, CSPM can help your organization in detecting misconfigurations and vulnerabilities that can lead to security risks in the cloud. This is critical as misconfigurations can open your organization to cyberattacks. Other than that, it also gives you the tools you need to handle these issues.

If you need more information on what cloud security posture management is, you can send us a message here at CT Link! As an information technology solutions provider, we can help you find the right security solution that we tailor to your organization’s needs.

6 Tips to Maintain Your Business Server

January 26, 2022April 20, 2023 blog-manager News and Events

What are some tips to maintain your business server?

Keep an eye on server limits
Ensure that backups are working
Check for updates
Upgrade your server security
Consider using cloud solutions
Clean the hardware regularly

A server provides the data and services to the computers in your network, which are vital for your business. Servers are essential for storing files, deploying software, providing fast access to data, and more. Even though they can run 24/7 without problems, you still need to perform proper maintenance to ensure efficiency. This article will discuss some useful tips on how to maintain a business server. Read on to learn more.

Keep An Eye On Server Limits

To operate at peak condition, it’s recommended to monitor your server’s usage. It’s a good idea to delete old software, logs, and emails that you don’t need for your business. By doing this, you can perform faster recovery when the need arises.

Don’t wait until the disk capacity reaches 100% as this can lead to issues — such as data loss, computer crashes, and more. If this happens frequently, consider upgrading for added storage. Other than storage, make sure to review the CPU, RAM, and network utilization of your server.

Ensure That Backups Are Working

Without regular backups, you’re putting your business data at risk for permanent loss. Accidental deletion, natural disasters, and cyber threats can lead to the loss of data. When this happens, you might find it difficult to continue operations. Downtime can hurt your brand’s reputation, damage customer loyalty, and decrease your sales. For the above mentioned reasons, you need to regularly check that your backups are working as expected.

If you don’t have the manpower and resources to maintain and operate a backup system, you might still experience a loss of data. In this case, you can opt for a backup managed service. Through this, you can ensure that your backup solution is running smoothly and on schedule.

Check For Updates

Using an out-of-date operating system (OS) can leave your important corporate data at risk. While it might seem the obvious thing to do, plenty of organizations are still using old versions of their OS, which leaves them vulnerable to attacks. Cybercriminals will take advantage of known software vulnerabilities to perform a data breach.

By updating your OS regularly, you can ensure that it supports patch releases. Patches are essential because they can improve your OS’s stability and fix a security vulnerability. Overall, updates can make the user experience better while reducing security risks. Other than your OS, take time to check for application updates too.

Upgrade Your Server Security

Other than failed backups, critical business data can also get lost when you encounter cyberattacks and malware. For this reason, you need to implement the right security software and train your team about network security.

If you’re operating your business in a hybrid cloud environment, you will benefit from Trend Micro Deep Security. It offers unified security for physical, virtual, cloud, and container environments, so you don’t have to deploy multiple-point solutions. Through this, you can protect your critical servers and applications, detect and block threats in real-time, and automate security tasks.

Consider Using Cloud Solutions

Your server doesn’t have to do everything. If you want to optimize your workload resources, you can make better use of the cloud. For example, you can keep simpler workloads on-premise and process complex ones on the cloud — where you can easily upgrade features and capacities.

By opting for a hybrid cloud solution, you can meet high service and application demands with ease. When the computing demand increases in your on-premise servers, you can use the cloud to scale capacity up.

Clean The Hardware Regularly

The first and often forgotten task is to keep the servers clean. Over time, dust and other debris will accumulate on the hardware. If neglected, this can lead to an increase in temperature, which can cause issues — such as hardware problems or a potential fire in your building.

To clean your server, you can use compressed air to blow out the contaminants. Remember to avoid touching the components in the server when doing this. It’s also important to control the internal room temperature to prevent overheating. Monitor the humidity as low levels can cause electrostatic discharge while high levels can lead to rust, corrosion, mold, and short-circuiting.

Key Takeaway

Server maintenance is vital to keep your data safe and ensure uptime for your business. If you’re looking for more tips to maintain your business server, you can send us a message here at CT Link! We can point you to the right solutions to secure your data.

If you’re having difficulty ensuring that your backups are running smoothly, we can also offer backup-as-a-service. We will work closely with your organization to determine the data and applications you need to protect, advise you on the best practices, establish a strategy for recovery, monitor your backups, resolve problems, and more. This way, you can prevent permanent data loss and lessen downtime through fast recoveries.

