NC May-Jun 2020

NETWORKcomputing 

I N F O R M A T I O N A N D C O M M U N I C A T I O N S – N E T W O R K E D www.networkcomputing.co.uk 

COMING OUT FROM 

UNDER THE RADAR 

How Supermicro has 

perfected its 'one-stop' 

total solutions approach 

STILL WFH? 

The cybersecurity impact 

of COVID-19 

BRANCHING OUT 

The benefits of running 

an SD-Branch platform 

KEEPING COMPLIANT 

Smart policies for remote 

compliance and security 

MAY/JUNE 2020 VOL 29 NO 02

SUPERMICRO 

Better 

Cloud Infrastructure 

Up to 36% Better Performance with over 100 Systems Refreshed 

with the New 2 nd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors 

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Learn More at www.supermicro.com 

© Supermicro and Supermicro logo are trademarks of Super Micro Computer, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

COMMENT 

COMMENT 

NETWORKING IN THE NEW NORMAL 

REVIEWS: 

Dave Mitchell 

Ray Smyth 

SUB EDITOR: Mark Lyward 

(netcomputing@btc.co.uk) 

PRODUCTION: Abby Penn 

(abby.penn@btc.co.uk) 

DESIGN: Ian Collis 

(ian.collis@btc.co.uk 

SALES: 

David Bonner 

(david.bonner@btc.co.uk) 

Julie Cornish 

(julie.cornish@btc.co.uk) 

Network Computing has a somewhat different look this issue. With the entire 

team still remote working to bring the issue together it seemed appropriate to 

dedicate a significant part of it to all things WFH, with a particular emphasis 

on the role of cybersecurity in our 'new normal'. 

According to a new report from Bitdefender, 'The indelible Impact of COVID-19 on 

Cybersecurity', "Half of infosec professionals (50%) revealed that their organisations 

didn't have a contingency plan in place, or didn't know if they did, for a situation like 

COVID-19 or a similar scenario. This lack of forward planning has come at great 

risk, as 86% of infosec professionals admitted that attacks in the most common attack 

vectors were on the rise during this period." 

The survey sought the opinions of 6,700 infosec professionals of which 23% were 

CISOs, CSOs and CIOs across the UK, US, Australia/New Zealand, Germany, 

France, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Sweden, and found that 81% of the respondents 

believe that COVID-19 will change the way their businesses operate in the long-term. 

Commenting on the survey findings Liviu Arsene, Global Cybersecurity Researcher at 

Bitdefender said "At least half of organisations admitted they were not prepared for a 

scenario such as this, whereas the attackers are seizing the opportunity. But within the 

current situation there is a great opportunity for positive change in cybersecurity." 

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Christina Willis 

(christina.willis@btc.co.uk) 

PUBLISHER: John Jageurs 

(john.jageurs@btc.co.uk) 

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writing, from the publisher. 

We will need to seize that opportunity with the same zeal as the cybercriminals if 

we're to continue to work remotely and safely for the foreseeable future, and in the 

following pages you'll find a wealth of guidance on how to ensure your business is 

doing just that. 

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MAY/JUNE 2020 NETWORKcomputing 3

CONTENTS 

CONTENTS 

M A Y / J U N E 2 0 2 0 

REMOTE WORKING...............10 

Our remote working feature this issue looks 

at the security and compliance challenges 

of working from home both during and 

beyond the COVID-19 pandemic 

SUPERMICRO........................8 

Network Computing speaks to Supermicro 

CEO Charles Liang about how the 

company has perfected its 'one-stop' total 

solutions approach 

COMMENT.....................................3 

Networking in the new normal 

INDUSTRY NEWS.............................6 

The latest networking news 

ARTICLES 

SECURING THE REMOTE 

WORKFORCE................................10 

By Steve Law at Giacom and Sébastien 

Gest at VadeSecure 

BRANCHING OUT...........................12 

By Jordan Baker at ZPE Systems 

IS YOUR REMOTE WORKING MODEL 

COMPLIANT?...................................14 

By Mike Puglia at Kaseya 

THE DATA CENTRE DILEMMA...........16 

By Michael McNearney at Supermicro 

REMOTE WORKING IN A TIME 

OF CRISIS.......................................18 

By Tom Caldwell at Statseeker 

UNDER FIRE AT HOME..........24 

Bad actors have been taking advantage of 

the current crisis to create chaos, locking 

out employees and paralysing business 

operations, according to a new report from 

Neustar's International Security Council 

THE CYBERSECURITY IMPACT 

OF COVID-19......................22 

Addressing the need for cybersecurity 

training and preparedness during the 

ongoing lockdown is critical, as Deshini 

Newman at (ISC) 2 explains 

RANSOMWARE SOARS..........32 

Working from home can make IT systems 

far more susceptible to attack, without the 

right security measures firmly in place 

YOU'VE GOT MAIL..........................26 

By Chris Blood at Swiss Post Solutions Limited 

REMOTE WORKING: DO IT RIGHT...28 

By Phil Underwood and Chris Cassell at 

SecurEnvoy 

A CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION.......31 

By Aman Johal at Your Lawyers 

MASTERCLASS 

BUSINESS CONTINUITY AND CRISIS 

MANAGEMENT DURING COVID-19...30 

by Kev Brear, Director of Consulting; 

Technology Risk Management, at Xcina 

Consulting 

PRODUCT REVIEWS 

ZPE NODEGRID SERVICES 

ROUTER........................................13 

NETALLY ETHERSCOPE NXG................15 

SOLARWINDS APPOPTICS...................20 

4 NETWORKcomputing MAY/JUNE 2019 @NCMagAndAwards 

WWW.NETWORKCOMPUTING.CO.UK

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We help to ensure an organisation’s key risks are appropriately managed; its processes 

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Accredited by the Payment Card Industry’s Security Standards Council as a Qualified 

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INDUSTRYNEWS 

NEWSNEWS 

NEWS NEWS 

NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS 

NEWS NEWS 

Securing the new normal with Zyxel firewalls for SMBs 

Zyxel Networks has announced the USG FLEX, a new series of 

mid-range firewalls designed for SMBs to keep up with the 

workplace mobility, connectivity and security requirements postpandemic. 

The USG FLEX 100/200/500 firewalls feature 

upgraded hardware and software power that level up SMB security 

with up to 125 percent of firewall performance and up to an 

additional 500 percent Unified Threat Management (UTM) 

performance. In addition to providing robust, scalable network 

security for SMBs, the new firewalls also provide VPN remote 

access, WiFi access point management, and comprehensive 

hotspot functions to fulfill business needs within one-box. 

The USG FLEX series supports Zyxel's Cloud Query service, which 

is based on a multi-source, continuously growing cloud database 

that covers billions of malware samples from industry-leading thirdparty 

sources and from threats identified by every other Zyxel 

firewalls worldwide to increase the malware detection rate. 

"As the spread of COVID-19 continues to impact companies 

around the world, the need to protect the network while providing 

secure access to the network from remote locations to continue 

operations becomes even more critical," explained Nathan Yen, 

AVP of Zyxel's Gateway Business Unit. "The USG FLEX series is 

designed to provide the security, flexibility, and ease-of-use that 

makes this an ideal solution for SMBs in this new business reality." 

WatchGuard acquires Panda Security 

WatchGuard Technologies has closed the acquisition of the 

advanced endpoint protection provider, Panda Security. 

Panda is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of WatchGuard, and 

the combined company will enable its current and future 

customers and partners to consolidate their fundamental 

security services for protection from network to endpoint under 

a single company. 

WatchGuard resellers will gain immediate access to Panda Adaptive 

Defense 360, which includes both endpoint protection platform and 

endpoint detection and response capabilities, and Advanced 

Reporting Tool products via the Panda Security Early Access Program, 

launching on 1 June 2020. 

"The completed acquisition of Panda Security, and the subsequent 

integration of its portfolio into WatchGuard Cloud, represents a 

significant milestone for the company and will result in both 

immediate and long-term benefits for our customers and partners 

that will address common challenges with security complexity, rapidly 

changing network topologies, purchasing models, and more," said 

Prakash Panjwani, CEO of WatchGuard Technologies. 

Insight cloud-based management offer from NETGEAR 

NETGEAR are offering the inclusion of a free 1-year Insight 

subscription with the registration of selected Insight Managed 

switches, Insight Wireless Access Points and routers. With a mix of 

home and limited office working and social distancing still likely to 

be a major factor affecting businesses nationwide for many months 

to come, the importance of secure, effective remote network 

management has never been greater. 

"Insight simplifies network management at a time when the 

power and importance of remote network visibility and control 

cannot be overstated," said Shaheen Kazi, Director of Product Line 

Management for Insight. "In addition to allowing network 

managers to work effectively without needing to visit premises onsite, 

we are confident that our customers will find the Insight 

remote management solution to be a valuable asset to their 

business in general." The 1-year free NETGEAR Insight offer 

applies to selected devices added on or after April 27, 2020, for 

both new and existing Insight accounts. 

Thermographic fever-screening camera solution 

D-Link has launched the DCS-9500T Group Temperature 

Screening Camera to help businesses mitigate against the 

spread of Coronavirus. The solution has been designed to 

support a wide range of industries including busy entrances at 

schools, hospitals, transportation hubs and office buildings. It is 

a complete kit that includes thermographic camera with 

intelligent temperature detection, blackbody calibrator and 

management software and can screen up to 30 people at the 

same time with a rapid response time of less than 30 ms and 

accuracy within 0.3°C. 

06 NETWORKcomputing MAY/JUNE 2020 @NCMagAndAwards 


INDUSTRYNEWS 

Securing against identity theft with ID PROTECTION 

F-Secure has launched ID PROTECTION, a new solution that 

provides a comprehensive approach to securing personal 

information and accounts. The solution continuously monitors 

and detects exposed personal information online, responds 

quickly to threats to users' identity, and doubles as a password 

manager to prevent account takeovers. It offers offers a powerful 

combination of human intelligence and real-time monitoring that 

helps track down breached data. Key features of F-Secure ID 

PROTECTION include: 

Identity management provides instant alerts and guidance on 

how to respond when personal information has been found as 

part of a breach or data leak 

Comprehensive breach database consisting of billions of 

recovered assets and plain text passwords 

Combination of human intelligence and Dark Web monitoring 

to recover breach data up to 6 months faster 

Protection for the entire family with a single subscription 

Password management that makes it easy to create unique, 

strong passwords that are automatically synchronised and 

auto-filled on all devices. 

F-Secure ID PROTECTION is available both with monthly and 

yearly subscriptions and is now included as part of the F-Secure 

TOTAL premium cybersecurity package. 

Highest performance DDoS protection from A10 

A10 is launching its highest-performance DDoS protection 

appliance, the A10 Thunder Threat Protection System (TPS) 

7655, helping service providers and MSSPs mitigate the largest 

DDoS attacks, providing up to 1.2Tbps blocking capacity and 

380 Gbps scrubbing capacity. Combining Zero-day Automated 

Protection (ZAP) powered b ymachine learning (ML) and advanced 

software mitigations, Thunder TPS delivers unprecedented 

protection in a compact 1.5U form factor, enabling customers to 

efficiently scale-out their DDoS defenses as the threat landscape 

expands. The Thunder 7655 TPS will be available in Q3 2020. 

