tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86158546173080713672024-03-13T10:40:53.954-07:00VoIP - Security - Networking - ITChris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-89054678770615788492022-02-02T23:52:00.000-08:002022-02-02T23:52:34.476-08:00Difference Between UPS and Inverter<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="1070" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNU-_hkscZGUknRYlFPgZ9g5_MxyJmChcxs4rvM5rmlZXljkW1aJooDEOfMA6t6EchOGYQ0Eli6VvOFx0sNsQu3w4a45Ll8y_KIoByJ_m2tMgxd5xffj-V3GcEaKUSz-QXLbPdbg7tHt7EUw8aL75-nNQHsViNdxAe8d88vKX1-YqDGtbi6TXf60wr=w640-h218" width="640" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><h4 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Introduction</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Today electricity has become a necessity. All most all of our day to day works requires electricity. We need electricity for laptops, washing machines, electric cookers, Mobile phones, Coolers, etc. If this electricity gets shut down it will cause great disorder. To smoothly run these devices even after the blackout of electricity and get uninterrupted, electrical power systems are discovered. UPS and Inverter are an example of such discoveries. Although these devices work for the same intention, however, people remain confused with the difference between a UPS and an inverter, and they wonder what makes them different. This article will highlight the differences between these two devices so that you can make better use of them, having known their features. Before looking into their differences lets know more about there working. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>UPS</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">UPS stands for Uninterrupted Power Supply. As the name implies, it is used to stop the interruption caused to devices during the blackout of electricity. This system is mainly used with computers where it provides the computer sufficient amount of power to save the data and safely shut down when sudden power blackout occurs.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">UPS consists of a rectifier to convert AC into DC and charge the battery. This battery is connected to the inverter which converts the DC into AC. A controller is provided to control the functioning of the system.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">UPS can provide power supply only up to 10 to 15 minutes. So, this is mainly intended for IT systems and electronic devices that can get damaged with sudden power out conditions.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://jkcgroup.co.za/jkconline/index.php/product/ivr-1200lbks-12v-power-inverter-740w/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFh7E_VASBO3XqhypQMJgCLIvI9Nwd_jsZNwxNbvs0FNzI95t8_wz6xyQvZ-Vl_X-M4AFO5RztnbpzTQeHl3jjMM9zLXcx9zcQ7m19xmk_uvfkqBHnxErl1XjKjAIohsvxxfE-6kntHO77vfeafW9Ltj8eE9g3ZtnGqXr8bXg4pF-_yJswrye30Ycz=w439-h247" width="439" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>IVR-1200LBKS 12v Power Inverter 740W</b></div><div><b>ONLY </b></div><h2><b>R5999</b></h2><div><b><a href="https://jkcgroup.co.za/jkconline/index.php/product/ivr-1200lbks-12v-power-inverter-740w/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE TO ORDER</a></b></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Inverter</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Inverters are power electronic devices. The main purpose of these device is to convert DC to AC. In inverters, AC power supply is taken from AC mains and converted into DC by a rectifier.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This converted DC charges a battery. As the industrial and household systems work on AC power, the DC from the battery is converted into AC by the inverter. During the power cut, the inverter receives supply from the battery and provides power supply to the electrical equipment. These systems are used in the household to get the power supply after the blackout of electricity. For working of Inverters, no external power supply is needed.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Key Differences Between UPS and Inverter</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>1) Use Case & Backup Time</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">If you don’t have power cuts often, you can use a UPS to safeguard your computer from any major hardware failure. The switch to UPS is almost instant, and this doesn’t shut down your computer. UPS typically offers a backup of around 30 minutes or so.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The switching of UPS from the mains supply to the battery is immediate, whereas the Inverter takes more than UPS. For computers, the switching time of inverter is more than it can handle, and it will usually reboot due to the interrupted supply. Thus, UPS are preferred for PC and Inverter for homes as lightbulbs will not care about the switching delay.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">UPS can provide backup for your devices for around 15 minutes, whereas an Inverter can provide backup for hours depending on its capacity. The inverter allows you to power the complete house depending on the capacity. So if your area has a more extended power cut, you can use it at least keep a couple of lights and fan running.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>2) Maintenance & Lifespan</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">UPS are maintenance-free. Inverters need more wiring and need to be filled with distilled water at regular intervals. However, I have noticed that some of the advanced versions of inverters have freed consumers from distilled water maintenance.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The disadvantage of UPS is that since the battery is continuously being charged and discharged even when there’s no power cut. Because of this, the battery will wear out 4-5 times quicker than inverter battery.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>3) Price</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Compared to Inverters, UPS are cheaper. There are different types of UPS and inverters available, and they are available at competing prices.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The factors to look into when buying them includes backup time, capacity, charging time, power requirement, crating (quantity of charge in a fully charged cell), and warranties.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgvobTyesAgEzK5fMkTRhsoE49hcLahLK69uxEAdkWWqRZ655NK0g354LllS5PnoE54bnABZbpH4keeigVjgqtc77UMmkgjCLqWUpajMYcq8f5lzlZ5n36VugRAvHzG7I5OSN0NKAoEwAJtL23OowJNCcx862lL2EhsYDANmCXD87hmiFN19Kqafx9p=s1280" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgvobTyesAgEzK5fMkTRhsoE49hcLahLK69uxEAdkWWqRZ655NK0g354LllS5PnoE54bnABZbpH4keeigVjgqtc77UMmkgjCLqWUpajMYcq8f5lzlZ5n36VugRAvHzG7I5OSN0NKAoEwAJtL23OowJNCcx862lL2EhsYDANmCXD87hmiFN19Kqafx9p=w431-h242" width="431" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Mecer 2400VA, 1440W, 24V DC-AC Inverter with LCD Display</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>ONLY </b></div><h2 style="clear: both;"><b>R8999</b></h2><div><b><a href="https://jkcgroup.co.za/jkconline/index.php/product/mecer-2400va-1440w-24v-dc-ac-inverter-with-lcd-display/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE TO BUY</a></b></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><p></p>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-74913006905414512562021-10-17T21:00:00.020-07:002021-10-17T21:00:00.204-07:00Negotiate your Business Call rates - Will you save money?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtFjsxi5KbJANWRzFrkfCwt5XSWH2E2a_Lb5ckz9v5iTOCtbO0M9kW-887pKtsQcKTpMSsaA6Qcisu1BvuwaHv8Rci33ugeY8ATcuilfXjDPcpzVDaeFbCBOUAcGca8NSEGvIvPqIfzQIoZAUxyvSO8VoDvLdotfLGRMn_JF2CXxDTby0Fbez1sH-D=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtFjsxi5KbJANWRzFrkfCwt5XSWH2E2a_Lb5ckz9v5iTOCtbO0M9kW-887pKtsQcKTpMSsaA6Qcisu1BvuwaHv8Rci33ugeY8ATcuilfXjDPcpzVDaeFbCBOUAcGca8NSEGvIvPqIfzQIoZAUxyvSO8VoDvLdotfLGRMn_JF2CXxDTby0Fbez1sH-D=w640-h334" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><h1>How much can you really save switching between VoIP providers?</h1><p><br />At C Networks we give all our clients the ability to negotiate the best rate to suite their individual needs. Now we talking about cents per min so how much can you really save per year?<br /><br />As a example we will take a small business with average of 6 phones making around 1300 calls a month using 2160 min. So lets start calculating when using a Standard Provider charging you R1,45 per min that's a monthly bill of <strong>R 3132 </strong>p/m and a annual bill of <strong>R37 584 p/a</strong>.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXwdtcMGCj5h0AlPW2VJH9iAdNghSNCkKdTeEzbIyt_x39oaf5aQn24lYpcxJxkY_4QT6Gv_7VjmYUGwlnSkaBWtCWH-DcS_jG39JuD5Wp7gHoyYo5KALhiNLcNqHIAQQ8yqL-HFLnBAD_XgrvxrW-MeOMw29OmlTnIp8q5EXVCXfvv0RPO7bLzot9=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXwdtcMGCj5h0AlPW2VJH9iAdNghSNCkKdTeEzbIyt_x39oaf5aQn24lYpcxJxkY_4QT6Gv_7VjmYUGwlnSkaBWtCWH-DcS_jG39JuD5Wp7gHoyYo5KALhiNLcNqHIAQQ8yqL-HFLnBAD_XgrvxrW-MeOMw29OmlTnIp8q5EXVCXfvv0RPO7bLzot9=w640-h334" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="mailto:info@jkcgroup.co.za" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="238" height="104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2GSS8nup9cvPR3GtJkfjtNqddIcAEYjpB6bvntGZ43YwP1atecdk-e6SJC1nhbnUbzHufTkqnzPuaiQhXve9nFBOw5fUBKPeU-vZSuBrcMi0BeSMWwnyFsnIIJcYR6agP2rCJCgz2Cq6F1ka12PUYSNM1_ARVp96vEM9eRawcaMz516CnArFL1nlM=w99-h104" width="99" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now you starting to shop around and found a VoIP provider willing to charge you only 75c per min with the same number of minutes used you will now only pay <strong>R 2349p/m</strong> and <strong>R 28 188</strong> per year so you already saving <strong>R 9396</strong> per year. Now its time to start negotiating and you manage to get your call cost down to as much as 45c per min that calculates to <strong>R 1057p/m</strong> and <strong>R12 684.60</strong> per year that's a huge saving of <strong>R 24 899</strong> per year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />and at this point is where C Networks will climb in and start assisting you in getting a even better call rate! <span style="font-size: 15px;"><strong>Yes</strong> </span>with C Networks you too can save more than <strong>R24 899</strong> per year on your phone bill. Imagine what can be done with the money being saved, perhaps a bonus for yourself for that holiday you always wanted, a new vehicle for the fleet ?<br /><br /></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;">Put us to the test and start saving within as little as <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>7 days</strong></span>.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="mailto:sales@jkcgroup.co.za" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1577" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA6MQyCqX91I21e3OiuSUwcLCg3Vc_zkgjIj0cfV3UD6OWmlZ2f_USShboS6HGUiiNTr902_94hrY4U8XCmiCGGtI6I6jAhM6Q5u91jIUy96PunNh_lbbQec9OXIq6fWfyRTUUG7_JP8Zyq5GivUAaesPNlMKkG1iGFw4g7RRTb_upMNUyZMJxDGAu=w640-h244" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Ready to start Saving - <b><span style="background-color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><a href="mailto:sales@jkcgroup.co.za">Click Here!</a></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-17963829711386853602021-10-12T22:30:00.001-07:002021-10-13T07:13:30.436-07:00The Dos and Don'ts of Securing Your VoIP Communications<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Dos and Don'ts of Securing Your VoIP Communications</h2><div><br /></div><div><a href="mailto:info@jkcgroup.co.za" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9sw_NtbRcIw4TAfMheTrx2RwqpL20NkKVgBofXU5DbrsLQfcSZ8okdBb4VXMayEH9eDo1ponwJN1XQ3gTsTO6hOca5NlZzQmBkhXAVDz08_i4vVocIZPgTe6agJPLfXH1ofKcQr2OxVHB-qHVAbTAyzJX7hiSH9nXTs2ce_d5omS_WFc4oD7DyXZ2=w640-h334" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>With workplaces moving to a much more distributed model due to the pandemic, voice over IP communications need to be better secured. We discuss how to secure VoIP system with an expert from RingCentral.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rob Marvin</div><div>By Rob Marvin</div><div><br /></div><div><div> </div><div>Voice-over-IP (VoIP) is one of the most cost-effective network solutions a small business can purchase, but you can quickly take a bite out of those savings if you don't enter into it with your eyes open. Understanding all the aspects of voice as they pertain to running on a data network is key to successfully deploying this technology. One of the most important aspects of VoIP, yet one that's very often given short shrift in deployment projects and planning sessions, is security.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="email:info@jkcgroup.co.za" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfsNc64YD1IMw3dgt-t3LhHxcXcKP5pAgNWDj42SDtkE5gm4OonyYazFhdsNlBlhHl9gWTYYdgNsKOKbHUAwAyMuDMvRYtAO8BX9isaUqP1K_d18Bc8RJiDBZSBqzCBpACkYhMatCAgiZ-1U44wtl3RXSulybvgdN2HZiqWzYS3fA-DeJpqb_Xg0Xf=w640-h334" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="mailto:info@jkcgroup.co.za">LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW YOU CAN HELP </a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;">That can be an exceptionally bad mistake these days for several reasons. First, many businesses are moving to a much more distributed networking model due to the pandemic. Users are working from home and for many companies that move may become permanent. That means your clean and consolidated office network is now connected to a potential rat's nest of home networks with unknown routers running unknown (and often default) settings, as well as connecting to a hodgepodge of personal, unmanaged devices. That can affect not only VoIP performance (meaning the clarity of a conversation), but also security across both password protection and traffic integrity.