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While the pandemic triggered a sudden, unexpected shift to remote work, the reopening of offices is now driving a more predictable but still fast-moving shift to the hybrid workplace.

Malicious actors could use the technique to force the speaker to control any smart devices in the home, including door locks, light switches, security cameras, ovens, microwaves, furnaces and refrigerators. Hackers could also use the exploit to make unauthorized purchases using the victim’s Amazon account.

Wiper malware is meant to look like ransomware, but it doesn’t include any sort of recovery mechanisms.

Last year alone, some 59 million Americans were duped by scammers impersonating IRS agents, other government employees or debt collectors.

Nearly 80 percent of companies say they plan to expand their use of video for both remote and onsite employees

an ongoing skills gap exacerbated by the Great Resignation is making it difficult for most organizations to effectively maintain their software portfolios.

More than 15 billion password and username combinations — more than two for every person on the planet — are now in circulation in cybercriminal marketplaces such as the dark web

Studies suggest that as much as 75 percent of a typical company’s intellectual property is contained within its email system.

Effective modernization requires an organization-wide approach to updating or replacing legacy technologies in order to support modern business processes.

Surveys consistently show that companies can reduce their annual IT expenses with managed services.

Organizations are adopting a zero-trust model for network security. Unlike the traditional “trust, but verify” approach, zero trust encourages a “never trust; always verify” style. It is a system-wide cybersecurity strategy that assumes every user and device accessing the network is a threat until their identity has been validated.

In addition to surging levels of ransomware, supply chain and distributed denial of service attacks, the federal government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warns that the recently discovered log4j vulnerability will likely pose significant risks for years to come.

Data in motion is data at risk - which means an awful lot of data is at risk these days.

The pandemic changed the overall working culture in most organizations and, in the process, pushed video conferencing technologies into the mainstream.

Recent studies find that nearly 80 percent of IT professionals say remote support obligations require them to work longer hours with less time off and 45% are reporting burnout.

Few organizations know where all of their sensitive data resides — and that lack of visibility seriously compromises their ability to secure and protect their data.

2021 will go down as the worst year on record for cybercrime, with damages expected to exceed $6 trillion globally.

Delayed shipments of chips, switches, circuit boards and other components — compounded by ongoing labor shortages — are forcing companies everywhere to rethink plans for technology projects.

In a new report from HP, two-thirds of IT teams say endpoint security has become far more difficult due to the huge numbers of remote and hybrid workers using unsupported devices to access network resources.

More than two-thirds of companies say the frequency of endpoint attacks is increasing and that they have been compromised by one or more such attacks over the past two years.

Microsoft says a “phased and measured” rollout will allow it to focus on quality. Some major features will not be available at first but will be added over time to ensure a smooth user experience.

Providing IT support for remote and hybrid workforces is a significant challenge for most businesses. Resource-strapped IT teams say they are spending significantly more time and manpower supporting remote workers.

Could Windows 365 be the answer to securing and simplifying your distributed workforce?

Nearly three-quarters of all cybersecurity incidents in 2020 involved external cloud assets, according to the latest Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report.

Due to a persistent misunderstanding about the cloud’s basic security framework, most companies aren’t adequately protecting their SaaS data

Application modernization is a high priority as businesses continue to contend with pandemic-triggered changes to their operational and IT requirements.

Business Email Compromise Scams landed attackers approximately $12 billion from companies worldwide in 2020 - a 1,300 percent increase year over year

High-quality audio/visual systems are essential for making the office a hub for communication, collaboration, innovation and training.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the first-ever revision to its flagship cyber resiliency guidelines, with a host of new recommendations to help organizations defend themselves from increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks such as advanced persistent threats (APTs).

Board members likely understand the business-critical nature of IT, but that doesn’t make them technology experts.

Choosing the right MSP is a big decision, and the evaluation process can be tricky for even the most tech-savvy businesses. MSPs can have wildly different levels of skill and expertise. To find a provider that’s a good fit for your company, it’s a good idea to ask these 10 questions

C-suite support for cloud projects can be tricky. Non-technical executives require a clear justification before committing precious dollars and resources.

For decades, organizations have focused on perimeter security measures to prevent intruders from accessing the network. While that’s still important, it’s no longer entirely effective.

