Interview: How Marketers Can Leverage Technology for Data

In this video, Jessica Shaanan interviews Christi Keating Williams about the software and tools that marketing uses, and how marketers use that technology to drive data-backed decisions.

What software couldn't you live without?

HubSpot. You want to look at statistics to see where leads are coming from, and HubSpot makes it very easy to track leads and deals. Did the leads come from an event and what event? Did they search on Google? At the end of the year, I can look at my prebuilt dashboards to see where our revenue came from. How much revenue came from this event or this SEO initiative? This allows me to make better decisions. If something didn't work or generate any revenue, I can say let's not do that again. Alternatively, you can see what got so much revenue from this so let's reinvest in that particular area. It can be really telling on what's working and what's not. Additionally, you can look at the sales activity and attribution reports to see how much it takes from creating brand awareness to becoming a customer.

This allows me to make better decisions. If something didn't work or generate any revenue, I can say let's not do that again. Alternatively, you can see what got so much revenue from this so let's reinvest in that particular area.

This goes back to 'data is gold' because you're making decisions based on all the data in HubSpot.

Yes, marketing is so much testing and figuring out what works, but if you don't have data to make those decisions, it's a shot in the dark. You need some sort of data to say we're going to test this because that data shows this. As you continue to test, you can use that data to make really good decisions and as a result, you'll see that ROI continues to grow. And I make sure that the team is filling in the right information so that the data is accurate. We're one department in sales and marketing and so I feel confident in relying on the data so I can get them the leads they want.

You said 'I can rely on the team to put the data in.' How do you know that the data is accurate?

Garbage in, garbage out, so you have to make sure the reports are telling the true story. The only way that can be done is if the data is accurate. We have daily sync with the team talking about new leads, open opportunities, where things are going next with particular contacts or opportunities, and I'm so much more in the know, which is so important as a marketing leader. This allows me to make sure we're delivering the right messaging to the right people. It's a communication factor and I can easily go into HubSpot and look at the activity in there to fill in data. HubSpot also has workflows to automate some of this. I have my checks and balances, but at the end of the day tracking their data is going to help them do their jobs better.

Even in this environment of working remotely, has your comfort level changed at all with regards to the accuracy of the data?

Honestly no, our team particularly - Managed Solution had a flexible work remote policy pre-COVID so I was going into the office a few days a week only and the sales team is typically out in the field. We have Microsoft Teams to leverage for video and I get to see their faces every morning so it's nice to connect that way and using Teams to communicate a lot of the data I'm talking about. My HubSpot reports are live links that live in Teams. Anyone from anywhere, can go in and look at the data if you're part of that Team to get the information they need. For example, the Director of Sales looking at how marketing is contributing to pipeline or the leadership reviewing initiatives to provide feedback. Having a transparent view really helps keep us aligned.

How do you find the integration with HubSpot and Microsoft?

HubSpot has an open API so you can build really anything you want, and through Zapier there are options, but it also has native integrations. It integrates with Outlook so now sales has that connected and no longer has to manually log emails or calls, it will automatically put the information into HubSpot. You can filter your reports and the link to those reports won't change, even if you change the reports so that live link can live somewhere without changing. You can also automate the delivery of these reports and send out a weekly or monthly email report to whoever needs it. This gives a nice pulse check of where we're at with goals.

It's important to trust the people behind the technology, I'm sure you have ideas for how our business intelligence can look in the future.

It goes back to the 4 T's - Trust, Transparency, Technology, and the right Team. You have all those things and you have this well oiled machine. In sales and marketing you hear a lot about the funnel and leads come in the top, you qualify them and they become a customer. HubSpot has since remodeled that to the flywheel, and it's all about sales, marketing and customer service working together so there's no friction. This allows you to deliver the right message to the right people at the right time. That again goes back to data, being able to look at - what webpages a prospect is looking at - the data that's automatically collected versus the data that's put in by the team, it can really make our jobs easier. You can be more strategic, you're more intentional with your time and outreach.

What piece of advice would you give to business leaders in regards to marketing, technology, people?

Don't silo marketing, make sure they're aligned with the sales team because at the end of the day your goals are the same - to drive revenue and satisfy customers.

