A quarter of Irish businesses concerned about losing data to dark web. #DarkWeb #IrishBiz

Logicalis Ireland, the IT solutions and managed services provider, today announces the results of a survey which explored the barriers, challenges and concerns around cloud adoption in Ireland. The research, which involved more than 100 IT decision makers across Irish businesses, found that almost a quarter (24%) are concerned about losing data to the dark web.

The study, carried out by TechPro on behalf of Logicalis Ireland, revealed that the three biggest concerns in relation to cloud security are data breaches (70%), human error (60%) and permanent data loss (44%). Furthermore, almost three quarters of respondents are more worried about cloud security threats in 2020.

Security was found to be the leading barrier to cloud adoption with 56% of IT decision-makers citing it. Other top barriers are lack of in-house knowledge and skills (38%), budget constraints (37%), data compliancy concerns (35%) and lack of visibility of workloads/applications in the cloud (32%).

Public cloud (38%) is perceived as the IT environment that poses the greatest risk to security, followed by on-premises infrastructure (31%). Meanwhile, private cloud is considered the lowest risk (6%) among IT decision-makers.

Despite their concerns, over half (55%) of Irish businesses do not have an integrated cloud security plan in place. Furthermore, 13% admitted their organisations have no response plans in place for security incidents, with a further 26% only acting reactively as and when incidents arise.

Loman McCaffrey, Sales Manager, Logicalis Ireland

Loman McCaffrey, Sales Manager, Logicalis Ireland, said: “Of course IT decision-makers should be worried about incidents which could result in data breaches and data loss – it’s good that they are because data has huge value and threats are evolving as quickly as technology is.

“However, Irish businesses shouldn’t let these security concerns and other challenges – such as lack of visibility, rising costs and lack of in-house resources – delay their adoption of cloud and hinder the potential growth of their company. It comes down to choosing the right solution.

“As well as maximising security, organisations need to consider platforms that also help to keep costs under control, support staff productivity and enable better management of data, regardless of the cloud environment they’re using.

“Furthermore, as more organisations move their workloads into the cloud, it’s vital they have a clearly defined and continually evolving security strategy that covers all aspects of the business, including staff training to reduce the risk of falling victim to cybersecurity attacks. Otherwise their fears could be realised.”

 

 

Review – The @noreve leather back case for the iPhone 11 #Noreve #iPhone11

Noreve is a brand we have been using some years now and one that offers great looks a luxury feel and customised cases for you smartphones and more which are all handmade individually which is really nice and this is time consuming as you have an option to pick colours, texture and ad ons to your case where allowed.

This case offers the basic protection yet gives you iPhone a really business like look and this look shy’s away from the norm which is gel or plastic cases and also they give you addition grip not effecting the features on any device with your keys and ports fully accessible yet protected with a nice seamless design all round that complements the lines on the phone.

This beautiful luxury case is equipped with a thermoplastic inner frame to provide better protection for the iPhone 11 without disrupting its operation.

Robust the case is yet professional looking this case is will keep your phone from harms way and can be placed face down with a slight lip on top and the rear camera and lens is protected too which enables you to place the device down on its back, As the iPhone 11 is face unlock most people might do so anyway.

With Noreve, customising your cover becomes possible and above all easy. Start by choosing from the finishes available: Evolution, Perpétuelle, Ambition, Exception, Pulsion, etc. Then select the colour that best suits your style. If you wish, our leather craftsmen will add slots for business or credit cards, engrave your initials or logo on the leather, etc. If you plan to offer this cover to a close friend or family who has an iPhone 11 (2019), we have a tailor-made packaging that will preserve the element of surprise.

Check out the video review below.  BUY HERE

Preparing Irish businesses for increasingly extreme weather events.Noel O’Grady, Sungard AS #Weather #ICT #SungardAS

The impact of extreme weather events on business performance, both positively and negatively, should not be underestimated. Abnormal weather is the difference between observed weather and its normal value, which is typically calculated using the 30-year average.  With the news that Ireland can expect plunging temperatures and extreme storms to become a more regular occurrence, the question of how companies can best prepare and respond should be an increased priority for business owners. 

