An IT Support Blog from London

National publicity for council ransomware attack

In January it was nationally reported that Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) had fallen victim to a ransomware attack which rendered it unable to access systems and data for a week. Across the authority, as many as 5,000 staff had to revert to manual processes using pen and paper.

The cybercriminals had performed data ‘kidnapping’ by infecting LCC systems and encrypting the data. The data remained on the organisation’s infrastructure but was rendered inaccessible. The ransom demand for its safe release by providing the decryption key was set at the princely sum of $500 (£350).

Tablets conquer the world in less than 7 years

Today’s tablets are powerful, flexible and handy computing devices. It’s hard to think that the first tablet to gain popular mainstream acceptance, the original Apple iPad, only debuted on April 3rd 2010.

Since then the market has exploded with devices from the big hardware manufacturers as well as those from hundreds of new market entrant brands. There are a lot of size options and the smallest 3/4G capable ones blur the line between the phone and the tablet – quite literally where does the tablet end and the smartphone begin?

Tablet computers are ubiquitous and seem to have conquered practically all markets. But can you run a business from one?

Backup and DR in 20 mins

Not so very long ago most businesses relied on tape-based backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) processes. For many, this was highly unsatisfactory, and their overall perceptions of tape backups were shaped by problems such as:

• Often unreliable with errors because of open files, tape media faults and drive failures
• Only run as fast as the slowest link in the chain, frequently the tape read/write speed
• Getting the tape from the office manager’s flat back to the office quickly
• Are very slow when it comes to restoring significant volumes of data

Today’s backup technologies have revolutionised speed and reliability and transformed disaster recovery, and now businesses can be returned to full operational capability in as little as 20 minutes when using good backup and DR solutions.

Renewed emphasis on cost control for recruiters

The difficult few years that followed the credit crunch meant the recruitment sector had to endure some tough times. Reduced hiring and increased candidate numbers as headcount were trimmed made the sector one of the first to be hit. When it’s a buyer’s market, clients bargain hard and squeeze margins. But that’s business and you know you would if things were the other way round!

The recession drove many recruiters to re-evaluate their systems and processes. Cloud and online technologies offered the opportunity to cut costs, improve efficiency and gain competitive advantage. Specialised line-of-business applications for the recruitment sector, often integrating software automation functionality, transformed the back and front office for many.

IT staffing ratio - how do the numbers stack up?

In a company of perhaps 20 people or so, many will have taken the view that staff numbers mean there is enough work to recruit an IT manager. However, what do you do before you reach this size?

Many small companies choose to engage external consultants to provide hands-on support. Often these are solo operators, one-man bands. While they may be competent and well-intentioned, there are a number of inherent problems which may prevent them from responding with the appropriate service levels you need to run your business.

Privacy Shield a more formal compliance framework

Disagreement over the Safe Harbour, which let American companies use a single standard for consumer privacy and data storage in both the US and Europe, appears to have finally ended. Safe Harbour was rejected by the EU following leaks by Edward Snowden which discredited it because US Government security agencies were revealed to have flouted the rules.

Safe Harbour let US companies self-certify they protected data about EU citizens appropriately; however, the US National Security Agency practiced widespread surveillance through accessing data which was supposedly protected by Safe Harbour.

The need for vital skills and expertise

One of the key HR concepts in business is to avoid person dependence. Many businesses have experienced difficulties resulting from the inability to access vital skills and expertise, from specific individuals, relied on to deliver services to clients and customers.

CAPEX no longer an immovable object

When it comes to new infrastructure, capital investment has long been seen as an immovable object. Whether it is transport, utilities or IT, taking a conventional approach to infrastructure requires CAPEX. This brings with it the often tricky question of financing.

Recent years have seen the phenomenal growth of cloud computing. The cloud really took off when the credit crunch strangled the supply of capital. This led those that needed to replace obsolete and legacy IT systems to turn to innovative cloud solutions which require little or no capital funding. The business model includes payment by monthly subscription, effectively shifting IT from the CAPEX to the OPEX budget.

Relocations, in any aspect of life, are a stressful undertaking, and even with careful preparation and planning, they cost time, money, and energy. When it comes to moving offices, a lot has to be taken into consideration; furniture needs to be moved or replaced, important documents and files are to be shifted securely and valuable assets have to be relocated without being damaged, all whilst keeping the business up and running and enabling employees to continue working as best as possible.

One major headache for businesses is removing their existing IT infrastructure including PCs and servers and rebuilding it at the new location as quickly as possible in order to not disrupt ongoing business too much. Many companies merely shift their old system from one office to the other when in fact they could not only move offices but also move their IT to the cloud, resulting in various business benefits and a smoother, easier relocation.

Voice and data convergence for higher quality communications

Hosted telephony solutions offer the ability to eliminate a major inefficiency for many businesses – BT telephone and ISDN lines. Often these simply duplicate the connectivity that can be provided equally well via business-class broadband connections.

The budget that is released by decommissioning telephone lines or ISDNs can be used to upgrade and introduce greater resilience to business broadband while delivering an overall lower cost for data and voice connectivity.