What You Need To Know About Co-Managed IT Services

When it comes to the technology plan or managed IT services that your business needs, a one-size-fits-all or a cookie-cutter approach isn’t what you need. A proven process should be set in place if you want your business to move forward. A reliable firm will work with your company’s in-house IT manager to address certain concerns during the proprietary business and onboarding process review.

This involves the following:

1. Evaluating your business IT against the industry standards
2. Identifying technology risks and determining business impact
3. Concentrating on sequencing top priorities that address business risks
4. Prioritizing IT initiatives that support the initiatives of your business

All these information will then be used to create recommendations, which will be provided during the consultation. After that, the IT professionals will create a plan, budget, and roadmap from the comprehensive onboarding and business process. They will also take into account suggested business intelligence solution, application integration and selection, could advisement and strategy, industry compliance and security, remediation plan, cybersecurity action, business continuity solutions, and disaster recovery.

With a co-managed IT service, we will improve your internal IT department. The model used for the co-managed IT services will overlay the tested and proven procedure onto your existing IT structure. These experts will work with your tech team to create a technology plan that is aligned with the kind of business you have and assist in managing your daily IT operations, where you could make the most out of your investment.

Co-managed IT solutions generally include:

1. Continual standards alignment and dedicated network admistration
2. Development of an effective technology strategy
3. Preventative maintenance for the network as well as the end-point environment
4. Managed end-point security
5. Escalation support for your in-house IT-department
6. Cloud computing
7. Backup and disaster recovery
8. Data and IT security

Call SpartanTec, Inc. if you are interested in learning more about how your company will benefit from co-managed IT services.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Myrtle Beach, SC  29577
843-561-9788
https://www.spartantec.com/

Are Hackers Using Popular Assistant Devices To Listen To Users?

The utility of virtual assistants like Amazon's Alexa and Google Home are undeniable.  They're just genuinely handy devices to have around.

Unfortunately, they're also prone to abuse and exploits by hackers and unsavory developers. They can be used to spy on and even steal sensitive information from unsuspecting users.

This is not new in and of itself.  Security researchers around the world have, at various points over the last couple of years, sounded the alarm about weaknesses and exploits.  To the credit of both companies, any time this has happened, both Amazon and Google have responded promptly, plugging gaps and shoring up the security of their devices.

Unfortunately, every few months or so, new exploits are discovered.  The two companies are essentially playing Whack-A-Mole with security flaws, which appear to have no end.

Recently, security experts published two videos, one for Alexa and one for Google Home. Each demonstrated a simple back-end exploit that anyone with a DevKit could employ.  The exploits revolve around inserting a question character (U+D801, dot, space) to various locations in the code. Then they introduce a long pause during which the assistant remains active and listening.

To give you an idea of how this could be exploited, one of the example videos shows a horoscope app triggering an error, but the presence of the special character introduces a long pause during which the app is still active.

During the long pause, the app asks the user for their Amazon/Google password while faking a convincing looking update message from Amazon or Google itself.  Given the long pause, few users associate the poisoned horoscope app with the password request.  It seems like it's coming from the device itself.

It's both sneaky and troublesome, and worst of all, even when both companies move to address this issue. By this time next month if history is a guide, there will be others.  We're not saying not to use them, but when you do, be very mindful.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. now and let our team set up an effective IT strategy to protect your devices and network from all kinds of online threats and exploits.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Myrtle Beach, SC  29577
843-561-9788
https://www.spartantec.com/