It's important that, similar to IT, marketing used to be its own silo-ed department, and I always joke about companies using billboards and how can they determine ROI on those types of traditional marketing without the technology and data we have today.

My first piece of advice is set up the reporting and your processes of how you're tracking your activities so that it serves that reporting. Marketing can play such an important role throughout the organization - not just serving sales by generating leads, but with culture - I work with HR to create fun events or games for the company. Also working with the customer service team - what are our customers saying, what do they like, what don't the like, what's missing. This way marketing can play a role in delivering information to them, additional resources that might be helpful to them.

I had a customer email me the other day with some questions about Teams and I answered her questions and also sent her a Getting Started with Teams Guide and she loved it. Those touchpoints are so critical and not every business leader realizes how much marketing can play in generating leads and delighting customers. Don't silo marketing, make sure they're aligned with the sales team because at the end of the day your goals are the same - to drive revenue and satisfy customers.

A Comprehensive Overview of IT Roles in an Organization

A Comprehensive Overview of IT Roles in an Organization

The value of different IT roles and IT support structures.

In today's blog, we break down the various IT roles that make up a businesses IT department and compare the functions of these roles in-house with outsourced IT structures -- including hybrid options and capabilities.

 

The Importance of Understanding the Make-up of an IT Department

Since technology is advancing at an accelerated speed and changing the digital ecosystem in the business realm, it is both an exciting and challenging time for global industries. Businesses’ technology needs are growing, but so is their capability of supporting those needs.

The truth is, we have become so dependent on technology that any disruption can lead to catastrophic consequences. Every business needs a reliable and effective information systems support department to reduce IT costs, stay competitive, and tackle systems issues that arise.

Furthermore, enterprises attain higher agility and flexibility thanks to outsourced IT support, which allows them to optimize their operations and consequently maximize their profits.

Let’s take a look at how information technology specialists who can provide guidance and help ensure that the systems the IT department manages run smoothly.

In-House vs. Outsourced IT Support

Outsourcing IT support may be the most viable option for startups and small businesses as they tend to lack trained IT personnel . Larger companies may need to employ both mobile and desk-based staff, so their decision may be less clear.

With an in-house IT support team, you will have dedicated personnel that can immediately address hardware and software issues as they appear. There is also the apparent benefit of consistent costs as team members’ salaries remain the same each month.

The disadvantages include possible hidden costs (e.g., hiring a full-time professional) and providing them with an office, desk, computer, payroll account, and other benefits that may drive the cost even higher.

On the other hand, outsourcing IT support tends to be less expensive as much of the costs are spread over multiple clients due to the managed IT services model. Not to mention, you don’t have to worry about expenses related to training or certifying IT staff.

Furthermore, with companies like Managed Solution, you get 24/7/365 service and monitoring, as we offer around-the-clock access to IT support specialists.

As for the cons, some business leaders may not feel that their outsourced tech specialists are part of the team. When computer issues arise or when you need advice on the future of technology within your company, some feel that they need to spend time bringing them up to speed.

A way this matter is countered is through finding a provider that puts the people of your company first and cultivates a team of experts with a history of seamless integrations with in-house teams and IT infrastructures of all shapes and sizes.

At Managed Solution, for example, we pride ourselves in these very facets of support, so that you get expert specialists who transition into your organization with ease.

IT Support Roles

The changes new technologies bring to the business environment are disruptive, and the way economy functions is changing fast. The traditional business hierarchical systems are dissolving. The lines between CEO, CIO, CTO, and CFO roles are blurring as a consequence.

Let’s dive into these IT roles, which are so crucial in today’s digital age.

CIO

A Chief Information Officer is a C-level executive that oversees the IT needs of a company. They don’t deal with operational responsibilities (IT directors do that) since their responsibilities and skills are much different than they were 10-20 years ago (and they continue to evolve and adapt).

CIOs are responsible for strategic planning of business growth objectives and creating business value through technology. They oversee the development of customer service platforms, ensure tech procedures and systems lead to desired business outcomes, and manage development and IT team personnel.

They also establish IT standards, strategies, and policies while dealing with IRM (information risk management). CIOs are an important part of a company’s digital transformation.

