What is Cybersecurity? Cybersecurity is the technologies, processes and practices designed to protect networks, computers, programs and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access. (more…)
Cloud Hosting is a flexible, powerful and more cost-effective for website owners. If you’re experiencing, or expecting, high volumes of web traffic, cloud hosting could be for you. If you want a web host that will grow with your site and mould around you in terms of traffic, resources and cost, cloud hosting is the best bet.
What is Cloud Hosting?
The easiest way to describe cloud hosting is to imagine hundreds of computer servers in the sky. With cloud hosting, your website data and resources are shared out between them. If one server goes down, for instance, you’ll simply switch to another one, seamlessly. If you get a sudden spike of traffic, more cloud servers will pop up to take the strain. If your traffic dies down, the servers will disappear again. It’s flexible, mouldable and responsive to your needs. It’s a step up from traditional ‘shared hosting’ which places all your data on just one server. With shared hosting, you’re also sharing that server with hundreds of other websites, all fighting for the same resources and space. When your website is big enough to outgrow shared hosting, a cloud option gives you more resources and more flexibility.
What is it? How is it used?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is a marketing strategy aimed at ensuring that a website has visibility on search engines. Marketers utilize a combination of both technical and creative elements to improve a website’s rankings, drive site traffic, and increase brand awareness. Sometimes the purpose of SEO is to simply guarantee your site is structured in a way that is easily accessible to visitors. This may be done using keywords, highly relevant content, search-engine-friendly site construction, or gaining external links to your site through reputation and value.
Why is it necessary?
Without an effective SEO strategy, a business is at risk of losing potential customers. Google’s search engine processes 100 billion queries per month (about 3.3 billion per day!). By taking advantage of how content is found and consumed on the web, businesses can easily increase the number of new prospects who find their website via search. Here’s how to get started with SEO. (more…)
Data is the new currency, and in order to stay competitive businesses must protect it. However, data size and volume are increasing at an unprecedented rate, spawning stricter IT regulations and greater downtime costs for businesses. Outdated backup methods simply can’t keep up with today’s business requirements. Image-based backup is the most innovative, reliable method of safeguarding your business by protecting the critical data on your servers.
While traditional solutions only capture data, image-based backup captures a picture of the entire workstation or server and stores it as a unique point in time. If you need to rebuild or virtualize a machine due to damage or disaster, you can quickly restore all of the files, applications and operating systems. Image-based backup offers other benefits that traditional backup methods can’t:
There are many security risks to worry about when managing or using a business network. However, one of the biggest threats to a business’ network is CryptoLocker.
What Is Ransomware?
In order to discuss CryptoLocker, first we must have a handle on ransomware. Ransomware is a type of malware that infects computer systems, restricting users’ access to the infected systems. Ransomware variants, such as CryptoLocker, extort money from victims by displaying an on-screen alert stating that the user’s systems have been locked or files have been encrypted. Unless a ransom is paid, access will not be restored.
What Is CryptoLocker?
CryptoLocker is one of the most common strains of ransomware attacking companies around the world every single day. In a recent global survey of over 1,000 IT service providers, 95% reported recent encounters with CryptoLocker infecting small business clients. CryptoLocker renders its victim’s files unreadable using encryption, then demands payment to un-encrypt them. This variant is considered one of the top cybersecurity threats to businesses today.
Typically, CryptoLocker ransom demands are not particularly high—usually in the range of $200 to $500. However, the cost of downtime associated with ransomware can add up quickly, especially if the malware spreads beyond a single computer and onto your company’s network. Recent statistics report that 63% of small-to-midsized businesses have suffered business-threatening downtime as a result of a successful ransomware attack.
How Does CryptoLocker Spread?
CryptoLocker has been shown to spread in 4 different ways:
