antivirus-solutions

Still running 2003 Servers? We all know the risks of running a Microsoft unsupported platform. No patches, full of security holes and threats. Antivirus vendors no longer support 2003, so the door is left wide open! Partner Now Request Infomation However, some companies still rely on specific applications that run on 2003 and do not have the time or resources to migrated or upgrade applications. Avosec offer legacy support for 2003, with a bespoke Antivirus solution specifically developed to protect legacy 2003/XP systems from modern-day virus threats. Clearsight Antivirus Legacy offers central management, logging, real-time and scheduled scanning, automatic updates, device control, surf protection and firewall management. If you are a business or have customers who need to protect legacy systems, please get in touch. Contact us to find out more

Avast Business Hub Your integrated platform for complete security – delivered entirely through the cloud. Partner Now Request Infomation Manage all your Avast Business solutions in one easy-to-use platform SMBs are high-risk targets for cyber attacks. The Business Hub encompasses every essential layer of security needed to defend a business from cyber threats – covering users and devices anywhere, anytime. Monitor threats from a single dashboard Configure notifications based on specific device actions and monitor from a centralized dashboard for full transparency into individual device issues, as well as threats that might be spreading among connected devices. Enterprise-grade security services With the Business Hub, you can easily deploy, configure, and maintain a range of security services to protect your business data, endpoints, applications, and networks from the most advanced cyberthreats. Fast and easy to use Features a modern UI that’s intuitive and easy to use for increased productivity, and faster monitoring and deployments. Free remote support Use our free remote control tool to quickly and securely connect to a user’s device, anytime, anywhere, to access files, manage applications, and troubleshoot issues in real-time. Multi-tenancy support Easily manage multiple sites and streamline the responsibilities across large teams. Multiple users can be created to allow access to a limited portion of the console. Powerful. Fast. Intuitive. Everything you need, from threat monitoring to remote control features, lives on one platform – giving you time back to focus on growing your business. Intuitive dashboard View all alerts at a glance, address issues, and provide the information you need to make informed decisions, add services, and quickly take action to increase uptime, stability, and security. Comprehensive reporting Generate and schedule easy-to-read, detailed activity reports with the click of a button. View reports that include blocked threats, task lists, protected devices, patch statuses, and more. Device and policy management Manage security for all devices with the Business Hub agent. Policy changes will automatically configure themselves on the agent-controlled devices in real-time, requiring less maintenance and making it easier to scale business operations. Alerts & Notifications Receive in-app alerts and instant email notifications on any security threats or network issues that need your attention, including outdated antivirus applications, extended device inactivity, and additional device updates. Multi-OS Next-Gen Antivirus Deploy industry-leading, Avast Business Antivirus software to ensure your Windows and Mac devices, data and customers are protected from ransomware and other cyber threats. Premium Remote Control Provide unlimited remote support to your users anytime, anywhere. Access files, manage applications and troubleshoot issues in real-time. Secure Web Gateway Block access to bad websites, download locations to prevent attacks from harming your network or from stealing any data. Master Agent Select a device as the Local Update Server, where all updates can be downloaded. Save bandwidth by scheduling and distributing updates to all endpoints in your network when it’s convenient. Real-time Commands Instantly apply commands across devices like scans, restarts, and more. Run commands automatically based on policy settings. Avast Patch Management Simplifies and automates the patching process. The Avast solution provides patch support for both Windows and your most vulnerable third-party applications. Cloud Backup (coming soon!) Avoid expensive downtime with a backup recovery solution that protects your business critical data in case of disaster recovery. Secure Internet Gateway Provides reliable, always-on protection against web and internet threats across all devices also locations. this service productions users wherever they are. Services Attackers possess endless ways to breach a network or device. It’s crucial to have a combination of security services and additional layers of protection to block cyber threats. Get a full range of security services in one centralized platform. BOOK A DEMO Get Started Today Try the Business Hub today and see how easy it is to manage the security of your business, all from one platform. Get Demo