HornetSecurity set to create buzz in the UK 

Hornetsecurity, the German email cloud security provider, is 

expanding its presence in the UK through a strategic 

partnership with cybersecurity distributor Brigantia. The new 

partnership - which follows Hornetsecurity's acquisition of the 

Poole-based email security provider Everycloud in January - will 

give the company access to Brigantia's network of resellers 

throughout the UK and Ireland and support its plans to become 

the UK market leader within 12 months. Brigantia, which has 

offices in London and Yorkshire, will now work with Hornetsecurity 

to establish its channel distribution strategy in the UK, following its 

success in other markets including Spain and Germany. 

Hornetsecurity's product is unique in covering all the key areas of 

email security, including spam and virus filters, legally compliant 

archiving and encryption and including best in class technologies. 

It offers advanced threat protection for users of Microsoft 365 as 

well as other email systems. Daniel Blank, COO of Hornetsecurity, 

said "We see great potential for our innovative cloud security 

services in the UK and are really excited about our new partnership 

with Brigantia, whose large reseller network will allow us to extend 

our footprint and partner base." 

Daniel Blank, Hornetsecurity 

Nuvias Appointed European Distributor for ColorTokens 

Cybersecurity solutions provider ColorTokens has appointed the 

Nuvias Group as their EMEA high-value distributor. 

ColorTokens delivers a comprehensive cybersecurity platform that 

manages security posture from data centre to edge, including 

public clouds. The platform delivers business agility and flexibility 

by enabling rapid delivery of IT services such as remote access, 

without compromising security and compliance, while maintaining 

desired control and governance. 

The ColorTokens platform is architected to the NIST-ZTA (Zero 

Trust Architecture) specifications, securing workloads and 

endpoints through proactive, policy-based enablement. The ZTA 

approach is designed to help protect business data and assets by 

preventing a whole range of data breaches – from phishing 

attacks, ransomware and zero-day attacks. In addition to 

protecting enterprise 'crown jewels' and offering end point client 

protection, ColorTokens enables customers to quantify risk. 

NEWS NEWSNEWS 

NEWS 

NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS 

NEWS 



PROFILE:SUPERMICRO 

SUPERMICRO: COMING OUT FROM UNDER THE RADAR 

NETWORK COMPUTING SPEAKS TO SUPERMICRO CEO CHARLES LIANG ABOUT HOW THE COMPANY 

HAS PERFECTED ITS 'ONE-STOP' TOTAL SOLUTIONS APPROACH 

For a company that has been around 

for over 25 years, Supermicro is 

something of a best-kept secret outside 

of the IT industry where it has been 

quietly - and very successfully - expanding 

its portfolio and its customer base 

throughout that time. When Network 

Computing spoke with CEO and founder 

Charles Liang (via online video chat, of 

course), his enthusiasm for the company 

he has built was evident from our opening 

conversation. 

What, he asked us, did Supermicro 

have in common with Tesla? The management 

at Tesla did something unique, 

and he explained: as most automobile 

manufacturers shifted everything offshore, 

Tesla stayed in Silicon Valley, where 

they've continued to grow and thrive. 

Liang went on: "The Supermicro story is 

more similar than you might think: most 

companies selling servers, storage, IoT 

and even 5G hardware have moved to 

offshore operations over the last 30 

years or so - but we've been in Silicon 

Valley for 27 years. The US today has 

hardly any server, cloud, or 5G design 

and manufacturing, and more importantly, 

no one here is seeing any real growth 

in those markets - except, that is, for 

Supermicro." 

Charles Liang, CEO, Supermicro 

GLOBAL GROWTH 

Around ten years ago, Supermicro saw 

increasing manufacturing and engineering 

costs but also saw expanding market 

opportunities overseas, especially in Asia. 

Supermicro decided then to extend its 

operations to Taiwan, and it has aggressively 

grown market share, and now has 

a large and solid foundation in Taipei. 



PROFILE:SUPERMICRO 

Liang explains: "This expansion allowed 

us to really scale our offerings. That's 

how we are now able to provide the 

industry with not only world-beating 

design and solutions but also high-volume 

products. We have extended and 

increased our capacity to serve the 

broader IT industry regionally, and we 

want to share our message more widely, 

not just in the US but increasingly across 

Europe. Historically, our successful 

growth has been on that foundation: the 

technology and the products, and now 

we feel we have solutions that are ready 

to serve the industry globally." 

BUILDING A ONE-STOP-SHOP 

We asked Charles Liang if there had 

been a particular go-to-market strategy 

that has allowed Supermicro to thrive in 

such a competitive - and often cost-driven 

- market, and his answer was surprisingly 

straightforward: "I have always 

wanted Supermicro to offer a one-stopshop 

opportunity for our customers. It 

shouldn't matter if we're talking about 

cloud, storage, IoT, or smart edge 

devices - Supermicro can provide a total 

solution suited to our customers' requirements 

combining US-based engineering, 

superior global manufacturing, and fast 

time-to-market operations." 

The Supermicro story today is certainly 

not just about hardware - with management 

software offerings and global onsite 

service, the company in 2020 is a 

true one-stop-shop for IT, telco, and AI 

clients around the world. Liang summarised 

it neatly: "Supermicro has a 

uniquely broad product line, based on a 

building-block solution approach. It 

means we can offer a comprehensive 

portfolio of optimised solutions to customers 

such as cloud service providers, 

for instance. Also, we work with all sorts 

of major players globally, in scale, in 

total solutions, including 5G telcos." 

ENGINEERED TO BE GREEN 

Charles Liang came from a background 

as an engineer, and engineering judgment 

has, therefore, always been a critical 

focus - as well as a key long-term 

advantage - for Supermicro. That engineering 

vision has also coloured Liang's 

passion for reducing e-waste and 

improving the environmental credentials 

of the industry. "We operate in a very 

sophisticated and complicated market, 

of course," he explains, "And again this 

is part of why we have taken our time in 

developing our market offerings not just 

in terms of product quality but also 

service, and the capacity for production 

and support. As a business, we have 

always focused on energy and resource 

savings as part of our efforts to ensure 

we are offering the most optimised 

hardware possible for our customers. 

Obviously, we are first and foremost an 

engineering company, a design, and 

manufacturing business - but we have 

always aimed to provide the 'greenest' 

solutions in the world in terms of energy 

savings and resource savings. We are 

absolutely dedicated to that vision." 

Supermicro was one of the earliest 

companies to focus on 'green computing', 

long before it became a buzzword 

a few years ago: high-efficiency power 

supplies, high-efficiency designs able to 

work at high temperatures, cooling systems 

and far more. Many of their customers 

are achieving a PUE (Power 

Usage Effectiveness: the most popular 

method of calculating energy efficiency 

for data centres) rating of 1.1 or 1.05 

in their data centres - the accepted 

industry 'ideal' PUE is 1.0 - reflecting 

how seriously the company takes the 

need for environmental efficiencies in 

the tech sector. 

Emphasising the resource-saving 

aspects of their offerings helps 

Supermicro customers to reduce their IT 

waste over the lifetime of their investments, 

and Liang is keen to explain the 

company's approach: "Our subsystems 

are built from components that have 

longevity designed in. It is not unusual 

for many items to have a lifetime of ten 

or even twelve years, whether that is the 

chassis, the power supply, the cooling 

fan, the cooling system, or the I/O subsystem. 

Customers buying from us can 

upgrade the parts they need: - CPU, 

memory, storage - as frequently as they 

want while keeping most of the critical 

subsystems in place for up to twelve 

years. This can save them a lot of 

money over those twelve years in hardware, 

depreciation, and upgrade costs." 

MARKET-READY 

We ended our conversation with a discussion 

of the way that the Supermicro 

brand has been something of a bestkept 

secret in the past - even though the 

company has been selling to most of the 

major players in the global market for a 

very long time. 

We wondered if Charles Liang had 

made a conscious decision to take a 

more proactive stance in getting his 

message out to the market: "It is true 

that we intentionally chose to 'stay 

under the radar' somewhat in the past 

as we quietly grew the business over 

time, and developed and perfected our 

total solutions approach," he admitted. 

"We didn't want to make a big splash 

too early - but I am confident that 

Supermicro is ready now to promote our 

unique one-stop shopping approach to 

the whole IT market. Every aspect of the 

business is set up to succeed - hardware, 

software, and service, and 

Supermicro is supremely well-prepared 

after 27 years to take the next steps and 

broaden our appeal even further." NC 



FEATUREREMOTE WORKING 

SECURING THE REMOTE WORKFORCE 

ORGANISATIONS OF ALL SIZES HAVE BEEN THROWN INTO THE 

DEEP END DUE TO THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK, LEADING TO 

SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED SECURITY RISKS AND CONCERNS, 

AS STEVE LAW, CTO, GIACOM AND SÉBASTIEN GEST, 

VADESECURE, EXPLAIN 

Workforces may not have access to the 

necessary devices from their homes 

such as work laptops, the correct 

video conference solutions or collaboration 

tools in place to perform their role. As a result, 

employees who are working from home will 

have to do so from their own devices. This 

'Bring Your Own Device' (BYOD) phenomenon 

creates a security concern as not all personal 

electronic devices will have the correct level of 

security installed on them – the software may 

not be up to date, they may have an older 

version of Windows installed or no antivirus 

software available. 

This creates an issue for both the consumer 

and the professional, as the same credentials 

are often used across multiple accounts at the 

same time. Hackers' creativity is limitless and is 

becoming more sophisticated over time. Vade 

Secure has seen a shift in cyber criminals' 

strategies, changing from attacking individuals 

with ransomware to instead using these 

individuals as a backdoor to gain access to 

corporate networks, and there is no better 

opportunity to do this than via individuals using 

their personal devices from home. However, by 

implementing the correct software and security 

solutions across all employees' devices, these 

risks can be mitigated. 

EVOLVING THREATS 

The number of cyber attacks has continued to 

increase over time, withup to 88% of UK 

companies being targets of breaches in the last 

12 months. However, hackers are taking 

advantage of the current coronavirus situation 

by sending phishing emails purporting to be 

PPE suppliers or medication. Recent statistics 

have found that since January 2020, there 

have been over 4,000 coronavirus-related 

domains registered globally, with 3% found to 

be malicious and 5% suspicious. These results 

heighten the importance of ensuring your 

workforce are securely remote working. 

Over the last three months, as the coronavirus 

outbreak has unfolded, Vade Secure has seen 

a surge in spear-phishing and malware 

activities. Examples of this which have been 

found include capitalising on psychological 

aspects of the victims, including Covid-19 

charity campaigns, fake mask and sanitiser 

suppliers, as well as stock and medications for 

purchases which don’t exist. 

With 91% of cyber attacks using emails as 

their first vector, it's more important than ever to 

ensure that your employees have a secure 

email network in place. No organisation is 

immune to the threat and companies which 

don’t have the right security software in place 

need to act now before it's too late. By adding 

these security elements, companies can benefit 

from detecting and blocking features and using 

Artificial Intelligence to secure their networks 

and become notified when a non-legitimate 

email appears. 

SECURING THE WEAKEST LINK 

Often, the weakest link of an organisation is 

the employee, as 88% of UK data breaches 

are caused by human error. Employees are 

not security experts and can fall foul to 

phishing scams if they don’t have the right 

level of education or awareness. When 

working from home, your workforce is under 

more pressure to work both faster and harder, 

which can lead to mistakes being made. Staff 

members don't have the time to check every 

Steve Law 

email before they open them, but this one click 

can make all the difference. 

Instead, by educating employees and making 

them more vigilant, they will be able to spot 

scams and cyber attacks before the damage is 

done. Combined with the right security 

software that uses techniques such as alert 

'pop-ups' to prompt users to check emails 

before clicking on links, for example, the 

workforce will become more aware of the signs 

to look out for. By enabling users to make an 

informed decision about the nature and 

legitimacy of their email before acting on it, 

organisations can now mitigate against this 

high-risk area. 

CONCLUSION 

In order for organisations to limit the number 

of insider data and security breaches, 

particularly when working remotely, it's crucial 

for employees to understand the role they 

play in keeping the company's information 

secure. By preparing in advance and having a 

secure contingency plan in place which 

provides employees with the necessary 

devices and security, companies will be in a 

stronger position to defend their systems 

against hackers. In addition to this, 

supporting employees with training will allow 

workforces to understand the evolving risks 

they face, and how to keep their information 

and systems secure. NC 



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OPINION 

WHY IT'S CRITICAL TO USE A COMPREHENSIVE SD-BRANCH PLATFORM 

IMAGINE ENTERPRISE NETWORKING WITHOUT CUMBERSOME STACKS, EXHAUSTING ON-SITE 

SUPPORT, OR COSTLY BACKUP CONNECTIVITY. JORDAN BAKER, SR. TECHNOLOGY WRITER + IT NERD 

AT ZPE SYSTEMS EXPLAINS ALL 

Even during the most stable global conditions, 

IT staff face a monumental 

hurdle when deploying and maintaining 

branch networks. However, having the 

right SD-Branch platform can breathe new 

life into what's possible at remote sites. This 

is achievable when you choose an SD- 

Branch solution that offers: 

Fast, consistent deployments using 

automation 

Remote OOB for convenient, off-site 

management 

Reliable cellular failover for more 

uptime 

DEPLOYMENT 

Deploying any branch location is a chore. 

But when you introduce consolidated 

devices and zero touch provisioning 

(ZTP), the deployment process becomes 

virtually effortless. 

At the very least, all-in-one appliances 

save you money on shipping expenses. You 

no longer need to haul large inventories to 

each location, and can instead send a single 

box capable of performing the work of 

three, four, five, or more devices. Choose 

an SD-Branch platform that supports 

Docker containers, network function virtualization, 

and modular add-ons, and you've 

got a compact solution for your whole 

branch network. 

Take even more work and expenses off 

your hands with support for ZTP. Common 

tools such as Ansible, Chef, and Python 

allow you to script your entire deployment 

for plug-n-play simplicity. It doesn't get 

easier than connecting devices and watching 

the network build itself, while ongoing 

configuration management is done automatically 

via the cloud. 

REMOTE MANAGEMENT 

After deploying a new location, maintenance 

can bog down a lot of your 

resources. You typically need on-site support 

to troubleshoot issues, resolve outages, 

or perform something as simple as 

rebooting a router. 

SD-Branch with remote out-of-band 

(OOB) management eliminates the need 

for all this, and instead gives you an indepth 

virtual presence throughout your 

network. The level of visibility and control 

can be astounding, putting granular control 

at your fingertips. The right platform 

can give you complete command of routing, 

switching, security, and even power 

cycling - even if you're halfway across the 

globe. 

Faraway issues no longer require plane 

tickets, lodging expenses, and time-consuming, 

on-site support. SD-Branch lets 

you manage your network from anywhere. 

UPTIME 

Branch locations can be subjected to disasters 

and outside forces that cause downtime. 

Nearby construction crews (even your own) 

might accidentally send a backhoe bucket 

through your main connection, or local 

storms might easily knock out connectivity for 

your entire zip code. But comprehensive SD- 

Branch safeguards you with cellular failover. 

When your main connection goes down, 

your failover device (equipped with one or 

more SIM cards) automatically switches to 

your provider's 3G, 4G, or 5G wireless network. 

With the right platform, you can 

choose plans from any major carrier, cover 

an entire location using a single failover 

appliance, and even use your wireless connection 

as a reliable OOB path. This kind of 

seamless backup and remote branch management 

means downtime isn't much of a 

threat any longer. 

When you consider enterprise networking, 

remember that a comprehensive SD-Branch 

solution addresses your biggest problem 

areas. Be on the lookout for a platform that 

helps you streamline and simplify your 

branch management efforts. From consolidated 

devices that let you deploy at the press 

of a button, to remote OOB and cellular 

failover that keep your business running, the 

right SD-Branch platform can turn your network 

into a powerful asset. NC 



PRODUCTREVIEW 

ZPE Systems 

Nodegrid Services 

Router 

PRODUCT REVIEW 

PRODUCT 

REVIEWPRODUCT RE 

In these challenging times support staff 

demand secure remote access to critical 

infrastructure devices, as it accelerates 

troubleshooting and negates the need for onsite 

visits. There are plenty of appliances that 

offer these services but we've yet to see any that 

can match the sheer versatility of those from 

ZPE Systems. 

Not content with offering high-level OOB 

(out-of-band) access to core devices, the 

modular Nodegrid Services Router (NSR) on 

review can be customised to provide a wealth 

of on-site network services. This 1U rack 

appliance presents five multi-service card slots 

that accept an impressive range of plug-in 

expansion modules. 

Along with 16-port serial USB and RJ-45 

OOB access modules, you have 8-port 

10GbE SFP+ and 16-port SFP Gigabit 

switches, 16-port copper Gigabit and 8-port 

PoE+ switches, storage and compute modules 

plus a combined M.2/cellular/WiFi/SATA 

version. With this much choice, the NSR can be 

easily equipped to run a host of network 

services including switching and routing, SD- 

WANs, SDNs, firewalls, 4G/LTE failover and 

even application virtualisation. 

A major issue with fixed-port OOB appliances 

is they have to be replaced as the number of 

managed devices exceeds their capabilities. 

The NSR overcomes these issues as you 

increase its port count with extra modules as 

demand dictates and group multiple 

appliances in clusters. Even better, the NSR is 

vendor agnostic so you can use it to access 

legacy OOB solutions allowing businesses to 

phase them out gradually. 

The NSR has plenty of power on tap as it's 

equipped with a 2.2GHz 8-core Intel Atom 

C3758 CPU partnered by 8GB of DDR4 

memory. Its 32GB mSATA SSD can be easily 

upgraded or you can add the storage module 

that supports standard SFF hard disks and SSDs. 

Deployment is a breeze as we connected one 

of the NSR's Gigabit management ports to the 

lab network, powered it up and pointed a 

browser at it. Zero-touch deployment for 

distributed sites is also available as you declare 

the NSR to the ZPE Cloud portal and send it to 

the site, where it connects to the portal for 

enrolment and remote management. 

The local web console is very intuitive, and we 

started by running a discovery of the lab 

network and creating managed device entries 

for our various infrastructure systems. Each port 

on the OOB modules can be configured with 

the desired serial settings and we also added 

network devices such as our Dell server iDRAC9 

IP addresses, which were then directly accessible 

from the console's access page. 

Switch module ports are enabled as required 

and used to connect devices such as IPMI 

controllers, UPS management ports and PDUs 

and as they function as standard switches, any 

other device you want. Add a Docker license 

and you can create lightweight containers on 

the NSR and run just about any app that's 

available on the Docker Hub. 

Access security is tight as the NSR supports 

authentication servers such as Active Directory 

and RADIUS along with 2FA and SSO. User 

access can be fine-tuned by placing them in 

groups that are assigned specific devices with 

read/write and power control permissions plus 

authorised PDU power outlets. 

The NSR offers integral intrusion prevention 

which blocks hosts with multiple authentication 

failures and enforces system BIOS password 

protection to stop unauthorised changes 

being made. Businesses worried about 

compliance can rest easy as the extensive 

auditing services include keystroke logging for 

all remote sessions. 

The Nodegrid Services Router seamlessly 

delivers joined up infrastructure management 

and network services. It's easy to use with 

extremely tight remote access security, and its 

smart modular design allows businesses to cut 

costs and complexity by using it to replace 

multiple point solutions. NC 

Product: Nodegrid Services Router 

Supplier: ZPE Systems 

Web site: www.zpesystems.com 

Telephone: +353 (01) 631 9164 




IS YOUR REMOTE 

WORKING MODEL 

COMPLIANT? 

BY MIKE PUGLIA, CHIEF 

STRATEGY OFFICER, KASEYA 

With data collected by the Office for 

National Statistics (ONS) indicating 

that almost 50 per cent of Great 

Britain's workforce was working from home in 

mid-April, and with many organisations looking 

to consider permanent remote working 

models as the lockdown eases, the need to 

effectively manage a secure and compliant 

remote workforce is increasingly vital. 

Yet, that mass migration to working from 

home has inevitably made achieving these 

goals more challenging. Of the 2,000 homeworking 

British people surveyed in recent 

research by IT support company, ILUX, for 

example, one in ten believed that their expected 

working practices are not GDPR compliant. 

But the issue is not just about GDPR, it is 

about compliance and security more generally 

and it is also about support. As James Tilbury, 

managing director at ILUX, puts it: "Asking 

employees to work from home and then not 

providing the right computer systems and 

security measures is a recipe for disaster. The 

last thing any business needs at this time is to 

lose valuable data, leave themselves open to 

cyber-attacks or phishing and leave themselves 

vulnerable to the unknown." 

In ensuring compliance, it is critically important 

that businesses provide their employees 

with the right computer systems and security 

measures. If possible, they should not be 

using their own personal devices for work purposes. 

However if they do, IT needs to be 

able to verify the readiness of these devices to 

be connected to the corporate network. If they 

are working on the organisation's network 

through a secure VPN, their business will be 

able to secure all the endpoints on their network 

to ensure they're patched and secured 

properly to mitigate the risk of a data breach. 

They can integrate the right security including 

anti-virus, anti-malware and backup. They 

can ensure routine, reliable (and encrypted) 

backup and recovery as part of a complete 

layered security approach. 

Remote solutions can also be key in ensuring 

security remains tight and in enforcing compliance. 

Dark web monitoring is one example. 

Keeping an eye on the Dark Web is prudent 

because it's the most likely place for bad actors 

to get the illicit password lists, stolen logins, 

ransomware, and hacking software that are 

the tools of their trade. Reams of sensitive personal 

and business data are also available on 

the Dark Web to bolster phishing attacks. 

That's why dedicated Dark Web monitoring is 

a smart choice. A quality Dark Web monitoring 

service can quickly get experts to hunt 

through the Dark Web and discover if a company's 

data or passwords are in circulation, 

enabling businesses to prevent a problem from 

becoming a catastrophe. 

Compliance reporting remains key in this 

context also. Under GDPR, organisations are 

responsible for how they manage and protect 

the privacy of EU citizens' user data (Article 5). 

Organisations need to ensure they choose 

backup, recovery and cloud software solutions 

that provide robust compliance reporting 

built into the user interface, including outage 

impact predictions and comprehensive 

data recoverability reports that are available 

in formats that can be shared with leadership 

or auditors. 

Businesses should remember too that compliance 

should not just be imposed from the top. 

Working from home can be too comfortable 

sometimes. Relaxing the dress code can 

encourage workers to relax their standards, 

creating potentially expensive compliance disasters. 

Many industries have adopted strict 

compliance standards for the secure storage 

and transmission of sensitive data, with equally 

burdensome penalties for failure. Enforcing 

compliance can be a challenge when a company's 

workforce isn't centralised. 

It is important that organisations don't give 

staffers the opportunity to fail at compliance - 

and don't give regulators a reason to come 

calling. Instead, they need to automate compliance 

as much as possible to make it easy 

for compliance specialists to ensure everyone 

is meeting the necessary standards. An automated 

compliance assistant can also have a 

key role to play in keeping up with the minutiae 

of changes to regulations so that no detail 

gets overlooked; making sure that everything is 

ship-shape and alerts staffers to potential 

issues quickly. 

