Suppose your business focuses its phishing protection efforts on email. In that case, it’s time to reevaluate your enterprise security protocols and turn your attention to mobile devices.

Hackers always target the easiest entry point, and most smartphones lack the defenses of PCs and laptops. Also, people tend to be less cautious on their phones, believing they aren’t vulnerable to threats. If your team uses mobile devices for work (and there’s a good chance of this since almost 75% of all employees do), you must take action to stop mobile phishing, or “mishing.” 

Mobile Phishing Attacks Exploit Perceived Legitimacy

Stopping mobile attacks is a hard task because hackers are adept at disguising attacks as genuine messages. While some messages are fake — coming from a bank you don’t do business with, for example — a message that is apparently from your boss is harder to ignore. Every victim of a phishing scheme reports receiving a message that looks like it came from a trusted source like a colleague, vendor, or client. 

When it comes to mobile phishing attacks, creating this perceived legitimacy is even easier. For starters, the smaller screens on mobile devices make it harder to spot many of the hallmarks of phishing scams, like discrepancies in the URL address bar or character substitutions in contact information (using B for 8 or 0 for O, for example.) Hackers also use "https://" for their malicious websites, further deceiving recipients about the site's legitimacy. 

However, what you need to worry about is phishing-as-a-service, hackers’ most sophisticated tool for launching mobile malware attacks. 

What Is Phishing-as-a-Service? 

For every successful phishing attack, thousands of infected messages never reach their intended victims, or eagle-eyed device owners immediately recognize the threat they pose and delete them. Robust mobile threat protection stops attacks before they start by blocking suspicious messages based on their content, keeping them out of inboxes.  

However, a phishing-as-a-service platform called Darcula allows criminals to send virtually undetectable phishing messages. Hackers can send harmful links using Rich Communication Services (RCS) rather than the Short Messaging System (SMS) used for texting. RCS encrypts messages from end to end so that phishing scams can slip through unnoticed. 

Ultimately, because threat detection tools cannot detect mobile phishing attacks sent via RCS based on their content, recipients believe they’re legitimate.

Address Mobile Threats to Your Business Now

Security researchers report that at least 25% of protected devices encountered mobile malware in the last year, with trojans and riskware comprising the majority of mobile threats. 

Although some risk comes from platform vulnerabilities, sideloading apps — installing applications from sources other than official app stores  — accounted for at least 80% of malware infections.

Now is the time to safeguard your business against mobile phishing attacks. A formidable security posture that includes mobile app vetting, threat defense, stronger network security policies, and ongoing awareness training will stop hackers.

Used with permission from Article Aggregator

Managing power consumption in industrial enterprises is critical due to soaring costs and an increased focus on sustainability. As more companies integrate renewable power sources like solar and wind into their energy strategies, the need for more advanced energy storage technologies is also rising. 

What Is Energy Storage?

Wind and solar energy are, by far, the least expensive sources of electricity, and there are virtually unlimited supplies of both. There’s so much that windmills and solar panels often produce significantly more power than is necessary to support even in the busiest industrial environment. 

Rather than allow that energy to go to waste, energy storage technologies collect the excess power during reduced demand. When the demand increases, that power can help meet those needs.  Although many people are familiar with lithium-ion or flow batteries for storing excess renewable energy, industrial enterprises are also turning to more advanced energy storage solutions, including flywheel, compressed air, thermal, and pumped hydro energy storage. 

The Advantages of Storing Energy

How does storing energy during reduced demand and releasing it when demand increases benefit businesses? 

Increased Energy Efficiency 

Storing extra power reduces waste and increases power grid efficiency by allowing it to adjust to demand fluctuations easily. Using stored energy prevents switching to less efficient and more expensive power generation methods. 

Businesses can also use storage to optimize their energy consumption. By monitoring and analyzing energy usage patterns in real-time, your company can be more strategic in finding effective ways to reduce consumption. 

Reduced Costs

Maintaining a supply of stored power and discharging it during peak usage periods when electricity rates are highest can significantly reduce electricity expenses.  Your company is less vulnerable to wild swings in energy prices, which helps keep costs in check. 