CTO

The position of a Chief Technology Officer is thought to be one of the vaguest roles because it depends on many factors, such as business area, the number of outsourced/in-house workers, business processing style, etc. The CTO is there to solve tech challenges, work with IT personnel, and keep the organization running.

Their daily duties vary from company to company, but they are usually focused on external clients who purchase the company’s products. CTOs should be informed on the latest innovations, staying on the cutting edge of technology to allow the organization to offer the best products.

IT Director

The responsibilities of an IT director may include managing a team of employees, overseeing the infrastructure of technical operations, increasing user satisfaction, eliminating security risks, maintaining systems and operations, and tracking technology to achieve business goals.

An IT director is the person who oversees the people dealing with these tasks, and he or she is responsible for answering questions such as,

VP of Information Technology

VP of IT is responsible for planning the IT future for the company, as well as for the implementation of systems and their maintenance. Also, he or she must ensure maximum stability and uptime in the organization’s computer networks and systems.

The VP of IT is a technology leader who must be able to plan for the company and rally the troops around the plan, especially when new training is required for system changes and upgrades. In most companies, the VP of IT reports to the CIO.

IT Support Engineer

An IT support engineer is responsible for resolving any IT tasks at hand. They assist the project manager in managing projects, database administration, information security, installing new software, hardware installations, and other tasks to help the department perform their duties.

They need to have deep technical knowledge to be able to address problems efficiently and quickly. They are there to provide tech support for any IT-related issue, dealing with tasks such as:

Managed Service Provider

If you’ve ever come across the term Managed Service Provider (MSP), it is a concept in which organizations and companies outsource specific services to companies specialized in providing them.

If you run a small or medium-sized company, you probably don’t need or cannot afford to hire a CIO, CTO, and IT director. What you can do is outsource a company specialized in providing IT support services that hires professionals who can perform those functions.

MSPs regularly perform areas of business activity such as:

They can provide Software-as-a-Service and offer remote storage or servers. Some managed service providers are specialized in providing hard-to-find IT expertise to assist users with usage difficulties or prevent issues on a client’s system.

In Conclusion

Large enterprises usually need to segment their IT support department and hire IT specialists (such as a CIO, CTO, IT director, VP of IT, etc.) to drive their tech development, implement the latest tech solutions, and oversee maintenance.

As for startups and SMBs, these organizations are focused on growth but don’t have enough resources to create an in-house IT support team. In that case, outsourcing help from MSPs is often the only viable and cost-effective option to get access to IT experts to support their business growth.

After looking at this breakdown of Outsourced IT, it's easy to see that companies of all shapes and sizes have multitudes of benefits to access including reduced costs, optimized operations, and a breadth of knowledge to access 24/7/365 days a year.

If you're considering Outsourcing IT, contact us today to learn more about what this can look like for your business and understand how we can support your IT goals to achieve greater success.

What Is Information Technology and IT Support?

IT (Information Technology) support, commonly known as technical support, is a team of IT professionals who provide assistance to an organization with various issues related to computer technology. Companies can either outsource their IT support team or create their own in-house department to perform this function. As for the services it covers, IT support or help desk technicians cover a wide range of areas – telecommunications, websites, the Internet, and virtually any type of software or hardware that you might be using at work (laptop, computer, handheld device, etc.). 

Considering that we’re living in a technologically advanced world and that digital transformation is necessary for businesses to stay competitive in their respective markets, IT supports are necessary. The integration of digital technology into all business aspects is fundamentally changing how businesses operate and deliver value to customers. 

What Does a Typical IT Support Infrastructure Look Like?

The aim of IT support is to provide solutions to organizations when they experience issues with their technology. Companies need IT support to ensure that all their information systems are working cohesively, efficiently, and with no glitches. Organizations that rely heavily on technology typically have an in-house tech support team working full time. In-house teams have back-up systems in place at any given moment in case something goes wrong. 

A company’s IT infrastructure is the base that supports it. Computer-generated and physical resources make a company’s data center. Those data centers support the collection, processing, and analysis of data. An organization’s data center setup includes building and power essentials necessary to support the hardware – servers, storage, and networking devices (switches, routers, network equipment, etc.). A data center also requires watchful consideration of IT security.