Becoming fully remote ready is not easy for 

any business of course. But in terms of becoming 

compliant and secure, there are several 

steps they can take to help streamline the 

process. Creating smart policies and backing 

them up with the right solutions will help businesses 

to rapidly mitigate risks to their systems 

and data and remain secure in this new 

remote working world. NC 



PRODUCTREVIEW 

NetAlly 

EtherScope TM nXG 


PRODUCT 


NetAlly's EtherScope nXG sets new 

standards for network analysis as it 

delivers a remarkably powerful set of 

diagnostics and troubleshooting features in a 

ruggedised handheld device. Ease of use is 

another key feature as it runs an Androidbased 

OS, so if you can use a smartphone 

you'll have no problems with the EtherScope 

nXG, making it ideal for network technicians 

and engineers alike. 

Wired network features abound as it 

supports 10GbE copper and fibre, multi- 

Gigabit NBase-T and Gigabit connections 

plus it can analyze PoE++ switch ports. For 

wireless networks, you have integral 4x4 MU- 

MIMO 11ac capabilities with Wi-Fi 6 11ax 

device visibility, and a unique feature is its 

ability to simultaneously display data gathered 

from wired and wireless networks. 

Using the device couldn't be easier as its big 

5'' colour touchscreen presents a range of 

icons for instant access to all tasks. We 

connected its 10GbE copper port to the lab 

network and a tap on the AutoTest icon took 

us to a set of customisable profiles. 

Three profiles are provided by default so we 

could quickly test our wired network for 

connectivity and device discovery, review Wi-Fi 

air quality to pinpoint oversubscribed channels 

or interference and test selected wireless APs. 

You can easily customise AutoTest profiles, 

place them in groups and add new ones using 

the screen's FAB (floating access button). 

For Wi-Fi profiles, you simply view the results 

from the main network discovery app and 

connect to an SSID where a new profile is 

automatically created. We also connected the 

EtherScope to a fibre 10GbE switch port, used 

the Performance app to test the line rate and 

ran another app for packet capture. 

The AirMapper app can be used for indoor 

and outdoor Wi-Fi site surveys and creating 

signal heatmaps. We copied a site map JPEG 

to the EtherScope using its USB 3 port, 

created a new survey and took a walk around 

our site, tapping on the screen to add position 

datapoints as we went along. 

On completion, one tap uploads the site 

survey directly to the NetAlly Link-Live cloud 

portal. The view can be filtered to show 

features such as specific APs or SSIDs and 

shared with other users that have been invited 

to join your organisation. 

The Live-Link portal is a stand-out service 

as once you've claimed the EtherScope for 

your account, you can upload test results 

and packet capture data. Many test results 

are uploaded automatically to the portal and 

all can be used for further analysis and 

report creation. 

It gets better, as the EtherScope can be 

remotely controlled from Link-Live or via VNC, 

where you are presented with an exact 

representation of its screen. This makes it 

perfect for secure remote site troubleshooting 

as you don't even need anyone present to run 

your tests. 

The network discovery app provides a 

complete rundown of every wired and wireless 

device it finds. You can drill down into each 

entry for more detail and if errors have been 

detected, it provides a problem analysis and 

sage advice on remediation. 

The EtherScope can do much more as it 

can run many other Android apps. Installed 

from the NetAlly App Store, you have a 

multitude of choices ranging from remote 

support and SNMP monitoring to email 

clients and Office apps. 

The powerful NetAlly EtherScope nXG takes 

network analysis to new levels as it combines 

a stunning range of diagnostics features with 

extreme ease of use. It delivers joined up 

wired and wireless network testing in a single 

device and teaming it up with NetAlly's Link- 

Live web portal adds extra versatility, making it 

a must-have tool for swift network 

troubleshooting and fault remediation. NC 

Product: EtherScope nXG 

Supplier: NetAlly 

Web site: www.netally.com 

Telephone: +44 (0)141 816 9600 

Price: From $8,250 



OPINION 

THE DATA CENTRE DILEMMA 

MICHAEL MCNERNEY, VP OF MARKETING AND NETWORK 

SECURITY AT SUPERMICRO ASKS: "IS OUR DATA DESTROYING 

THE ENVIRONMENT?" 

Adoption of new technologies like 

smartphones and wearables may 

have slowed significantly in the last 

few years, but data usage is only continuing 

to grow - massively. In 2012, there were 

500,000 data centres worldwide, but today 

there are more than 8 million according to 

IDC. The rapid rise in smartphone usage, 

IoT adoption, and big data analytics have 

led to massive growth in data centres, and 

they come with a cost. So - is our data 

destroying the environment? 

SHORT ANSWER: YES 

Every year, millions of data centres 

worldwide are purging metric tons of 

hardware, draining country-sized amounts 

of electricity, and generating as much 

carbon emissions as the global airline 

industry. Technological advancements are 

challenging to forecast, but several models 

predict that data centres could be using over 

10% of the worldwide electricity supply by 

2030. Such growth would indicate similar 

increases for both gas emissions and e- 

waste produced. 

Britain's foremost data centre expert Ian 

Bitterlin notes that despite hardware 

innovations, the amount of energy used by 

data centres continues to double every 

four years. 

Together, this paints a challenging picture 

for the future of our environment. Luckily, 

some forward-thinking industry leaders 

have been innovating their way around 

this conflict. 

LONG ANSWER: NOT ANY MORE 

The U.S. Department of Energy found that 

rapidly increasing Internet traffic and data 

loads were being countered by new 

technologies. The Lawrence Berkeley 

National Laboratory estimated that if 80% of 

servers in the U.S. were moved over to 

optimised hyperscale facilities, this would 

result in a 25% drop in their energy usage. 

For the enterprises that don't need or can't 

afford to establish a hyperspace data centre, 

a new category of resource-optimised 

systems for data centres have arisen on the 

market. These solutions look to further 

design improvements, rethinking how 

standard data centres are built to achieve 

breakthrough performance and efficiencies. 

One big area of improvement is to develop 

superior cooling techniques. A popular 

answer is simply to locate data centres in 

cold or windy climates. Another is leaving 

fewer servers on so as not to waste time 

idling: Facebook invented a system called 

Autoscale in 2014 that reduces the number 

of servers that need to be on during lowtraffic 

hours, leading to power savings of 

about 10-15%. Some companies, like 

Google, have turned to AI to optimise their 

internal cooling systems by matching weather 

and operational conditions, reducing cooling 

energy usage by almost 40%. 

Another recent innovation is disaggregated 

system designs that break the 3-5 year 

"forklift upgrade" model by building a 

modular, sustainable infrastructure that 

allows the upgrade of only the improved 

elements of the system (e.g. memory and 

CPU); this delivers sustained optimal 

performance over multiple generations and 

reduces e-waste issue created by full data 

centre upgrades. For example, Intel has 

been heavily deploying disaggregated 

system designs with its latest generation of 

CPUs, contributing significantly to e-waste 

reduction. 

THE STORY ISN'T OVER YET 

NASA's centre for Environmental Research 

has been implementing data centre solutions 

that are in line with green computing efforts. 

Lesley Ort from NASA's Global Modeling 

and Assimilation Office noted that "[NASA] 

doesn't want to be creating the problem of 

greenhouse gas pollution at the same time 

that we are studying it". While organisations 

like NASA are making strides in researching 

and tackling the environmental dilemma of 

data centres, many technology companies 

have yet come to grips with this 

environmental impact. 

These technologies are available and ready 

to use. They deliver the double benefit of 

optimising performance, and TCO while also 

reducing environmental impact. Engineers 

and data centre architects in Silicon Valley 

and around the world should be asking how 

they can optimise the data centre while also 

reducing environmental impact. NC 



FREE CISSP 

WEBCAST SERIES 

Get a Look Inside the CISSP Domains. 

Watch Now! 

isc2.org/Certifications/CISSP/Webcast-Series 

Inspiring a Safe and Secure 

Cyber World


REMOTE WORKING IN A TIME OF CRISIS 

ORGANISATIONS HAVE BEEN RAPIDLY GROWING THEIR REMOTE- 

ACCESS NETWORKS AND MOVING MUCH OF THEIR OPERATIONS 

INTO A VIRTUAL WORLD. TOM CALDWELL, STATSEEKER CTO, 

DISCUSSES HOW MANY ARE RESPONDING TO THESE NEW 

CHALLENGES IN UNPRECEDENTED TIMES 

Almost overnight network traffic has 

completely changed due to the Covid- 

19 outbreak. With a significant 

increase in video conferencing, users taking 

different routes to their SaaS apps from home 

and traffic going over firewalls and interfaces 

that it didn't before, many organisations are 

scrambling to understand and manage dramatic 

changes in network traffic. The bottom 

line is that performance is being impacted and 

staff start to complain when the network runs 

slow or video quality is poor. 

While different organisations might be more 

prepared than others, network engineering 

teams are under pressure to deliver a clear 

view on the availability and performance of 

their remote network connections, which are 

now deemed critical to ongoing business success. 

Senior management is demanding 

reports which give almost real-time insight into 

the quality and user experience of their remote 

workers. Network managers need to rapidly 

discover if corporate firewalls and VPN concentrators 

can handle the additional network 

load, especially from video-based services. 

WHAT'S THE CHALLENGE? 

NetOps teams need immediate answers to 

these questions, and what we're seeing in the 

market is that VPNs are obviously front of 

mind. But for the Covid-19 urgency, not all 

organisations have a clear view of their 

IPSEC VPNs, SSL client VPNs, or other types 

of VPN connections. 

The problem is more than just logging into 

firewalls and VPN concentrators and trying to 

view the siloed network statistics. Network 

managers are trying to view the end-to-end 

network connectivity from remote clients, 

through VPN devices, across the switch links, 

then through the core to a business-critical 

destination, which could be private datacentres, 

SaaS clouds, ERP systems, collaboration 

systems, etc. Furthermore, they need the ability 

to monitor and predict key availability and 

performance indicators as more and more 

staff work remotely. 

WHY IS THERE A PROBLEM TODAY? 

Many organisations are feeling the impact as 

they're simply not used to having so many 

staff or students working remotely. Major corporations 

may have larger teams and budgets 

compared to smaller businesses or an 

educational institution and therefore be more 

prepared to add VPN to their network monitoring 

capabilities. But others are finding it 

more of a challenge. 

Many NetOps teams don't usually have to 

monitor everything, everywhere, rather focusing 

on the key areas such as the datacentre. 

But the new 'normal' means that VPNs have to 

be closely monitored, almost in real-time, for 

capacity planning purposes and answering 

the key questions of "do I have enough 

capacity?" and "do I have enough network 

infrastructure to keep our remote workers productive 

and collaborating?" 

Existing VPN firewalls and concentrators may 

not be up to the task due to throughput limitations 

and license restrictions. NetOps teams in 

the past have not been mandated to monitor 

jitter and delay for latency-sensitive applications 

like video and voice, on top of the more 

usual congestion and usage levels. Some 

companies and institutions are having to 

install new methods of monitoring these types 

of applications to obtain the required visibility, 

then extract the data via SNMP polling and 

visualise it in operational dashboards. 

SO WHAT DOES BEST PRACTICE 

LOOK LIKE? 

Visibility of VPN metrics is rapidly becoming 

the new standard and delivering the end-toend 

network visibility that network managers 

require today is critical. Displaying vital information 

such as latency and utilisation across 

all key VPN interfaces, including throughput 

graphs showing when a pipe is full, we're 

finding that customers need these intelligent 

dashboards. They're helping them keep up 

with their evolving networks, without having 

to manually check VPN appliances or bandwidth 

usage. 

Offering access to new performance metrics 

in this way helps them look into the future for 

VPN capacity planning, plan for growth in the 

new 'normal' and provide the deeper visibility 

that many have been missing. NC 



PRODUCTREVIEW 

SolarWinds 

AppOptics 


PRODUCT 


Infrastructure and application performance 

monitoring (APM) are essential tools for 

enterprises and yet many solutions are overly 

complex and require high levels of expertise to 

understand. SolarWinds simplifies these 

processes immensely as its AppOptics SaaS 

solution is designed to provide deeper insights 

and intelligent analysis for swifter problem 

resolution. 

This latest version introduces service and 

trace-level root cause analysis to highlight 

applications that are not behaving normally 

and show precisely what the underlying cause 

is. SolarWinds also scores over the 

competition by offering a simplified pricing 

structure with no hidden costs, making it 

easier to control expenditure. 

AppOptics infrastructure monitoring supports 

an impressive range of platforms with Windows, 

Kubernetes, Amazon Linux and all other key 

Linux distributions on its guest list. Installing the 

host agent on our Windows Server systems was 

simple as we downloaded it from the portal, 

added the API token provided during agent 

installation and waited for it to send host metrics 

to the portal. 

We could view all hosts in the portal's 

Infrastructure page and drill down for more 

detail. The level of information is extensive with 

graphs showing CPU, memory, disk and 

network utilisation along with a complete readout 

of host process and resource usage. 

Log monitoring is also provided and 

AppOptics can pass system and service logs 

directly to the SolarWinds Loggly and PapertTrail 

log analysis and management platforms. 

AppOptics makes log analysis even easier as 

the agents can automatically insert unique trace 

IDs making it much easier to search for and 

follow specific transactions. 

For service monitoring, AppOptics offers 

agents for nine programming languages 

including .NET, Java, PHP, Ruby and Python. 

Again, installation is simple as you choose your 

language from the portal, pick a platform, 

name the service and follow the instructions for 

installing and configuring it. 

SolarWinds provides plenty of host agent plugins 

ranging from Apache, Docker and IIS to 

SQL Server, Oracle and ZooKeeper plus the 

portal gives access to a huge catalogue of 

open-source community plug-ins on GitHub. 

Hosted services are present too, as you can 

monitor AWS and Azure environments with the 

former providing CloudWatch integrations for 

importing metrics from 35 different web services 

The level of information presented is 

staggering as AppOptics provides full stack 

views and all service traces. If, for example, 

you're running IIS web services with SQL 

backend databases, it displays everything that is 

going on in relation to each other and presents 

heatmaps to highlight unusual activity. 

AppOptics makes light work of troubleshooting 

complex web applications by presenting 

individual traces so you see how different 

components tie in together and easily spot 

which one is causing problems. Errors for 

specific transactions are provided and a slick 

map view shows service dependencies making it 

even easier to identify issues. 

AppOptics full application visibility allows you 

to view activity at the host level, drill right down 

to individual transactions and see exception 

categories where similar errors are grouped 

together. Code profiling goes even further as it 

shows you the classes and attributes of 

application code to provide a deeper 

understanding of performance and further 

opportunities for optimisation. 

AppOptics stands out for its integrated 

machine learning (ML) capabilities as it uses 

insights based on historical data to make 

informed decisions about detected issues and 

their likely cause. It's also great for monitoring 

the impact of application modifications as you 

can view traces and logs from different time 

periods. 

SolarWinds AppOptics offers an innovative 

approach to infrastructure and application 

performance monitoring making it accessible to 

a much wider audience. It cuts through the 

APM data fog and presents clear insights and 

analysis for swift, accurate application 

troubleshooting. NC 

Product: AppOptics 

Supplier: SolarWinds 

Web site: www.appoptics.com 

Price: From $20 per host per month 

20 MAY/JUNE 2020 @NCMagAndAwards 

WWW.NETWORKCOMPUTING.CO.UK 

NETWORKcomputing

SECURITYUPDATE 

VOICE OF HOPE 

WHAT IS HAILED AS A 

SIGNIFICANT STEP FORWARD 

IN THE UK'S FIGHT AGAINST 

ONLINE HARMS HAS BEEN 

TAKEN, WITH THE LAUNCH OF 

THE ONLINE SAFETY TECH 

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION 

(OSTIA) 

First OSTIA meeting in early 2020, with Caroline Dinenage, 

Minister of State for Digital and Culture, centre front 

The industry body OSTIA has been 

launched with the aim of bringing 

together companies operating in the 

field of online safety, who believe the UK 

is at the forefront of safety tech, and the 

development of products and solutions 

that will make a significant contribution 

to online safety. 

The concept of OSTIA emerged at a 

roundtable event in 2019 organised by 

Cyan Forensics and PUBLIC, chaired by 

Baroness Shields OBE. The event brought 

tech companies, government and charity 

organisations together to share ideas and 

to discuss collective issues and solutions 

to many of the online harms-related 

problems faced today. To date, 14 tech 

companies have joined the association. 

 

 

 

The association has three key aims: 

Provide a voice of hope by informing 

policy makers, technology providers 

and the general public about online 

safety technologies 

Create collective influence on policy, 

regulation and broader support for 

the sector 

Provide a forum for companies 

contributing towards the goal of 

online safety. 

The association has received backing 

and support from across government, 

campaign bodies and charities, as well 

as organisations including the Internet 

Watch Foundation (IWF) and NSPCC. 

Organisation representatives will meet 

regularly with government representatives 

to explore ways to support innovation 

and growth in UK safety tech. 

Ian Stevenson, OSTIA chair and Cyan 

Forensics CEO and co-founder, says: 

"The topic of online safety is wideranging 

and hugely complex. 

Unfortunately for regulators and 

providers, it is made up of many 

individual problems; there is no silver 

bullet that will solve the whole issue. 

That's why we wanted to establish this 

industry association - to create a 

powerful collective voice to enact 

change. By focusing on specific, 

actionable areas, we can work together 

to demonstrate how the thriving safetyrelated 

products and services market will 

play a significant role in helping 

companies protect the most vulnerable 

from accessing harmful content, while 

driving digital growth. Together, we can 

ensure that the public, technology 

companies and policy makers are aware 

of these lifelines." 

Caroline Dinenage, Minister of State for 

Digital and Culture, comments: "We are 

determined to make the UK the safest 

place in the world to be online and have 

set out world-leading proposals to put a 

duty of care on online companies, 

enforced by an independent regulator." 

Traditionally, debate in online safety has 

been between those who seek change, 

and those who fear it will be costly and 

difficult to implement. OSTIA will 

represent new voices, it states: the 

companies that have built the technology 

that can deliver the much-needed 

transformation. NC 

Ian Stevenson, OSTIA chair and Cyan 

Forensics CEO and co-founder 



TRAINING& EDUCATION 

SHEDDING NEW LIGHT 

ON VIRUS IMPACT 

ADDRESSING THE NEED FOR 

CYBERSECURITY TRAINING 

AND PREPAREDNESS DURING 

THE ONGOING 

LOCKDOWN IS CRITICAL, AS 

DESHINI NEWMAN, 

MANAGING DIRECTOR EMEA, 

(ISC) 2 , EXPLAINS 

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused 

unprecedented disruption for individuals 

and organisations alike. The acceleration 

to a global pandemic reaching the 

UK arguably caught many off guard, leaving 

little time to prepare for the wholesale shift of 

the economy to working-from-home, and the 

temporary suspension of many businesses 

and services we take for granted. 

To keep the economy working as much as 

possible, organisations and governments put 

business continuity plans into action at short 

notice, developed new approaches to deal 

with an unprepared scenario and pushed 

remote working capabilities to previously 

untested levels. The result has been a distinct 

shift in the responsibilities of cybersecurity 

professionals and the challenges of workload 

that is being experienced. 

Keen to understand the extent of the 

impact, we recently surveyed cybersecurity 

professionals globally to understand exactly 

how things have changed and how they are 

being affected on the cybersecurity front line. 

The (ISC)² COVID-19 Cybersecurity Pulse 

Survey's findings shed light on the adjustments 

that organisations and their cybersecurity 

professionals have made in the last 

two months, in order to maintain their business 

operations and mitigate the impact on 

cybersecurity. 

UNDERSTANDING THE CYBERSECURI- 

TY IMPACT OF COVID-19 

The survey revealed that 81% of respondents, 

all responsible for securing their 

organisations' digital assets, indicated that 

their job function has changed during the 

pandemic. On top of that, 90% indicated 

they themselves are now working remotely 

full-time, while trying to address the cybersecurity 

needs of their organisations. Added to 

this, a third stated they had confirmation of 

someone in their organisation having contracted 

COVID-19, further illustrating the 

impact the virus has had on society. 

As expected, almost all of the organisations 

surveyed (96%) have closed their physical 

workplaces, moving to remote working to 

maintain as much operational capability as 

possible. That 96% is comprised of 47% that 

said all staff from closed facilities were now 

remote working, while 49% said that some - 

but not all - employees are working remotely. 

The sudden change in circumstances has 

resulted in a marked effect on cybersecurity 

threats, with a quarter reporting that incidents 

have increased since the change in 

working practices. Some organisations are 

tracking as many as double the number of 

incidents, compared with pre-lockdown 

times. It is not a surprise that four out of 

every five respondents view security as an 

essential function at this time. 

The need to adapt to the sudden change in 

operations and workplaces has seen almost 

half of cybersecurity professionals being 

taken off some or all of their typical security 

duties to assist with other IT-related tasks, 

such as equipping a mobile workforce, and 

implementing new applications and platforms 

to enable mass remote working and 

communication. The sudden and sometimes 

improvised solutions that have enabled businesses 

to transition so quickly to remote 

working have caught 15% of respondent 

organisations off guard, as they suggested 

their teams do not have the resources they 

need to support the sudden appearance of a 



TRAINING& EDUCATION 

remote workforce. A third said they are managing 

- for now at least! 

Some 40% are making use of security best 

practices, even while compromised by the 

lockdown conditions. Meanwhile, 50% said 

they could be doing more than they are to 

maintain security standards. 

MAKING CYBERSECURITY TRAINING 

AVAILABLE DURING THE LOCKDOWN 

The industry has responded by realising that 

more needs to be done to ensure a safe 

and secure cyber world. The sector needs to 

remain on top of new and changing threats 

and challenges. This is motivating the industry 

to provide more options and support to 

the professional community. 

As the world's largest non-profit association 

of certified cybersecurity professionals, (ISC)² 

has put a variety of measures in place to 

support cybersecurity professionals through 

the current situation. Being acutely aware of 

the workload pressures facing some, and the 

financial impact of furloughing and shutdowns 

on others, we've made available a 

variety of resources to help with education 

and training to support people as they reenter 

the workforce after lockdowns ease 

and to support professional development 

during the COVID-19 disruption period. 

We have made available our award-winning 

webinar series for free. It features 

expert-led discussions on a wide range of 

security topics and we are continuing to add 

new content even during the current period. 

It means there is both a wide range of 

knowledge to tap into to help learn and deal 

with the cybersecurity issues facing organisations 

today, as well as boosting the opportunities 

for members to meet their CPE needs 

without having to travel or attend in-person 

meetings or conferences. 

