Select your Printer Brand with Prudence

With organizations having complex documentation requirements, printers as peripherals end up bearing maximum of stress. Leading to a strong reason as to why various manufacturers need to offer printer security as a part of the overall deal. In the bargain saving enterprises from the hassle of purchasing exorbitantly priced security solutions separately. So, if you are also thinking of buying a printer, just read on and get a good understanding of what various brands have on offer and how secure they are.

 

Canon

Canon with its wide range of built-in and optional hardware features and software ends up addressing print security requirements for businesses of all sizes. Canon’s security proposition ends up offering capabilities such as user authentication, usage auditing and reporting. Among all the notable features, the printer’s keyword recognition feature comprises of optical character recognition (OCR) and a unique uniFLOW technology to prevent any sort of unauthorized copy, fax or scan jobs taking place on Canon and any other third party devices. To further maximize the security, jobs can be held and checked for restricted content before they are printed or sent to their scan destination.

HP

HP boasts of a strong portfolio to help businesses manage risk and secure their print infrastructure. Established over a time span of 10 years, the organization’s Imaging and Printing Security Framework has been found on the four pillars of secure data, secure devices, well-protected printed documents, and extensive monitoring and management of printing fleet. The organization has further augmented the same framework by adding risk management and compliance considerations inclusive of features such as authentication, rules-based printing, job accounting and secure pull printing.

Konica Minolta

In Konica Minolta’s overall strategy, security is considered as a key element. The company has a comprehensive range of print and document security features considered to be a standard amongst its biz hub range of devices. Offering bizhub SECURE, a professional security service providing lock down protection on bizhub MFPs (Multi Function Peripherals), the gamut of services appeal to many enterprises given the complex mix of MFP hardware and software security features any business environment demands.  In the same instance helping Konica Minolta raise its print security offerings well beyond its standard hardware features and duly support an OPS-led approach.

Lexmark

Lexmark with its message of “Print Less, Save More,” to quite a large extent ends up addressing the business requirement of saving money in the present economic scenario. With the services portfolio of the company comprising of pull-printing, device personalization, activity tracking and reporting, Lexmark does well to authenticate devices across locations, branches and country offices. Further, by virtue of developing and owning its own core technologies, Lexmark is able to deliver a strong set of innovative solutions for a secure and cost-effective print infrastructure.

Ricoh

Security is considered to be inherent in any hardware, software and other services offered by the company. Ricoh provides a comprehensive range of advanced security solutions comprising of authentication, secure server-less pull-printing, document management and audit and reporting features. Ricoh is wisely focusing on assessing business security needs rather than presenting a complex array of hardware and software product features.

Xerox

The development, implementation and delivery of all Xerox products, services and technologies end up focusing on network security, document security, data security and authentication. Xerox builds a comprehensive range of features into its devices to help safeguard customer information, including hard drive removal, fax/network separation, image overwrite, network authentication and authorization, encryption and secure print. Ring and Grab Major Printer Support at +1-855-877-5848, http://www.pccare247.com/printer-support.html

Common Impediments derailing an Online Tech Support Experience

For those struggling with their PC, online tech support is considered nothing short of paradisiacal.  Considered to be a process where technical support executives are expected to stick their best foot forward to resolve a client’s grievances. Howbeit, in spite of such a concern, online tech providers woefully do also end up realizing they are not always fully equipped to meet every requirement. And with comparative studies further strengthening the claim, online channels do very well end up acting as a second fiddle to phone and in-person channels.

High-Fivers rubbing the wrong way

Taking the word of online tech support executives, there are five types of customer struggles coming in the way of providing a flawless experience. Classified as:

·         Blurry Path – On occasions Online Tech Support Executives feel clients are not sure about the path they need to tread. An issue forcing them to go back and forth from one page to another while experimenting with several alternative paths.    

·      Perplexing Cues – At times clients end up feeling confused about information displayed on a page. Be it the description of a product or the FAQ page they end up spending extra degree of time trying to figure it out.

·       Process Hassles  – In situations where there is a doubt of finishing a process, say for instance applying for a loan or changing around the settings of the account, it is for given a fact clients won’t be able to finish the process. Issues very often hard to spot as clients don’t even get started with the whole process.

