Cybercrime is a common part of business these days. Even if you haven’t encountered a hacking or malware incident at your business in recent years, the fact is that cybercriminals are coming up with new methods of stealing and compromising sensitive business data every single day. At best, modern cybersecurity measures are 99.9% effective; cybersecurity experts around the world agree that hacks and data breaches are an inevitable part of a business. A majority of cybersecurity services offered today include the best in vital technologies, from firewalls to anti-malware to data encryption and more. However, as important as this technology is, on its own, it simply isn’t enough. The key to truly comprehensive cybersecurity is simple, yet often overlooked: the user. Your employees are the weak link. Of course, it is important to have a well-managed and maintained IT infrastructure, but in today’s business world social engineering is the number one security threat to any organization. The alarming growth and sophistication of cyber attacks only make this problem worse, as cybercriminals go for the low hanging fruit – that is, your employees. Cybersecurity gimmicks — such as “set it and forget it” firewalls and antivirus software — fail to account for how important the user is. Even the most effective digital security measures can be negated by simple human error, which is why conventional solutions are simply not enough to ensure your business’ safety. Much of cybersecurity is dependent on the user, and as such it’s vital that you properly educate your employees in safe conduct. The more your workforce knows about the security measures you have in place, the more confidently they can use the technology is a secure manner. That’s why extensive security training is so important for you and your staff. By walking your employees through the most common cybercrime methods — phishing, ransomware, email spoofing and more — you can ensure they’re prepared to bolster your business’s security, rather than compromise it. The best part? It may even eventually pay for itself! If you’re currently paying for cybersecurity insurance — and if you’re not, you should be — then you may be entitled to a discount on your premium by investing in security training for your staff. Call your carrier or agent today and find out if you can save some money by training your staff. This is equally important because some forms of cybercrime that rely on the participation of an employee won’t be covered by the insurance. It may fall under human error, for which the wrong carrier or policy won’t pay out. So, not only will training help you save money on your premium, it will also help you avoid situations where you won’t be covered! In 2016, 80% of U.S. companies suffered a cyber attack, and 47% of these were due to ransomware. The lack of employees’ cybersecurity awareness is the leading cause of successful ransomware attacks. This is the easiest way for cybercriminals to obtain access to your private data. Share these tips with your employees to start boosting your cyber defense today: Phishing: This is the most popular tactic used by today’s ransomware hackers. They deliver malware in the form of an email, chat, web ad or website, and design it to impersonate a real employee. They send a message with a sense of urgency and importance, from a government agency or a major corporation to trick your employees. Baiting: This is similar to phishing, and typically involves offering something enticing to an employee in exchange for private data. The “bait” could come as a digital file, such as a music or movie download; or a fake link in an email saying “check out our new employee policies.” Once they go for the bait, the malware is free to infect the computer and the network. Make sure your employees are aware of emails containing attachments that they aren’t expecting. Before clicking on anything, they should confirm who the sender is via a phone call, text message, or by sending a separate email. Malicious websites and malvertisements: These are designed to look like a legitimate website. Cybercriminals can make them look incredibly real by display branding and logos from actual organizations (such as banks). The hackers then insert a code into a legitimate site which redirects unsuspecting users to their malicious site. Teach your employees how to check URLs by hovering their mouse over the link to reveal the complete URL in the status bar at the bottom of the browser. As technology continues to become more sophisticated and complex than ever before, your employees may be operating on outdated knowledge, which can quickly put your business at risk for a data breach! Train your employees to keep them safe AND save money on insurance. For more information, get in touch with {company} right away at {phone} or {email}.  

