Cory Communications

Cyber Security Skills Are Critical for Protecting Your Data

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Ongoing education and enlisting automation can upgrade cyber security skills and strategies for protection.

Cyber security might be on everyone’s mind, but when it comes to actually being proactive about security, most companies will admit they are falling short on the cyber security skills necessary to fully protect their data. To overcome this, more and more companies are beginning to increase ongoing education on security and implement new technology, including automation.

The Automated Path

Automation has already been part of the process of investigating phishing scams, but the technology has been improved to assist in a larger number of tasks that were formerly completed manually. Not only does automation free up time for IT personnel, it also takes away human error, which is often the source of issues that lead to data being compromised.

Some of the more common automated tools being used today do the following:

  • Scan websites for malware and other vulnerabilities
  • Automatically remove malware the moment it is detected
  • Monitor network traffic and block malicious bots and other attacks

Automation is a great way to free up your staff to handle other tasks, but it’s also a big leap toward improving cyber security to fully protect your data.

Ongoing Education

People aren’t born with cyber security skills – they have to learn best practices to protect data. The training one received years ago is still valid, but problems evolve, which means ongoing education is a must.

The more people know about threats and the tools that can help to fight them, the more prepared they will be to face challenges and reduce risk. This isn’t just an IT issue – it needs to involve everyone with access to the network.

Get Analytical

Machine learning algorithms have been critical for those invested in analytics because they improve threat detection, especially for advanced threats. Improved analytics can assist security investigations in being more thoroughly executed and at a faster pace.

When the goal is to be more productive, machine learning algorithms are the way to go, and the latest technology is able to crunch data with blinding speed, far surpassing technology developed only a few short years ago.

Mind the Gap

Many companies can attest to the fact that they have a gap in cyber security skills that needs to be filled. For companies not located in an urban setting, gaining access to a qualified pool of experts is a constant struggle. Working with a third party to manage various aspects of your security strategy makes the lack of local human resources a non-issue.

At Cory Communications, we can put you in touch with the technology and services you need for improved cyber security. We know businesses are living in an age of cyber threats, and we provide reliable options like online backup, disaster recovery solutions, and much more. Contact us and let’s discuss your needs.

How Cloud Security Supports Collaboration

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Innovative enterprise collaboration tools are supported by cloud security features.

Your enterprise is increasingly moving business functions to the cloud for better productivity, improved customer experiences, and reduced costs, but for many line of business managers, the benefits of cloud collaboration tools may be overshadowed by doubts related to cloud security. Is your data safe in the cloud, and what happens if a device gets left behind at a customer’s site?

Cloud collaboration solutions offer many benefits common to all cloud solutions, such as scalability, reduced costs, and frequent rollouts of new features and updates. In particular, collaboration tools allow for quicker decision-making, access to shared workspaces, and improved communications.

What often stands in the way of utilizing these tools are questions about cloud security. First, it’s important to note that cloud providers use encryption with a key that is only engaged with your secure login. Even if you’re utilizing cloud tools that are multi-tenant solutions, the other clients will never be able to access your data.

It’s also a good idea to consider that cloud providers are able to dedicate resources to cloud security that far outstrip anything a single enterprise could accomplish. From best-in-class monitoring systems to physical guards at data centers, cloud providers have robust security practices. 

While cloud migration has demanded new approaches to security that may be unfamiliar to you, you can rest assured that your cloud provider is prioritizing security once you’ve asked a few basic questions:

Do They Have Secure Backup? It’s a good idea to ask your provider what protection they have against an unexpected event, such as a natural disaster or malicious activity leading to system access.

What Can They Do About a Lost Device? If a team member loses their phone on a large client site, your cloud provider may be able to wipe the saved data from that device. Ask what capabilities they have for this type of event.

How Are File Permissions Handled? When it comes to collaboration, there are going to be files that you want only certain people to be able to change, even if everyone needs viewing access. Find out how granular the controls are for managing file permissions.

What Happens If They Go Out of Business? Any time you are partnering with another company, it’s a good idea to ask this question. You need a plan for a secure shifting of your collaboration processes to a new solution if your provider determines that they will no longer support the application.

There’s also a lot you can do on the enterprise side to protect your data and systems. Invest in training that educates your teams on the importance of adhering to password policies and reporting suspicious activities and the steps to take if they lose a device.If you’re considering investing in a cloud collaboration solution for your enterprise, contact us at Cory Communications. We can help ensure that the cloud security practices are in line with your own policies and choose a solution that supports your business goals while prioritizing security.

A New Approach to Data-Centric Cyber Security

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Cloud-based services can be the answer to finding more effective data-centric cyber security.

