Category: Blogs

Despite recording the highest number of attacks over the last year. UK business are better at minimising damage to the business

The estimated average number of targeted cyber attacks reported by UK organisations is almost 40% higher than the European average, according to new research from Quocirca and Trend Micro.

The Europe-wide research of 500 senior IT decision makers from organisations with over 2,500 employees has found that 64% believe that targeted cyber attacks on their business have increased over the past year, with a 61% increase in the UK.

However, whilst UK organisations report a higher average number of attacks within the last year (8.6 versus a European average of 6.2), they reported that these attacks were less likely to have been successful and that data was less likely to have been stolen.

The number of respondents believing these attacks to now be inevitable and/ or have been a concern for some time has risen sharply since 2013. In fact, the majority believe they will increase and 15% of respondents think this rise will be severe. Almost no UK businesses polled believe targeted attacks will decrease.

More than half of European (52%) and UK organisations (53%) feared that a cyber attack would have a serious impact on their operation. However, the majority of UK businesses said they had measures in place to mitigate for targeted attacks.

When targeted attacks on UK businesses have been successful, respondents recorded a lower overall average cost to the business. The average estimated cost of a cyber attack for a UK business is £172,000 compared to £243,000 for all Europe.

Although the UK is an attractive target for cyber criminals, this finding indicates that UK organisations are better prepared for targeted attacks than other European businesses.

UK organisations are ahead of their European counterparts in recognising the importance of having a breach response plan in place. More than half (51%) said that a breach response plan was very important, compared to a European average of 38%. This seems to be instrumental in keeping down the overall cost of breaches in the UK.

Across Europe, the most recent attack for the average organisation has occurred within the last three months (87 days), with the UK figure standing at 80 days.

“While UK businesses increasingly recognise the reality, scale and impact of targeted attack, the initial data reveals that much more can and should be done in testing their readiness to deal with them,” said Rik Ferguson, VP security research at Trend Micro. “A large number of businesses report having training and penetration testing measures in place, but relatively few are conducting cyber-readiness tests, or fire drills.

“Raising user awareness and probing your systems are both crucial components but they cannot be fully tested unless brought together in a live-fire exercise involving your employees.”

Bob Tarzey, analyst and director at Quocirca, added, “Initial analysis of the new data suggests UK organisations are better prepared. However, much more could be done by most UK organisations to prevent attacks and deal with the aftermath when some are inevitably successful.

“Some of those reported led to devastating data losses, the cost of dealing with which was way above the average.”

Source: Information Age

3D virtual skyscraper will entice kids as young as 12 with cyber security-related games and puzzles, then engage them with future employers.

The conversation usually goes something like this:

Me: “I know that VMware is a technology you use quite a lot in the business. I’m currently working with a number of VMware Certified Professionals who are interested in new opportunities and wanted to understand how the business could utilise such professionals at this time?”

Client: “We probably could do with another VMware specialist – but our plans are very much focused on moving to the cloud”

As a Recruiter, you need to embrace these trends and that’s why I’m building up my network of cloud professionals, while still servicing my existing clients who require the virtualisation professionals as it is still essential to IT infrastructures in small and large organisations.

I’m not a techy but I was interested in doing some research to find out why organisations are starting to question their use of VMware & Hyper-V technology?

It appears that the main factors in this trend are cost and the headache of legacy systems. The rise of “containers”, which are cheaper to use and born in the cloud so no installation problems, are impacting the dominance of virtualisation.

An example of a container is Docker. Docker containers wrap a piece of software in a complete filesystem that contains everything needed to run: code, runtime, system tools, system libraries – anything that can be installed on a server. This guarantees that the software will always run the same, regardless of its environment.

Containers and virtual machines have similar resource isolation and allocation benefits — but a different architectural approach allows containers to be more portable and efficient.

Containers include the application and all of its dependencies — but share the kernel with other containers, running as isolated processes in user space on the host operating system. Docker containers are not tied to any specific infrastructure: they run on any computer, on any infrastructure and in any cloud.

However VMware & Microsoft aren’t just standing still – they are embracing the change and recognise their market supremacy is under threat. For example, VMware has long been criticised for its proprietary approach to virtualisation but last year delivered their first open source container products.

The first of these were Project Lightwave which focuses on identity and access management, the second was Project Photon which looks at managing containers and VM’s on a single platform.

It’s going to be interesting to see how things develop in the battle for server virtualisation supremacy. But the fact VMware & Microsoft are taking a proactive approach to containers means they’re taking the threat very seriously.

– Phil

For more information on virtualisation and cloud technology market, contact Phil Lillicrapp

The Prime Minister met with President Obama to discuss how British companies can combat cyber threats and remain as one of the most secure places to do business.