Ransomware has quickly become one of the biggest cyber threats to businesses today, especially given the recent Wanna Cry epidemic that infected hundreds of thousands of IT systems in more 150 countries. This kind of malware presents serious data integrity and financial concerns for affected businesses. It works by tricking a user into opening an executable file (either as an email attachment or downloaded from a webpage linked in an email) which then encrypts the victim’s files and holds them for ransom. A majority of cybersecurity services offered today include the best in vital technologies, from firewalls to anti-malware to data encryption and more. However, as important as this technology is, on its own, it simply isn’t enough to protect against threats like ransomware. The key to truly comprehensive cybersecurity is simple, yet often overlooked: the user. Cybersecurity company Malwarebytes has found that as many as one-third of businesses like yours were hit by ransomware within the last year – the key to all these incidents? The “human factor”. Included in Malwarebytes’ Second Annual State of Ransomware Report, data showed that, of the 32% of organizations that were hit by malware, 20% had to immediately halt their operations. It gets worse – further statistics showed that: 25% of businesses were hit with more than 20 ransomware attacks in 2016 31% of affected businesses in Australia did not know they were hit by ransomware, as compared to 9% in the US 46% of Australian victimized businesses paid the ransom, and after paying, 40% still lost their files. Cybersecurity gimmicks — such as “set it and forget it” firewalls and antivirus software — fail to account for how important the user is. Even the most effective digital security measures can be negated by simple human error, which is why conventional solutions are simply not enough to ensure your business’ safety. Much of cybersecurity is dependent on the user, and as such it’s vital that you properly educate your employees in safe conduct. The more your workforce knows about the security measures you have in place, the more confidently they can use the technology in a secure manner. “People [behind the ransomware attacks] are going to more of the human factor now,” said Malwarebytes Senior Systems Engineer Brett Callaughan to CNET. “A lot more attackers are becoming aware of the fact that they can make small amounts of money on a grand scale very quickly if they completely automate this. The attackers we’re seeing are extremely sophisticated — they’re not fussed about creating a file and making something look real. They’ll just go after the user and they’ll spray and pray. If you hit 100,000 email accounts and 10,000 hit the button and you’re charging $200 a piece? That’s a significant amount of income right there from doing very little.” So what can you do? First of all, ensure your employees are comprehensively trained in cybercrime awareness and prevention so that they can help keep your business safe. Training should include: How to identify and address suspicious emails, phishing attempts, social engineering tactics, and more. How to use business technology without exposing data and other assets to external threats by accident. How to respond when you suspect that an attack is occurring or has occurred. Further vital information that your staff needs to maintain a secure business. That said, employee awareness will only do so much. Remember that ransomware is likely today’s biggest threat to cybersecurity, which means anything less than a comprehensive defense won’t be enough. You hear about it everywhere, along with a range of possible solutions, most of which are defensive – ways to keep the intruders out before they encrypt your files and send you the ransom note. Both industry leaders and cybercrime law enforcement members agree that the best defense against ransomware, other types of malware and similar cybersecurity threats is a robust data backup contingency. Have you invested in one for your business? When developing your ransomware defense, keep these recommendations in mind: Make a considerable investment in a comprehensive backup data recovery solution so that you can restore your data at a moment’s notice when necessary. Test your backup and cybersecurity measures thoroughly and regularly; create dummy files and then delete them to see how fast they can be restored, or schedule a day to literally unplug your critical systems to find out how long it takes to get online again. Be sure to make the most of the available resources (both provided online and through expert IT consultants) to ensure that you’re not overlooking vulnerabilities in your IT security methodology. The good news is that you don’t have to do all this on your own. Partner with an experienced, expert provider of security support and solutions like {company} today to ensure you’re comprehensively protected from ransomware on all fronts. For more information about how to train your employees to protect your business against ransomware, get in touch with {company} right away at {phone} or {email}. The post Ransomware Preys On Your Employees appeared first on This Website Is Only Available For Members Of The Ulistic Marketing Programs. People Caught Stealing Content From This Site Will Face Legal Action..