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jkcgoup.co.za" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGtLbZlocmkdgExljPxiyDzh9DcCcoHSZR4zL3k3AdEx8dB56klHE6fOR2BFd21DmXkQJS-PMKFofDk6gy6TkR7tQntqVPxBpIFixtcnKHQsp8WOsggFI3LLNGfZj5I8ZunxEwpczYx-r0s6pLQrNucbCJkxE-aqdKe9gZnwCQQZy53Ck9XzR_1QS1=w640-h334" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>This leads into the other problem with a distributed VoIP architecture. Most VoIP providers these days have some form of unified communications as a service (UCaaS) software client, or softphone. This isn't just a phone that runs on your PC or mobile device, though that's the most popular usage at many companies. For many providers, like RingCentral's Glip, these tools combine phone capabilities with text-based chat, shared meetings, video conferencing, scheduling, as well as file sharing and data transfer features among others. Managing security for such powerful apps is critical.</div><div><br /></div><div>Voice-over-IP (VoIP) is one of the most cost-effective network solutions a small business can purchase, but you can quickly take a bite out of those savings if you don't enter into it with your eyes open. Understanding all the aspects of voice as they pertain to running on a data network is key to successfully deploying this technology. One of the most important aspects of VoIP, yet one that's very often given short shrift in deployment projects and planning sessions, is security.</div><div><br /></div><div>That can be an exceptionally bad mistake these days for several reasons. First, many businesses are moving to a much more distributed networking model due to the pandemic. Users are working from home and for many companies that move may become permanent. That means your clean and consolidated office network is now connected to a potential rat's nest of home networks with unknown routers running unknown (and often default) settings, as well as connecting to a hodgepodge of personal, unmanaged devices. That can affect not only VoIP performance (meaning the clarity of a conversation), but also security across both password protection and traffic integrity.</div><div><br /></div><div>This leads into the other problem with a distributed VoIP architecture. Most VoIP providers these days have some form of unified communications as a service (UCaaS) software client, or softphone. This isn't just a phone that runs on your PC or mobile device, though that's the most popular usage at many companies. For many providers, like RingCentral's Glip, these tools combine phone capabilities with text-based chat, shared meetings, video conferencing, scheduling, as well as file sharing and data transfer features among others. Managing security for such powerful apps is critical.</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jkcgroup.co.za" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="2048" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdbWnILvVR_5ZshEnC_tOJZ1iB3AqNWPaJA67qgLCwNfbtTlYuZ-zAPEApBHdP-1zZ19PDYfbCiPSH4RFlVIVRbnW6GEhPZc8Cv1XcpOQ0Qnmfx7Z4vHqCeUdz5p4iGE0cOHTwu28dbIoOjfUYb_a1ZGqdJ_5xCFVwTWVBx6YYDmyte1_3KezwDf2g=w640-h438" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><div>Whether it's ensuring secure user authentication and network configuration or enabling end-to-end encryption in all VoIP communication and data storage, organizations need to be diligent in both overseeing IT management and working closely with their business VoIP provider to ensure that security requirements are being met and enforced.</div><div><br /></div><div>Michael Machado, Chief Security Officer (CSO) at RingCentral, oversees security for all of RingCentral's cloud and VoIP services. Machado has spent the past 18 years in IT and cloud security, first as a security architect and operations manager at WebEx , and then at Cisco after the company acquired the video conferencing service.</div><div><br /></div><div>Security considerations in your company's VoIP communications start in the research and buying stage before you even select a VoIP provider, and persist through implementation and management. Machado walked through the entire process from a security perspective, stopping to explain plenty of do's and don'ts for businesses of all sizes along the way.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUl2abyMMeVeSJpMD0F5KAgKM0T_rsHTnyZNfdakQzh6HBsjbHrWFP3nVVkWzFbVhKt-r5pDYHikU84tlHYWYh_ytWtQKdj_OLGK97FQfM-jaYFXyEwfl0jtcb78gAnwUMyeaEHrqNHmox3hiKwzGM49wemHQIkouc42C-XNMYosfTmtc9DDmTruQF=s1208" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="1208" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUl2abyMMeVeSJpMD0F5KAgKM0T_rsHTnyZNfdakQzh6HBsjbHrWFP3nVVkWzFbVhKt-r5pDYHikU84tlHYWYh_ytWtQKdj_OLGK97FQfM-jaYFXyEwfl0jtcb78gAnwUMyeaEHrqNHmox3hiKwzGM49wemHQIkouc42C-XNMYosfTmtc9DDmTruQF=w400-h136" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Selecting Your VoIP Provider</h3><h4 style="text-align: left;">DON'T: Neglect the Shared Security Model</h4><div>Whether you're a small business or a large enterprise, the first thing you need to understand—independent even of VoIP and Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS)—is that all cloud services in general need to have a shared security model. Machado said that, as the customer, your business always shares some responsibility in the secure implementation of all the cloud services you're adopting.</div><div><br /></div><div>"It's key for customers to understand, especially when a company is smaller and has fewer resources," said Machado. "People think VoIP is a mechanical device connected to a copper line. It's not. A VoIP phone, whether it's a physical handset, a computer with software running or it, a mobile app, or a softphone application, it's not the same thing as a mechanical phone plugged into the PSTN [public switch telephone network]. It's not like a regular phone—you're going to have some responsibility for making sure the security has a closed loop between the customer and vendor."</div><div><br /></div><div><b>DO: Vendor Due Diligence</b></div><div>Once you understand that shared responsibility and want to adopt a cloud VoIP service, it makes sense to do your due diligence when selecting your vendor. Depending on your size and the expertise you have on staff, Machado explained how enterprises and small to midsize businesses (SMBs) can go about this in different ways.</div><div><br /></div><div>"If you're a large company that can afford to spend the time on due diligence, you can come up with a list of questions to ask every vendor, review their audit report, and have a few meetings to discuss security," said Machado. "If you're a small business, you might not have the expertise to analyze a [Service Organization Control] SOC 2 audit report or the time to invest in a heavy lift discussion.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>"Instead, you can look at things like Gartner's Magic Quadrant report, and look to see if they have a SOC 1 or SOC 2 report available, even if you don't have the time or expertise to read through and understand it," Machado explained. "The audit report is a good indication of companies making a strong investment in security versus companies that are not. You can also look for a SOC 3 report in addition to SOC 2. It's a lightweight, certification-like version of the same standards. These are the things you can look for as a small business to start moving in the right direction on security."</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>DO: Negotiate Security Terms in Your Contract</b></h3><div>Now you're at the point where you've selected a VoIP vendor and you're considering the possibility of making a buying decision. Machado recommended that, whenever possible, businesses should try to get explicit security agreements and terms in writing when negotiating a contract with a cloud vendor.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Small company, big company, it doesn't matter. The smaller the company, the less power you'll have to negotiate those specific terms but it's a 'don't ask, don't get' scenario," said Machado. "See what you can get in your vendor agreements with regards to security obligations from the vendor."</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiyhdDHaapkzkMLX7VwwpVZHG4hmzGuM3v1Un99g6SvMdwayBmjSRum71CJHSaONNhkNLkLbDeCeU8kSqf4q9TAdzfD3sZXctQbxQcl6PPhOcfsTLTcTQuQ6X8jeejjASYJnkAv1nTzSvygdHbR1ZnfvJRDInbuBJT0nsfWKIv1wfKAa2-uzjZELiA6=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiyhdDHaapkzkMLX7VwwpVZHG4hmzGuM3v1Un99g6SvMdwayBmjSRum71CJHSaONNhkNLkLbDeCeU8kSqf4q9TAdzfD3sZXctQbxQcl6PPhOcfsTLTcTQuQ6X8jeejjASYJnkAv1nTzSvygdHbR1ZnfvJRDInbuBJT0nsfWKIv1wfKAa2-uzjZELiA6=w640-h334" width="640" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Implementing VoIP Security</h3><div><b>DO: Use Encrypted VoIP Services</b></div><div>When it comes to deployment, Machado said there's no excuse for a modern VoIP service to not offer end-to-end encryption. Machado recommended that organizations look for services that support Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) encryption, and that do it, ideally, without upselling for core security measures.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>"Don't always go for the cheapest service; it can be worthwhile to pay a premium for a more secure VoIP. Even better is when you don't have to pay a premium for security in your cloud services," said Machado. "As a customer, you should just be able to enable encrypted VoIP and off you go. It's also important that the provider is using not just encrypted signaling, but also encrypting media at rest. People want their conversations to be private, not traversing the internet with plain text voice. Make sure your vendor will support that level of encryption and that it's not going to cost you more."</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>DON'T: Mix Your LANs</b></h4><div>On the network side of your deployment, most organizations have a mix of handsets and cloud-based interfaces. Many employees may just be using a VoIP mobile app or softphone, but there will often be a mix of desk phones and conference phones connected to the VoIP network as well. Machado said it's crucial not to mix form factors and connected devices within the same network design.</div><div><br /></div><div>"You want to set up a separate voice LAN. You don't want your hard-voice phones co-mingling on the same network with your workstations and printers. That's not good network design," said Machado. "If you go that route, there are problematic security implications down the line. There's no reason for your workspaces to be talking to one another. My laptop doesn't need to talk to yours; it's not the same as a server farm with applications talking to databases."</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Instead, Machado recommends…</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">DO: Set Up Private VLANs</h4><div>A private VLAN (virtual LAN), as Machado explained, lets IT managers better control their networks because it effectively segments a specific kind of traffic (in this case VoIP) onto its own network. While there are other ways to keep your VoIP traffic protected with regards to congestion from other app traffic running over your network (we're talking about Quality of Service (QoS) here), separating VoIP traffic is the goal and nothing keeps traffic separate like putting it on its own network. The private VLAN acts as a single access and uplink point to connect the device to a router, server, or network.</div><div><br /></div><div>"From an endpoint security architecture perspective, private VLANs are a good network design because they give you the ability to turn on this feature on the switch that says 'this workstation can't talk to the other workstation.' If you have your VoIP phones or voice-enabled devices on the same network as everything else, that doesn't work," said Machado. "It's important to set up your dedicated voice LAN as part of a more privileged security design."</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">DON'T: Leave Your VoIP Outside the Firewall</h4><div>Your VoIP phone is a computing device plugged into Ethernet or your Wi-Fi network. As a connected endpoint, Machado said it's important for customers to remember that, just like any other computing device, it also needs to be behind the corporate firewall.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"The VoIP phone has a user interface [UI] for users to log in and for admins to do system administration on the phone. Not every VoIP phone has firmware to protect against brute-force attacks," said Machado. "Your email account will lock after a few attempts, but not every VoIP phone works the same way. If you don't put a firewall in front of it, it's like opening that web application to anyone on the internet who wants to script a brute force attack and log in."</div><div><br /></div><div>For companies faced with deploying such devices in workers' homes, this process is necessarily more complicated. First, consider mandating a softphone instead of going to the trouble of shipping out a slew of handsets. With a cheap pair of headphones equipped with microphones, softphones are every bit as effective and easy to use as a regular phone. They're also on a PC or mobile device that's probably connected wirelessly to the home network, which means it'll automatically be behind the home router's firewall.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, IT should make it a point to ensure that every home wireless router not only implements a firewall, but does so in a VoIP friendly way. That means some testing for IT staffers across different router devices, but once that's done they should be able to help home users implement the proper settings fairly quickly over the phone.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">VoIP Service Management</h3><h4 style="text-align: left;">DO: Change Your Default Passwords</h4><div>Regardless of the manufacturer from which you receive your VoIP handsets, the devices will ship with default credentials like any other piece of hardware that comes with a web UI. To avoid the kind of simple vulnerabilities that led to the Mirai botnet DDoS attack, Machado said the easiest thing to do is simply to change those defaults.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>"Customers need to take proactive steps to secure their phones," said Machado. "Change the default passwords immediately or, if your vendor manages the phone endpoints for you, make sure they're changing those default passwords on your behalf."