In an era defined by digital innovation and interconnectivity, protecting businesses against cyber attacks has never been more crucial. Our infographic serves as a wake-up call to the ever-growing threat landscape that can wreak havoc on any size business. As our world becomes increasingly digitised, cyber attacks have become alarmingly common and more sophisticated, posing significant risks to both data integrity and financial stability. Cyber attacks are more common than we might imagine, and just because it hasn’t happened to us (yet) doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, and the costs of an attack can bankrupt almost any business. Understanding and recognising this is vital for entrepreneurs and decision-makers to take appropriate action to protect their organisations.

Watch the infographic below and catch up on the latest global, European and national data when it comes to cybersecurity, as well as what measures can be used to protect your business. 👇

It is becoming clear that protecting your business against cyber attacks is not just an option, but an absolute necessity for survival in the digital landscape. The increase in cyber attacks, both in frequency and sophistication, underscores the urgency for businesses to strengthen their defences.

The infographic explored the latest studies when it comes to cyber security, trying to show that attacks are happening, even in Europe, not just in a global landscape that we are not part of. With a disaster response team equipped with the right technologies, businesses can effectively reduce potential damage and gain the ability to recover from cyber incidents.

Sources mentioned in the infographic:

• IBM: Cost of a Data Breach Report 2022
• Barracuda Networks Survey, 2023
• Verizon, 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report
• Surfshark, 2023
• IBM: Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021
• European Council data, 2023

You need a reliable partner when it comes to cyber security?

For over 14 years, HyperCubic has been a strategic partner to over 100 businesses of all sizes. We offer a full range of managed IT services in the cloud: IaaS (infrastructure as a service and own data centre), BaaS and BCDR (Backup as a service and Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery), cyber security (Firewall as a Service) and ITSM (IT Services Management level 1, 2, 3 and 4).

If you want to accelerate your digital transformation and grow your business at your own pace, we’re just a message away.

The book “The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb explores the concept of rare, highly improbable events with enormous impact on our world. Not surprisingly, this philosophy can also be applied in the world of technology and IT solutions such as data center or cybersecurity. In this article we explore how the concept of the Black Swan translates into IT and how we can manage risk in such a dynamic and ever-changing world.

What is a Black Swan in IT?

In IT, a Black Swan is a rare event, but with a major impact, that can negatively affect, partially or irreparably, the operations of a data center or an IT system serving a business activity, the responsibility in the case of a supplier being a double one. A rare event may be a cyber security incident, a critical failure of key equipment, an earthquake, flood or other natural disaster. It can also be a surprising innovation or breakthrough that completely revolutionizes the way things are done in the IT industry.

Risk management in the data center.

Risk management means minimizing losses and ensuring continuity, and this can only be achieved by building an IT ecosystem, the strategies that need to be applied are the following:

I. Redundancy:

Implementing redundancy in the infrastructure can help minimize the impact of major failures and consists of duplicate equipment, duplicate power supplies and duplicate internet connections, which is a primary and perhaps the most important advantage of outsourcing these types of services to a specialized company. If you find yourself in the situation of contracting such a specialized supplier, here is a checklist of requirements (to be ticked according to the budget allocated):

Uptime Institute TIER Standard

A data-center classification system is a way to evaluate and define the level of availability, redundancy and quality of services offered by a data-center. This rating system helps users to understand how reliable and robust the data centre is in providing services and to make comparisons between different facilities. One of the most popular classification systems is the TIER standard developed by the Uptime Institute. Here is a brief description of the TIER classification system for data centres:

Uptime Institute’s TIER standard:

TIER I: A Tier I data center has a simple architecture with no redundancy. Any of the critical components, such as power supply or cooling, do not have a full backup. Therefore, the data centre cannot ensure 24/7 availability.
TIER II: A Tier II data center adds some redundancy in critical components, such as power, but in general, planned maintenance operations still require services to be shut down. This level can ensure 99.741% availability (approximately 22 hours of downtime per year).
TIER III: The Tier III data center has a basic architecture with redundancy in all critical components. It includes two independent sources of power and cooling, allowing planned maintenance without shutting down services. This level can ensure 99.982% availability (approximately 1.6 hours of downtime per year).
TIER IV: The Tier IV data center offers the highest availability and reliability. It has full redundancy and duplicated components in all aspects. It can support planned maintenance or even component failure without affecting service availability. This level can ensure 99.995% availability (approximately 26.3 minutes of downtime per year).

II. Backup and recovery plans:

Creating well-defined and regularly tested backup and recovery plans can help you recover data and services quickly in the event of an unexpected incident. Make sure you have enough space allocated to store at least 3 versions of critical data.
Here are the main forms of back-up:

• Full backup: This type of backup involves copying all critical data to a separate storage medium. Full backup is useful to ensure quick data restoration in the event of a major failure, but can take up a significant amount of storage space.
• Incremental backup: incremental backup copies only new or changed data from the last backup, reducing the time needed to backup and the storage space required. Restoring data may be slower because it takes several backup iterations to restore the system to the desired state.
• Differential backup: Similar to incremental backup, but only copies data changed since the last full backup. This type of backup can be faster during restore than incremental backup, but requires more storage space.
• File-level backup: This type of backup copies individual files that are considered critical to the organization. It is useful when you need to recover only certain files and not the whole system.
• Image-level backup: This type of backup creates a complete image of the system or part of it, including the operating system, applications and data. It allows a quick restoration of the entire system in case of a major failure.
• Backup at virtual machine level: For organizations running virtual machines, this type of backup copies the entire virtual machine, including all its components. Allows quick and easy restoration of the entire virtual machine.
• Off-site backup: off-site backup involves storing backups in a physical location separate from the source location. This provides protection against natural disasters or other events that could affect the main data centre.
• Cloud backup: Cloud backup involves storing backups on cloud storage servers. It offers affordability and redundancy and is a popular solution for many organizations.

III. Prevention – constant monitoring and analysis:

Using advanced monitoring systems and predictive analytics can help identify potential problems before they become catastrophic. DON’T just rely on standard monitoring to confirm only what you want to see, but constantly seek an external IT audit to give you an objective view of your security level.

IV. Flexibility and adaptability:

Building a modular and scalable data center can allow you to adapt quickly to changes in the IT environment and minimize the risk of getting stuck in outdated technologies. DO NOT turn your experience into prejudice.

Innovation and opportunities in the Black Swan

In addition to risks, the Black Swan concept can also bring unexpected opportunities and innovation in IT. Unexpected breakthroughs and revolutionary technologies can radically change working paradigms and offer significant advantages.

Learning from previous Black Swan events

An important aspect of risk management in the data centre is learning from previous Black Swan events. Careful analysis of past incidents and how they were handled can provide valuable lessons for improving processes and safeguards.

In conclusion, Nassim Taleb’s book “The Black Swan” teaches us that, in the world of technology and IT solutions for the data center, we need to be aware of the existence of highly improbable events with a huge impact. By properly managing risk and adopting an attitude of adaptability and innovation, we can protect our IT infrastructure and turn these challenges into opportunities for growth and development. If you are looking for data center solutions, contact us here.

The current situation in cyber security

In recent years, more and more types of cyber-attacks are emerging, and they are now more frequent and sophisticated, posing a significant threat to organisations. A recent study by Barracuda Networks This spring even demonstrates this: 45.7% of HTML files scanned in March 2023 were found to be malicious, compared to 21% in May 2022. Attackers frequently use this HTML cyber attack technique to compromise any cybersecurity strategy using humans.

Through well-crafted messages, compromised websites and/or HTML file attachments, employees can easily be tricked. This approach is used by hackers to hide phishing or credential theft attacks and more.

It is impossible to be 100% protected and you shouldn’t make it an end goal, but a proactive, effective, evolving and well-supported strategy is essential. To achieve this, there are four important steps to follow.

Where do you start to create a strategy for cybersecurity strategy?

First of all, think about this: the goal of a cybersecurity strategy is to improve everything that your company stands for. This usually requires moving from a reactive to a proactive security approach, where the focus is on prevention of cyber attacks and incidents rather than responding to them retroactively.

👉 Read more about reactive and preventive cybersecurity solutions here .

Developing a cybersecurity strategy for your business is essential both for long-term success and to ensure business continuity no matter what the circumstances. Here are the basic steps you should follow to design and implement an effective security strategy.

• Understand what types of attacks your business is vulnerable to.

To understand the vulnerability of your business, you need both external and internal analysis. Starting with the external analysis, you should analyze your business environment to see what kind of cyber attacks are most common and how they can affect your business. Notice if any of your competitors have experienced security problems in the past and make sure you take the right measures. Your security solutions provider will suggest optimal cybersecurity solutions, but it’s up to you to know best what your business needs.

• Determine your vulnerability with an IT Audit

An internal analysis is done quickly and easily with an automated IT audit. In this phase, you will see exactly what technical gaps and vulnerabilities your business is facing across your entire IT system. As soon as you have a clear overview of your business security, you can start to put your shortcomings in place.

👉 We help you get started with cyber security measures by offering you a free IT audit. See more details here .

• Determine how to improve your cybersecurity practices

You have to think about the future. Given that you have analysed the external environment and know what problems you might encounter, it would not be bad to take preventive measures. If you’ve noticed that ransomware attacks have affected an increasing number of businesses, you should consider data backup and recovery solutions at this time. Given the flexibility of your work, you may want to extend your employees’ remote working hours in the long term, in which case you need cybersecurity solutions that protect your employees’ devices, such as firewall as a service. In such situations, we should approach it with a utilitarian mindset, and find the solutions that will provide the greatest long-term good.

Every improvement needs to be approached realistically, so think carefully: do you have the resources in-house? Is it more advantageous to outsource? We can support you with comprehensive cyber security services, tailored to your specific business needs. See more details here.

• Analyse and improve your practices constantly

As I said at the beginning of this article, there is no cybersecurity strategy that guarantees you will never be attacked. There are only strategies that will guarantee that in the event of a disaster, you will be able to respond and your business’ existence will not be threatened.

• In order to maintain a cybersecurity package that reflects the real needs of your company, our specialists recommend that your business goes through an IT audit every 6 months. This is the only way you will be able to have a clear and real overview to update your strategy.
• Consider employee training to minimize any company’s biggest risk: human error. Remember, 88% of security breaches are caused by employee error, according to a recent study, Psychology of Human Error.
• Clearly establish or re-establish what your company’s responsibilities are and what your cybersecurity provider’s duties are. Everyone has a role, make sure duties are always clear!
• To improve your cybersecurity strategy, address your users’ two main concerns: fear of being monitored, which generates discussions about individual rights, and excessive concern about security that affects productivity and maintains a paranoid atmosphere in the company. Ensuring adequate implementation without compromising these concerns can be assessed by considering the budget allocated.

You need a reliable partner when it comes to cyber security?

For over 14 years, HyperCubic has been a strategic partner to over 100 businesses of all sizes. We offer a full range of managed IT services in the cloud: IaaS (infrastructure as a service and own data centre), BaaS and BCDR (Backup as a service and Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery), cyber security (Firewall as a Service) and ITSM (IT Services Management level 1, 2, 3 and 4).

If you want to accelerate your digital transformation and grow your business at your own pace, we’re just a message away.

To have the critical information of business month and bulb, you have to start the job

Having critical business information in disarray is no different than a house you haven’t cleaned in a while: it’s hard to find your stuff (the items you need), it’s easy to miss something if you’re not careful, and the more clutter you have, the harder it will be to motivate yourself to get on with the job. It’s even possible to postpone the job for a while, but sooner or later you’ll come across all the stuff that’s scattered around.

If you’re thinking of moving your critical information to the cloud, to a data centre, then cleaning up should not be delayed. We always recommend our clients to do this before migrating data to streamline their process and optimize their costs.

Clean now, move less later

Why is it so important to clean data before migration? Data cleansing will help you optimize your migration by:

• Simplifying the process
• Removal of duplicate data
• Reducing data volume
• Deleting applications/accounts you may no longer need

Now is the time to evaluate your critical information so you can identify what needs to be kept, archived, deleted, organized. The more data you migrate, the longer and more complex the process, which could affect your cloud performance later.

Unifying all of your company’s data into a centralized database and optimizing costs are among the many benefits businesses are looking for through data implementation and migration. However, many managers and CEOs approach this topic with anxiety because of the time to do so. But do you know what the root cause for this is? Old data, outdated technologies, or the countless formats, schemes and systems in which data is stored before migration. To prevent errors and customer or employee frustration, you need data that is up-to-date, accurate and relevant.

Where to start spring cleaning? Sort, complete, correct.

Like any regular cleaning day, you need to start by sorting things. And useful? Pastrezi. No longer useful? Donate (or remove, in the case of data). Then, you put everything back in place (filling in the missing information) and at the end, you try to keep it clean in the long run. How you do all this concretely, we will explain further:

• Put things in order and correct errors

Human error causes 82% of data leaks. Because much data is entered manually, typos, abbreviations or punctuation are some of the situations that lead to errors. We suggest you analyze your categories and sort your data in a clear and easy to understand way, so that any company employee understands where they should add a contact when they want to do so.

• Make sure everything is in place and add the missing data

When you have a database, missing information is inevitable. If contacts are missing too much information, they may no longer be a valuable contact. Now, it is up to you whether you choose to fill in the missing data or remove the contacts that are not complete.

• Maintain long-term cleanliness and standardize your data

Efforts to clean up critical information will be futile in the long run if you don’t create a standardized data entry procedure. Think about which of your teams are working with that data and run internal workshops to make sure employees know how to enter data correctly or check for duplicates before creating new contacts.

Maybe it’s time to move critical information into a cloud data center

Going through this whole process, did it occur to you to move? All this chaos can be difficult to manage, you find it hard to back up and keep up with the storage space you need. By 2022, more than 60% of corporate data will be stored in the cloud, according to Statista. Migrating your database to the cloud will reduce the need for in-house staff to handle security, backup and many other essential processes when managing a large volume of data. Over time, choosing data centre hosting will help you keep costs down while maintaining increased flexibility.

The data center outsourcing option is preferred by companies especially for data recovery security in case of disaster. If you lose something, you’ll wish you could find it, but if you don’t have a cloud backup you may never be able to recover anything. When you choose to outsource your data to a data centre, you can rest assured that your data is in safe hands.

Want to move your worries to the cloud? Choose to migrate your data to a data center!

For over 14 years, HyperCubic has been a strategic partner to over 100 businesses of all sizes. We offer a full range of managed IT services in the cloud: IaaS (infrastructure as a service and own data centre), BaaS and BCDR (Backup as a service and Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery), cyber security (Firewall as a Service) and ITSM (IT Services Management level 1, 2, 3 and 4).

If you want to accelerate your digital transformation and grow your business at your own pace, we’re just a message away.

Cloud computing globally.

By 2022, more than 60% of corporate data will be stored in the cloud, according to Statista. The share has been continuously increasing in recent years, if we consider that in 2015 the percentage was only 30%. Today, companies are increasingly moving their resources to the cloud to improve security, reliability and business agility.

Managed cloud computing services: a brief introduction

Managed cloud computing services allow your business to access different solutions for more efficient data management: IaaS (infrastructure as a service), data center, BaaS (backup as a service), FWaaS (firewall as a service), private cloud and more.

Most companies don’t have the expertise or time to design and configure their own cloud. This is where managed cloud services come in, helping you to optimise your business processes and costs when it comes to your company’s IT infrastructure and data. To understand the role of a managed cloud computing service provider more easily, read on.

What are managed cloud computing services? Pizza as a service.

Cloud computing services can be difficult to explain, but Albert Barron, back when he worked at IBM, came up with a brilliant analogy: cloud computing services are similar to the way you decide you want a pizza (homemade, restaurant or delivery).

Pre-cloud networks (called on premise) are similar to cooking your own pizza – lots of work, but with maximum control over the ingredients and process. The most popular cloud computing services are IaaS (infrastructure as a service), PaaS (platform as a service) and SaaS (software as a service) and, even if they don’t look like it, there are different ways you can choose to eat your pizza tonight.

IaaS means making your own pizza at home, but not from scratch. You buy the ingredients and a ready-made dough. On a business level, choosing to make your pizza this way means you have control, flexibility over ingredients and, depending on how savvy you are, you can have a bigger or smaller pizza.

PaaS means placing an order for pizza to come to your house. You don’t have to think about many of the costs (ingredients, oven, gas, electricity, etc), you just have to have the meal and the house, as they say.

SaaS means going out to eat. For standard services, SaaS works perfectly. The pizza options on the menu are many, so you’re sure to find something to your liking. It’s not too customizable, but it’s not bad. It’s a lot less work, but the service won’t be 100% tailored to your wishes.

Cloud computing explained as pizza-as-a-service. Linkedin Source.

In this context, managed cloud computing services take one worry off your plate: process organization. The management/organization responsibilities of the process, taking up the analogy, may include: shopping, deciding on ingredients, the trip to the restaurant, etc. In real life, these responsibilities translate into migration, configuration, optimization, security and maintenance services. These services are designed to enable organisations to maximise the benefits of cloud services while minimising internal time and costs.

How managed IT services help your business

Passing the baker and oven analogy into real life, it is the case that many small SME businesses have quiet and busy periods that I can predict most of the time. Optimize costs and choose a cloud IaaS infrastructure that offers flexibility, security and business continuity regardless of the context.

Is Black Friday coming? It’s very possible that your online shop will need a little support to cope with a large number of concurrent visitors. Consider the fact that 41% of EU businesses will be using cloud computing in 2021, with the share increasing particularly in the retail area.

Does your local infrastructure need an upgrade soon? You can choose to run your applications on an IaaS infrastructure, with different operating systems and platforms available. This way, you won’t have to invest in expensive hardware and licenses.

Looking for a customizable solution to your business needs? Eliminate major and unforeseen investments, access the resources you need, when you need them and how much you need them with a flexible IaaS solution. With IaaS you benefit from dynamic resource allocation and can scale up or down when demand is high or low.

Do you want to guarantee your business continuity regardless of the context, enjoying increased security and scalability?

Managed cloud services offer customers partial or full management of cloud resources or infrastructure by an external service provider. Management responsibilities can include migration, configuration, optimization and data security, as well as many customizable solutions based on specific business needs. This managed cloud computing service will allow you to maximise the benefits of cloud solutions while minimising your costs.

You can count on the expertise of our specialists to decide:

• Type of cloud suitable for your business (public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud)
• Your business needs in terms of configuration, design and data storage in the cloud
• The support your business needs to ensure its continuity no matter what situation it is going through

You need services managed by cloud computing?

For over 14 years, HyperCubic has been a strategic partner to over 100 businesses of all sizes. We offer a full range of managed IT services in the cloud: IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), BaaS and BCDR (Backup as a Service and Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery), cyber security (Firewall as a Service) and ITSM (IT Services Management level 1, 2, 3 and 4).

If you want to accelerate your digital transformation and grow your business at your own pace, we’re just a message away.

Business model today: what has changed and how we sell today

The business environment is constantly changing to keep up with consumer preferences. In a world of heightened consumerism, people are changing their needs, choosing not to collect things but experiences. More content, more movies, more fun and usefulness in what we do, but without the need to have to collect things. In “Subscribed”, Tien Tzuo (founder of Zuora, a company that provides software solutions for subscription-based businesses), explains a shift in consumer behavior and how we should adapt our business model to meet new needs.

Nowadays, people want the journey, not the car. Milk, not cow. Music, not the CD that will gather dust somewhere in a drawer. And in this context, companies that offer subscription-based services are at an advantage. These companies deliver value directly, without the hassle for customers. This will generate steady revenue, which has already been confirmed by the latest studies showing 4.6 times faster growth for companies with a subscription-based business model compared to traditional businesses that simply offer products.

Why a subscription-based model for your business?

In the case of the subscription business model, there are two main advantages that matter:

• easy financial access
• the support you receive while using the product or service

Innovation is no longer just about creating new products but about adapting services to customer needs. The subscription purchase model has changed the process of innovation and by default production, bringing into the equation the lifespan of a product or service continuous improvement and development, which in a classic idea – production – sale process would not have happened.

The product, in other words, evolves linearly from an initial idea to its eventual launch. At that point, the market decides its fate and once it walks out of the factory gate, there is no more development.

Subscription-based models change this paradigm, and innovation is about continuous growth and adaptation. For companies adopting the model, there is no “finished” product, but agile development.

The new sales ethos is strategic and focuses on building stable relationships with subscribers. The best way to do this is to emphasize the concept of growth, with customers entering into a collaborative contract in which the company’s service is constantly improving.

How you can start adapting your business model. LifeinCloud example.

The system by which LifeinCloud Managed Solutions has transformed into a successful customer-focused service is called PADRE(pipeline, acquire, deploy, run and expand), a model Zuora created to visualize the business with the customer experience always in mind.

• Pipeline – this is the first step and refers to raising awareness of the client company’s needs
• Acquire – is the customer’s journey towards a subscription, where we focus on understanding the customer’s needs.
• Deploy – it’s all about getting the customer on board with the service as quickly and efficiently as possible
• Run – this step focuses on the day-to-day running of the service and reacting quickly to changes in the way users use it
• Expand – in essence. is about innovation – retaining customers through growth and functionality.

In addition to the FATHER model, there are three other factors that we considered: people, service and self and money.

People – to thrive, you need to keep your customers happy, and to do this, we have hired top talent whose skills and competencies we have continued to develop through training and qualifications.

Service – must continue to improve to ensure that our customers’ needs are met in the best possible way. As we received requests and feedback from customers, we adapted our subscription plans.

Money – like any other business, we had to allocate resources efficiently, firstly in education and secondly in technology. It is obvious that before you can move towards new technologies, you need specialised people with the necessary skills.

Where is your business heading in 2023?

Technology is changing the way people and companies connect and access products and services, and monthly subscription business models are disrupting every industry. To simplify your business partnerships, the easiest way is to adopt subscription-based technology and digital solutions. Not only will you have more control over your budget, but you’ll also have the advantage of flexibility and scalability if needed.

The list of priorities in the IT budget for 2023 should be:

1. Investments in technology and data-center solutions that improve operational and financial efficiency:
   • Infrastructure as a Service; Software as a Service
2. Cybersecurity protections that reduce risk and organizational resilience
3. Cloud computing services that improve employee and customer experience

In this sense, the IT solutions we facilitate are designed to create an ecosystem, both at the level of the basic applications used by users – Microsoft 365 for example, and at the level of specific applications, such as ERP or CRM.

As a way of purchasing all the hardware and software that must support the entire business activity, we offer as a monthly subscription private cloud IT solutions, through our own data center, consisting of:

1. HyperHost – Software & Hardware as a Service – Virtual Servers whose configuration adapts according to budget and needs
2. HyperVault – Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery: backup as a service solutions based on Veeam Backup
3. HyperSecure – CyberSecurity at its best: IT audit; vulnerability assessment; firewall as a service

If you want to accelerate your digital transformation and grow your business at your own pace, we’re just a message away.

This “simple” translates to investing only in what you really need and if you can’t define your critical points yourself, get an outside look through a consultant. You’ll better identify those “blind spots” and won’t waste your budget. Outsourcing IT management helps companies minimise stress and disruption during the digitisation process. This allows organisations to get the most out of their IT investment, meaning increased operational efficiency and reduced costs.

For organisations looking to adopt new technologies, IT consulting services can be beneficial in 3 major ways:

1. Consultants enable organisations to focus on their business:

Dedicated IT consultants and project managers handle the entire implementation of new technologies, from planning to official launch. While the organization’s leadership is often included and actively involved in the process, they should not be constantly solicited or distracted, the priority is to stay focused on the needs and operations of their business. In addition, consultants prioritise efficiency and communication, which can mean minimising day-to-day disruption for employees.

2. Consultants offer a level of expertise that is hard to come by in a traditional employer-employee relationship:

Specialized IT expertise relies on unique skill sets, certifications and first-hand experience, in other words, it’s not easy to find. In fact, a recent survey found that 67% of companies lack specialist IT expertise and 89% of IT managers find it difficult to recruit the talent they need. This is especially true when it comes to the latest and most revolutionary technologies such as cloud computing, virtualisation and cyber security.

3. Consultants protect the achievement of the expected results:

Hiring and training IT experts relevant to a project’s specific needs can be a huge financial burden.

Instead, consulting allows organisations to take advantage of the skills, experience and knowledge needed at a fraction of the cost.

The question that scares directors and boards:

What is the IT budget for next year?

As the trend is to do more with less, many organisations don’t see the link between the IT budget and protecting the business or improving productivity and efficiency, seeing it as a cost, not an investment. Even the address should be different, implying a different kind of assumption. The budget does not belong to the IT department but to the organisation itself, whose activity is supported by technology.

What does an IT BUDGET include?

An IT budget is the total allocation of IT expenditure over a 12-month period. It consists of capital expenditure (CAPEX), such as the costs of purchasing hardware, servers and equipment. It also includes operating expenses (OPEX), which consist of costs for purchasing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) licenses, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) subscriptions, internet, utilities and IT management services on a monthly subscription basis. Overall, the IT budget should take into account the costs of hardware, software, outsourcing, and especially disaster recovery, plus related support services.

Hardware:

Simply put, hardware is the physical components that a computer system needs to function. There can be many hardware components attached to a computer system: laptops and desktops, RAM, printers, monitors, hard drives, keyboards, sound systems and more.

Software:

Software can be represented by various programs or applications related to productivity, functionality or security.

Outsourcing:

Represents the use of external IT service providers to efficiently deliver IT management services for the entire IT system, data-center and cloud infrastructure solutions, all on a monthly subscription basis. It also includes technology deployment, installation, migration and regular maintenance.

Disaster recovery:

The method by which an organization intends to regain access and functionality in the event of a natural disaster, cyber attack, or even disruption is a disaster recovery plan. These services can include backups to a private cloud, prioritised restoration of critical data or systems, and cyber insurance to ensure risk management and recovery in the event of a disaster.

Without an IT budget that is structured for each of these components, an organization could find itself in the scenario of spontaneous needs arising and having to justify each IT expense as it arises, which is usually higher.

In addition, such a decentralised approach could leave room for the emergence of “Shadow IT”. It represents the implementation of specific technologies, applications and processes by individual departments at the expense of centralised IT. This often increases cybersecurity risks and decreases the sense of accountability.

Prioritisation of budgetary decisions:

Ensuring that company goals align with IT budget allocation decisions is a crucial aspect of successful budgeting. It is even more important to prioritise cyber security especially in the current context of evolving cyber security threats. An easy way to determine what priorities a company should prioritize when it comes to its IT environment is to conduct a direct assessment of IT security and infrastructure functionality.

An IT audit report generates a list of priorities, consisting of:

1. Investments in technology and data-center solutions that improve operational and financial efficiency:
   • Infrastructure as a Service; Software as a Service
2. Cybersecurity protections that reduce risk and organizational resilience
3. Cloud services that improve employee and customer experience

We all want to spend as little as possible and get as much as possible when it comes to quality, performance, features or capabilities. To run a business we need thorough training, security, foresight, constant performance, a stable economic and political context, cost efficiency or simply endurance.

The question is, do we drive safely, do we know all the factors that can influence the course of a business?

If this path were managed by a traffic light, what color is your business waiting for now?

If you’ve prepared thoroughly, plus a bit of luck, then you wait for a “green light”, as such you’ll move ahead, you’ll have the right of way and if several traffic lights sync up, the road clears. In any context green has a positive meaning and we all yearn for it.

It is important how we prepare to get it, and the first signs that we will reach a peak are the other two colours that inevitably appear over time, yellow and red. At “yellow” there is more chance to have a moment of circumspection, to think about alternatives”, while red clearly means a stop. Red induces fear, we don’t like it and we find it hard to manage.

But without this tandem, green would not exist.

In any business the functioning of the traffic light and the speed at which you pass critical moments depends largely on technology, which is one of the few aspects that remain in our control.

How does technology help you catch as much “green” as possible and why not, even plan for its appearance over time?

1. An IT security and functionality audit helps you to efficiently anticipate and budget for potential investments.
2. These investments are leveraged through an integrated IT management of the entire IT system, meaning a more automated administration, thus increasing the degree of amortization.Automation is achieved through specific applications that intersect with the intervention of IT engineers. We have created a central core – “Virtual CTO” – with which customers benefit from IT auditing and real-time monitoring of functionality and security parameters, remote IT support, periodic review of the entire IT system and a ticketing system that eliminates bureaucracy and reduces response time.
3. The investments we propose are aimed at creating an ecosystem, both at the level of the basic applications used by users – Microsoft 365 for example, and at the level of specific applications, such as ERP or CRM.

• HyperHost – Software & Hardware as a Service – Virtual Servers whose configuration adapts according to budget and needs
• HyperVault – Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery: “back-up as a service” solutions based on Veeam Back-up

Catching the green light is also a matter of timing, and recognising the right moment to make a decision is also a matter of instinct, so the analysis phase should not be a purely mathematical matter.

Ransomware vs Business – The Terrain of Dispute: Cloud – Microsoft OneDrive.

A confrontation like a Champions League final, a match with potential finality for the host team, which is always decided in extra time and in which the protagonists do not rely on the weaknesses of the opponent but on how well they have each prepared.

We’ll see what the camp consists of next…

Yes, ransomware can infect OneDrive.

Although OneDrive has built-in security measures to protect your files, ransomware still has ways to get through.

For example, if you click on a malicious link or open an attachment, your computer will not be able to read it. could be infected with ransomware. Once the computer is infected, ransomware may be able to encrypt OneDrive files and demand a ransom to decrypt them. To protect yourself from this type of attack, it is important to be cautious when clicking on links or opening email attachments. You should also have good antivirus software installed on your computer.

The ransomware myth and OneDrive:

Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts files on a victim’s computer, making them inaccessible. Ransomware then demands a ransom from the victim to decrypt the files. Although ransomware attacks have been around for many years, they have become more prevalent due to the popularity of cloud storage services such as OneDrive. Because users often store critical files in the cloud, ransomware attackers see these services as prime targets. It is therefore essential to understand that although cloud storage services are convenient and usually very reliable, they are not immune to ransomware attacks. If you store important files in OneDrive (or any other cloud storage service), make sure you regularly back them up to a location other than where you currently do business, so you can recover your files.

Ransomware infects OneDrive:

Ransomware is malware that can encrypt your files and make them inaccessible until you pay a ransom. Ransomware can infect any file, including those stored on OneDrive. Although OneDrive offers some protection against ransomware, it is not secure. It is essential to enable two-factor authentication and be aware of certain signs that could indicate that your account has been compromised. Ransomware is usually spread through phishing emails or malicious websites.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect yourself from ransomware. For example, you can use a reliable antivirus program and make sure you keep your software up-to-date. When you download an ad-on or extension for your browser. web, it is essential to be aware of the potential risks. Some malicious extensions will ask for permission to access OneDrive, which can be an entry point for a ransomware infection. OneDrive has built-in ransomware detection, which can notify you if your files have been compromised. appear to be encrypted or mass deleted.

Recommendations for keeping OneDrive folders protected:

• Protect administrator/user login data: the Microsoft 365 administrator account is the key to storing an organization’s data in OneDrive. By stealing an administrator’s credentials, an attacker can access and damage all of an organization’s data, infecting files in OneDrive’s shared storage. This can also affect other users accessing the shared storage. It is therefore essential to protect both administrator and user credentials to prevent data loss and infection.
• Enable two-factor authentication: this additional security measure requires you to enter a code from your phone or other device in addition to your password when you log in, making it more difficult for someone to hack into your account. Enabling two-factor authentication can help protect you from having your account stolen and locked.
• Protect all computers in your organisation: protect your computers with antivirus and anti-malware software. By installing and configuring these programs, you can reduce the risk of ransomware infection and protect your OneDrive folders from encryption. Don’t forget to extend this protection to servers and virtual machines.
• Stop execution of files in “appdata”, localappdata”: block execution of files stored in appdata and localappdata. By default, these directories are used by Windows applications to store data.
• Lock “Macros” in Microsoft Office: Macros are small programs that can be embedded in Microsoft Office documents. They are commonly used to automate simple tasks such as entering data.
• Perform all software updates: one of the most important things you can keep up-to-date. Software updates often include security fixes that fix known vulnerabilities. If attackers don’t find any weaknesses in your system, they will move on to someone else who is an easier target.
• Educate your staff members: attackers often assume that users are inexperienced and download all attachments to emails, open files and click on all links. The IT department’s job is to tell users about threats and teach them to identify suspicious content. The most popular ransomware attack vector is sending phishing emails to users. A malicious link looks like a legitimate link, but redirects the user to download and install ransomware. Hover your cursor over the link and check the spelling of the URL. If even one character is wrong, avoid clicking on the link. Another tip is to never open ransomware email attachments. These files can encrypt your data and demand a ransom for the decryption key. Be especially careful with email attachments with these file extensions: .exe, .vbs, .docm and .js. Finally, make sure you have robust backup and disaster recovery solutions to quickly recover your data if you become a victim of ransomware.
• Use Microsoft Exchange Online Protection: As ransomware and other email-borne threats continue to evolve, it’s more important than ever to have a robust email security solution. Exchange Online Protection is a native Microsoft 365 tool that can help you set up additional protection filters, such as the secure link filter and secure attachment filter. In addition, you can use Exchange Online Protection to block active content in attachments, such as macros in Word/Excel documents, VBScript and JavaScript.
• Use cloud protection systems: enable Microsoft 365 Defender in your environment. Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 Defender is a new name for Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (Microsoft Defender for Office 365). The main features of Microsoft 365 Defender are intelligent threat detection, automated investigation and integrated protection against sophisticated ransomware attacks. Microsoft 365 Defender can be configured in the Microsoft 365 Security Center.
• Use version – backup and data recovery strategy: OneDrive can be a valuable tool in this regard, as it can restore previous versions of files that have been modified or deleted. By selecting a previous version of the file, you can recover the necessary files without paying the ransom.
• Set retention policies: retention policies define how long data is kept after it has been deleted, giving you time to restore any lost or damaged files. You can also use retention policies to ensure that old data is automatically deleted after a certain period, freeing up storage space and reducing costs.
• Store backups in a safe place: with the growing threat of ransomware, it is more important than ever to store backups in a safe place. A backup repository must be well protected and not shared with other users (it should only be accessible by backup software and administrators). The best way to protect your backups is to store them in the cloud or on-premises separately from your primary data. This will ensure that, if your data is not available. primary backups are encrypted by ransomware, you will still have access to the backups.

Healthy IT System, Happy Business!

Some of the strongest feelings that characterize the human being are those related to the need for security and protection, coupled with a strong sense of ownership. And because organisations are made up of people, a company’s image mirrors the character and behaviour of decision-makers at key moments. In any P&L there must be a budget allocated for IT, especially one dedicated to productivity, but above all to security and business continuity.

What do you need to do to have a quiet weekend so that Monday you don’t become a start-up, because that’s how you’ll feel after a cryptowall cyber attack? Final answer: Backup as a Service!

Although it is considered a passive, “just in case” service, budget allocation is an investment, not a cost.

Protecting data against loss, data corruption, disasters (man-made or natural) and other problems must be a top priority for companies.

The term backup has become synonymous with data protection and can be achieved in a number of ways.

Here are the types of backups to have on your shopping list:

1. Complete backup copies:

As the name suggests, this type of backup makes a copy of all the data on a storage device, such as disk or magnetic tape, in a different location from the production environment – the Data-Center.

The main advantage of performing a full backup during each operation is that a complete copy of all data is available on a single medium. This results in a minimum time to restore data, a value known as the recovery time objective. However, the disadvantages are that it takes longer to perform a full backup and requires more storage space.

2. Incremental backup copies:

An incremental backup results in copying data that has changed since the last backup operation of any type. Backup applications track and record the date and time when backup operations take place to track files modified from previous operations. The advantage of an incremental backup is that less data is copied than a full backup. Thus, these operations will have a higher backup speed and require less storage space.

3. Differential reserve copies:

A differential backup operation is similar to an incremental operation, the first time it is performed, in that it will copy all the modified data from the previous backup. However, each time it is subsequently run, it will continue to copy all modified data from the previous full backup. Thus, it will store more data for backups than an incremental copy. In addition, differential backups require more space and time to complete than incremental backups, but less than full backups.

4. Spare children in the mirror:

A mirrored backup is comparable to a full backup. This type of backup creates an exact copy of the source data set, but only the most recent version of the data is stored in the backup repository, without tracking different versions of the files. One of the benefits of mirror backup is a fast data recovery time. It is also easy to access individual files that have been backed up. One of the main drawbacks, however, is the amount of storage space required and if there is a problem in the source data set, such as a corruption or deletion, mirror backup will face the same issue.

Every company must run a full backup at least once a month.

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