Smart Home Automation


Home invasions in the virtual world

1 June 2020

While most of the world is trying to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems hackers are not on lockdown. People and businesses are working remotely, creating a ‘perfect storm’ of less security and more time online. This looks set to be the norm for some time to come as many choose to continue to self-isolate and while there are compromises to be found for many of the challenges we face while working remotely, we cannot compromise on security.

Attackers are taking advantage of the fact that many people who are working from home have not applied the same security on their home network environments that would be in place in a corporate environment; or that businesses haven’t deployed the right technologies or corporate security policies to ensure that all devices have the exact same security protection layers, regardless of whether they’re connected to a business network, open home Wi-Fi network or public hotspot.

Business leaders have a responsibility to manage security risks in the new work environments, adopting new policies and technologies and empowering their employees.

An integrated cybersecurity strategy to protect the business, its customers and their data is imperative, but few businesses realise that. Laptops with virtual private network (VPN) connections are a massive threat if not properly protected, for example.

Nashua managing director, Barry Venter, warns, “With remote working and distributed workforces rapidly becoming the ‘new normal’, protection and prevention are key to maintain business continuity and uptime.”

As a result, there is an ever-increasing list of what needs to be secured, including laptops, desktops, mobile devices, tablets, multi-functional printers and Wi-Fi networks. The information processed on these devices is vulnerable to ransomware attacks and data theft.

Venter says Nashua specialises in tailoring workspace solutions for small businesses and entrepreneurs in terms of both budget and processes: “Our approach to enabling your seamless workspace experience incorporates the use of products like Microsoft Office 365, Teams for collaboration, coupled with our seamless VoIP solutions, not forgetting end-point protection and backup solutions deployed on the world’s leading computing brands.

”Our Remote Asset Monitoring and Management (RMMS) platform is web-based and allows us to manage IT assets, automate IT services and simplify service delivery. With the advent of technology, we are able to effectively support the customer remotely. This may take the form of remote diagnostics, and support or remote maintenance – corrective or preventative.”

RMMS offers comprehensive monitoring on tasks and activities across the platform and device management that enables the setting of thresholds, monitoring of disk space, memory and device utilisation, as well as self-healing capabilities.

Nashua’s security solutions for businesses ensure all devices are equipped with essential security capabilities, extending the same network security that exists within the company to remote environments.




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