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">DO: Keep Track of Your Usage</h4><div>Whether it's a cloud phone system, on-premises voice system, or a private branch exchange (PBX), Machado said that all VoIP services have an attack surface and eventually may get hacked. When that happens, he said one of the most typical attacks is an account takeover (ATO), also known as telecom fraud or traffic pumping. This means that, when a VoIP system is hacked, the attacker tries to place calls that cost that owner money. The best defense is to keep track of your usage.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"Say you're a threat actor. You've got access to voice services and you're trying to make calls out. If your organization is watching its usage, you'll be able to spot if there's an unusually high bill or see something like a user on the phone for 45 minutes with a location that no employees have any reason to call. It's all about paying attention,"</i> said Machado.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"If you're 'cloud-ifying' this (meaning, not using a traditional PBX or on-premises-only VoIP), then have a conversation with your service provider asking what you're doing to protect me," he added. "Are there knobs and dials I can turn on and off with regards to service? Are you doing back-end fraud monitoring or user behavior analytics looking for anomalous usage on my behalf? These are important questions to ask."</i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">DON'T: Have Over-Broad Security Permissions</h4><div>On the subject of usage, one way to cap potential ATO damage is to turn off permissions and features you know your business doesn't need, just in case. Machado gave international calling as an example.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"If your business doesn't need to call all parts of the world, then don't turn on calling to all parts of the world," he said. "If you only do business in the US, Canada, and Mexico, do you want every other country available for calling or does it just make sense to shut it off in the case of ATO? Don't leave any over-broad permissions for your users for any technology service, and anything that's not necessary for your business use qualifies as over-broad."</i></div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">DON'T: Forget About Patching</h4><div>Patching and keeping current with updates is critical with any kind of software. Whether you're using a softphone, VoIP mobile app, or any kind of hardware with firmware updates, Machado said this one's a no-brainer.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"Are you managing your own VoIP phones? If the vendor releases firmware, test and deploy it quickly—these often deal with patches of all types. Sometimes, security patches come from a vendor managing the phone on your behalf so, in that case, be sure to ask who controls patching and what the cycle is,"</i> said Machado.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Patching is also critical for the slew of home routers to which your network will likely be connecting in a distributed deployment. The best-case scenario is to control the brand and model of these routers so IT can automate the patching process and verify that each device is in compliance. If that can't happen, however, the next step is constant user communication and scheduled phone help to aid home users in updating their routers themselves.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">DO: Enable Strong Authentication</h4><div>Strong two-factor authentication and investing in heavier identity management is another smart security practice. Beyond just VoIP, Machado said authentication is always an important factor to have in place.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Always turn on strong authentication. That's not any different if you're logging into your cloud PBX or your email or your CRM. Look for those features and use them," said Machado. "We're not just talking about phones on your desk; we're talking about web applications and all the different parts of the service. Understand how the pieces come together and secure each piece in turn."</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="mailto:info@jkcgroup.co.za" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9sw_NtbRcIw4TAfMheTrx2RwqpL20NkKVgBofXU5DbrsLQfcSZ8okdBb4VXMayEH9eDo1ponwJN1XQ3gTsTO6hOca5NlZzQmBkhXAVDz08_i4vVocIZPgTe6agJPLfXH1ofKcQr2OxVHB-qHVAbTAyzJX7hiSH9nXTs2ce_d5omS_WFc4oD7DyXZ2=w640-h334" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-26327772293542147022021-10-10T21:00:00.058-07:002021-10-10T21:00:00.231-07:003 Ways Hybrid Workspaces Create a Better Experience for All<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLuG8FMKjZd6TZomEvh2j16jWNy6mGTxRSaXVogsMKCB9383DUvTih_6QQOZvX5XgC1naINK5F0i1XlJoXKViBCgGTZQniYFzSo_rm3C3UCfWBwwmYg8sojvCaRDBbclrE_H5QBXY--YReAqPj6RDpCl5pZmevv2mi0MSM6ZBbG9-md74_20KXHMlu=s1070" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="1070" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLuG8FMKjZd6TZomEvh2j16jWNy6mGTxRSaXVogsMKCB9383DUvTih_6QQOZvX5XgC1naINK5F0i1XlJoXKViBCgGTZQniYFzSo_rm3C3UCfWBwwmYg8sojvCaRDBbclrE_H5QBXY--YReAqPj6RDpCl5pZmevv2mi0MSM6ZBbG9-md74_20KXHMlu=w640-h203" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><h4 style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; padding: 0cm;">As companies start planning to return
to work, a significant number of employees want a model where they have the
flexibility of working from anywhere. Forward-looking leadership teams are
leaning into hybrid workplace models that create better work/life balance,
increased productivity and better collaboration, says Nick Iovacchini, CEO
& co-founder, KettleSpace.</span></b></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "PT Serif",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">As vaccinations are scaling around
the world, our country is seeing yet another shift in how we work. Early in the
pandemic, many of us have struggled to adapt to remote ways of working (mostly
from home). Although remote work has its benefits, many of us have started to
experience WFH fatigue,</span><span style="font-family: "PT Serif", serif;"> many people are stressed,
overworked and generally burnt out<u><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">.</span></u><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "PT Serif",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">As we move toward reopening, 55%
of </span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">workers want
a different model for how and where they work, and 40% say they would consider
quitting their jobs if they weren’t offered some form of remote work
flexibility. While this doesn’t represent an insignificant amount of change and
effort, forward-looking leadership teams are leaning into this and are willing
to adapt to find a new equilibrium. With the right approach, tooling, and data,
leadership and employees can work together to achieve a new paradigm that
balances employee desires, leadership needs, productivity, and resource
allocation.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">What do workers want today, actually?
A balance — a measure of control over where and how they work. This means
that the future is a fluid model offering a combination of remote and in-office
work. These approaches can take a number of various shapes, but collectively we
call them “hybrid models.” And hybrid models will fundamentally change the way
companies operate, how employees experience work, and how business leaders
optimize the fixed office footprint. Many employers are even using the promise
of the hybrid model as a talent acquisition advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The companies that can figure out the
right balance, implementation (using a combination of tech and data) and
management of a proper hybrid model will have the edge in talent sourcing and
retention over time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="background: white; color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Here are three ways a smart hybrid design creates a
better employee experience:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="background: white; color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="line-height: 36pt; margin: 12pt 0cm 18pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">1. Better Work/Life Balance</span></b></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Work-life balance goes hand-in-hand
with an employee’s mental health. Many of us are pretty plugged in, checking
email and slack well beyond normal working hours. However, not having to work
in the office every day frees employees from being physically tethered to their
job at all times. In turn, it enables business leaders to readjust their expectations
of employees, especially those that have hit a psychological wall. This
rebalancing creates a more sustainable way ahead for both employees and
employers. An effective hybrid model shows employers that productivity doesn’t
slip; in fact, offering workers autonomy over their time can even boost
productivity as well as morale.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Returning to the office also means
restoring a sense of normalcy and routine, reminding employees what things were
like before the pandemic. At the same time, offering multiple work options can
alleviate common stressors like the daily commute, missing family milestones,
or lacking personal time. People enjoy having the latitude in choosing their
work environment, and switching it up can lead to greater creativity and better
quality work.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Perhaps most importantly, hybrid
models can prevent people from feeling isolated. One of the biggest losses
workers suffered due to the pandemic was not being able to see and emotionally
connect with their coworkers on a daily basis. Even while they were able to
stay connected through technology, for many, it was not an adequate replacement
for face-to-face interactions. Americans report the highest levels of
happiness when they spend six to seven hours a day socializing; being able
to see and work with teammates is beneficial for mental health. Working from
home full-time might even be more productive for some, but the lack of vital
interaction is a heavy downside.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="line-height: 36pt; margin: 12pt 0cm 18pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">2. Increased Productivity</span></b></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "PT Serif", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;">At the beginning stages of the
pandemic, where work started to go fully remote, there was fear that workers
would be less productive with less oversight. In reality, that just has not
been the case, as working remotely has, in fact, increased productivity for
many organizations. A PwC study shows that employees feel more
productive now than they did last year (34% vs. 28%), and more executives agree
that productivity has improved (52% vs. 44%).</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The key to hybrid work being
productive is trust between employers and employees. Those that micromanage or
monitor remote workers may actually undermine one of the biggest upsides of
enabling remote work. That lack of confidence impacts employee morale, which
leads to lower productivity and engagement. But when employees are trusted to
work from home with little oversight, their productivity will increase. This
same logic holds when it comes to increases in employee engagement, according
to Gallup. Teams with highly engaged employees are 21% more profitable than companies
with less engaged employees.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The hybrid model supports
productivity when workers actually do return to the office as well. A physical
office is often cited as a better work environment to accomplish certain tasks.
That will be the case when people return in-person to work for an employer that
has established trust in a flexible model. The confidence that work can be
performed well from any location fosters a sense of autonomy and purpose that
places less pressure on constant oversight by management. Again, it all comes
back to balance.</span></p><h2 style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: PT Serif, serif; font-size: medium;">3. Better Collaboration</span></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "PT Serif", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;">One of the biggest changes brought by
the move to “home offices” was the impact on collaboration. Physically working
together builds trust among colleagues, and occupying the same space fosters a
sense of social connection and collaboration. All of these factors are
instrumental in building a thriving culture.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">During the lockdown period, many
colleagues were no longer able to meet face-to-face, which changed or limited
how they worked together, especially on tasks requiring multiple participants.
However, at the same time, there was more connectivity with coworkers in
offices far away, which was a plus for many teams.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">When orchestrated with the right
system, frameworks, and data, a smart hybrid model can bring out the best in workers,
who are more likely to report a positive impact on creativity,
relationships, and problem-solving. That’s because it allows a mix of in-person
collaboration and autonomous work at home. Additionally, cross-collaboration in
a hybrid structure enhances efficiency without any negative impact on the
quality of work, as well as an increase in innovation by bringing different
perspectives to the table.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: medium;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.75pt; margin-bottom: 15pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Work has irreversibly shifted due to
the pandemic. McKinsey reports that 90% of all companies anticipate being some
form of hybrid going forward. However, nearly 70% still don’t have a plan or
the necessary infrastructure to implement a successful hybrid model. There’s no
doubt organizations will have different strategies on how to implement a
hybrid; this isn’t going to be a “one size fits all” situation. Instead, the
pandemic has shown us both the positives and negatives of remote and in-office
work. It will be up to innovative companies to pave the path forward in
figuring out how to combine the pros and the cons in the best way possible.
