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Cloud Services Basics in Canada

 

Many companies are moving to the cloud however there are many things to consider.  We have put together several points together addressing cloud services basics and Microsoft 365 in Canada.

Types of Cloud Computing

  1. Infrastructure As A Service (IaaS) includes services like storage, backup, disaster recovery, databases, and security to mention a few services. An example is Microsoft Azure which includes scalable services such as databases, storage, virtual private servers and support services that are available on demand by the hour or usage.
  2. Platform As A Service (PaaS) is often used for organizations that are developing or modifying their own software applications. PaaS offers great support for software development processes, including the entire development cycle which includes prototyping, developing, testing, deploying, and hosting.  Some examples of PaaS include Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure.
  3. Software As A Service (SaaS) term is basically any Internet-based application or service. SaaS is software that runs or is hosted on the provider’s premises and payment is by subscription. The availability, functionality and maintenance of system is the responsibility of the cloud services provider.

 

Microsoft 365 Compliance Standards

  1. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) imposes on our customers that may be “covered entities” under the law security, privacy, and reporting requirements regarding the processing of electronic protected health information. Microsoft 365 provides physical, administrative, and technical safeguards to comply with HIPAA.  Microsoft will also sign a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA) if needed.
  2. Data processing agreements (DPAs) provides customers with contractual assurances regarding how Microsoft handles and safeguards client data. Since Microsoft will sign DPAs, they are committed to over 40 specific security commitments collected from regulations worldwide.
  3. Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) requires U.S. federal agencies to develop, document, and implement controls to secure their information and information systems.
  4. ISO 27001 is one of the top security benchmarks available in the world and Microsoft 365 is the first major business productivity public cloud service to have implemented the rigorous set of physical, logical, process and management controls.
  5. European Union (EU) Model Clauses is a key instrument of EU privacy and human rights law which requires customers in the EU to legitimize the transfer of personal data outside of the EU. This model is recognized as a preferred method for legitimizing the transfer of personal data outside the EU for cloud computing environments.
  6. S.–EU Safe Harbor framework enables customers to legally transfer personal data outside of the EU under the EU Data Protection Directive.
  7. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) imposes requirements on U.S. educational organizations regarding the use or disclosure of student education records, including email and attachments.
  8. Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) pertains to how private sector organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of commercial business. Microsoft supports compliance with PIPEDA.

 

Special Considerations when considering the Cloud

It is extremely important that you preform your due diligence and check up on a company before you store any data in the cloud.  Always ask for references and you should ask the following questions:

  1. How long has the cloud services company been in business?
  2. Where are their physical servers located?
  3. What is their security of their data centre? Is it ISO certified? Security measures?
  4. When was the last security audit conducted what are the results?
  5. What assurances are being offered in writing including notification of breach, is there insurance on loss or theft?
  6. Always verify with clients (Government or regulated industries) prior to any commitment. Many sectors do perform audits on their suppliers to verify to conform to industry standards or their own.

 

365 iT SOLUTIONS is a leading IT consulting firm in Toronto providing industry leading Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

Take advantage of our Complimentary Network and Security Assessment by 365itSolutions.com

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Top 9 Technology Trends For 2015

As 2014 rolls to an end, we all await 2015.  As one of Toronto’s leading IT consulting firms, we are always interested to see what the future holds.  Here is a list of the top 9 technology trends to expect in the upcoming year.

  1. Computing Everywhere

Many wonder, what is computing everywhere?  Computing everywhere allows smart devices to be interconnected.  This will allow users to manage content on a variety of systems.  With growth in smart devices, you will see many technologies such as Google Glass and the Apple Watch.  This wearable technology will allow computing everywhere and increase the user experience.

  1. The Internet of Things (IoT)

What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?  The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow along with user-oriented computing, it will be the focus of digital business products and processes.  Internet of Things (IoT) can be a person with a heart monitor implant, an automobile with built-in sensors to alert the driver when tire pressure is low or any other man-made object that can be assigned an IP address with the ability to transfer data over a network. The Internet of Things (IoT) has been a big part in the manufacturing and power, oil and gas industry however we will be seeing more of it with new technology.

  1. 3D Printing

You have seen the amazing things that can be done with 3D printing.  With the New Year, 3D printing will be getting cheaper and the industry is expecting huge growth over the next three years.  Many more industries are getting involved as 3D printing is helping many industries reduce cost such as industrial, biomedical, and consumer.  Have you investigated how 3D printing can help your business?