Which Companies Use IT Support?

Organizations that use IT support include everything from startups and SMBs to Fortune500 companies. The companies that tend to use IT support the most are companies that provide tech products. However, professional service organizations, such as medical, financial, and legal offices, as well as telecommunication, retail, and manufacturing companies, also use it. Some organizations divide their tech support teams into two service areas:

Key IT Support Advantages in Business

Some of the most important benefits and advantages generated by IT support in business include:

An information technology support specialist typically has a bachelor's degree in computer science or information science, allowing them to be experts in computer information, operating systems, administrative systems, computer systems software, and information management systems. Throughout their career, the best IT engineering professionals continue their education by obtaining various technology certifications through tech leaders, such as Google, Amazon, Cisco, Microsoft, and others.

As a technology consultant, they are there to ensure that your company’s technology is enabling the organization to improve efficiency and productivity and maximize its benefits – improved product quality, improved productivity, customer satisfaction, and cost-saving. Besides helping your company stay productive and run efficiently, IT support can also build brand loyalty and generate word-of-mouth advertising.

What Is the Role of Technical Support?

There is so much more to being an information technology specialist than helping a computer user with a password reset. IT support provides technical support, helping businesses generate a competitive edge and stay relevant in the market. It helps companies execute critical business processes efficiently, including data processing and data collection. As a network administrator and expert in administrative information systems, tech support acts quickly to make crucial business decisions that ultimately help maximize the organization’s bottom line. 

At the basic level, an information technology specialist supports, maintains, and monitors computer systems and local area networks, supplies the know-how to optimize a system to fit an organization’s specific needs, and provides the technical expertise required to keep systems operating smoothly. IT support is there to deal with the technical issues that, if left unaddressed, could stop your company’s processes. IT services and job description include:

Any type of software, even in its top form, can have annoying technical glitches from time to time. An effective IT support team is there to match your company with the best solutions for solving those hardware or software issues quickly, allowing all departments of your organization to be more effective. It also saves valuable time from your workday that you or your employees would otherwise spend on fixing those tedious issues. Furthermore, your IT support department is there to monitor your network and physical assets to discover malware, viruses, and other threats to your IT infrastructure.

IT specialists protect your infrastructure by rendering a combination of standard antivirus management practices, saving the company money, time, and other valuable resources. The number of security breaches (on a global level) is increasing by the year, and consequences include revenue loss, loss of intellectual property, damage to brand reputation, and various hidden costs. That’s why it is critical to monitor the status and performance of a business at every stage, especially if a business serves online customers. Consider a scenario in which your business’ network goes down for several hours, which may lead to reduced sales and huge financial losses. Thanks to IT support, such situations can be easily avoided because you have an IT support team that can help recover your systems within a few minutes.

Conclusion

Any company using computers (and that refers to almost every company today) needs to consider their information technology strategy to be able to make the most of their technology. IT support not only provides assistance but also helps optimize every technological component's performance and usability. Also, the IT support team is there to keep networks secure from potential threats while helping a company determine which security solution will best fit their company's needs. 

To keep everything running smoothly without affecting the overall structure of a company, outsourcing IT support is typically the most cost-effective way to do it (especially for companies focused on growth). Another advantage of outsourcing these services is that they can be tailored to the company's needs. 

Why Companies are Taking the Hybrid Cloud Approach

Hybrid cloud approaches have seen a steady rise in popularity among organizations. A hybrid cloud approach refers to incorporating the benefits of company-owned private clouds, public cloud services, and the more traditional dedicated hosting services. Each of these has its pros and cons, and companies are starting to take advantage of what each has to offer while also minimizing the potential risks that come attached.

It was the concern over the security of public clouds that have led many to turn to hybrid models, in the first place. For instance, businesses will make use of the privacy and security that private clouds have to offer, while still benefiting from the flexibility and easy scalability of public clouds. Below are some of the main reasons why organizations are steadily moving towards hybrid cloud methods.