If communication is the key to personal and career success, then we should be doing everything in our power to ensure our communication lines are well established, extremely efficient, and thoroughly secure. Migrating to Office 365 might be what your business needs to get the most out of your email server. Why migrate to Office 365? Office 365 provides you with some new, much-needed features like: Microsoft Lync Online with real-time collaboration and communication. SharePoint Online that offers world-class collaboration and an easy-to-use information sharing platform. Microsoft Office Professional Plus with the most popular client tools on the planet such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. This ensures that you always have the latest versions of these apps at your fingertips, whether it be while working on your desktop, or on a tablet at home. Microsoft Exchange Online and an improved experience with mainstream e-mail and messaging. What are my migration options? Microsoft offers three main bulk migration options for Office 365: Cutover, Staged, and Hybrid: Cutover Migration works best for businesses with 2,000 mailboxes and under. With this option, you can’t keep mailboxes on-premises, only in the cloud. Staged Migration works best for Exchange 2007 and 2003 but requires a directory. Staged Migration can keep mailboxes on-premises as well as in the cloud, and there’s no limit to the number of mailboxes that you can move. Hybrid Migration works best with Exchange 2010, 2013, and 2016, and like Staged Migration, it also requires a directory. Not only can Hybrid keep mailboxes on-premises as well as in the cloud, it also provides seamless functionality across environments. What if these options don’t quite fit my needs? If these options don’t fit your needs, there are also three less common options. The IMAP option works best with Exchange 2000, but it won’t move calendar items or tasks. If you prefer a more hands-off approach, or if your business is simply too large for the other options, you can have Microsoft Office import items for you. This is an excellent option if you have more than 10TB of data. Or, if you prefer, you can use third-party applications like Lotus Notes, or Novell GroupWise to migrate your mail and data, but this option doesn’t allow mailboxes to be stored on-premises, only in the cloud. How to Prepare for Migration After you’ve selected the option that meets your migration needs, you should begin preparing for your migration to Office 365. Microsoft recommends that you use the email migration service Outlook Anywhere (also known as RPC over HTTP), to connect to your on-premises Exchange Server. This allows you and your staff to use Outlook as you normally do without the need for special connections such as hardware, smart cards, or security tokens. Once you enable Outlook Anywhere, verify that you can connect to it outside your corporate network. Then configure Outlook Anywhere on your on-premise Exchange Server. This allows you and your staff to use Outlook as you normally would, without the need for special connections such as hardware, smart cards, or security tokens. Once you have it configured or enabled, you will want to verify that you can connect to it outside your corporate network. Next, you should set permissions on your account so that after migration you can connect it to your new Office 365 email system. Remember that the admin must be assigned “Full Access permission” or “Receive As” permission to modify the Target Address. Also, be sure to turn off the unified messaging until after the migration is complete. To begin the migration, you will want to verify your domain address in Office 365. Use directory synchronization to create users in your new Office 365. Next, create a list of mailboxes that you want to migrate and create a migration endpoint that’s connected to the on-premises server. These Migration Endpoints capture the remote server’s information and provide the credentials for migrating your data. Now You’re Ready to Migrate Your Mailboxes. If you are performing a stage migration, select the users to include in the first batch of the migration. Now you can begin the migration. Once you receive notification that the sync is complete, verify that the migration worked to ensure there are no errors and that you have included the appropriate users in the Office 365 Admin Center. After Migration After your migration to Office 365, you should complete a few post-migration steps to ensure the new system is running smoothly and effectively: Route emails directly to your new Office 365. It can take up to 72 hours for some email systems to recognize the change from on-premises to cloud email. Activate your Office 365 user accounts by assigning the appropriate licenses. Create an auto-discover record so users can quickly access their new mailboxes. Lastly, you should retire your on-premises email servers and celebrate as the migration is now officially complete! At this point, you should feel a sense of accomplishment (and well-deserved at that). But your work isn’t done yet. Through Office 365 Support you can easily try out all the new features and maybe even gain a level up on the old features. Office 365 walks you through signing in, creating and saving projects, sharing and collaborating with staff, and setting up your mobile apps. Then, it introduces you to a few new things that will increase your productivity at work, such as Flash Fill in Excel or morphing your slides in PowerPoint. Finally, schedule regular training for your staff to make the most out of your new Office 365.  Then you can “pat yourself on the back!” As you can see, migrating to Office 365 isn’t easy. That’s why businesses in {city} count on the experts at {company} to handle the migration for them. For more information contact us at: {phone} or {email}

With TV shows like Black Mirror captivating audiences around the world, it’s no wonder this addiction to technology is also reflected in the marketplace. This theatrical fiction became true when it revealed the vulnerabilities in technology. The press named them Meltdown and Spectre. Both Spectre and Meltdown allow attackers to access data. The difference between the two is that Meltdown gives an attacker access to data in programs that only administrators should have access to, and Spectre makes a program reveal data that should have been kept confidential. While both are worrisome, numerous patches for Meltdown have been deployed. Spectre, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated to contain. Spectre affects modern processors and operating systems, including chipsets from Intel, AMD, and ARM. It also affects other systems such as Android, Chrome, iOS, and MacOS. Therefore, Microsoft advises customers to seek guidance from these respective vendors. News of this broke on January 6th when Google released this comment: “Variants of this issue are known to affect many modern processors, including certain processors by Intel, AMD, and ARM. For a few Intel and AMD CPU models, we have exploits that work against real software. We reported this issue to Intel, AMD, and