(ISC)² has also taken the decision to offer 

many of our certification training options for 

online consumption at reduced cost. We 

realise that some people will be looking for 

a new role now and after the lockdown period 

is relaxed. That is why we are making 

recognised certification, such as the Certified 

Information Systems Security Professional 

(CISSP) and Certified Cloud Security 

Professional (CCSP), available using online 

self-paced training at a 33% discounted 

price. This is intended to help IT and non-IT 

staff alike develop and verify their skills and 

knowledge, supporting them as they seek 

new opportunities in the cybersecurity sector. 

Online instructor-led courses are also available 

for those who prefer a more structured 

online learning experience. Alongside this, 

we are making our Professional 

Development Institute (PDI) courses available 

to non-members at a discounted rate, 

including free access for all to the recently 

released 'Utilising Big Data' course. The PDI 

library currently comprises 35 courses. 

Expanding access to PDI courses is another 

way we are working to help the community 

expand its collective knowledge and understanding 

of complex and topical issues and 

technologies. This is a challenging time for 

many, inside and outside the cybersecurity 

profession. The need for professional development 

is more important than ever as a 

result of COVID-19, and the unique business 

and community conditions we currently face. 

We hope these resources will prove valuable 

to the larger cybersecurity community and 

encourage them to continue to develop their 

skills during this time. 

Our heartfelt thanks goes to (ISC)² members 

and the wider cybersecurity community 

for the efforts being made to keep us all safe 

in the digital world during the pandemic and 

when we get to the other side. 

For more details about how COVID-19 is 

impacting (ISC)² members and exam candidates, 

and how the association is responding 

to support members and the wider community, 

please visit: 

https://www.isc2.org/notice/COVID-19- 

Response 

Deshini Newman, managing director 

EMEA, (ISC) 2 




UNDER FIRE AT HOME 

BAD ACTORS HAVE BEEN TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE CURRENT 

CRISIS TO CREATE CHAOS, LOCKING OUT EMPLOYEES AND 

PARALYSING BUSINESS OPERATIONS 

Due to the sudden shift to a workfrom-home 

model as a result of 

the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 

two-thirds (64%) of companies have 

experienced at least moderate 

disruptions to their network security 

business practices - and nearly a quarter 

(23%) have suffered major disruptions. 

The report from Neustar's International 

Security Council, based on a recent 

survey of cybersecurity professionals, 

also reveals that 29% of companies did 

not have a fully executable business 

plan in place to keep their network 

secure, in the event of a major crisis 

such as the current pandemic. 

In addition, survey responses indicate 

that only 22% of corporate virtual 

private networks (VPNs) have handled 

the work-from-home shift with no 

connectivity issues, while 61% 

experienced minor connectivity issues. 

"Social distancing measures that call 

for employees to work from home when 

possible have dramatically changed 

patterns of connection to enterprise 

networks," says Rodney Joffe, chairman 

of NISC, SVP and fellow at Neustar. 

"More than 90% of an organisation's 

employees typically connect to the 

network locally, with a slim minority 

relying on remote connectivity via a 

VPN, but that dynamic has flipped. The 

dramatic increase in VPN use has led to 

frequent connectivity issues, and - 

especially considering the disruption to 

usual security practices - it also creates 

significant risk, as it multiplies the 

potential impact of a distributed denialof-service 

(DDoS) attack. VPNs are an 

easy vector for a DDoS attack." 

With IT teams stretched particularly 

thin at the moment, bad actors can take 

advantage of the chaos to exploit any 

vulnerabilities and launch volumetric 

attacks, network protocol attacks or 

application-layer attacks - locking out 

employees and paralysing business 

operations. In addition to this, 

volumetric attacks are increasing in size. 

Recently, Neustar mitigated a 1.17 

terabyte attack, which required a unique 

and diverse set of tactics in order to 

successfully fend off the attack. "In times 

like these," continues Joffe, "an alwayson 

managed DDoS protection service is 

critical. A purpose-built mitigation 

solution like Neustar's cloud-based 

UltraVPN Protect can keep remote 

workforces connected and productive, 

and ensure that business continues 

without interruption." 

SHARP RISE IN THREATS 

The latest NISC report reveals a sharper 

than usual uptick in threats over the two 

months covered by the most recent 

Rodney Joffe, Neustar: the dramatic 

increase in VPN use has multiplied the 

potential impact of a distributed denial-ofservice 

(DDoS) attack 

survey. In fact, the International Cyber 

Benchmarks Index, which reflects the 

overall state of the cybersecurity 

landscape, reached a new high of 331 

back in March this year. When asked 

which cyber threats had caused the 

highest level of concern over the 

previous two months, the security 

professionals who were surveyed ranked 

DDoS attacks as their greatest concern 

(23%), followed by system compromise 

(22%) and ransomware (18%). NC 




THE DOUBLE-EDGED 

THREAT 

IT'S NOT JUST CYBER SECURITY 

THAT IS AT STAKE WHEN 

WORKING FROM HOME. YOUR 

PHYSICAL SAFETY NEEDS TO BE 

TAKEN CARE OF AS WELL 

In order to support businesses in 

managing their security during the 

pandemic, Secured by Design, the 

Police Digital Security Centre and the 

National Counter Terrorism Security 

Office have put together a leaflet 

containing the 'Top 10 Cyber Security 

Tips for Working at Home' and the latest 

counter terrorism advice. 

The leaflet is aimed at businesses that 

have either been instructed by the 

government to close, in line with the 

Covid-19 guidance, or have chosen to 

close, and provides advice and guidance 

to assist them review both their physical 

and cyber security to reduce the chances 

of falling victim to criminals. 

The top 10 tips for working at home 

offer this advice: 

 

Strong password policy for all devices 

and social media accounts. Change 

default passwords on all your devices 

when initially installed (especially 

your Wi-Fi router at home or any 

Internet of Things devices you may 

have) and consider using password 

managers to store and protect your 

passwords 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2FA: turn on the two-factor 

authentication setting on all your 

accounts and devices 

VPN: use a Virtual Private Network 

(VPN) to protect and encrypt the data 

you send or receive. It will also scan 

devices for malicious software 

Software update: set all your devices 

and apps to download and install 

updates automatically to ensure that 

any crucial fixes are not missed and 

the risk of your devices being infected 

with malware is reduced 

Backup: to safeguard your important 

personal data and information, back 

them up to an external hard drive or 

cloud-based storage system 

Phishing emails: cyber criminals are 

targeting people and businesses with 

fake emails about the coronavirus. 

Phishing emails are embedded with a 

virus that could compromise your 

device, as well as manipulate you 

into sharing personal or financial 

information 

Install anti-virus: install and activate 

anti-virus software on all your device 

and preferably set it to update 

automatically. This will help you to 

run a complete scan of your system 

and check for any malware infections 

 

 

 

Safe online browsing: only visit 

trusted websites. Keep an eye out for 

a padlock sign in the address bar, 

showing that the connection and your 

personal information (eg, credit card 

information) is encrypted and secure 

Social media: it is important to review 

the privacy, password and security 

settings for all your social media 

accounts to ensure they are as secure 

as possible 

Communication: maintain contact 

with your team, as it is easy to feel 

isolated or lose focus when working 

at home. 

Despite the current threat emanating 

from Covid-19, it is still important to 

remain alert and vigilant to terrorist 

activity. Live-time information from 

counter terrorism policing, plus all the 

very latest protective security advice, is 

now available at your fingertips 24/7 - 

wherever you are. 

Via your 'phone, you can keep updated 

where and when it matters most - all 

through the new easy-to-navigate Action 

Counters Terrorism (ACT) app, which is 

free for businesses and available from 

Google Play or the App Store. NC 




YOU'VE GOT MAIL: A 

DIGITISED MAILROOM 

THAT'S FIT FOR THE 

RETURN TO WORK 

WORKING FROM HOME IS HERE 

TO STAY. STAY CONNECTED IN 

THE NEW NORMAL 

The life-changing disruption of 

COVID-19 has impacted all 

businesses, employees and 

customers, and, whilst so much of the 

future remains unknown, it's clear that a 

more long-term plan is needed to 

facilitate remote working as we start to 

define the 'new normal'. 

Swiss Post Solutions initially developed a 

Crisis Management Solution, in response 

to its clients' facing up to the challenge of 

maintaining communications using the 

traditional model of on-site mail. 

Suddenly, complex, hybrid environments 

made up of both the physical and digital, 

and that require social distancing to be 

adhered to at every stage, are here to 

stay, as the country awaits the call to 

return to work. 

"Meeting this challenge head on with a 

simple, yet crucial, Return to Work Digital 

Documents Solution means teams need 

never miss an item of post or a piece of 

printed communication whilst working 

remotely," states SPS. The solution is a 

web-based application that is securely 

hosted within the cloud and can be swiftly 

deployed within seven days, delivering 

digital mail to a homeworker or officebased 

worker's desktop or mobile and 

offering guaranteed access during 

extended working hours. 

The centralised Digital Documents 

Portal allows teams to create numerous 

digital desks, with a user permissions 

hierarchy, to ensure swift and accurate 

distribution of mail and documents. 

Users can: 

Download and view mail 

Take/relinquish ownership of mail 

Add comments 

Forward to colleagues or teams 

Close or complete a mail item 

Delete a mail item. 

The system maintains a full audit log of 

every mail item interaction by any user, 

and is built on a tried and tested, highly 

secure, fully compliant and pre-existing 

technology platform. Very little software 

installation is needed in a set-up process 

that simply involves connecting a 

scanner(s) to a workstation on customer 

premises and connecting to an online 

application to scan and deliver the 

documents. 

Mail is scanned either by on-site staff or 

Swiss Post Solutions mailroom staff, 

ensuring a business can be serviced 

whatever their social restrictions. 

Alternatively, post can be collected from 

customer premises and scanned at one of 

SPS' secure and certified Document 

Processing Centres (DPCs). 

Clients are reportedly already seeing 

reductions in mail handling costs of 15%, 

mail processing times coming down by 

75% and document management costs 

reduced by 30%. 

"These unprecedented times leave a lot 

unknown, but, with Swiss Post Solutions, 

you could not be in a safer pair of hands 

for the return to work," states the 

company. With over 90 years' experience 

of managing mailrooms for some of the 

world's most demanding organisations, 

and currently operating over 500 

mailrooms worldwide, it handles around 

120 million items of mail for clients each 

year. "And with a 96% contract renewal 

rate and a 'World Class' customer 

satisfaction Net Promoter Score of 78, it's 

fair to say that these are happy clients," 

adds the company. NC 

Do you need urgent digital access to 

mail items, but have no current process in 

place? Then it's time to talk to Swiss Post 

Solutions. As soon as this time next week, 

you could have peace of mind. Contact 

us for more information 

info.sps.uk@swisspost.com. 



SUCCESSSTORIES 

LEADING THE CHARGE 

HOW SAVVY BUSINESSES HAVE FLIPPED THE DIGITAL SWITCH 

Efficient communications were an issue 

for the insurance industry, even before the 

COVID-19 crisis, where paper has 

always been the dominant communication 

channel. "For ERS Insurance, our mailroom 

solution was off-site, replacing two traditional 

mailrooms. It focused on converting mail 

to digital at the earliest opportunity, before 

processing it either to an individual or to a 

'digital desk', which all team members can 

access." The benefits were immediate: 87% 

faster processing of incoming mail, along with 

improved access and tracking, to create vastly 

more efficient processes. 

The Co-operative Bank was looking for a 

new, digital solution for storing and accessing 

correspondence, as access could take up 

to five days to achieve. "The solution 

implemented by us included a day forward 

scanning operation and web portal, 

based around our Document Management 

software to provide instant access to all 

correspondence." The result? The time to 

access to correspondence was reduced to 

an average of just five seconds, dramatically 

improving efficiency, business continuity and 

the customer experience. 

A final example would have to be Zurich 

Insurance Group. Zurich receives high volumes 

of diverse forms of mail that previously were 

handled as part of a labour-intensive, manual 

process. "We proposed a scanning solution 

Chris Blood, 

Head of Business 

Services UK, 

Swiss Post 

Solutions 

Limited. 

that would centralise and automate the 

scanning and processing of FinOps mail. This 

technology allows users to receive, view, 

process and archive digital mail documents, 

essentially replacing the physical delivery 

process." This new quick-to-implement solution 

achieved a 6x faster processing time and 5x 

faster access to business-critical documents. 

STAY CONNECTED TO YOUR 

CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES 

Our document management solution supports your business 

continuity as you return to work. 

SPS’ proven digital mail solution enables your business to quickly 

 

 

 

Fast roll out 

 

 

24/7 Access 

Employees are able to access 

incoming mail and generate printed 

 

 

Secure and Compliant 

Service delivered in an SPS secure 

 

cleared to BPSS and SC Government 

 

Reporting 

 

 

 

SPS TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION 

CLIENT REMOTE WORKING 

SPS PRINTING FACILITY 

Contact us for more information 

 

A0562A0320_HybridMail-DigitalMail Advert v5b.indd 1 05/05/2020 11:07:46


REMOTE WORKING: DO IT RIGHT 

HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOUR BUSINESS REMAINS SECURE DURING REMOTE WORKING? 

PHIL UNDERWOOD, CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, SECURENVOY, AND CHRIS CASSELL, 

TECHNICAL SPECIALIST, SECURENVOY, OFFER THEIR INSIGHTS 

Over the years, there has been an 

increase in remote working, as 

organisations look to promote 

flexible working. With technology 

constantly improving, employees are no 

longer restricted to working in a traditional 

office space. 

However, the current global pandemic 

has forced businesses worldwide to rapidly 

implement remote working across their 

workforce while travel restrictions are in 

place. In its current form of remote 

working, few businesses were ready for 

supporting the complete workforce 

remotely, in case of an emergency such as 

the pandemic. 

Even fewer conducted a readiness event 

to understand, prepare and provide 

remediation to cover the shortfalls and 

problem areas that would impact their 

day-to-day operations. In such situations, 

hackers are fully ready to take advantage, 

whether this is for financial gain, to 

damage a company's reputation or steal 

sensitive assets. Thus, the various security 

challenges that remote working brings need 

to be addressed to ensure business data is 

not put at risk. The following are some of 

the topics that need to be considered to 

ensure your business remains secure during 

remote working. 

USE OF BYOD 

With a surge in requirements to support 

non-typical mobile workers, it is all too easy 

to allow use of a home machine to fulfil 

a need. Yet, this approach brings its own 

issues, namely the integrity of the machine, 

whether the OS type and patching are up 

to date and supported, browser type and 

support are allowed and secure, the 

firewall is active or not, and if there is antivirus 

and malware capability. Home 

computers are also more likely to have 

been used by non-security trained people 

at some point. Therefore, use of BYOD can 

increase vulnerability to cyber threats. 

PROTECTING YOUR ENDPOINTS 

Now that you are discouraged from 

allowing BYOD devices, securing your 

endpoints is key. As users are using their 

current corporate machines, most of this 

can be managed remotely for firewall, antivirus, 

malware and OS patching, in 

addition to password management policies. 

When we discuss endpoint protection, 

ideally having a solution that provides data 




loss protection is key, as now the corporate 

machine is most likely to be exposed to 

threats upon the home network. Finally, 

protecting the endpoint is not just about 

cybersecurity, but also physical security. 

Ideally, the same policies should be 

executed at home, such as screen locking, 

invoking MFA for laptop access and 

securely storing the laptop when not used. 

USER ACCESS 

To enable remote working, users require 

access to applications. Typically, access 

is granted with a username-password 

combination. However, multiple 

applications require users to remember 

multiple passwords which, if they forget, 

can lead to locked accounts or end up with 

users writing them down. A single sign-on 

solution (SSO- identity provider) can 

resolve most of these issues, but ideally 

multi-factor authentication (MFA) should 

augment the login process, as an SSO 

solution allows a single password to access 

a plethora of applications. 

EMAIL SECURITY 

All too often email security solutions allow 

a phishing or similar bad email to be 

delivered to a recipient. These may have 

a bad payload or embedded link to a 

compromised site. Hackers are getting 

more imaginative on setting up new email 

domain and locations, in order to send 

their spam messages. The best piece of 

advice is, if in doubt, delete the email. If it 

is someone you do not know or conduct 

business with, delete the email. If the sender 

persists, pass it to your IT security team who 

can check the message for validity. 

Aside from the technical working 

environment, the physical working 

environment also needs to be considered. 

The level of focus that employees have in 

an office takes time to develop in a home 

environment: patience, dedication and 

routine are not achieved overnight. The 

home environment can provide 

distractions you might not otherwise have 

in the office, which can lead to human 

error. You attach the wrong version of a 

file, or send it to the wrong person, and 

there is the breach. That's how data leaks. 

It is a situation that is less likely to happen 

in an office, as there is less distraction. 

Hence, alongside antivirus and endpoint 

protection, businesses also need data 

governance and data loss prevention 

solutions. Generally, employees are not 

focused on security when doing their job 

and that is understandable. Lack of focus 

on security is even more prevalent in 

environments when they are juggling 

several other priorities at once. 

This is why tools that can enforce and 

educate the security policy interactively are 

so much more important. By controlling 

what users can access and then, in turn, 

what they can do with that data once they 

receive access, you can ensure that it is 

not going to be subject to those minor 

human errors. This can stop the accidental 

attachment of the wrong version of a file, 

provide a reminder to check the recipients 

of an email and stop data transfer to 

external media to work on it on home 

devices, all of which can help prevent 

breaches. 

Finally, having clear, defined policies and 

guidelines for staff ensures a smooth and 

trouble-free remote working deployment. 

Provide education sessions to reinforce safe 

working practices from time to time and 

support staff who are completely new to 

this concept. Teach them about physical 

security, as well as cybersecurity, as they 

both go hand in hand with a successful 

remote access strategy. Lastly, detail a 

simple escalation path for when things may 

and do go wrong. In this way, mitigation 

steps can be applied quickly and any 

potential damage is limited. 

Remote working during the current time 

is essential and highly beneficial, so the 

need to ensure your business is secured 

during this time is crucial. NC 

Phil Underwood, Chief Information Officer, 

SecurEnvoy 

Chris Cassell, Technical Specialist, 

SecurEnvoy 



MASTERCLASS 

Business continuity and crisis management in the time of Covid-19 

BY KEV BREAR, DIRECTOR OF CONSULTING; TECHNOLOGY RISK MANAGEMENT, AT XCINA 

CONSULTING 

The Covid-19 pandemic crisis has 

generated unprecedented 

challenges and, whilst it is entirely 

correct that the current focus is upon 

saving lives, life carries on and that 

sentiment applies most pressingly to 

global business operations and 

economic activities. 

The traditional approach used by 

many organisations to manage the 

effects of business disruptions has been 

to employ business continuity solutions 

to ensure that their critical business 

activities, or services, continue to 

operate at acceptable levels. 

However, it has been suggested in 

many forums that business continuity 

solutions are best designed to deal with 

operational level disruptions, such as 

technology failures, physical damage 

and supply chain disruptions. These 

types of disruptive events are often 

described as high frequency, with low 

or medium levels of impact incidents. 

The response to these types of incidents 

can often be effectively managed, 

following predefined plans and 

procedures, with little or no input from 

the strategic management team of the 

organisation dealing with the situation. 

The potential limitations of business 

continuity solutions become quite 

apparent when responding to the 

challenges that arise from lifethreatening, 

existential or reputational 

crises. By contrast, these types 

of crises are low frequency and have 

high or catastrophic levels of impacts. 

These crises always require flexible and 

adaptive responses that can only be 

provided through appropriate 

leadership from the strategic 

management level of an organisation. 

It also seems quite apparent that it is 

possible to deploy a hybrid response, 

using both business continuity and 

crisis management solutions to tackle 

those rare situations that require an 

extraordinary response. The current 

Covid-19 crisis is exactly the sort of 

unprecedented event that requires such 

a response. 

The most obvious challenges that 

arise in using a hybrid response 

strategy lie in the areas of leadership, 

coordination and communication, but 

these areas always represent 

challenges in any adverse situation and 

the organisation merely has to leverage 

its proven arrangements, whilst bearing 

in mind the additional complexities and 

conflicting priorities of the highly 

dynamic situation. Once the crisis 

management team (CMT) has defined 

its objectives and strategies, the CMT 

then has to convey the correct 

information and requests for action to 

the relevant members of the 

organisation, whilst also conveying the 

appropriate messaging to its wider 

group of stakeholders. 

The CMT must then work with the 

business continuity function and put in 

place the appropriate supporting 

business continuity activities. All these 

coordinated activities must then 

continue until the business is ready to 

transition back to a stable operating 

environment. 

It is difficult to anticipate the outcome 

or duration of the current crisis; 

however, it seems reasonable to 

assume that the recovery period may be 

protracted, before a stable state of 

operations may be achieved. It may 

also be reasonable to say that the next 

few months could be quite 

transformational for many organisations 

and lessons will have been learned, 

and will continue to be learned, as this 

global crisis unfolds. NC 

Kev Brear: appropriate leadership at 

strategic management level is the key to 

steering a path through the current crisis 

Rob Treacey, MD; Co-Head of Xcina 

Consulting and Shearwater Group DPO 



OPINION 

A CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION 

ALMOST TWO YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE GDPR AND IT SEEMS 

BUSINESSES ARE STILL NOT TAKING CYBERSECURITY SERIOUSLY, CAUTIONS AMAN JOHAL, LAWYER 

AND DIRECTOR OF YOUR LAWYERS 

While the Coronavirus continues to 

dominate headlines everywhere, 

the fact that the General Data 

Protection Regulation is now two years old 

warrants close attention as well. Several 

businesses have felt the impact of failing to 

comply with its strictures, such as British 

Airways, which has been issued with a 

notice of intention to fine a record £183m 

for its 2018 data breaches, while several 

high-profile data breaches affected 

thousands of Travelex and Microsoft 

customers. History will continue to repeat 

itself, unless something is done, and a 

good place to start is with educating staff. 

The increased requirements for businesses 

to store, manage and protect customers' 

digital information leaves them vulnerable 

to attacks from highly skilled data hackers. 

This threat is not being met with training, 

however. Too often, employers are failing 

to educate their staff on how to avoid 

simple data leaks and the catastrophic 

consequences they could have. The 2019 

State of IT Security Survey, for example, 

revealed that the top issues faced by IT 

security professionals included email 

security and employee training. Despite 

this, a third of employees reportedly don't 

know what phishing or malware is - two 

basic forms of cyberattacks. 

Educating staff about cybersecurity is 

crucial. If they aren't adequately trained the 

business doesn't have a viable defence. 

Even worse, your staff could be the cause 

of a data leak themselves. A recent 

example includes the Virgin Media data 

breach which stemmed from a member of 

staff not following the correct procedures 

and "incorrectly configuring" a database. 