More Flexibility

One of the most immediate benefits of such a hybrid system is that it allows companies to manage their applications and databases more effectively. On the one hand, they can host their important data on private clouds and/or dedicated servers, where they will have absolute control. On the other hand, they will use the available public cloud space for faster and easier scalability. They'll be able to test out new applications on the public cloud, determining their feasibility, among other such benefits.

So, as you steadily reach your limit, you can easily and seamlessly migrate entire services and applications to the public cloud. If you do need to scale down, you'll be able to take the same action in reverse. This enhanced flexibility and the ability to mix these functionalities based on your own needs is what draws so many companies to hybrid clouds.

Enhanced Security

When you are using a third-party, public cloud system to store all of your sensitive data, you are leaving yourself exposed to all sorts of possible risks. You will need to take into account all security problems, compliance issues, and performance requirements, which indicates that private clouds are also a good alternative. When using a hybrid cloud, you can choose which services will be on the public cloud and which will remain on the private one. In addition, when you're also using a public cloud, you're not overcrowding your private and secure space.

Lower Costs 

An organization that uses a hybrid cloud approach will almost always experience lower costs than a company that is exclusive with either one or the other. Hybrid clouds allow you to pay-as-you-need, meaning that you will have complete control over your IT expenses. You'll still have your backups in the cloud, which further reduce the costs. And with public cloud services, such as Azure or AWS, you can accurately determine your exact requirements without having to overpay for something you won't use.

Innovation Opportunities

With the ability to test and develop new applications on the public cloud, you can focus more of your efforts of this process without having to worry about ever exceeding your limits. This will reduce your potential costs of failure and give you access to an immense potential for scalability. In such an environment, the probabilities of innovation are greatly enhanced without having to sacrifice privacy or security in doing so. You'll not have to rearrange your infrastructure to test out a new service when using a hybrid cloud.

Meltdown and Spectre: Current Status 01/12/2018

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Meltdown and Spectre: Current Status 01/12/2018

By Robert Meyers and Sean Andrews
The vulnerabilities known as Meltdown or Spectre are new vulnerabilities announced last week to the world at large.  They are based on a process called speculative execution which is a technique that became popular in the mid-nineties to improve processor performance. 
In most cases, these vulnerabilities don’t allow an external unauthorized party to gain access to a system, although it could allow a party that has access to the system to access unauthorized data.  However, this is the current state.  These vulnerabilities are typically weaponized into malicious websites and malware.  At that point these vulnerabilities will become significantly more dangerous.  These at that point we can expect these exploits to be used to recover all information in memory (including passwords and tokens) as well as inject commands into the computers processor. 
As your technology partner we are working on building a strategy to aid in defending our clients.  Currently that is mainly still in testing, the same as ever other provider.  We wanted to update you with current findings. 

Windows Workstations 

On average current machines will see around six percent performance degradation on average from the Microsoft patches.  However, there is a complication around anti-virus and anti-malware platforms which is currently be worked on.  This complication causes boot issues and crashing.  Additionally, the patches currently have a similar impact when deployed to AMD based machines, there are similar issues.  As it is common to have more than one anti-virus Microsoft and the anti-virus and anti-malware providers are working on a solution.  Additionally, a new patch attempt by Intel is causing random reboots and is simply not recommended for production.  Please note that older systems will have increasing impact from the patching.  Our current recommendation and practice is to test and monitor.  These solutions are not yet ready for wide spread production without a level of predictable instability and should be limited to administrative systems on demand.  

Mac Workstations 

Currently only High Sierra from Apple is being updated.  There are no currently reported errors from our or our partners testing that we have seen. As such, we are agreeing with the Apple recommendation on deploying the upgrade to any Macs to High Sierra (10.13.2 supplemental update) and patch.  There is a performance impact, however in testing it has appeared stable and between 1% and 6% performance degradation. 

Applications 

We are currently waiting on updates from most software vendors, however Chrome should be updated on Jan 23 (as currently advised), however they have a recommendation to help mitigate part of Spectre.  IBM will start rolling out some fixes in February, although there is limited information so far released.  Microsoft currently has a series of patches for Internet Explorer, Edge and SQL.  Due to the instability being seen, our current strategy is to only deploy these to administrative systems. 