Those that do will have a leg up on the competition when it comes to the
all-important task of attracting and retaining top talent while at the same
time creating productivity, engagement, and ROI advantages.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-51779419469659671372021-10-03T21:00:00.001-07:002021-10-03T22:17:01.091-07:00Introducing Windows 11<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Co2kFUp1Qyo/YVfdP2D8zzI/AAAAAAAACzw/y13eNe3_FD4tyRwk5WETAFbpqyDRhR2pQCLcBGAsYHQ/s877/Introducing.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="877" height="284" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Co2kFUp1Qyo/YVfdP2D8zzI/AAAAAAAACzw/y13eNe3_FD4tyRwk5WETAFbpqyDRhR2pQCLcBGAsYHQ/w691-h284/Introducing.png" width="691" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jkcgroup.co.za" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="273" height="66" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bkGWXHCvooY/YVqNdE9vF3I/AAAAAAAAC1Y/jTQ999c8AZMvvFoZ_1pvlIPyt8ae--k1wCLcBGAsYHQ/w82-h66/Learn.png" width="82" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><h2 style="clear: both;"><br /></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="348" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/StGfME0qvG4" width="437" youtube-src-id="StGfME0qvG4"></iframe></div><br /><h2 style="clear: both;"><br /></h2><div><h2 style="clear: both;"><b>Get a fresh perspective</b></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Windows 11 provides a calm and creative space where you can pursue your passions through a fresh experience. From a rejuvenated Start menu to new ways to connect to your favourite people, news, games, and content—Windows 11 is the place to think, express, and create in a natural way.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="334" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oYeVbH9G4LM" width="481" youtube-src-id="oYeVbH9G4LM"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><h3 style="clear: both;"><b>Maximise your productivity</b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Access all the apps you need and multi-task with ease with tools like Snap layouts, Desktops, and a new more-intuitive redocking experience.</div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_c39nctJHT4/YVk4kI-KAII/AAAAAAAACz8/_66RFVvxTsIxf7QzSgfPHpB91F4jes2RQCLcBGAsYHQ/s835/pOTENTIAL.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="835" height="396" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_c39nctJHT4/YVk4kI-KAII/AAAAAAAACz8/_66RFVvxTsIxf7QzSgfPHpB91F4jes2RQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h396/pOTENTIAL.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><h3 style="clear: both;">New ways to connect</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Connect instantly to the people you care about right from your desktop with Microsoft Teams. Call or chat for free—no matter what device they’re on.1</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-utypBwp7hXo/YVk5AK2ddwI/AAAAAAAAC0I/nkC0hLjAkMkRAINLcJSmle8UDa_5nZQ0gCLcBGAsYHQ/s681/CONNECT.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="681" height="508" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-utypBwp7hXo/YVk5AK2ddwI/AAAAAAAAC0I/nkC0hLjAkMkRAINLcJSmle8UDa_5nZQ0gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h508/CONNECT.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><h3 style="clear: both;">Your content, curated by you</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">With Microsoft Edge and a multitude of Widgets you can choose from, you can quickly stay up to date with the news, information, and entertainment that matters most to you.2 Easily find the apps you need and the programmes you love to watch in the new Microsoft Store.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0crTDtxrtTo/YVk5X8dyC8I/AAAAAAAAC0Q/CB81OZLVWLw7V-CmLPwvY7k5Rog8LFJwACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/1920_Panel08_Picture_Content_new.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0crTDtxrtTo/YVk5X8dyC8I/AAAAAAAAC0Q/CB81OZLVWLw7V-CmLPwvY7k5Rog8LFJwACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/1920_Panel08_Picture_Content_new.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Playtime. Anytime.</h3><div><div style="text-align: center;">Windows 11 takes gaming to a whole new level with graphic capabilities that rival reality.4 Discover your next favourite game with Xbox Game Pass, giving you access to over 100 high-quality games (membership sold separately).3</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pbFuPoIc4dk/YVk54ZKOR-I/AAAAAAAAC0c/2kO5WCQVIwc1lUmFgwjE-NmWv0JTYri0QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/1920_Panel10_Picture_Playtime_V2-alt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1920" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pbFuPoIc4dk/YVk54ZKOR-I/AAAAAAAAC0c/2kO5WCQVIwc1lUmFgwjE-NmWv0JTYri0QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h240/1920_Panel10_Picture_Playtime_V2-alt.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><h3>A PC for each of us</h3><div>The new Windows is available on the widest array of devices, from our partners who are bringing you the latest innovations in touch, pen, and voice, making it easy to find the best, most affordable device for you.4</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6kXve8bXPPI/YVk6JRXKbII/AAAAAAAAC0o/0pT7SS4gnDoWqNvaR4TkS9hOarPKpug0QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/1920_Panel12_Picture_Devices.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6kXve8bXPPI/YVk6JRXKbII/AAAAAAAAC0o/0pT7SS4gnDoWqNvaR4TkS9hOarPKpug0QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/1920_Panel12_Picture_Devices.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><h3>Find the right PC for you</h3><div>Need a new PC now? There are some Windows 10 PCs that can upgrade for free when Windows 11 rolls out.4 5</div><div><br /></div><div>It’s so much easier to transfer to a new PC when you back up your files and photos from your old PC to OneDrive.7</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qrLhvCODnh8/YVk6aU4zy9I/AAAAAAAAC0w/XgGDKuniEK8ZToFRIpfIhRQWvhq5mjdIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/1920_Panel13_DefaultFeature_Find.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qrLhvCODnh8/YVk6aU4zy9I/AAAAAAAAC0w/XgGDKuniEK8ZToFRIpfIhRQWvhq5mjdIgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/1920_Panel13_DefaultFeature_Find.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><h3>Get ready</h3><div>Windows 11 isn’t here yet, but will be coming later this year. If you’re excited, there are some things you can do in the meantime to get ready.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8p1LMKcMwow/YVk68AH4DDI/AAAAAAAAC04/pdpmxY3i8kUGKpD1cX646xA7WqOhezvPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s379/Panel14_Banner_PCHealth.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="208" data-original-width="379" height="176" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8p1LMKcMwow/YVk68AH4DDI/AAAAAAAAC04/pdpmxY3i8kUGKpD1cX646xA7WqOhezvPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Panel14_Banner_PCHealth.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Check for compatibility</b></div><div>Use the PC Health Check app8 to see if your PC can run Windows 11.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://aka.ms/GetPCHealthCheckApp">DOWNLOAD PC HEALTH CHECK APP</a></div></div></div><br /><div><br /></div></div>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-16959941054700798072021-09-29T05:02:00.001-07:002021-09-29T05:02:25.183-07:00Meet a new generation of Acer Chromebook laptops that are built for business<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-azCuj60YjYo/YVRVppYKmdI/AAAAAAAACzQ/YaMfEqYFSeYz5fpjIgKkWvhZBVKK9WlpgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1070/Acer%2BChromebook%2Blaptops.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="1070" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-azCuj60YjYo/YVRVppYKmdI/AAAAAAAACzQ/YaMfEqYFSeYz5fpjIgKkWvhZBVKK9WlpgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h218/Acer%2BChromebook%2Blaptops.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem;">While Chromebooks only entered the global market in 2011, their Chrome operating system has quickly risen to become the second most popular operating system today.</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">The Chrome OS market share grew from 6.4% in 2019 to <span style="font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 0.02em; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/02/the-worlds-second-most-popular-desktop-operating-system-isnt-macos-anymore/?utm_source=BusinessTech&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=September+2021" rel="noopener" style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(39, 77, 137); color: #333333; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 0.02em; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">10.8% in 2020</span></a></span>, and today many businesses are beginning to choose Chromebooks for their enterprise-class speed, simplicity, and security.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">And, compared to most other laptops on the market, they’re also a lot more affordable.</p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Lato; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><li style="font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; padding-left: 5px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><a href="https://www.acer.com/ac/en/ZA/content/home?utm_source=BusinessTech&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=September+2021" rel="noopener" style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(39, 77, 137); color: #333333; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 600; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Click here for more information on Acer</span></a></li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">So, what is it exactly about these features that makes Chromebooks so good for business?</p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Lato; font-size: 18pt; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><strong style="transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Unprecedented speed</strong></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Business operations are often slowed down by traditional operating systems that suffer from long start-up times, disruptive updates, and the inevitable slow-down that comes from prolonged use.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Chrome OS, on the other hand, is one of the lightest operating systems out there and has a fast boot time of 5-10 seconds.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Chromebooks exhibit virtually no lag or stuttering when being used, and because of their cloud-oriented nature, your employees will always have instant access to all their data, applications, settings, and web extensions whenever they log into any Chromebook device.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Lato; font-size: 18pt; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><strong style="transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Intuitive and simple</strong></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Anyone familiar with Google’s suite of applications will be familiar with Chrome OS.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">The interface is fast and intuitive, and making the switch to the Chrome operating system is as simple as signing into your Google account and uploading your files to Google Drive.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Provisioning and deploying a network of Chromebook devices for employees is also made simpler than ever for enterprises, which has become especially important with today’s increasingly remote workforce.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">A <a href="https://chromeenterprise.google/os/deployment/study/?utm_source=BusinessTech&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=September+2021" rel="noopener" style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(39, 77, 137); color: #333333; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 0.02em; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">study showed that </span></a>IT departments have benefitted from time savings with the help of Chromebook’s Zero-Touch Enrolment, which allows authorised pre-provisioning partners like Acer to send instructions to Google and enrol a Chrome device automatically once it is turned on and connected to the internet.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Similarly, managing a fleet of Chrome devices is easy and simple, as Chromebook Enterprise provides IT teams with access to oversight capabilities and device policies from the easy-to-use, cloud-based Google Admin console or other third-party Unified End Management solutions.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Acer-In-article-Image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021.jpg" style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(39, 77, 137); color: #333333; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-522794 size-full lazyloaded" data-aspectratio="640/430" data-src="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Acer-In-article-Image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021.jpg" data-srcset="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Acer-In-article-Image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021.jpg 640w, https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Acer-In-article-Image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021-300x202.jpg 300w" height="430" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" src="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Acer-In-article-Image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021.jpg" srcset="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Acer-In-article-Image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021.jpg 640w, https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Acer-In-article-Image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021-300x202.jpg 300w" style="backface-visibility: hidden; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.3s ease 0s;" width="640" /></a></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Lato; font-size: 18pt; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><strong style="transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Enterprise-class security</strong></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">The rapid pace of digitalisation as well as the remote migration of workforces has given cybercriminals a much larger attack surface, and businesses that lack sufficient security measures are becoming prime targets.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Chromebooks were built with this in mind, using the principle of ‘<span style="font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 0.02em; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><a href="https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/3438631?hl=en&utm_source=BusinessTech&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=September+2021" rel="noopener" style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(39, 77, 137); color: #333333; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 0.02em; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">defence in depth</span></a></span>’, and Chrome OS is one of the most secure operating systems on the market.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Chromebooks come standard with multiple layers of built-in protection, which means that businesses do not need to allocate additional spending to antivirus software.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Google rolls out automatic updates with the latest security patches in a way that is completely non-disruptive.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Chromebooks are unique because of a security feature called ‘sandboxing’, which runs every program, website, or web application as a separate process in a restricted environment.