Improved Resilience 

Power outages during periods of extreme demand will disrupt operations. Energy storage technologies help prevent this.

Storing energy also helps address the issue of fluctuating energy production. When weather conditions change, power production can drop dramatically. Charging batteries or other storage systems during periods of high output ensures a steady and reliable power source without switching to more expensive sources. 

Selecting Energy Storage Technology 

Choosing the right energy storage technology can significantly impact your efforts. Factors like storage capacity, ease of integration with existing infrastructure, cost, scalability, and power rating affect how well different options work within your business. It’s also important to align the technology with local and industry regulations and incentives to ensure you get the most from the investment. 

Storing excess renewable power can be a big step in your company’s efforts to improve sustainability and move toward cleaner energy. Energy storage systems will become increasingly common, so now’s a great time to consider the potential for a more efficient approach to the future.

Used with permission from Article Aggregator

You must stand out when there’s a sea of companies like yours offering the same products and services. Many choose to do so with unique selling points such as certified work, free services, and decades of experience in the industry. But whatever your angle, ensure tech-enabled personalization is also in your corner. 

Why Is Personalization Key for Strong Customer Relationships?

With personalized experiences, business owners take the time to listen to what customers say, ensuring that their voices matter. This guarantees customized and satisfactory customer experiences. 

In turn, the consumers offer trust and long-lasting relationships with the business, showing loyalty and increasing revenue. Below are some examples of tailored customer efforts and how technology plays a role in the process. 

Using Predictive Models for Customer Insights

AI algorithms collect customer data from all locations, from social media and search engine searches and views to browsing and purchasing histories directly on the company’s website. The predictive analysis then uses this information to make educated guesses on what content, products, or services specific customers may prefer. From there, it makes personalized recommendations based on past interests.

With this curated content, customers feel the company understands their needs, speeding up their search for their desired products. At the same time, since the company is dangling desirable products in front of customers, it guarantees more sales and higher revenue. 

Utilizing Customer Segmentation During Promotions

However, tech-enabled personalization's aren’t just about getting your customers to the right products but seeing the sale through with the appropriate promotions. Let’s say a customer searches for and views a certain product or adds it to their shopping cart but doesn’t take further action. After a while, you can turn a cold lead warm again via customer segmentation. 

Machine learning allows you to divide customers into segments, depending on their interests, and send promotions about that specific product to a certain segment. You can do so via emails, instant messages, or even personalized advertisements on social media pages, showing prospects that you’re paying attention to them and value their business. Also, consider adding special deals to ensure a sale. 

Communicating with Customers for Future Success

When your customer is considering a purchase, you must be available to answer questions and concerns. AI chatbots and virtual assistants help get customers the information they need while completing routine tasks like placing orders and returns. With virtual assistants, customers don’t have to wait for a live agent, increasing customer satisfaction. 

Even after the sale, real-time data quickly gathers reviews and ratings from all sites so business owners can easily view them. The feedback helps owners understand how their products and services stack up and what they can do to ensure they’re even better down the line. 

Data analytics and other tech-enabled personalization's play a pivotal role in businesses. And whether you’re boosting loyalty or growing the company, customer insight is the place to start. 

Used with permission from Article Aggregator

If you’ve been in business for a long time, you probably prepared your company for takeoff by buying infrastructures like in-house servers and other hardware and software. Unfortunately, that meant dealing with equipment that could go down at any moment or lost data due to device damage or theft. Supercloud networking is changing the game even further.

Predecessors to Supercloud Networking

The idea of the cloud entered the digital world in the mid-1990s and has taken on many forms ever since. Some businesses that still rely on traditional servers or are slowly segueing away from them have a hybrid cloud system. These companies store most of their local data in physical hardware while running other applications via the cloud on a provider’s computers. 

Other business owners use two or more types of clouds instead of physical hardware. This multi-cloud system offers more scalability as there are no servers to remove or install to keep up with demands.

