Shadow IT is a growing threat, largely because organizations vastly underestimate the size and scope of the issue. According to one Cisco study, large organizations use an average of more than 1,200 different cloud-based applications and services — more than 13 times the number recognized by their IT departments.

According to the FBI’s 2018 Internet Crime Report, the financial losses associated with Internet crime increased by 90.8 percent from 2017 to 2018. The highest losses came from business email compromise (BEC) and email account compromise scams, with 20,373 victims losing a total of $1.3 billion.

Cloud options becoming essential for managing rampant data growth.

Driven by new workloads and the convergence of cloud, mobile, analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT), the digital universe is growing at an astonishing pace. Analysts with IDC anticipate that by 2025 the total amount of digital data created worldwide will reach 180 zettabytes — or 180 trillion gigabytes.

Device-as-a-Service model can reduce management burden and improve budget flexibility.

It’s been said that every company is now a technology company. Whether they deal in software, staffing, sprockets or sandwiches, virtually all businesses today rely upon information technology to run their operations.

12thAnnual MSP 501 Identifies Top Forward-Thinking Global MSPs & Leading Trends in Managed Services

JUNE 18, 2019: Verteks Consulting has been named as one of the world’s premier managed service providers on the prestigious 12th-annual Channel Futures MSP 501 rankings.

Canada-based Desjardins Group, the largest credit union in North America, recently fell victim to a data breach that exposed the information of nearly 3 million of its members. The breach was not the result of a coordinated attack by external hackers. Instead, a malicious insider was able to gain privileged access rights and engage in data gathering over the course of several months.

Although it was written more than 2,000 years ago, Aesop’s fable of the boy who cried wolf serves as a cautionary tale for the modern information security professional. When security alerts become too frequent, people will eventually stop paying attention.

Even the smallest of small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) have finally let go of their old-fashioned paper filing systems, and now store most of their data electronically. Many have become more advanced, using sophisticated applications and leveraging data in new ways to support business strategy.

The simultaneous explosions of big data and mobility have left many organizations scrambling to figure out the best way to store and protect data. While the amount of data being produced and the number of devices being used has skyrocketed, storage and backup strategies haven’t been able to keep up.

Multifactor authentication has become an essential tool for maintaining data security.

Despite greater focus on improving security awareness in the workplace, poor password practices continue to undermine data protection. More than 80 percent of all confirmed data breaches involve weak, default or stolen passwords, according to Verizon’s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report.