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">If an employee accidentally opens a harmful website, for example, any threat will be contained and would not be able to access any other part of the computer.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">When a Chromebook boots up, it also completes a ‘verified boot’ to ensure that the computer has not been corrupted or tampered with, and if it has, it will restore itself automatically to a known and trusted backup.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">If a backup isn’t available, employees can simply download one from the cloud and their device will be up and running again – with all their documents readily available on the cloud.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">If an employee misplaces their Chromebook, IT can easily disable the device remotely, preventing potential bad actors from accessing sensitive corporate data.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Chromebooks can be set as ‘ephemeral’ so that any user’s data is removed at the end of their session.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/In-article-Acer-image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021.jpg" style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(39, 77, 137); color: #333333; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-522796 size-full lazyloaded" data-aspectratio="640/430" data-src="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/In-article-Acer-image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021.jpg" data-srcset="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/In-article-Acer-image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021.jpg 640w, https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/In-article-Acer-image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021-300x202.jpg 300w" height="430" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" src="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/In-article-Acer-image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021.jpg" srcset="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/In-article-Acer-image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021.jpg 640w, https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/In-article-Acer-image-Meet-a-new-generation-of-laptops-that-are-built-for-business-September-2021-300x202.jpg 300w" style="backface-visibility: hidden; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.3s ease 0s;" width="640" /></a></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Lato; font-size: 18pt; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><strong style="transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">All the support businesses need</strong></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">With the support of Google certified partners like Acer, businesses can have access to support via phone, email, or directly from Google when they need it.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">IT managers have the ability to manage all devices remotely, allowing employees to continue working securely and effectively from anywhere.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: ProximaNova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Along with Google’s extensive ecosystem of cloud and web-based applications, Chromebooks give employees everything they need to be more productive and protected in today’s digital work environment.</p>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-37757544472809052952021-09-12T23:51:00.001-07:002021-09-12T23:51:33.558-07:00Tips to Secure Your Small Business Network<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i17qQy2YW8w/YT7qw1mx4OI/AAAAAAAACxU/nFmFfWVrdgopi2Cb8YcrsW5GCbffY6C_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1070/Secure%2BYour%2BSmall%2BBusiness%2BNetwork%2B%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="1070" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i17qQy2YW8w/YT7qw1mx4OI/AAAAAAAACxU/nFmFfWVrdgopi2Cb8YcrsW5GCbffY6C_QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h218/Secure%2BYour%2BSmall%2BBusiness%2BNetwork%2B%25281%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://jkcgroup.co.za/network-support.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="500" height="69" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8Tj3fieLnPs/YT70rTCJeTI/AAAAAAAACxs/C67HYq8XbnAfKX0hY1o56fPadlHbjY7mgCLcBGAsYHQ/w192-h69/info.png" width="192" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;">Just because your business is small, doesn't mean that hackers won't target you. The reality is that automated scanning techniques and botnets don't care whether your company is big or small, they're only looking for holes in your network security to exploit.</span></div></div><p><br /></p><p>Maintaining a secure small business or home network isn't easy, and even for an old hand in IT, it still takes time and energy to keep things locked down. Here are 10 of the most critical steps you can take to keep your data from ending up elsewhere, and none of them take much time or effort to accomplish.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Get a Firewall</b></p><p>The first step for any attacker is to find network vulnerabilities by scanning for open ports. Ports are the mechanisms by which your small business network opens up and connects to the wider world of the Internet. A hacker sees an open port to as an irresistible invitation for access and exploitation. A network firewall locks down ports that don't need to be open.</p><p>A properly configured firewall acts as the first line of defense on any network. The network firewall sets the rules for which ports should be open and which ones should be closed. The only ports that should be open are ports for services that you need to run.</p><p><br /></p><p>Typically, most small business routers include some kind of firewall functionality, so chances are if you have a router sitting behind your service provider or DSL/cable modem, you likely have a firewall already. To check to see if you already have firewall capabilities at the router level in your network, log into your router and see if there are any settings for Firewall or Security. If you don't know how to log into your router on a Windows PC, find your Network Connection information. The item identified as Default Gateway is likely the IP address for your router.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are many desktop firewall applications available today as well, but don't mistake those for a substitute for firewall that sits at the primary entry point to your small business network. You should have a firewall sitting right behind where your network connectivity comes into your business to filter out bad traffic before it can reach any desktop or any other network assets.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Password Protect your Firewall</b></p><p>Great you've got a firewall, but it's never enough to simply drop it into your network and turn it on. One of the most common mistakes in configuring network equipment is keeping the default password.</p><p>It's a trivial matter in many cases for an attacker to identify the brand and model number of a device on a network. It's equally trivial to simply use Google to obtain the user manual to find the default username and password.</p><p><br /></p><p>Take the time to make this easy fix. Log into your router/firewall, and you'll get the option to set a password; typically, you'll find it under the Administration menu item.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Update Router Firmware</b></p><p>Outdated router or firewall firmware is another common issue. Small business network equipment, just like applications and operating systems, needs to be updated for security and bug fixes. The firmware that your small business router and/or firewall shipped with is likely out-of-date within a year, so it's critical to make sure you update it.</p><p>Some router vendors have a simple dialogue box that lets you check for new firmware versions from within the router's administration menu. For routers that don't have automated firmware version checking, find the version number in your router admin screen, and then go to the vendor's support site to see if you have the latest version.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Block Pings</b></p><p>Most router and firewalls include multiple settings that help to determine how visible your router and/or firewall will be to the outside world. One of the simplest methods that a hacker uses to find a network is by sending a ping request, which is just a network request to see if something will respond. The idea being if a network device responds, there is something there that the hacker can then explore further and potentially exploit. You can make it harder for attackers by simply setting your network router or firewall so that it won't respond to network pings. Typically, the option to block network pings can be found on the administration menu for a firewall and/or router as a configuration option.</p><p><b>Scan Yourself</b></p><p>One of the best ways to see if you have open ports or visible network vulnerabilities is to do the same thing that an attacker would do - scan your network. By scanning your network with the same tools that security researchers (and attackers) use, you'll see what they see. Among the most popular network scanning tools is the open source nmap tool). For Windows users, the Nmap download now includes a graphical user interface, so it's now easier than ever to scan your network with industry standard tools, for free. Scan your network to see what ports are open (that shouldn't be), and then go back to your firewall to make the necessary changes.</p><p><b>Lock Down IP Addresses</b></p><p>By default, most small business routers use something called DHCP, which automatically allocates IP addresses to computers that connect to the network. DHCP makes it easy for you to let users connect to you network, but if your network is exploited it also makes it easy for attackers to connect to your network. If your small business only has a set number of users, and you don't routinely have guest users plugging into your network, you might want to consider locking down IP addresses.</p><p>The benefit of assigning an IP is that when you check your router logs, you'll know which IP is associated with a specific PC and/or user. With DHCP, the same PC could potentially have different IPs over a period of time as machines are turned on or off. By knowing what's on your network, you'll know where problems are coming from when they do arise.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Use VLANs</b></p><p>Not everyone in your small business necessarily needs access to the same network assets. While you can determine and set access with passwords and permissions on applications, you can also segment your network with VLAN or virtual LANs. VLANs are almost always part of any business class router and let you segment a network based on needs and risks as well as quality of service requirements. For example, with a VLAN setup you could have the finance department on one VLAN, while sales is on another. In another scenario, you could have a VLAN for your employees and then setup another one for contract or guest workers. Mitigating risk is all about providing access to network resources to the people who are authorized and restricting access to those who aren't.</p><p><b>Get an IPS</b></p><p>A firewall isn't always enough to protect a small business network. Today's reality is that the bulk of all network traffic goes over Port 80 for HTTP or Web traffic. So if you leave that port open, you're still at risk from attacks that target port 80. In addition to the firewall, Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) technology can play a key network security role. An IPS does more than simply monitor ports; it monitors the traffic flow for anomalies that could indicate malicious activity. IPS technology can sometimes be bundled in on a router as part of a Unified Threat Management (UTM) device. Depending on the size of your small business network, you might want to consider a separate physical box.</p><p>Another option is to leverage open source technologies running on your own servers (or as virtual instances if you are virtualized). On the IPS side, one of the leading open source technologies is called SNORT (which is backed by commercial vendor Sourcefire.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Get a WAF</b></p><p>A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is specifically tasked with helping to protect against attacks that are specifically targeted against applications. If you're not hosting applications within your small business network, the risks that a WAF helps to mitigate are not as pronounced. If you are hosting applications, WAF in front of (or as part of) your Web server is a key technology that you need to look at. Multiple vendors including Barracuda have network WAF boxes. Another option is the open source ModSecurity project, which is backed by security vendor Trustwave.</p><p><b>Use VPN</b></p><p>If you've gone through all the trouble of protecting your small business network, it makes sense to extend that protection to your mobile and remotely connected employees as well. A VPN or Virtual Private Network lets your remote workers log into your network with an encrypted tunnel. That tunnel can then be used to effectively shield your remote employees with the same firewall, IPS and WAF technologies that local users benefit from. A VPN also protects your network by not letting users who may be coming in from risky mobile environments connect in an insecure fashion.</p><p>Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Saumya_Sinha/2370732</p><p>Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9825564</p>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-45630651564416534692021-09-05T21:00:00.000-07:002021-09-05T21:00:00.332-07:00Expert Reveals the 9 Biggest Backup Mistakes and How to Fix Them<p></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2peSzpzMIf4/YSNp1dvKb7I/AAAAAAAACpw/6tyZcow3XbA8aoyVXEImfY-7qr4LnT48ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1177/Expert%2BReveals%2Bthe%2B9%2BBiggest%2BBackup%2BMistakes%2B%25281%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="1177" height="196" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2peSzpzMIf4/YSNp1dvKb7I/AAAAAAAACpw/6tyZcow3XbA8aoyVXEImfY-7qr4LnT48ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h196/Expert%2BReveals%2Bthe%2B9%2BBiggest%2BBackup%2BMistakes%2B%25281%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://jkcgroup.co.za/backup-sollution.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="238" height="106" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rOZH9FQQsIk/YSOJ_-FKpdI/AAAAAAAACp4/8wyDsIR7mlgIqm4ZzXjS-wbuB8xb2qbLQCLcBGAsYHQ/w101-h106/more-informaton.jpg" width="101" /></a></div><b>Is everything on your systems being backed up?</b><div><br /></div><div>You know, backing up your computers is a bit like home insurance. It's easy to ignore it while everything is going just fine, and even easier to get complacent. But when something goes WRONG, you find yourself scrambling for your policy! And if you're not covered in the "fine print", you could lose the lot!<div><div><br /></div><div>With your computer networks, the risks are just as great. You could lose the lot, jeopardise your business, and find it almost impossible to recover from. But happily this needn't be the case. This report is intended to alert you to the main risks, and to give you some insights into how to protect your computers, your business... AND yourself.</div><div><br /></div><div>A comparison of backup devices and their approximate costs, is available via our website.</div><div><br /></div><div>First, some sobering Statistics which will SHOCK you!</div><div><br /></div><div>* 93% of companies that lost their data centre for ten days or more as a result of a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. 50% of businesses that found themselves without data management for this same time period filed for bankruptcy immediately.</div><div><br /></div><div>* 30% of companies report that they still do not have a disaster recovery program in place and two in three companies feel that their data backup and disaster recovery plans have significant vulnerabilities. Furthermore, only 59% of companies polled test their data backup and storage systems at least once a quarter. Conducting a regular external audit of backup and restore systems is far from a common practice - only 32% report conducting an external audit.</div><div><br /></div><div>* At what point is the survival of our company at risk? 40% said 72 hours, 21% said 48 hours, 15% said 24 hours, 8% said 8 hours, 9% said 4 hours, 3% said 1 hour, 4% said within the hour.</div><div><br /></div><div>* 30% of all businesses that have a major fire go out of business within a year. 70% fail within five years. * Gartner estimates that only 35 percent of (Small & Medium Businesses) SMBs have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan in place.</div><div><br /></div><div>* According to a recent NFIB National Small Business Poll (USA), man-made disasters affect 10% of small businesses, whereas natural disasters have impacted more than 30% of all small businesses in the USA. Hurricanes are by far the most destructive force causing power failure, flooding, customer loss, and the closure of many businesses.</div><div><br /></div><div>* According to a recent Touche Ross study, the survival rate for companies without a disaster recovery plan is less than 10%!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Symantec® survey reveals:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Despite Warnings, SMBs Still Not Prepared</div><div>* 52 percent of SMBs do not have a disaster preparedness plan.</div><div>* 65 percent of SMBs were in regions prone to natural disasters.</div><div>* SMB's went through an average of five outages last year. SMB's Don't Act Until After A Disaster</div><div>* 49 percent of SMBs implemented a disaster preparedness plan due to a previous outage or data loss.</div><div>* 54 percent implemented their plans in the last six months. Lack Of Preparedness Impacts The Business</div><div>* Since downtime equates to a median loss of US$14,500 a day, prolonged downtime could shut down an SMB.</div><div>* SMB outages cost their customers US$45,000 a day with 24 percent saying they lost data due to disaster affecting their vendors.</div><div><br /></div><div>So now you can see why it is CRITICAL to your business to independently evaluate your current backup solution. Potential consequences of getting it wrong, are that you lose Money, Customers, Your Job, or even Your Business if a disaster happened and you couldn't get the data back quickly. It could be DEVASTATING! But it doesn't need to be such a risk....</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mistake #1:</b> Not backing up everything We recommend that your backup system be capable of, and configured to backup everything. Too often, we hear of clients who need to restore a piece of information from their backups, only to find that it is not contained on the backups. Some people only backup the data from their main accounting system for example, and not their other important data such as Word and Excel documents. Your backup device or service must be large enough to fit all of the data from your computer or servers. This means that when you are upgrading the hard disk capacity of your system, you need to confirm that your backup device or service is still appropriate! There are a range of solutions that can be used for this purpose - an outline of these is included at the end of this article. It's also best if you have backup software that automatically runs the backups at a time when nobody is using your system so that all of the data is available to be backed up. Many of these software packages include functions to provide confirmation that the backup has completed in the form of an email which is also highly recommended. If you have a server computer, then you may think that backing up the information on the server is enough. What you also need to consider is that there may be data stored on individual computers too and also on smartphones and tablet computers!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mistake #2:</b> Not backing up Email data With the greater reliance on email, we are receiving more requests to restore emails. In our experience most people do not backup emails at all. These are often the only record of communication where in the past there may have been a series of letters and or faxes. If you have your own email server in-house, you may need to install an additional backup program or agent in order to properly process the email information. Many clients use Microsoft Exchange, which often requires a backup agent for your backup software so that it can properly backup the email data. Even if you have the right agent for your mail server installed, there can also be limitations on how you can restore the mail data. This has to do with the design of the email and backup software. It may be the case that the entire mail database must be restored in order to get back a single email. Of course this can increase the time and inconvenience associated with performing a restore. Similarly, if emails have been archived by the auto-archive feature in Outlook then they are probably stored on your workstations hard disk instead of your server (and therefore are probably not being backed up!) If you don't have your own mail server, then your computer is probably storing the emails on your local hard disk drive rather than the hard disk of your server. Files on local hard disk drives are not usually backed up. Your email software should be configured to place these files on the server where they will be automatically backed up. Another issue with email backups is that emails which are received and deleted on the same day may not be able to be restored if your backups take place only in the evening, meaning that the email must have existed in your mailbox for at least one night to have had an opportunity to be backed up. This same limitation applies to all of the data on your system if you are only doing nightly backups.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mistake #3:</b> Insufficient "depth" of backups Most people don't have the resources to keep backups forever. If backing up locally to disk or tape, then you will need to overwrite older backups unless you are happy to keep buying more disks or tapes. If you are backing up to an online service, then there is usually a limit to the amount of storage that you can use too. This means that there will be a limit to how far back you will be able to restore. A common backup system is to keep 5 backups, one for each day of the week. This means that if a file were accidentally deleted or corrupted, and you didn't discover this for longer than a week, then you will not be able to restore it from backup, because all the backups that contained a "good" version of the file would have been overwritten. We suggest that you keep a number of weekly or monthly backups to provide protection against this. Free and entry level online backup services are often worse and may only keep 1 version of files. If using a backup service it's important to understand their depth of backups (often referred to as retention policy) when you start out rather than finding out too late that their system is unsuitable for you.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mistake #4:</b> Not backing up frequently enough How often you backup (along with the depth of backups you keep) determines the choices that you have when it comes time to restore and will vary depending on your requirements and your budget. It is possible to backup as often as every 15 minutes, or as little as daily or weekly. Why doesn't everyone backup every 15 minutes then?</div><div>* Because the more often you backup, the more space your backups consume (therefore you need to buy more disks, tapes, or offsite storage)</div><div>* Backing up can reduce the performance of your system while the backup is taking place</div><div>* Time taken to complete a backup. If your backups run for longer than 15 minutes (some can take several hours to complete) then this too will limit how frequently you can backup</div><div>* Some systems are unable to be backed up while they are being used. Depending on your backup software, it may not be able to backup data that you are working on or you may be "locked out" of some parts of your system while the backups take place.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mistake #5:</b> Not keeping some backups offsite One of the reasons for doing backups is to protect against disasters such as fire or theft. So it is important that some of the backups be kept offsite to ensure that all of your backups are not destroyed or stolen along with your system. This is one of the reasons why using offsite backups services is appealing as your data is kept offsite. Where this can be a problem is that the speed of backups can be too slow to enable you to backup everything (see point #1 above!) and in the event that you need to restore, it can take a long time to restore</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mistake #6:</b> Files not backed up because they were open In general, your data can't be backed up while it is being used. For example if you have an important Microsoft Word document that you are working on and you leave this document open overnight, some backup software will not be able to back it up. This is more serious if someone remains inside your accounting system which can often mean that the entire accounting system is not backed up. This is becoming less of an issue as many current generation backup programs now have the ability to backup open files. You should check that yours is able to!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mistake #7:</b> Incorrect restores If you find yourself in a situation where you need to restore, proceed carefully! We have seen occasions where a client has set out to restore a small amount of data for a two week old backup but instead has restored their entire system. This can be disastrous. Usually your backup software will provide the option to restore files to a different location. This option should almost always be selected. Once restored, you then copy the files across to their original location. It's also important when restoring from physical media such as tape or disk to make sure that you write-protect the backup media (or to suspend online backups if you are restoring an old backup and it is likely to soon be overwritten) before you start. This is to protect against your system automatically doing a new backup over the top of the backup that you want to restore!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mistake #8:</b> Backups are not checked Successful backups depend on the correct operation of your backup software and hardware. Over time problems can develop that might stop your system from backing up. Unless you check your backups regularly you might not be aware of that there is a problem. For example, tape drives can develop a hardware fault which prevents them from backing up, but does not prevent them from loading and unloading tapes correctly. Windows updates or installation of new software, that you would think is unrelated to backups can also "break" your backup software as an unexpected side-effect. So it is important to be looking deeper at what it going on with your backups to be sure that you will be able to restore should you need to.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mistake #9: </b>Poor labelling/recording of backups When you find yourself in a situation where you need to restore a file to how it was last Wednesday, you don't want to waste a lot of time trying to figure out which backup is required. Investing a small amount of time to appropriately understand your backups and how they are rotated/overwritten can save a lot of time and anxiousness when you need to restore. Where media like removable disks or tapes are used labelling them clearly and keeping a manual log of which media was rotated on which day (and if the backup was successful) is recommended. For online backups, making sure that you understand how to review backup logs and to select an individual file from a particular backup (you will sometimes want to restore an older version of a file, not the most recent backup of it and this can be difficult or in some cases impossible to restore an earlier version of it.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>And a Bonus:</b> Mistake #10: Bad folder structure Keeping your data in a logical, tree-like folder or directory structure will make it easier to find the information you are looking for. This is just as important when it comes time to restore information. Most times people want to restore just a few files, and you need to be able to locate these files in the backup software before you can select them for restore. Having a logical, and not overly complex directory structure makes this easier. Many servers also allow you to set permissions on folders and files. Without making this too complex, it is also be a good idea to set appropriate permissions at the folder level so that the number of people that can access and modify your data is just those that need to.</div><div><br /></div><div>Considering these Mistakes, you now need to fix the problems and implement a Backup Solution which works best for your business. By selecting the right Backup Technology, you're ALMOST done.</div><div><br /></div><div>What are the most important features when choosing the best Backup Software?</div><div><br /></div><div>Automatic Scheduling of backups Advanced backup software is capable of automatically scheduling the backups. No doubt you have lots of other responsibilities and things to think about! So backups, a bit like insurance, are not going to be at the front of your mind until there is a problem! Save yourself the worry and make sure that you implement a solution that automatically launches the backups.</div><div><br /></div><div>Full System backups If your full system is not being backed up then chance are some important information is being missed. Modern computer systems create and use tens or hundreds of thousands of files and even to IT experts it's hard to be sure that you are selecting all of the important information. This is why we feel that it's important to backup all of the data on your system.</div><div><br /></div><div>Backups of Open Files If you or somebody else is in your accounting system or editing a Word or Excel document you don't want it to not be backed up. Ironically this is probably what you most want to be backed up so make sure that your software is smart enough to deal with open files!</div><div><br /></div><div>Backups of Databases Again, not all backup software handles databases like Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server correctly. Some software requires that you purchase additional modules and/or to configure backups in a certain way to be able to successfully restore them. Other databases, such as Oracle for example, are not supported at all by some of the major backup software packages and you may find that even a backup that you software labels "successful" will not get you all of your data back!</div><div><br /></div><div>Monitoring & Alerting Probably the most important feature, yet one that is very often neglected. Even if your backup system is fully tested and working today something could change in the future such as a (and sadly we have seen all of these!)</div><div>* Backup hardware failure</div><div>* Backup software failure due to compatibility issue with a Windows or other software update</div><div>* Backup software failure due to changing a user or administrator password or other permissions</div><div>* Backup software failure due to a bug in the software that is not immediately triggered! Most or all of these problems will be detected early if you have the appropriate backup monitoring and alerts in place. You can monitor backups yourself, locally, or you can enlist professionals to monitor your backups remotely.