Small And Medium Businesses Are Not As Safe As They Think

Network Security is extremely important in this age of digital technology.  Companies such as Sony and Google, two HUGE companies with some of the best technical people in the world, have been hacked.  That has to say a lot.  If a company like Google or Sony can be hacked, why can't a smaller company be infiltrated?

Many small and medium size businesses think they are safe because of their size.  They feel that hackers and people with malicious intent will not want to harm them, because there are bigger fish to fry.  In fact, this is most likely the opposite.  Small and medium size companies are targeted primarily because they think they won't be. They put basic security on their network, don't lock down their wireless, and usually forget about it.  That's when the hackers strike.

Because people know that these businesses don't worry to much about their security, they are targeted.  People are easily able to infiltrate their firewalls, obtain customer or employee information, release a virus or a trojan, and then get away with it, usually without being caught.  This is a huge problem for companies who cannot afford to fix their network if they are infiltrated?

So, what needs to happen?

Companies should always have a high level of security no matter the size of their business.  Next Generation Firewalls from Palo Alto Networks, or Network Security solutions from TAG, is a great way to protect your company and assets.  These products and services are not extremely high priced, and can give you the peace of mind that your network, and the people using it, are secure.

To learn more about network security solutions, join MAC Source on October 11th at 11am eastern time and view our Network Security webinar to learn about the solutions we offer, and find weak links within your netowork.

You can sign up by clicking here.

Prevent Identity Theft and Your Company's Reputation by Filling in the Holes Before They are Found

by Matthew Frank - Inside Sales Representative at MAC Source Communications

I'm no Internet security expert and I don't claim to be one.  I can't hack a website, break into a bank account or send someone a malicious code through e-mail that will let me take over someone's computer.  But, I have "acquired" people's passwords before.  It's fairly simple.

I discovered a while back that it's not that hard to do it in online games.  I found out that people used their game account password for the trading room password.  I would try out the password on their account and see if I could log into it (it would knock them off the game).  About 1 in 20 worked.  I got into people's accounts and took their items.  I must of repeated this at least a dozen times in a period of 3 months.  Then I got bored and stopped playing.  That was it.  That was my extent of "acquiring" someone's password.

Unfortunately in this day and age, people tend to go much deeper than online games (and guessing people's passwords).  Examples like Wikileaks, AT&T, and Citibank all come to mind.  These global companies, these multi-billion dollar companies are being hacked and information much more important than a sword or ring from a game are being taken.  People's identities are being stolen.  There livelihoods are being destroyed and someone is making off with a lot of money.

So, what do you do?  Do you restrict your employees from going to any websites that could potentially be harmful?  Do you block all outside communication on your network?  How about telling employees that they cannot even sign onto a website such as linkedin.com which is made for the workplace.  Many companies require their employees to make passwords with letters, #'s, and symbols.  I will tell you from personal experience, that the human brain can only remember so many combinations.  I have had to reset my password for my direct deposit at least 8 times in a month in a half before finding one I could actually remember.

Yes, I will agree that by locking down websites, blocking people having outside communication on the network, and making employees choose there password by using so many different types of characters that their head explodes is a great way to protect everyone, but it keeps down employee moral, and unhappy employees are less productive.  In fact, it's been proven that employees that are given more freedom at work, are happier, more productive, and their caliber of work is much higher.

What should be done is find the right solution.  Get a Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) from a company like Palo Alto Networks.  It allows you to monitor what your employees are doing, how long they are on a website or application for and tweak the security protocols.  In fact, you can actually give someone access to Facebook without them playing games.  Let the marketing have access to posts and responses from customers and clients, but block the games.  Don't want outside people using your network?  Great!  Block them, or limit what they use.  Isn't technology great?  Only a few years ago you could either block or unblock Facebook.  It was Black or White.  Now there are a number of shades of Gray.

There are companies, like TAG Solutions, that will do something called "Social Engineering".  Basically, TAG will try to get into your company and find human error.  They may pretend to be an employee, or some worker (mailman, repair man, delivery person, etc...).  Then they go in and try to get sensitive information.  This shows vulnerability in the company they infiltrate.  They will find the holes in a company's security.

They will do security and awareness training, vulnerability management, risk management, penetration tests, and much more.  TAG will find the security loopholes in your company (because every company has security holes), and make suggestions to fix them.  If you wan't, they will even go so far as to actually patch up the holes rather than just suggesting remedies.

Both of these solutions will help companies prevent identity theft of their customers and employees, help protect against theft of passwords and valuable information, and in the long run, save companies money.  Because, in the end, what costs more: patching up holes before they are found or fixing your company's reputation once you are infiltrated?  I would go with option one.

