What is a denial of service attack? How to prevent denial of service attacks?

Denial of service (DoS) attacks can disrupt organizations’ networks and websites, resulting in the loss of businesses. These attacks can be catastrophic for any organization, business, or institution. DoS attacks can force a company into downtime for almost 12 hours, resulting in immense loss of revenue. The Information Technology (IT) industry has seen a rapid increase in denial of service attacks. Years ago, these attacks were perceived as minor attacks by novice hackers who did it for fun, and it was not so difficult to mitigate them. But now, the DoS attack is a sophisticated activity cybercriminals use to target businesses.

This article will discuss the denial of service attacks in detail, how it works, the types and impacts of DoS attacks, and how to prevent them. Let’s get started.

What is a denial of service (DoS) attack?

A denial of service (DoS) attack is designed to slow down networks or systems, making them inaccessible to users. Devices, information systems, or other resources on a machine or network, such as online accounts, email, e-commerce websites, and more, become unusable during a denial of service attack. Data loss or direct theft may not be the primary goal of a DoS attack. However, it can potentially damage the targeted organization financially because it spends a lot of time and money to get back to its position. Loss of business, reputational harm, and frustrated customers are additional costs to a targeted organization.

Victims of denial of service attacks often include web servers of high-profile enterprises, such as media companies, banks, government, or trade organizations. During a DoS attack, the targeted organization experiences an interruption in one or more services because the attack has flooded their resources through HTTP traffic and requests, denying access to authorized users. It’s among the top four security threats of recent times, including ransomware, social engineering, and supply chain attacks.

How does a denial of service attack work?

Unlike a malware or a virus attack, a denial of service attack does not need a social program to execute. However, it takes advantage of an inherent vulnerability in the system and how a computer network communicates. In denial of service attacks, a system is triggered to send malicious code to hundreds and thousands of servers. This action is usually performed using tools, such as a botnet.

A botnet can be a network of private systems infected with the malicious code controlled as a group, without the individuals knowing it. The server that can’t tell that the requests are fake sends back its response and waits up to a minute to get a reply in each case. And after not getting any response, the server shuts down the connection, and the system executing the attack again sends a new batch of fake requests. A DoS attack mainly affects enterprises and how they run in an interconnected world. The attack hinders access to information and services on their systems for customers.

Types of denial of service attacks

Here are some common types of denial of service (DoS) attacks.

1. Volumetric attacks

It is a type of DoS attack where the entire network bandwidth is consumed so the authorized users can’t get the resources. It is achieved by flooding the network devices, such as switches or hubs, with various ICMP echo requests or reply packets, so the complete bandwidth is utilized, and no other user can connect with the target network.

2. SYN Flooding

It’s an attack where the hacker compromises multiple zombies and floods the target through various SYN packets simultaneously. The target will be inundated with the SYN requests, causing the server to go down or the performance to be reduced drastically.

3. DNS amplification

In this type of DoS attack, an attacker generates DNS requests appearing to originate from an IP address in the targeted network and sends requests to misconfigured DNS servers managed by a third party. The amplification occurs due to intermediate servers responding to the fake submissions. The responses generated from the intermediate DNS servers may contain more data, requiring more resources to process. It can result in authorized users facing denied access issues.

4. Application layer

This DoS attack generates fake traffic to internet application servers, particularly Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or domain name system (DNS). Some application layer attacks flood the target server with the network data, and others target the victim’s application protocol or server, searching for vulnerabilities.

Impact of denial of service attacks

It can be difficult to distinguish an attack from heavy bandwidth consumption or other network connectivity. However, some common effects of denial of service attacks are as follows.

1. Inability to load a particular website due to heavy flow of traffic
2. A typically slow network performance, such as a long loading time for websites or files
3. A sudden connectivity loss across multiple devices on the same network.
4. Legitimate users can’t access resources and cannot find the information required to act.
5. Repairing a website targeted by a denial of service attack takes time and money.

How to prevent denial of service attacks?

Here are some practical ways to prevent a DoS attack.

• Limit broadcasting_ A DoS attack often sends requests to all devices on the network that amplify the attack. Limiting the broadcast forwarding can disrupt attacks. Moreover, users can also disable echo services where possible.
• Prevent spoofing_ Check that the traffic has a consistent source address with the set of lessons and use filters to stop the dial-up connection from copying.
• Protect endpoints_ Make sure that all endpoints are updated and patched to eliminate the known vulnerabilities.
• Streamline incident response_ Honing the incident response can help the security team respond to the denial of service attacks quickly and efficiently.
• Configure firewall and routers_ Routers and firewalls must be configured to reject the bogus traffic. Keep your firewalls and routers updated with the latest security patches.
• Enroll in a DoS protection service_ detecting the abnormal traffic flows and redirecting them away from the network. Thus the DoS traffic is filtered out, and the clean traffic is passed on to the network.
• Create a disaster recovery plan_ to ensure efficient and successful communication, mitigation, and recovery if an attack occurs, having a disaster recovery plan is important.

Conclusion

This article has looked at the denial of service attacks and how to prevent them. A DoS attack is designed to make networks or systems inaccessible to users. The most effective way to be safe from these attacks is to be proactive. Protected Harbor’s complete security control offers 99.99% uptime, remote monitoring, 24×7 available tech-team, remote backup, and recovery, ensuring no DoS attack on your organization. Protected Harbor is providing a free IT and cybersecurity audit for a limited time. Contact us today and get secured.

Office 365 Backup – Does Office 365 backup your data?

If you think that Microsoft Office 365 backs up your data, it is not more than a misconception. It is a secure platform but does not provide backup. Microsoft has built-in backup features and redundancy, but that is only within their internal data centers for recovery, not for the customers to back up their data.

If you read their service agreement, they mentioned storing your data using third-party services. You can keep the files somewhere else on your system following the cardinal 3-2-1 backup rule. Office 365 does not meet the backup criteria.

Office 365 redundancy VS Backup

Backup of data means duplicating the files and storing them in different locations. If a disaster happens and your data gets lost, a copy of the missing or lost file is available in another place. For example, if you delete a file intentionally or unintentionally and want it back, you should have the option to back up and restore it.

Although Microsoft offers the security of your data, there are several cases when critical data can be compromised. It is crucial to have a backup from a third party in such cases.

