Category: Security

Are IoT devices serious security threats?
IoT is transforming offices, campuses, and factories, but also brings warnings that the cloud-connected security camera monitoring the storage room could be a threat. How realistic are these warnings, and how much is hyperbole? For answers, Smarter MSP checked in...

Greater reliance on security metrics is driving increased spending on cybersecurity
Despite the increasing number of cyberattacks making headlines, convincing organizations to invest more in cybersecurity technologies remains a major challenge. Too many organizations are still relying on just a firewall and often anti-virus (AV) software that typically has not been...

Ask an MSP Expert: How do I make sure my Office 365 data is safe?
Q: We have clients who run almost their entire business on Office 365. However, most of them decline additional security services because they think that “Microsoft has my back,” but how true is that? To answer this question, Smarter MSP...

When throttling is acceptable
I have previously written about how important it is to be flexible with customers, allowing the occasional traffic burst to go unnoticed – well, at least as far as the invoice is concerned. The problem is when that traffic burst...

Five off-the-radar security threats
Complacency is a formidable enemy. You have a robust patching regimen, an educational component to your MSP offerings, pen testing, and you segment data so that an attack on your client’s system can be contained and quarantined. It’s easy to...

Cybersecurity attacks aimed at MSPs are taking a toll
For the better part of a year now, managed service providers (MSPs) have been the focal point of a series of attacks that are starting to erode customer confidence. A survey of 476 attendees at the recent Black Hat USA...

Cybersecurity Threat Advisory: Pulse Connect Secure VPN and FortiGate SSL VPN Vulnerability
Advisory Overview: Researchers have discovered critical security flaws in FortiGate and Pulse Connect Virtual Private Network (VPN) systems. VPN’s are routinely used to secure online communication, such as between a remote worker’s desktop and the corporate network, and are very...

Tech Time Warp: SoBig.F worm creates some big problems
It’s amazing that the unwitting computer users of 2019 are still clicking on suspicious attachments considering the havoc such files have been wreaking for decades. Back in August 2003, the SoBig.F virus — the sixth variant of the SoBig worm...

Partner Spotlight: How one MSP outsmarts cybercriminals
Portland-based Elevate Technology Group was founded in 2010 to insert and maintain IT solutions that help businesses protect and reach their long-term goals. Elevate Technology Group specifically offers managed IT services and 24/7/365 remote support, among other solutions and services....

A low-tech standby for cybersecurity
With all the cybersecurity tools in the arsenal of the average MSP, there’s one that often gets understandably overlooked: paper and marker. Yes, patching, anti-virus protection, double authentication, and firewalls are the most crucial elements of your cybersecurity regime, but...