If you want more information on these solutions visit our website at www.macsoureinc.com or contact Liz Rizzo at erizzo@macsourceinc.com

Cybercrime claims 1 million victims a day

By MSN Money partner on Thu, Sep 8, 2011 11:27 AM

In the US alone, more than 74 million people were victims of some form of cybercrime last year, leading to $32 billion in direct financial losses.

This post comes from Jeanine Skowronski at partner site MainStreet.

Americans have gotten all too familiar with cybercrime during the past year, following large-scale data breaches at Citibank, Sony and Epsilon, but the problem may still be worse than you think.

According to a report from antivirus software manufacturer Norton, global cybercrime has claimed 431 million adult victims in the past year, costing countries $114 billion in direct financial losses. That figure jumps to $388 billion when you factor in the value that victims place on the time they spent recouping the losses.

Last year, in the U.S. specifically, more than 74 million people were victims of some form of cybercrime, leading to $32 billion in direct financial losses.

After extrapolating survey results, Norton found that every second, 14 adults worldwide are victimized by online fraudsters, which is more than 1 million people every day.

Examples of cybercrime include emailed viruses and malware (still the most prevalent offense with 54% of respondents saying they have experienced this type of fraud), online scams (11%) and phising messages (10%), which attempt to obtain personal information through deceptive links in emails. The figures are based on surveys of 19,636 people in 24 countries.


Norton says those types of online scams have become more prevalent partially due to growing popularity of smartphones, which offer another digital platform for fraudsters to exploit.


The company cites in its report that, when looking at global estimates, cybercrime costs world governments more than the marijuana, cocaine and heroin black markets combined. Based on stats from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, those illicit trades cost $141.1 billion, $85 billion and $61 billion, respectively, for a total of $288 billion.


We did some digging and found that cybercrime losses more than surpass some countries' entire GDP, such as Iceland ($11.82 billion), Malta ($10.41 billion) and Barbados ($6.23 billion). It also dwarves productivity losses due to insomnia ($63.2 billion), long-term care obligations ($33.6 billion) and March Madness ($1.8 billion), though having that money back would do little to solve the country's astronomical debt problem.


For link to original article click here


Want to protect your company from security breaches?  Contact Matthew Frank at mfrank@macsourceinc.com or Liz Rizzo at erizzo@macsourceinc.com for more information.


Visit us at www.macsourceinc.com

How to Protect Your Business In the Age of Technology

by Matthew Frank - Inside Sales Rep at MAC Source Communications

If you have ever watched the movie "Catch Me If You Can" you know that it was fairly easy for Leonardo DiCaprio's character to become someone else and steal millions of dollars from companies.  He was able to print his own paychecks, make new ID's, and then when all is said and done, he was able to disappear.  This all took place in the 1960s, before personal computers, before cell phones, before social media.  And the guy was less than 19 years old.  Oh, the movie was based on true events.

Now, its 2011, and we have things like personal computers, iPads, Cellphones, and Social Media.  In fact, we have so much technology, that people are constantly exposed.  What does this mean?  It means that people are just as exposed, if not more exposed than in the 1960's.

To combat this, you have a few options.  You can lock down all your electronics.  Password protect and encrypt every device you have and even then that doesn't give you 100% protection.  You can never go on the Internet again (although, lets be realistic, I would be crying after about 2 hours), or you can be smart about your technology.

The first thing to do is to look at your business and say "Am I properly protected?"  Do you have all your security features in place?  Is the wifi at your company secure?  Is your firewall setup properly?  Do you monitor everything your employees do online to make sure there is no malicious software coming through and people are being productive?  What about guest access to your wireless network?  Do guests have the ability to go on your network without having the ability to get into the private information on there?  Think about these questions for 2 minutes.  Good, now here are two solutions.

Next Generation Firewall:

Most companies have firewalls that block everything coming through a specific port.  The problem with this, is that it blocks things that are both good and bad.  Who wants to block the good?  Facebook for instance, is a great tool to use for marketing, but most companies can only turn it on or off.  They can't choose what features they want on, or what they want blocked.

With the Next Generation Firewall from Palo Alto Networks, you can control what applications and content come through on your network.  That means, that you can allow Facebook, but limit it.  Block games, but give employees the ability to read their messages.  Stop them from posting pictures (especially if you have sensitive information in your company that cannot be leaked) but allow them to post status updates or update the company page.  What about monitoring what sites employees are on?  Don't have time right?  Well, this firewall is a great device, in that it can generate reports for you in a nice and clean format so that you can see what is coming through your firewall.  You can see who is viewing something, what they are viewing, and how long they are viewing it for.  It also gives you graphs and tables, because lets face it, to many words can turn anyone away.

