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4 Tips for Edge Computing Deployments

Edge computing deployments have unique constraints that are significantly different from the ones with which typical data center deployments contend. After all, by definition, edge deployments are away from normal support services, far from the sanitized data center, and deeply enmeshed in the real work of the organization where they must deliver high value without disrupting other business activities.

So, organizations pursuing edge deployments should step back and carefully consider all the different factors that must be weighed for edge computing and then look for a solution that addresses the most crucial. Let’s take a look at four of the most crucial.

Tip 1: Keep the Footprint Small

It might seem an obvious point, but many products sold as “edge” equipment are not actually designed for that purpose—they’re simply marketed for that role or, at best, minimally adapted for edge requirements.

Because some vendors just sell standard data center equipment for edge use without accounting for the less-than-perfect environment that may be encountered there, edge installations are acquiring a reputation for being unexpectedly troublesome.

That’s why it’s vital that edge equipment should be conceived from the start for that purpose, with sufficient ruggedness built in to handle the wider range of issues that are typical at the edge, whether that edge is the shop floor, a warehouse, or somewhere in a retail establishment.

Edge components and systems need to be thought of as “universal” products that can be deployed when and where needed, with few limitations, and made appropriately secure in any given environment.

Tip 2: Autonomous and Resilient

Edge computing is no place for daintiness: It’s where real work gets done, some of it dirty, messy, hot, and noisy. So, in addition to needing only a basic physical environment and simple power and connectivity, prudent adopters make sure the edge setup (hardware and software) is designed to be failure resistant, able to recover from many problems autonomously, to protect data, and to maintain operations in almost any circumstance.

What does that look like in practice? As much as possible, physical interventions onsite need to be avoided—no buttons that say “press here” to restart something. Instead, everything should be callable and able to respond when power is made available. Furthermore, autonomy should be part of the basics, delivering no-nonsense reboots and allowing most other maintenance tasks to be initiated remotely.

Tip 3: Easily Scalable and Expandable

Edge environments are dynamic, with new applications being deployed regularly and data volumes growing exponentially, creating new demands on edge infrastructure. It’s critical that this infrastructure is designed to accommodate that growth and expand and upgrade the edge micro-data center with new resources and applications as easily as the initial edge deployment.

Failure to plan for expansion of the edge environment can lead to expensive forklift upgrades or multiple independent islands of infrastructure to manage, with all the complexity and cost associated with that kind of choice.

Tip 4: Standardized and Simple To Manage

For all but the smallest of organizations, this is perhaps the most important consideration because edge may involve multiplying sites and types of equipment on the network.

If approached haphazardly, without a plan, edge can quickly spawn hard-to-manage complexity that can strain IT staff and have company-wide implications. To keep from becoming a nightmare, edge systems should take a standardized approach requiring little or no customization and minimal skills in installation.

To that end, edge should embrace infrastructure as code (IaC), which simplifies change control.

Repeatability means that service and support is standardized so staff doesn’t need to research each installation before responding to a problem; instead, use a consistent approach and methodology. It’s a model for efficiency used across every other domain, from manufacturing to medicine, but too often ignored in edge deployments.

Similarly, management must not require specialized IT staff on site; upgrades and infrastructure scaling must be non-disruptive; the foundation must be self-healing; and IT specialists must be able to manage the entire edge fleet seamlessly at scale.

Finally, look for zero-touch provisioning. This is a device-configuration process that can be operated automatically and eliminates most of the burden on IT administrators when setting up, maintaining, or upgrading an edge system.

If you’re interested in learning more about our Edge Computing solutions can transform your IT infrastructure, start your free trial today!

About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About Scale Computing 
Scale Computing is a leader in edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions. Scale Computing HC3 software eliminates the need for traditional virtualization software, disaster recovery software, servers, and shared storage, replacing these with a fully integrated, highly available system for running applications. Using patented HyperCore™ technology, the HC3 self-healing platform automatically identifies, mitigates, and corrects infrastructure problems in real-time, enabling applications to achieve maximum uptime. When ease-of-use, high availability, and TCO matter, Scale Computing HC3 is the ideal infrastructure platform. Read what our customers have to say on Gartner Peer Insights, Spiceworks, TechValidate and TrustRadius.