·        Ruptured Content – There can be situations where clients while seeking information scatter content all across the site. In the hindsight, not realizing they end up creating unexpected paths for online tech support executives.  

  

·         Botched Up Systems – A site going down or returning unexpected error messages can end up being a big turn off for clients.   www.pccare247.com

Comprehending Security Log Analysis for salvaging organizations

Going by the Chinese lexicon, the term ‘crisis’ end up comprising of two words ‘danger’ and ‘opportunity’. The idea being one should end up looking for the gold buried within a crisis. Well, then as it would turn out the slogan doesn't seem to be quite true. Chinese scholars don’t dispute the ‘danger’ part, but it looks like somebody pulled a fast one on ‘opportunity.’ It turns out the term ‘opportunity’ really depicts something closer to ‘critical moment.’

It essentially means we would need to accept a crisis just plain mean and serious. Maybe, that’s what it exactly means for at the end of the no matter how hard we try we cannot end up avoiding all crisis in our jobs, but our jobs are meant to prevent our organization from plunging into one.

The saga of Security Logs

Where do security logs come into the picture? Quality data in form of security logs helps one take decisions and yet avoid crisis; essentially meaning security logs are a danger and an opportunity at the same time. Considered to be dangerous when they are not capturing data, or when the data is not being analyzed regularly and properly while at the same time presenting an opportunity to scour security logs, devour details in order to make an organization stronger.

Credos for effective Log Monitoring Process

There are critical facets one needs to consider for a security log monitoring process. And even though there can be other things on the list, in reality there can be other things which might merit a higher level of thought and attention. Comprising of company-specific rules or constraints considered of leaving a lasting impact on security log analysis program.

Categorizing Compliance Drivers

Companies need to follow specific government or industry mandated rules governing information security? In the financial industry, complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations is a must for avoiding all possible financial and legal penalties. The same rule applies to companies associated with the health care industry; asked of following the HIPAA regulations to ensure any requirements related to logging and compliance are readily complied with.

Classifying Identity Logs

The number of security logs an organization possesses can have a bearing on it security. A case in point wherein a full security log audit ends up comprising of logs related to devices and activities running the overall operations. This category is inclusive of firewalls, VPN systems, authentication servers, mail servers, database servers and application servers.

Ranking of Logs

In spite of many logs residing on a system; not all systems, data and their associated logs are of equal value. One of those cases where one needs to allocate time and energy to the most mission-critical logs first and work towards less important and fringe logs with time permitting. Yet, at the same time one need not have an unmonitored log for at the end of the day as not every ends up deserving the same degree of time and attention in a process.

Committed Teams

Once having identified and ranked the logs, the next step would be to establish formal teams to divvy up the workload. A step considered good towards using people resources to the fullest as well as carrying out database log analysis in tandem with the DBAs and database developers. Leading to a scenario where individuals may not actually ever capture or view a log file but end up using the same expertise for understanding data and crafting responses.

Benchmarking Procedures

It makes little sense to establish a great system for capturing and analyzing security log data without any procedures to respond appropriately to what is discovered. This is where analysis morphs into response. The appropriate response may be to simply do nothing, but unless this has been thought about thoroughly, documented and communicated to a team, the analysis serves little purpose. You can’t create a procedure for every possible scenario but you can easily identify the most common type of scenarios that logs can generate.

Maximizing Automation

Once having identified the final objective; the next objective is to work on streamlining and automating capture, analysis and response procedures. Software tools along with simple flowchart analysis help in minimizing the time and effort required for achieving a greater degree of vigilance one seeks.

Employing Redundant Analysts

A majority of log consolidation and analysis tools provide a capability for targeting specific log events and set response actions. However, it needs to be remembered most powerful computers are still being run by human experts. A basic tenet where any log file employs procedures for multiple people to go ahead and review the data. www.pccare247.com

How to measure and manage the impact of social media?

Ever since its inception social media has turned around the way we originally thought about branding our products on the “World Wide Web”. And yes with savvy marketers also going about and reading as well as responding to social media content, measuring the concept in terms of success and failure has somewhat become a sort of a norm. 

