Reducing the likelihood of Cyber-security and Privacy Risks for IoT (Internet of Things) devices are becoming an increasing concern for both the private and public sector. However, “reducing risks” is a broad concept which needs to be clearly broken down into specific goals and steps. Here are three goals in IoT device security that will help your organization reduce cyber-security and privacy risks.
Goal 1: Protect Device Security.
Prevent a device from being used to conduct attacks. Here are risk mitigation areas to help achieve this goals:
Asset Management: Maintain a current, accurate inventory of all IoT devices and their relevant characteristics throughout the devices’ lifecycles for cybersecurity and privacy risk management purposes.
Vulnerability Management: Identify and eliminate known vulnerabilities of IoT device software and firmware in order to prevent a security breach.
Access Management: Prevent unauthorized and improper access to IoT Devices by people, processes and other computing devices.
Device Security Incident Detection: Regularly monitor and analyze IoT device activity for signs of incidents and suspicious patterns.
Goal 2: Protect Data Security.
Protect the confidentiality of data including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) collected by, stored on, or transmitted to or from the IoT device. Here are risk mitigation areas for Goal 2: Data Protection: Prevent access to and tampering with data at rest or in transit that might expose sensitive information or allow manipulation or disruption of IoT device operations. Data Security Incident Detection: As mentioned previously in Goal 1, this is a highly important step in achieving this goal. Be sure to regularly monitor and analyze IoT Device activity for signs of incidents!
Goal 3: Protect Individuals’ Privacy.
Protect individuals’ privacy impacted by PII processing beyond risks managed through device and data security protection. Here are some Risk mitigation areas for Goal 3:
Information Flow Management: Maintain a current, accurate mapping of the information lifecycle of PII.
PII Processing Permissions Management: Maintain permissions for PII processing to prevent unpermitted PII processing.
Informed Decision Making: Enable individuals to understand the effects of PII processing and interactions with the device and resolve problems.
Privacy Breach Detection: Monitor and analyze IoT device activity for signs of breaches involving individuals’ privacy.
The contents of this email was based on a report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The full report can be found here.
If you would like to learn more about improving your organization’s IoT Security, contact us!
Note: Some links in the following article links back to the Compulink E-Store for product information. The E-Store is a password protected website and requires user account for access. Registering for an account is 100% free and quick. Click here to sign up!
When refreshing your organization’s
IT storage hardware, it is important to understand what to look out for during
the purchasing experience. After years
of assisting various organizations and government agencies with their IT storage
infrastructure, we have identified three important characteristics to consider
when buying storage hardware.
Performance
Storage performance refers to the speed at which data transfers within a device or from one device to another. The speed of storage device is crucial especially when handling high volumes of data. As the usage of data increase, the performance of the drive where you store them must increase. Consider buying hardware storage device(s) with great performance, well HPE 300 GB 2.5″ Internal Hard Drive – SAS – 10000rpm – Hot Pluggable – 1 Pack is your best bet. This HPE drive offers the highest level of performance and reliability for your most demanding application workloads.
Capacity
Capacity is the amount of data that a storage device can store.If you work with data every day, you need to have Storage device that can handle all your data instead of buying different drives. That is where capacity of your drive is crucial. Don’t wait until you run out of space to store your data. Check out this product to get an understanding of what high capacity looks like!
Data Safety
Data safety refers to the durability of your drive and how you handle it. As much as performance and capacity of storage device is concern, the safely of a drive is more important. Both the drive’s quality and how it is been handled (used) is very important. Buying external hard drive can save you headaches especially when you are in an environment that you can’t access your information on cloud or internet. Do you will need that safe and secure storage device? Well its one click away.
If you would like to learn more about Storage solutions that will meet your needs and optimize your tech infrastructure, click on the image below to learn more!
Though document management sounds like a complicated process that’s reserved for large corporations, it’s actually something that every organization – of every size – does every day. In fact, your office is doing it right now as we speak. Simply put, document management is the printing, copying, and filing you do daily; it’s how you interact with the documents you use to get your job done. It’s also key to helping your organization improve productivity and security, and to everyone’s favorite benefit, reducing costs.