Like viruses, spyware, ransomware and other threats, fileless malware typically infiltrates systems through phishing emails, malicious downloads or infected links. After that, however, it exhibits very different behaviors.

Whether deployed in large meeting rooms or smaller huddle rooms, today’s advanced A/V systems are robust and reliable solutions that improve collaboration

Remote work enhances employee satisfaction. In a recent survey conducted by Owl Labs in collaboration with Global Workplace Analytics, 77 percent of full-time workers said they’d be happier working from home after the pandemic.

Microsoft reports that more than 90 percent of vulnerable servers have been patched, but that means there could still be tens of thousands of unpatched servers susceptible to remote code execution, server hijacking, ransomware, cryptomining, data theft and other attacks.

Quality software development projects can help companies streamline operations, bring innovative products to market and improve productivity.

Finding the right partner is the key to gaining maximum benefits from the managed services model.

Emotet, one of the world’s largest and most sinister botnets, was taken down in January following a two-year cooperative effort by international law enforcement agencies and private security researchers.

With remote work likely to remain in place for some time, organizations must take steps to close one of the biggest holes in their security fabric — employee-owned endpoint computing devices.

Good software drives business agility, efficiency and innovation. Crummy software just drives you up the wall.

By strategically placing digital signage and using precisely targeted messaging, you can have a strong influence on a customer’s final purchasing decision.

Outsourcing provides access to IT expertise and responsive support, ensuring that staff stay productive and focused on the organization’s core business.

Analysts say cyberattacks have increased by 600 percent since the start of the pandemic as malicious actors seek to capitalize on widespread fear and uncertainty.

An agency within the Department of Treasury, OFAC implements and enforces economic sanctions against foreign states, terrorist organizations and other criminal enterprises deemed to be a threat to U.S. national security.

Although passwords are increasingly being augmented with additional secure access technologies such as multifactor authentication and encryption, they remain a primary authentication mechanism.

The experts at SSD Technology Partners can conduct a thorough assessment of your environment to determine what software is installed, which versions and patch levels, and other information needed to identify potential risks.

Behavioral analytics can intelligently protect your network from insider threats, accelerate detection and dramatically reduce risk.

According to a recent analysis from MarketsAndMarkets, the cloud storage market will grow from $50.1 billion this year to $137.3 billion by 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of 22.3 percent.

Email has been a great business tool for decades because it is easy to use and gets the job done, but security cannot be an afterthought.

Ransomware attacks are up sharply during the coronavirus pandemic, with researchers identifying nearly 80 million such attacks during the first half of 2020 — a 109 percent increase from 2019’s midyear total.

Organizations with in-house IT staff can benefit from partnering with an MSP in a co-managed IT arrangement.

A 2019 study by Varonis Data Lab found that 53 percent of companies had at least 1,000 sensitive files that could be accessed by all employees.

There’s no question that organizations are migrating more workloads to the cloud in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SSD Technology Partners has been named as one of the world’s premier managed service providers and one of the top MSPs in Delaware on the prestigious 2020 annual Channel Futures MSP 501 rankings.

Cybersecurity frameworks provide a valuable instruction manual for reducing risk.

You can offload some of the compliance burden by partnering with a managed services provider (MSP) such as SSD.

Although paying the ransom often seems like the quickest and most effective way of getting encrypted data restored, security experts have always advised against it.

By assisting with virtual private networks (VPNs), conferencing and collaboration solutions, cloud services, and cybersecurity, MSPs can help organizations overcome the technical challenges associated with work-from-home strategies.

In many cases, managed services providers (MSPs) have provided a lifeline with the delivery of critical cloud, collaboration, security and support services that have helped companies remain afloat.

The sudden shift to remote work has led many small businesses to adopt practices that may be creating considerable cybersecurity threats.

Although common sense tells us that most businesses will curtail IT spending following the current crisis, there is also evidence that strategic tech investments are necessary for building long-term business resilience.

The key to navigating a network refresh and taking full advantage of these benefits is doing the necessary research and gathering the right data.

The combination of too much time, too much aggravation, and too high of a cost isn’t a successful formula for anything, especially when the end result falls short of expectations.

SSD Technology Partners considers the safety of our clients and staff our utmost priority while also ensuring we continue to provide the highest level of service and support our clients have come to expect from us.