  1. Business intelligence (BI)

With the growth of Internet of Things (IoT), Business Intelligence (BI) will continue to grow as companies will have large pools of data to handle.  Business intelligence (BI) represents the tools, systems and software that play a key role in the strategic planning process of the corporation.  With all this big data around, this will be a growing sector.

  1. Context-Rich Systems

This will be huge in the New Year.  Context-Rich systems use embedded intelligence and pervasive analytics to drive the development of systems.  This creates systems that are alert to their surroundings and able to respond appropriately.  By understanding the context of a user request, applications can not only adjust their security response but also adjust how information is delivered to the user.  With the use of Context-Rich systems, systems will become alert and responsive to their surroundings.

  1. Smart Machines

Smart machines are systems that learn to perform work traditionally conducted by humans in an effort to boost efficiency and productivity.  Smart machines include robots, self-driving cars and other cognitive computing systems.  Smart machines are able to make decisions and solve problems without human intervention.

  1. Cloud Services

A cloud service is any resource that is provided over the Internet like Microsoft 365, Google Docs and many others.  The most common cloud service resources are Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).  Since mobile computing needs cloud computing, you will see a growth in sector as there is a need for more centrally coordinated applications that can be delivered to any device.  With this growth, we are seeing apps that can use intelligence and storage effectively all while using lower bandwidth.

  1. Software-Defined Infrastructure and Applications

Software-Defined Infrastructure and Applications uses software-defined data center (SDDC) which is a data storage facility.  It includes all elements of the infrastructure are virtualized and delivered as a service including networking, storage, CPU and security.  Deployment, provisioning, configuration and operation of the entire infrastructure is implemented through software.  Cloud service software is configurable thanks to rich APIs and allows companies to move away from static models to deal with the changing demands.

  1. Security

With all the recent security breaches, you can expect the New Year to bring a lot more security services, applications and services.  There is no security solution that is 100% safe however thanks to advanced risk assessment and mitigation, you will see some major security changes come into play in the next few years. Security will move away from perimeter defense to multi-faceted approaches therefore offering multiple levels of security.  There will also be a large launch of security aware applications that are designed to be dynamic.

365 iT SOLUTIONS is a leading IT consulting firm in Toronto providing industry leading Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

Take advantage of our Complimentary Network and Security Assessment by 365itSolutions.com

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What is Managed IT Services?

Many businesses are always asking, what is managed IT services and how can it help your business become more profitable and productive?

The business landscape has changed and organizations are dependent on technology.  Your IT infrastructure needs to be stable and advanced therefore allowing your organization to be aggressive and competitive.  The unfortunate part is that numerous organizations do not have sufficient expertise to setup, plan and manage their IT infrastructure framework as well as their disaster recovery plan.

Managed services allows companies to offload partial or their complete IT operations to a partner Managed Services Provider (MSP).  Choosing a Managed Services Provider (MSP) is a long term commitment and should not be taken lightly. As they will be responsible for ongoing network monitoring, proactive management and tech support issue resolution.

What will Managed IT Services do for your business?

Managed services providers (MSP) will use industry leading tools to proactively manage your organizations IT infrastructure including alerts, security, patch management, data backup and recovery, workstations, servers, storage systems, networks and applications.

By using managed IT services within your organization, you can now offload routine infrastructure management to an experienced an experienced team of professionals which allows you and your management to focus on growing your business and productivity.

Why should you consider Managed IT Services for your business?

Simple, you get an entire professional IT team to manage your company, not one person to rely on.  No vacation days, no sick days, availability 24x7x365 and no legacy costs.  No matter what size of business, the simple truth is that you need technology to operate efficiently and effectively.  Technology keeps growing and expanding its capabilities therefore solutions are becoming increasingly complex to implement, plan and manage.  Small organizations face an even larger hurdle as they usually lack talent and resources to handle daily responsibilities of keeping the IT infrastructure up and running.

If your company is falling behind in daily IT management functions such as backups, patches and security update, you are facing the possibility of IT outages or even data loss.  Managed service providers (MSP) will be an extension of your current IT department or even your entire IT department by taking daily IT infrastructure monitoring and management tasks.

There are many Managed Services Provider (MSP) companies but here are some key points on what makes 365 iT SOLUTIONS one of the leading IT consulting companies and trusted long term partners.