Despite talk of the “paperless office,” some 40% of all organizational processes are still document driven, according to a survey by Xerox. Switching from paper to digital workflows has the power to transform the way your organization operates. In addition to saving time and money, digitizing paper processes can enhance collaboration, and even help to secure your data, a concern which should definitely be at the top of your list.
True
digitization involves creating an end-to-end solution that includes document
routing, storing, sharing and printing. It should also incorporate mobile print
and cloud solutions, as well as state-of-the-art security. Lastly, it should automate
your most complex document workflows to make your work day easier.
Here are a
few simple guidelines to help you know you’re getting the maximum ROI on your
document management investment.
It Boosts Security
Your document management should absolutely be addressing document
security. Did you know that 43% of all cyber attacks that
occurred in 2015 targeted small businesses? Or that a survey done by Keeper
Security and Ponemon Institute found that half of all small businesses in
2016 had experienced a security breach within the past year?
The Xerox Small Business Solutions blog writes, “The security
threat landscape is enormously complex, requiring businesses to protect everything
from their devices to their data and their networks, with many often
overlooking the security vulnerabilities of today’s advanced multifunction
printers (MFPs). For many SMBs, the answer is putting data security in the
hands knowledgeable MPS provider with access to a range of services and tools
which can be adapted and expanded as business needs change.
It Lessens Your Workload
An effective
document management solution should simplify the workflows you rely on every
day – not create new ones.
A truly effective
digitization strategy should allow you to use your digital documents the same
way you do your paper documents – meaning, you should still be able to annotate,
collate, and collaborate any way you see fit. Your scan/capture solution should
allow you to create editable, searchable files that can be scanned right into
existing document repositories, applications, and document management systems to
simplify and automate your workflows. Done well, this should significantly
reduce the amount of time and energy you’ll spend searching for information.
Printers and
multifunction printers (MFPs) with Xerox® ConnectKey® Technology enable you to scan directly
into a breadth of cloud-based services including Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive and Office
365, while ConnectKey Apps
simplify the way you scan and share documents to and from email accounts,
DocuShare or Microsoft Office tools. Read here for more about devices that might be right for
your business.
The
Xerox CapturePoint Transformer App
lets you streamline your document workflows even more by securely scanning
documents and importing them directly into the proper apps, transforming paper
into editable, actionable information. You can even create customized workflows
such as scanning to email, FTP, shared network folders, USB and multiple
destinations.
It
Drives Real Value
Digitization
should go beyond convenience to drive real business value. Results from IDC’s Content Workflow Automation Survey showed that organizations who made strides
toward digitizing, automating, and optimizing their document workflows:
Reduced the percentage of time spent on document-related tasks each week by 17.2%
Saved an average of 3.1 hours each week on document-related tasks
Experiences a 3% reduction in paper documents
Decreased the time spent looking for and/or recreating lost or misfiled documents by 12.5%
Reduced the costs of storing documents by an average of 41.2%
Source:
idc.com
The
Role of MPS
Managed Print Services (MPS) provides a bridge
between paper and digital. Naturally, digitization starts with scanning. But
scanning in terms of digitization is complex. Digitization should be approached
as an end-to-end strategy and most businesses need guidance when it comes to
implementing an effective solution. Simply scanning document-by-document leads
to additional challenges rather than lessening them. An MPS assessment can show
you how to integrate digital and hard copy processes so that information flows
smoothly, predictably, and efficiently throughout your organization. By
implementing an end-to-end MPS solution that includes print, document workflow,
cloud technology, security and mobile, you can accelerate your digital
transformation and achieve the maximum benefits.
Better
document management is a truly transformative process that can help you work
better, more securely, and with lower operating costs. If you’re not sure where
to start, our team can alleviate many of the pain points that have prevented you
from making the switch – challenges like investment costs and potential
disruption to your existing business processes.