ARM on 2017-06-01 [1]. So far, there are three known variants of the issue: Variant 1: bounds check bypass (CVE-2017-5753), Variant 2: branch target injection (CVE-2017-5715), and Variant 3: rogue data cache load (CVE-2017-5754).” Spectre is responsible for variants 1 and 2 and Meltdown for variant 3. What devices can Meltdown and Spectre affect? –Workstations, laptops, in-house servers, smartphones, and tablets. While this can be overwhelming, there is good news. Microsoft and other systems like Android, Chrome, iOS, and MacOS have already put updates in place that can effectively protect and secure your devices. The key to keeping your devices safe, after updating, is to continue to monitor and detect for any first-warning signs such as phishing emails or browser-based exploits. Spectre and Meltdown use these as vehicles to obtain your confidential data. If you limit their transport capabilities, you can effectively protect your data. It’s terrifying enough that this could affect personal devices, but now they are far more dangerous and could possibly enter your home or business via smart-home devices. This year at CES, tech companies, such as LG and Samsung, doubled down on connected platforms built on user data. In one year, we witnessed a jump from 29% to 35.9% in smart-home device use like Alexa and Google Assistant. With this latest threat and deep infiltration of technology, it’s more important than ever for companies to ensure their smart-home platforms and servers are secure. On this note, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft all say they’ve patched their servers against known exploits. So how do we protect ourselves from these threats? The first step is to the make sure your systems are up to date. Microsoft released several updates to help mitigate these vulnerabilities. They also took action to secure their cloud services. Microsoft says these vulnerabilities haven’t been used to attack customers at this time. They continue to work closely with industry partners including chip makers, hardware OEMs and app vendors to protect customers. It’s recommended that you use available protections, including hardware/firmware and software updates. This includes microcodes from device OEMs, and in some cases updates to antivirus software. In addition to these operating systems updates, look for firmware updates that eliminate the vulnerabilities introduced via Meltdown and Spectre. Microsoft goes on to say that antivirus updates should be installed first. Then make sure your Windows automatic updates are turned on. (If automatic update is turned on, the updates will be automatically installed.) Also, install hardware (firmware) updates from your PC manufacturer. You may need to proactively check with the device manufacturer for updates. This could require going to a device driver update page on the manufacturer’s website. While updating helps to secure and protect your data, it has a downside. It’s important to note that you will see a difference in your device’s performance by installing this update. This can be as high as 42 percent but is dependent on the device and its use. For example, an article in PC World states: “Here’s how much the Meltdown and Spectre fix hurt my Surface Book performance… the sequential read and write performance doesn’t change much…But…4K performance ain’t pretty. While 4K read performance was similar, the write performance dropped by 26 percent. Far worse, though, 4K read and write with high queue depth take a performance hit of 42 percent and 39 percent, respectively. Ouch.” The age of an Intel chip can impact the effectiveness of the patch. Navin Shenoy from Intel, explains: “On 8th generation platforms with SSDs it’s small…the expected impact is less than 6 percent.” Some users have experienced a much more noticeable impact with web applications that rely on JavaScript operations. The good news in all of this is that companies have banded together to fight these common adversaries, e.g., Meltdown, and Spectre. This united front against these bugs has resulted in shared patches. Similar to the U.S. military’s war on terror, companies like Netflix and Amazon have developed a united plan of attack. This collaboration gives researchers the upper hand on Spectre and Meltdown for the first time since this technological chaos began.  

Google Hangouts is a convenient and user-friendly way to have a video call with clients, coworkers, or friends. These meetings can be easily recorded for playback later or to upload to YouTube. Of course, this video meeting software is designed to work with G Suite, Google’s suite of products that includes Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Calendar for business. While you may be running G Suite for all your business needs, or maybe you just enjoy their Hangouts app, not everyone you need to chat or meet with will be a Google user. Google realized this and has made it possible for users of the other guys (Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) to join your Hangouts. The process is pretty simple, really. Google gives external users the ability to join a Hangouts call if the call is added to the Google calendar or someone already on the call invites them during the call. To make this process even simpler, all you have to do is supply the person you are wanting to have in the call, with the link. This way, as long as they have the link they can request access to your Hangouts call. Having external users available for the calls in Hangouts has several advantages, including: External users can always request access to video calls using the meeting link. There’s no need for them to be invited, and there’s no need to have to share manually enabled. It provides the best experience when using non-Google software to join Hangouts calls. Allowing guest to request access by default provides the best experience. Simplifies access to video calls when G Suite accounts are not provided to all users. Ensures all users in your company are allowed to request to join when being migrated. Allowing external guests to join by default is an easy menu option that can be turned on before the Hangouts call gets underway. All you need is the link, then visit the menu: Sign-in to the Google Admin console Find apps, then click on G Suite, then Talk/Hangouts Click Global Settings Under Hangouts video calls, click All Classic Hangouts video calls begin with external guests allowed to request access… The user only needs to click the link or put it into a browser, where they will be prompted to input their name when they click the link to request access. Google account not required. IMPORTANT: Someone in your company must approve the external guest that is requesting access who is trying to get in through the link. Inviting users without a G Suites account opens up a world of collaboration, but it also comes with a few restrictions. For example, external users are restricted to presenting and participating in the call, but cannot use text chat or other Hangout apps. External guests are able to join your Hangouts meeting from a PC, Mac, tablet, smartphone, or Chromebox.