Social Media:

The second way to protect your company is by understanding how people get information.  Facebook is a staple in most people's lives.  The problem is that most people keep it open for anyone to see, and lets be honest here, will friend anyone.  To understand how people get information off Facebook and use it for bad intentions, you need to understand how to do it yourself.  On Tuesday September 13th, 2011, join MAC Source Communications and Information Security Expert and Penetration Tester, Steve Stasiukonis, to learn "How to Rob a Bank With Facebook."  Steve will explain how white collar criminals leverage the use of common people, processes and technologies to infiltrate the internal workings of your network. He will share his real world experiences on how he and his company used these techniques to breach the networks of numerous banks and other financial institutions.  This is a Webinar, so you don't even need to leave your office.

For more information on both ways to protect your business visit www.macsourceinc.com

Also, you can contact me at 585-368-2101 or Elizabeth Rizzo at 518-694-3904 for more information.

Juniper Networks Earns Back-to-Back Win and Receives Top Honors from Solution Providers for Superior Products, Support and Channel Partnership

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 30, 2011 — Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) today proudly announced it has earned the 2011 CRN Annual Report Card (ARC) "Company of the Year," sweeping the entire Enterprise Networking Infrastructure category. The coveted award marks the second year in a row Juniper Networks has won the ARC in this highly competitive category.

"This back-to-back win and sweep of the entire enterprise networking category offers a great testimony to the disruptive leadership, technical innovation and channel partnership that differentiates Juniper Networks from our competitors and helps us drive even greater business value for our channel partners worldwide," says Juniper Networks' Senior Vice President of Worldwide Partners Emilio Umeoka.

Umeoka and Juniper Networks Americas Partner Chief Frank Vitagliano accepted the honor at the 2011 XChange Americas Conference earlier this month in Denver, CO.

"This is a great win and a significant endorsement of the value, trust and respect Juniper Networks has earned within the Americas channel partner base and worldwide," says Vitagliano. "From breaking into the switching market four years ago with the Juniper Networks® EX Series, to the recent announcement of our QFabric data center solution, Juniper Networks continues to deliver the disruptive innovation channel partners need to meet the dynamic business and technology demands of the enterprise. These are exciting and defining times in Juniper Networks' history and we want to thank our channel partners for their continued advocacy and adoption of the new network."

Recognized as one of the IT channel's top honors, the CRN ARC serves as a definitive benchmark of relationships between vendors and their channel partners. The 2011 Everything Channel ARC research team surveyed more than 3,600 solution providers across 21 categories to evaluate their satisfaction with vendors' products, support and channel programs. The results serve as an industry standard for measuring excellence within the channel community.

"When it comes to the strength of relationships, quality of products and return on partner programs, solution providers want to hear from their fellow VARs about the IT vendors that consistently exceed expectations," said Kelley Damore, vice president, editorial director, Everything Channel. "The ARC gives solution providers the opportunity to share feedback and recognize the vendors who truly demonstrate channel excellence. We congratulate Juniper Networks for being recognized as the best of the best in the category of Enterprise Networking Infrastructure."

To view a slideshow of all the organizations named to the 2011 ARC visit www.crn.com.

About Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks is in the business of network innovation. From devices to data centers, from consumers to cloud providers, Juniper Networks delivers the software, silicon and systems that transform the experience and economics of networking. Additional information can be found at Juniper Networks (www.juniper.net).

Juniper Networks and Junos are registered trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The Juniper Networks and Junos logos are trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Need products from Juniper Networks?  Contact Matthew Frank at mfrank@macsourceinc.com or Elizabeth Rizzo at erizzo@macsourceinc.com

You can even check out MAC Source inc. at http://www.macsourceinc.com/

Why Spending Money On A New Communications System Can Save Your Company Money And Keep Your Customers Happy.

by Matthew Frank - Inside Sales Rep at MAC Source Communications

Old phone systems are the worst to deal with.  I call people all day to try and sell them new products such as next generation firewalls, video conferencing equipment, wireless routers or access points and even new phone systems.  When I call into a company and I hear a phone system that is more than 5 years old, it annoys, angers and frustrates me all at the same time.  This is because most companies don't think about this simple peice of communication that to be honest, can help you gain or lost customers in a blink of an eye.

If you have an older phone system for your business, think how it affects you and your customers.  A customer calls in, hears a recording, and is stuck in directory hell.  They have to go through 6 or 7 prompts before they can get to a secretary or somone who answers for them.  Its annoying, frustrating, and can cause the customer to hang up and not want to call back.  Now, your probably thinking "well my company has online support 24/7 and we have e-mail support as well, so its not a big deal."  Actually it is.  How many people actually use the online support or e-mail?  Honestly.  And Trust me, I have used live online support through multiple companies, and I find it to be less helpful at times.

Many people, such as my parents who are not particularly tech savvy (mom if you are reading this, its true, and dad, if you are reading this, when did you learn to use the computer?) are used to picking up the phone and calling into companies.  They don't want to e-mail or use live tech support.  They don't care about how many live support reps you have online or that you will get back to them in 24-48 hours.  The phone is instant, and they want to talk to someone live and hear a voice.  Being stuck in directory hell is not fun for them, and I've seen them and their friends more then once return a product and buy a competitors because it was easier to get through to that other company.

Basically, what I am saying is, if you have an older system, upgrade it.  It may seem like its a big expense, but in reality, its a one time thing every few years.  If you think about it, the cost to upgrade your system is a lot less then losing customers to another competitor because of a simple phone directory or older system where you can't get through to someone.

Let MAC Source Communications help you by attending our Avaya/Nortel seminar (and yes, you can attend even if you don't use Avaya or Nortel).  Click here to sign up.

You can reach me at 585-368-2101 for more information about our events and products we offer.

Identity Theft. The Ease of Becoming Someone Else

by Matthew Frank - Inside Sales rep at MAC Source Communications

I'm not actually telling you how to do the stuff in the title, it's more of a way to grab your attention. 

I called up my phone cable company a while back and figured out how easy it was to change the agreement we had in terms of service and channels.  I didn't have my account # so they asked me to verify my birthday and the last 4 digits of my social security #.  Not my whole social security # but the last 4 digits.  To me, this is not safe, let me tell you why.

First off, anyone can go on Facebook, Twitter, or even my Linkedin account and see when my birthday is.  In fact, I make it publicly broadcasted (I guess I like all the "HAPPY BIRTHDAYS" I get on that day).  Secondly, most places you go to, or things you sign that ask for your soocial security # only ask for the last 4.  It's really easy to get it.  All you would need to do is get my birthday, year I graduated from my college, and my mother's maiden name, and you could get my transcript for my college (which has my college ID on it and that allows me to reset your password to my college account).  Then you have all my personal information including either my full social security # or at least the last 4 digits.  It's that simple.

I have a friend who, in the past couple of years has been fighting identity theft.  Someone opened up a credit card in his name and ran the bill up, then left him to be stuck with it.  When he called to dispute it, the credit card companies told him it was his card.  They told him, he signed up for it, he ran the bill up, and they weren't going to help him.  He was stuck with a $6,000.00 bill he couldn't pay.  That destroyed his credit to the point where he needed a cosigner to sign for his apt when he was clearly making triple the income he needed to be making to sign it.

Identity theft is real.  The best way to stop them, is to think like them.

Join MAC Source Communications and Information Security Expert and Penetration Tester Steve Stasiukonis on September 13th from 11:00-11:45 am to learn how to "Rob A Bank With Facebook" and protect your business from people with malicious intent.

You can sign up by clicking here

LifeSize Takes on Cisco in Videoconferencing, Sees Sales Rise

LifeSize Communications Inc., a unit of computer-mouse maker Logitech International SA (LOGN), expects revenue to jump as it competes with rivals including Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) to add clients in the videoconference market, set to more than double in the next five years.


LifeSize’s sales are forecast to rise two to three times faster than the market, which is expected to grow 15 percent this year, Chief Executive Officer Craig Malloy said in a phone interview. Revenue at the Austin, Texas-based company rose 34 percent to $36.5 million in the fiscal first quarter, making LifeSize Logitech’s fastest-growing business.

“We’re seeing very, very rapid growth in videoconferencing,” the CEO said. “We’re going to piggyback on key trends and accelerate our growth.” LifeSize is targeting $1 billion in revenue in coming years, Malloy said, without giving a precise timeframe.

Technology companies are using mergers and acquisitions to grow in videoconferencing. Romanel-sur-Morges, Switzerland-based Logitech, the world’s biggest maker of mice, was among the first to make a deal in the industry when it bought LifeSize for $405 million in 2009. Cisco the same year announced it was buying Tandberg ASA, the world’s second-biggest maker of videoconferencing equipment, and Polycom Inc. (PLCM), the world’s largest standalone maker of videoconference gear, agreed to buy Hewlett-Packard Co.’s competing business in June.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), the world’s largest software maker, agreed this year to buy Skype Technologies SA, the world’s most popular Web-calling service, to strengthen its bid to convince corporate clients to replace traditional phone and videoconferencing systems with its software.

‘Beyond Consumer’

“Logitech wanted to diversify from PC peripherals,” Malloy said. “We’re a natural extension for them to go beyond consumer channels and into business ones.”

Global videoconferencing endpoint revenue, which includes equipment and doesn’t include services, will reach $4.15 billion in 2016 from $1.66 billion last year, according to research from Frost & Sullivan Inc.

“Companies are looking for ways to reduce costs due to the financial crisis,” Iwona Petruczynik, a Warsaw-based analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said in an interview. “People are moving away from in-person meetings to save money and time, and this is a great way to do it.”