 

Production, supply, demand and operations can all be impacted by extreme weather. Abnormal weather patterns offer a unique form of disruption for companies and, in recent years, organisations in the fields of energy, water, telecoms, transport, retail, leisure and agriculture have all been affected in a variety of ways. Small businesses are the most vulnerable, with there being no simple way of telling how long the weather-related disruption can last. Prolonged periods of disruption can lead to financial distress, triggering shortfalls in sales, store closures and even job cuts.   

 

Thanks to climate change, the frequency and intensity of abnormal weather patterns have increased too, with a shift to warmer temperatures only set to further the threats. Financial losses caused by adverse weather that didn’t seem material enough for companies to concern themselves with 10 years ago, are now examined and managed by weather-based financial instruments that seek to cover the risk to which businesses are exposed. As recently as October 2019, the Irish government were forced to send out an orange weather warning in preparation for ex-hurricane Lorenzo, proof that the time has now come when businesses can no longer fail to have an effective back-up plan in place to limit the negative impacts of a disaster.   

 

Failure to plan 

 

The European Economic Area records that, over the period 1980 – 2017, total reported economic losses caused by weather and climate-related extremes in the member countries amounted to approximately EUR 453 billion. In 2018, Sinn Féin proposed a bill to make it compulsory for employers to close its place of business during a red alert weather warning. It stated that in the event of a place of work being subject to a red weather warning, an employer would be required to “close such place and make reasonable measures to inform all employees to stay away from it for the duration of that warning.”  

 

Organisations must review assumptions about the risks they face because of their direct influence on both organisational resilience and the bottom line. Key to deciding how to move forward is making an accurate assessment of the level of risk a business is willing to accept, and taking a multi-tiered approach to assess and plan for a range of threats.

 

Advice for organisations to consider today 

 

To best address extreme weather events, companies should consider the following: 

 

  • Get a good weather forecast. The quality and range of forecasts has improved markedly in recent years.
  • Evaluate how to react to a disruption of this nature – organisations should look at completing an assessment of business impact, risk and overall resilience. 
  • Ensure ICT is robust yet agile – businesses must ensure an ICT service continuity plan is in place, and that it extends to disaster recovery scenarios. 
  • Prepare operations for action accordingly – this should consider business continuity processes, training and awareness processes for staff at all levels of the business, and vendor/supplier risk management too. 
  • Develop crisis leadership competencies within the executive team – this can include training, executive coaching and coached crisis scenarios.   
  • Foster a mutually supportive network of suppliers and stakeholders – examine market-wide crisis exercises and identify best practice. Also assess supply chain resilience. 

 

A growing trend 

 

Environmental risks have grown in prominence over the last decade and we can expect this trend to continue. Findings from the World Economic Forum’s 2019 Global Risks Report send a clear message to companies, with extreme weather events, natural disasters and climate change all highlighted as top concerns. 

 

As tempting as it might be to think “that’ll never happen to us”, understanding and investing in a business continuity plan, and business interruption insurance can greatly support recovery. The latter can be an invaluable safeguard for a business, for example allowing for the reimbursement of ongoing expenses and lost gross profit while a permanent business location is being repaired. 

 

Disasters can happen when least expected. Companies might not be able to prevent the storm, but they can take steps to handle the situation and keep operations up and running with minimal disruption. This is what the most resilient companies do, and it’s why they’ve stayed afloat while others have not.

Redison introduces Senstroke: the first connected solution to play, record and improve drumming anywhere, anytime. #Senstroke #Drumming #Music

Redison, the French startup company that specialises in connected music, today announces the launch of Senstroke. Senstroke are the first Bluetooth enabled sensors for percussionists that allow drummers to reproduce the movements and impacts of authentic drumsticks as well as the footwork of a real drum kit.

This unique innovation with patented technology has been designed for both amateur and professional drummers who want to practice their scales anywhere without bothering those around them with loud noise.

Getting a drum kit set up has never been easier- users simply download the iOS & Android app, connect the Bluetooth enabled sensors to the drumsticks and define the playing zone to their preferences.

The technology built into Senstroke means drums can now be played on any surface: from digital practice pads to real drums, from cushions, books or tables, to outdoor furniture – the possibilities are endless. Once the zone of playing is defined each touch is transformed into a MIDI note and real drums’ sounds are created instantly through the smartphone or tablet and any computer-based music software.

