An IT Support Blog from London

Insider threats: An unsavoury but unavoidable truth

When it comes to productivity and information security, insider threats are perhaps some of the most unsavoury considerations for a firm. Any business owner or senior executive would prefer to think they can implicitly trust the people that they pay but, unfortunately, it simply isn’t possible to ignore the risk of employee misbehaviour.

User Activity Monitoring (UAM) is a process that is enabled by productivity monitoring software, PMS. These applications are designed to track and record every action performed by a user. The software outputs a log file in plain English (rather than technobabble) and a video file that enables the firm to view each user’s onscreen actions.

The problem with simple passwords

The issue of passwords is something of an evergreen problem for technology users. People often choose obvious, simple passwords that are easy to remember. Research has shown that a group of 10,000 words are used by 98.8% of people as passwords. This means that a hacker with software written for the purpose could automate the process of trying every one of these, something known as a ‘brute force’ attack, and would be certain of being able to hack into almost 99 out of every 100 accounts.

If the writing isn’t quite on the wall the signs may well be there!

In many firms, IT is a tricky area. It’s complex, costly and impossible to ignore. It needs continual vigilance and good oversight to make sure it functions well. One of the biggest headaches is support.

Clarity and truth on some cloud computing myths

A lot has been said and written about cloud computing. Some is true, and some is not. Here we help to provide clarity about the subject by dispelling 5 myths about the cloud.

Myth 1: The cloud is insecure

The myth persists that the cloud is somehow insecure. In fact, the cloud is more secure because security measures in place at properly secured cloud data centres exceed those found in the vast majority of ordinary business premises.

The problem with big companies for consumers

We’ve all been there, particularly when dealing with personal consumer affairs. We are unhappy with the service we receive from a great big company that we deal with, like a telecoms provider, an energy supplier or an e-commerce giant. We try to get the company to rectify the situation, we may often find that we are still not satisfied that the outcome is fair.

Cost analysis reveals the indisputable truth

Today, boxing is a questionable sport. To many, the risk of serious injury and death to its participants simply makes it unacceptable. To some, it seems anachronistic and it does perhaps belong to a different time because it harks back to the gladiatorial spectacles of an older human civilisation.

Greater emphasis on Support rather than IT skills

That’s a slightly provocative title for this blog. After all, there are two elements here. ‘IT’ refers to the technical bit, the ‘hard’ skills, while ‘Support’ speaks to the ‘soft’ skills of dealing with people, the context of any problem and managing it through to resolution.

For any given problem to be resolved within an acceptable time-frame requires the support person to be able to deliver on both counts equally well.

So why do we make the assertion that there is a greater emphasis on Support skills rather than IT skills?

National publicity for council ransomware attack

In January it was nationally reported that Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) had fallen victim to a ransomware attack which rendered it unable to access systems and data for a week. Across the authority, as many as 5,000 staff had to revert to manual processes using pen and paper.

The cybercriminals had performed data ‘kidnapping’ by infecting LCC systems and encrypting the data. The data remained on the organisation’s infrastructure but was rendered inaccessible. The ransom demand for its safe release by providing the decryption key was set at the princely sum of $500 (£350).

Tablets conquer the world in less than 7 years

Today’s tablets are powerful, flexible and handy computing devices. It’s hard to think that the first tablet to gain popular mainstream acceptance, the original Apple iPad, only debuted on April 3rd 2010.

Since then the market has exploded with devices from the big hardware manufacturers as well as those from hundreds of new market entrant brands. There are a lot of size options and the smallest 3/4G capable ones blur the line between the phone and the tablet – quite literally where does the tablet end and the smartphone begin?

Tablet computers are ubiquitous and seem to have conquered practically all markets. But can you run a business from one?

IT staffing ratio - how do the numbers stack up?

In a company of perhaps 20 people or so, many will have taken the view that staff numbers mean there is enough work to recruit an IT manager. However, what do you do before you reach this size?

Many small companies choose to engage external consultants to provide hands-on support. Often these are solo operators, one-man bands. While they may be competent and well-intentioned, there are a number of inherent problems which may prevent them from responding with the appropriate service levels you need to run your business.