For instance, a business owner can switch between cloud providers weekly if one offers better deals on certain days. These owners can also split their programs between clouds so that potentially compromising issues with one provider won’t affect all the company data.

Supercloud networking takes this multi-cloud system to the next level.

What You Should Know About Supercloud Networking

Currently, multi-cloud networks host workloads on independent clouds, including separate private, public, and edge clouds. The supercloud, which is still developing, is meant to expand multi-cloud networking by integrating these separate cloud platforms for unprecedented data storage and productivity. 

How Would Supercloud Networking Work?

This abstraction layer hides programming interfaces in each cloud, overriding them with a new connection layer that allows business owners to relocate virtual machines worldwide. As a result, all providers, including Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Google Compute Engine, would connect. Users would load and offload data centers, shifting data without constant reconfiguration. 

Benefits of the Supercloud

The biggest benefit of supercloud networking is its ability to untangle the management complexities that business owners face. This capability will help streamline businesses that rely on powerful backend computing to keep their operations running smoothly by bridging the gaps of current multi-cloud setups. 

Each cloud provider offers unique application programming interfaces and tools, meaning the way they run and monitor data differs. However, supercloud networks would provide delivery and security technologies to manage ever-growing complexities by optimizing and scaling all applications. 

Moreover, its security technology would include proxy-based solutions that remain on high alert for bots, DDoS attacks, and other cyber attacks, making it a safer cloud alternative. Aside from ease and safety, supercloud networking would offer cost-effectiveness by optimizing routines and only consuming, scaling, and running resources when necessary.

While supercloud networking is more of a concept for now, the need for its data management and streamlined operations continues to grow. Businesses are expected to spend $1 trillion on cloud computing in 2024, and many hope that a widespread integration of this innovation will assist them in building a more productive future. 

Used with permission from Article Aggregator

Imagine being in an important video conference with thought leaders and other industry experts and constantly asking them to repeat themselves as the screens lag. Similarly, what if your Internet connection keeps dropping customer calls or causes a lot of company downtime due to slow uploading or downloading speeds? Your business can suffer like this if you ignore the rise of 5G and its benefits. 

The Benefits of 5G Technology

As the fifth-generation mobile network, 5G technology offers advanced telecommunication compared to its predecessors, 3G and 4G. Moreover, this wireless technology provides online access worldwide without a Wi-Fi connection. Below, we’ll delve further into how these and other traits can benefit your small business. 

Faster 5G Networks for Lower Latency 

All businesses run on data-driven analytics that provide sensitive information that tells business owners what to do next. For instance, by tracking customer patterns, owners determine what products or services are popular and which are causing revenue loss. Similarly, ad campaign tracking lets them see which marketing tactics are more successful, so they’re not paying for failing ones. 

Therefore, receiving data immediately is crucial in making fast decisions. According to LinkedIn, 5G has the fastest download speeds, which range up to 10 Gbps compared to 4G’s 20 to 100 Mbps. Business owners can download documents, files, and software programs faster and larger ones with lower latency so they can provide real-time solutions. Videos and images also stream in higher quality. 

Better Connection with 5G Devices 

Higher speeds also allow more 5G devices to connect effortlessly to the network worldwide. With multiple receivers and transmitters, there are little to no performance issues. That means desktops, mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, and other electronics, from refrigeration appliances to robots and security systems, can join the Internet of Things network simultaneously. 

But in addition to connecting countless devices to a network, 5G allows business leaders to remain connected with these systems remotely so they can make alterations according to real-time data. Furthermore, remote employees use 5G connectivity, allowing business conferences and other collaborations to ensure they don’t waste travel time or costs and are available within seconds.

New Product and Service Enhancement

The rise of 5G even extends to enhancing a business’s products and services to create more appeal and increase the chances of a sale. For instance, while AIs increase customer satisfaction in customer service chat rooms by helping them find answers quickly without waiting on a real representative, augmented reality assists others with trying on products virtually, like makeup, accessories, and clothing. 

So, are you considering 5G deployment to grow your small business and make it more efficient and accessible from anywhere? Become more aware of the rise of 5G and upgrade your wireless network today!