The importance of protecting your company’s User Identities

With the increase in phishing attacks all over the world due to the outbreak of COVID-19, companies are reassessing the efficiency of their information security systems, since the home office opens loopholes for a company’s security and such type of malware.

One of the first steps for you to ensure your company is secure is by protecting user identities so that in the event of a cyberattack on your corporation, the databases containing personal, sensitive, and financial information are protected by a PAM solution.

In addition to preventing leaks of personal data, privacy abuse, loss of reputation, and financial disasters, your company complies with data protection laws, such as the LGPD (General Data Protection Law) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Even though it is a fundamental practice for information security, many companies ignore good practices for PAM and do not protect user identities as they should, opening loopholes for information security.

The importance of protecting your user identities

From the use of a PAM solution, all the company’s critical data is protected, since the access to this data needs one of the privileged credentials, also known as user identities.

The only people who must use these identities are those who need to access the environments to perform their tasks, so the number of people with this type of access is limited.

There are reports of hackers being able to steal these user identities through malware, such as phishing.

Typically, the goal of this type of attack is to target someone at the top of a company, such as directors and coordinators, and collect sensitive information from the corporation, such as the high-privilege credential of these people. 

According to Gartner, 95% of these attacks happen via email, which makes it difficult to detect their installation on a machine or network infrastructure, leaving the entire corporation vulnerable.

How to protect your user identities

Some practices are critical to maintaining the security of corporate user identities, such as managing privileged credentials.

Discovering compromised identities quickly is not an easy task, but using a complete PAM solution that detects suspicious actions within the privileged session quickly is the best way to keep your company secure.

Besides recording all actions taken, your PAM solution must notify you in real-time when any suspicious activity occurs, so that the person responsible for managing this can take appropriate measures, allowing a quick response to incidents and reducing operational costs.

In addition, it is important to check the expiration of the digital certificates of your company’s access environments. Being unaware of the expiration of a certification opens many security holes in a company.

The senhasegura solution ensures these and other measures to protect user identities, eliminating every security hole in your company when it comes to PAM.

Request a demo and find out why senhasegura has the best score (4.9/5) among competitors on Gartner Peer-insights.

About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About Segura®
Segura® strive to ensure the sovereignty of companies over actions and privileged information. To this end, we work against data theft through traceability of administrator actions on networks, servers, databases and a multitude of devices. In addition, we pursue compliance with auditing requirements and the most demanding standards, including PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, ISO 27001 and HIPAA.

HCI and Edge Computing – The Next Frontier for AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an everyday piece of technology in modern homes. It is now not uncommon to find smart home devices such as Google Hubs and wearable technology such as Apple Watches in a typical home – each including a smart assistant (i.e. Siri or Alexa) that uses AI. With the introduction of self-driving cars, this type of technology will soon touch almost every aspect of our lives.

Currently, most AI technology relies heavily on the cloud, using a collection of data that is stored there. Unfortunately, this reliance on the cloud can lead to latency issues as the process of data traveling between data centers and the device can be affected by several factors. Today, this problem is merely annoying when it comes to smart home devices and wearable technology, but it could prove to be dangerous when self-driving cars start to become prevalent.

How HCI and Edge Computing is Powering the Future of Artificial Intelligence

To solve this issue, the logical step is for AI to adopt a combination of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and edge computing. HCI allows technology to operate within a smaller hardware design while edge computing is the processing of data outside of the traditional data center, typically on the edge of a network. When combined with HCI and edge computing, AI benefits from drastically reduced latency, as edge computing enables the data to reside on the edge of the device’s network, and allows for new data to be stored, accessed and later uploaded to the cloud. Meanwhile, HCI would allow for all of this to operate in something as small as an Amazon Echo Spot and soon, even a smart watch.