Anti-Virus / Anti-Malware 

We have confirmed that one of our partner’s Webroot SecureAnywhere 9.0.18.xx is compatible with the Microsoft patches, however it does require that a registry key is set before being deployed.  There is a version being developed that will place and manage this registry key (a part of a Windows Computer’s DNA) automatically, and we recommend waiting for this.   
Microsoft currently deploys Windows Defender Antivirus, System Center Endpoint Protection, and Microsoft Security Essentials that are compatible with the January 2018 security updates and have set the required registry key.   
Currently there are versions of Avast, Avira, AVG, ESET, F-Secure, BitDefender, Kaspersky, Sophos, Malwarebytes, and Symantec that are declaring as compatible and deploying the required registry key as per Microsoft’s guidelines.  However, please note that Microsoft has published that future updates will require the registry key is set.  As always, our recommendation is to maintain a system under protection.  However, version changes will need to be managed. 

Servers 

Performance on servers can be critical, and the Microsoft and Linux patches that have been released are showing very large performance degradation.  Often averaging 30% degradation once patched.  As such a strategy is being reviewed for server protection although please note that as long as there is no browsing or general use of a server, there are less attach vectors.  Patches are being refined and alternative strategies are being reviewed including isolation.  We are working with partners and monitoring the industry recommendations. 

Cloud Providers 

Azure, AWS and Google have been deploying mitigation.  At this time other SaaS and IaaS providers are working on independent strategies.  We are monitoring this situation. 

Firmware Updates 

Most systems will need to install both operating system and hardware/firmware updates for all available protections.  Intel has committed to releasing updates to more than 90% of processor products by 1/15.  AMD is making firmware updates available for Ryzen and EPYC owners this week, and the company is planning to update older processors “over the coming weeks.”  These updates are given to the hardware manufacturers who then have to make the bios updates for each system.  Expect newer and higher volume systems to have firmware updates available first.  See Additional resources of this Microsoft Article for links to OEM Device Manufacturers.  Please note that we are waiting for more feedback from testing and community results for future planning before making full recommendations for firmware. 

SCCM and WSUS 

The community has identified issues with some of the patches deployed by WSUS, and SCCM which utilizes WSUS, are not showing up as available to install on some systems.  The patches will show up as Installed / Not Applicable.  These systems have the Anti-Virus registry key in place.  Even bypassing WSUS and scanning directly from Microsoft will not show the patches as needed.  This TechNet forums post documents the issues the community is having.  If the issue really is the requirement of older parent patches being installed then we expect the patches will be re-released to address this.  Our strategy and recommendation at this point is to delay patching and wait for more information at this time. 
Microsoft  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4073757/protect-your-windows-devices-against-spectre-meltdown 

Google  https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/7622138#chromeos 
Apple  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208394 
   
Ubuntu  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityTeam/KnowledgeBase/SpectreAndMeltdown 
Red Hat  https://access.redhat.com/security/vulnerabilities/speculativeexecution 
Linux Mint  https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3496 
Oracle   
   
IBM  https://www.ibm.com/blogs/psirt/potential-impact-processors-power-family/ 
   
nVidia  https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4611 
Intel  https://security-center.intel.com/advisories.aspx  
Arm  https://developer.arm.com/support/security-update
https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-security-issue-update-addressing-reboot-issues/ 
AMD  https://www.amd.com/en/corporate/speculative-execution 
   
Mobile News  https://9to5google.com/2018/01/10/meltdown-spectre-android-updates/ 

 

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Managed Solution customers that do not have a managed service agreement could contact their account executive to discuss further details.

Not a current customer? Contact us today to get started 858-429-3084

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Tips for Identifying Phishing Emails in Office 365

Chances are that you’ve received a phishing email in your inbox, but did you know at that time that it was fraudulent?

Phishing emails are an attempt to trick individuals into sharing personal and sensitive information, usually login credentials and sometimes financial information. The attempt typically involves a crafted email with hyperlinks to a website intentionally created to collect information from unsuspecting victims. An attacker may be sending out a generic phishing email to a large number of individuals in order to compromise unwary recipients, or he or she may be targeting you or your organization specifically known as “spear phishing” due to the focused nature of the attempt.

