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Month: June 2020

The main features of the Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud

In our previous article, we looked at the benefits of the Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud. Here, we look in more detail at some of the key features of the products.

Prevent threats and keep your business running

The Kaspersky solution offers endpoint protection from the most tested, most awarded security vendor. You can protect Windows desktops and file servers, Mac OS workstations, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, as well offering your users secure Microsoft Office 365 communication and collaboration platforms.

Compensate for lack of IT resources and budget

  • Hosted in the cloud. No need for hardware and software procurement, provisioning and maintenance
  • Instant protection with pre-defined security policies developed by our professionals
  • Available on a monthly subscription to free up financial resources

Gain cloud visibility

  • Shadow IT discovery to reveal uncontrolled sharing of corporate data in the cloud as well as users wasting time on social media and messengers.
  • Block user access to unnecessary or unauthorised cloud resources, keeping your data secure and your colleagues focused and productive.

How to get started – try it FREE for 6 months!

To support remote working in this challenging time, we’re also offering 6 months’ FREE protection with the very latest version of Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365.

This extends protection for SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams, securing all collaboration and messaging channels within Microsoft Office 365.

Sign up NOW for a FREE 6-month license and take protecting remote workers and business data off your to-do list.

Want to find out more?

As Kaspersky Gold Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

 

Seven simple steps to eating well and staying well

Sitting down for extended periods of time is incredibly bad for our health but, now many of us are working from home or at the very least moving about much less than we normally do, it seems hard to avoid.

To help with this, over the coming weeks as part of our Working from Home series in partnership with Fitbit we’ll be looking at a range of exercise, nutrition, sleep, stress management, and general wellbeing activities to keep your employees and users feeling fresh and energised as you work.

In the next in our series of blogs, here’s seven simple steps to eating and staying well while your users are working from home.

A time to be healthier

With so many of us having to stay indoors at the moment, our eating routines have had a bit of a shake-up. However, this means it’s a great time to get into healthier habits as what you eat doesn’t just affect your weight, it also impacts on your physical health and your mental health.¹

 

Be powered by protein

According to Wayne Campbell, Ph.D. a professor of nutrition at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, protein-packed foods are a great way to quash hunger and reduce those snack cravings. This is because, as protein travels through your gut, it stimulates the release of the appetite-suppressing hormone cholecystokinin (a.k.a. CCK), which sends fullness signals to your brain – it also reduces ghrelin, a hormone that makes you feel hungry. So, try to include 25-30g of protein per meal to keep hunger at bay.

 

Choose big-volume, leightweight eats

In a recent study published by the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, volunteers were asked to serve themselves the same type of cereal, but one was in flakes and the other was crushed.² Although those eating the flakes had much fuller bowls, they ended up eating 25% fewer calories than those eating the crushed cereal. This is because dense foods packs more calories into a smaller volume, so choose big-volume, lightweight foods like bran flakes, salad leaves, tubular pasta and popcorn to fill your plate with fewer calories.

 

Eat little and often

Going a long time between eating can cause fluctuations in appetite, so if you only eat at three points during the day, you’ll be very hungry (and likely to eat more) at each meal. However, if you eat four or five times a day, you’ll have a more consistent appetite and be less likely to overeat. So, try having three smaller-portioned meals with a healthy snack between each one instead.

 

Win with wholegrains

According to a study from the Department of Nutrition at the University of California at Davis, the benefits of switching to wholegrains have been discussed for years. Packed full of filling fibre, they’re great for your heart, your digestive health and even the bacteria in your gut. So, as well as the more usual whole-wheat bread and pasta, try incorporating different wholegrains like oats, barley and rye into your meals to stay fuller for longer.

 

Swap your snacks

It’s much easier to reach for the sugary snacks when at home, but try to limit temptation by keeping your cupboards stocked with healthy alternatives. Choose popcorn instead of crisps, grab a carrot instead of a cereal bar and keep fruit (whether tinned or fresh) close at hand.

 

 

Since you’re home, try homecooked

Takeaways are very tempting, but since we’re all home more, now’s a great time to prepare food from scratch – especially as we all have a bit more time on our hands. Cooking a meal yourself means you can monitor how much salt and fat you put into your meals and ensure they’re packed with all the goodness your body needs.