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Disaster Recovery When the unthinkable happens, your choice of backup software and the selections that were made in setting up the software can have a huge impact on what happens in a disaster. Before disaster strikes you should be thinking about:</b></div><div>* How long you can get by without access to your IT systems?</div><div>* How long will it take to restore your whole system in the best case?</div><div>* Which systems features are most urgent?</div><div>* What hardware/software you need to recover your systems?</div><div>* Do you need to restore to identical hardware? (for MOST software and/or configurations you do!) This means you need to have spare, identical servers on standby.</div><div><br /></div><div>Email Archiving Is really a separate topic, but one that is increasing in importance. Even if everything is setup correctly to do full backups of your email, restoring them can be complex and costly and yet may not recover all of the information that you need if the email was sent and deleted between backups, or was deleted some time ago. With many backup scenarios you can't see the individual emails contained in a backup until you restore it and so you may have to complete multiple costly and time consuming "restore cycles" to retrieve the emails you need. Or even worse you might not find them! A dedicated email archiving solution is the answer here. And of course you will still need to backup your email archive as well!</div><div><br /></div><div>HOWEVER, that's not the end of the story. Great software TOOLS will only solve PART OF THE PROBLEM. You also need the right ADVICE, PLANNING, TESTING and SUPPORT to get the best results with any backup solution.</div><div><br /></div><div>For many businesses, there is a real risk of a Disaster. An event which can be caused by Mother Nature (such as flooding and Cyclones or Hurricanes), or a Power problem, a Fire, a Virus or Malware, or any other unforseen potential problem which could render your computers inoperable.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now I have shown you what the problems are and what to look for in a potential backup solution. The rest is up to you.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>To help you evaluate your current backup solution, start by Answering these Questions. This 12-point checklist may help you to pinpoint problems with your backups!</b></h3><div><br /></div><div>Is everything on your system being backed up?</div><div><br /></div><div>Who checks that the backups worked and how often do they check?</div><div><br /></div><div>Do your backups run automatically?</div><div><br /></div><div>Is there a WRITTEN backup log showing who checked the backups (and for backups to disk or tape also showing which disk or tape was used?)</div><div><br /></div><div>When did you last restore from a backup?</div><div><br /></div><div>Have you ever done a full restore of your system?</div><div><br /></div><div>How many copies of your backups do you have?</div><div><br /></div><div>Are some of these backups kept offsite?</div><div><br /></div><div>Are the offsite backups stored securely?</div><div><br /></div><div>How is the security of the offsite backups protected?</div><div><br /></div><div>How far back can you restore your accounting system?</div><div><br /></div><div>Can you recover an email that was deleted last month?</div><div><br /></div><div>How did you go with Questions? Are you confident your business will be safe if an unforeseen event occurred?</div><div><br /></div><div>If you couldn't answer all the questions above, or if your answers left you realizing that you are unprepared, or lack the required knowledge to protect your business data, don't despair. You fit into the same category as most businesses! Find yourself a professional partner with expertise in Backup and Disaster Recovery.</div><div><br /></div><div>Disclaimer: The information contained in this report is general in nature and does not take into account your particular situation and requirements.</div><div><br /></div><div>Steven Bakker is a recognized expert in IT Backup Solutions in Australia, specializing in Disaster Recover, Business Continuity Planning and Backup/Restore Software and solutions. For the full report, visit http://nas.com.au</div><div><br /></div><div>Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Steven_Bakker/1010046</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6128057</div><p></p></div></div>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-25373871966969158432021-09-01T02:31:00.009-07:002021-09-03T12:29:04.319-07:00Spring 2021 - Specials Valid till 4 Sept<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h_bK-0MkkWo/YTJ3btsSA0I/AAAAAAAACvc/UtyL18vrXLUyadg6GIi1S6mGocGRcfuAACLcBGAsYHQ/s1070/Last%2BDay.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="1070" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h_bK-0MkkWo/YTJ3btsSA0I/AAAAAAAACvc/UtyL18vrXLUyadg6GIi1S6mGocGRcfuAACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h218/Last%2BDay.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zw8t1HlpC2o" width="557" youtube-src-id="zw8t1HlpC2o"></iframe></div><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://form.jotform.com/212400819516551"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: x-large;">SIGN UP TODAY</span></a></b></h2><p></p>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-45364930822920777062021-08-29T21:00:00.028-07:002021-08-29T21:00:00.251-07:00How To Use WiFi Routers To Connect To The Internet From Just About Anywhere!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y854WBNpzOs/YSt4BVVlnMI/AAAAAAAACrw/elY3dndaJrIAKEBHHgbQbDBWn4RyzvvZACLcBGAsYHQ/s1070/How%2BTo%2BUse%2BWiFi%2BRouter%2Bto%2Bconnect%2Bto%2Bthe%2Binternet.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="1070" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y854WBNpzOs/YSt4BVVlnMI/AAAAAAAACrw/elY3dndaJrIAKEBHHgbQbDBWn4RyzvvZACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h218/How%2BTo%2BUse%2BWiFi%2BRouter%2Bto%2Bconnect%2Bto%2Bthe%2Binternet.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://jkcgroup.co.za/network-support.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="238" height="106" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rOZH9FQQsIk/YSOJ_-FKpdI/AAAAAAAACp4/8wyDsIR7mlgIqm4ZzXjS-wbuB8xb2qbLQCLcBGAsYHQ/w101-h106/more-informaton.jpg" width="101" /></a></div><p></p><p></p>What are WiFi routers? The term WiFi means 'Wireless Fidelity' and it is capable of being able to send and receive data from wireless hardware by using an antenna. The popularity of the Internet can be widely attributed to the WiFi routers, as these make internet connection much easier.<p></p><p><br /></p><p>The simple task of sending and receiving emails would not be possible for so many users, without the use of the wireless modem router. It has helped to simplify the way we access the Internet within our homes and at our places of work.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most WiFi devices have a range, within which they can operate in an efficient manner, and this will generally be somewhere around 30 yards. Wireless network routers can be used even in public places including airports, restaurants and libraries, so if your laptop has WiFi connectability, you can connect while you are waiting to fly, or you can escape to your library to use your laptop!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1AlH0XSuAeQ/YSt94jTINhI/AAAAAAAACr4/N2aQrx0wnb8guKiSSlm_tuAwQNlrPQ1QQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1070/Reyee%2BDual.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="1070" height="136" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1AlH0XSuAeQ/YSt94jTINhI/AAAAAAAACr4/N2aQrx0wnb8guKiSSlm_tuAwQNlrPQ1QQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h136/Reyee%2BDual.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>If you have multiple computers in your home or office and do not have a network to connect them all together, you can easily use a wireless network router to connect them together effectively. The components of the WiFi router include a router and port.</p><p><br /></p><p>WiFi routers can be connected to your network fairly easily, but people prefer to call in a specialist to make sure it has been done correctly. When you have a WiFi router, you will also be able to eliminate cables and wires, which are normally associated with conventional wired networks. Do remember though that both doors and walls might affect the connectivity of the WiFi routers.</p><p><br /></p><p>The standards for WiFi router could be in the range of 802.11 or 802.12 and so forth. You can also extend the coverage of the router with the use of repeaters or extenders - these are available from many stores.</p><p><br /></p><p>You can use the WiFi router to connect to laptops, computers, digital cameras, mp3 players and mobile phones. It can also be used to connect to a printer. Just about all the major cities in the world, are WiFi network connected including Texas, London and Mexico city to name just a few.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is always important to remember that you must secure your wireless network as they can be misused by hackers if left unprotected. The two most common methods used for security are Media access control and WiFi protected access. The users will not be able to access the network without providing a password. This will ensure that hackers will not be able to access the network easily. If you are paying someone to set up your network for you this should be done for you as part of the job.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5IiyPVi9dtA/YSuAq2q3T4I/AAAAAAAACsI/y2aINMes4H4i3tPZRFZ7K4fuXPHuMx5YgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1070/Reyee%2BDual%2B2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="1070" height="136" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5IiyPVi9dtA/YSuAq2q3T4I/AAAAAAAACsI/y2aINMes4H4i3tPZRFZ7K4fuXPHuMx5YgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h136/Reyee%2BDual%2B2.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>The technology which is used in WiFi routers will help you in sending the data exactly where it is required, as well as helping you to connect to the web from more and more places.</p><p><br /></p><p>Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/David_Clayton/47352</p><p>Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4967452</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://jkcgroup.co.za/special-week1-sept2021.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="137" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3igNB13hov8/YSuCE8AW1xI/AAAAAAAACsY/PWVfE8yiUice89klQJqp22oQYnVis2x_gCLcBGAsYHQ/w195-h137/specials-2.jpg" width="195" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-73398790507362725352021-08-22T23:07:00.005-07:002021-08-23T04:56:47.865-07:005 Ways Hackers Can Attack Your Phone and Tips to Stay Safe<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g5dueDwQz3g/YSCoIMXCfaI/AAAAAAAACoo/9XoMhbxPOd4ZnhL2WwyfB5s7_4r1tsc-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1077/five%2Bways.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="1077" height="214" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g5dueDwQz3g/YSCoIMXCfaI/AAAAAAAACoo/9XoMhbxPOd4ZnhL2WwyfB5s7_4r1tsc-ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h214/five%2Bways.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4dgEkpdrY44/YSNoC4OMq_I/AAAAAAAACpo/wHPsiQWksRcaqb1CWvluIOHIJ9eLpNcKQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2951/cn_logo_mono.png"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="2951" height="50" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4dgEkpdrY44/YSNoC4OMq_I/AAAAAAAACpo/wHPsiQWksRcaqb1CWvluIOHIJ9eLpNcKQCLcBGAsYHQ/w138-h50/cn_logo_mono.png" width="138" /></a></div> <br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jkcgroup.co.za" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="151" data-original-width="664" height="59" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_PuSIQBo2Rw/YSOM2prCxvI/AAAAAAAACqI/N1C6ZGb6jl0R5Sr0xekn4RnLzIadvz8BgCLcBGAsYHQ/w258-h59/Click-here-to-learn-more-button-01-e1597431422397.png" width="258" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt;">Nowadays most of the transaction is done through the internet which has
made our life easier. On the other hand, it has also put our lives at risk. Do
you know how? There is a high risk that your personal data might expose to the
hackers. The hackers are using numerous way to steal people's data. Here are
some ways how hackers are stealing the data and how you can save yourself from
this cyber theft.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">5 Ways of Cyber Theft and Prevents</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">1. Through Email</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">Hackers sent you a misleading email which pokes you to click on the
email. The email gives you feel like it has been sent by some authorized bank
which asks you to fill the bank detail to verify your identity. If you will not
do it then your ATM card will be blocked. When you click on the email, you are
redirected to the landing page. If users fill the bank details there, the
details are directly sent to the hackers instead of a bank.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">Another way is the email might have an attachment. As soon as you
download, malware gets installed and steal the personal data from your mobile.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">Tips: Always look for the domain or spelling in the email id and if you
find anything suspicious then please avoid clicking on the link. Do not
download the file from the untrusted sources. Take your time to understand the
scenario.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">2. Malware</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">Malicious software that steals data from your mobile, delete the
information from your mobile, track your device secretly or update the core
functionality of the mobile. Clicking on unauthorized ads, pop-ups or
installing the pirated software causes the malicious programs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">Tips: It is recommended to use an anti-virus of your phone, It doesn't
cost much. Avoid clicking on pop-ups, don't download fake software. Always keep
your apps and operating system up-to-date.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">3. Malicious Mobile Apps</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;"><br />
Do you think so that every app on Google play store or app store is authentic?
Not every app on the play store is safe to use. The apps may contain a code
snippet that can install malware on your phone and steal the data from your
phone. The app asks you various permissions and your details are misused by the
distributors.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">Tips: Always check permissions when you download any new mobile app.
Avoid downloading an app from any third party resources. Never download the pirated
app.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">4. Through Call or Message</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;"><br />
You may get a call or message that your card will get blocked or you have won
the prize. They will ask your internet banking password or OTP to gain access
to your account. Once he gets your details, it may be used for various
purposes. You may get short links in the messages which may lead to
unsuspicious web pages.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">Tips: Don't share any personal information on call and message. Verify
the sender information before clicking on any message. Never share OTP to any
third person over call or message.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">5. Free Wi-Fi</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;"><br />
We all get excited when we heard the word "free" and the same applies
here. We get the free wi-fi service in cafes or railway station. Connecting
your system to an insecure network increase the chances of hacking. A hacker
can gain the access to your social accounts, passwords, bank accounts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">Tips: Do not connect your old phone to the open wi-fi or free wi-fi.