What's the difference between phishing and "spear phishing"? For spear phishing, the attacker will research details about you and your organization to find valid names and information about you to use such as project and organization names. The attacker may have even compromised the account of someone you do business with so they can craft emails from their account.

Here are tips on identifying phishing emails and what steps to take to protect yourself

Think Before You Click
Keep an Eye on Shared Documents
Know Your URLs
Report Anything That Looks Phishy
If the email appears to be directly targeting your organization in some way, or you’re just not sure if it is safe, here are a few tips to follow:
Did You Fall For It?
Arm Yourself with These Tools

Attackers and hackers are getting more creative with their attack strategies. Stay prepared and always err on the side of caution.

 

How organizations can prevent vulnerability after the Equifax data breach

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By Jeff Lizerbram Solutions Architect, Systems Integration:

When the recent news stories broke out across the nation on the data breach at Equifax, one of three main credit reporting companies (the other two which are Experian and TransUnion), the damage was already done almost 3 months earlier. According to the top news sources, over 143 million people in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom have had their credit data accessible by hackers as early as May 2017. This data includes Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, driver’s license numbers, credit card numbers and other private financial data.  One of the major sources of the vulnerability to blame was the main public Equifax website itself, in which there were un-hardened web application security configurations in place.

The cause of the hacking can go even deeper into the organization, where there may have been a lack of a strong IT security policy enforcement.  Can this issue happen to any organization? Of course. As a Managed Services Provider, we see instances of incomprehensible amounts of hacking attempts hitting publicly-facing firewalls all the time. And we are constantly learning that our data is at the mercy of the ever-changing best practices in Information Technology security. Can an organization work to prevent such a massive vulnerability? Absolutely, and here’s one way to accomplish this:

From my own experience in working with best-in-class cloud security solutions, there is a strong need for other factors, including human factors, to be in place, in addition to the security solution itself. A great security product protecting a company’s assets is just one small part of preventing attacks. A strong and secure organization should hold an internal policy foundation which includes 3 important pillars: Security, Audibility, and Accountability. For Security, upgrading to the best-in-breed security products will definitely help. And while most security products out in the market include auditing features, quite often the auditing portion is left in a disabled state and not used. It is crucial to enable auditing to view and alert on sensitive data going out as well as coming into the organization. And finally, security and auditing must result in holding those accountable for correcting any configuration issues that have been alerted. All in all, a good organizational IT policy should have a foundation based on these principals to stay ahead of the bad guys.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The Intersection of AI, People, and Society - Microsoft's Role

For decades, areas such as computer vision, deep learning, speech, and natural language processing have challenged the field's top exerts, yet today, it seems that computer scientists are making more progress every day in these areas (among many others).

Because of these breakthroughs, tools including Microsoft Translator are coming to life, and it is only up until recently that things like this were the stuff of fantasy and science fiction. In turn, so many people are being helped in so many ways by, for example, breaking down language barriers and facilitating communication.

Just the beginning

Last September, Microsoft announced the creation of Microsoft AI and Research, a new group that brings together approximately 7,500 computer scientists, researchers and engineers from the company’s research labs and product groups such as Bing, Cortana and Azure Machine Learning.

Microsoft Research AI, a research and incubation hub within Microsoft's research organization, is focused on solving some of AI’s most difficult challenges. The team of scientists and engineers will work closely with colleagues across Microsoft’s research labs and product groups in order to tackle some of the hardest problems in AI and accelerate the integration of the latest AI advances into products and services that benefit customers and society.

A core goal of Microsoft Research AI is to reunite AI research endeavors, such as machine learning, perception and natural language processing, that have evolved over time into separate fields of research. This integrated approach will allow the development of sophisticated understandings and tools that can help people do complex, multifaceted tasks.

Conclusion

Microsoft believes AI will be even more helpful when tools can be created that combine those functions and add some of the abilities that come naturally to people, like applying our knowledge of one task to another task or having a commonsense understanding of the world around us.

As AI moves from research to product, Microsoft is maintaining their commitment to foundational, open, and collaborative research in addition to their dedication to solving society’s toughest problems in partnership with all members of society. All the while, Microsoft is actively pursuing a mission in common with us here at Managed Solution, to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more.