 

Track what you eat

To make sure you’re not overeating, it can be helpful to track what you’re consuming. This is really easy to do inthe Fitbit app or dashboard – simply log what you eat and drink, and you’ll get a breakdown of your calories, macronutrients and even the amount of water you’re drinking. Plus, you can even set up a food plan to help you reach any specific goals.

 

Find out more

As Fitbit Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

 

 

 

References

https://blog.fitbit.com/appetite/

https://jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(14)00104-X/abstract

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4939539/

Breathing exercises to de-stress when working from home

Sitting down for extended periods of time is incredibly bad for our health but, now many of us are working from home or at the very least moving about much less than we normally do, it seems hard to avoid.

To help with this, over the coming weeks as part of our Working from Home series in partnership with Fitbit we’ll be looking at a range of exercise, nutrition, sleep, stress management, and general wellbeing activities to keep your employees and users feeling fresh and energised as you work.

In the next in our series of blogs, here’s some breathing exercises for your staff and users to de-stress and relax while working from home.

Keeping a cool head

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect our lives, it can be increasingly hard to keep a cool head. Even before we began working from home and social-distancing, a 2018 study by the Mental Health Foundation showed that 74% of UK adults felt so stressed at some point over the last year, they felt unable to cope – so if you’re feeling like this, you’re not alone.

Why are breathing exercises important?

Your breathing can have a massive effect on your stress-levels and vice versa. When you’re stressed, your breathing speeds up and becomes more shallow – in fact, breathing quickly can actually bring on feelings of stress.² Luckily, it works the other way too.

When you slow your breathing down and make it deeper, you’ll start to feel calmer. Fitbit’s Relax feature uses your heart rate to create personalised guided breathing sessions for you to follow, but the three exercises below can also help if you start feeling overly stressed.

 

Mouth-to-nose

Start with three mouth-only breaths, in and out (imagining you are yawning). Then take three breaths where you inhale through your mouth and exhale through your nose. Lastly, do three breaths inhaling and exhaling through your nose only. The initial three yawns will make sure you get a lot of oxygen and, when you switch to your nose-breathing, you’ll start getting nitric oxide which can help you feel relaxed.

 

4-4-6-2

This exercise is great for focusing the mind, perfect if you’re feeling a bit anxious. Simply inhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for six seconds and then hold for two seconds. Keep repeating this pattern, gradually get slower and slower at counting, and you should start feeling a lot more relaxed.

 

Walking breath

If you’re still able to go outside for a walk (with appropriate social distancing) as part of your daily exercise, then you can try this one. Sync your inhales and exhales with your steps, inhaling for two steps and exhaling for two steps. After a few rounds of this, switch to inhaling for two steps and exhaling for three. Exhaling for longer will stimulate your vagus nerve which activates your parasympathetic nervous system and helps calm you down.

 

Find out more

As Fitbit Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

 

 

 

References

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/news/stressed-nation-74-uk-overwhelmed-or-unable-cope-some-point-past-year

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-health-and-work/health-matters-health-and-work

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5455070/

https://blog.fitbit.com/breathing-techniques/

https://blog.fitbit.com/breathing-techniques/

Five ways to keep homeworkers active

Sitting down for extended periods of time is incredibly bad for our health but, now many of us are working from home or at the very least moving about much less than we normally do, it seems hard to avoid.

To help with this, over the coming weeks as part of our Working from Home series in partnership with Fitbit we’ll be looking at a range of exercise, nutrition, sleep, stress management, and general wellbeing activities to keep your employees and users feeling fresh and energised as they work.

To get us started, here’s 5 easy ways to keep your staff and users moving during while working from home:

 

Turn your kettle into a personal trainer

The UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines report recommends that you should break up long periods of sitting with just one or two minutes of activity. So, while the kettle’s boiling for your coffee or tea break, do star jumps, planks, press-ups etc. to elevate your heart rate.

 

Talk the walk!

If you’re on the phone talking to your colleagues, leave the laptop behind and walk up and down the hall (or stairs if you have them) as a great way to get a few extra steps in. If you have a Fitbit, you could even challenge your friends to an indoor step challenge.

 

 

Create a standing desk

You burn more calories when standing, so try moving your laptop onto the kitchen side (you may need the help of a few books depending on how tall you are) for a new work setup.