Mr Cameron has also pledged to “step up the practical support offered to UK cyber security companies to make sure they have the best opportunity to win even more business in the US,” a move that will be welcomed by many IT professionals as cyber security becomes ever more paramount.

The new government measures include:

• A new cyber security envoy, Andy Williams, appointed to the British Embassy in Washington to assist small businesses and first time exporters wanting to set up in the US and enhance security deals.
• A new and improved guide entitled ‘Ten Steps to Cyber Security’ to assist companies on cyber attacks and how to stay safe online.
• A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills report on how awareness and response to cyber threats is improving and highlights where improvements need to be made.
• A new report from GCHQ on the most common cyber attacks that have taken place across the industry whilst providing solutions on how to prevent them.

The initiative will strengthen the existing National Cyber Programme, which was launched in 2011 with £860 million of investment and provide extra support for companies and IT professionals.

Cyber security resourcing at Certes

At Certes we’re seeing a steady increase in demand for cyber security skills and this sector looks set to become a challenging one for skills – with shortages already appearing, and rates consequently soaring.  It’s a good time to plan your cyber security resourcing for the coming quarter to be ahead of the war for talent.

But what are the differece between the US and UK in recruitment.

Source: Jobvite

In short videos can be use as job advertising and in the interview process.

Studio in your hands

As video technology develops, it’s becoming extremely easy to communicate with. The time for cumbersome and expensive video equipment and complicated editing software are behind us. Anyone with a decent phone can record and upload the content to video sharing websites in a matter of minutes. Youtube can be used to give applicants all the information required in just a few minutes and that message can be sent to thousands upon thousands of possible candidates in seconds. Applications like FaceTime and Skype make it remarkably easy for candidates and employers to meet “face-to-face” without geographical locations being a factor. Scheduling a time for an interview is severely cut as a time can be worked around pre-existing arrangements. Video interviewing allows for a better sense of who the candidate is instead of making judgement on their CV, the applicant can give you all the information directly to you that they could not fit on paper.

With today’s technological advancements, all this can be done from your phone.

Showcase your good side

For candidates, video gives the capability of candidates recording an introductory video, eliminating the need for a live video interview and even the traditional first stages of an interview. Attaching the recorded video to the rest of their digital application would be then sent to hiring managers and decision makers simultaneously.

For clients, having the ability to showcase the company, the culture and organisational structure can make applying to the company more appealing and engaging for the candidate. Besides providing a “fly on the wall” view of the company you are also giving the impression that your company is at the forefront of utilising technology. Video’s can also be used to attract talented millennials.

Benefits are limitless

Interview may be conducted using a representative of who the candidate would be working for due to busy schedules. With video the person who the candidate would work directly under could take part in the interview process. Additional benefits are a group of hiring managers can easily collaborate to make hiring decisions much quicker than traditional means.

Employers can also quickly and easily extract candidates who skills do not match up to their requirements.

Screening candidates for any role becomes less time intensive and considerably reduces cost with utilising video, whether is a vacancy for an entry level position or senior executive level candidates. They are extremely busy and travel time and costs are immediately eliminated. If employers are hiring internationally the cost and travel time is cut exponentially.

Other skills can be assessed with video; some role may consist of public speaking or presentation skills. These skills are showcased from the outset of a video interview and the interview can see how well a candidate reactive being in front of a camera.

Although video should be implemented. There is still a need for face to face meetings. The traditional method shows how well a candidate can interact with staff that they will be working with. However, a guaranteed face to face interview can be scheduled further down the recruitment line when the candidates have been shortlisted.

In 2016, 51% of employees are classed as passive. They are not looking for their next opportunity but if the new job does arise they would consider it.

Job hopping is becoming a trend for ‘Millennials’ and this can be based on how hard employees think it is to find a new job. Over the years, the difficulty of finding a new job has decreased.

As more people are finding job seeking less difficult, job seekers are also becoming more optimistic about find jobs for their skills and experience.

The optimism may lead into why job hopping is increasing, with 18% of employees changing jobs every 1-3 years, but 45% of employees staying at a job for over 10 years. Long periods of time in employment with one employer is a trait of ‘Baby Boomers’ and ‘Generation-X’ employees.

?

Read the full report: Jobvite

Schools, colleges and universities must look beyond what they are currently doing well and identify the idea that will reshape education

Education is the leading force that is accelerating development globally and is the only answer to providing sustainable growth in the coming centuries. 

There has been a change in paradigm of how students learn and teachers teach due to the exploitation of modern computer, network and learning infrastructure. 

A successful future educational initiative will require ongoing, long-term efforts that can lead to new goals, approaches and new ways of thinking. Researchers term this as ‘second-order change’: the type of substantive change that drives deep impact. 

A fundamental change in the education process is to take out the factory production approach to having a process that enables individual needs and opportunities that makes it relevant, and connect them to the global happenings. 

Modern-day students challenge their teachers to be innovative and to make the learning environments more exciting, flexible and rewarding.

This generation’s students inhabit a borderless world offering limitless connection, data and mobility. They can choose to access knowledge and collaborate on a global scale.  The expectation of education delivery is to match this aspiration through usage of technology. 

Connecting state schools to the internet has to be a key initiative in every part of the developing world, with an ambition bigger than improving education. Irrespective of the remoteness and parity of growth, students quickly adapt to the technology and learn with gusto.

This also provides an opportunity to involve life for families and communities through the way young people learn, because learning forums are so much more open, transparent and collaborative.

Technology can be used more creatively to move beyond classroom walls and can transform education with completely new ways to learn new skills.

A transformative education initiative should fundamentally change the way in which it is imparted and not try to use technology to just enable the old ways of learning. 

It should start from a vision that guarantees student success with full participation of teachers and parents. This will help schools drive change by improving student learning and bridging parity, to increase student engagement and skills development that will ultimately aid in global transformation.

There are a number of initiatives in education where a lot of infrastructure is provided with a hope that it will improve education. Infrastructure without content, without experimenting with new ways of teaching and without enabling collaboration will be a futile attempt. 

Infrastructure is important, but empowerment and transformational change management is paramount. Futuristic education transformation should bring the teachers to first shed the inhibition to change from being a teacher to a facilitator. And a sustained programme needs to be planned and sustained. 

Education’s new avatar will not be popular with everyone. The traditionalists will resist ideas that erode historic school structures. Teacher associations will not appreciate having their importance shrunk by technology. 

Others may even question the way in which students are evaluated through tests than can be replaced by a continuous monitoring of learning understanding. All this and more will be challenges.

But schools and teachers that are given an opportunity and empowerment will welcome such a change. Disrupting the school or education should start from a classroom – the way they arrange teaching and learning – and then build upwards. 

Successfully introducing innovative ways of teaching should sustain them and vitalise the school system to be successful, and more disruption will follow success.

The key focus must be on achievement of the education and development objective and not on promoting shiny gadgets. This can be achieved by the usage of interchangeable delivery of education through a multitude of gadgets and should not be dependent on one. 

There are two key questions to ask: how can education systems assimilate this into programme design and delivery in order to improve efficiency, control costs and expand the delivery of education to larger numbers of people; and how will the convergence of communications technologies affect the potential for providing improved learner support? 

We are in the era of vast numbers of open online courses which allow students globally to learn what they are interested in and at their own pace. This trend itself is a harbinger for things to come. 

Providing education in new and unconventional ways is only one of a number of solutions, but it is through innovation that challenges of improved efficiencies, lower costs, increased accessibility and greater success in achieving development goals through education can be met.

These disruptions in education provide an opportunity to revisit how to cultivate children’s learning and futures in a way that is based on what is known today. 

The transition won’t be easy, especially for complex government-run institutions like education, but with a huge looming deficit and only potential relief in sight, what choice is there? It is a risk worth taking.

Source: Information Age

Retailers are no stranger to the benefits of using technology either. Whether it is displaying the products to customers, providing information and the ability to pay for said product in an incredibly short process. Compared to travel to a brick and mortar store and trawling through the many options the store has to find out they don't have the product you want, to then visit another store and repeat the process again, you can't deny that technology has changed the way we shop. 

Retailers should factor in that customers have more means to buy online now than they use to and have the abililty to browse and buy no matter where they are or time of day.

Making the purchasing life of a customer easier isn't the only bright side to technology in retail. Retailers can use the information from their customers to work out current trends and behaviours. With this information they can react to the ever changing customer needs more quickly. Technology for retailers opens the doors for the use of Big Data. This source of data is seen to be extremely valuable and should be a tool that everyone in retail has in their arsenal which can help in discovering and analysing new information.

"Every enterprise needs to fully understand big data – what it is to them, what is does for them, what it means to them –and the potential of data-driven marketing, starting today. Don’t wait. Waiting will only delay the inevitable and make it even more difficult to unravel the confusion.

Once you start tackling big data, you’ll learn what you don’t know, and you’ll be inspired to take steps to resolve any problems. Best of all, you can use the insights you gather at each step along the way to start improving your customer engagement strategies; that way, you’ll put big data marketing to work and immediately add more value to both your offline and online interactions." Forbes

Therefore, if retailers are not currently doing so, they should embrace technology as a part of their strategy. 

For more information, read Tech is key player in retail strategy for 2016 from Raconteur. 

Source: Raconteur