The Senstroke app comes packed with features such as ability to record drumming fragments and export and share on social media. Drummers can record their session wherever they want, directly on their smartphone in just a few seconds and use it later in a professional setting. The app update due in March will also help learners with its interactive lessons function – ideal for children and beginners alike.

Senstroke can manage a whole variety of rebound levels in a realistic manner. Everything has been designed in order to achieve the highest level of the real drumming sensation. What’s more, those who are using Senstroke’s digital practice pads have the additional benefit of a superior quality of rebound and a significant noise reduction.

To achieve this, the user needs only their favourite MIDI compatible software and to record all of their drumming sessions. Furthermore, by adjusting the sensors on an acoustic drum kit, users can record without requiring any additional equipment.

The precise rebound handling allows Senstroke to be used in a realistic and a professional way. It is also possible to record any drumming on an actual electric or acoustic drum set.

Besides reproducing the sound of the drums, each user can use a metronome and personalise their drum kit and the sounds used.

Jérôme Dron, Founder, Redison said: “For many drummers the barriers of cost, space and noise made the instrument a no go, but with Senstroke users all over the world can experience the joy of drumming – no matter where they are! We already have 3,000 users and are looking forward to welcoming plenty more from the UK. ”

Senstroke is available from Amazon, Conrad Shop and Gear4Music and offers three packages:

The Senstroke Essential Box £145 : perfect as a gift or for beginners

The Senstroke Standard box £185 : ideal for drummers who already have drumsticks

The Senstroke Ultimate box £230 : highly recommend to enjoy the full experience of drumming

Poly introduces Poly Lens for cloud-based insights and video endpoint management. #Poly #Cloud

Plantronics, Inc. (“Poly” – formerly Plantronics and Polycom) (NYSE: PLT), a global communications company that powers meaningful human connection and collaboration, today unveils Poly Lens, a new cloud-based insights and management service. Initially available in a fully supported commercial preview, Poly Lens combines seamless management and updating tools with powerful insight into how Poly devices are actually being used to offer greater control and simplicity to IT departments.

Poly Lens joins the company’s complete end-to-end unified communications portfolio on display at Integrated Systems Europe 2020 (UC Hall; Booths 11-B140 and 11 A-150).

“Today’s businesses understand that the right communications and collaboration tools can increase productivity, but there’s a blind spot when it comes to how these tools are adopted and used by their workforce,” said Beau Wilder, vice president and general manager of infrastructure, cloud and analytics for Poly. “Poly Lens provides the next-level of visibility into collaboration spaces and device use without the need to install additional infrastructure.”

Organisations crave transparency and want information surrounding the successes and failures of workspace implementations, including the use of new tools or devices. Poly Lens aggregates data and offers customers a unique overview that lets them turn insights into actions.

Poly will continue to update the commercial preview of Poly Lens to add new capabilities, ultimately converging Poly’s endpoint management solutions into one convenient service. Today, Poly Lens brings management and updating capabilities to the new Poly Studio X family of video bars as well as the Poly G7500. Over time, Poly Lens will evolve to support Poly headsets and phone offerings in addition to an ever-increasing array of new insights.

Key features of the Poly Lens service include:

  • Device Management– Poly Lens supports frictionless device onboarding, setting configurations, map-based inventory management, and software upgrades. For example, customers can use Poly Lens today to ensure that their Studio X video bars and G7500 solutions will always have access to the latest Poly MeetingAI features and capabilities. Having the right technology and tools in place is critical to help IT quickly and properly deploy the most suitable mission-critical collaboration devices, services, and systems. Poly Lens provides a simple and modern interface for IT managers and administrators to quickly and effectively deploy, provision and manage their Poly devices.
  • Intelligent Insights – Poly Lens identifies and prioritises actionable insights that help maximise user adoption and device uptime through an intelligent news feed. The news feed ensures the most important and urgent insights are always at the top of the feed, helping IT managers more efficiently address any issues that might arise. Coming soon, Poly Lens will provide room-based insights to help IT and facilities planners optimise their physical workspace now and into the future.
  • Cloud-based Service – With more businesses moving their operations to cloud-based technology, Poly Lens delivers a flexible and secure solution that enables businesses to be more agile and innovative – instantly. Customers can also migrate between video-as-a-service providers without losing valuable and historical insights.