LifeSize, the third-biggest videoconferencing provider with about 15,000 customers worldwide, offers high-definition video conferencing services, mainly targeting medium and large companies, the CEO said. LifeSize in July bought Mirial, a specialist in software for video-conferencing on tablets and mobile phones.

Android, Apple Devices

The Mirial deal allows LifeSize to “offer video communication to any Android or Apple-based device,” Malloy said, closing a gap in its product offering. “Mobility services are one of the key trends in the industry and they will help us gain market share.” He declined to say whether the company is looking at other acquisition targets and said LifeSize plans product innovations “the likes of which the video-communications industry has never seen.”

LifeSize is also adding cloud-based services such as virtual infrastructure for companies that don’t have in-house video expertise or information-technology resources, the CEO said.
 
For link to Original article click here
 
Contact Matthew Frank at 585-368-2101 or Elizabeth Rizzo at 518-694-3904 to see how MAC Source communications can help you with Video Conferencing.

Skype Acquires Start-Up Company GroupMe

One of the best things about the communications industry nowadays is the fact that you can see someone using nothing but your computer and the built in or external webcam.  8 years ago this was possible (when a company named Skype was founded), but was still in its infancy.  Web cams and video services were basic.  They didn't have the ability to process information, and speeds were so-so at best.  

Now, with companies like Skype, anyone can communicate with friends and family. Even multiple people at the same time.

In the era of mobility, companies struggle to compete.  So what do they do?  They buy each other out.  Skype, one of the more well known video messaging services, has agreed to buy GroupMe.  GroupMe is a service that lets users make conference calls and text a group of people.

The kicker to this?  Microsoft is still in the process of acquiring Skype, which means, that if the acquisition goes through (and most analysts say it will) that Microsoft will have a great use for the new service.  To a computing software company like Microsoft, the fact that they may have access to a mobile group messaging service like this is extremely important. With steep competition from Apple and Google in the mobile world, and with everything shifting from desktops and laptops to sablets and smartphones, this gives Microsoft a huge advantage.

Although Skype and GroupMe will operate independently right now, the CEO of Skype said that eventually they will merge their technologies.

The world is changing.  Consumers and businesses are going mobile.

To view the full article on the WSJ click the LINK

Video Conferencing: Saving Money While Saving Sales

In this day and age, with all the technology and communication channels out there, it is extremely rare to actually speak to someone face-to-face anymore.  Now most people are probably thinking "I always speak to my friends and family face-to-face."  "When I go out I see people."  That's all fine and dandy, but what about in a business setting?

Many businesses now use instant messaging, e-mail, and the old fashioned mode of contact, the telephone.  The problem with the first two is that it's extremely hard to get the right tone.  Unless you type in capital letters, use emoticons (smiley faces), or actually say the tone you meant, most people wouldn't understand, and could take offense.  The problem with telephones is that most of what people say and do is expressed by body movements and facial expressions.  The movie Hitch said it the best:

"60% of all human communication is nonverbal. Body language. 30% is your tone. So that means that 90% of what you're saying ain't coming out of your mouth."  

So, what does this mean for business?  A LOT!

Many businesses claim to be in the 21st century when they talk about the technology they adopted for their business and for communication purposes.  They talk about how they can have a live person 24/7 to talk to customers, or that they respond through e-mail.  That's great, but it's not enough.  The next step is Video Conferencing.

Video Conferencing is a great way to communicate with clients and customers. It's a great way to communicate with co-workers who are not in the same office or who work remotely.  In fact, businesses that use video conferencing have found they actually save more money.  Think about it.  No need to reimburse employees for gas or rent out a hotel or conference room for employees to go to.  Employees can log onto their computer and open a program, or go to the video conference room and just hit a button.  It's that simple nowadays.

Video Conferencing also comes in handy when you need to see the person you are talking too.  Many people can read body language, and in a sales or interview situation, this is imperative.  Imagine you are talking to a customer on the phone, and everything seems to be going well.  You think the sale is going to go through and you will hit your goal.  The next day, you find out, it isn't going to happen.  Why?  The tone of voice the person was giving out sounded fine, but what about the person's body language?  Wait, yor're on the phone, you can't tell.  Video conferencing allows you to see who you are talking to and essentially, read the person.  How are they sitting?  Are their arms crossed?  Are they leaning back or leaning forward?  What about their attention (are they on their phone or paying attention to you?  These are all things that need to be thought about, yet wiht most companies, it doesn't cross their mind.

In the end, Video conferencing may seem expensive up front, but could help when it comes to making the sale, or saving your business money.  It is one of the few technologies that will help businesses move into the 21st centurty.

To learn more go to http://www.macsourceinc.com/

Next Generation Firewalls

Many companies today don't realize how important security is for their company.  For instance, many companies think that if they don't do credit card transactions, don't allow guests on their network when people come to their company, and block sites like Facebook, that they are secure and nobody can get through their gate.  Unfortunately this is not true.