While the cloud has played an important role in making AI a commonly used technology, adopting the combination of HCI and edge computing will give AI the tools needed to grow to the next level, making it faster and smarter without the restrictions of latency.

Scale Computing offers an industry-leading and award winning HCI and edge computing solution. Our HC3 virtualization platform combines servers, storage, and virtualization into a single solution, and we recently launched the HE150 HC3 Edge appliance, which is small enough to be deployed almost anywhere.

Read more about Scale Computing’s HC3 virtualization platform here.

About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About Scale Computing 
Scale Computing is a leader in edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions. Scale Computing HC3 software eliminates the need for traditional virtualization software, disaster recovery software, servers, and shared storage, replacing these with a fully integrated, highly available system for running applications. Using patented HyperCore™ technology, the HC3 self-healing platform automatically identifies, mitigates, and corrects infrastructure problems in real-time, enabling applications to achieve maximum uptime. When ease-of-use, high availability, and TCO matter, Scale Computing HC3 is the ideal infrastructure platform. Read what our customers have to say on Gartner Peer Insights, Spiceworks, TechValidate and TrustRadius.

ESET launches ESET Cloud Office Security to provide advanced protection for Microsoft 365

ESET, a global leader in cybersecurity, has today launched ESET Cloud Office Security, a new standalone software as a service solution that provides advanced preventative protection for users of Microsoft 365 applications. The software is designed to reflect the modern role of emails and collaboration tools used within organizations.

Microsoft Office 365 is used by organizations all over the globe, with the cloud becoming an integral part of many businesses’ data storage and systems, regardless of their size. With more than 84% of organizations (according to Gartner survey*) using or intending to use Microsoft 365, it is crucial that businesses and their cloud tools are adequately protected. Businesses that leverage ESET Cloud Office Security are protected against incidents caused by email-based attacks or malware and can help employees stay focused on work tasks.

Email is the foundation of modern business communication, yet it remains one of the most effective channels to distribute malware, the consequences of which can be disastrous, especially in combination with the infiltration of collaboration tools. ESET Cloud Office Security provides an additional layer of protection for Microsoft 365 cloud email and storage, ensuring peace of mind for all team members with the automatic protection of new user mailboxes. The solution allows for total control and visibility over threats, with immediate notification when the detection of malware occurs and an easy-to-use web console that allows IT administrators to take immediate action.

* Implementing Microsoft Office 365: Gartner Survey Results and Analysis, 2019, Published: 4 September 2019

The combination of spam filtering, anti-malware scanning and anti-phishing secures companies’ Exchange Online services, which in turn protects communications against malware, minimizes the adverse effects of unsolicited emails on everyday productivity and helps prevent incoming external emails from being used as a channel for targeted attacks. ESET Cloud Office Security anti-malware protection also reacts to any file changes in OneDrive, helping to safeguard your company’s data and mitigating the risk of malware spreading to other devices. Accessible from anywhere, the easy-to-use cloud console also gives an overview of quarantined items and immediately provides notifications when detections occur.

Ján Brunovský, Product Manager at ESET, commented: “Almost every business across the world relies on emails for communication, and yet it is one of the main attack vectors cyber criminals exploit. We are excited to launch ESET Cloud Office Security and to provide a solution that will protect countless businesses and their most valuable interactions and data. Securing email and cloud storage is the linchpin of cybersecurity for businesses, and without a strong foundation of anti-malware protection, organizations are left wide open to attack. We are proud to provide a new, cutting-edge, easy-to-use solution for the broad spectrum of businesses that need to secure their cloud tools.”

For more information about ESET Cloud Office Security click here.