Is the user the weakest link in security?   When examining breaches, we can almost always point to users practicing poor security — how can we change this? Partner Now Request Infomation Put simply, most people believe that the weakest link in the security supply chain is the user. This attitude has become so widely accepted that it’s almost set in stone. It is justified by the inherent unpredictability of humans; the knowledge that a security hole in any application or codebase is fully discoverable and fixable; and the difference between ‘machine’ error and human error. Human error is inherently random; a lapse in attention or judgement can occur at any time, often with seemingly no context to prompt it. We never really question the idea that the user is the weakest link, but is it fair to stigmatize the user and consign them so unambiguously to being their own worst enemy? We ought to examine whether this consensus is truly justified. How users fail security When users have their data compromised, it’s usually as a direct result of a failure or misstep on their own part. While a determined hacker targeting an individual will eventually be able to overcome any security precaution, most of us will never be so specifically targeted. Maintaining basic security hygiene and awareness would be enough for us to protect ourselves against almost all general online hazards. And yet, we continually find that loss of security, compromised accounts or stolen credentials can be traced back to a failure on the user’s part. Password apathy Good password hygiene remains one of the hardest practices to instill in users. Our passwords form the gateway to our online accounts and potentially all our most sensitive data; no matter how secure a website may be against direct hacking attempts, if users allow their passwords to be broken or stolen it allows hackers free access to any data stored on that site. However, many users have poor password security, despite knowing the risks and the knowledge of how to improve their passwords. In 2019, SplashData estimated that about 10% of users used at least one of that year’s weakest 25 passwords. This might not be much of an issue on its own; not all our online accounts store especially sensitive personal data, and some breaches might hold very little of value for a hacker. This assumes, though, that the user has different passwords for each account they use online and that hackers wouldn’t be able to breach other, more sensitive accounts with the same login credentials. Ten percent doesn’t seem like a lot, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Again in 2019, Microsoft revealed that 44 million users of various Microsoft service accounts were using vulnerable passwords that matched with a list of already-breached credentials circulating on the dark web. A survey from LastPass the previous year revealed widespread password re-use, with nearly 60% of users using the same password on multiple sites, even though 90% of respondents understood the security risks of password re-use. The same survey revealed that over 50% of users had gone longer than a year without updating their password. This does seem a damning indictment on users, with so many understanding the risks of lax password security but continuing to use old, already breached, or weak passwords. This is despite it being easier than ever to maintain good password security thanks to services like Avast Passwords, part of Avast Antivirus, which can generate and manage complex, secure passwords across multiple accounts, eliminating the problems of password re-use, memorization and weak passwords all in one package. There is also Avast Hack Check, which can tell you within moments whether you’re using a breached password that should be changed to keep you secure. Gullibility Users are also consistently taken in by the simplest, most preventable attack there is: Phishing. There is a wealth of information on what phishing is and how to avoid it, including the entry in Avast Academy and a discussion on the Anatomy of a Phish. Even though the success rate for phishing attacks continues to go down each year, enough users still fall victim to make them worthwhile, with phishing accounting for 22% of all data breaches in 2019. According to Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR), 96% of phishing attacks are delivered via email, while the login credentials, PII, internal business data, medical information and financial credentials are the most targeted forms of data. We also see a lot of interplay between phishing and malware. Negligence and malware As users, we also allow malware to be more of a problem than it needs to be. Phishing campaigns extensively employ emotional manipulation and psychological techniques, so falling for one can be excused as a human lapse. In 2017, it was found that less than half of Windows users had any form of antivirus installed. The situation is even worse among smartphone users, with only 39% having any form of mobile antivirus installed. Even as the built-in security for our devices improves, we continue to leave ourselves at risk by failing to keep our software updated. The 2019 Avast PC Trends Report found that even Windows 10, which has automatic updates built in, is out of date for 8% of users. These statistics get worse with more specific programs; 15% of Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 users have vulnerable versions of the software installed. When we examine software in general, we find that 55% of all programs are left unpatched, while Adobe Shockwave, VLC Media Player, Skype, Java Runtime, 7-Zip and Foxit Reader are out of date and vulnerable for over 90% of users. How security fails users Users could clearly be doing a lot more to keep themselves safe, but does this automatically make them the weakest link in security? We can simply say that users lack vigilance and leave it at that, but without careful examination of why users leave themselves so vulnerable, we do not have … Read more