 

Make the time to move

Physical activity can boost self-esteem, mood, sleep quality and energy – something a lot of us need at the moment – so make sure you include time in your working day, whether that’s a session before, after or even during lunchtime. Ideally, aim for 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week and if you have a Fitbit Charge 4, your device can track all that automatically for you with its new Active Zone Minutes function.

 

Try something new

Whether you’re used to jogging with friends, heading to the gym or kicking a ball about with the gang, now’s the time to experiment with new forms of exercise and challenge yourself. With Fitbit Premium, you can access our Dynamic Workout Library packed full of thousands of yoga lessons, dance classes, abs workouts, HIIT sessions and more.

 

Find out more

As Fitbit Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

 

 

References

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-getting-every-adult-active-every-day/health-matters-getting-every-adult-active-every-day

https://www.posturite.co.uk/help-advice/useful-resources/learning-guides/what-is-ergonomics

What business data is backed up by Datto SaaS Protection?

Knowing your Office 365 data is backed up by reliable, cloud-to-cloud backup infrastructure, provides you with more time and budget to grow your business. So what exactly does Datto SaaS Protection recover?

  • OneDrive
  • Contacts
  • Calendar
  • Mail
  • SharePoint
  • MS Teams

Want to learn more about maintaining a secure and compliant business environment?

Datto SaaS Protection for Office 365 takes your data security far above and beyond the baseline industry standards to ensure that all business data in Office 365 and cloud apps data is secured, easily recoverable, and continually protected. Key features include:

  • Three-times daily backups of your business data
  • Encryption at rest and in transit
  • Quick and easy restores and exports of data

These features combine to significantly reduce the risk of losing key data, protect the business network from users, ransomware and other vulnerabilities, and support ongoing compliance efforts.

Keeping your team working on the right things

From a productivity point of view, Datto SaaS Protection for Office 365 make it easy to locate backed up files and folders. This is achieved through effective search filters that make their location quick and simple. The solution makes it possible to manage backups, see restores, and monitor all your activity via a clear and simple dashboard.

From this, it’s possible to analyse emails, files, contacts and full folders of data and, if necessary, restore files to users’ specific accounts, or to download them directly.

Do you need help convincing your colleagues about SaaS Protection? Check out this educational ebook, SaaS Protection for Office 365, and understand how to keep your critical business data people proof!

Find out more

You can read more about Datto SaaS data protection in this article.

As Datto Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

Datto

Ensure your Office 365 data is secured and quickly recoverable

Modern business data is more than just data – it’s your business. And while it may be tempting to think that it’s safe in cloud applications, relying on cloud storage solutions that aren’t designed as backup or security tools can be risky.

So while we recognise that IT budgets are already under pressure and additional backups are yet another strain on them, in this article we look at the benefits of adding an additional protective layer to your business data in the Office 365 suite, and in other cloud applications such as Google Drive.

What are some of the risks of holding data only in cloud applications?

Among many other risks, these are some of the most common, and all contribute to unwanted levels of business downtime, or at the very least, distracted IT departments and users. To put it another way, is an additional solution worth it? These are the top 5 risks of holding business data exclusively in cloud applications:

  1. Additional costs and potential data loss from needing to keep inactive licenses open (from users that have left the business, but their data is still needed for example)
  2. Data loss due to accidental or malicious deletion by users
  3. Potential data loss when attempting to restore files
  4. Data loss when accidentally overwriting previous file drafts
  5. Ransomware and other cyber attacks

What’s the solution?

Datto SaaS Protection for Office 365 takes your data security far above and beyond the baseline industry standards to ensure that all business data in Office 365 and cloud apps data is secured, easily recoverable, and continually protected. Key features include:

  • Three-times daily backups of your business data
  • Encryption at rest and in transit
  • Quick and easy restores and exports of data

These features combine to significantly reduce the risk of losing key data, protect the business network from users, ransomware and other vulnerabilities, and support ongoing compliance efforts.

Keeping your team working on the right things

From a productivity point of view, Datto SaaS Protection for Office 365 make it easy to locate backed up files and folders. This is achieved through effective search filters that make their location quick and simple. The solution makes it possible to manage backups, see restores, and monitor all your activity via a clear and simple dashboard.

