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Have you ever been or almost been hacked? The answer is most likely yes. Everyone knows of those sketchy emails that try to get you to do something but in reality just cause viruses on your computer. Exploiting someone’s computer has become such a big 21st century issue and it continues to grow.

Digital Edge served as a contributor to Verizon’s Security Breach Reports this year. Hacking is becoming an ever-growing issue so Verizon comes up with statistics of breaches that occurred throughout the year to keep people informed. Digital Edge aided Verizon in providing our own reports of client’s attacks. We analyzed the type of attack, the success rate and ultimately the amount of attacks our clients experienced. (Note: Client Confidentiality Was Not Compromised). There were interesting trends found when analyzing the reports, such as the main targets and the way industries are being exploited. To see these trends, read the full article!

Friends and Colleagues, 

It is critical that at this time, the Digital Edge Security Team sends an urgent warning about a wide-spread email phishing campaign aiming at Microsoft Office 365 users. The emails have subject similar to this: “View your Office 365 Business billing statement for…”. 

The email looks very real and our Security Team is urging what users should pay attention to when analyzing such email for authenticity.

Multiple clients have notified us about receiving said emails and some people were getting trapped by this campaign. 

Click here to read more about this incident of email phishing and possible remediation for this and further attack involving setting up spying rules in your Office 365 account.

It was recently reported that the home computer of an NSA (National Security Agency) contractor was hacked using Kaspersky antivirus software. The incident happened back in 2015 but it had been brought to light about a month ago. It revealed that this vulnerability in the Kaspersky software could have been in massive scale. It was also suggested that not only was the Kaspersky Lab team aware of the hacks, but they assisted in them as well. Kaspersky Lab sent out an emailed statement refuting this and offering help to the U.S. in investigating the breach. However, with rising tensions between Russia and the U.S., there could be a connection between the Kaspersky Lab and Russian Intelligence Agencies; which can pose as threat to American consumers that have Kaspersky software.

The Digital Edge Security Team advises against using Kaspersky security products, which have deep access to system resources, may work as spying software as well as have possible ties to the Russian intelligence agencies.

To continue reading please click here!

Digital Edge’s security team provides top security to their servers. Working 24/7, we detect any type of faults in our systems instantly, before they even cause a potential threat to breaches. Digital Edge provides security checks, does penetration testing and supervises our client’s systems to ensure full security. We work hard to maintain our 100% Uptime. 

If you are in need of immediate Security assistance, please contact the Digital Edge Security Team today!

Good Afternoon Digital Edge Customers,

We are writing to you today to inform you of changes to monthly Microsoft licenses. (The Microsoft Service Provider Licensing Agreement, or SPLA, is designed to provide customers hosted software services including web services, database services and applications.)

We received communication from Microsoft regarding the expected price changes for January 2018 & January 2019. Please see the information below. Once we have official set dollar amounts we will communicate that information as well. Please let me know if you have any questions! We want to make sure you have this information as soon as possible to give you as much time as possible to plan for these changes.

Programs Impacted – Corporate & Academic

Effective January 1, 2018 monthly prices for the following products will increase: 

• By 10% for Windows Remote Desktop Services SAL 
• By 10% for Windows Server Standard (Processor license)* 
• By 10% for Windows Server Datacenter (Processor license)* 
• By 10% for SQL Server Standard Core 
• By 10% for SQL Server Enterprise Core 
• By 10% for SQL Server Web
• By 10% for SQL Server Standard SAL 
• By 5% for Core Infrastructure Server Suite Standard (Processor license) 
• By 7% for Core Infrastructure Server Suite Datacenter (Processor license) 

(* Applicable to Agreements that still have the right to report these sku’s)

Giving customers 15+ months’ notice and effective January 1, 2019 prices for the following products will increase: 

• By 10% for Windows Server Standard Core 
• By 10% for Windows Server Datacenter Core 
• By 5% for Core Infrastructure Server Suite Standard Core 
• By 7% for Core Infrastructure Server Suite Datacenter Core 
• By 15% for Windows Remote Desktop Services SAL 

For more information regarding these changes, or to speak with the Digital Edge team, please contact us today!

Using cloud platforms does guarantee that customer deployments on those platforms will be automatically secured. Regardless of how advanced the security of the products is, if a customer leaves login as admin/admin - the entire deployment will be vulnerable. This admin/admin is only one very simple example, and is exactly why Equifax had its major security breach. 

Digital Edge not only suggests, but implores companies to implement security frameworks such as ISO 27001, NIST Core or SOC2.

Recently, the resumes of potential, current, and previous employees of the US Department of Defense and the US intelligence community were exposed. The documents were found on an insecure Amazon S3 bucket that was not password protected. Amazon needs a stronger third-party cybersecurity to prevent these issues, especially since it is such a large company. This can become very disastrous, for clients and Amazon if the problem isn’t fixed. To find out more information, click here!

In the wake of these storms, Digital Edge Team is here to provide emergency technology recovery services, for any IT distressed company who is in need of immediate assistance to deliver clients with technology recovery. The Digital Edge Disaster Recovery Team will provide free assistance in recovering your IT and migrating it to the Digital Edge Cloud, in addition to providing your business with 6 months free operation.

If your business has been impacted by Hurricane Harvey or Hurricane Irma, and is in need of Digital Edge’s Disaster Recovery, please contact the Digital Edge team. 