In today's connected digital world, many companies are allowing their employees to use mobile devices such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets on their network.  With everything being connected, the merging of innovation and ideas come together.  This is great for companies that want to move forward and look towards the future (because everything is going mobile).  But what happens when these devices that are used outside of the business come into it?  It's ok, you have a firewall right?

Just because websites like Facebook are blocked internally and guests cannot access the web at a company, does not mean that company is safe.  Because employees use mobile devices and are using them other places besides work, they are still prone to malicious software.  They could easily go to a coffee shop and play Mafia Wars or Farmville on Facebook, and never know that someone had gotten into their laptop or embedded some malicious software or tracking software on their device through those apps.  Then, when that employee brings the laptop to work, it is on your network.  It found it's way around that great firewall that you have.

So what do you do about this situation?  Lock employee's hardware down so they can't do anything at all no matter where they go?  Wrong.  You get a Next Generation Firewall or NGFW.

A Next Generation Firewall or NGFW allows you to control applications, users, and content, not just ports.  This gives you significantly more protection for your network and allows you to identify threats that you never thought could get it.

Visit our website to learn more.

Weighing Security Risks of Facebook and Other Social Networks for SMBs

Nowadays small businesses with limited funds for marketing and advertising are being forced to open their doors and networks to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.  While these sites are primarily free, they can end up costing a company a lot of money if their network is not properly secured.

Of course all businesses are vulnerable to security breaches and while large corporations are able to take a hit in terms of money being lost, small and medium size businesses do not always have the funds or the manpower to ward off network security vulnerabilities.  According to a study, incidents involving social media (whether its disgruntled employees trying to defame the company or worms and viruses getting on the network) the average amount of money spent is around $4 million.  Most SMBs cannot afford to pay this price.

So, what should small and medium businesses do?  Should they lock down social media sites so no employees can use them?  That's correct right?  Wrong.

SMBs need to have the proper protection.  Most of them use consumer or household level firewalls or other protection.  Many are not aware that these are not good enough to protect their networks and IT infrastructure so they end up being open and vulnerable to attacks and malicious software.

A lot of times all that is needed is the right protection.  What that means is that social networks don't need to be locked down, but instead can be restricted for business use only.  Next Generation Firewalls can help with this.  They can give small and medium business (but also large ones) the right protection and assurance that their network is safe and being used for what they designate it for.

To get a more in depth information click here to read the full article.

Q&A With Palo Alto Networks Founder Nir Zuk.

By Scott Denne

 

After a nine-month search for a new chief executive, Palo Alto Networks Inc. has hired Mark McLaughlin, who was CEO at VeriSign Inc. until he resigned last week. Palo Alto Networks builds firewall appliances that can peer into network traffic, enabling companies to place limits on how their networks connect to the Internet, and personalize how specific employees use certain applications. We sat down with Nir Zuk, the company’s founder and chief technology officer, to talk about where the company is headed and what it was looking for in a new CEO.


Here’s an edited version of the conversation:

Q. Why did it take so long to find a new CEO?

A. We were looking for specific things that are very hard to find. We wanted someone that can put the customer first. You’d be really surprised how many people don’t have a focus on the customer. We talked to many of Mark’s former customers and they all raved about him. We wanted someone with good leadership experience. Mark has that as a West Point graduate, former attack-helicopter pilot and was at several start-ups before VeriSign. Also, it’s really important to me, as a founder, that innovation continue, and not have a CEO who’s going to convert it into a sales and marketing machine. We’re talking about a guy who didn’t come from HP or IBM or one of these behemoths who destroy your passion for innovation.

Q. Why is it so important for the company to remain innovative?

A. It’s all about where you want to get to. If your goals are short-term then yes, turn up sales and marketing and flip the company in a few years. Look at the position Cisco [Systems Inc.] is in now — not just in security, but in everything. If you turn into a sales and marketing machine, your day will come. It may take five or 10 years, but your day will come. We are building a company for the long-term and we have the support of our venture capitalists in doing that.

Q. How are all the security breaches that have been in the news lately affecting how customers think about security?

A. We’ve had the same message to our customers since we started selling four years ago: Look, the competition has not done anything for you in the last 10 or 15 years. They’re selling you the same product again and again and again and again. Customers are starting to realize that and you can see it in the numbers.
Palo Alto Networks has well above $200 million in booking run-rate [meaning that its most recent quarter had more than $50 million in bookings] and over 20 customers that spent more than $1 million. We’re at an inflection point and incumbents can’t survive inflection points in the market. Look at Nokia or Sun or Silicon Graphics. Or even Microsoft, which was never able to get Internet right. Though some survive by moving to a new market like Apple did.

