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The Future of AI by Microsoft & OpenAI

At the beginning of 2023, an extended partnership was unveiled by Microsoft and OpenAI, with a primary focus on shaping the future of AI. Through their joint efforts in cutting-edge AI research aimed at democratizing AI as an innovative technology platform, the potential for leveraging generative AI capabilities to enhance workflows and boost productivity has expanded tremendously. This session will delve into the strategy and roadmap of Azure OpenAI, provide demonstrations of its key features, share best practices for this collaborative technology, and spotlight emerging use cases spanning diverse industries.  

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media 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, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About Atera
Small and medium IT operators are the heroes behind the scenes supporting companies around the world. They care a lot for their clients (external or internal) and often work virtually 24/7. However, small and medium IT service providers have always been underserved.
Atera was built for exactly that. With the vision to simplify and streamline the work of Managed Service Providers and IT professionals. To create something that saves them time, energy, and money. To free them from needing to constantly put out fires.
That vision created the remote-first IT management software – enabling IT professionals to shift from reactive task takers to proactive problem solvers.
Now operating from our beautiful offices on Rothchild in Tel Aviv, Atera is currently used by thousands and thousands of IT professionals all over the world (105+ countries).
As we rapidly grow, our goal remains the same: to transform the IT industry with revolutionary technology, while creating one of the happiest and healthiest work environments in the world.

What’s the business risk of not backing up Azure AD?

Keepit’s Paul Robichaux, Microsoft MVP and Keepit Sr. Director of Product, explains the math of not protecting Azure AD (Entra ID).


“It’s all about the probability of ‘x’ expected damage. The probability: 2/3 of Azure AD admins don’t use MFA. With 50 million password attacks daily targeting Azure AD, you can be pretty sure you’ll be on the receiving end of a successful attack one day. Or a system outage. Or human error.”


The damage: Protecting your identities and policies is critical to keeping your business up and running. Losing access to Azure AD means your business is dead in the water.


The solution: Back up Azure AD in a completely separate infrastructure.

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media 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, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About Keepit
At Keepit, we believe in a digital future where all software is delivered as a service. Keepit’s mission is to protect data in the cloud Keepit is a software company specializing in Cloud-to-Cloud data backup and recovery. Deriving from +20 year experience in building best-in-class data protection and hosting services, Keepit is pioneering the way to secure and protect cloud data at scale.

How a UK retail giant saved a LOT of time and money with CloudM

A UK based high street retail giant with over 500 stores across the UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and a global online presence, employing nearly 50,000 staff worldwide. With over a century and a half of retail experience, they cater for 5 million+ active customers globally in 70 countries, specializing in Clothing, Footwear, Accessories and Home products.
Even after 150 years, this retailer actively researches and invests in the latest technologies, including eCommerce, digital transformation and security, to keep their processes moving forward and continue to offer greater value to their customers.
 

The Issue

The retailer wanted to cut down license cost as their VFE licenses were due to be renewed as costly Google AU licenses, whilst also retaining the data in accordance to data regulation laws.

Offboarding was also taking them too long with an average of 1000 offboarding processes a month eating up the valuable time of their IT team. They also wanted to be able to standardize the process across all departments to speed up offboardings and avoid costly human error.

 

The Process

The retailer had spoken to us several years previously about our user management software before ultimately, and unsuccessfully, choosing a competitor. Upon reengaging with CloudM, they were pleasantly surprised by not only the growth and maturity of the product modules and features, but the attentive, professional and knowledgeable service they received throughout.

Being a company of their size, they wanted to make sure that CloudM would be a good fit for them long term. Our Sales Architects quickly allayed any fears that they had with a series of product demos with senior members from their IT team, explaining how CloudM Automate and CloudM Archive modules would combine to deliver a seamless process for their administrators, as well as scoping out potential issues.

As soon as the customer started to use CloudM, our Customer Success Team was on hand to guide them through the initial stages, helping them to set up their roles, groups and offboarding policies and archive storage buckets.

Offboarding workflow 2

Claire Robinson, Customer Success Manager at CloudM, explained “The enablement process is crucial with every customer. Helping them start on the right track means that they can get the very best out of CloudM as quickly as possible. We want our customers to succeed so we are always on hand to help, listen and resolve, whether it’s day one or year 10 of their journey with us”.

It’s this cycle of communication and collaboration that encouraged the retail giant to suggest several software improvements that would make their experience easier. This feedback has helped us to develop and add several new features to the suite, benefiting all of our CloudM Automate and Archive customers. We also looked for new and innovative ways to use our current features to solve some of these issues.

 

The Result

As far as returns on investment go, few are as quick and evident as the saving the retailer made by simply using CloudM Archive and Google Cloud Storage as an alternative to transitioning to Google Archive User (AU) licenses.

“CloudM pay for themselves – We saved so much in license costs and the amount of time and resource needed to do really quite simple tasks.”

With almost 3000 free VFE accounts due to transition to paid AU licenses at their next renewal, the business was looking at an eye watering bill of nearly $350,000 over the next two years alone. CloudM helped to eliminate that need with CloudM Archive, allowing them to keep all their user data, securely and totally compliant, at a fraction of the cost. CloudM Archive has been proven to save customers as much as 75% compared to renewing to AU licenses.