Microsoft offers redundancy, which means if a disaster happens to one data center and fails to manage the data, another data center is located in other geographical regions to back up your data. They can execute such redirects without realizing the end-users. But if you or someone in your organization deletes a file or an email intentionally or accidentally, office 365 will simultaneously delete the data from all the regions and data centers.

So, that’s why one should regularly back up their data as Microsoft recommends to its users. It is a shared responsibility to secure and protect the data because it’s your data, and you should take steps to protect it.

Reasons for the Data Loss in Office 365

As businesses increasingly rely on Office 365 to manage their data, it’s essential to understand the risks of data loss and how to prevent it. One of the most significant factors contributing to data loss is the sheer amount of data that companies generate. Without proper backup options, losing important information during a system failure or data corruption is easy.

Ransomware infections are also a major threat. They can encrypt files and demand payment to release them, leaving businesses with few options but to pay the ransom or suffer significant data loss. Incremental and differential backups are crucial for ensuring business continuity, as they allow companies to quickly recover data from a backup without restoring an entire system.

Using backup software and external hard drives for backup storage can provide an extra layer of protection against data loss. Storing backups in a remote location can help protect against physical disasters like fires or floods.

A reliable backup service can provide 24-hour protection and ensure that backups are always up-to-date. It’s also important to have a disaster recovery plan in place to minimize the impact of data loss on business operations and ensure that full backups and disaster recovery (DR) solutions are available when needed.

There are rare chances that Microsoft loses the data, but data loss from the end-user is widespread. Microsoft tries its best to protect the user’s data, but the most common reason is human error. Data loss has become a new normal, whether an email or a company document.

From human error to malicious attacks, there could be a lot of reasons that can result in data loss. Here, we will discuss them in detail and illustrate the benefit of backing up data using a third-party service.

Human Error

Accidental deletion is the primary human error due to which data can get lost. One can accidentally delete important emails, files, documents, or any critical data in office 365. Human error falls into two categories, one is accidental, and the other is intentional.

Sometimes, people delete the file or data by thinking that there is no need for it anymore, but after some time, they are suddenly in need of it. In most cases, the platforms have a retention policy through which you can restore the files from the trash. But for some of them, like contact entries and calendar events, there is no option of recovery from the recycle bin.

In such a situation, Microsoft does not provide you the facility to recover the lost files as they delete them for their data centers. They have no authority to protect you from yourself. If you want to overcome such difficult situations, you must have a backup at your side.

Malware or Software Corruption

Malware and virus attacks affect the organization globally, and office 365 is also susceptible to malicious attacks. The primary cause behind such attacks is opening or downloading the infected files. Ransomware attacks are the reason for data loss, office 365 has protection features against these attacks, but there is no guarantee that it will detect the infections every time.

Moreover, software corruption is another reason for data loss. For example, a user wants to update or install office 365, and then suddenly, a problem arises that can also cause damage.

Internal and External Security Threats

Organizations face many security threats that can either be internal or external. Internal security threats mean that sometimes a terminated employee knowing the company’s assets, threatens the organization or deletes the data. It can bring a lot of harm to an organization, and Microsoft, without knowing the reason, deletes the file from their data centers.

And by external security threats, we mean malicious and ransomware attacks through which companies and organizations suffer colossal damage. It damages the reputation of the company and breaks the customer’s trust.

Do you need an Office 365 backup solution?

As discussed in this article, Microsoft does not provide a backup for deleted data. However, if data loss occurs at their end, they offer redundancy by keeping the data in multiple regions. Third-party backup is necessary to protect the data against accidental or intentional loss and malicious attacks.

You can back up the data by placing it independently from your system and Microsoft servers. Since we are talking about Microsoft products here are some common vulnerabilities of Microsoft’s products.

Office 365 backup is a great way to ensure that your data is safe in the event of a disaster. However, many small to medium-sized companies don’t have the resources or infrastructure to back up their data independently.

That’s when Protected Harbor comes in; we are the experts in the industry, creating flexible solutions for your needs, including data backup and disaster recovery, remote monitoring, cybersecurity, etc. The top brands are serving customers with one-size-fits-all solutions; we don’t. Contact us today to make your data safer.

Why is cloud cost optimization a business priority?

For businesses leveraging cloud technology, cost optimizations should be a priority. Cloud computing helps organizations boost flexibility, increase agility, improve performance, and provide ongoing cost optimization and scalability opportunities. Users of cloud service providers like Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure should understand the ways to cloud cost optimization. This article will discuss why cloud cost optimization should be a business priority.

What is cloud cost optimization?

Cloud cost optimization reduces the overall cloud expense by right-sizing computing services, identifying mismanaged resources, reserving capacity for high discounts, and eliminating waste. It provides ways to execute applications in the cloud, leveraging cloud services cost-efficiently and providing value to businesses at the lowest possible cost. Cost optimization should be a priority for every organization as it helps maximize business benefits by optimizing their cloud spending.

Here are some of the most common reasons cloud cost optimization is a business priority:

1. Rightsize the computing resources efficiently

AWS cloud support and many other cloud providers offer various instance types suited for different workloads. AWS offers savings plans and reserved instances, allowing users to pay upfront and thus reduce cost. Azure has reserved user discounts, and Google Cloud Platform provides committed user discounts. There are multiple cases where application managers and developers choose incorrect instance sizes and suboptimal instance families, leading to oversized instances. Make sure your company chooses the proper cloud storage that aligns well and is the right fit based on your business requirements.

2. Improves employee’s productivity and performance

When engineers or developers do not need to deal with many features to optimize, they can easily focus on their primary role. Implementing cloud cost optimization can free up the DevOps teams from constantly putting out fires, taking much of their time. Cloud optimization lets you spend most of the time and skills on the right task to mitigate risks and ensure that your services and applications perform well in the cloud.

3. Provides deep insights and visibility

A robust cloud cost optimization strategy affects the overall business performance by bringing more visibility. Cloud expenditures are structured and monitored efficiently to detect unused resources and scale the cost ratio for your business. Cloud cost optimization discovers the underutilized features, resources, and mismanaged tools. Deep insights and visibility reduce unnecessary cloud costs while optimizing cloud utilization. Cloud cost optimization does reduce not only price but also balances cost and performance.