About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About ESET
For 30 years, ESET® has been developing industry-leading IT security software and services for businesses and consumers worldwide. With solutions ranging from endpoint security to encryption and two-factor authentication, ESET’s high-performing, easy-to-use products give individuals and businesses the peace of mind to enjoy the full potential of their technology. ESET unobtrusively protects and monitors 24/7, updating defenses in real time to keep users safe and businesses running without interruption. Evolving threats require an evolving IT security company. Backed by R&D facilities worldwide, ESET became the first IT security company to earn 100 Virus Bulletin VB100 awards, identifying every single “in-the-wild” malware without interruption since 2003.

ESET issues its Q3 2020 Threat Report – remote workers under fire from RDP attacks

BRATISLAVA – October 29, 2020 – ESET, a global leader in cybersecurity, has released its Q3 2020 Threat Report, summarizing key statistics from ESET detection systems and highlighting notable examples of ESET’s cybersecurity research – including previously unpublished ESET research updates. The report and its findings were exclusively presented during the “ESET European Cyber Security Day – Towards a Secure Post-COVID Future” virtual event.

After months of abusing the COVID-19 theme in their campaigns, cybercriminals appear to have returned to their usual tactics in the third quarter of 2020, the Q3 2020 Threat Report shows. An area where the risks remain particularly high, however, is remote work.

ESET telemetry showed further growth in attacks targeting Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), which grew throughout H1. While the number of unique clients targeted rose by more than a third, the total number of attack attempts surged by 140%. “The continued rise in RDP attacks may be a result of the growing number of poorly secured systems being connected to the internet during the pandemic, or possibly other criminals taking inspiration from ransomware gangs in targeting RDP,” comments Jiří Kropáč, Head of Threat Detection Labs at ESET.

Other key trends observed in Q3 were the revival of cryptominers, Emotet returning to the scene after months of inactivity, and Android banking malware surging following the source code release of the notorious mobile banking trojan Cerberus.

The ESET Q3 2020 Threat Report also reviews the most important findings and achievements by ESET researchers. Among many other findings, they uncovered more Wi‑Fi chips vulnerable to KrØØk-like bugs, exposed Mac malware bundled with a cryptocurrency trading application, discovered CDRThief targeting Linux VoIP softswitches, and delved into KryptoCibule, a triple threat in regard to cryptocurrencies.

The exclusive research presented in the Q3 2020 Threat Report includes campaigns leveraging malicious MAXScripts, the spread of Latin American banking trojans to Europe, new activity of the TA410 threat group and a look into the updated arsenal of the Gamaredon Group.

Besides these findings, the report also recapitulates the many virtual talks held by ESET research specialists in Q3, introduces talks planned for the upcoming quarter and provides an overview of ESET’s contributions to the MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base.

For more information, check out our ESET Threat Report Q3 2020 on WeLiveSecurity.

Make sure to follow ESET research on Twitter for the latest news from ESET Research.

Partnership Will Drive Increased Adoption of Portnox’s Cutting-Edge NAC Solution Purpose-Built for Large Distributed Organizations in the Region

LONDON — Portnox, which supplies network access control (NAC), visibility and device risk management to organizations of all sizes, today announced that it has partnered with Distology for the sole distribution and resell of its cloud-delivered NAC-as-a-Service solution in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

We chose to partner with Distology because of their successful history of IT security solution distribution in the UK and Irish markets, said Portnox CEO, Ofer Amitai. Were confident this collaboration will yield tremendous growth for both parties, as Portnox has a unique value proposition and Distology has the market enablement expertise to effectively evangelize our network security offering.

We have a long-established relationship with Portnox and it speaks volumes that the team have decided to choose Distology as their sole UK&I distributor. The technology Portnox brings to the market is incredibly exciting and complements our existing vendor stack effortlessly, said Stephen Rowlands, Head of Sales for Distology. Were especially looking forward to representing and promoting Portnox Clear to our growing partner base, as this brand-new cloud-based technology has potential to completely disrupt the market and we foresee masses of growth potential in this innovative product.

Portnox introduced its cloud-delivered NAC-as-a-Service solution to the UK & Irish markets less than two years go. As the first to bring NAC to the cloud, Portnox has quickly gained a foothold in the region, particularly among large distributed enterprises in the retail, construction and utilities industries.