Just because it's free doesn't mean it is safe. In case, if you are using
public wi-fi then avoid the bank transactional or access any critical information.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-themecolor: background2;">Your phone's security is in your hands. Stay alert all time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-themecolor: background2;">Article Source: </span><span style="color: #e7e6e6; mso-themecolor: background2;"><a href="https://ezinearticles.com/expert/Sakshi_Jain/2573782"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-themecolor: background2;">https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Sakshi_Jain/2573782</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #e7e6e6; font-size: 9pt; mso-themecolor: background2;"><br />
<span style="background: rgb(221, 221, 221);"><br />
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<!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div><p></p>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8615854617308071367.post-8186135590723766672021-08-20T22:06:00.003-07:002021-08-23T04:47:21.011-07:00Fix One Way VoIP Audio (SIP, NAT and STUN)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U9bbjEs7NRU/YSCHql61BvI/AAAAAAAACoE/r3U-zhqh9XonM-5B0x50OUWipqxA0l9SQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1177/Fix%2BOne%2BWay%2BVoIP%2BAudio%2B%25281%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="1177" height="195" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U9bbjEs7NRU/YSCHql61BvI/AAAAAAAACoE/r3U-zhqh9XonM-5B0x50OUWipqxA0l9SQCLcBGAsYHQ/w654-h195/Fix%2BOne%2BWay%2BVoIP%2BAudio%2B%25281%2529.png" width="654" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><a href="http://jkcgroup.co.za/yeastar-p-series.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="238" height="106" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rOZH9FQQsIk/YSOJ_-FKpdI/AAAAAAAACp4/8wyDsIR7mlgIqm4ZzXjS-wbuB8xb2qbLQCLcBGAsYHQ/w101-h106/more-informaton.jpg" width="101" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The Problem - When making VoIP calls (particularly with SIP) you can ring phone numbers but once the call is answered there is either no voice or it is only one way.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The Cause - I am pretty sure the cause of this will be the same regardless of what protocol you are going to use for your VoIP solution but I only have experience of SIP. So this will definitely be an issue with SIP but I haven't confirmed it with the other protocols.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The problem arises because VoIP uses dynamic UDP ports for each call. This causes problems when traversing a NAT device for two reasons; the NAT device changes the source port of outbound packets as part of the NAT process. The second is because UDP by its very nature is designed for one way traffic (broadcasts, video stream etc). Where TCP traffic is bi-directional across the one connection UDP can have 1 connection for inbound and another for outbound meaning they can use different ports. If the inbound connection uses different ports as the outbound connection the inbound traffic will be dropped because the NAT device does not have a mapping for it in its NAT table. If you are confused by now I suggest you read up on NAT first.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">What is SIP and why is it important to VoIP Just as TCP/IP is not a protocol by itself but rather a family of protocols like TCP, IP, PPP, PPTP, ARP etc so is VoIP. There are several protocols you can use with VoIP each having their own pros and cons. The one we will focus in this article though is SIP. SIP stands for Session Initiate Protocol. It is responsible for setting up the call, ringing, signalling, engaged tones etc.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">In most SIP environments there will be several VoIP calls in use concurrently. Every one of these calls will be managed through the VoIP switch, each one requiring its own voice channel. Each channel (or phone call to look at it another way) must use a unique port. If there are 100 concurrent VoIP calls in use there must be 100 ports available for the VoIP switch to allocate to each call. This is where SIP comes in. It basically controls everything that is needed in setting up the call. For each call SIP will find a spare port, allocate it, send these details to all parties, set the call up and ring the phones. Once the call has finished SIP terminates the session and informs the phone switch that this port can be reassigned to another call.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The range of ports is usually configurable, Avaya for example allow you to configure this in the VoIP portion of the system config. The default range for Avaya VoIP is 49152 to 53246. This gives us a possibility of 4094 concurrent VoIP calls licensing permitting.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">In a LAN environment this is not a problem as firewalls usually permit all traffic on all ports for all devices. Once the internet is involved where the traffic has to traverse a NAT and firewall we start to run into problems. In the Avaya example above it can pick a port anywhere in the range of 49152 to 53246. You can't just open this port range to the internet. A range of 4000 ports open isn't very secure.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">How SIP is meant to work on the internet As with all network traffic one endpoint must initiate the connection first. This means at least one port must be open using port forwarding to the VoIP switch. SIP usually runs on port 5060. For the two offices to call each other both sites must have this port being forwarded to the phone switch. When you read documentation on SIP most of it will say that this is all you need to do...But in all likelihood this is not the case.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The following happens when you dial a VoIP number:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 60.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 60pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">You dial the number and your local VoIP switch matches this up with a site ID which locates the public IP address of the remote location.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 60.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 60pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Your local VoIP will connect to the remote IP on port 5060 using SIP (which is why the port must be open).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 60.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 60pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The two phone switches now negotiate and set up the phone call. Several things are done in the negotiation process but the most important one (for this article) being the ports that they will use to transmit the UDP voice streams.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The problem here is that SIP doesn't know it is behind a NAT. Let's say your local switch IP is 192.168.1.1 and the remote IP is 192.168.2.1. Although NAT modifies the SIP packets to the public IPs when traversing the internet it does not change the actual data in the SIP packets themselves (the payload). It is the payload that contains the information about what ports and IP addresses to use for the actual phone call. The local VoIP tells the remote VoIP (via SIP) to send voice data to its local IP of 192.168.1.1 and vice versa. As we all know this is never going to work as internet routers drop packets from and to private IP addresses. Once the call is set up and the UDP voice data actually starts transmitting it will be sent to private IP's and consequently dropped. So how do we fix this?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">STUN Stun stands for Session Traversal Utilities for NAT and as you may have guessed by its name it is a collection of utilities to aid in the traversal of a NAT devices.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">STUN (as in our case) helps a program or device learn whether it is behind a NAT and modify packets accordingly. It requires the help of a 3rd party server on the internet known as a STUN server. This now means that our VoIP phones can modify their SIP content to contain the public IP instead of the private one. Some of you may be thinking this same problem also affects ports.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">It is common with NAT to also change the source port of an outbound packet to a new randomly generated one. When the remote device responds it does so to this new random port. When packets come back in on this port NAT allows it through because it mapped this port to the internal client. As you might have guessed it this is also an issue for SIP. The STUN server also takes this into account. The STUN client (the VoIP switch) sends a UDP packet outbound on the port it wishes to use for the VoIP call to the STUN server. This will be NATTED to the public IP and a new port number. The STUN server sends this information back allowing the VoIP switch to learn its public IP and mapped (modified) external port for the voice traffic. Now we have all the info we require to modify the SIP data with the correct information to traverse a NAT. The local switch now contacts the remote switch via SIP and tells it to send the UDP voice call to its public IP and public port. Once this data comes back the NAT has a mapping for this in the NAT table and sends it to the internal VoIP switch. This how I thought it should work...Have you found what is wrong with this yet? I was stuck on this for a while...<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The reason I was stuck was not through a lack of understanding the technologies (honest ), it was because of the stupid documentation (from Avaya) I had on setting up SIP and my confidence in that it was right. I checked everything again and found I had done everything correctly then it hit me...I thought "Hold on, when the UDP voice packets start coming in ON A RANDOM port how does it get through the NAT device when the only port forwarding I have is 5060 for SIP???"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">I mislead you above a bit on purpose to see if you could spot it yourself. I said there was a mapping for the incoming UDP traffic in the NAT table but there isn't. You, like me may have assumed this because you don't have to port forward any other ports. The only way traffic can come into your network through a NAT without port forwarding is if it was first requested from an outbound connection. The outbound connection adds the entry in the NAT table to map incoming packets on this port to the internal client. This added to my confusion. The documentation clearly states you only need to port forward 5060 but the voice calls use random UDP ports so how do these get past the NAT? If you are still confused it will be because you don't understand (or have forgotten) one fundamental difference between UDP and TCP which is very important for us here.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">TCP requires that one end point must first establish a connection for data to be sent back. As we know you have inbound and outbound connections. If I am making an outbound connection then it is an inbound connection at the other end. And inbound connection requires port forwarding which we don't have set up in this scenario. Also for data to be sent back the socket MUST BE ESTABLISHED. This is very important as it is not a requirement of UDP. UDP is connection-less remember (see The Differences Between TCP and UDP for more info). It can send data without ever being aware of the remote location. It is this key difference between TCP and UDP that allows you to traverse a NAT using UDP without port forwarding. The technique is called UDP hole punching.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">UDP Hole Punching Let's add all the technologies so far to get a working solution. The two VoIP switches learn of each others public IP and ports to be used via the STUN server. They then use SIP on port 5060 to send this information to each other then they use UDP hole punching for the delivery of the VoIP packets.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">UDP hole punching is a clever technique. It works by "punching" holes through the NAT device to create the NAT mappings. The local VoIP sends UDP packets to the remote VoIP to the port and public IP it was told to use from the SIP data. When this data hits the NAT device at the remote location it will not be delivered because there is no port forwarding in place and no outbound data has been requested yet. The exact same process happens from the remote VoIP to your local VoIP and packets are dropped as well. The purpose of this though is not to send the packets, it is to "punch" a hole through the NAT and create a mapping of the external port and IP to the internet port and IP consequently allowing incoming traffic on this port. As this happens at both ends we now have NAT mappings for these ports to the internal clients. Because these mappings now exist the NAT device sees these as outbound requests and will accept new packets coming back in on the same port. So in summary the first packet exchange will always fail from both parties but this "punches" holes through the NAT allowing all subsequent traffic to pass through. This is why you don't need to port forward these ports when using UDP. This technique is exclusive to UDP because UDP doesn't guarantee or even check as to whether the packets arrive. When the first packet fails it doesn't matter because the sender doesn't even know it failed (as UDP does no error checking), it just sends more UDP packets. This won't work with TCP because it creates a socket before sending data. As the initial packet will always fail TCP will error and keep trying to establish a socket first before sending any data. The socket will never connect so no data will be sent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">So Why Does The Thing Still Fail?? OK, sorry for the long post but I am big believer that the best way to learn is by the teacher (me, ha) leading you down the path so you solve it yourself rather than me. This is the last bit now I promise.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">If you never knew about UDP hole punching then you would naturally think that you need to open ports to allow the UDP traffic through. This would explain why you get no voice at all. But what about one way traffic? This means that the port is open at one end and not the other. How is it possible to have UDP hole punching working at one end and not at the other when both NAT devices are configured the same?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">In all likelihood you have different types of NAT at each site. To complicate things more NAT isn't standardised and there are various implementations of it. In an ideal world the documentation I read about setting up SIP would be correct because UDP hole punching would take care of the port forwarding of the UDP traffic. But as we often find out this is never the case...<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">It gets complicated and I am not going to re-invent the wheel. What you are looking for is what type of NAT device you have. It is probably a symmetric NAT as this is the one that is incompatible with STUN. Yes this is the problem!! STUN doesn't work with a symmetric NAT, here is why.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">All the other types of NATs allow traffic from different IP's to come back into the network as long as it is on that port regardless of where I sent the packets to. So if I connect to the STUN to learn the external IP and port to use for VoIP this mapping now existing. A DIFFERENT IP can send packets to me as long as they use the same port I sent the UDP packets out on. In other words once a mapping has been created and linked to the internal client it will accept connections from any IP as long as it is on this port. This is not allowed in a symmetric NAT. An outbound packet sent to a specific IP and port will only allow packets coming back from that IP and port. So, we do the same as above and contact the STUN server to get our public IP and port. This info is sent to the remote VoIP via SIP. It now tries to send data back to your local VoIP via this port but because it is a different IP a symmetric NAT blocks it. This NAT mapping is exclusive to the STUN server. To allow data to come in from the remote VoIP which is a different IP a new mapping must be created, which uses a different port... As you can see this is a problem because the port that will be used for the actual UDP voice call is different to the one the STUN server detected. Because the ports are dynamic and STUN won't work, your local VoIP can never learn what that external port is to be used for the traffic to and from the remote VoIP.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">This is why you get one way traffic in some scenarios. If both NAT devices are non symmetric NATs they will get the correct information through STUN and voice flows both ways ok. If one device is symmetric and the other is non symmetric only one of them can get the correct info through STUN and data can pass one way producing the one way audio. If both are symmetric you can't hear anything at all because traffic can't get through either NAT device.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">So How Do I Fix It!?!? Buy a new NAT device! One that isn't a symmetric one!!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Replacing your NAT device is one solution but the other is far more simple than the you might think. All you need to do is the following:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 60.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 60pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">On your phone switch (Avaya in my case) reduce the dynamic port range. How many VoIP calls do you think you will have going at any one time max? Most of you reading this will be 10 at a guess, maybe 20. In my case the range was 49152 to 53246 so I reduce the max range to 49162 giving me 10 ports.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 60.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 60pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">On your NAT device set up port forwarding for the 10 ports to your VoIP switch.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The reason this works is because you are effectively mapping your external port numbers to the same internal port numbers (remember that NAT replaces port numbers with random ones by itself). You now know that your VoIP will only use a range of 10 ports and STUN will fail. This means that the SIP information sent over to the remote VoIP will actually list the internal ports and not the NATted ones. This means your traffic goes out on random ports (because it is NATTED) but the remote VoIP sends back to ports in the range you specified in your local VoIP. There won't be a NAT mapping for this of course and it should be blocked but this is why you use port forwarding instead. Have Fun!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #cccccc; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">To read the full article of this go to <a href="http://think-like-a-computer.com/2011/03/14/one-way-audio-voip/" target="_new"><span>One Way Audio VoIP</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /><br /><span>Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6081529<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></div>Chris Vermeulen (Online Marketing)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01204830779254421187noreply@blogger.com0