Some might say climate change is the most pressing matter facing humanity today. But ask the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, and he’ll tell you cyber security related issues are taking the top slot. And it makes sense — there is a lot more sensitive data at risk today than ever before, which is why the topic of data-centric cyber security frequently makes its way into conversations about meeting various important goals in 2020.

To begin with, it is important to define what data-centric cyber security actually is. When addressing cyber security as a whole, the security of the servers and the facility in which they are housed is included, whether they’re on-site or off-site. When discussing data-centric cyber security, the protection of the data itself is being addressed. The switch from the old ways to new ways of approaching security can be a bit tough, but not if you consider the following:

Flagging Sensitive Data

Most organizations have more data than they know what to do with, and that’s a problem. Sensitive data should be under more layers of protection and should only be accessed by those who absolutely need to see it. Purging redundant or useless data can make it easier to protect that which really matters.

Encrypt

When your data is in storage, it must be encrypted. In fact, when your data is in transition, it should also be encrypted, though in a different format. Using encryption whenever possible can close windows of opportunities for cyber criminals to gain access to information that can harm your organization.

Automate

The encryption process can get quite cumbersome, which is why automated tools should be utilized to save your staff from burnout. Many of these tasks can be made quite easy through the right automation solutions. The added benefit is that human error is not an issue when you’ve got machine learning or artificial intelligence on your side.

Beyond Regulations

There are plenty of laws out there dictating what you need to do in terms of accountability for the protection of your data, especially data on your clients. However, the best strategies involve those that treat laws as the minimum at which you approach your cyber security plan.

Many daily tasks now involve cloud-based technology, and the good news is you can utilize the cloud in such a way that you can become more data-centric in your approach to cyber security. Organizations operate more efficiently and effectively with the right cloud tools at their fingertips.At Cory Communications, our approach to data security is scalable, adaptable, and forward thinking. Contact us and we’ll run through our processes, how they have worked for other organizations, and why they’ll be a good fit for yours.

Three Steps for Implementing Collaboration Security

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Collaboration security requires a careful assessment of the balance between value and risk.

For any new technology investment, enterprise IT must consider how it impacts the security plane. Collaboration apps are designed to align with the communication and productivity patterns of a quickly-changing digital workplace, empowering users to share information across dynamic channels. As teams are equipped with these tools, enterprise IT is focused on collaboration security.

Some difficulty is introduced with shadow IT, when employees access unapproved collaboration apps, but even those that are downloaded through appropriate processes require a unique strategy for collaboration security. For instance, traditional security tools such as firewalls and network perimeters aren’t effective at addressing the risks. Collaboration apps also can’t be made secure through simple data classification measures, such as tagging transmissions that include a credit card number.

There are three steps for understanding and supporting secure collaboration apps:

Define Collaboration Security: First, security teams need to understand the factors behind the unique approach to collaboration security and why it is a different challenge than other types of risks. These areas include usage and access policies, user and channel management, app store management, and automated workflows. The goal of collaboration security is the right balance between value and risk in any collaboration application.  

A breach in a collaboration tool can remain hidden for months because the management of this type of security often falls outside typical policy, which focuses on identity and access management as well as malicious attacks.

Collaboration Application Security Policy: Applications must be modeled in ways that give IT security a way to make balanced decisions around collaboration security. IT teams need to be able to periodically evaluate policies, making adjustments to ensure needs are being met without being overly restrictive. Automating this management and enforcement can be effective in reducing the burden on security teams.

A Unique Approach: The traditional approach to securing application behaviors is through top-down governance, but this is the type of strategy that often leads employees to turn to shadow IT as a way to get around inconvenient security policies. Security teams need to take the viewpoint that it’s better to know what workers are doing rather than have them turn to shadow IT. There are three key components to this approach:

  1. Monitor user behavior across platforms first, rather than automatically forcing certain behaviors.
  2. Measure compliance by running a comparison between actual behavior and the pre-defined thresholds established for particular workstream policies.
  3. Manage particular features when necessary, such as feature disablement or soft user communications to encourage behaviors that comply with collaboration security policy.

The ultimate goal of collaboration security is to minimize risk while supporting business productivity, which is the reason for having collaboration solutions. To find out how to strike the right balance with any new technology, contact us at Cory Communications.

The Advantages of Multi-Cloud

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Multi-cloud solutions are most effective when they are strategically planned, rather than cobbled together.