  • We are 100% Canadian, no outsourcing or offshoring outside of Canada.
  • Our Managed Services contracts offer no long term contracts or agreements.
  • We provide industry leading adaptable, dependable and versatile IT support services.
  • We use the latest tools to proactively manage our clients IT Infrastructure network such as professional services automation (PSA) and remote monitoring and management (RMM).
  • Our Canadian team proactively handles all tech support issues with your IT infrastructure including all network system devices, server and application execution, CPU usage, drive disk allocation, memory utilization, data backups, cloud services and much more.
  • We provide proactive 24x7x365 network monitoring and management including access to industry leading Network Operations Center (NOC).

 

365 iT SOLUTIONS is a leading IT consulting firm in Toronto providing industry leading Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

Take advantage of our Complimentary Network and Security Assessment by 365itSolutions.com

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China has blocked Gmail

Since last Friday, a large numbers of users have been experiencing email issues because China has blocked Gmail.

GreatFire.org, a China-based freedom of speech advocacy group has stated that the Chinese government is just trying to eliminate Google’s presence in China.  What Google has to consider is if Gmail users cannot get through to Chinese clients, then many people outside China might be forced to switch away from Gmail?

Google has already issued a statement that internet traffic analysis shows a huge slump in Gmail traffic since Friday and they have checked their systems.  There is nothing wrong on Googles end.

This is not the first time Google has faced issues in China and Gmail has suffered.  Up until the outage Friday for Gmail, protocols like IMAP, SMTP and POP3 have worked allowing users to use Gmail on phones and desktops via email clients like Outlook.

There is a current fix however the time it is available may be limited.  You can use VPN to access your Gmail within China however it is getting harder to use global services like Gmail from within China.

365 iT SOLUTIONS is a leading IT consulting firm in Toronto providing industry leading Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

Take advantage of our Complimentary Network and Security Assessment by 365itSolutions.com

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Transfer Data from PC to PC

Christmas is here and many of you will getting new computers.  Like many, getting a new computer is an exciting especially when replacing an old slower computer.  Just think, faster computing speed, more hard drive space, quicker boot up and more but there still is the problem how to transfer data from PC to PC.

As IT support services professionals, we have put together a few steps that can help you get your new system up and running quickly this holiday season.

  1. Archive Files

We face this issue with company networks.  Endless amounts of files and data from years of work.  You should ask yourself before transferring whether you need all your old files on your new PC?  You should review your files, delete unneeded files and archive important older files.  You can store your files on discs, USB storage, an external hard drive or online cloud-based storage like Google Drive.  To archive the most files possible, consider compressing your files.

Once your older files are deleted and archived, you can organize your remaining files on your new computer.

  1. Backup Your Files

Rule 101 of tech support services, always backup your data.  It is always better to be safe than sorry as there is always the possibility you could lose or damage files during the transfer.  To ensure that all your files are protected, be sure to backup all your data to an external hard drive or to cloud-based storage like OneDrive.

  1. Transfer Your Data

Once you have performed the steps above, you are now ready to migrate your files to your new computer.  You have several options available to transfer files to your new computer.

OneDrive is a free cloud-based online storage from Microsoft and it comes with 15 GB of space free.

Google Drive is a free cloud-based online storage from Google and it comes with 15 GB of space free.

  1. Transfer Your Files

After you transfer your files and data from your old computer to your new one, it is the perfect time to implement some new practices to protect your information from all the threats out there.

Backup your data regularly with File History

Windows 8.1 offers File History which is a unique backup drive option to protect your data against a computer crash. By using File History, you can backup copies of files that are in Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Desktop folders and the OneDrive files available offline on your PC.  If you want to backup files that are located elsewhere on the computer, you must transfer them to one of the folders listed above.

Antivirus

Your system should have an active anti-virus to protect your system.  Make sure you setup the anti-virus for automatic scans and updates.  We recommend ESET and it provides great protection and uses very little resources.

  1. Wipe Your Old Hard Drive

This is the one step so many people miss.  You have to remember that once you move files off your old computer, they are not completely gone.  You should always wipe hard drives on systems you are retiring.  You can use third party software to wipe the drive or if you are going to recycle your system, you can physically destroy the hard drive.

We hope these steps help you enjoy your new computer and retire your old one with ease.

365 iT SOLUTIONS is a leading IT consulting firm in Toronto. We provide industry leading Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

Take advantage of our Complimentary Network and Security Assessment by 365itSolutions.com

 

 

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Canada fails to understand the value of outsourcing

There are estimates that outsourcing contracts containing cloud components will grow to 50% by 2017 but Canadian businesses are failing to see the value behind it.

As many Canadian business leaders know, Canada’s outsourcing environment is unique full of unique challenges and opportunities.  According to Canada’s Centre for Outsourcing Research and Education (CORE), cloud services has been making inroads in several Industries such as healthcare and the public sector.  These industries are embracing outsourcing in key areas such as information technology, telecommunications and finance.