Contact us today for an assessment and we’ll help you explore the returns you can expect for your document management investment.
Tech Elite 250 List Recognizes Highest Achieving IT Solution Providers in Vendor Certifications
CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has
named Compulink Technologies Inc. to its 2019 Tech Elite 250 list.
This annual list honors a select group of North American IT solution providers
that have earned the highest number of advanced technical certifications from leading technology suppliers, scaled to their
company size. These companies have distinguished themselves with multiple,
top-level IT certifications, specializations, and partner program designations
from the industry’s most prestigious technology providers.
To
compile this annual list, The Channel Company’s research group and CRN editors
work together to identify the most customer-beneficial technical certifications
in the North American IT channel. Companies who have earned these elite
designations— which enable solution providers to deliver premium products,
services and customer support—are then selected from a pool of online
applicants.
“CRN’s Tech Elite 250 list recognizes solution
providers with extensive technical knowledge and premier certifications,” said
Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. “Pursuit of vendor certifications and
broader skill sets in a wide range of technologies and IT practices, proves a
solution provider is committed to delivering maximum business value from those
technologies and giving their customers the highest level of service.”
Compulink Technologies has also won CRN Awards in the past including the Elite 150 Category of the MSP 500 in 2019! You can click here to read more.
“We
are very committed to staying on top of our tech certifications. It is important to us that when we engage our
clients, we are fully aware of what capabilities the products and solutions
have or do not have. This helps our
Compulink team maintain transparency with our clients and ensure client
satisfaction.” – Denise Arboleda, VP of Sales in Compulink Technologies.
Coverage
of the Tech Elite 250 will
be featured in the April issue of CRN, and online at www.CRN.com/TechElite250.
The Channel
Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media,
engaging events, expert consulting and education and innovative marketing
services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower
technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30
years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to
envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the
technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com
New
York, NY, February 19, 2019 – Compulink Technologies, announced
today that CRN®,
a brand of The Channel Company, has
named Compulink Technologies to its 2019 Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500
list in the Elite 150 category. You can find the
link of our placement here. This annual list recognizes North
American solution providers with innovative approaches to managed services.
These services help customers improve operational efficiencies, maximize return
on IT investments, and continuously help them navigate the complexities of IT
solutions.
Managed service providers are integral to the
success of businesses everywhere. They empower companies to implement and
operate complex technologies while staying within their budgets and keep focus
on their core business. CRN’s MSP 500 list identifies the most groundbreaking
managed service organizations, with advanced solutions that have endless
potential for growth.
This annual list is divided into three
categories: the MSP Pioneer 250, recognizing companies with business models
weighted toward managed services and largely focused on the SMB market; the MSP
Elite 150, recognizing large, data center-focused MSPs with a strong mix of
on-premises and off-premises services; and the Managed Security 100,
recognizing MSPs focused primarily on off-premises, cloud-based security
services.
Compulink Technologies has also received the
CRN Solution Provider 500 Award in 2017 and 2018 (link
here)! Compulink has also was placed in the Fast Growth 150 for CRN
in 2016! So this is the third consecutive year we have received a
recognition from CRN!
“Capable MSPs enable companies
to take their cloud computing to the next level, streamline spending,
effectively allocate limited resources and navigate the vast field of available
technologies,” said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. “The companies on
CRN’s 2019 MSP 500 list stand out for their innovative services, excellence in
adapting to customers’ changing needs and demonstrated ability to help
businesses get the most out of their IT investments.”
“We are honored to be a part of this list,” said Rafael
Arboleda, the President and CEO of Compulink Technologies. “This is no
easy feat. This recognition is an accumulation of years of trial and
error in the Managed Services space as well as our diligent dedication to
client satisfaction. I am very proud and thankful for our talented
Compulink Staff and all who have contributed to our company’s growth for the
past 30 years! A big thank you to CRN for the recognition as well!”