VOTER FREEDOM OR SUPPRESSION Exploring voter suppression and voter fraud in the Trump campaign Partner Now Request Infomation U.S. election security is always a concern, and sometimes eyes fall on Russian intervention or North Korean. So let us get another update on election security as we divide within the ranks and Voter Fraud in the November count. New concerns were raised on two topics: voter suppression & supposed voter fraud. The analysis shows how 3.5 million Black Americans were recently targeted by the Trump campaign team, in a report on the UK.’s Channel 4 news allegation. The Black Americans were targeted for ads that aimed to try to convince them to stay home and not vote in the November election. Another report described an additional campaign that was targeting white voters with fearful social media messages aimed at enticing them to vote for Donald Trump. The articles are in addition to other research by the Washington Post about a Twitter account @WentDemtoRep that was removed. The account showed a number of testimonials by Black Americans challenging accusations of racism by Trump. Voter suppression was part of the playbook of the Trump 2016 campaign. This article in TechCrunch describes what Cambridge Analytica did to manipulate private Facebook members’ data when working for the Trump campaign itself. Back in 2016, many Blacks didn’t vote, thanks to various disinformation ads on Facebook and other social media platforms, according to PolitiFact here. These ads aren’t exclusive to Republicans — you might recall back in 2012 when the Obama campaign had an app that allowed them to collect private user data and friend networks. More recently, Elizabeth Warren’s experiment with placing a phoney Facebook ad back in October 2019, using its example to call for better accountability from the platform. These same targeting methods are still widely in use by many campaigns. This isn’t the first time this is happening. Voter suppression also isn’t new: There was a lot of data collected by Mueller, during his investigation several years ago which showed that more than 3,500 ads on Facebook were placed by the Russian Internet Research Agency to try to convince potential Black voters to stay home during the 2016 elections. The same group also posted a series of anti-Muslim ads and organized concurrent protest rallies in Texas on opposite political sides. (You can view some of these ads in a new PBS program called Us vs. Them at the 20-minute mark, and the Amazon movie All In goes into detail about the long history of voter suppression in the south.) One thing that doesn’t help voting matters is when the various state-run registration systems crash. This happened over the first week in October in Pennsylvania, followed quickly by systems serving Florida registrations. Service was restored to both by Monday, October 5. The Pennsylvania outage was caused by equipment failure at an outsourced data centre and affected other state agencies. One reason for the outage could be the system was initially constructed nearly 20 years ago and now is overwhelmed by the huge increase in mail-in ballot requests. The weekend outage wasn’t the first time the system had crashed: it also went down the day before the last day to register for the state’s primary. Florida’s registration system was overwhelmed by ballot requests hitting just before the filing deadline. This week also saw system crashes in both Georgia (where early voting has begun) and Virginia (where a construction crew cut a fibre optic cable that brought down their online registration portal). The voting machine failures in Georgia contributed to long waits at various polling stations. Contrast what is happening in Colorado, where they have been voting by mail for many years. I recently spoke to Trevor Timmons, the CIO for the Colorado Department of State, the agency that supervises its elections. In its June 2020 primary, more than 99% of registered voters submitted mail-in ballots. The state maintains duplicate data centres with active failovers to handle potential outages. “And we do plenty of load and failure tests to ensure we have sufficient capacity,” he said. “We don’t want to create our own denial of service incident if we don’t have sufficient processing capacity.” He mentioned that almost every state should have tested its mail-in processes out during the primary season to learn any weak spots. The other bit of news is the result of another investigation, this one by the New York Times into voter fraud. Trump has brought up this issue in numerous rallies, including mentioning it several times during his first live debate with Biden in late September. The Times wrote: “Voter fraud is an adaptable fiction, and the president has tailored it to the moment. It is nothing short of a decades-long disinformation campaign — sloppy, cynical and brazen, but often quite effective — carried out by a consistent cast of characters with a consistent storyline.” There have been many studies of potential fraud claims, including this recent FBI advisory that didn’t find any direct evidence. “During the 2020 election season, foreign actors and cybercriminals are spreading false and inconsistent information through various online platforms in an attempt to manipulate public opinion, discredit the electoral process, and undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions,” the advisory stated. Colorado’s Timmons hears from many of its citizens and advocacy group members about potential fraud cases, “but the reality is that our ballots are mailed to specific people, the registered voter. The return envelope is signed, and we then compare the signatures.” Timmons says his goal is to dispel any uncertainty and help people understand how mail-in ballots move through the process. In anti-fraud efforts, Facebook has announced they will reject ads that wrongly claim victory in the U.S. presidential race prematurely. It will also ban ads that claim widespread voter fraud and will also ban ads the week before the election. Google is also banning ads placed after the polls close too. Given Facebook’s spotty record at protecting its members’ privacy, this is long … Read more