4. Allocate budget efficiently

Cloud cost optimization eliminates the significant roadblocks, such as untagged costs, shared resources, etc. It gives a cohesive view and accurate information about business units, cost centers, products, and roles. It becomes easier for organizations to map their budget and resources accurately with complete financial information. It gives businesses the power to analyze billing data and the ability to charge back by managing resources efficiently.

5. Best practices implementation

Cloud cost optimization provides businesses to apply best practices, such as security, visibility, and accountability. A good cloud optimization process allows organizations to reduce resource wastage, identify risks, plan future strategies efficiently, reduce spending on the cloud, and forecast costs and resource requirements.

Final words

Cloud cost optimization is not a process that can happen overnight. However, it can be introduced and optimized over time. Cloud computing has a lot of potentials, but organizations should pay attention to cost optimization to take full advantage. It’s not a complicated task but requires a disciplined approach to establish good rightsizing habits and drive insights and action using analytics to lower cloud costs.

Enterprises can control expenses, implement good governance, and stay competitive by prioritizing Cloud cost optimization. Cloud costs must be viewed as more than just a cost to be managed. A good cloud cost strategy allows firms to better plan for the future and estimate cost and resource requirements.

Protected Harbor is one of the US’s top IT and cloud services providers. It partners with businesses and provides improved flexibility, productivity, scalability, and cost-control with uncompromised security. Our dedicated team of IT experts takes pride in delivering unique solutions for your satisfaction. We know the cloud is the future. We work with companies to get them there without the hassle; contact us today, move to the cloud.

Google Workspace, Slack, or Microsoft Teams: Which is safest for your business?

With the onset of the pandemic and transformation in workplace behaviors, remote work has reached a climax. Many companies face the same question – what is the best collaboration tool for working at home? Businesses are rushing to use collaborative software to keep their productivity high in these uncertain times.

There are many options, but we decided to delve deeper into; Google Workspace vs. Slack vs. Microsoft Teams’ positive and negative security features.

Microsoft Team Positive Features

• Teams enforces team-expansive and organization-wide two-factor authentication
• Single sign-on through Active Directory and data encryption in transit and at rest.

Microsoft Team Negative Features

• A flaw in Microsoft Teams could allow a hostile actor to view a victim’s chats and steal sensitive data. An actor might set up a malicious tab in an unpatched version of Teams that would provide them access to their private documents and communications when opened by the victim. (Source: the daily swig)
• Users in teams do not have the structure from the beginning. You don’t know which channels you need or which channels you should build most of the time. The maximum number of channels per team has been limited to 100. This feature should not be a problem for smaller units, but it may cause difficulties for larger groups. When the predefined limit is exceeded, specific channels must be terminated.
• Over time, users get increasingly accustomed to and proficient at what they do. You can’t switch channels or reproduce teams right now; thus, creating Team blocks isn’t very flexible. This frequently wastes time because manual replications become the only option.

Slack Positive Features

• Improve communication between departments and improve the ability to contact and notify people quickly. The user interface has a unique look and feels with various color schemes.
• This speeds up the update process, and the two-factor authentication provided by Google Authenticator is reliable and error-free.
• Using Slack on mobile devices is as easy as using the desktop version, and the huddle feature makes it even more convenient.

Slack Negative Features

• 1 Working with larger teams is not a good experience as you might experience glitches and connection unreliability now and then.
• Searching should be enhanced; it is currently unorganized. Grouping allows you to evaluate if the findings are helpful in the future. DMs, for example, and channels are examples.
• Notifications for mobile and desktop don’t always operate in sync. The system is also out of sync when going from desktop to mobile. There’s a lack of consistency in the workflow there.

Google Workspace Positive features

• Focus on collaboration: Google workspace is a dream for companies that need intensive cooperation in many ways.
• It’s based on the cloud and is always connected to Google’s cloud storage and file-sharing platform, Drive.
• Email: Gmail referrals are rarely needed. It is the world’s most popular email client, strengthening its market position with excellent security tools, an easy-to-use interface, and numerous features ideal for business and personal use.

Google Workspace Negative Features

• Document conversion issues: You may have problems converting Google Sheets and documents to Microsoft documents and PDF formats. You need to find a third-party app to help with the conversion. There’s something a little…flat about Google workspace and Docs integration. Yes, it’s a word processor, so there’s not much to do with it, but the compatibility issues hinder the experience.
• Takes hours: It may take some time to import data or documents from other external sources into the system. File management is a pain. The entire process feels clumsy, leading to a great deal of disorganization inside our company.
• Instead of downloading individual software onto your mobile device, you’d wish there was an option to download the complete Gsuite into one app. Because Gsuite is essentially confined within a single browser, users expect all apps to be in one spot.

Technology has gone far over the years, and the effect from the COVID 19 gave birth to the introduction of several electronic offices where members of an organization can meet and discuss issues they could have done when they physically met. This work has compared the pros and cons of each platform and is considering Google Workspace with its specific qualities and consideration of future security.

Solution: Create a high-speed remote desktop hosted virtually on a private server… like we have.. what a coincidence…

Uptime is a Priority for Every Business

In today’s highly competitive market, it becomes tough to stand out. Businesses are desperately struggling to get any advantage over competitors in your market space, even a small one. There is a lot of talk about speed, security, or cost, but an even more critical factor that web software companies don´t fully value: uptime.

What is uptime?

You may have already heard the word “uptime” at a conference or read it in an article. The uptime is when a web page stays connected online each day, and it is listed as an average percentage, for example, 99.7%. There is also its evil twin, downtime, which is the number of seconds, minutes, or hours that a website is not working, preventing users from accessing it.

Also, uptime is the best way to measure the quality of a web hosting provider or a server. If the provider shows a high uptime rate, it guarantees good performance.

Why should uptime be a priority for my company?

Consider what you’d feel if you tried to access a webpage on your computer, but it wouldn’t load. What would be your initial impression of that website? According to studies, 88 percent of online users are hesitant to return to a website after a negative first impression. What good is it to invest so much time, money, and effort on your website if no one visits it? What’s the purpose of working on a website if it doesn’t work when it matters most?

All hosting and server businesses often offer high uptime rates, but the trees do not obscure the forest. Although 99 percent may appear to be a large number, it indicates that your website may be down for over two hours over a week, which would be devastating to a heavily trafficked website.

When it comes to uptime, you must consider every second because you never know if a second of downtime could make a difference compared to your competitors’ websites. Those critical seconds result in a loss of Internet traffic, financial loss, a drop in Google SEO ranking, and a loss of reputation, among other issues.

Even a difference between 99.90% and 99.99% in uptime can be crucial. In the first case, your website would suffer downtime of 11 minutes per week, while with an uptime of 99.99%, your web page’s rest would be reduced to only one minute per week. It may cost more money to get that efficiency advantage, but it’s worth the investment.

Perfection is impossible

Despite what has already been stated, you must be aware that no one, not even the best provider in the world, can guarantee absolute perfection, especially since servers are still physical machines susceptible to external (hacking attacks, power outages, or natural disasters) as well as internal (human errors, DNS or CMS problems, hardware/software problems, server overloads) threats that can bring your website offline.

It would be best if you also remembered that these dangers are unpredictable events, and although we can prepare contingency plans, we will never know the exact moment when the threat will arrive. The world isn’t perfect, and your website won’t be up and running 100% of the time forever and ever.

It is also essential to understand that not all downtime is the same. For example, scheduled server maintenance from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. is very different and less damaging than an unexpected drop at noon. That is why it’s highly recommended to save and use backups of your website precisely for these emergencies and choose a good provider.

The best solution

The safest way that providers offer us to guarantee an excellent uptime is the dedicated server hosting as a service. You will enjoy full and exclusive access to the server, using all its resources to optimize your website to the maximum without having to share it with anyone.

You can configure your dedicated server hosting to your liking from the control panel (though make sure your provider also has 24/7 technical support for possible eventualities); you have more hosting space and capacity that you can use as you wish; you don’t have to worry about the hardware (which the provider takes care of), and they are flexible enough to manage high-visibility pages, reducing vulnerabilities.

Among other valuable tips, it would be an excellent idea to use a website monitoring service to monitor the performance of your site 24/7, receiving an immediate notification if downtime occurs. Additionally, this is a handy way to verify the reliability of your hosting provider’s warranties.

Another practical option is to use a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to download the portion of your website’s content to servers that are closer to your users geographically. CDNs are very useful for increasing a website’s speed and, more importantly, reducing the number of events that cause downtime, thus freeing up space on your primary server and reducing tension. Check with your hosting provider to see whether a CDN is included in their package.

A dedicated hosting server may seem like a relatively expensive solution, but keeping your website online for as long as possible is worth all the necessary investments.

Conclusion

Current trends reveal tremendous pressure to maintain and improve high uptime rates, with sustained growth in demand over the last decade. In the future, experts hope that it will be possible to achieve an uptime of 100% since, with the arrival of the Internet of Things (IoT), this requirement will become essential for our daily lives.

A reliable hosting provider provides you with state-of-the-art server infrastructure and ensures a smooth performance of day-to-day business operations. Compared to traditional or shared hosting, which is resource-limited and lacks reliability, VPS hosting features a fully dedicated private server for your exclusive use. This makes it ideal for startups and médium to large businesses seeking an affordable eCommerce web hosting service in the US to fulfill their essential needs of running a successful online business.

One of the most common questions we’re asked at Protected Harbor is, “what kind of uptime can I expect from your hosting?” It’s not a wrong question — when choosing a hosting service for business, you want to know that your website or servers will be available.

We are the Uptime monitoring specialists. We monitor the uptime of your sites and applications to detect downtime before you or your users do. Contact us today to know how with a dedicated and experienced team, we deliver unmatched flexibility, reliability, safety, and security and exceed clients’ expectations.

What is Cybersecurity Mesh?

Have you come across the term “cybersecurity mesh”? Some consider it one of the most important trends in cloud security and other cyber concerns today.

One of the newest cybersecurity buzzwords is cybersecurity mesh, one of Gartner’s top strategic technology trends for 2022 and beyond. Cybersecurity mesh, as a concept, is a new approach to a security architecture that allows scattered companies to deploy and expand protection where it’s most needed, allowing for higher scalability, flexibility, and reliable cybersecurity control. The growing number of cybersecurity threats inspires new security solutions, such as cybersecurity mesh, which is one such modern innovation. The security mesh enables fundamental distributed policy enforcement and provides easy-to-use composable tools that may be plugged into the mesh from any location.

• Organizations that use a cybersecurity mesh architecture will see a 90 percent reduction in the cost impact of security incidents by 2024, according to Gartner.

Understanding Cybersecurity Mesh

Cybersecurity mesh is a cyber defense approach that uses firewalls and network protection solutions to secure each device with its boundary. Many security approaches guarantee a whole IT environment with a single perimeter, while a cybersecurity mesh takes a more holistic approach.

“Location independence” and “Anywhere operations” will be a crucial trend in the aftermath of the Covid-19 epidemic. This trend will continue as more and more organizations realize that remote working is more viable and cost-effective. Because firms’ assets are outside the traditional security perimeter, their security strategies must develop to meet modern requirements. The notion of cybersecurity mesh is based on a distributed approach to network and infrastructure security that allows the security perimeter to be defined around the identities of people and machines on the web. This security design creates smaller and more individual circumferences around each access point.

Companies can use cybersecurity mesh to ensure that each access point’s security is handled correctly from a single point of authority, allowing for centralized security rules and dispersed enforcement. Such a strategy is ideal for businesses that operate from “anywhere.” This also means that cybersecurity mesh is a component of a Zero Trust security strategy. With tight identity verification and authorization, humans and machines may safely access devices, services, data, and applications anywhere.

What Are The Benefits of Cybersecurity Mesh

It is recommended that organizations handle decentralized identity, access management, IAM professional services, and identity proofing when addressing their most critical IT security and risk priorities. The following are some of the ways that cybersecurity mesh can be beneficial:

Cybersecurity mesh will support over 50 percent of IAM requests: Traditional security strategies are complicated because most digital assets, identities, and devices are outside the company today. Gartner expects that cybersecurity mesh will handle the bulk of IAM requests and provide a more precise, mobile, and adaptable unified access management paradigm for IAM demands. Compared to traditional security perimeter protection, the mesh architecture provides organizations with a more integrated, scalable, flexible, and dependable solution to digital asset access points and control.

Delivering IAM services will make managed security service providers (MSSPs) more prominent: MSSP organizations can provide businesses with the resources and skillsets to plan, develop, purchase, and deploy comprehensive IAM solutions. By 2023, MSSPs that focus on delivering best-of-breed solutions with an integrated strategy will drive 40% of IAM application convergence; this process will move the emphasis from product suppliers to service partners.

The workforce identity life cycle will include tools for identity verification: Because of the significant growth in distant interactions, which makes it harder to distinguish between attackers and legitimate users, more robust enrollment and recovery methods are urgently needed. According to Gartner, 30 percent of big companies will use new identity-proofing systems by 2024 to address typical flaws in worker identification life cycle processes.

Standards for decentralized identity emerge: Privacy, assurance, and pseudonymity are hampered by centralized ways to maintain identification data. According to the mesh model’s decentralized approach, blockchain technology protects anonymity and allows individuals to confirm information requests by providing the requestor with the least required information. Gartner estimates that by 2024, the market will have a genuinely global, portable, decentralized identity standard to address business, personal, social, societal, and identity-invisible use cases.

Demographic bias will be minimized in identity proofing: Document-centric approaches to identity proofing have piqued the interest of many businesses. The rise of remote work in 2020 highlighted how bias based on race, gender, and other traits could manifest themselves in online use cases. As a result, by 2022, 95% of businesses will demand that identity-proofing companies demonstrate that they minimize demographic bias.

How to Implement Cybersecurity Mesh

The future of cybersecurity mesh appears to be promising. For example, Gartner estimated in October 2021 that this design would help minimize the cost impact of security events by 90% on average over the next five years. By 2025, Gartner expects it to serve more than half of all identification and access requests.

Mesh can therefore make a difference. How can you make the most of it? One method is to develop a roadmap for integrating cloud security and other technologies. This single, integrated solution can maintain zero trust and other critical defensive measures. It will be easier to create and enforce policies if this is done. It will also be accessible for security personnel to keep track of their assets.
Furthermore, IT teams can enhance this work by ensuring that basic protections are in place. Besides multi-factor authentication, Protected Harbor recommended data loss prevention, identity administration and management, SIEM, and more.

Conclusion

In the following years, the concept of cybersecurity mesh will be a significant trend, and it will provide some critical security benefits that standard cybersecurity techniques do not. As more businesses begin to digitize their assets and migrate to cloud computing environments, they recognize the need to protect sensitive data. Beyond the existing physical limits, the cybersecurity mesh will provide better, more flexible, and scalable protection to secure their digital transformation investments.

Protect your critical data assets, talk to Protected Harbor’s cybersecurity specialists about the notion of cybersecurity mesh and other advanced security solutions like remote monitoring, geoblocking, protected data centers, and much more.

What is IoT? Everything you need to know

Kevin Ashton created the term “Internet of Things,” or IoT, in 1999. However, it wasn’t until Gartner added IoT to its list of new emerging technologies in 2011 that it began to acquire traction on a worldwide scale. There will be 21.7 billion active connected devices globally by 2021, with IoT devices accounting for more than 11.7 billion (54 percent). This means that there are more IoT devices than non-IoT devices globally.

The Internet of Things impacts everyday life in various ways, including connected vehicles, virtual assistants, intelligent refrigerators, and intelligent robotics. But what exactly does the phrase imply? What are some of the benefits and challenges of the Internet of Things?

What is IoT?

The term “Internet of Things” is abbreviated as “IoT.” It refers to network-enabled devices and smart objects that have been given unique identities and are connected to the Internet so that they can communicate with one another, accept orders, and share with their owners; for example, when the butter in the intelligent refrigerator runs out, a grocery list may be updated. In a nutshell, this is the process of connecting items or machines. Simple domestic appliances to industrial instruments are among the networked devices that can be used.

Applications can be automated, and activities can be conducted or finished without human participation, thanks to the Internet of Things. Smart objects are internet-connected items. More than 7 billion IoT devices are currently connected, with analysts predicting that this number will climb to 22 billion by 2025.

How does IoT work?

An IoT ecosystem comprises web-enabled smart devices that gather, send, and act on data from their surroundings using embedded systems such as CPUs, sensors, and communication hardware. By connecting to an IoT gateway or other edge device, IoT devices can share sensor data that is routed to the cloud for analysis or examined locally. These devices may communicate with one another and occasionally act on the information they receive. Although individuals can use devices to set them up, give them instructions, or retrieve data, the gadgets do most of the work without human participation.

In a nutshell, the Internet of Things operates as follows:

• Sensors, for example, are part of the hardware that collects data about devices.
• The data collected by the sensors is then shared and combined with software via the cloud.
• After that, the software analyzes the data and sends it to users via an app or a website.

Why is the Internet of Things (IoT) important?

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become one of the most essential technologies of the twenty-first century. Now that we can connect common objects to the internet via embedded devices, such as mobile phones, cars/trucks, and healthcare devices, seamless communication between people, processes, and things are conceivable.

Thanks to low-cost computers, the cloud, big data, analytics, and mobile technologies, material things can share and collect data with minimal human interaction. Digital systems can record, monitor, and alter interactions between related stuff in today’s hyper-connected environment. The physical and digital worlds collide, but they work together.

What is the Industrial Internet of Things, and how does it work?

The usage of IoT technology in a corporate setting is referred to as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0. The concept is similar to that of consumer IoT devices in the house. Still, the goal here is to analyze and optimize industrial processes using a combination of sensors, wireless networks, big data, AI, and analytics.

With just-in-time delivery of supplies and production management from start to finish, the impact may be considerably higher if implemented across a complete supply chain rather than just individual enterprises. Increased labor efficiency and cost savings are two possible goals, but the IIoT can also open up new revenue streams for organizations; manufacturers can also provide predictive engine maintenance instead of only selling a solitary product, such as an engine.

What are the benefits of using IoT?

The Internet of Things has made it possible for the physical and digital worlds to collaborate and communicate. It provides several advantages to businesses by automating and simplifying their daily operations.

Companies exploit the vast business value that IoT can offer as it grows dramatically year after year. Here are a few of the most significant advantages of IoT:

• To develop new revenue streams and business models
• Using data-driven insights from IoT data to enhance business choices
• To make corporate operations more productive and efficient.
• To make the customer experience better

Even though the economic impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic have had a substantial influence on global IoT spending, an IDC report shows that it will grow at a CAGR of 11.3 percent from 2020 to 2024.

What are the challenges in IoT?

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become an integral component of how people live, interact, and conduct business. Web-enabled devices are transforming our worldwide rights into a more switched-on location to live in all over the planet. The Internet of Things faces a variety of challenges.

IoT security challenges:

1. Lack of encryption – While encryption is a terrific way to keep hackers out of your data, it’s also one of the most common IoT security issues.
   These drives have the same storage and processing capability as a conventional computer.
   As a result, there has been an increase in attacks in which hackers manipulated the algorithms to protect people.
2. Inadequate testing and upgrading — As the number of IoT (internet of things) devices grows, IoT manufacturers are more eager to build and market their products as rapidly as possible, without much consideration for security. Most of these gadgets and IoT items are not adequately tested or updated, making them vulnerable to hackers and other security risks.
3. Default passwords and brute-force attacks —
   Nearly all IoT devices are vulnerable to password hacking and brute force attacks due to weak passwords and login data.
   Any firm that uses factory default credentials on its devices exposes both its business and its assets and its customers and sensitive data to a brute force attack.
4. IoT Malware and ransomware – As the number of devices grows, the threat of malware and ransomware is made.
   Ransomware exploits encryption to effectively lock people out of numerous devices and platforms while still gaining access to their personal data and information.
   A hacker, for example, can take images using a computer camera.
   Hackers can demand a ransom to unlock the device and return the data by utilizing malware access points.
5. IoT botnet aimed at cryptocurrency – IoT botnet workers have the ability to change data privacy, which poses a significant risk to an open Crypto market. Malicious hackers could jeopardize the exact value and development of cryptocurrency code.
   Companies working on the blockchain are attempting to improve security. Blockchain technology is not inherently dangerous, but the app development process is.
6. Data collection and processing – Data is a critical component of IoT development. The processing or usefulness of stored data is more critical in this case.
   Along with security and privacy, development teams must think about how data is acquired, stored, and processed in a given context.

Conclusion

Researchers and developers from all around the world are fascinated by recent breakthroughs in IoT. The developers and researchers collaborate to bring the technology to a broader audience and help society feasible. However, improvements are only achievable if we consider current technical approaches’ many challenges and flaws.

Protected Harbor is a firm believer in IoT and is committed to delivering ultimate solutions for IoT which are secured and protected. With our 24×7 monitoring, 99.99%, and proper security in place, businesses can take full advantage of this ever-growing technology trend.

Unifying security operations and visibility throughout your entire company is becoming increasingly crucial. OT and IoT networks and devices have significant differences. Protected Harbor incorporates unique features and methodologies to consolidate and simplify security operations across these converged infrastructures. Contact us if you’d like to learn more about how we address OT and IoT visibility and security.

How Secure Are VoIP Calls?

VOIP is a top-rated phone service because it offers many perks over traditional landlines. They’re generally cheaper and more convenient, but are they really any more secure? You should know a few things about VOIP security before making the switch.

VoIP is great for small businesses. Its advanced features allow small businesses to compete with the big boys in customer service. VoIP has many features that will enable your staff to stay connected to your customers in various ways, including missed call texting and automatic call distribution. These features are ideal for any business, especially those that travel frequently. But how safe is your business from hackers when you commit yourself to VoIP?

Why Should Businesses use VOIP?

To keep your VoIP communication secure, you’ll need to protect it from hackers. These hackers can steal confidential information from your network, including customer and employee information. They can also use this information against you – blackmailing you or selling it to your competitors. The same is true for the internet. In addition to these issues, you should also make sure that your VoIP service provider encrypts all your data with SSL.

For starters, VoIP eliminates long-distance charges from your communication bill. Because VoIP uses the Internet, you won’t pay extra to call long-distance. Just like your ISP won’t charge you for visiting websites from around the world. Compared to the traditional circuit-switched telephone network, VoIP calls are 60 percent cheaper. International calls are 90 percent cheaper. And with fewer phone lines, your company’s infrastructure can also grow. This makes VoIP the best choice for businesses in a growing economy. In addition to lower costs, it’s easier to manage. You can set up and operate your phone network with a single service without hassles.

Because VoIP allows you to work from any device, your staff can use the same number from anywhere in the world. The same software is used in call centers so that telecommuting employees can work from their home computers. Employees can use their phones in the office or on the road. If you need to reach a large group of people, VoIP is a great option. You can even use VoIP for a small team, and you won’t have to worry about the quality of the call. With the flexibility that VoIP gives you, your staff will work more efficiently.

Furthermore, they can make important business calls from anywhere. Your mobile devices can connect to your VoIP provider over a hotspot with VoIP. This means you can stay connected even when you’re out and about. It’s one of the best ways to save money. It’s also easy to manage.

How secure is VoIP?

As businesses embrace cost-saving VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology, they must also address its limitations. Suppose you’re working with sensitive information, such as private client data or intellectual property. In that case, you need to know that the method of communication you choose will protect your data and keep it private.

The security of a VoIP call depends on the network it’s travelling over. The two most prominent protocols in use today are SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and H.323. But, as always, the devil is in the details. To signal and govern interactive communication sessions, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is employed. Voice, video, chat, instant messaging, interactive games, and virtual reality are possibilities for such interactions. H.323 is an ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) guideline that specifies protocols for audio-visual (A/V) communication sessions across all packet networks.

Is VOIP Cyber-secure?

First of all, it’s essential to consider the source of your VoIP. Are you using a public WiFi connection? If so, it’s possible that hackers could hack into your network. And if you’re using a secure office connection, your data could be compromised. You should also check whether the provider’s IT infrastructure is protected against different types of network attacks. Ultimately, the answer to that question will affect the security of your calls.

Another way to increase your VoIP security is to keep your VoIP network updated. Most VoIP phones offer a default password for their users. You’ll want to change this to something more complex. For instance, you should set a password at least ten characters long. You can also add extra security measures like firewalls and VPNs to your VoIP network. These steps will significantly improve the security of your network. Just check for updates and make sure they’re running the latest versions of this software.

VoIP Encryption

Voice encryption is an important and necessary measure. It prevents hacker access to your call information and encrypts the content of your call. Advanced encryption is also used to protect your call information from hackers. SRTP is a protocol that applies the Advanced Encryption Standard to data packets. It offers message authentication and additional protection against replay attacks. (For more information, visit https://securevoipcalls.org)

SRTP (Secure Real-time Transport Protocol) is a security protocol that protects the contents of voice calls. It is an important security measure, as SRTP adds message authentication to protect sensitive company data. Moreover, if your employees steal confidential company data, a phreaking attack can be a significant security risk. Encrypting and adding layers of security is the only option. Therefore partnering with a VoIP service provider could be a viable option.

You might think that VOIP calls are not secure and could be intercepted by a third party listening to what you are saying. However, encryption is often used to protect data as it travels on the internet, including VOIP services such as Skype and FaceTime. While encryption cannot guarantee that no one will listen in, it will make it much harder without some very sophisticated equipment and software. The most common protection is through 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption. This is used by Apple, Microsoft, and some other tech giants.

Conclusion

VoIP has proved some high-level security features leaving many to believe that it can be safe for business discussions and non-sensitive conversations. However, this is not always the case. Improperly using your phone can allow eavesdroppers to listen in on your conversation. Suppose you would like to remain secure while using VOIP, but if you want the value of VOIP and are still unsure about the security, there are always extra steps you can take to increase safety, connectivity, and reliability.

All VOIP providers will create a unified VoIP solution that is easy to use at a lower cost than traditional business phone systems. Next-level providers know how to take it a step further. Ensure your business VoIP service is connected throughout your business phone, video conferencing, employee cell phones, customer service chats, and your employee’s remote workstations. Additionally, these providers offer accurate managed phone services, including advanced technology and cybersecurity solutions.

For instance, at Protected Harbor, we give each client a dedicated VoIP phone system and their VoIP server within our data center that we own. They are managed, programmed, and monitored by Protected Harbor full-time engineers allowing us to avoid outages before they happen and instantly modify systems and setting for optimal use.

Protected phones by Protected Harbor is one of the best unified VoIP solutions providers. High-quality, low price, and easy-to-use services have made it incredibly popular among consumers. But that’s not it; features like Live 24×7 support, dedicated remote system, highly configurable, and SIP forking make it the ultimate choice over the VoIP providers. Experience the quality yourself; book a call now.

IT lessons learned from the Covid-19 outbreak

The Covid-19 pandemic transformed the IT industry beyond the thoughts of our economies and societies.

It’s the end of the year 2021, and the world is still recuperating from the effects of the Covid-19 crisis that significantly impacted the technology sector. The Pandemic fluctuated the supply chain technology and came as an unusual shock.

The crisis transformed the lives of people around the globe digitally. We started being more dependent on technology than exposed. Now it’s almost two years, and the technology adoption we have seen is revolutionary.

At the pandemic’s beginning, companies opted for temporary solutions for their work and operations. A few months later, it was transparent businesses would need to find new ways to adapt for the long term. This started a rise in digitizing workplace applications and operations.

A recent pandemic news report by Mckinsey concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic brought about years of technology change and innovation in just a few months. Customer relationships and supply chains have been digitized, and internal operations have been moved to the cloud three to four years early. In the last few years, companies have multiplied their digitally enabled products in their portfolio by sevenfold.

Potential long-term impact on the technology sector

• Forecasts indicate that cloud infrastructure services and specialized software will be in demand. As organizations motivate employees to work from home, the telecom services and communications equipment market is also anticipated.
• IT departments and solution providers will play a more significant role in transforming businesses to digital. The need for reliable, secure, and flexible network systems is evident.
• Demand for cybersecurity software will increase 37% as companies need to secure endpoints, particularly from employees working from home on less-than-ideally secure Wi-Fi. With the increase in report work came a massive increase in attacks. Attacks from home computers connected over VPN are difficult to stop because a VPN is a trusted connection. Still, computers at home, even company computers, are difficult to keep clean from viruses and attacks when there are no corporate firewalls or other layers of protection.
• It’s proven that most employees would continue working from home even after restrictions are lifted. During the pandemic, we saw a productivity improvement. Studies show that during COVID, people worked more hours than they previously did when they worked in the office. The organizations must see this as a long-term impact and invest in creating a digitally sustainable environment. Read more here.

Practical next steps

Organizations across the country and from every industry reported a significant increase in customers’ and employees’ needs and remote working. We also saw a rise in advanced AI technologies in operations and business decision-making. Services such as DaaS, ransomware protection, and data centers are most likely to stay in the long term. After living through the impact of Covid-19 on technology and business, CIOs will be defined by their ability to respond, recover, and thrive.

Here are some practical next steps to make your business pandemic proof

• The rise in remote work and co-working spaces will push the need for Remote Desktops (RDP) so employees can take their desktop images of apps, documents, and folders anywhere. Therefore developing a budget for technology improvement and implementation to prepare your company for the future sounds like a plan.
• With a rise of remote workers comes a drop in in-office workers. Companies will be able to save on office space costs. The reduction in real estate also allows companies to reduce their hardware profile by switching from on-prem to off-prem servers and hosting. Besides saving physical space, off-premise servers are also secured and maintained by the provider.
• Flexibility is the key to innovation and understanding how disruptions can be minimized in future events. Because the shift will have long-term ramifications that no one can foresee, custom networking and server hosting are critical to gain the flexibility your company needs for whatever comes next.
• In the future, we will see a digitally enabled work environment and advanced tools for business processes, including back-end office functions. The Tech boom has advanced all technology integrations such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Adapt and make use of technology for an edge over the competition.
• One of the most important steps is to make your infrastructure and technology sustainable and focus on mental health during pandemic. Because going digital is a new normal now, we are moving towards a highly technology-driven environment. Businesses have to be agile, which means understanding, changing, and adapting quickly to the environment. Consider a solution provider who spends time understanding your needs and provides customized solutions.
• If you are ready to migrate your data and applications to a protected cloud network and still own your data, you need to look past a traditional MSP and find a Managed IT infrastructure and design partner.