Many CIOs, IT consultants and IT departments are facing pressure to leverage the cloud to reduce their costs however many Canadian companies are continuing to adopt cloud for their low risk applications and data.

Many IT analysts have noted that healthcare is an area where Canada lags in outsourcing and embracing cloud-based solutions.  Why is healthcare behind in Canada? Simple.  The Canadian healthcare industry is a highly regulated environment including privacy and data residency concerns.

What is pushing Canadian companies to outsourcing?

Outsourcing is simple however many people think it is all about numbers, wrong.  One of the biggest drivers behind outsourcing is the lack of internal skills, especially when it comes to IT especially in a market where those resources are expensive to find, hire, and retain.

The Canadian business landscape is changing and companies need to find the right suppliers that have a synergy with their business goals, company objectives and how technology will help their business grow and increase profitability.

Why is 365 iT SOLUTIONS a leading IT outsourcing firm?

Technology moves quickly today and businesses have more important issues to deal with than IT infrastructure.  All business leaders know that their IT infrastructure is a critical component however there is a lack of IT skills within the organization in order to deliver in a predictable manner.

365 iT SOLUTIONS delivers Managed IT Services using the following structure:

  • We are a leading Managed IT Services and provide IT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Servicesand Cloud Services
  • We are 100% Canadian and do not offshore any services.
  • As IT consultants, we advise companies on their current business needs and goals while using the latest technology to increase productivity and profitability across all levels of the business.
  • We use advanced Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) and Professional Services Automation (PSA) to deliver proactive 24x7x365 Network Monitoring from our Canadian staff.
  • We provide IT Vendor Management and Procurement Services that provide exceptional ROI.
  • Our Canadian team provides rapid response time to tech support tickets.
  • Our IT consultants will provide strategic IT planning and predictive IT budgeting that will increase operational efficiency and control operating costs.
  • We give peace of mind with minimized downtime and 24x7x365 proactive monitoring.

Our Complimentary Network and Security Assessment  gives us a true picture of your business IT infrastructure use and needs.

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Millions of Routers Vulnerable to Hackers

IT security experts have found that over 12 million routers running “RomPager” are vulnerable to hackers.  The flaw is called “Misfortune Cookie”.

Many users have never heard of RomPager however it is actually among the most widely used Web server software in the world.  Routers using this have been manufactured D-Link, Huawei, TP-Link, ZTE, Zyxel and several others manufacturers.  Many manufacturers have responded and they are offering new firmware and patches to address the latest security threat.

So how does Misfortune Cookie work?

The Misfortune Cookie uses a vulnerability in RomPager to allow a hacker to send a single packet containing a malicious HTTP cookie to exploit the flaw.  This exploit would corrupt memory on the device and allow an attacker to remotely gain administrative access to the device.

With the latest vulnerability Misfortune Cookie, home routers are at risk to remote attacks including your entire network including printers, NAS and many other devices.  This is a huge security concern due to privacy violation but it also allows for future attacks such as installing malware on devices and making permanent configuration changes.

This WAN-to-LAN free-crossing is also bypassing any firewall or isolation functionality previously provided by your gateway and breaks common threat models.  Hackers can try to access your webcam or extract data from your NAS drive.

How do you protect yourself from Misfortune Cookie?

Obviously the first step is to verify if there is an update for your router direct from the manufacturer.  You can also ensure your router’s web server is not open to the public on ports 80, 8080, 443 and 7547.

365 iT SOLUTIONS is a leading IT consulting firm in Toronto providing industry leading Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

Take advantage of our Complimentary Network and Security Assessment by 365itSolutions.com

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Gmail Adds Content Security Policy Support

As hackers step up their attacks, many tech companies are stepping up their security features.  Google has added content security policy for users of Gmail on the desktop.

Gmail now supports content security policy and Google designed it to help eliminate cross-site scripting and other common Web-based attacks.

Content Security Policy (CSP) is a W3C standard which is supported by multiple browsers.  Mozilla has been supporting CSP since Firefox 4.  The technology is effective at defending against XSS attacks however the issues has been that not many websites support it plus many IT consultants state that it is difficult to implement properly.

What are the benefits to Content Security Policy (CSP) for Gmail?