From this, it’s possible to analyse emails, files, contacts and full folders of data and, if necessary, restore files to users’ specific accounts, or to download them directly.

Do you need help convincing your colleagues about SaaS Protection? Check out this educational ebook, SaaS Protection for Office 365, and understand how to keep your critical business data people proof!

Find out more

You can read more about Datto SaaS data protection in this article.

As Datto Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

Datto

What is the #1 cause of data loss in the cloud?

Did you know the #1 cause of data loss in the cloud is human error? While cloud-based applications like Office 365 are robust and sophisticated, they cannot protect your data from your employees.
Every day, data is lost or corrupted in the cloud due to:
  • Accidental and malicious deletion
  • Data overwriting/sync errors
  • Successful phishing scams
  • And more!
Do you need help convincing your colleagues about SaaS Protection? Check out this educational ebook, SaaS Protection for Office 365, and understand how to keep your critical business data people proof!

Find out more

You can read more about Datto SaaS data protection in this article.

As Datto Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

Datto

Live Webinar: Top tips for using and backing up your Office 365 applications

Are Office 365 applications like Teams, Outlook and SharePoint rapidly turning into a core aspect of your users toolkits and working days? A significant part, if not all, of their productivity, critical communication and data are stored and created in this environment. Losing this data is not an option, and as Office 365 is not a back-up solution, we will help you with what you need to consider when making sure business data is safe.

Don’t miss this new webinar surrounding your productivity cloud and protecting your O365 data. Join experts from Microsoft and Barracuda for all of the latest details and best practices for using and backing up your O365 applications.

When?

Wednesday 15 July, 10am BST.

Agenda:

  • 10:00 – 10:05 Opening
    Speaker: Chris Hill, RVP Public Cloud, Barracuda Networks
  • 10:05 – 10:50 Your Microsoft 365 Productivity Cloud
    Speaker: Mike Martin, Technical Evangelist, Microsoft
  • 10:50 – 11:00 Co-Development of a Fit for Purpose Backup
    Speaker: Mike Martin
  • 11:00 – 11:30 Your Barracuda Cloud to Cloud Backup & Closing
    Speaker: Charles Smith, Consulting Solutions Engineer, Data Protection, Barracuda
    Networks

How can I find out more?

As Barracuda Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

 

Returning to the office: Technology and security in a time of transition

Many employees have worked remotely for months as a result of the global pandemic (and many still continue to do so). During that time, businesses and public sector organisations established technical measures that enabled remote workforces to operate securely. Now, as companies begin opening their doors, and employees slowly return to their offices, business owners need to audit their tech stack and security measures once again.

Returning to the office doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning all of your Work From Home set-ups. Your workforce will likely consist of some remote workers, even after businesses reopen. Completing a technology audit and gap analysis as employees transition back to the office will ensure remote workers and those returning to the office have what they need to perform well and work securely.

“As your employees begin to return to the office, take the time to develop a repeatable data-driven process you can use to assess security as a hybrid workforce,” explains Chris Henderson, Director, Information Security at Datto. “It is likely there are populations of employees who will be remote for the foreseeable future, so be sure your planning and auditing assume a continued partial remote workforce.”

Datto have developed a series of checklists to help your businesses as you reopen your offices. The checklists cover four key imperatives for your transition: employees, office space, technology, and clients.

Below are some highlights from the “Technology” checklist. This list focuses on establishing office layouts, behaviours, and guidelines that result in a safe office environment for everyone.

  • Run an audit on any workstations in the office. This will help you determine if the workstations have the necessary patches with the latest OS and other critical updates. Leverage your RMM tool to deliver the appropriate patches.
  • Audit the technology that remote employees will use. Determine if the tech is appropriate, secure, and is sufficient to enable optimal productivity.
  • Evaluate new technology deployed during the crisis. The tools your employees used to work remotely may or may not be required when you return to the office. Create a list, including any new devices, and decide if they stay or go.
  • Create a list of employees who used personal computers to Work From Home. Develop an appropriate action plan to ensure the ongoing use of personal computers or devices complies with your company’s security standards.
  • Catalogue items removed from the office. Protect your business and intellectual property by ensuring any devices, technology, files, folders, contracts, customer lists, and documents, etc. are returned to the office.
  • Conduct a gap analysis. Document the technology gaps that were exposed during the crisis and create a plan to address them.