Used with permission from Article Aggregator

Artificial intelligence holds unmatched potential for solving IT service management challenges. Companies of all sizes are adopting AI tools as a cost-effective and efficient means of solving IT issues, from improving processes and increasing productivity to helping the organization reach its goals. 

Although some fear that the expansion of AI in IT service management means the end of human-centered services, the fact is that AI offers problem-solving tools that can alleviate the burden on human experts and free up their time to focus on higher-value projects and more complex service needs. Understanding the potential and best ways to use AI-driven IT service management tools ensures an efficient and effective support environment. 

Addressing Common Issues With AI in Service Management 

Despite the increasing adoption of AI-driven configuration management tools, many companies struggle with IT service management. One prevalent issue is the lack of understanding within organizations of the root causes of process issues and failures. Instead of digging deeper into problems like skyrocketing spending to figure out what’s happening, many leaders are turning to AI solutions to solve the surface issues. In short, the excitement over AI leads many companies to view it as a “magic wand” that will solve all their issues. 

Solving any problem requires first understanding its causes, though. That’s one area where AI can shine, and companies that leverage the power of predictive analytics can gain the critical insights they need to get to the heart of issues and find practical solutions. AI can extract insights, identify patterns and trends, and summarize events, giving IT teams a more accurate look at the organization’s challenges and where to prioritize solutions. 

Other Ways AI Will Revolutionize IT Service Management 

Clarifying the organization’s needs and streamlining a response isn’t the only role of AI in IT service management. The technology will also provide better incident prevention and response and help close the skills gap within the industry in the following ways:

• Proactive Incident Response: Predictive analytics and natural language processing (NLP) analyze unique organization data to identify patterns and metrics and compare them to real-time data, revealing the potential for events ahead of time.
• Automation: AI tools can handle routine tasks and simple issues so teams can focus on more pressing concerns. They can generate incident resolution and triage insights, either solving the problems automatically or creating reports for human review. Ultimately, this approach improves and targets automation efforts, saving the company time and money via faster, more focused corrective actions. 
• Streamlined Configuration: AI-driven configuration management streamlines infrastructure provisioning and maintenance, freeing staff time for other priorities. It also simplifies configuration management by automatically predicting the impact of configuration changes and automating optimization. 

The increased presence of AI in IT service management will not eliminate the need for human-centered support, but it will change how they work. There will be a reduced need for frontline analysts and customer support agents and an increased call for people with data science and engineering skills to help train and leverage AI tools to their greatest advantage.

Keeping up with these trends will be the key to success.

Used with permission from Article Aggregator

Effective enterprise security requires implementing a multilayered strategy; authentication and authorization are two critical elements of this approach. Any time anyone within the organization accesses the network, an application, or a service, they must provide the proper credentials to show that they have authorization to do so, such as a username, password, token, or similar. 

However, identity management is also integral to securing machines and workloads. Machines (the physical hardware like servers and any connected devices), as well as the workloads that run on them, also have identities. Just like your identity is vulnerable to hacking, so are machine identities, which puts your company at risk of a massive data breach or other security compromise. 

Why Machine Identity Management Matters 

Few technologies have seen the rapid growth and adoption of the cloud over the last decade, and multi-cloud environments and cloud-native architectures are now the norm. This cloud infrastructure adoption has led to exponentially growing identities for machines and workloads in addition to users. According to some accounts, machine and workload identities will soon outnumber human identities 100 to 1. 

This means hackers have significant opportunities to enter your organization and steal information. Unless you take the same approach to identity management for machines and workloads as you do for humans, your company is at risk. 

The Basics of Machine and Workload Identity Management 

Addressing the issue of workload identity requires more than simply creating identities. Businesses should implement a multilayered approach to addressing risk. Doing so creates an environment similar to that used to manage human identities; in short, everything inside your business network must prove it has permission to do so. 

The foundation of workload identity management is assigning identities to every machine and workload and managing them throughout their lifecycle. The second layer determines and controls what each identity can access, limiting it to only the most necessary actions and resources. Finally, the top layer manages and implements the rules and standards.