About The Channel Company
The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel
performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and
education and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel
catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and
end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we
draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for
ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com
Compulink Technologies has been
authorized as a government reseller for Apple products. That’s right! You
read it correctly! Now we can work with the City, State, and Federal
Government on procuring the top-notch Apple Products. In addition to the
tremendous plethora of products and services we have to offer from top vendors
such as Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, HPE, HPI etc. we now offer Apple products!
Contact us ASAP so your agency can procure Apple products
today!
As
entire industries are increasingly moving into the clouds, IoT security has
become an increasingly urgent matter for businesses and organizations.
Every year there are new trends in malicious cyber-attacks that put
organizations in danger of stolen data, financial vulnerabilities etc. In
various anti-virus trends reports there have been some alarming statistics.
More
than 1 Billion web requests analyzed each day, which was up 5% from 2016
1
in 13 web requests lead to malware, up 3% from 2016
Malware
has seen a 92% increase in new downloader variants and 80% increase in new
malware on Macs
There
has been an 8500% increase in coinminer detections
There
was 600% Increase in attacks against IoT Devices between 2016 and 2017
The
number of new variants in mobile use has gone up from 17k in 2016 to 27k
in 2017
There
is an average of 24,000 malicious mobile apps blocked each day
The
overall increase in reported vulnerabilities between 2016 and 2017 was 13
%
Between
2016 and 2017 there was a 29% increase in industrial control system (ICS)
related vulnerabilities.
After
seeing these alarming statistics, it is urgent that organizations incorporate
cyber security and anti-virus into their cloud solutions! While data
storage and workspace collaboration are key factors in an organization’s cloud
strategy, threat prevention solutions can help secure this data and workflow
from cyber-attacks/theft.
Including
threat prevention into a cloud solutions package can affect the costs of the
solutions and the overall budget. However, recovering from an attack will
cause tremendous costs to recover from the damages. According to an article
by The National, a hypothetical global cyber-attack spread through
malicious email could cause economic damages anywhere between $85 billion and
$193 Billion. The largest losses would likely be in retail, health care,
manufacturing, and banking. Cybersecurity
Ventures predicted that cybercrime will cost the world $6 trillion
by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015. According
to research from the Kaspersky Lab 2018 B2b Survey, costs of
breaches are $1.23 Million on average for enterprises (up 24% from $992K in
2017) and $120K on average for SMBs (up 36% from $88K in 2017).
Threat Prevention tools may add on to
costs of cloud solutions, but they are highly important to avoid losses in
cyber-attacks and to ensure the security of an organization’s operations, data,
processes etc.! Additionally, it is also important to procure multi-vendor
cloud solutions to ensure additional backup for data and to reduce dependency
on one solution (read this
article for more). This includes having a separate vendor that
is dedicated to threat prevention processes alone. If your organization
has not procured threat prevention tools or cloud solutions yet, it is highly
urgent you visit this conversation ASAP!
Workflow automation Has become an
integral component of business technology today. From CRMs to HR
processes, businesses and organizations are increasingly adopting automation
tools. Integrated automation has become a regular component in everyday
use such as social media and email notifications one may see. This
growing trend in the business and government sector has reduced resources
allocated to manual effort and allows professionals to channel their attention
towards the actual business and creativity behind their work.
Out of 2000 work activities (across 800
professions), 45% could be automated, including processing sales
transactions, demonstrating product features, and answering product
questions
Among business processes, 60% of
occupations could save up to 30% of their time with automation, including
the review and approval of paperwork, generating sales leads, and
processing large documents. Automation can surface content that is
particularly relevant, meaningful, or exceptional, so that professionals
are free to focus only on situations that require their expertise and
intelligence
Nearly 20% of CEOs’ time is spent on work
that could be automated. Automatable tasks include reviewing status
reports, preparing staff assignments, and analyzing operational data
Finally, just 4% of common workplace
activities involve human creativity, and only 29% require a human ability
to sense and respond to emotion
The common misconception is that the
high amount of work activities (45%) that could be automated can reduce
employment altogether. However, what this does is redefine the role
itself rather than eliminate the role altogether. For example, a role to
handle email marketing will still be needed despite email automations
configured. The person in charge of this task will have to configure the
emails, automation schedule, and the conditions required for specific automated
emails to be sent. This automation reduces the time spent on manually
responding to every new lead and more time can be redirected to analyzing email
marketing analytics and adapting to the shortcomings and strengths of different
marketing tactics. The same can be said about other roles that can
benefit from automation as well.