Benefits Of VMware Carbon Black Solutions For Your Business

January 14, 2022April 20, 2023 blog-manager News and Events

VMware Carbon Black offers solutions that can make your security team’s workflow more efficient and provide endpoint protection that adapts to your needs. Other than that, you will also benefit from application control and extended detection and response. Keep on reading to know the benefits of VMware Carbon Black solutions for your business.

VMware provides software solutions such as app modernization, cloud, networking and security, and digital workspace. An organization that was founded in 1998, they have helped a wide range of industries such as banking, healthcare, government, retail, telecommunications, manufacturing, and transportation through technological innovations. They’re part of Forbes’ The Just 100 2021, ranking number 57 on the list of companies leading the new era of responsible capitalism.

In this article, you will learn about VMware Carbon Black Cloud Endpoint, Cloud Workload, App Control, and EDR.

VMware Carbon Black Cloud Endpoint

VMware Carbon Black Cloud Endpoint is a next-generation antivirus (NGAV) and behavioral end detection and response (EDR) solution. It’s capable of protecting your company from advanced cyberattacks. Through the easy-to-manage cloud-native endpoint protection platform, you can access the combined features of prevention and automated detection.

To do this, this next-generation antivirus can provide multiple protection layers to analyze endpoint activity and stop malicious behaviors. This is done through file reputation, heuristics, machine learning, and behavioral models. You can also tailor the behavioral prevention policies depending on your company’s needs.

With the VMware Carbon Black Endpoint solution, you can save money and time in trying to get to the bottom of an incident and responding to attacks. It can provide prioritized alerts, visibility to the entire attack chain, and endpoint activity analysis. You can also stay informed on the latest attacks and updates through the VMware Threat Analysis Unit.

VMware Carbon Black Cloud Workload

The VMware Carbon Black Cloud Workload is an advanced workload protection solution for modern data centers. It’s necessary nowadays when companies are moving towards cloud transformation and application modernization.

With this solution from VMware, you can reduce the attack surface of your workloads and strengthen your security posture. It’s suitable for modern workloads operating on virtualized, private, and hybrid cloud environments.

VMware Carbon Black Cloud Workload can help your security team automatically secure workloads and simplify operations. With this software, they can monitor high-risk vulnerabilities across environments. By running ongoing assessments, they are able to track IT hygiene over time.

With increased visibility, analyzing attacker behavior and pattern, as well as stopping new attacks has been made easier. Your team can also detect attacks that get through the perimeter defenses and address them quickly before it escalates into a data breach. With advanced workload protection, you can simplify operations and reduce having multiple security tools.

VMware Carbon Black App Control

VMware Carbon Black App Control can provide three benefits to your organization — extreme protection, continuous compliance, and high performance. It is the perfect solution if you have data centers or critical systems that can be targeted because of valuable data.

This solution utilizes a ‘default deny’ approach, which simply means that everything is denied until you specifically allow them. By doing this, the VMware Carbon Black App Control can reduce the attack surface to your data centers and critical systems.

Through the process of locking down critical systems and servers, you can prevent unwanted changes to your applications and files. This helps you stop malware and non-malware attacks.

Aside from these features, VMware Carbon Black App Control also has security features to detect behavioral indicators of malicious activity. It also has application control, file integrity monitoring, full-featured device control, and memory protection.

VMware Carbon Black EDR

VMware Carbon Black EDR (endpoint detection and response) is a must-have solution for on-premises threat hunting and incident response. This can make it easier for your security and IT team to have more visibility of suspicious activities and investigate incidents.

This VMware solution provides continuous visibility by recording and storing endpoint activity data to help your security team hunt threats in real-time. This is also beneficial when investigating incidents. Identifying root causes is quicker because of the provided intuitive attack chain visualization.

When threats are detected, your security team can perform a rapid response to contain them, repair any problems, and continue uptime for your business. Through the Live Response feature, they can also perform remote investigations, remediate threats, and contain ongoing incidents.

Key Takeaway

Your files and applications are important for your business. But attacks can happen anytime, which can affect your operations, leak your business data, and more. That’s why it’s essential to be proactive in protecting your critical systems and data by choosing VMware’s Carbon Black solutions. These make it easier for your security team to detect threats and respond to them as soon as possible.