But ROI shouldn’t be counted in purely financial terms alone. Time can be equally as valuable as money. Our offboarding features allowed the retailer’s IT team to easily build bespoke workflows, customizable for each Organizational Unit and Smart Team, so the entire offboarding process is automated and triggered with one button. As they routinely offboarded around 1000 users a month, we worked out that CloudM would save them an incredible 21 full days on manual offboarding tasks…every single month. Even better, with CloudM Automate, they no longer have to rely on GAM scripts or continually accessing the Google Admin Console.

Now, their IT teams can get on with the important tasks, assured that we are taking good care of the monotonous offboarding work in the background.

 

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media 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, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About CloudM
CloudM is an award-winning SaaS company whose humble beginnings in Manchester have grown into a global business in just a few short years.

Our team of tech-driven innovators have designed a SaaS data management platform for you to get the most from your digital workspace. Whether it’s Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or other SaaS applications, CloudM drives your business through a simple, easy-to-use interface, helping you to work smarter, not harder.

By automating time-consuming tasks like IT admin, onboarding & offboarding, archiving and migrations, the CloudM platform takes care of the day-to-day, allowing you to focus on the big picture.

With over 35,000 customers including the likes of Spotify, Netflix and Uber, our all-in-one platform is putting office life on auto-pilot, saving you time, stress and money.

ESET Research: Infamous IoT botnet Mozi taken down via a kill switch

  • ESET researchers have observed the sudden demise of one of the most prolific Internet of Things (IoT) botnets: Mozi has been responsible for the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of devices a year since 2019.
  • ESET observed a drop in Mozi’s activity in India and China in August, later discovering a kill switch that disabled the malware and stripped the Mozi bots of their functionality.
  • There are two potential instigators for this takedown: the original Mozi botnet creator or Chinese law enforcement, perhaps enlisting or forcing the cooperation of the original actor or actors. The sequential targeting of India and then China suggests that the takedown was carried out deliberately, with one country targeted first and the other a week later.

BRATISLAVA — November 1, 2023 — ESET Research recently observed the sudden demise of one of the most prolific Internet of Things (IoT) botnets, named Mozi, infamous for exploiting vulnerabilities in hundreds of thousands of IoT devices each year. User Datagram Protocol (UDP) observed an unanticipated drop in activity that began in India and was also observed in China a week later. The change was caused by an update to Mozi bots that stripped them of their functionality. A few weeks following these events, ESET researchers were able to identify and analyze the kill switch that caused Mozi’s demise.

“The demise of one of the most prolific IoT botnets is a fascinating case of cyber forensics, providing us with intriguing technical information on how such botnets in the wild are created, operated, and dismantled,” says ESET researcher Ivan Bešina, who investigated the disappearance of Mozi.

On September 27, 2023, ESET researchers spotted the control payload (configuration file) inside a UDP message missing the typical content; its new activity was in fact to act as the kill switch responsible for Mozi’s takedown. The kill switch stopped the parent process – the original Mozi malware – and disabled certain system services, replaced the original Mozi file with itself, executed certain router/device configuration commands, and disabled access to various ports.

Despite the drastic reduction in functionality, the Mozi bots have maintained persistence, indicating a deliberate and calculated takedown. ESET analysis of the kill switch showed a strong connection between the botnet’s original source code and recently used control payloads that were signed by the correct private keys.

“There are two potential instigators for this takedown: the original Mozi botnet creator or Chinese law enforcement, perhaps enlisting or forcing the cooperation of the original actor or actors. The sequential targeting of India and then China suggests that the takedown was carried out deliberately, with one country targeted first and the other a week later,” explains Bešina.

For more technical information about the demise of the Mozi botnet, check out the blog post “Who killed Mozi? Finally putting the IoT zombie botnet in its grave” Make sure to follow ESET Research on Twitter (now known as X) for the latest news from ESET Research.

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media 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, 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.

23.9.8 ‘Voyager’ released

Enhancements

  • Improve security posture of the Comet Server web interface by adding additional XSS protections

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with CVE-2023-44487 HTTP/2 Rapid Reset Attack
  • Fixed an issue with MySQL streaming restore raising packet size errors when restoring large blobs
  • Fixed an issue that prevented using Spanned storage for Storage Role in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue with spacing around the warning message when viewing stale vault analysis information in the Comet Server web interface

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media 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, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About Comet
We are a team of dedicated professionals committed to developing reliable and secure backup solutions for MSP’s, Businesses and IT professionals. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, we understand the importance of having a reliable backup solution in place to protect your valuable data. That’s why we’ve developed a comprehensive suite of backup solutions that are easy to use, scalable and highly secure.

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media 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, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About Keepit
At Keepit, we believe in a digital future where all software is delivered as a service. Keepit’s mission is to protect data in the cloud Keepit is a software company specializing in Cloud-to-Cloud data backup and recovery. Deriving from +20 year experience in building best-in-class data protection and hosting services, Keepit is pioneering the way to secure and protect cloud data at scale.

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media 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, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About Keepit
At Keepit, we believe in a digital future where all software is delivered as a service. Keepit’s mission is to protect data in the cloud Keepit is a software company specializing in Cloud-to-Cloud data backup and recovery. Deriving from +20 year experience in building best-in-class data protection and hosting services, Keepit is pioneering the way to secure and protect cloud data at scale.

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