If you run a business, chances are that you’ve thought about moving to an online productivity suite. The two most popular in recent years is Google’s G Suite and Microsoft’s Office 365. Touted as “innovative” and “the next big thing,” Microsoft’s productivity suite is a revolutionary concept when it comes to operating systems and computing. But why should you choose Microsoft over the other guys? Because: It’s cloud-based. Doing all your computing in the cloud means that you always have access to your files as long as you’re connected to the Internet. All of Office 365’s tools will work on any PC/Mac, tablet, or smartphone. With O365, you can use the online versions of the productivity suite, or install them to your device.  It’s secure. Whether you’re using the version of O365 installed on your machine, or the cloud version, you’ll get the best level of security and encryption. The same set of Rights Management Services applies to both. None of your files can be accessed without the proper user credentials that are set up and monitored by Microsoft Azure. This provides the best security and control over your Office 365 data. Data is backed up. Microsoft’s Office 365 offers its own form of checks and balances, 24/7 support that’s always on-call, and OneDrive to store all your files. But it’s always a good idea to have an extra layer of protection by using a Managed Services Provider (MSP) who can monitor your backups and add an extra layer of security if your data is compromised or lost. Office 365 offers major advantages over others. As with anything worth doing, there are pros and cons when moving your operations to the cloud. However, there are some major advantages when using the Microsoft Cloud: You can work anywhere. If you have an internet connection, you can use your data from anywhere and on any device. You can check emails, access files, and work on a project all from the same place – even if that place happens to be the other side of the world. Easy collaboration between coworkers. How many times have you had multiple people working together on the same project only to have one version go missing. With Office 365 you can avoid this. Collaborators can work on the same file and get changes in real time. You can also share files as links right from OneDrive, rather than as attachments. Access to the latest versions of programs. Imagine having access to the most current versions of Word, Excel, and Outlook without having to pay extra or reinstall programs. All the most recent versions of everything in the Microsoft Office Suite are available with an Office 365 subscription. Great security features. How secure the Cloud is for you depends on what security measures you have in place. With Office 365, there are quite a few built-in security features to keep your data safe. These include: Encrypted email. Only the intended recipient can read an email. Data loss prevention. O365 checks and ensures that sensitive data (like your social security number) doesn’t get sent out via email. Mobile device management. You can control Office 365 on your employees’ phones, and protect company information. Advanced threat analytics. O365 learns and protects company data, and alerts you of suspicious activity on the network. Alongside all the advantages of using Office 365, there are also a few cons: Subscription-based model. You must pay a monthly or annual subscription for your Office 365. If the Internet is down, your data is down. Because Office 365 is cloud-based, if the Internet goes out, you could be without access to your data. Plus, if you have a slow connection, working with a cloud-based system isn’t ideal. Most people don’t use all of its features. Most users don’t use everything that Office 365 has to offer. They only use email, file storage, and access to Office programs. This isn’t a terrible thing, but it means you’re paying for features that you aren’t using. Microsoft throws in some great extras. Office 365 comes with 1TB of storage space in Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service, free web hosting and the tools to use it, and a full 60 minutes of Skype each month for making landline calls. Microsoft Office 365 is a very good example of not only what a cloud service can be, but what more businesses are turning to for their cloud needs. Cloud computing is becoming a big part of more companies’ tech strategy, and Office 365 is an excellent way to jump into the cloud. Our IT experts can walk you through your Office 365 set up. Give {company} a call at {phone}, or email us at {email}, and we’ll make sure you get the full benefit of this great service.   

