It is difficult to overstate the importance of reliable wireless connectivity in a work-from-anywhere world. Organizations must support more wireless users, devices and applications than ever, and analysts say total Wi-Fi traffic is doubling every three years.

Recent research shows an alarming 84 percent increase in reported cyberattacks against the education sector over the past six months. Recent high-profile victims include some of the largest K-12 school districts in the country, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Minneapolis Public School District and Chicago Public Schools.

Outdated systems, misconfigured applications and exposed cloud resources are often considered the weakest links in any organization’s IT security. However, it’s the human attack surface that is most frequently exploited — and a new type of browser-based tactic is rapidly becoming the attack of choice by malicious actors.

Smaller businesses increasingly seek managed services providers who offer consultative services and strategic guidance.

Managed services arrangements provide small and midsized businesses (SMBs) with budget-friendly alternatives to keeping seasoned IT professionals on payroll.

Feds are taking aggressive action to curb record levels of extortion malware.

With ransomware attacks reaching record levels, the White House has officially classified the extortion malware as a national security threat — a move designed to unlock “all elements of national power” to disrupt malicious cyber activity.

State and local government agencies are stepping up their IT modernization efforts in order to streamline operations, cut costs and make critical services and programs accessible to their constituents. But there is still much work to be done.

Only 13 percent of state and local agencies have made substantial investments in modernizing operations, according to a new survey from the Center for Digital Government (CDG). However, 56 percent said they are planning to upgrade their technology systems over the next two years in order to meet their communities’ rising expectations for digital access.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a key enabler of contact center efforts to cut costs, improve efficiency and enhance the customer experience. Virtual agents, speech-to-text, intelligent routing, advanced error detection, automated data entry and real-time data analysis are among the many functions enabled by AI. As a result, the AI-powered contact center is becoming “a necessity for companies that want to deliver stellar customer experience and gain competitive advantage,” according to Robin Gareiss, CEO and Principal Analyst at the Metrigy research firm.

In an increasingly data-driven world, legacy backup systems and strategies no longer provide adequate data protection. Tools designed for conventional on-premises backup are poorly suited for protecting data spread across multiple data centers, cloud platforms, edge servers and endpoint devices.

The numbers paint a disturbing picture of the current state of cybercrime. During one average day in 2023, researchers say, the world can expect to see:

3.4 billion phishing emails

300,000 malware infections
22,500 distributed denial of service attacks
2,328 data breaches

Faced with this relentless onslaught, organizations have had to accept that it is no longer possible to prevent every attack.

Boost IT security with a layered approach combining multiple tools and solutions.

Elephant calves in the wild are protected by the herd, which will circle the calf in order to fend off lions, hyenas, crocodiles and other predators. The huge size and coordinated action of the adult elephants creates a defensive ring that successfully discourages attacks.