Freeware is software that is available for anyone to download free of charge. One day you’re minding your own business, sipping from your delicious iced coffee while scanning the Internet when all of a sudden you’re looking at a pop-up urgently telling you to download free software to prevent a virus attack on your computer. Instant buzz kill! Now you’re gripped by anxiety and you’ve got no idea if this is a real issue. If you work for a business that has an IT company supporting your enterprise, then you are fortunate. But for everyone else - you may wonder -is this is a serious warning, a marketing hoax or is this something truly bad like a virus or malware in disguise?
Data-loss Disasters... It helps to be Prepared!
Natural disasters tend to need backup plans!
It's no secret that natural disasters (any kind of them by the way) should all have one thing in common, a backup plan, because, well, you're dealing with something unpredictable--nature. Being confident in your goals should not prevent you from contingencies...life isn't so two-dimensional. A brilliant friend of the family started his company from his garage in 2004 and within 6 months he’d outgrown it, forcing him to lease an office space close to home, which at the time was in Broward County, Florida. His one man operation turned into a forty man operation in less than 2 years. You could say that he was on the fast track to success, in a beautiful high-rise building in Fort Lauderdale. Unfortunately Bill’s company didn’t have a BDR (Backup and Disaster Recovery) plan, this three letter acronym that every managed IT services provider knows so well. In October 2005, South Florida was hit by Hurricane Wilma, the most damaging storm to hit Broward County since Hurricane King in 1950, and Wilma destroyed residential and commercial property in its path. Bill’s office building suffered tremendous damage and because they didn’t have any offsite backup, they lost everything.
Don't Be Caught With Your Pants Down: Why Small Businesses Can No Longer Ignore Data Loss
You’re on your way home from work one day, when someone from your office calls you saying they can’t get into the files for that important project due tomorrow. As soon as you get home, you connect to your system, and sure enough, none of the documents open. They have been corrupted. Then it hits you: This is Ransomware! Oh no, you've been exposed to data loss!
Network Virtualization: Don't Try this at Home
More and more organizations are turning to virtualization as they face an increasingly complex IT environment. Enterprises of all sizes have found that relocating their operating, network and/or hardware resources to an offsite host server provides an array of business benefits.This virtualized IT environment can lead to reduced capital and operating costs, flexibility in the allocation of system resources to meet changing requirements, the ability to quickly integrate legacy and new systems, and scalability for expanding operations. Another key but often-overlooked advantage of using virtualized machines in an enterprise-level data center is the improved data and network security provided to an organization.
Despite the common misconception that virtualization increases security risk, in actuality today’s virtualized networks can be much more secure than an entity’s in-house network. This is particularly the case in an IT ecosystem where threats originate from evolving network technologies, protocols and devices, as well as sophisticated hackers and data thieves, internal breaches, hardware and software failures, business partner security breaches and even natural disasters.
To Tablet, or not to Tablet?
In the last 24 months, we have seen a huge increase in releases of tablets. These next-generation mobile devices have no doubt helped with our digital lifestyle but several questions should be considered: