Vox 4 Thought

Endpoint Detection and Response – Where Prevention Meets Cure

Posted on 24 October 2022 by Richard Frost

It’s not a position you ever want to find yourself in, but despite every precaution, cyber incidents can and will happen. Which is why you’ll need EDR

As we’ve made clear over the last three weeks, when it comes to cybersecurity, prevention will always be better than cure. There’s no denying the facts though. And the fact is, in our new world of hybrid work, your network is only going to grow bigger and more complex, with multiple (vulnerable) endpoints in need of protection.

For most companies, experiencing a cyber incident isn’t a case of ‘if’, but ‘when’. And, when all else fails, there’s no better feeling than knowing you have EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) in your arsenal.

Endpoint Detection and Response Offers Smarter Cybersecurity

There’s always going to be a place for anti-virus solutions when it comes to protecting endpoints, but as threats continue to evolve at the pace they do, cyber protection needs to go one step further. A multi-faceted solution, EDR covers everything from data and behaviour analysis to monitoring, threat detection and, most importantly, threat response.

Traditional anti-virus is designed to passively detect and contain known threats. As cyber threats evolve on a daily basis, anti-virus needs to be continuously updated to combat every available threat as they become known.

But EDR attacks the problem proactively. Thanks to integrated machine learning and the option of management detection and response, EDR works to prevent the spread of infection from file-based malware while also stopping advanced attacks in real-time and automatically remediating incidents.

With zero-day attacks – where previously unknown vulnerabilities are immediately exploited – on the rise, corporations can’t afford to wait the current average of 280 days to find and resolve a breach.

EDR is designed to flag and question any type of suspicious behaviour within your network, whether they’ve already been identified as viruses or not.

So, while zero-day attacks and polymorphic (or mutating) malware have been developed to evade detection by traditional anti-virus solutions, EDR not only knows which questions to ask to discover these threats within your system but also provides multiple options for dealing with them both pre- and post-infection – including kill, quarantine, remediate and rollback.

The Armata Approach to EDR

Again, as we’ve stressed over the last three weeks, it’s always better to create an environment immune to cyberattack – this starts with User Awareness Training and moves onto Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Management. As an outer layer of defence, EDR not only helps reinforce your prevention strategy, but should the worst happen, it also allows you to take action against cyber threats in record time.

When it comes to incident response, our EDR solution uses tailor-made playbooks with cross-environment insights to orchestrate operations and streamline the whole process. This allows you to roll back malicious changes automatically or manually by already-contained threats on a single device, multiple devices or your environment as a whole.

Thanks to our Incident Response functionality, which captures images of an endpoint at various times for re-imaging to a previous sound state, should your data ever be held hostage via ransomware, you needn’t worry about not getting it back. With EDR in place, you’ll be able to roll back with ease.

Armata EDR also allows you to collect and interpret raw data from all available endpoints to create metadata for analysing how a previous attack occurred and how to mitigate future attacks from occurring as a result.

Which is all to say, with Armata, the power is in your hands.

Future Proof your Business Resources with Braintree

Posted on 24 October 2022 by Suhail Dinat

Let’s talk… future proofing your business resources

It’s no secret that modern businesses face modern challenges, which more-often-than-not require modern solutions. Yes, we said modern a lot, but such is the nature of the present day (resisted the urge) work environment we face today.

Whereas traditionally, organisations had their hands full with “old-school” problems such as managing employees, resources, stock, and physical challenges (plus the risk of conventional crimes), today’s shift to a digital world has been a double-edged sword. Yes, it’s made running a business infinitely easier, as combining technology with practicality has resulted in immeasurable business growth, but with these benefits have come a wealth of new, previously unforeseen risks alike. Today’s brands can no longer rely on yesterday’s methods of ensuring maximised efficiency and safety – as we move towards the future of operations, so too do we need to make a similar transition to newer and more innovative methods of managing our brand.

Enter Braintree, which makes future-proofing your business a way of the present – particularly within our Assessments Spectrum.

Our Braintree Assessments comprise of a wide array of completely free services guaranteed to gear up your brand for maximised future growth. Safety, security, efficiency, streamlined operations and more – you name it, we cover it, and we’ll be unpacking just a few of the ways our organisation can help yours down below.

But first, let’s unpack what these Assessments entail…

First on the list is our Microsoft 365 Evaluations:

These comprise of understanding the risk and compliance across the entire 365, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and Azure AD components. Our team of experts will unpack, assess, and report on the above multitude of elements to allow your brand to maximise your investment and unlock the full potential of your M365 suite.

Next up, our Teams Assessments:

Widely considered the hero of the pandemic, Microsoft Teams has become a mainstay in daily business operations across the globe. Our Assessments helps to enhance this experience by testing network performance and connectivity for all your MT calls.

Let’s look at Azure Cloud Readiness:

Moving to the Cloud is no simple feat – and a proper evaluation is imperative in order to make this transition as easy, cost-effective, and painless as possible. Herein, we’ll assess workloads and your overall business readiness in order to facilitate the migration of applications to Azure.

What about SQL Servers?

We’re glad you asked. Herein, we’ll assess SQL cost and license efficiency, so your business doesn’t have to. In doing so, we’ll supplement this by simultaneously evaluating your Cloud Readiness and compatibility.

Last, but certainly not least, CSAT Cyber Security:

With this being Cyber Security Month, we’d be amiss to not include some focus on your safety within our Assessments portfolio. This service offering will rapidly assess your Hybrid IT Environmental Security Status – specifically with regards to endpoints, Active Directory, 365, Azure, and more.

As can be seen, our range of free Assessments is vast, comprehensive, and meant to cover multiple organisational touchpoints so as to ensure your business is fully catered for. Our team of experts have years of industry knowledge from which to draw from – as well as a proven track record of long-term, sustainable growth for all our happy clients.

We have perfected the art of evaluating where and how your business can be made more efficient while paving the way for a smarter, technologically-grounded tomorrow – and we hope to share this knowledge with anyone willing to learn. If you’re interested in one of our Assessments and hoping to explore these concepts further, give us a shout, and let one of our team members propel your organisation into a safer, smarter, and optimised tomorrow.

Failover: Connect. Control. Save.

Posted on 21 October 2022 by Theo van Zyl

Add LTE connectivity to your current Internet connection so failure to connect doesn’t mean failure to do business

IDC describes connectivity as the lifeblood of the organisation. In its recent analysis of connectivity trends, the research giant highlighted three key connectivity words – enable, accelerate, resilience. It is critical that companies invest in solutions that ensure connectivity redundancy and resiliency to mitigate the risks of service provider outages and to maintain connectivity across people, things, applications and processes. It is a view echoed by McKinsey in its analysis of ‘Resilience for sustainable, inclusive growth’ that allows for more flexibility, improved connections and reduced vulnerability. Failed connectivity, on the other hand, can cost the organisation a lot of money.

In 2021, the Facebook connectivity outage cost the company around $60 million in revenue and recent research found that poor connectivity is costing companies up to £19 billion a year. That’s a lot of money. It’s also not necessary. As Theo van Zyl, Head of Wireless at Vox, fibre-to-the-business (FTTB) points out – with the right technology and investment, connectivity can become the most reliable part of an organisation’s infrastructure.

“The current landscape is unstable and uncertain with several key services working sporadically, if at all, and companies have little to no control over their access to these services or how well they work,” he says. “Sure, power is a guessing game, but there is absolutely no reason why this has to extend to connectivity. Not when there are solutions designed to provide organisations with the redundancy and failover they need. The power may go off, the water may stop running, but you’ve got the internet, your employees are still working and your customers are still getting exceptional service.”

With the cost of failed connectivity in mind, it’s easy to see why companies want redundancy and why they need failover and backup. Companies need solutions that will automatically switch over when there is a failure so that the network remains active and employees are not completely cut off from the internet. They also want failover solutions to provide the right bandwidth to allow for the smooth movement of information – throttled speeds and poor bandwidth are not optional in modern, digitally transformed environments.

“The risk of failure for the business is just too high,” says van Zyl. “There is absolutely no way that a company can afford to lose hours and days of connectivity. If fibre fails – and this does happen – then organisations are left floundering as productivity collapses and so does revenue. It also impacts critical business applications that have to remain connected to ensure the provision of essential services such as data storage, recovery and security.”

This brings the conversation round to the value of building connectivity foundations that ensure that the business is always on, always connected. Ensuring that there is always-on internet, that payment systems remain operational, and that there is business continuity. If fibre fails, these are the boxes that must remain ticked. They are also the reason why connectivity should be an inherent part of the business risk management strategy and failover should be built-in from the ground up.

“Think of it like this – you’re running a retail business and you’re managing and receiving payment transactions through the ERP system and fibre goes down,” says van Zyl. “Now return to service can take as long as four hours, so now the store is unable to process any transactions that are dependent on that connection. If the business turnover is R100k a day and they operate for eight hours a day, they’ve just lost R50k in revenue. This is an untenable risk.”

This example can be applied to any sector – from lawyers managing time-sensitive documentation through to warehousing to logistics and supply chain management to an office worker. Connectivity downtime is expensive and time-consuming. To mitigate this risk, there are some truly tasty technology solutions available on the market today. One is LTE failover – this is smart, automatic and fast, and can be customised to provide the organisation with the failover and redundancy service delivery required.

“LTE provides connectivity at the right speed and is a best effort redundancy service that comes in at a neat price point,” concludes van Zyl. “It’s cheaper than many other connectivity failover services on the market, and it is customisable so it has the ability to slot into circumstances efficiently and allows the organisation to migrate from one network to the other seamlessly, without disruption.”

While solutions like LTE are not as juicy as fibre, they are resilient and available. They offer organisations an immediate solution to a connectivity problem, and they provide cost-effective backup that kicks in when needed. You may not be able to control many of the issues facing the business today, but with the right technology, you can control the connectivity one.

The edge of strategy: where compute redefines service delivery

Posted on 20 October 2022 by Craig Allen

Edge computing is more than a weighty IT terminology; it is the very tip of productivity and data ingenuity that can energise every organisation’s IT strategy

There are several definitions of edge computing. IBM places it as ‘placing workloads as close as possible to the edge – to where data is being created and actions are occurring; Accenture as an ‘emerging computing paradigm which refers to a range of networks and devices at or near the user’. Both place data at the forefront of the edge conversation. It is data, says Craig Allen, Manager: MIT Advisory at Vox, that needs to sit close to the user and has to become faster, better, more user-friendly and more accessible than ever before and that is why edge computing needs to form part of every IT strategy.

“Edge computing is also a critical factor for data-hungry applications like enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, artificial intelligence (AI), and business intelligence (BI) systems where the business is processing high volumes of intense data,” he adds. “If the processing of these platforms and systems is close to the user, it not only speeds up access and value to data delivery, but it ensures that the business is poised on the very precipice of competitive productivity.”

However, edge computing as an IT strategy raises numerous questions. For smaller to medium-sized companies, there’s the question around storage. Would they need to rebuild their data centre or repurpose what their data centre can do? Would they need to invest in colocation options that would place data and infrastructure into an external network infrastructure? What kind of infrastructure would the business need to truly see the benefit of edge computing and what are the implications? Edge computing is a viable model but value will only be felt if there is a clear understanding of the environment and how this will influence or impact business.

“Regardless of business size or sector, infrastructure has to be capable of meeting edge compute expectations,” Allen. “If connectivity is poor and patchy, productivity will decline. If resilience and robustness aren’t built in, then the risks increase. Imagine an outage wiping out essential data across finance, for example – this would be devastating for the business. So, to really shape the edge compute conversation, it is important that organisations have a clear strategy that’s fit for purpose and meets the needs of those who are actually using it.”

One of the key considerations is which model of operation to adopt – is it hybrid, on-premise, or public? And which hyperscaler is the right fit for the business – is it AWS, Google or Azure? Then, you have to ask what level of business is set to be migrated to the cloud. There has to be a clearly defined balance within cloud operations that ensures the line of business has a line of sight into where the cloud will reside and what value it will deliver. The implementation has to be right for the business and allow for it to evolve alongside the expectations of a modern organisation. It must be remote/hybrid working ready, it needs security, it has to support collaboration, and it has to give the organisation all the tools it needs to play its part in the digital economy.

“It’s worth unpacking all these considerations prior to crafting a relevant IT strategy as the answers will help you to really define what you expect from your network so you can architect it accordingly,” says Allen. “By adopting this strategy, you are building for your business rather than building to meet the hype.”

Your IT strategy should also include where the business plans to store and restore its mission-critical applications. In a country where power outages are the norm, this level of attention to detail is essential as it will ensure that your data-hungry applications and users are provided with the right levels of infrastructural support to maintain service delivery and uphold the end-user experience. Don’t architect the edge to fit within the global idea of what this compute looks like, architect it to fit within the limitations of South Africa because this environment is different from anywhere else in the world. Architect for resilience and functionality that can handle uncertainty.

“To fully realise the potential of edge compute and build a truly dynamic IT strategy, you need to answer all the questions outlined here, plus: what is your work-from-home strategy, what is your long-term digital strategy, and how can you introduce next-generation efficiencies that mitigate costs and deliver return on your investment. These questions will help shape your strategy and gain clarity into your business and thereby avoid unnecessary costs or failure.”

Vulnerability Management Makes all the Difference

Posted on 17 October 2022 by Richard Frost

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, it’s time to ditch slow, reactive cybersecurity measures for efficient, proactive solutions and long-term risk reduction.

There’s no going back. Hybrid work and rapid cloud adoption strategies are the future of business as we know it. It’s not difficult to see why – they make day-to-day operations easier overall, not to mention far more affordable. According to Skybox Security Vulnerability Threat Trends Report 2022, it’s estimated there’ll be about 55 billion connected devices globally by 2025.

That doesn’t mean this smarter, more efficient world doesn’t come without risks. Not only are threat actors capitalising on vastly increasing attack surfaces, they’re also able to do so at speed, for very little money. With MaaS (Malware-as-a-Service) and crypto-jacking (hijacking a computer to secretly use it to mine cryptocurrency) on the rise, just about anyone hoping to make a quick buck is a new and very real threat.

Cybersecurity protocols need to evolve to meet these threats head-on. The best way to do this by implementing a proactive approach and, where possible, managing vulnerabilities before they become a real issue.

Vulnerability Management vs Vulnerability Assessments

They may sound similar, and, in fact, one forms part of the other, but there’s a key difference to assessing your environment for vulnerabilities with manual and automated scans and implementing a continuous vulnerability management strategy.

The assessments are the first step to discovering where the faults may lie, from your network to your operating system and applications. Vulnerability Management may start with assessments, but it doesn’t end there. It also includes constantly and consistently treating, reporting, managing and eliminating vulnerabilities across endpoints and the systems and software they run on. Because, once an assessment is done, more often than not, new, previously unknown vulnerabilities are already on the rise.

In fact, vulnerabilities rose by 88% in operational technologies from 2020 to 2021. This also highlights just how important protecting endpoints has become. With IoT (Internet of Things) and analytics becoming more widespread, every device connected to your network can be considered a liability if not continuously monitored and managed.

The Armata Approach

One of our newest offerings, Armata Vulnerability Management takes things up a notch by adding structure and accuracy to every cybersecurity plan. Not only will we know what your key assets are, we’ll also have a greater understanding of where to prioritise our efforts to reduce your risk overall.

Our risk-based Vulnerability Management is designed to uncover vulnerabilities across your entire attack surface – including IoT, cloud and containers.

Rather than relying on sporadic scans, we’ll conduct continuous, in-depth assessments across the surface as a whole – from network to applications and operational technology – all while making the best use of the resources available.

Better still, with predictive prioritisation, our security teams are able to save valuable time and improve efficiency by focusing on remediating the top three percent of vulnerabilities most likely to be exploited first. This includes giving each vulnerability a priority rating and understanding which of those will be exploited within just 28 days.

Cloud Readiness: is my Business Prepped and How Can We Help?

Posted on 17 October 2022 by Suhail Dinat

The world has long since gone digital – and we’re firmly into the next stage of our business and personal evolution. Which next phase, you ask? Well, with this shift to remote working, applications, accessibility, and a need for complete flexibility comes a need for solutions which allow for such requirements. Enter Cloud (although it’s been around for a fair while) – which is simultaneously the now and the later of remote and hybrid environments.

At any given point, individuals interact with Cloud based solutions on an almost daily basis. Data storage, Email, mobile applications, and GPS tools such as Waze all base their accessibility around Cloud compatibility. From a business standpoint, however, things can get a bit stickier – there’s a migration process which needs to happen, which can be a bit tricky if not done correctly.

It is exactly these challenges which can be off putting for businesses even contemplating moving to the Cloud, and exactly the reason the concept is still met with initial trepidation. Some of the most common issues we encounter from organisations experiencing this trepidation include:

Limited understanding of how and when to transfer apps, workloads and the infrastructure which underpins this migration – this is largely due to the complexity of the process.
A distinct lack of specialist Cloud expertise and resources – which makes the sourcing of skilled technicians challenging. Many brands lack the personnel or resources required to facilitate such a transition painlessly.
Many brands also struggle with selecting the correct service providers or applications. This is often not clear cut, with the lack of clarity making simplification and consolidation a challenge.
The cost implications can prove insurmountable. Many existing structures are often a complicated blend of services and data – making this migration (or at least the costing thereof) can be very off-putting for potential migrators.

So… what’s step one?

If your organisation is seeking a Cloud Migration, you should be aware that pre-migration planning is almost as critical as the actual implementation itself.

As such, your Cloud Readiness Assessment is an essential first step, one which can provide a firm, solid, and reliable foundation from which to build on. This process involves a full assessment of your applications and Data – before we move them, we need to establish if they can be moved – as well as calculating a way to do so with minimal impact on your business operations. Said assessments further allow your brand to understand what elements need to be in place so as to make this migration seamless.

With Nymbis, our Cloud Readiness Assessment allows the user to pinpoint directions for their Cloud journey. In doing so, our team of experts are able to advise you on the best adoption and transformation strategies – allow you to unlock maximised benefits for your organisation.

What does it entail?

The aforementioned assessment services focus on guiding you, our customer, towards technology modernisation, rationalisation, remediation, and migration to a Cloud Platform.

Through assisting your brand in establishing a Cloud Adoption maturity baseline, your business can then better identify the potential scope of these changes. It’s no small feat either – as this migration will essentially take your current portfolio and wholly digitise it, so businesses need to be fully prepared and ready to make the jump. Where do our team come in? Glad you asked…

We identify the workloads best suited for your Cloud transformation, which in turn enables your organisation to maximise your ROI.
We also develop a roadmap with clearly defined goals, so as to ensure a smooth and successful transition during this journey.
Furthermore, we deliver a comprehensive Cloud computing migration plan, designed to align your journey with specific business requirements unique to you.

We believe that a comprehensively strategized and well implemented Cloud Readiness Assessment is key to ensuring your transition is painless, cost-effective and doesn’t limit your current business operations. Let our team of experts guide and advise you further completely free of charge. To sign up for a free Cloud Readiness Assessment, simply visit (insert link) and sign up today.

Cost Management: what is it and why should my business care?

Posted on 10 October 2022 by Suhail Dinat

Running a business in today’s day and age is costly – not to mention at times a logistical nightmare. In fact, given the landscape us South Africans have had to navigate (one pandemic, one riot, two floods and multiple bouts of loadshedding within a two-year period, to be precise), businesses across the board have had to tighten belts and embrace the pinch that is budget constraints.

Between salaries, expenses, equipment and beyond, recent events have been tumultuous as far as business owners are concerned. We’ve all been affected in some way or another – whether it’s your favourite family business finally closing their doors or your loyal, dedicated staff having to take unexpected pay cuts.

In light of this, no brand can really afford unforeseen expenses, unexpected bill shocks, going over budget or rapidly escalating costs which continue to spiral out of control. Most organisations are tightening their belts and pinching their wallets and, at this point in time, any additional expenditure can have long-lasting, potentially fatal repercussions for your brand.

So, let’s get into it – what does Cost Management Entail?

The term can be loosely defined as the process of planning, managing, and controlling your business expenditure. It enables one to predict and navigate organisational expenses in order to control your spending (and keep this within the stipulated budget) – thus making it an integral part of your overall business strategy.

An intense and intricate process, Cost Management involves multiple factors (thereby making it easy to lose control of), but the endgame is to essentially improve cost efficiency by either reducing or restricting the growth of expenses across the board. The strategy, therefore, is an essential business tool – it allows you to align your business strategy and work within your means to operate at maximised efficiency.

The success and sustainable growth of any entity, specifically businesses in this context, is inextricably linked to above adequate (and sustainable) management practices which allow your team to make the correct strategic decisions. Spend too much, and you risk bleeding capital and running at a loss. Spend too little, and you similarly run the risk of drastically limiting your business by operating at a level below that which is needed. An effective Cost Management Strategy effectively allows your brand to:

Monitor overall financial health, providing a platform for sustainable decision making and continued positive dividends.
Optimised financial planning and efficient, effective strategic/financial decisions.
Explore the possibility of reduced costs with increased profit margins.
The ability to identify unnecessary expenses which do not yield sufficient returns whilst establishing better uses for your finances.

Despite being crucial to sustainable organisational growth, many entities and managers still tend to understand its importance – especially those not fully aware of its benefits.

This is where Cost Management comes into play – with particular focus on Microsoft Azure – as it allows a neutral team of third-party experts to assist your brand with navigating this difficult financial climate. Not only does it provide a full and comprehensive outlining of exactly what risks your organisation faces, but it simultaneously details a feasible, tangible strategy to ensure that the “worst case scenario” is never an actual reality.

So… what is Azure Cost Management and how does it help me?

Azure Cost Management is, simply put, your gateway to successfully reducing business risks, managing expenses, and ensuring your efficiency does not come at the cost of going over budget. Our team of experts at Qwerti will assess and evaluate your structures, in turn offering you the following:

Complete Cost Optimisation
Mitigation of Risks across the board
Increased Operational Efficiencies
Provide you with a full Cost Management Assessment, which will in turn allow your brand to mitigate the expenses affiliated with general operations.

Let our team of experts at Qwerti guide your brand towards maximising your budget and ensuring that your future financial success is never compromised. Ready to get going? Our Assessments are completely free of charge – all you have to do is give us a shout and let our team do the rest.

Let’s talk… the benefits of Archiving

Posted on 10 October 2022 by Lauren Mansfield

They say that Data is the new currency – and, if true, every business has the potential to be wealthy.

Don’t believe us? Well, the stats don’t lie…

Around 2.5 quintillion bytes worth of data are generated each day
95% of businesses cite the need to manage unstructured data as a problem for their business
Predictions estimate the world will generate 181 zettabytes of data by 2025
80 – 90% of the data we generate today is unstructured

We live in a Data driven technological age, one where insights, information, and Databases are the backbones of our digital society. It makes perfect sense, too, when you consider the way the working world has transitioned in recent years. Businesses are on the move and increasingly Hybrid, our overall Macro-environment is more fluid (and volatile) than KZN on an ordinary Tuesday, and the work from home revolution (which would have surely raised a few eyebrows had we suggested it 5 years ago) remains in full swing.

Suffice to say, the success of the modern organisation is indeed underpinned by information.

Whether accessing, transporting, securing or (sadly) even stealing it, the ability to protect Data has become increasingly invaluable – critical, some might say. We must admit, we get it though, as information has always been a valuable commodity. Some claim they can trace this value all the way back to when neighbours spied to a hole in their face or leaked trade secrets to opposition parties, but we beg to differ. The reality probably emerged a fair bit later – and this value has only served to increase in recent years.

As crucial (and lucrative) as this information is, we’ve come to notice that having Data is one thing – but managing it is an entirely different behemoth altogether. In fact, we’d go as far as to say that to truly manage explosive Data growth, save big on costs, and ultimately maximise its value, you first need to understand how it works and how best to use it.

So, where do I start?

As with anything, the first step towards implementing involves understanding. Business Data can best be leveraged if divided and managed into two distinct entities:

What’s currently active (and useful)
What’s archivable (and required to be stored for record keeping)

Being able to access, analyse and leverage Business Data quickly and easily within your daily operations are both key to production success. Similarly, the ability to access older Data at the click of a button when needed is also a massive time saver – maximizing your efficiency and allowing your business a firm foothold into utilitising your information effectively.

Fundamental to this is the ability to identify what’s “cold”, along with not treating all Data the same. Subsequently, the ability to gain fast, meaningful insights on potentially petabytes of unstructured Data (which can be analysed in the background) is pivotal to your organisational ability to maximise your existing informational Databases.

Here are some questions you NEED to be asking your business so as to establish whether your Data is really being utilised properly:

Is managing your Business Data costing you money?
Do you have the necessary requirements to store critical Data long-term?
Does your organisation store large amounts of unstructured Data?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, then we’re glad to inform you that Nymbis Cloud Solutions can definitely assist you further.

At Nymbis, we provide easy-to-use Archiving Solutions with long-term storage capabilities at an affordable cost. Say goodbye to complicated Cloud platforms and expensive monthly retainers – our team can facilitate, integrate, migrate and, if necessary, dominate your Archiving need without you needing to mortgage your house to afford it. Our free Storage Assessment Tools can quickly analyse and report on unused Data, identify what can be Archived, assist with your business analysing your relevant information and, of course, otherwise troubleshooting.

Interested? We hope so. Simply get in touch for a free Storage Utilisation Assessment – and let’s understand your Data together.

What You Don’t Know About Your Network Can Hurt You

Posted on 10 October 2022 by Jeanette Simpson

Thanks to Penetration Testing, you don’t have to wait to find out what may be lurking in your network before it’s too late.

As brilliant as cloud computing may be, not only for allowing businesses of all sizes to easily adopt scalable, flexible ways of working while cutting down on overall costs, its rapid adoption over the last few years has also made more companies vulnerable to the threats of cybercrime.

When it comes to data breaches and the future of your company, the cliché of prevention being better than a cure has never been more apt.

According to our research, cyberattacks on businesses, especially SMEs, are increasing steadily year-on-year. It also takes most organisations about 280 days to identify and contain a breach costing R30 million on average.

Increasing digitisation, coupled with South Africa’s low investment in cybersecurity and immature cybercrime legislation mean our country is a prime target for cybercrime. Unfortunately, it doesn’t cost much to become a cybercriminal these days, with hacking software going for cheap on the dark web and botnets available for hire at a moment’s notice.

The Best Defence is a Good Offence – The Beauty of Pen Testing

When it really comes down to it, Penetration Testing is ethical hacking. It involves allowing a trusted party – like Armata – to take a deep dive into your networks and applications to systematically probe for vulnerabilities and find just the kind of thing a hacker might exploit before it’s too late.

This form of controlled pseudo hacking doesn’t cause any damage or disrupt valuable business hours, but rather provides a detailed report of where and how to prioritise your cybersecurity efforts.

Network tests focus on issues like access to servers, firewall strength, Wi-Fi security and other holes in the network, while application tests are meant to uncover any vulnerabilities in user input fields and access online. This could be the result of insecure session management or SQL injection opportunities. Pen Tests don’t have to be done internally either, they can happen externally too for a more accurate idea of how easily (or not) a data breach could occur.

This is also where social testing comes in. This involves testing employees’ cybersecurity knowledge and awareness of social engineering tactics like phishing mails.

Penetration Testing – The Armata Way

We first introduced our Pen Test offering towards the end of last year, one that includes eight comprehensive stages instead of the standard five:

Information Gathering
Administrative Interface
Authentication and Access Control
Configuration Management
Input Validation
Parameter Manipulation
Session Management
Business Logic

All of these stages follow industry frameworks to provide best practices for companies to better manage and reduce the risk of cyberattacks, internally and externally.

To read more about our belief in the importance of Penetration Testing and what could have an impact on its efficacy in the coming months, download the Armata Penetration Testing Whitepaper here.

Cyber Awareness Month: The ultimate security pincer movement

Posted on 7 October 2022 by Richard Frost

Training, penetration testing, vulnerability management and endpoint detection response (EDR) form the four prongs of the security army that will protect against the security enemy

Cybersecurity is a battlefield. An alarming one. According to the Allianz Risk Barometer, the risk of a cybersecurity breach ranks higher than supply chain disruption, a natural disaster and even the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a reasonable concern, after all, 93% of networks can be penetrated by cybercriminals, there has been an increase of 50% more cyberattack attempts each week, and cyberattacks on companies shot up by 50% in 2021 alone. Then there’s the cost – Accenture’s State of Cybersecurity Resilience 2021 report found that 81% of organisations find cybersecurity a ‘constant battle and the cost unsustainable’ while 80% have increased their budgets. It is a battlefield soaked in the broken shells of hacked networks, successful ransomware attacks and tattered defences.

“This is why Cybersecurity Awareness Month is so important. It creates visibility around the risks and complexities of cybersecurity and stresses the importance of taking proactive steps to enhance cybersecurity at home and in the workplace. It should form part of a long-term commitment to sustainable security that takes the four key elements of security into account – training, penetration testing, vulnerability management and EDR,” says Richard Frost, Head of Cybersecurity at Armata.

For the business (and their employees) perhaps one of the most important first steps is to assess vulnerability. This means understanding the full cyber-exposure lifecycle and where the business has gaps in defences and holes in security and training. Often, vulnerability awareness comes hand-in-hacker with penetration (pen) testing where experts dedicate their time to finding their way into the business. It’s a smart collaboration as the two will help organisations gain a very clear picture of their cyber-exposure.

“Vulnerability awareness often comes out of a pen test and can form part of an ongoing process where you undertake consistent vulnerability assessments of your environment, and vulnerability management is the active hunting for vulnerabilities in software,” says Frost. “Both strategies should align with regular pen testing that’s focused on finding the vulnerabilities and gaps, and should absolutely form part of user awareness and training because user awareness is a key component of any cybersecurity strategy. People need to know why they are the first line of defence for themselves and the companies they work for.”

The email with the suspicious link from a trusted colleague. The phishing SMS scares the user into entering their personal information to solve a financial problem that doesn’t exist. The poorly designed passwords that anyone can hack and use. These are just some of the critical training touchpoints that should be constantly and consistently reinforced by training within the business. It won’t matter how sophisticated your cybersecurity products are or how innovative your defences are if Susan from Accounting just gave the company password to a phish.

“Your users need to know why they have to jump through so many security hoops and how each touchpoint protects them,” says Frost. “If they understand what the technology protects them from, and how it achieves this goal, then they will be more aware of the role they play and the importance of adhering to the rules and security policies. And, this will trickle down into their personal digital interactions and add even more depth to their security behaviours.”

None of these security elements stands alone. Pen testing supports vulnerability management and together they support training and all three together align to define the EDR implementation that best fits the business. Pen testing will highlight the vulnerabilities and areas where security is lacking, vulnerability management will look for the holes in the software that can be used to take control of a system and steal data, and training will potentially stop people from making expensive mistakes – like leaving the digital door open for anyone to come inside.

“Taking the analogy of leaving the door open a step further, vulnerability management is akin to leaving the windows open and a ladder beside them so someone can just climb in,” says Frost. “Now EDR and training are the equivalent of the security company – guards and systems designed to detect and protect. EDR is designed to detect application behaviour – if a programme is suddenly pumping information out onto the internet, EDR will react. It will determine the risk factor, such as malware, and stop the activity from continuing.”

If all else fails, EDR is the best and last line of defence. It is the final cell door slamming shut on dodgy digital activity, and combined with training, vulnerability management and pen testing, it closes the pincer movement on the enemy and redefines the organisation’s security.

“The reality is that cybersecurity now affects everyone, everywhere,” concludes Frost. “You can be a user at home, a crochet expert downloading patterns, or a high-end enterprise user and you’re vulnerable, you’re at risk. It is time for everyone to educate themselves on cybersecurity, and to embed awareness into their online activity because this is the best way to stay safe and mitigate risk, for the enterprise, the employee and the end-user.”