Discovering the entities involved

There are many entities involved from the start to the end in any successful social media campaign. Classification which really ends up enlisting consumers into five levels of engagement and on what basis they really end up responding to various online channels. At the end of the day primarily comprising of:

·      Searchers at the most passive levels. This category is primarily involved with the task of scanning online resources for finding out specific information. And at the end of the day, a count of unique visitors thronging onto the site probably best captures this category.

·    The second category ends up comprising of Lurkers. A class consisting of individuals who every now and then like to drop on to a conversation but really don’t end up participating in it. This class of users can be treated as repeat visitors above a certain frequency. Say for instance when they start coming back to a site for about 3 or 5 times in a month.

·      A little bit more engaged class of visitors are the Casuals, participating lightly in any all sorts of social media. This class is identified via metrics such as percentage of comments they post as friends on either Facebook or by becoming followers on Twitter.

·  Ranking high on the hierarchy are the Actives who regularly retweet messages,  repeatedly participate in active forums and post messages frequently.

·       Last but the most important class is that of Defenders who are entrusted with the task of advocating, recommending and defending. This class is the most influential and the most active among all the categories.  www.pccare247.com

Propel your organization forward with these vital policies

For an organization to thrive and grow, a well-defined corporate policy is always warranted. Be it then again related to firewalls, backups, or personnel management, at any time of the day an organization would need security policies to keep itself on the forward march. However, the policies discussed here do not mean other policies are less important. And in any scenario, an organization might need to formulate as many as hundred of policies to be in sync with its objectives and vision. But then again, going into the nitty-gritty of every such policy would be nothing more of a herculean task. So out here we are just mentioning the vital policies which are considered to be more than handy. Starting with:

Acceptable User Policy (AUP)

Every organization needs to spell out its activities; allowed or prohibited. This step is specifically taken with regards to the usage of the official equipment and resource such as the internet. Say for instance, accessing adult sites or running one’s own personal agenda such as free lancing, is considered as activities contrary to the interests of an organization. Thus, at the end of the day AUP acts as a guide for employees to enhance their productivity without putting the organization at risk with risky activities contrary to the interests of a business.  

Privacy Policy

A privacy policy is responsible for disclosing what is private or not private while working on the company’s premises or its equipment.  A privacy policy is inclusive of activities such as use of security cameras, recording of keystrokes, monitoring of net usage. The policy also dictates what must be disclosed, what shouldn’t be, to whom the information is disclosed and for what purposes.  

Password Security

The password policy tends to comprise rules and regulations with regards to framing of passwords, characters used in a password, minimum and maximum age of a password and prevention of any password reuse. Under this policy users should be trained on how to select more secure passwords. The policy also works towards disabling of passwords wherein even after subsequent login attempts a user fails to log on.  

Disposal and Destruction of confidential data

Safe destruction and disposal of official documents is always warranted. For at the end of the day; dumpster diving might very well end up leading to confidential documents getting into the hands of either competitors or the government. 

Storage and Retention Policy

Data to be used in the future must be retained and stored properly. Backup devices alone won’t do and the use of a working media device such as backup software and compatible OS software is always considered as quintessential.

 Human Resource Policy

The human resource policy is always something on which an organization builds its foundation. For at the end of the day, the policy is responsible for recruitment and training of employees; considered as the most pivotal cog in the smooth running of any organization.

Firewall Policy

Firewalls are essential components of a computer security infrastructure. Responsible for keeping unwanted traffic at bay, a firewall policy dictates and describes how firewalls are to be implemented. www.pccare247.com

Beware!! Top 5 Malware Delivery Networks look to prey on unsuspecting netizens

The best of the breed Firewall and Anti-Virus software are bound to fail in front of malware delivery networks comprising of dynamic links and ever changing payload servers. Elements working towards luring innocent netizens by offering them sugar coated baits comprising of online storage solutions and free software downloads. And with those remaining untouched often coming up tagged with categories such as:

·         Search Engines (39.2%)

·         E-mail (6.9%)

·         Pornography (6.7%)

·         Social Networking (5.2%)

Once again driving home the point conventional firewall and anti-virus software would be deemed as incompetent for dealing with dynamic and constantly changing threats. Thus, pushing home the point of employing an intelligent, real-time cloud based Web defense that is dynamic and equally effective at the same time. However, then again coming back to the question of malware delivery networks, on any given day there would be nothing less than 50 operational and highly active malware networks. But since we can’t talk about all of them, herein we are just listing the top 5 networks which may play havoc with any security software.