Take the final step

Post Covid-19 business IT priorities have changed. More than half of the business leaders say they invest in digitization and technology for competitive advantage, creating the entire business strategy. The needs of customers and your employees have become more digital, and as an organization, you must ensure the best of the services.

Remote work is no longer a culture of experimentation; it is a culture of necessity. The companies that invested in cloud technologies and figured out how to fit remote work into their processes were rewarded because the small work culture is here to stay long-term.

With businesses moving to virtual and cloud servers, it’s wise to opt for reliable, flexible, and secured data centers. And what’s even more brilliant is to take the help of one of the industry experts. Protected Harbor works with businesses to create personalized solutions. We keep your data on our internal servers with 99.99% uptime and 24×7 monitoring, ensuring you don’t crash and your team stays working. Remote work has left businesses vulnerable to malware and ransomware.

All Protected Harbor solutions employ custom-solution cyber security protocols to protect your business and your data. We made extra investments into air-gapped servers and triple-backed-up images, so your information is always on and always protected. Does your managed IT provider do that?

AWS global outage; disrupts services and aftermath

Facebook, Alexa, Reddit, Netflix, and more apps were affected by the AWS outage.

If you faced problems logging in to Amazon.com for shopping ahead of Christmas, you’re not alone. On Tuesday, December 7, large parts of the internet and apps reported disrupted services based on the AWS platform. Netflix, Alexa, Disney+, Reddit, and IMDB are some of the services reported downtime.

UPDATE: 19:35 EST/16:35 PST, The official Amazon Web Services dashboard published the following affirmation. ” With the network device problems resolved, we are now operating towards the recovery of any impaired services. We will roll out additional updates for impaired services within the connected entry in the Service Health Dashboard.

AWS down

Users began reporting issues around 10:45 AM ET on Tuesday about the outage and took to Twitter and other social media platforms to discuss. More than 24,000 people reported cases with Amazon, which included Prime Video and other services, on DownDetector.com. The website collects outage reports from multiple sources, including user-submitted errors.

3 hours later we have a detailed message with the important information like the real affected services. #awsDown pic.twitter.com/t3ooQohWn1

— José Antonio Ruiz (@joseant_ruiz) December 7, 2021

The AWS global outage recovery problems came from the US-EAST-1 AWS region in Virginia, so users elsewhere may not have noticed as many issues, and even if you were affected, you might have seen a slightly slower loading time while the network redirected your requests.

Peter DeSantis, AWS’ vice president of infrastructure, led a 600-person internal call about the then-ongoing outage. Some said it was likely an internal issue, and others pointed to more nefarious possibilities.
“We have mitigated the underlying issues that caused network devices in the US-EAST-1 Region to be impaired,” AWS said on its status page.

What caused the outage?

Engineers at Amazon Web Services (AWS), the enormous cloud computing provider in the US, are still unsure of AWS global outage causes on December 7. AWS does not list any issues on the status page currently. Previous outages have also not been reflected on the status page or even brought down the site entirely, so it is not unusual.
There is, however, a 500 Server error on the specific page for the us-east-1 AWS Management Console Home, instead of information about the Northern Virginia region.

A 500 server internal error means their server is trying to show the requested web page (the technical answer is delivered rather than the web page). But it can’t show the webpage because something within the server failed – for example, the storage failed, so the file is unavailable.

“Possible causes are internal routing problems within Amazon, a defective Amazon-wide update, an Amazon-wide misconfiguration. A defective API (application programming interface) or network device issue might also be a cause of the amazon console down,” said Richard Luna, CEO, Protected Harbor.

Amazon global outage comes just a few months after Meta Platforms, Inc. (FB) went offline due to network problems, affecting some of its most popular apps, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger.
The research firm Gartner Inc. estimates that major cloud platforms suffer significant outages once per quarter per year. Many people felt the AWS service disruption; however, since AWS controls about 90% of the cloud infrastructure market and many people continue to work and study from home during the pandemic, the outage was widely felt. Gartner vice president Sid Nag told The Wall Street Journal that these guys have become almost too big to fail. Our day-to-day lives rely heavily on cloud computing services.

Hasn’t This Happened Before?

Yes, AWS downtime is not a new occurrence. The last major AWS global outage happened in November 2020. Numerous other disruptive and lengthy cloud service interruptions have involved various providers. In June, the behind-the-scenes content distributor Fastly experienced a failure that briefly took down dozens of major internet sites, including CNN, The New York Times, and Britain’s government home page. Another cloud service interruption that month affected provider Akamai during peak business hours in Asia.

In the October outage, Facebook — now known as Meta Platforms — blamed a “faulty configuration change” for an hours-long worldwide AWS downtime that took down Instagram and WhatsApp in addition to its titular platform.

Credible solutions

On Tuesday, the world received a reminder of just how much we rely on Amazon Web Services and AWS global outage recovery. A simple outage for a brief period disrupted the operations and services of millions of people. Amazon is in the monopoly and would never partner with another provider. So the simplest solution is to opt for a service provider who puts customers first.

Amazon, as big it is, is still just one location and provides a single server location to the clients. At its core, it is one batch of servers. Protected Harbor solves this problem by spreading the customers across multiple server locations, preventing a site-wide misconfiguration. We protect our clients by using various services; we expect one service to fail- that gives us time to resolve and repair the situation quickly.

We differentiate from other providers by being proactive and planning for failures like this. We do it all the time- partner with other providers to deliver unmatched services to the customers because their satisfaction comes first.

Key Takeaways:

• An hours-long AWS outage crippled popular websites and disrupted smart devices, as well as creating delivery delays at Amazon warehouses.
• Companies like Facebook, Netflix, Reddit, IMDB, Disney+, and more were affected by the outage.
• Amazon stated that it “identified the root cause” but yet to reveal what precisely the root cause was?
• AWS controls almost 90% of the cloud services market, and the outages are not uncommon.
• Now is the time to choose the provider which satisfies you and your business needs.

Go complete risk-free

Protected Harbor is the underdog player in the market that exceeds the customer’s expectations. With its Datacenter and Managed IT services, it has stood the test of customers, and “Beyond expectations” is quoted by all customers. Best in segment cloud services with optimum IT support, safety, and security, it’s a no-brainer why organizations choose to stay with us. This way to the crème de la crème.