VPN 101: Remote access and safety As we know, the Coronavirus pandemic has brought about a paradigm shift in the way businesses function. Home is now, ‘The Office’. With WFH taking root, companies and employees alike are experiencing so many benefits that it looks like it is here to stay. This has given a boost to various technologies that enable businesses to operate smoothly in the WFH environment. Examples include video conferencing applications such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Cloud data storage options, VoIP, etc., In this blog, we discuss one such technology, Virtual Private Networks, more commonly known as VPN. A VPN or virtual private network is a mechanism to connect to private IT networks using the internet. This gives you the ability to access private networks remotely, yet safely. Thus VPNs play a key role in the remote operations model. Using remote access VPN, employees can access their ‘work computers’ using the remote desktop mechanism. Plus, using VPNs to ac

System & software updates: Why you shouldn’t be skipping them for later We all know how annoying it can be when you get a pop-up asking if you’d like to update it or worse still, your system starts to update itself. The general tendency is to put it off until the next time you log onto your device, when you put it off again. We have all experienced it at some point or another, when we are on that important call or have to reply to an urgent email and decide a system update is just not worth the time. But, did you know that it is important to update your computer’s operating system in a timely manner? And that’s not just for your computer, the same applies to your mobile phones, iPads and other tablets too. In fact, there are updates for various software programs and apps that should be installed too. System and application vendors such as Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, etc., release security updates and patches almost every month, and sometimes, several times during a month. What are th

A “Free” Covid Vaccine can give you a virus (and infect your IT network) With the pandemic still raging in most parts of the world, cybercriminals have come up with yet another novel technique to lure unsuspecting victims and steal their data--the free Covid-19Vaccine scam. This is how it typically works. You get an email or a text message that says you are eligible to receive the vaccine for Covid-19 free of cost. The message will have a link which will take you to a form, where you may be asked for your personal information. Once you fill that in and hit submit, cybercriminals have access to your PII (Personally identifiable information) and can virtually wreck havoc now. There have been some variations of this message, one being a rebate offer, where you are asked to “book” or “preorder” your vaccine by paying for it online, with a promise of credit/rebate/refund in a week. Not only will your card be charged for the “cost of the vaccine”, your card details may also be stolen using

Cybersecurity training basics: Password best practices & phishing identification As a business you know the importance of ensuring that your data is safe from the prying eyes of cybercriminals. While anti malware software programs and firewalls are essential to doing this, another important element is, training your employees to identify the traps laid by cybercriminals. This blog offers a list of what you should cover in cybersecurity awareness training. Password best practices This should be number one on your list. The easiest way to steal your data is by stealing your password. Hence you should educate your employees on password best practices. They should know Not to share passwords How to share passwords safely (if at all it has to be done) How to set strong passwords The importance of changing passwords often Your organization’s rules regarding passwords, i.e. your password policy and associated penalties/actions that will be taken if they fail to adhere to it You could also