Best Practices for Testing Data and Application Backups.     Data protection is essential for all businesses today. The most important reason is to prevent monetary loss. If you lose your information it can lead to reduced productivity, lost sales, a harmed reputation, fines, or even financial judgments. Another reason is the increase in regulations. Governments throughout the world are imposing new regulations on electronic communications and stored data. You can face dire consequences for noncompliance. Loss of critical data can be construed as a violation of these regulations and may result in fines and legal action. Data Protection Requires Business Continuity and Reliable Backups. A proactive and well-thought-out business continuity plan is something that all system and data administrators must embrace. A layered and proactive data protection strategy can mean the difference between disaster and recovery. When it comes to creating a strategic business continuity plan, data and application backups are one of the most important elements. The reasons for implementing reliable backup solutions are endless – software bugs, failed hardware and user error are just some of the ways your data can be unintentionally altered or deleted. There’s also the persistent risk of malicious activity and attempts to destroy, steal or encrypt business data by cybercriminals or disgruntled former employees. Data Protection Insurance: Don’t Just Backup, Test! If you don’t test your backups regularly to ensure their working, you’re only doing half the job. Don’t wait until there’s an actual disaster.  If you do, you may find that your backups weren’t reliable and your essential data is lost. That’s why regular testing of backups for your software, hardware and everything in between is absolutely critical. When a data disaster hits, it can be overwhelming and stressful. Worrying about whether or not backups are going to work should be the last thing to worry about in a crisis situation. Backups are designed to offer peace of mind, and – if implemented correctly and tested regularly – they can make all the difference in a data crisis. Server vs. Virtualization: The Evolution of Backup Testing The key to testing backups is to run drills to determine if your data was successfully restored. For a long time, this process was limited, tedious and time-consuming. When using physical servers for different applications, data restoration had to include a lot of additional hardware. Plus, the environment could only be restored in a very limited way, meaning a full restore of an entire business network rarely occurred. However, with today’s virtualization, the testing and restore process is now much easier to deploy. Virtualization allows for company data and applications to be organized in a more streamlined way. When using a centralized, virtual machine (VM), recovery from a backup is easier and more reliable. Why Test Your Backups? To validate that the restore processes you put in place actually work – Peace of mind is priceless. To create a benchmark to ensure the recovery process can be completed as intended – This also allows you to develop recovery time objectives (RTO) for future reference. Regular testing processes and results can be shared with business teams to confirm application recovery targets can be met, or resolved if there are imperfections. Testing Backups: What Programs and Hardware Should You Test? Now that you understand the importance of testing business backups, let’s dive into the specifics. When it comes to testing backups, there are a variety of different levels of recovery to consider. Let’s explore the key areas where your business should be testing backup and recovery processes: File Recovery This is likely the most common concern for business owners – “Will I be able to recover individual files from my backup?” The reality is, file backup processes are easy to deploy on both physical and virtual servers in addition to backups of file servers. It really just comes down to recovering data by file type. There are plenty of tools to automate this process, which we’ll explore in more detail later on. VM Recovery For businesses that rely on virtual machines (VM), implementing and testing backups is critical. This is obviously specific to virtual environments as opposed to physical ones. Recovering a virtual machine is relatively easy because everything is centralized. However, you must consider where the VM will be used for recovery. Attempting to recover the VM in the same production environment creates technical issues like network IP and SID conflicts in Windows systems. The best strategy is to restart the VM in an isolated environment using the subnet on the hypervisor. It’s also important to keep in mind that recovering VMs with new IDs can impact applications and licensing – It’s always best to be proactive and consult with your software providers for terms and conditions. Physical Recovery  As noted, physical server recovery is more complex, and testing will vary based on the how different platforms are configured. In addition, recovering applications to the running hardware requires an outage – Because of this, businesses carry out these tests less frequently. If you’re on a physical setup, it’s critical to schedule the time for testing to ensure hardware can be recovered effectively in the case of a disaster. Data Recovery Depending on the backup tools you deploy, specific data recovery should be tested for efficiency as well. For example, if you have data backed up at the application level (rather than the entire VM), that data should be restored and accessed in an isolated environment. Application Recovery Software applications are the core of a company’s digital operations. However, testing application backups can be challenging – especially for larger businesses. Application backup testing requires an understanding of the relationships between individual VMs and physical servers. However, it can be done, and as with some of the previous recovery types we’ve mentioned, it’s best conducted in an isolated environment and on a separate network. It’s no secret that the more extensive the testing, the higher level of risk – However, backup testing can be an amazing tool for