More enterprises are choosing cloud solutions, and the most strategic enterprises are opting for a carefully planned multi-cloud environment that meets their specific needs. The benefits of multi-cloud are best achieved when enterprises plan to use this approach from the beginning of their digital transformation process, rather than create an environment that is cobbled together as the enterprise continues to tack on additional cloud resources.

Multi-cloud is sometimes used interchangeably with hybrid cloud. But, while hybrid solutions may bring together some private and public cloud resources with tools for managing between the platforms, multi-cloud takes a more strategic approach to workload placement, resource management, and cost efficiency. There are some key benefits to this approach:

The Answer to “Stickiness:” Cloud providers often offer solutions that aren’t compatible with those of their competitors, leading to a fear of vendor lock-in by enterprises. If the solution is no longer supported or if the provider goes out of business, enterprises want to protect business continuity. Multi-cloud approaches provide the safety of multiple platforms that ideally have some overlap in the workloads they’re managing. Enterprises also appreciate the ability to take a “best of breed” approach to their technology mix, utilizing features on different systems to create a bespoke solution.

Security: Enterprises find that multi-cloud allows them to segment business practices, preventing the risk of devastating impact from a breach. With multiple cloud platforms acting as failover, enterprise IT can all but eliminate the risk of downtime, depending on how automated their systems are in their continuity efforts.

Cost Effectiveness: One of the key benefits of multi-cloud is the ability to place workloads according to efficiency and budgets. Public cloud solutions tend to be faster and more up-to-date with innovation, while private cloud is more secure but more expensive, too. Enterprises are able to prioritize workloads based on performance and security needs for optimized placement.

While multi-cloud environments offer many advantages, there are still some concerns that need addressing. One big downside is that multi-cloud environments can grow increasingly complex, making monitoring for security purposes challenging. If multi-cloud solutions are arrived at in an ad hoc manner, rather than with a planned strategy, monitoring can be particularly difficult.

Enterprises and cloud providers alike are aware of the challenge of monitoring these solutions, and as the technology advances, it’s likely that monitoring solutions will be a priority for innovation.To learn more about how a customized, multi-cloud approach could benefit your enterprise, contact us at Cory Communications.

Three Key Requirements of a Multicloud Management Solution

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While more enterprises are operating in a multicloud environment, few are pursuing multicloud management strategies.

Enterprises are choosing a multicloud IT strategy as a way to get the benefits of a variety of cloud solutions, but this type of environment adds management complexity. Without a well-considered multicloud strategy, it can be challenging to monitor costs, optimize performance, and manage the different requirements of a variety of applications.

In addition, enterprises need a way to work with the varied features across multiple providers, including their service level agreements, security policies, and a number of other considerations. Each provider comes with a unique set of operational and management tools. Until an enterprise takes the initiative to create a comprehensive multicloud strategy, it can be hard to achieve all of the advantages that come from this type of environment. These include a boost in both agility and operational speed, a reduction in IT costs, and a better partnership between business goals and those of IT teams.

For these reasons, enterprises are investing in a multicloud management solution that allows them a more cohesive approach to optimizing the IT environment. A management solution should enable the enterprise to access automation features and scale as necessary, as well as support compliance and security policies. There are three requirements that will be present in a good management solution:

Visibility: Your network administrators need to know where business applications are running. You also need to be able to monitor resources across the full range of multicloud environments with information about whether they are residing in public or private clouds.

Governance: DevOps teams are required to manage applications and ensure that they are within the necessary security and governance policies. As more and more cloud-native resources increase for the enterprise, they need a centralized dashboard that can apply configuration and security consistently across all cloud-native environments.

Automation: For both traditional and cloud-native applications, teams need to be able to manage and offer services using automation, even while developers are equipped to create applications that align well with the policies of the enterprise.

They also require the ability to deploy applications within a consistent and flexible framework that includes options for disaster recovery and backup.

Your enterprise may be pursuing a good strategy with choosing a multicloud infrastructure, but you require the right management solution in order to take advantage of automation and unlock the more extensive benefits of a multicloud environment. Without this type of comprehensive management tool, the complexity of multicloud may prove the environment to be more of a headache than a competitive advantage.Multicloud management solutions are an effective way to get the most out of your IT environment, access automation and other advanced capabilities, and optimize the cost-effectiveness of your technology. Contact us at Cory Communications to get started evaluating your needs and the options available.

Why Your Competitors Are Utilizing ITaaS

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ITaaS shifts infrastructure to a pay-as-you-go model, freeing up resources for other tech investments.

The burden on infrastructure is constantly growing. Companies are investing in cloud applications with heavy bandwidth demands and the volume of data being transmitted continues to grow. Many enterprises use a hybrid model – utilizing the cloud for some workloads while others stay on-premises. To mitigate these challenges, many enterprises are investing in IT as a Service (ITaaS).