The adoption of our NAC-as-a-Service product in the UK has been very strong to date, said VP of Products, Tomer Shemer. This is a testament to the fact that the UK is one of the markets leading the trend of cloud security adoption. We expect to see continued growth in the coming years in this area of Europe.

Portnox is set to exhibit at this week’s RSA 2020 Conference (booth #4234) in San Francisco, February 24-28. Additionally, Portnox (booth #G108) and Distology (booth #C40) will both be exhibiting at InfoSec Europe 2020, Europes largest event for information and cyber security, in London, June 2-4.

About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About Portnox
Portnox provides simple-to-deploy, operate and maintain network access control, security and visibility solutions. Portnox software can be deployed on-premises, as a cloud-delivered service, or in hybrid mode. It is agentless and vendor-agnostic, allowing organizations to maximize their existing network and cybersecurity investments. Hundreds of enterprises around the world rely on Portnox for network visibility, cybersecurity policy enforcement and regulatory compliance. The company has been recognized for its innovations by Info Security Products Guide, Cyber Security Excellence Awards, IoT Innovator Awards, Computing Security Awards, Best of Interop ITX and Cyber Defense Magazine. Portnox has offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia. For information visit http://www.portnox.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.。

About Distology
Distology is a Market Enabler and offers true value for the distribution of disruptive IT Security solutions. The vendors we work with represent innovative and exciting technology that continues to excite and inspire their reseller network. Our ethos is based on trust, relationships, energy and drive and offers end to end support in the full sales cycle providing vendor quality technical and commercial resource.

BRATISLAVA, MONTREAL – ESET researchers have recently discovered websites distributing trojanized cryptocurrency trading applications for Mac computers. These were legitimate apps wrapped with GMERA malware, whose operators used them to steal information, such as browser cookies, cryptocurrency wallets and screen captures. In this campaign, the legitimate Kattana trading application was rebranded – including setting up copycat websites – and the malware was bundled into its installer. ESET researchers saw four names used for the trojanized app in this campaign: Cointrazer, Cupatrade, Licatrade and Trezarus.

“As in previous campaigns, the malware reports to a Command & Control server over HTTP and connects remote terminal sessions to another C&C server using a hardcoded IP address,” says ESET researcher Marc-Etienne M.Léveillé, who led the investigation into GMERA.

ESET researchers have not yet been able to find exactly where these trojanized applications are promoted. However, in March 2020, the legitimate Kattana site posted a warning suggesting that victims are approached individually to lure them to download a trojanized app, thus pointing to social engineering. Copycat websites are set up to make the bogus application download look legitimate. The download button on the bogus sites is a link to a ZIP archive containing the trojanized application bundle.

In addition to the analysis of the malware code, ESET researchers have also set up honeypots (research computers) and lured GMERA malware operators to remotely control the honeypots. The researchers’ aim was to reveal the motivations behind this group of criminals. “Based on the activity we have witnessed, we can confirm that the attackers have been collecting browser information, such as cookies and browsing history, cryptocurrency wallets and screen captures,” concludes M.Léveillé.

For more technical details on the latest GMERA malicious campaign, read the full blogpost, “Mac cryptocurrency trading application rebranded, bundled with malware,” on WeLiveSecurity. Make sure to follow ESET Research on Twitter for the latest news from ESET Research.


About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About ESET
For 30 years, ESET® has been developing industry-leading IT security software and services for businesses and consumers worldwide. With solutions ranging from endpoint security to encryption and two-factor authentication, ESET’s high-performing, easy-to-use products give individuals and businesses the peace of mind to enjoy the full potential of their technology. ESET unobtrusively protects and monitors 24/7, updating defenses in real time to keep users safe and businesses running without interruption. Evolving threats require an evolving IT security company. Backed by R&D facilities worldwide, ESET became the first IT security company to earn 100 Virus Bulletin VB100 awards, identifying every single “in-the-wild” malware without interruption since 2003.

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