The extent of the destruction in Texas, Florida and the Caribbean isn't yet known, but it could be two of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. The damage wrought by these hurricanes has sparked a fresh wave of giving from corporate America, this includes Digital Edge. 

When disaster strikes, the gaps in traditional site recovery methods are truly exposed and without adequate preparation, your company’s data can slip through the cracks of faulty planning. Unfortunately, most businesses only begin to question the efficiency of their site recovery solutions after tragedies directly affect their area.  Conventional methods of keeping replicated data on standby and hoping they all work may not be enough. Allowing us to virtualize your disaster recovery site guarantees the lowest possible RTO.  

Digital Edge, using its virtualization platform, has an ability to move technologies from one geographical region to another. Using this capabilities, we can preemptively move critical systems to a region far from the hurricane, which the Digital Edge Disaster Recovery Team did in preparation for these record-breaking storms.  Digital Edge ensured that business data, backups, applications, and server images were safely stored off-site, in addition to moving critical systems to our Cloud environment, as requested by some clients.

By tomorrow, Hurricane Irma is expected to make landfall in Florida. With storm surges predicted up to 11 feet, the storm could cause catastrophic damage to those in its wake. While the storm’s path is still progressing, Florida has declared a state of emergency to prepare for the worst.  

Residents in the foreshadowed impacted areas are encouraged by officials to stock up on all necessary provisions and to move to safer grounds. 

After securing one’s personal safety and home, it’s also important to take into account the impact Irma could have on local businesses. If time allows, preparing one’s business to weather the storm will help those impacted get back to work following the storm. 

Over the past few days, the Digital Edge Disaster Recovery Team has been virtually migrating its southern-most clients with onsite systems to virtual servers in the New York Area. Digital Edge is ensuring that business data, backups, applications, and server images are safely stored off-site. If requested, Digital Edge can coordinate the process of moving any critical systems to our Cloud environment.  

These virtual servers will safely run during the entire storm. Digital Edge can assist clients prepare pre-built emergency messages to keep your customers and employees informed (closed, open for business, etc) so they can be quickly deployed to your website following Hurricane Irma’s departure.  It is highly recommended someone out of the path of the hurricane has access to update your website, and the Digital Edge team is here to fill that role.

The Digital Edge Disaster Recovery Team also urges businesses in Irma’s path to do the following: 

• Ensure all workstations/laptops are elevated off of the floor and powered off;
• Wrap any computer equipment that is directly near a window with light plastic; Do not wrap equipment that is online – heat buildup may cause damage or fire; 
• All surge protectors should be put in the off position where applicable- Systems without a surge protector should have a surge protector added or the equipment should be unplugged from the wall; 
• Place a thin plastic barrier over any critical network racks and secure them with painter’s tape; Do not place barrier over equipment that is online – heat buildup may cause damage or fire; Plastic should be removed before equipment is brought back online; 
• Ensure your disaster recovery team members have updated contact information and role assignments.
• Ensure your disaster recovery team shares with staff members what method(s) of communication will be available after the disaster; We highly recommend email as it will be far more reliable and accessible to most people;
• Generate and secure the following items in an offsite trusted fire/water proof safe or bank deposit box: 

o Digital pictures of physical assets/inventory for insurance purposes on USB stick
o Printed report of physical assets/inventory
o Printed copy of disaster recovery plan
o Printed report of employee contact information
o Printed report of all vendor contacts and account numbers (power, water, gas, fire alarm, hvac, EIN, insurances, etc)
o Printed copy of critical usernames and passwords such as banking, insurance, web host, etc

If you feel that your business is in need of Digital Edge’s Disaster Recovery assistance in preparing for Hurricane Irma, please contact the Digital Edge team. 

REMINDER: 4 DAYS Left to File Your NYS DFS Exemption

Let the Digital Edge Cybersecurity Team keep your business in compliance!

The Digital Edge Cybersecurity Team would like to remind you that exemption filing for the  New York State Department of Financial Services’ (DFS) 500 Mandatory Cybersecurity is due on August 28, 2017.

Filing for this limited exemption only needs to be filed one time. In the future, if your organization no longer qualifies for the limited exemption as of your most recent fiscal year you would then have 180 days to comply with all applicable requirements of the regulation.  

Read our step-by-step guide on how to file this exemption HERE!

Let the Digital Edge Cyber Security Team ease the burden of implementing the NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulations that are still required under your exemption. Contact our Sales Team for your free assessment and align yourself with compliance today!

Today’s model and mindset is that it seems that you can assemble anything using services provided by different companies and it will be solid. Those services are like parts of LEGO. 

AWS could be like a LEGO. Kids are playing with it. You can make functional things. You can build a house out of LEGO. Is this the best tooling for building a house? Maybe, it is simple. A kids can do it. If you have enough LEGO a kid can build a house. Would it survive many summers and winters, hurricanes, maybe yes, maybe not. Depends how much engineering experience the builder has. A bad engineer may build a bad house out of good old time bricks and a good engineer can make a great house of LEGO. However if you want to build a rocket, you need an “enterprise” class LEGO. You can use one from ToysRs but at least you have to engineer your solution. 

Today’s simplicity is a good thing, a bad thing and a scary thing.