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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. 

On July 31, 2017, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) has launched a new online portal to securely transmit in real time all notifications required under New York’s first-in-the-nation cybersecurity regulation. If you need assistance with registration or with any or all components of this cybersecurity framework, the Digital Edge team is available to meet your compliance needs! 

“With DFS’s leading cybersecurity regulation, the DFS cyber portal will allow New York’s financial institutions to quickly, easily, and securely report cybersecurity events and file required certifications of compliance, ensuring that the necessary safeguards are in place to protect New York consumers and financial institutions as the threat of cyber-attacks continues to increase.” - Superintendent Maria Vullo, Department of Financial Services

Filings made through the DFS Web Portal are preferred to alternative filing mechanisms as the DFS Web Portal provides a paperless reporting tool to facilitate compliance with the DFS cybersecurity regulation. Learn more about the New only DFS Cybersecurity Reporting Portal here.

Let the Digital Edge Cyber Security Team ease the burden of implementing the robust NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation. Contact our Sales Team for your free assessment and align yourself with DFS compliance today

A brief message from the Digital Edge Security Team: 

1. All Digital Edge’s clients are patched and safe. If you are not Digital Edge client and feel that you may need assistance please contact us. 
2. If you are affected by Ransom.Petya, do not pay the ransom and speak immediately to the Digital Edge Security Team. Further analysis of the cryptolocker, revealed that data retrieval is possible without paying ransom. Please contact our Security Team if you need an assistance with recovering and removing Ransom.Petya. 
    

Traffic analytical tools can cause unintentional sensitive information disclosure.  

Most of precisely targeted attacks on IT infrastructures are originated from outside of security perimeters of the victimized organizations. However, the security openings allowing cyber attackers to breach security mechanisms overwhelmingly originated either with unintentional help of insiders or disclosure of sensitive information. 

Read more on this subject and how the Digital Edge Security Team helps clients mitigate or prevent these risks.

There is a great relief for the many companies which still use legacy systems that are no longer supported by the manufacturer, as the case with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 - Microsoft is including these operating systems in the updates to patch for the existing vulnerabilities exposed in this attack. For those customers who still have legacy systems, this is vital to protect their overall customer ecosystem.
 
Download English language security updates for: 

• Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64
• Windows Server 2003 SP2 x86 
• Windows XP SP2 x64
• Windows XP SP3 x86 
• Windows XP Embedded SP3 x86
• Windows 8 x86
• Windows 8 x64

To download localized versions for the security update for Windows XP, Windows 8 or Windows Server: http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4012598

As per all news agencies and cyber security organizations, multiple countries are under a massive ransomware attack. The ransomware spreads through Europe but specialists are sure that it will eventually spill into US. 

The Digital Edge Security Team is assessing the situation and will assist all the clients and any IT organization that require cyber security help. 
 
We feel that the threat is serious as the infection has a “hunting” functionality that is used to infect other computers that the infected computer has access to through vulnerable Windows SMB Protocol. Microsoft Windows vulnerability called EternalBlue is used by NSA tools leaked to WikiLeaks earlier. The attack might be inspired by NSA weaponry or by NSA itself.

Simply put, if a user opens a malicious email or a website on a desktop that was not patched after March 14, 2017,  there is a big chance that the user’s computer will be infected and the virus will spread inside of the organization.  

Please open a support ticket if you need immediate help at: https://www.digitaledge.net/support/
 
Please click here for more information how to protect your systems.