Open-source standards are the key to this approach to effectively managing identity governance and lifecycle management. Consistent and widely adopted standards ensure that tools and systems from different vendors are compatible, making verifying workload and machine identities easier. 

Machine Identity Management: The New Frontier of Security 

Before the widespread adoption of the cloud, IT security focused primarily on protecting the perimeter to address threats to on-premises machines. However, with widely dispersed workloads running everywhere, the concept of the perimeter no longer applies. It’s also no longer enough to secure only human identities, as machines and workloads interact in disparate environments without human interaction.

Modern enterprise security requires businesses to implement security protocols that verify and manage the authorization of machine and workload identities to protect the network across cloud environments. Doing so ensures a more secure and resilient IT infrastructure that can be counted on for the long haul.

Used with permission from Article Aggregator

When you consider the amount of data your business produces every day, you can easily see how devastating it would be to lose it. Everything from intellectual property to customer and financial information lives on your company servers, which explains why it’s so important to have a disaster recovery plan that includes a variety of backup strategies.

The Hazards of Skipping Data Backups

Data loss usually happens when you least expect it and for any number of reasons, including:

• Security breaches, including ransomware and malware attacks
• Human error
• Hardware or software failure
• Theft or loss of physical devices
• Damage due to fire, floods, or other natural disasters

Regardless of the reason for the loss, the consequences can be devastating. Losing business data affects business continuity and causes operational disruptions that affect productivity and the bottom line.

The Best Backup Strategies To Protect Your Business

Regular data backups offer the best way to protect your company from the consequences of a loss, and you can choose from a variety of data loss prevention and backup strategies.

Data backups involve three primary approaches, specifically:

• Full backups, which copy and store all the data, regardless of frequency of use or last modification
• Incremental backups, which only back up data modified since the last full backup
• Differential backups, which save all new data and changes made since the last full or incremental backup

Each of these approaches has its pros and cons. A full backup, for example, supports the fastest recovery but requires the most storage space and uses up the most bandwidth. Incremental backups use less storage space, but because they only backup modified data, recovery requires piecing together multiple backups to retrieve everything. Differential backups strike a nice balance between the two, but they do take longer and require more storage space than an incremental backup.

Many companies use a combined approach, running full backups on a weekly or monthly basis and daily or incremental backups.

Tips for an Effective Data Backup Strategy

Regardless of the type and frequency of your data protection efforts, for the most effective regular data backups, keep these tips in mind:

• Automate your data backups
• Secure backups against unauthorized access using encryption and multi-factor authentication
• Follow the 3-2-1 rules: Three copies of your data in at least two different formats with at least one copy stored offsite
• Test your backups frequently to ensure the files work correctly
• Develop a documented disaster recovery plan with a defined response procedure for migrating and restoring data

Regular data backups provide peace of mind and support cost savings, speedy recovery, and your business’s ability to move forward after a disaster. If you don’t have a strategy in place, make it a priority to create one today.

Used with permission from Article Aggregator

Is your establishment truly safe from cyber threats? Many businesses are discovering their cloud architecture security measures aren’t as robust as they thought.

With hackers becoming more sophisticated, the need for cybersecurity specialists has never increased. Sadly, though, demand keeps outpacing supply.

The latest 2024 Cloud Security report by Checkpoint Software breaks down the nitty-gritty details.

Rising Cloud Security Incidents

The multinational IT security firm reports that only 4% of companies have the framework to mitigate public cloud attacks. About 61% of these organizations recently faced such issues, and 21% suffered from data breaches.

Vulnerable setups lead to scary outcomes. This can include concerns like unauthorized access, leaked sensitive information, and service disruptions.  

Even tech industry giants like Facebook have their share of troubles, too — 530 million users had their personal data stolen in 2021. It’s a stark reminder that no one is immune.

The Top Culprits

The first step to preventing a cloud breach is to identify existing weaknesses. The most common ones include the following.

Misconfigurations

Poorly setting up cloud architecture is like leaving your front door wide open. They create easy entry points for cyber attackers.

