Online Storage - Taking Your First Steps Into The Cloud

In 5 years, Dropbox, the online file storage company has grown to a user base of 50 million users worldwide. That’s great news for their founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, but why is the technology so popular, and how can it help small businesses? Also, let's not forget that the online world carries some risk. Is it safe to use online storage, and what security precautions should be taken to protect your data in the cloud?

Why Is Online Storage So Popular?

Online file storage is cheap (free in some cases), simple to use, and incredibly convenient if you need to access files both in the office and at home. It allows you to access your files from your work PC, your home PC, as well as from any tablet device or Smartphone. It also overcomes the attachment size limitations of email by allowing you to upload the file to your online storage and create a link to the file that you can then email to the intended recipient. They then simply click on the link and download the file via a  web browser. 

Synchronising Data To The Cloud From Your PC

Most online storage services allow you to create a synchronisation folder on your Windows PC's into which you can "drag an drop" files that you want to upload to your cloud storage. This saves you having to log in to your cloud storage every time you want to upload a file, and also keeps your online files and folders in sync.

Integration With Tablets And Smartphones

My initial reason for using online storage was to allow me to access client documentation on my iPad. Apps are available for Smartphones and tablets (Android and Apple iOS) that allow you to access files that have been uploaded to your cloud storage. You will also find that some third party Office Apps available for Android and iOS plug straight in to online storage such as Google Drive which allow you to edit documents stored online. This is in fact my favourite feature of cloud storage, and I use it regularly to write blog posts at home while watching television (How much attention can you really give to Masterchef?). 

There is also an additional feature in Trend Micro SafeSync For Business which is worth mentioning, in its ability to allow you to view Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat documents on Android and iOS devices without running a Microsoft Office editor / Adobe Reader. I use this capability most on my Smartphone to access price lists as well as product documentation that I store online for reference while I am out of the office. It saves having to wait until I get back to the office to check out specific questions that people ask from time to time.

Data Backup

One of the obvious applications for online data storage is for online backup. Over the years, tape backup has proven to be unreliable, and no amount of onsite backup provisions can protect you against fire / flood. We strongly recommend that all companies should implement online backup for their data, since it provides the only reliable way of making sure that you can recover your data when you most need to.

Data Security 

As with all things cloud, data security is a consideration. Companies such as Trend Micro and Google have a pretty good handle on data security, but the weak point if there is one will always be a reliance on passwords. For general use, I would suggest that you simply use strong passwords including letters, numbers and at least one special character. It sounds complicated, but once you have worked out a system it's fairly simple to work with. Alternatively, if you need to make sure that it is only your employees who are able to access your data online, then I would recommend using Google Apps since Google allows you to authenticate access to the system using "one-time-passwords" (i.e. they change every time you log in) generated on your employees' Smartphones. This capability is provided by Safenet's Cloud Authentication Service, so you don't have to install security software on your network to keep your cloud storage secure

The US Patriot Act

If you are going to be using a provider of online storage who uses a US datacentre, you also need to take the US Patriot Act into consideration. Under the US Patriot Act, the CIA can demand to see your data if it is kept in a US datacentre. If you have concerns about this, then use a service that uses European Data Centres.  

Clearview Data Systems provide IT Service / Support and cloud computing services to Hertfordshire and the surrounding area. If you need advice on storing your data in the cloud, please call us on 01707 255060 or send an email to info@clearview.co.uk.

Helping Your Staff Work More Productively With Mobile Computing

Mobile computing technology allows company employees to work as productively from home or hotels as they can from the office, but the face of computing technology is changing. Employees no longer want to be tied to using company laptops when they have a PC at home. What’s more, Smartphones and tablets have now become as ubiquitous as the traditional mobile phone ever was, providing low cost computing for employees to access company information.

As a consequence, cost conscious business owners can now avoid the need to fund and manage mobile communications for their staff by establishing a “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy, and allowing employees to select their own mobile devices for work.

Maintaining Security For Mobile Working

Companies have been using simple VPN technology built into firewalls to provide mobile computing for laptop users for a number of years, but as the range of devices that companies want to be able to support for remote working expands, different approaches need to be adopted to reflect the degree of trust that you place in the device connecting in to ensure that your IT systems are not exposed to an internet hack or security breach. You may have full control over software that is installed on company laptops, but this is not going to be the case if you allow employees to use their own PC’s or tablets.

• Laptops – Company laptops generally need full access to your company network. Nonetheless, if an “infected” laptop logs into the network, malware can be spread through your network causing your systems to crash. Laptops should therefore be screened before connection to your network to ensure that they have no unauthorised applications / malware installed. Screening for critical Windows patches and up-to-date antivirus can either be performed in the office using Network Access Control (NAC) software which is built in to the endpoint security software of the major security companies, or using VPN Gateways for remote users which will only permit access to your company network once the device connecting has been certified as “clean”.