Q. What kind of milestones does Palo Alto Networks need to hit before it will file for an IPO?

A. “We’re thinking about it. It’s about doing what’s best for the company. It’s not tied to any particular milestones.”

Link to original article from The Wall Street Journal

HP reports 56% jump in cybercrime costs

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

The cost to business and government organizations of security and recovery connected to cybercrimes has risen 56 percent in the past year, a study released Tuesday said. The report by Hewlett-Packard Co . (NYSE:HPQ) said cybercrime costs to organizations it surveyed have risen to a median of $5.9 million a year, ranging from a low of $1.5 million to a high of $36.5 million.

Recovery and detection are the most costly internal activities, the report said. Over a four-week period, the organizations surveyed said they experienced 72 successful attacks per week, an increase of nearly 45 percent from last year. More than 90 percent of all cybercrime costs were caused by malicious code, denial of service, stolen devices and Web-based attacks.

The average time to resolve a cyberattack is 18 days, the report said, with an average cost of nearly $416,000. This is nearly a 70 percent increase from the estimated cost of $250,000 over a 14-day resolution period in last year’s study.

Results also showed that malicious insider attacks can be even more costly, taking more than 45 days to contain.

Read Hewlett-Packard's announcement of the cybercrime report findings by clicking here.

Written by Cromwell Schubarth.

Link to original article

Black Hat shows hacker exploits getting more sophisticated

By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY

LAS VEGAS — Fresh evidence that the Internet has become saturated with hacking groups relentlessly striving to crack into company networks grabbed attention as the Black Hat cybersecurity conference got underway here Wednesday.

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  By Sam Ward, USA TODAY

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By Sam Ward, USA TODAY

Anti-virus giant McAfee revealed how a single hacking group, dubbed Shady Rat, has infiltrated at least 72 companies and governments over the past five years, including some 49 victim organizations in the U.S.

And Dell SecureWorks senior researcher Joe Stewartpresented results of his analysis of nearly 1,000 corrupted servers. Stewart isolated 18 servers actively being used to relay information to and from infiltrated PCs inside company networks to command servers in two regions of China.

Security analysts and researchers at the conference say that's the tip of the iceberg. Nation-state spies and cybergangs "are trying to get at sensitive intellectual property and government information every hour and every minute of the day," says Andy Grolnick, chief executive of tech systems-monitoring company LogRythm.

The majority of hacks fail, but "sophistication is increasing, and some are getting through," says Grolnick. "There's value in the data they're trying to get at."

McAfee has been aware of Shady Rat's activities since 2009. Then, last March, Dmitri Alperovitch, McAfee's vice president of threat research, located a server storing a list of successfully infiltrated organizations.

Some 49 of the 72 hacked companies were in the United States, four in Canada and the rest sprinkled through Europe and Asia.

The hackers most likely targeted a specific employee to receive an e-mail carrying an infected Web link or attachment, then tricked the employee into activating the infected link or file, McAfee says.

McAfee declined to name any of the 72 organizations that were infiltrated. The shortest time the hackers remained inside a company's network was less than a month; the longest, 28 months.

Stewart's research zoomed in on two hacking groups going after intellectual property.

"The final destination for all the activity we're seeing is a couple of hubs in China," says Stewart. "It tells us that somebody has invested specific resources to control this operation."

Link to original post on USAToday.com

How Apple (unintentionally) revolutionized corporate IT

IT'S NOT ITS POSH DESKTOPS AND LAPTOPS THAT HAVE CREATED MAJOR CHANGES IN ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY. IT'S MOBILE.

By Aaron Levie, contributor

FORTUNE -- In 1997, Michael Dellfamously declared that if he were CEO of Apple (AAPL), he would close shop and return the money to shareholders. Steve Jobs has had plenty of reasons to gloat since then, but even just a decade ago, Apple was a footnote in the story of modern computing. Despite the company's comeback success with the iMac, the vast majority of 'knowledge workers' still relied on their staid WinTel (Windows + Intel (INTC)) platform, with the occasional marketer, designer or developer opting for Apple's sleeker products. Naturally, Windows PCs were also the familiar, mainstream choice for our personal lives. And so it seemed that Apple would be relegated to devices for the hip digital consumer and creative elite.

But right when we thought we had Apple's place in the market pegged, they changed the world... with a phone. The iPhone's revolutionary combination of powerful apps, full web browsing, and all the media you could consume created an entirely new mobile experience for consumers and workers alike. Apple fed its newfound momentum with a deluge of subsequent products, ranging from updated iMacs to the Macbook Air. And with the iPad, Apple changed the world yet again only 36 months later. Fast forward to today, and Apple sits in the computer world's top position of power, controlling developers, devices, consumers, and much of the industry's overall direction.

Maybe its biggest impact of all, however, was one that Apple didn't necessarily intend.