Keeping up with the required flexibility and speed that cloud solutions demand is a challenge when enterprises are limited to their on-premises data centers. In many cases they are dealing with a complex and heterogeneous range of infrastructure compiled as a result of acquisitions and mergers.

The complications of these types of infrastructure environments only get worse when there are fluctuations in the level of capacity required to support applications and data. In many cases, enterprises accommodate the high end of their storage needs, which then sit idle for most of the year when there’s no seasonal rush, no promotions, and no pop-up shops. There’s little visibility into the infrastructure resources and a lack of scalability.

How Does ITaaS Work? ITaaS is somewhat different from other as-a-service offerings because it is not cloud-based. Rather, it simply indicates that the enterprise is paying for IT services and operations as a managed service. It is provided on a pay-as-you-go subscription.

A provider may offer infrastructure capacity that is paid for in terms of the metered usage, and the enterprise pays only for the services consumed. The enterprise is not responsible for any upfront costs, hardware, implementation, or the frustrations that come with overprovisioning. The infrastructure capacity is completely scalable.

Benefits of ITaaS: Improving workload management, scalability, reducing the load on IT and a greater availability are all advantages of choosing ITaaS:

Infrastructure: Utilizing ITaaS helps enhance efficient and cost-effective infrastructure access. It helps administrators better budget for bandwidth usage as well as the hardware needed to support the network.

Workloads: ITaaS assists with handling cloud bursting and other events that can affect capacity on a short notice.

Availability: It is hard for any enterprise to match the 24/7 monitoring and support that are options with ITaaS providers.

Reducing IT Burden: When ITaaS simplifies management of the environment, IT teams are able to utilize their in-house expertise where they need it. IT team members are able to redirect their skills to help business leaders determine which technology investments will help drive business growth and focus less on maintenance and upgrades.

ITaaS helps enterprises retain their best IT talent by delegating the mundane maintenance and troubleshooting to a managed service provider while tasking in-house employees with higher levels of project management and strategic planning.For more information about ITaaS, contact us at Cory Communications. We can help you strategically outsource the IT functions that make the most sense for your enterprise.

Improving Your Data Privacy Plan

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Ongoing education efforts, password protection, and limited access can aid in achieving data privacy.

It’s written into the Constitution that you have an expectation of privacy, but where data security is concerned, cyber criminals in our midst have no regard for such rights. This is true in respect to the Internet of Things (IoT), which includes machine learning, sensors, and monitoring software. While IoT efforts are beneficial in improving productivity, they can also lead to security risks.

In a perfect world, your data would be respected as information meant for your eyes only. The data you have on your customers should most certainly live up to that standard, but are you doing everything you can to protect their information as well as your company’s sensitive data?

Problematic Biometrics

Data privacy technology is stepping up to fight those who would infiltrate our systems, but there are inherent risks involved. Biometric authentication is a security process that takes into account unique biological characteristics – such as fingerprints and facial features – among others that give access to applications as well as physical spaces. Artificial intelligence improvements have taken a big part in this advancement, however, there are negative side effects to this process.

For example, when you want to change your password to an account, it’s a fairly simple process. But when you provide your biological data to a system that grants access, you can’t replace that information. This is one reason why health data breaches have soared in the last decade, and it has made the IoT data privacy even more relevant.

A common sense approach is to use stronger passwords, which makes it more difficult to breach accounts. Another is to limit your use of biometric information and to keep your software current, including new security patches meant to protect your information.

Best Practices

Most organizations rely on their data analytics to make better decisions going forward, which can lead to an overabundance of data being collected. However, when you practice minimal data collection, you can reduce your chances of losing that data. This is to say that you should only collect what you need, and you should purge irrelevant data on a regular basis.

Also, look at what you can do to control who has access to your data. One of the weakest links between your data and prying eyes is your workforce, which is prone to human error, leaving doors open to cyber criminals. When low-level employees are given unfettered access to data you open yourself up to more risk. Prioritize access so people only get their hands on what they need to carry out their daily tasks. This is especially important in regard to sensitive data.

Finally, practice ongoing education efforts. This will keep everyone with access to your system updated on the latest security concerns. You should also make them accountable for their password hygiene. Education awareness can be the impenetrable “firewall” that keeps your data safe.

At Cory Communications, we offer our clients a customized approach to data privacy through the recommendation of infrastructure and services that will vastly improve their business practices and their approach to security. Find out more about how we can assist you by contacting us today.