This led to the personal details of 

900,000 people being left unsecured 

and accessible online for ten months. 

With each customer potentially eligible 

for up to an estimated £5,000 in 

compensation, this entirely avoidable 

incident could cost Virgin Media a total 

pay-out of £4.5bn. 

It's the responsibility of the employer to 

ensure employees are educated about 

data leaks and how to avoid them. Such 

events are typically considered 'human 

error' breaches. However, the reality is 

that they arise from systemic failures by 

organisations to protect themselves and 

staff from data breaches. Educating 

employees about data leaks and security 

threats, including how they might look 

and the necessary procedures to follow to 

mitigate risks, will strengthen your 

business against breaches and attacks. 

It is now a legal requirement for all 

organisations to have reasonable 

defences in place, in order to prevent 

cybersecurity breaches. There should be a 

thorough defence strategy that starts with 

the basics, such as encrypted storage and 

processing, as well as the implementation 

of professional tools like firewall 

protection. Businesses that fail to take 

reasonable steps and experience a data 

breach can be issued with significant 

regulatory fines. Since the introduction of 

the GDPR, maximum penalties can be up 

to 20 million euros, or up to 4% of an 

organisation's global annual turnover. As 

well as the financial losses, businesses 

would also be wise to consider the 

damage to their reputation and loss of 

consumer trust that follows. NC 

Aman Johal, Your Lawyers 




RANSOMWARE SOARS 

WORKING FROM HOME CAN 

MAKE I.T. SYSTEMS FAR MORE 

SUSCEPTIBLE TO ATTACK, 

WITHOUT THE RIGHT 

SECURITY MEASURES FIRMLY 

IN PLACE 

Ransomware attacks skyrocketed in 

2019, according to a newly released 

breach report, an annual update on 

cyber trends that is produced by cyber insurer 

Beazley - and the shift to home working 

has only heightened the risk of cyber breach 

via remote desktop protocol and phishing 

attacks, it states. 

Beazley's in-house team of breach experts, 

Beazley Breach Response (BBR) Services, 

reported the number of ransomware attack 

notifications against clients increased by 

131%, compared to 2018. Along with this 

growth in frequency, the sums of money 

demanded by cybercriminals also increased 

exponentially, sometimes reaching seven or 

even eight figures. 

Cybercriminals' methods of attack continue 

to evolve, too. The two most common forms 

of attack to deploy ransomware are phishing 

emails and breaching poorly secured remote 

desktop protocol (RDP). RDP enables 

employees to access their work computer 

desktops or company's primary server from 

home with the press of a button, but the 

convenience also comes with added risks. 

MORE SUSCEPTIBLE 

"With the convenience of enabling employees 

to work from home, using RDP can 

make IT systems more susceptible to attack 

without the right security measures in place," 

states Katherine Keefe, Beazley's global head 

of BBR Services. "The coronavirus has forced 

many more employees to work from home 

and, in this pressured environment, it is very 

important that companies take the right steps 

to reduce the vulnerability of their IT infrastructure. 

Always ensure employees can 

access their computer using a virtual private 

network with multifactor authentication. It is 

important to whitelist IP addresses that are 

allowed to connect via RDP, and make sure 

that unique credentials for remote access are 

in place - particularly for third parties." 

In 2019 and into 2020, BBR Services 

recorded an increase in reported attacks 

by policyholders whose systems were 

breached via cyber-attacks against their IT 

managed service providers. In some cases, 

these attacks stopped the operations of 

hundreds of customers downstream from 

the IT provider. 

Keefe adds: "BBR Services handles thousands 

of breaches every year and our data 

demonstrates how ransomware has developed 

into a more serious and complex 

threat over the past four years. Early on, 

ransomware was typically used to encrypt 

data as leverage for a ransom demand. 

However, more recently, attackers have been 

using ransomware variants in tandem with 

banking Trojans such as Trickbot and 

Emotet. This two-pronged attack leaves 

organisations not only with the debilitating 

impact of its critical systems and data being 

encrypted, but with the added risk of data 

being accessed or stolen. 

"Although these attacks can be damaging 

and complex, some of the most effective 

preventative measures are relatively simple. 

More than ever, organisations need to 

ensure their IT security measures are a top 

priority and up to date, that they have 

access to authoritative, experienced risk 

management advice and, importantly, that 

employees are trained and alert to the 

potential threats." 




ATTACK, ATTACK 

The latest Breach Briefing provides detailed 

information on the most common forms of 

attack, including the two most common 

forms of attack used to deploy ransomware: 

phishing emails and poorly secured remote 

desktop protocol (RDP). 

Turning first to phishing, Beazley cites 

how direct email of malware and links to 

credential-stealing sites lead to a large 

number of incidents. "There are a lot of protections 

available, in the forms of email filters 

and added layers of authentication," 

it says. "However, few of these solutions are 

broadly implemented. People have access 

to the information and technology that the 

attackers want, and attackers will continue 

to find new ways to reach people and 

exploit them. It would be incorrect to view 

phishing as the vulnerability; phishing just 

happens to be the most effective way of getting 

to the real vulnerability - people." 

Exactly how do you mitigate phishing risk, 

though? Beazley suggests the following: 

Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) 

Force regularly scheduled password 

resets, preventing recycled passwords 

Train employees to recognise and report 

suspicious email traffic. 

Turning next to remote desktop protocol 

(RDP), Beazley describes this as "a very powerful 

tool that provides a lot of convenience 

to its users. It is also extremely easy to 

enable. If the computer you want to access 

is on the public internet, you gain immediate 

access to your work computer from 

home or your company's primary file server 

while you are on vacation with the press of 

a button." 

However, problems arise from these basic 

facts: RDP runs on a standard port 

(tcp/3389) and is easily identified while 

scanning; companies have very poor password 

policies, giving a brute force attack a 

high probability of success; more than 20 

vulnerabilities have been identified within 

RDP, many of which allow unauthenticated 

access to the target computer; companies 

tend to have very poor patching policies. 

"So, not only is it easy to turn on, it is also 

very easy to discover and break into." Ways 

of mitigating RDP risk it recommends 

include requiring access via a virtual private 

network (VPN) with MFA; whitelist IP 

addresses that are allowed to connect via 

RDP; and unique credentials for remote 

access, especially for vendors. 

RANSOMWARE 

Ransomware can be devastating to an individual 

or an organisation. Traditionally, 

these attacks were designed to deny access 

and interrupt business operations. However, 

the recent shift towards ransomware paired 

with banking trojans, and towards threats 

to expose data, changes the landscape. 

"Anyone with important data stored on their 

computer or network is a target - from 

municipalities or hospitals through to law 

firms," warns Beazley. "Important data at risk 

was traditionally thought to be personally 

identifiable information (PII) and protected 

health information (PHI), but it could also 

include intellectual property, litigation strategies, 

unpublished financials, and project 

bids. It is a myth that attackers are not interested 

in small companies. As our data 

shows, small and medium-sized business 

are often easier to exploit and therefore 

very attractive targets." 

VENDORS SINGLED OUT 

Many organisations rely on vendors to perform 

multiple services, which can help 

reduce overall costs and administrative burdens. 

But when you no longer control 

all of your data or when you provide third 

parties direct access to your systems, it 

inevitably increases your exposure to data 

privacy and security risks. "Third-party vendors 

were aggressively targeted by cybercriminals 

deploying ransomware in 2019, 

and at least 17% of all ransomware incidents 

reported to Beazley originated from 

attacks on vendors," says the cyber insurer. 

Katherine Keefe, Beazley: using a virtual 

private network with multifactor authentication 

is crucial. 

"These attacks caused business interruption 

to many downstream customers, ranging 

from the inability to access data housed in a 

software application, to a full-blown attack 

on the customer systems as well." 

Why are vendors targeted? Cybercriminals 

have come to realise that interrupting the 

dependent and deeply interconnected relationship 

between vendor and customer creates 

the most pressure. Hitting a single vendor 

can cause catastrophic interruptions for 

hundreds of companies, making it more 

likely for the vendor to pay. NC 

To read the Beazley Breach Briefing in full, 

follow the link below : 

https://www.beazley.com/news/2020/beazley_breach_briefing_2020.html 




MALWARE MENACE 

A PRIVACY-FIRST BROWSER 

COMBINING A BUILT-IN VPN 

WITH COMPLETE ENCRYPTION 

AIMS TO GIVE USERS 

A FAST, SECURE AND PRIVATE 

EXPERIENCE ON MOBILE 

In early March, Avast Threat Lab researchers 

found that the increasing use of mobile 

devices around the globe is fuelling the 

growth of mobile-related malware. To date, 

131 COVID-19 related apps have been 

detected as malicious through Avast's 

apklab.io platform, as cybercriminals look to 

exploit the pandemic using social engineering 

tactics. 

According to statistics gathered by the Avast 

researchers between October and December 

2019, adware (software that hijacks user 

devices to spam them with malicious ads) is 

responsible for 72% of mobile malware, with 

the remaining 28% of threats linked to banking 

trojans, fake apps, lockers and downloaders. 

Now Avast has released an Android version 

of Avast Secure Browser, extending its platform 

support beyond Windows and Mac on desktop 

to mobile. The introduction of a multi-platform 

browser is part of Avast's ongoing focus to 

converge security and privacy services to 

"enable a safer, more private and faster 

browsing experience across devices and 

operating systems", says the company. 

Avast Secure Browser for Android was 

developed following Avast's 2019 acquisition 

of Tenta, a private browser backed by 

Blockchain pioneer ConsenSys and has been 

built from the ground up by privacy and 

cybersecurity engineers focused on total 

encryption. At its core is strong encryption, 

including AES-256, ChaCha 256-bit and the 

latest TLS/SSL cryptographic protocols for the 

data transport layer. To ensure that user DNS 

requests are kept private and secure, the 

browser supports multiple DNS options straight 

out of the box, such as DNS over TLS, 

DNSSEC and decentralised DNS support. 

"Avast's core mission is to make the world a 

safer place by protecting the security and 

privacy of every customer, says Scott Curtiss, 

vice president and general manager of Avast 

Secure Browser. "Our commitment to being a 

privacy-by-design technology provider was 

behind our acquisition of leading private 

mobile browser Tenta, whose technology has 

contributed to the development of our new 

Avast Secure Browser for Android. We know 

that our customers care deeply about security 

and privacy, and want to be in control of their 

own personal data without compromising the 

quality of their online interactions. Our goal is 

to be the first all-in-one browser to secure our 

users' privacy, along with a frictionless secure 

browsing experience. Adding support for 

mobile is another milestone in our journey 

towards this long-term goal." 

Additional built-in security and privacy 

features available with Avast Secure Browser 

for Android include: 

A VPN that encrypts all inbound and 

outbound connections to the VPN location 

An ephemeral user PIN code for device 

access that is never stored on any server 

nor on the device itself 

Anti-tracking technologies used to prevent 

websites, advertisers and other web 

services from tracking online activity 

Adblock integration to improve website 

load time 

An encrypted media vault. 

Adds Curtiss: "There is still a perception 

among many consumers that on mobile, 

internet and browser-based threats do not 

exist. This is not the case. Mobile is a lucrative 

platform for cybercriminals because of its 

majority market share versus desktop and 

higher levels of internet traffic. In the past 12 

months, we've seen adware rise by 38% on 

Android." 

Scott Curtiss: still a perception that on 

mobile, internet and browser-based 

threats do not exist. 

34 NETWORKcomputing APRIL/JUNE 2020 @NCMagAndAwards

NC May-Jun 2020

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