The benefits are simple and clear for Google.  As many large technology companies, Google carries a very large target on its back.  Gmail is subject to a large list of threats from hackers.  Gmail also has a very large user base which includes people from all over the world.  Google has beefed up the security of Gmail several times in the last 24 months period including the ability to select HTTPS as the default connection option and adding a two-step verification option.  Now, Google went even further by adding Content Security Policy (CSP).

Gmail users beware!  Gmail offers many great extensions however some extensions are not great and behave badly including code that interferes with Gmail session, or malware that compromises Gmail’s security. Gmail’s Content Security Policy (CSP) protects users by stopping these extensions from loading unsafe code.

The most common web-based attack are XSS attacks.  The unfortunate part is that can take advantage of these vulnerabilities to load malicious code from a remote site and compromise visitors to a legitimate site. Content Security Policy (CSP) is designed to mitigate these attacks by letting site owners determine which domains can safely load scripts in the browser.

We are a leading IT consulting firm in Toronto providing industry leading Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

Take advantage of our Complimentary Network and Security Assessment by 365itSolutions.com

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Google Blacklists Websites with SoakSoak Malware

Google has blacklisted over 10,000 websites due to SoakSoak malware however IT consultants believe that the figure will continue to grow.

There are over 100,000 sites hosted on WordPress platform that may be vulnerable to SoakSoak.  IT security have noticed that hackers are targeting WordPress users running Internet Explorer on Windows.

The SoakSoak campaign was pulling malware from a Russian domain which is currently offline however it seems that that the malware may have caught quickly by IT security experts.

 

How does SoakSoak Malware Work?

In WordPress websites, the SoakSoak malware is modifying “wp-includes/template-loader.php” file that makes it a JavaScript file “wp-includes/js/swobject.js” which can be loaded onto every page in the website. After the file has been decoded, SoakSoak malware is loaded from the compromised Russian domain.

IT consultants have acknowledged that older versions of WordPress websites that use older versions of a popular slideshow plugin, “Slider Revolution or RevSlider version 4.1.4 and older” are vulnerable to SoakSoak malware.

 

How do your protect yourself from SoakSoak Malware?

Recently, there was a vulnerability in version 4.1.4 of a slider plugin from ThemePunch.  The vulnerability allowed hackers to download any file including database credentials from the affected website’s server. ThemePunch fixed the issue in 4.2 however users who had the slider installed as a bundled theme never received the update.  RevSlider’s does have an automatic update mechanism however it is usually disabled and left to the webmaster or IT support services to update.

 

What make SoakSoak Malware dangerous?

There are more than 70 million websites that run on WordPress and RevSlider.  RevSlider is one of the most popular plugins so it’s difficult to know exactly how many and what kind of sites may have been hit by the SoakSoak Malware.

 

365 iT SOLUTIONS is a leading IT consulting firm in Toronto providing industry leading Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

Take advantage of our Complimentary Network and Security Assessment by 365itSolutions.com

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Shellshock Worm Exploiting NAS Devices

 

Shellshock worm is now exploiting new devices.  Now network attached storage (NAS) devices are vulnerable to the Bash flaw and it is actively scanning the internet for more unprotected devices.

The Shellshock worm creates a backdoor on QNAP network attached storage (NAS) devices.  IT consultants have stated that it appears that hackers are using the recent exploit to run several scams including click fraud.  It seems that hackers are currently creating the backdoor so they can install addition malware in the future.  Basically they are stock piling resources for future uses.

In October, QNAP released a patch to address the Bash vulnerability on its Turbo NAS products.  Vulnerabilities are difficult for companies to manage and most are not even aware that it is present and that they have been exposed to threats such as Bash. For those who do not know, Bash affects Linux and UNIX primarily but in some cases even Windows operating systems were subject to this threat.

The Bash vulnerability is accessed quietly using many different functions which makes comprehensive patching difficult however many Managed IT Services providers (MSPs) and IT support services were proactive and patched all these threats proactively using remote monitoring and management (RMM) and professional services automation (PSA) tools.

For companies using QNAP devices, this is a large security threat as many companies are using these drives as shared drives or for local backups or even virtual machines.  If your device is hacked by this threat, the hacker may have access to an entire organizations infrastructure.

So how do you protect your business from Shellshock Worm?

  • You should have a backup of the system you are attempting to update.
  • Log in to the admin interface of the network attached storage (NAS) device.
  • The home screen of the device will state if there is any available updates or patches.
  • Once installed, most devices require a quick reboot in order for the updates to take effect.

365 iT SOLUTIONS is a leading IT consulting firm in Toronto providing industry leading Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

Take advantage of our Complimentary Network and Security Assessment by 365itSolutions.com