Please find below October’s selection of Tech articles and updates from over the last month or so.
Apple quietly admits 8GB RAM isn’t enough in 2024
IT companies and Windows users have been talking about this since around 2020 – that 8GB of RAM in modern computers is not necessarily enough, leading to slowdowns in general use. Apple has stood fast and refused to admit this is also an issue in their machines, choosing to stay quiet on the subject and let their marketing people use it as a feature, even though an easy check can show the same issues affect their machines. It seems though that they have finally come round to admitting it, albeit quietly, and are supplying their latest machines at a 16GB minimum level.
Full article HERE.
Phishing Scams
‘Phishing’, if you didn’t know, is a type of online scam that targets ordinary users by sending them an email (traditionally) that pretends to be from a well-known source to the user, in an attempt for them to unknowingly give away important security details that can then be used in the future for nefarious purposes.
Phishing scams are a massive growth area, so it is vital that you train your employees to know what to look out for. Think of them as your human firewall – your last line of defence – and ensure they have the ability to recognise as well as respond to this incoming type of scam.
Alchemy can provide a fully-managed solution for this, that involves:
- Testing – simulated phishing emails sent out by our system to deliberately try and trick your employees into clicking where they shouldn’t, in a non-harmful zero-consequence environment.
- Training – a library of articles, videos, and fun games/quizzes are made available to your users, and a regime of training is designed with yourself to ensure everyone is aware of the risks
- Process – knowing what to do in the event of receiving what looks like a phishing email is as equally important as what NOT to do with it, so this is a key step in ensuring the business stays ahead in the security game
This solution is only a few pounds per month per user, depending on how involved you want to be in the process, and has many other uses in the HR world – training videos as an onboarding resource for new hires, for example.
Acronis Extends Background Malware Scanning
Our Microsoft 365 backup functionality, currently provided by Acronis, will be expanded with free anti-malware scanning of your backups. As this service is already available with other workload types eg PC / server backup, bolstering and simplifying the protection of your M365 backups is a welcome addition to this particular service.
Is the office server Dead..?
Long story short, no.
Many software applications still need to ‘sit’ somewhere, whether this is on a cloud server or a physical on-site server. Sage is a classic example of this traditionally, and there are many other examples of bespoke CRM-type software packages needing a local database to access.
Other benefits of a local device are physical security, local data transfer speed, control, less reliance on internet connectivity, as well as knowing exactly where all your data is !
We still support, install, configure, maintain, monitor and replace server environments on a daily basis. Yes, there may be alternatives available now – the cloud – but they don’t fit all scenarios in a cost-effective manner… so don’t rule out the plucky local server just yet. Feel free to talk to us about alternatives though !
Why we delay Patch rollout
As part of our Managed Device Support package we offer the facility to take control of the Windows updates to your local machines on a monthly basis. This means that you, as a business, have more confidence that all your users’ machines have the latest security patches to keep the business for dangerous exploits that have been uncovered and are actively being tested by threat actors.
When Microsoft issue a new raft of updates, sometimes (just sometimes) there are a few minor flaws with their releases, which are uncovered over the following week or so. For this reason we hold back rolling out new patches until the feedback on them is running clear of complaints – usually a couple of weeks. Only then will we set them to deploy in our management systems for those users that have their devices proactively monitored and supported.
Microsoft says more ransomware stopped before reaching encryption
In other Microsoft news, via their Digital Defense Report they have announced that the rate of Ransomware attacks for the last 12-month is up by a multiple of 2.7 !
Ransomware continues to be a popular method among cybercrims given how lucrative a single success can be. However, according to data from Microsoft Digital Defense Report (MDDR), the number of raids that reach the encryption phase has decreased threefold over the last two years. The report attributes this positive downward trend to automatic attack detection and disruption, meaning the security solutions organisations pay for are halting ransomware strikes before they can deal the most damage.
As we know, the most common model for ransomware is double extortion, whereby an assailant gains an initial foothold in the victim’s network, steals some data, encrypts files, and holds it all to ransom. The assailant then has opportunities for money via the threat of sharing data or the threat of not returning access to data – double bubble.
Exploiting vulnerabilities with severity ratings of CVSS 8 and above is one of the leading causes of intrusions. However, social engineering techniques continue to be the most prevalent initial access vectors for ransomware, (see Phishing) Microsoft says in the report.
Web Work
Just in case you weren’t aware, we here at Alchemy have our own Web Specialists, who can not only keep the backend of your website hosting up to date but advise on and complete the front end design work too if you don’t have someone on-tap already.
- Correcting error messages, broken links, images not loading etc
- Back-end updates – security fixes & WordPress plugins
- Improvements to design & visitor experience
- Search engine optimisation
- Hosting package recommendations
- Domain name hosting & name acquisition
I’ll get one of the Team (probably Simon) to make contact in due course, just so you’ve got their details, and if you’re interested they can generate for you a Website Health Check report that’ll give you an overview of any issues they’ve uncovered.
That’s all for this month. Keep well and have a profitable November.