Take Care!! The evil 5 are still thriving and throbbing

Netizens really need to take care; for there are 5 networks still thriving and throbbing which intend to make a huge dent in any security establishment. Well here goes nothing. Starting with:

1.    Shnakule

As the name sounds, equally is the destructive force of this malware network. With a Unique Attacks Hosts tally comprising of 2001 and going up to teach a maximum of 4357, the network in the first half of 2011 nearly drew about 21000 users on an average, with the maximum touching a whopping 51000 users. Broad based in origin, the Shnakule has a number of malicious activities in its kitty; primarily comprising of fake Anti-Virus and Codecs, Fake Flash and Firefox updates, Fake Wares, Botnet commands and controls. With Search Engine poisoning being a major USP of the network, Shnakule has a stake in many categories such as pornography, gambling, pharmaceuticals, link farming and work-at-home scams.

2.    Ishabor

Exclusively devoted to distributing fake anti-virus scareware and comprising of unique attack hosts averaging up to 766 and the maximum touching up a whopping figure of 1140, extensive research revealed Ishabor was riding piggy back on Shnakule from the very beginning to spread around its nefarious designs.  

3.    Cinbric

With unique attack host raking up an average of 505 hosts and going up to touch a maximum of 1602 hosts, Cinbric as a network tends to primarily rely on spam to drive traffic to porn-centric ransomware. At the same time luring users with the promise of exclusive Web cam access, if they were to download and install their software.  

4.    Naargo

Notching up impressive figures of 199 for unique attack hosts and the maximum number going up to as good as 299, even though Naargo is not devoted to malware delivery, the network tends to exhibit a number of shady characteristics; calling for continued tracking and investigation. The network also tends to heavily rely on using spam and search engine poisoning for driving traffic to porn sites.

5.    Vidzeban

Boasting of a significant Russian-language presence, the malware network with its unique attack hosts tallying up to 156 and the maximum tally climbing up to as good as 347, Vidzeban ends up wooing netizens by promising them easy to download and install software. In short, the basic premise on which the network tends to thrive is Search Engine Poisoning. http://www.pccare247.com/pc-security/malware-removal.html

Embrace Consumerization – Don’t wish it away

Emerging technologies are propelling IT industry ahead and it is about time organizations took notice of them. And It is about time IT departments started to shrug off their inhibitions and started to embrace concepts such as cloud computing, Consumerization and but of course Social Media with open arms. Using the same technologies to not only improve productivity of the employees but at the same time Ushering an era of work productivity like never before.    

Consumerization is ‘fait accompli’

It is about time the senior management started recognizing Consumerization is here to stay and they cannot simply wish away devices such as personal smart phones, tablets, and laptops away. Devices which to say the least are inevitable and extremely pivotal for communication. For at the end of the day Consumerization is way more than just users connecting a personal device to the corporate network. It is anything but an experience which is driven by several inter-related trends such as:

• Enterprise Mobility

In a highly dynamic environment personally liable smart phones and tablets are slowly but surely becoming a norm. Users of such devices are more than happy in bringing such gadgets with them into an enterprise.

• Cloud Computing

Cloud-based infrastructure and applications whether public or private can be pivotal in driving down the Capex and other associated IT operational costs. More importantly, as it goes, cloud computing also ends up giving users an instant access to cloud-based alternatives and IT-controlled applications. To be used at the end of the day without any sort of involvement from the IT department.

• Social Media

Enterprises across the globe are on the cusp of a generational shift in how their workers communicate. And somehow in the consumer world such communications end up taking place in the form of online conversations on community forums, wikis and instant Messaging.

Considered to be immediate yet uncensored at the same time, it is worth pointing out that the above trends tend to thrive in a synergistic relationship. Wherein, cloud makes enterprise mobility possible and mobility drives more demand for cloud-based and mobile applications. While, on the other hand Social Media is the communication medium in which users end up collaborating with each other, search for new applications, share information and offer their opinions as and when asked for.

In short, this new era of Consumerization and mobility is changing the relationship between users and their enterprise. And it is about time, the management ended up taking note of it. www.pccare247.com