If you’re interested in the benefits of VMware Carbon Black solutions for your business, you can contact us here at CT Link!

Cybersecurity Awareness In The Philippines

January 11, 2022April 20, 2023 blog-manager News and Events

What do you need to know about cybersecurity awareness in the Philippines?

Recent cyberattack statistics
Biggest threats to cybersecurity
Campaigns for cybersecurity awareness
Approaches to improve cybersecurity posture

The information and communications technology in the country has changed over the years. With more and more people and businesses depending on these technologies, cybersecurity awareness in the Philippines has become more important than ever. There are many potential threats that could put your corporate data at risk — which could lead to downtime, loss of reputation, financial problems, and more. Read on to learn more about the recent developments in the field.

Recent Cyberattack Statistics

In recent years, there was an increase in small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that went digital to continue operations during the pandemic. Technology has become vital for businesses to survive. Because more and more organizations are becoming more digital, criminals are also on the hunt for victims.

In a study entitled “Cybersecurity for SMBs: Asia-Pacific (APAC) Businesses Prepare for Digital Defense” by Cisco Systems, Inc., 3,700 businesses from the Asia-Pacific region joined as participants — with more than a hundred organizations that came from the Philippines. The study observed that more than half of SMBs in the country fell victim to a cyberattack in the past year. And the effects were devastating — with companies losing over 25 million pesos and more.

But becoming proactive when it comes to cybersecurity can help curb this problem. In the same study, more than ¾ of the SMBs in the Philippines said that they have undergone cybersecurity scenario planning and simulations. Most of these companies have discovered weak points in their digital security.

Biggest Threats To Cybersecurity

According to the same study by Cisco, there are top two cybersecurity incidents that affected small to medium-sized businesses in the Philippines during the past year. The first one is malware attacks and the second is phishing.

Cyberattacks have led to the loss of customer data, employee data, business and financial information, emails, intellectual property, and reputation. Downtime is also another effect of cyberattacks.

Another 2021 report from Trend Micro revealed that among Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines ranked fourth when it comes to the Business Email Compromise (BEC) threats encountered, with Singapore topping the list. Ransomware is still one of the leading threats to look out for, especially in healthcare, food and beverage, and banking industries — which are most affected.

According to the Philippines National Computer Emergency Response Team (National CERT PH), which is a division under the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) Cybersecurity Bureau, they have handled 755 incidents from the start of the year to the end of September 2021. The leading problem was malware and malicious files, followed by unauthorized scanning and brute-force attacks.

Campaigns For Cybersecurity Awareness

With many cybersecurity threats ever-present in the country, various organizations are having their own campaigns to boost awareness. One of these is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which is observed every October. In 2021, the US Embassy in the Philippines held webinars about cybersecurity and business continuity.

In November 2021, National CERT PH also conducted the two-day National Cyber Drill 2021, which had the goal of involving the public, especially the banking, BPO, financial, and telecommunications sectors, when it comes to cybersecurity awareness.

Approaches To Improve Cybersecurity Posture

On the 8th of December 2021, Cisco released their study entitled Security Outcomes Study Volume 2, which is based on a worldwide survey with more than 5,000 security and privacy professionals as participants. The respondents included professionals from different companies in the Philippines.

In the study, it was observed that more than 30 percent of cybersecurity solutions used by Philippine organizations are considered outdated by the security and privacy professionals that work for them.

On the other hand, the good news is that more and more companies in the country are deciding to invest in modern cybersecurity technologies. Nine out of 10 respondents in the Philippines shared that their organization is investing in ‘Zero Trust’ strategy. More than 80 percent said that they’re investing in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture.

Zero Trust is a concept that involves verifying the identity of all users and devices before granting access to the network. Meanwhile SASE architecture combines security and network functions in a cloud platform to provide secure access to business applications. Together, these two solutions are helpful when it comes to building a strong security posture in today’s cloud-first landscape.

Key Takeaway

Cybersecurity awareness in the Philippines is essential because of the threats that are ever-present due to the increasing digitalization of organizations. Without any idea about the weaknesses of your online defenses, you’re at risk of being targeted by cybercriminals — no matter how small or big your company is. Attacks could lead to more problems such as loss of important data, finances, and reputation.

If you need help in improving your cybersecurity defenses, you can send us a message here at CT Link! We can help you implement the Zero-Trust strategy and the SASE architecture, so you can protect your business.