Find out more

You can read more about Datto SaaS data protection in this article.

As Datto Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

Datto

This article was originally published here by our partners Datto.

Top tips for securing collaboration tools

As collaboration tools become more and more fundamental to team collaboration, and by extension, company success, alongside their benefits, cloud solutions for file storage and document or project management can cause many problems for IT departments.

Smaller businesses rarely invest in high-cost collaboration tools, opting instead for cheaper — or, better still, free — utilities. For better or worse, they have plenty of choices. However, failure to consider the security implications of using such tools can end up costing SMBs far more than they budgeted for.

In this article, we share some tips and best practices for making sure that your users can work as productively – and as securely – as possible.

Document collaboration tools

Many services allow small teams to edit documents simultaneously. They’re not just text tools, though; using them, team members can jointly develop graphical interfaces, diagrams, source code, and much more as well. It is handy, after all. However, before using such a service, it is worth understanding exactly how it works: how it stores your information, who has access to it, what security settings are available. Leaving work files publicly accessible is always a bad idea. Even if you are not concerned about information leakage, an intruder could gain access and make their own changes to your project documentation.

Google Docs or Microsoft Teams, OneDrive or Sharepoint provide the most vivid examples. People often share documents through those platforms, using a direct link without any restrictions. That means search engines can index them, and therefore pretty much anyone can see them. Complete strangers have found all sorts of confidential information in those docs: employees’ personal data, lists of customers including contact details, and even payroll records.

What to do: Use only services in which you can hide documents from prying eyes, or that at least give a clear explanation of how documents are stored. Do not forget to configure access rights — the ability to do so is a vital consideration. So, if you use Google Docs for work purposes, restrict access, granting it only to people you share documents with, and do not forget to revoke it if they no longer need it.

Cloud file storage

Another type of service that you should treat with caution is cloud file storage. Need to transfer a large amount of information? No problem — just upload it to the cloud and send the recipient a link. That neatly avoids any e-mail size limits. But many file-sharing services have no protection at all; and, again, files can pop up in the search results of random strangers.

Even if a service has protection, you need to turn security settings up to the max. People often sign up, upload data to the cloud, and forget about it. But passwords can leak. One hackers even stole passwords from Dropbox, not to mention smaller services.

What to do: Choose a reliable file-sharing service that supports two-factor authentication. Once you put data in the cloud, do not forget about it, and if you’re no longer using a file for work, delete it. Settle on one service for sharing files; using more than one invites confusion.

Project-management environments

Overall, these platforms allow workflow participants to communicate, share files, and systematize projects. If you use one to discuss business strategies or transfer files, it is important to know not only who can see them today, but also who might be able to later. Some cloud platforms make everything visible to everyone by default. Users can hide items, but odds are they won’t remember to 100% of the time; the default usually stands. What’s more, if someone gets access to a project, it is likely they will gain access to the entire project history, which is not always desirable.

Companies often grant access to such environments to contractors or freelancers, who may be working for you today and for a competitor tomorrow. Not to mention dismissed employees, who might have time to download an archive before you revoke their permissions.

What to do: Regulate project access rights, restricting those rights to work-related files only, for all parties. Use separate communication environments for employees and external people (contractors, customers). And do not forget to revoke access for former employees and freelancers promptly.

Additional tips

Remember that all services may have vulnerabilities (which might be undiscovered when you start working with them). In addition, many services have client apps with their own problems. Therefore, we recommend that you stick to the following principles:

  • Before you start working with a service, carefully study its settings and data processing rules, as well as read how people have reviewed it in the context of security.
  • Your dedicated IT expert or team, if you have one, must clearly understand what services you use, how they are configured, and who is handling their administration.
  • If you have no dedicated specialist, appoint a responsible party for each service to ensure that the client app is updated promptly any time a vulnerability is found, that passwords are changed in the event of a leak, and that access rights are issued and revoked as and when required.
  • Any service used to share a link or file can potentially be a malware distribution channel. Therefore, every device on which these tools are used needs a reliable security solution.

What’s the solution?

With Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365, your company can protect Exchange Online, OneDrive files, SharePoint files, and Teams files against malware, phishing, spam, and other threats.

Click here to view the full datasheet, or watch the short video below.

Want to find out more?

As Kaspersky Gold Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.