In addition to digital marketing,
workflow automation can be applied to many departments in a given company:
Accounting, Software Development, Sales, HR Automation, Administrative
Work/Data Entry, and more!
Workflow automation can help reduce
human error, empowers employees’ ability to manage their own work with minimal
supervision, and boost employee efficiency with their tasks.
Recommendations
Organizations should not only adopt
workflow automation into their productivity culture, but find cloud tools that
supplement workflow automation. By cloud we don’t necessarily only mean
file-sharing and data storage, but centralizing the workflow automation among
the employees. By boosting Cloud-backed automation tools, an organization
helps their employees communicate internally and it will become easier for both
management and employees to track progress of given projects/tasks as well as
become synchronized/uniform in approaching their tasks.
If your organization has not embraced
automating tasks yet, it is imperative you consider this direction. It
will help reduce costs and time spent on tasks that can be otherwise automated
and the staff at large can focus on growing the organization/business and
strategy.
The Compulink Cloud Reserve, (coming
soon) will have many important features for organizational growth: including
workflow management and automation.
Congratulations to our VP Denise
Arboleda for receiving a Certificate of Recognition from the New York City
Comptroller Scott M. Stringer! As you may or may not know, the
Comptroller heavily deals with the budget of New York City government agencies
and many other similar fiscal matters.
Denise and the Compulink Technologies
team have worked for decades to find the best possible pricing for our clients
in both the government and the business sector! In recognition of helping
our government clients save money while procuring top-notch IT Solutions,
Denise has received this certification!
We are indeed very proud!
Congratulations to Denise!
In recent years, Multi-Cloud Solutions
became an increasingly popular approach among organizations. The question
remains whether a Multi-Cloud Approach or a Single-Cloud Vendor is
recommended. While there is no true correct answer to that question past
subjective preference, we would like to highlight some strengths of Multi-Cloud
solutions.
At the heart of every Cloud Services
procurement is a common goal: data security. As businesses venture into Cloud,
the concern with their Cloud vendor’s security remains. There have been
instances in the past where cloud vendors have been hacked and/or organizations
have lost access to their data due to a fault in local servers. As a
result organizations have adapted Multi-Cloud strategies. Multi-cloud
solutions offer data redundancy, meaning you can copy your data in multiple
platforms. With your data preserved in multiple platforms, the chances of
loss in data has been reduced which prevents potentially major financial
repercussions for organizations.
To add on, having a Multi-cloud
solutions approach can prevent vendor lock-in. Oftentimes, when a vendor
becomes an organization’s exclusive provider for a given service, it becomes
difficult to migrate one’s data into a competitor’s platform. With a
multi-cloud solution configured in your platforms, you can integrate features
of a cloud platform such as Microsoft Azure into your experience with Amazon
Web Services. Without the proper Multi-cloud configurations, it will
become extremely difficult and time consuming to integrate both platforms and
utilize different features of different platforms.
Cost-effectiveness is an added benefit
of having a Multi-cloud solutions approach. If you rely on one sole
vendor, it will become difficult to migrate your data to a competitor if their
pricing becomes too pricey for your budget. If you have multiple cloud
solutions configured with your organization’s data and security infrastructure,
you can navigate among them if one becomes too expensive. As mentioned
before, your data is already copied across multiple platforms, so the reliance
on an increasingly expensive sole vendor would be reduced.
To sum it up, it is important to
consider a Multi-Cloud solutions approach for your organization to “not have
your eggs in one basket.” You can reduce the likelihood of data loss;
avoid exceeding your budget for cloud services; and you can integrate
convenient features across different platforms for your team’s use.