For the better part of twenty years, Microsoft (MSFT) and a handful of other enterprise behemoths pretty much dominated the vertical stack of solutions that are core to the Fortune 500 and beyond. But if you ask around, not too many individuals or IT leaders are happy about this hegemony. Workers are quickly recognizing the stark contrast between the computing that occurs in their personal lives and the business status quo. In turn, they're bringing their own devices and apps to work, driving the emergence of an all-new technology landscape. This landscape isn't being targeted by Apple in any real way; the complexity, scale, security, and nuances of serving enterprises – not to mention the inherent need to work with all the major (non-Apple) platforms enterprises use – tend to keep Apple from building for this market. But even without making any direct enterprise play, Apple has had a profound influence on technology with its latest string of successes and by raising our standards along the way.

So while Apple isn't intentionally leading an enterprise technology revolution, its products are nonetheless catalyzing one. For instance, 88% of the Fortune 100 are testing or deploying applications on the iPhone last year. The downstream effect of more iPhones and iPads in the enterprise is more sales of Apple's flagship products, with Mac worldwide sales growing by nearly over 28% year over year – as Tim Cook, Apple's COO, puts it, "iPad clearly seems to be creating a halo effect for the Mac."

Why does this matter? Well, once an enterprise adopts iPhones, iPads, and Macs en masse (as they continue to, judging by Apple's most recent quarter), or even Android devices for that matter, many of the existing applications – be it a communication tool from IBM (IBM), or collaboration from Microsoft – serve less productive purposes given the new way people are working. The toolset today's workers interact with on an ongoing basis is experiencing a wholesale transition – a transition that's introducing us to the iEnterprise.

Take, for instance, Procter & Gamble (PG), who came to Box.net in 2008 looking for a solution that could help employees connect to and collaborate on their content remotely, when no existing vendor would suffice. Fast-forward to 2011, and they're now deploying Box cloud content management to 18,000 individuals, in large part due to the proliferation of new platforms and devices that have emerged in just the past couple of years. The same story is true for businesses of all sizes and industries, ranging from Pandora (P) to Dole. It's why we've seen adoption in 73% of the Fortune 500. And we're clearly not the only ones benefiting from and driving this dramatic evolution of needs and demands in the enterprise.

The iEnterprise isn't, as the moniker suggests, about enterprises that just implement products designed in Cupertino. It's about a fundamental change in how our enterprise technology is supported, adopted, and consumed. It's about the technology in our personal lives influencing and changing expectations in our professional lives. The iEnterprise isn't necessarily the convergence of the tools we use in these two worlds, but rather the consistency of ideals.

While Steve Jobs introduces new products with words like "delightful" and "amazing," this vocabulary is nonexistent within the enterprise software set. There are a number of reasons for this. There's often a lack of passion, and even a bit of apathy, that shows in the final product. Applications and services feel bloated and uninspiring. The apps and hardware that we spend most of our waking hours with - and the most money on - tend to be the most complex, clunky, and unnerving.

But like Apple, the iEnterprise is about vendors building technology that excites and surprises users. It's about solutions that work together, and about open ecosystems. It's about marketplaces that compete to win, and innovate to compete – a major break from the status quo, where vendor lock-in enables long cycles of limited product enhancements, simply because the customer has nowhere else to go (Redmond, ahem).

We're especially seeing it show up in the changing mobility of our enterprise offerings. Mobility used to be defined by quick and easy access to email or a conference call, led by Blackberry in the '90s and early '00s. The iPhone and iPad took this much further, and dozens of popular Android devices are now even making their way into large corporations. We're further seeing it with HP (HPQ) and its WebOS platform. Businesses can enable access to critical data, projects, or content through services like Salesforce and Roambi, Basecamp and Yammer, or Box, respectively.

The iEnterprise is also about broadly useful, powerful platforms that connect and become enhanced through integration: cloud-delivered applications like Salesforce (CRM) to run your sales organization will connect to your business information on Box or HR information on Workday; Netsuite will plug into your social software from Yammer; GoodData will help visualize your client community results from GetSatisfaction; and Assistly plugs your customer support flow into Google Apps, which wraps all of this up in a robust marketplace for businesses. The mixing and matching of services that's common in our personal lives is now extending to the enterprise, and in turn driving vastly more open solutions that are changing the enterprise landscape.

No, the Windows franchise isn't going anywhere. Inertia alone gives Microsoft another decade as the de facto enterprise operating system and software provider. With minimal innovation this could be extended even longer, but Apple has already made a profound impact by pushing us to rethink technology's role in our lives. It's changing the whole industry, and will have a lasting impact on our businesses.

We have higher and more pronounced expectations for how technology can transform our personal lives – and now our business lives, making us more productive and connected than ever before. Welcome to the iEnterprise.

--Aaron Levie is the CEO and co-founder of Box.net.

Link to original article