We like tech, it’s what we do. As the holiday shopping season kicks into overdrive, we are bringing you 12 of the most requested, most wanted tech gifts for 2017. Check back each business day between now and December 19th for another must-have tech item and why you should check it out. In 2015 Sphero released their app-connected robot, BB-8, to tie-in with Star Wars The Force Awakens. Now, with this year’s release of The Last Jedi, Sphero has done it again with two new droids, R2-D2 and BB-9E. R2, of course, moves on treads and can move sideways if wanted or he can bring out his third leg and use it to lean back and navigate tougher terrain like carpeting. R2’s head turns, and he has plenty of lights and sounds from built-in speakers, something BB-8 didn’t have. You can draw a path with your finger on the app and R2 will follow it. There’s also a button to have R2 “flip out” so to speak, where he shakes and makes noise before falling over. Like its droid brothers, the BB-9E droid uses the same app as the other two and can be controlled via app or voice commands. The three droids are in scale with each other and 12-inch action figures. Sphero is planning to add new ways for the droids to interact with each other and their surroundings. Right now, you can have them watch Rogue One or The Force Awakens, and the droids will react at certain points thanks to scripted points in the movies and the app listens for these cues to cause the droids reactions. If you’ve got a Star Wars fan on your list this Christmas, no doubt they’ve already got these little guys on their list. At just $180 for R2-D2 and $150 for BB-9E, they are affordable enough to get both…assuming you can find one. As is the case with most items on our list of Top 12 Tech Gifts, these droids are in short supply but revered by Star Wars fans all over. Happy Holidays and good luck on the tech hunt from all of us here at {company}.

We like tech, it’s what we do. As the holiday shopping season kicks into overdrive, we are bringing you 12 of the most requested, most wanted tech gifts for 2017. Check back each business day between now and December 19th for another must-have tech item and why you should check it out. If you’re anything like most Americans, you want the latest and greatest tech but can’t always afford it. TV’s for instance. You want to experience this new 4K technology that everyone is talking about but there is no way you can afford $3,000 for a TV. Never fear, there is an alternative. The TCL S405 49” 4K HDR TV proves you don’t need to break the bank to experience 4K. Offering similar picture quality and brightness to the Samsung Q7F, the TCL offers fewer levels of lag than the pricier Samsung and comes with Roku TV! You can play Gears of War 4 in 4K or stream Netflix in stunning 4K resolution. All this will run you $360 for the 49” model, and upwards of $800 for the 65”. It doesn’t sport a hub for your HDMI like the Samsung Q7F, but it does have three HDMI ports and a single USB on the rear side. Still, I’d gladly sacrifice a port or two if it meant saving thousands of dollars. Not only does it save you money, but now you have enough to get that new iPhone, right? Happy Holidays and good luck on the tech hunt from all of us here at {company}!

We like tech, it’s what we do. As the holiday shopping season kicks into overdrive, we are bringing you 12 of the most requested, most wanted tech gifts for 2017. Check back each business day between now and December 19th for another must-have tech item and why you should check it out. If the new iPhone seems a bit pricey for you, don’t worry. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ offer similar technology but with a cheaper price tag. Much like its competition, the S8 offers a 5.8-inch display, but unlike that other phone, it curves around the edges of the phone producing the first true infinity screen on a smartphone. The phone does 4K video, has a 12MP rear camera (8MP on the front), uses facial recognition to unlock, is water and dust resistant, and charges wirelessly. All features that the iPhone X sports. But unlike the iPhone, the S8 can expand its memory from 64GB to 256GB via memory cards, allows multiple windows so that you can multitask (text while watching a movie?), and contains a headphone jack. Also, you aren’t restricted to one method of unlocking. There is also a fingerprint scanner and the use of a PIN. The biggest difference here is that the S8 comes in a bigger model, the Galaxy S8+ which has a 6.2-inch screen for only a few dollars more. Both versions make use of Samsung’s new Bixby AI, their answer to Siri that learns from you and can do things like translate languages and point out landmarks when taking photos. The Samsung Galaxy S8 will run you $750 for 64GB (upgradeable to 256GB via the memory card) while the S8+ runs $840. Both versions come in Arctic Silver, Orchid Gray, and Midnight Black. Happy Holidays and good luck on the tech hunt from all of us here at {company}!