• Home PC’s – Even though you have no control over software installed on your employees’ home PC’s, it is still possible to allow them to access your internal systems securely providing you restrict the applications that they have access to on your network using a VPN Gateway which can selectively permit access to your network while maintaining a degree of separation to prevent malware infection. In this way, it is possible to provide secure access to email and file shares from any device. You can also provide secure access to other business applications via Windows Terminal Server / Citrix providing your employees had administrator access to the PC being used to connect in. The VPN Gateway can even provision the appropriate “thin client” to the home user’s PC without them having to install the software locally.

• Smartphones / Tablets - Apps designed to run on smartphone operating systems undergo stringent review before being published on Google Play or the Apple AppStore. Device interrogation is therefore less critical for a tablet or Smartphone than for a laptop and in practice it is difficult to control apps installed on tablets or Smartphones. It is quite straightforward to provide access to corporate email and files on file shares from mobile devices, and access to line of business applications can be provided via a web browser. Mobile Device Management software should however be considered to ensure that password / PIN security is enforced to prevent unauthorised access to the device (and thereby to your network), as well as to ensure that company data is erased in the event that the device is lost, or that an employee leaves your company.

The Impact Of Cloud Computing

In many ways, mobile working and cloud services go hand in hand. You can now access your company business applications from any internet connected device using either Software-As-A-Service (SAAS) applications or Hosted Desktop technology which allows you to access your existing business applications via a web browser. Mobile Computing support isn’t however the primary driver for adoption of cloud computing. The ability to run any business software application for your company without having to invest in hardware and skilled technicians to maintain it is cloud computing’s primary attraction, but mobile computing has been the trigger for a number of companies to take their first steps into the cloud.

Keeping Hackers Away

Once you allow your staff to work remotely or indeed move to cloud computing, you are reliant on passwords to prevent unauthorised users from accessing your company data. Unfortunately, static passwords can be compromised since they either get written down on sticky notes, or may be too simple and can be guessed. The way to protect against password theft is to employ two factor authentication using an App that is installed on the employees Smartphone, which allows you to generate a unique 6 digit password every time your staff log in. The downside of using two factor authentication is that your users need to generate the one-time-password as an extra process when logging in, but if your data is confidential or has commercial value, you may decide that this is a price worth paying.

Summary 

Technology is now available to provision secure remote access from any device that can connect to the Internet, although a little planning (and knowledge) is required to ensure that opening the doors to remote working doesn’t mean that you expose your company data to significant risk. If you would like to know more about IT support services and network security products available from Clearview Data Systems, please download our "Secure Remote Access" white paper, call us on 01707 255060, or email info@clearview.co.uk.

Six Sure Signs You Need To Change The Way You Manage Your IT

When the engineer that came to fix your PC at 9 am is still in your office at 4.45 pm.

If your PC is infected by malware, the only way that you can be absolutely sure that you have a clean PC is to reload it from scratch. Without a recovery plan, it can take an entire day to reload Windows 7, apply all of the patches required, and then reload your business software. If you want to avoid escalating IT support costs, you need a recovery plan that allows you to rebuild your PC’s in minutes, not hours.

When your server crashes and your tape backup won’t restore.

Although there is dispute about how frequently tape backups fail to restore (some sources quote 70% failure rate), it is clear that manual methods of data backup cannot be relied on for data backup. In any event, your critical data should be automatically backed up to offsite storage to protect you not only against server failure, but also against fire or flood.

When your staff tell you that you need a faster internet connection and have no way of knowing if they are right.

Companies everywhere are turning to video and podcasts on their web sites to engage with their customers which is great for customer engagement, but can take up internet bandwidth that you need to use for VPN connections or client extranets. If your firewall is more than 2-3 years old, consider upgrading to a "next generation firewall" that not only protects you from hackers, but also provides you with clear information on how your internet connection is being used at any time.

When your internet link fails and your staff stop working because they can’t access your hosted email / CRM systems.

Cloud computing services allow you to reduce operating costs and access your business applications from any internet connected device … but only as long as your internet connections is working! Before moving your business applications to the cloud, make sure that you have considered making provision for access to key business applications using 3G / 4G cellular, satellite, or a second internet connection in the event of failure of your primary internet link.

When an employee’s PC “breaks” after they installed some software from the internet.

Free software is great until one of your employees installs the wrong kind of free software on one of your PC’s. Unless you want to keep on paying IT engineer callout charges, you need to take control of who can and can’t install software onto your company PC’s. You need to ensure that any software installed isn’t a Trojan in disguise or badly written freeware, both of which can make your PC’s run unreliably and eventually crash. If it isn't possible to lock down your PC's then you need to strengthen your web security to make sure as best you can that your users don't accidentally download malware from the internet.

When the engineer who took a £250 cheque from you yesterday is back at 12.00 today.

When new bugs are discovered in software that you have installed on your PC’s, the “bad guys” hurry to work out how to exploit them so that they can get their code onto your PC’s to steal your personal information and logins. You must make sure that updates required to protect your PC’s are installed, otherwise you are a sitting duck for malware that can be accidentally downloaded from comprised or malicious websites.

You may not be in the IT Business, but most businesses today rely on IT. Our IT Support Services keep your systems running as reliably as possible without the need for you to employ your own skilled IT staff. If you would like to know more, please download our white paper, visit our web site, or contact us by phone on 01707 255060, or via email at info@clearview.co.uk.