Most businesses overlook simple things, such as setting permissions too broadly or not updating security settings. Hasty deployments also compound the problem since speed often sacrifices safety. Always double-check your settings.

Rapid AI Adoption

Does your company use AI? Check Point found that 35% of its respondents feel concerned about the lack of expertise in AI adoption, and 49% indicate a need for security experts with an AI skillset.

Becoming one of the first to integrate AI might put you ahead of the competition, but it also makes you a target. This fairly new technology comes with risks and is like exploring uncharted territory.

We might see adaptive AI-driven cybersecurity solutions in the future. Until then, you need a dedicated crew to manage these new systems.

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Only authorized experts should be allowed in. Unintentionally or not, other employees in your company can become a risk.

That’s why many businesses are switching to Zero Trust architecture, which means treating everyone as a potential threat until verified. 

Insecure Interfaces and APIs

APIs remain the backbone of many cloud services; they enable rapid and easy machine-to-machine and human-to-machine interactions.

Did you know that 29% of web attacks in 2023 targeted API? Malefactors love to exploit subpar authentication mechanisms, session management, and encryption.

Fix Employee Training Gaps

We can trace most or all of these issues to a simple problem—a cybersecurity skills shortage. Experienced people are the first line of defense. They proactively look for vulnerabilities and respond quickly to threats.

Why not finance specialized training sooner rather than later? Your brand will stay protected, and everyone will gain peace of mind. Even the most advanced hardware and software are only as effective as those managing them. 

Used with permission from Article Aggregator

Whether starting a business or growing your long-standing one, it’s difficult to tell how much data storage and hardware systems you need to keep everything functioning optimally. While paying for too much can reduce your profit margin, not having enough can halt company operations. Luckily, cloud computing has changed how we store data, proving more flexible and efficient.

The Benefits of Cloud Computing

As opposed to physical hardware like on-site servers, this cloud alternative allows you to obtain services like storage, networks, and software via the Internet. Cloud computing offers the following benefits. 

More Cost-Efficiency and Scalability Due to Less On-Site Equipment

When you purchase software and hardware for your business, from computers and scanners to routers and hard disks (including the programs you run on them), you’re not only paying for the physical devices but also installation costs. You’ll also need an in-house IT team or occasionally outsource for technical assistance like maintenance and repairs. These services can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars yearly. 

Moreover, as your business grows or shrinks, you’ll need to pay for more equipment or send back equipment to combat wastage, respectively. However, with cloud computing, this no longer has to be the case since you don’t have to purchase physical equipment. Instead, this pay-as-you-go model lets you scale your resources up or down monthly as your business changes. 

Better Virtualization So Employees Can Work From Anywhere

This centralized data storage center also means employees save files and data to the cloud rather than a physical server or other local storage center. So, rather than going into these devices to retrieve the information they need, it’s already updated in real-time and accessible via the cloud. This practice improves business collaborations, especially among remote workers, and encourages global operations. 

Higher Data Security Against Cybercriminals 

You may think that because your employees receive data more easily with the cloud-based approach, hackers can, too. However, cloud computing solution companies take extra precautions to protect sensitive data. For instance, besides performing security audits and encrypting data passing between devices, their security protocols encourage two-factor authentication with passwords and biometrics. 

The cloud also helps you to meet industry standards like HIPAA if you’re in the medical field or SOC 2 so service providers can protect customer data from unauthorized access. By offering compliance certifications, you can rely on the provider’s infrastructure rather than your own.

Easier Disaster Recovery 

Unfortunately, cyberattacks aren’t the only disasters to look out for since anything from floods to earthquakes destroys hardware. Suppose you rely on servers to store data and software. In that case, you need a disaster recovery team to identify and evaluate the risks and locate replicated data. 

However, the cloud allows you to automatically back up data across numerous data centers in varying geographical locations. That means you not only always have replicated data at your fingertips that you can access at any time, but there’s also a limited risk of data loss. 

Cloud computing offers safety, security, flexibility, and more. Consider it for your business for unparalleled solutions!

Used with permission from Article Aggregator