The Reality of Ongoing Digital Transformation

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Digital transformation is no longer a series of steps leading to completion, but instead it’s a reality of continual change.

Some organizations that have pursued digital transformation have realized they had been aiming at a moving target. As more investments were made in the cloud to support goals related to the customer experience and improved agility, it became more difficult to ever consider an objective completed.

For instance, new cloud applications were installed, but issues related to latency, bandwidth demands, and other specifications led to an upgrade to the network infrastructure. Teams that were launching Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) soon learned that their features and collaborative tools could be expanded much further with the addition of unified communications (UC) solutions.

Across every enterprise, the reality is becoming clear: it is no longer enough to implement a digital transformation strategy as a goal to be completed. In order to remain competitive, enterprises need a higher level of agility that relentlessly pursues change and improvement as a technological culture.

New Platform Approach: One of the keys to accommodating this type of ever-changing reality for IT is to use platforms that roll with the changes. Platforms must be modular, easily programmable, and intelligent in their design. Infrastructure must be directed by application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow IT to specify a business requirement, and it carries the order out.

If a programmer wants to deploy a server, the platform would use an API to determine which subnet supports the compliance requirements or other specifications for that server.

Some IT experts believe that enterprises will begin taking cues from some of the bigger public cloud providers in creating an IT environment with little or no friction.

The Risk of Failing to Adapt: Those businesses that do not pursue constant change will be vulnerable in their markets to the web giants who are putting pressure on every industry. With logistical, technological, and operational expertise, these tech companies also have the benefit of monetary resources to invest in diversification.

They are extending to a wide range of industries, touching everything from insurance to e-commerce, and shaping the types of technology that companies must invest in to remain relevant.

Competing in a world with tech giants requires not just a digital transformation strategy, but also embracing the pursuit of constant change where IT is about more than new implementations of a specific solution. It’s about delivering new technology on a continual basis.

Is your digital transformation strategy moving towards an end, or has your business embraced the reality of constant change for competitive relevance? Contact us at Cory Communications to discuss your strategic approach to technology.

When It Comes to SD-WAN, Unified Communications Is Just the Beginning

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SD-WAN makes sense for UC and it prepares the enterprise for bigger digital transformation strategies.

In many cases, enterprises are considering software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) as a way to better support unified communications (UC) and switch to a cloud-based solution known as unified communications as a service (UCaaS). What many are finding out as they make the transition is that SD-WAN offers benefits far beyond better connectivity for communications.

Communications technology operating over an IP connection is heavily reliant on network performance and speed. When congestion, latency, or jitter become issues, the reality for employees and other end users is dropped calls. SD-WAN offers several key benefits for combatting the demands of IP-based solutions:

  • The solution offers better management of bandwidth requirements, augmenting the reliable but more costly multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) lines with various other connectivity options such as public internet.
  • SD-WAN allows for traffic prioritization based on automated business policy, which routes traffic according to how critical it is and whether it demands real-time transmissions. Traffic can be automatically rerouted to the next-best pathway if a particular line becomes congested.
  • SD-WAN provides network administrators with a high level of visibility and control through a centralized dashboard, making optimization tasks and diagnosis of any congestion issues easier.

These are just a few of the advantages that SD-WAN introduces for supporting UC technology. What enterprises often find is that SD-WAN also supports their broader pursuit of digital transformation.

SD-WAN allows for the support of specific bandwidth and performance requirements that can differ significantly between cloud software solutions while also improving their onboarding process. With cloud solutions able to integrate well with unified communications solutions such as with customer relationship management tools, businesses can quickly see measurable improvements in streamlined decision-making and collaboration.

For many enterprises, the selling point of SD-WAN is the improved customer experience. When calls are no longer dropped because they aren’t affected by jitter, latency, or congestion, enterprises see the benefit of SD-WAN. SD-WAN serves as a reliable backbone for supporting unified communications technology, and the advantages grow from there.

One key advantage that SD-WAN delivers is that it is inherently more secure than traditional network infrastructures. The ability to add end-to-end encryption introduces additional protection against hackers that might eavesdrop on voice calls, and the ability to segment network traffic means that a suspected intrusion can be isolated and diagnosed before it impacts the rest of the network.

If you’re considering a transition to UCaaS, or if you’re thinking about how SD-WAN might fuel your digital transformation strategy, contact us at Cory Communications. We’ll help you evaluate your needs and determine the specific benefits that SD-WAN could deliver for your enterprise.

Connect With Cory

Cory Communications, Inc.
200 Haddonfield Berlin Road,
Suite 203
Gibbsboro, NJ 08026

Phone: 856-795-2223

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