Firewalls have been an essential first line of defense in network security for decades, serving as the gatekeeper between internal network resources and the outside world.

Offloading IT functions to a good managed services provider (MSP) creates a lot of value for organizations by allowing them to improve operations and better manage their technology expenses.

Improving network security is a top budget priority for 2020 in most organizations, and with good reason — cybercrime is growing at an astonishing rate.

The plan helps employers, employees and partners understand what they should do to maintain operations during the outbreak of highly infectious illnesses.

Hackers know it’s much easier to trick a human with a deceptive email than it is to trick or circumvent security software.

Businesses that automate even just a few tasks that otherwise require manual processes can save hours of work, making them more efficient and productive while also reducing costs and minimizing errors.

A 2018 tax-day computer glitch at the Internal Revenue Service prevented millions of Americans from filing their tax returns and forced the agency to extend its filing deadline.

While IT organizations are using AI to augment security, cybercriminals are also leveraging the technology to find new ways around defense mechanisms.

The true goal of managed services is to make the IT environment better – better performance, better availability, better efficiency, better security, better disaster recovery.

Predictive analytics is an area of statistics that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, data mining and predictive modeling to gather and assess historical data in order to predict future events.

We’ve entered the peak season for cybercrime, with various studies indicating that cyberattacks increase by up to 60 percent during the holidays.

According to a report from Techaisle, cloud spending by small to midsize businesses (SMBs) and midmarket companies will reach $115 billion in 2019, with SMBs outspending the midmarket sector.

Employees are advised not to click on unknown links and attachments, share their user credentials, or use unapproved applications and services.

The struggle to balance the desire for IT innovation with the need for strong cybersecurity is due, in part, to distinctly different views of cyber-readiness among company executives, business staff and IT professionals.

IT budgeting is always a challenging process, but it does provide IT managers an opportunity to demonstrate how IT can facilitate business goals.

You depend upon your computer systems to boost productivity and enhance customer service, but when they’re not working properly business grinds to a halt.

Many business owners fail to prioritize such planning because they consider hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters to be unlikely occurrences.

NAC technologies help organizations manage and control which users and what devices can access corporate networks based on policies, including endpoint configuration, authentication and user identity.

Technology is woven into virtually every business process. If IT systems go down or fail to work properly, certain business functions might come to a halt.

In addition to exacerbating the persistent shortage of tech workers, retiring baby boomers are often the only people in the company with the skills and expertise needed to keep legacy applications and systems up and running.

Personally identifiable information (PII) is the holy grail when it comes to cybercrime.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions such as Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, Google Suite, Dropbox and QuickBooks have made it easier for small to midsize businesses (SMBs) to adopt cloud services.

Many organizations, including small to midsize business, have branch and satellite offices spread across a wide geography. That means more and more corporate data is being created outside of company headquarters.

To reduce the risk of unexpected events, implementation delays and other factors that can derail projects, organizations should establish a project plan that addresses these elements.

An MSP can fill gaps in cloud skills and knowledge, enabling you to stick to your budget, minimize waste and efficiently manage cloud services across a multi-cloud environment.

In a recent study conducted by MSI-ACI Europe, 61 percent of IT professionals said senior executives expect more lenient security policies for themselves than everyone else

Security tools from the same vendor will typically interoperate and share data, improving protection. In addition, support is simpler with fewer vendors, which translates to reduced risk of downtime.

Ransomware is still a serious problem. But as awareness has increased and security measures have been enhanced, more hackers are turning to cryptojacking to make money.

When you’re constantly scrambling to keep the lights on and serve customers, it can seem expedient to make a user happy by changing a configuration, installing a new application, or adding a new device or service that the user requested.

Since 2005, the number of Americans working remotely has more than doubled to 3.9 million, and more than one-third of employees are expected to work remotely in the next 10 years.

The inherent complexity of moving a business is why you need a solid relocation plan. A relocation plan begins with establishing a timeline.

Research from Akamai revealed that 28 billion credential stuffing attacks were detected in the second half of 2018, with as many as 115 million malicious login attempts per day in some cases.

Microsoft recommends that organizations running Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 migrate to the Azure cloud platform.

SSD can help you figure out how many PCs you’ll need, the features required to support your business goals, and how long it will take for your new PCs to arrive.