Microsoft 365 Business Basic Vs Standard: A Comparison Guide

January 5, 2022April 20, 2023 blog-manager News and Events

What do you need to consider when choosing between Microsoft 365 business basic vs standard?

Applications and services included
Teamwork and communication
Email and calendaring
File storage and sharing
Security and compliance
Support and deployment
Tools to build and manage your business

Microsoft 365 is a subscription plan that allows your business to access Office apps, online storage, and other productivity and collaboration tools. The advantage of a subscription is that you’ll always have the latest features, fixes, security updates, and ongoing tech support. Additionally, you can also settle your payment on a monthly or yearly basis. Best of all, you can decide from the various subscription plans available. In this article, you will learn about two of them — the Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Standard. Keep on reading!

Applications And Services Included

Microsoft 365 includes the Office desktop apps that you might be already familiar with. But along with that, you also get applications and services that can improve your teams’ collaboration and productivity in the workplace.

Here is a comparison of the applications and services that you can access with the Business Basic and Business Standard plan:

Business Basic Plan	Business Standard Plan
Word* Excel* PowerPoint* Outlook* Teams Exchange OneDrive SharePoint *These applications are only available in web versions.	Word* Excel* PowerPoint* Outlook* Teams Exchange OneDrive SharePoint Access (PC only) Publisher (PC only) *These applications are available in both web and desktop versions for Windows and Mac.

Teamwork And Communication

Microsoft 365 for business can greatly improve the teamwork and communication of your workforce. Both basic and standard subscription plans allow you to host online meetings and video calls for up to 300 people, chat with your team, connect and collaborate in one place, and create team sites to share information and content.

The main difference is that the Business Standard plan has a feature that lets you host webinars with attendee registration pages and email confirmations. While in an ordinary meeting, the focus is on discussion and sharing, webinars are more controlled. You’ll have presenters that share their ideas and an audience or attendees.

Email And Calendaring

Both the Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Standard offer the same features when it comes to email and calendaring. This includes email hosting with a 50 GB mailbox, permission to use custom domain names, and access to business-class email with the Exchange app. Both plans allow you to manage your calendar, schedule meetings, share available meeting times, and more.

With Exchange, you have a focused inbox that allows you to prioritize messages, so you can do your work smarter and more efficiently. You also have the option of customization with add-ins. This is available for phones, tablets, desktops, and the web.

File Storage And Sharing

Are you having trouble working on files across multiple devices? The good news is, both the Microsoft 365 business basic and standard come with useful features for file storage and sharing. For starters, you get 1 TB of OneDrive storage. When you save a file to OneDrive, you can access it on your synced devices. You can add more storage as you need or cancel it in the future.

Sharing files with other people is also made more secure because only those with permission can access them. You can choose to share files with external contacts through guest links.

Security And Compliance

Speaking of security, both subscription plans can provide protection to your email with Exchange Online Protection. This is a cloud-based filtering service that will help shield your business against spam, malware, and email threats.

First, the reputation of the sender of an email is inspected to reduce spam. Then the email is scanned for malware and sent to quarantine if one is detected. After that, the message will go through your set mail flow rules. Lastly, it goes through content filtering to detect signs of spam, phishing, and spoofing. Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Standard comply with international and industry-specific security and privacy standards.

Support And Deployment

One of the advantages of subscribing to Microsoft 365 for business is the access to continuous support. With both subscription plans, you get around-the-clock phone and online support. On top of this, you don’t have to worry about downtime because Microsoft can provide a 99.9% financially backed uptime guarantee.

When it comes to deployment, both subscription plans allow you to have a maximum of 300 users, which is suitable if you have a small business. For additional users, you may subscribe to Enterprise plans.

Tools To Build And Manage Your Business

With Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Standard, you can plan schedules and daily tasks to better align your team. Use the Microsoft Lists to organize work. To know what your employees and customers are thinking about, you can also use Microsoft Forms to gather feedback which can help your business.

One advantage of subscribing to the Microsoft 365 Business Standard is that you can also use Microsoft Bookings, which makes it more convenient for your clients to schedule appointments.

Key Takeaway

Microsoft 365 can provide you with apps and services that can increase your team’s productivity and improve collaboration. By considering the similarities and differences, you can pick between Microsoft 365 Business Basic and standard.

If you’re looking for IT solutions for your business, you can contact us here at CT Link. We can help you choose the products and services that will fit your organization’s needs.

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