TRUSTED CLOUD? The cloud is popular with small businesses for storage and remote data access, but how safe is it? Partner Now Request Infomation Whether you’re launching a startup or have been running an SMB for years, you need to understand the technology that you use and the security measures you have in place. All businesses have the ethical and legal responsibility of keeping data secure – from staff’s private information to the data retrieved from clients. That’s why carefully selecting how your data is stored is crucial. In this article, we will address using the cloud as a small business – from its benefits to how secure it is. What is cloud storage for small businesses?The cloud is used as a form of data storage that sees digital information stored in logical pools, rather than on a physical hard drive in your office. While physical servers are used to keep cloud data, they are located in data centres that are managed by the host supplying the service to you (if you opt for public cloud). You can access the data server using the internet (on a web-based interface) – retrieving or uploading files in either a manual or automated fashion. When using cloud storage, you can access your data from anywhere in the world, as long as you have access to the internet, and as many members of your team can access it as needed. Public and private cloudThere are two options for cloud storage services: public or private cloud. While you access the data in the same way – on the internet – the data are operated by different people. The public cloud is operated by a third party. You pay for the service, and the host is responsible for storing the data, creating an interface for access, and keeping the network secure.If you opt for the private cloud, you are responsible for storing and accessing the data and keeping it safe. You will manage the server that holds the information, but this will still be accessed online.How do businesses use the cloud?As a small business, you can use the cloud in multiple ways – whether it’s for data storage, data backup, remote working, or information sharing. The flexible nature of the technology makes it highly adaptable to most business environments and ways of working. What are the benefits of using the cloud?Now that we understand how the technology works and what it is used for let’s take a look at the benefits of using the cloud as a small business. Scalability and flexibilityScalability is essential for small businesses – your company may start to rapidly increase in size as it grows. All of a sudden, you need a much larger storage solution to house the data of new employees, new clients, and new projects. With the cloud, you can easily upscale your business storage to suit your needs. This works the other way too – downscaling as and when you need it. The solution can flexibly adapt to your changing environment and meeting your capacity. Remote collaborationWith the cloud, you can easily control who has access to what data. You can grant individual members of staff with higher access, and everyone can upload or retrieve any required information whenever they want, from wherever they are. This is perfect for collaborative working and file sharing. Employees can share and co-author computer files, helping teams work together as flexibly and efficiently as possible, even when apart. Automatic backupWhen using the cloud, you can either upload data manually or automatically. Automatically backing up your data can help you prepare for unexpected internet downtime or even ransomware attacks. This is crucial when running a small business, as any drawback can have a worse hit on SMBs. It’s always best to be prepared. Not only does the cloud keep your data secure, but the automatic service can also help you use your time more efficiently – making for a more productive business. Reduced costsCloud storage can help you save money in multiple ways – from improving ways of working to ultimately driving revenue, to helping you avoid expensive data breaches. The cloud can help you run operations more smoothly, with automatic systems supporting efficiency and productivity – which can see you save money in the long run. It can also help improve you and your team’s ability to work remotely, saving on overhead like office space and equipment. Using the public cloud is usually more cost-effective than the private cloud. Although you will have to pay a third-party for the service, this is much cheaper than creating your own infrastructure. What is the best cloud storage?There are plenty of companies that offer cloud service solutions, so it’s best to do your research. Look into the history of their security, ensuring you are comfortable with the measures they have in place. Opt for encrypted cloud storage for better security. There are varying price points, so find an option that works for your budget. Pros and cons of cloud computing and storageThere are several pros and cons to storing your data on the cloud. Let’s recap on what we’ve discussed: ProsScalability – your cloud service solution grows as you doRemote working – allows you and your team to work together, no matter where you areAutomation – helps you run your business more efficiently.Back up – keeps your files safe, no matter what ConsSecurity breaches – public clouds are often the target of cybercriminals.Paying a monthly fee – and additional cost each month, but one that could help you save in the long runToo many choices – lots of businesses to pick from, which can be overwhelming. How secure is the cloud?The security risks associated with using the cloud differ, depending on if you use public or private. With the public cloud, you rely on the service provider to keep your data secure. This can be both a pro and a con. While relying on someone else to secure your private information – and … Read more