“Businesses are struggling to keep pace with the proliferation of devices needed for the digital workplace and multi-generational workforce, combined with high costs of real estate,” said Melissa Fremeijer, Senior Research Analyst, European Telecommunications and Networking, IDC. “Now more than ever, companies have to optimise shared workspaces and tools to stay competitive. This will continue to fuel the need for intelligent devices that provide data-driven, actional insights and can be deployed in an easy and scalable way.”

Poly Lens Availability

Poly Lens is available now worldwide as a fully supported commercial preview at no charge. More details on pricing and commercialisation will be available in the first half of 2020. For more information on Poly Lens, please visit: poly.com/lens.

Join Poly at ISE 2020

Poly Lens is one of a host of Poly solutions that connect across and between unified communications platforms to reduce the distractions, complexity, and distance in the modern workspace. In addition to Poly Lens, Poly will feature Poly Studio X video bars, Poly Savi 8200 Office and UC Series headsets, Voyager Office Series headsets, Poly Elara 60 Series mobile phone station and Poly G7500.

Poly solutions will also be on display at the following ISE booths:

  • Microsoft, booth B-130, Hall 11
  • Zoom, booth B-225, Hall 15

OffGamers partners with DT One to allow its customers to send airtime across the globe #Gaming

With more than 2.5 billion gamers worldwide, mobile gaming on smartphones and tablets makes up 45% of the total market. Keeping this growing mobile gaming base in mind, OffGamers recognises that the option to buy international airtime or data on its platform offers real value to mobile gaming customers. Internet access is essential to mobile gaming and being able to quickly top up mobile airtime for friends or loved ones abroad is a natural addition to OffGamers global product offering.

By partnering with DT One, OffGamers have real-time access to DT One’s global B2B network of more than 550 mobile operators across 160 countries, allowing customers to buy airtime instantly in more than 100 currencies.

 

“We believe that our mobile top-up solution will prove to be a convenient and useful service for OffGamers customers. This partnership allows OffGamers to integrate their platform with the DT One network, giving access to over five billion customers our network can reach,” says Krishnadeep Baruah DT One’s EVP of Sales, Asia-Pacific.

“We’re excited to partner with DT One and offer international airtime top-up as a new addition to our product offerings. With the tremendous rise in popularity of mobile gaming in recent years, we believe offering airtime top-ups will greatly benefit our customers. DT One’s extensive coverage of mobile top-ups will complement our existing products so that we can provide more options to our customers across all regions. We believe that we’ll see great things from this partnership,” says Karyn Thng, Business Director of OffGamers.

Plantronics Multi Product unboxing. #Plantronics #Tech #Headsets #Wireless #Office

The super folks at Plantronics have sent us over a few products to check out and there is something for everyone here. We have got the Plantronics Voyager 3240/5200 6200 UC and Calisto 5200. 

We will be reviewing these over the next few weeks on our YouTube and will be heading that way with reviews going forward with real hands on tech reviews and a deep look into the products. If you have any questions feel free to ask there or below or on any of our social media and we will gladly answer any questions you might have.

See https://www.plantronics.com/gb/en for the full product range and check out what we have reviewed in the past here..

7 Things Parents Must Do To Keep Their Families Safe Online. #SaferInternetDay #SID2020

Today, parents are bombarded with information on how to protect their families from threats online.
This is actually resulting in a phenomenon termed ‘security fatigue’. People get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of stuff we are told we must do to stay secure, that actually we get paralysed by the complexity of it all. As a result, parents end up having no protection at all.
Luckily, the reality is far more simple. At SimpleCyberLife.com we believe there are several key things to consider when it comes to developing a healthy, happy and safe technology connected family home.
 
1) Set the ground rules: establish a set of ground rules that the whole family can subscribe to can help everyone ‘buy-in’ to the responsible use of technology at home.
 
2) Social media privacy settings – social media is often the way cyber criminals gather important personal information which can then be used to attack us. We should all be reviewing our privacy settings for all social media sites on a regular basis, reviewing historic posts for sensitive information, only accepting friend requests from people you know in real life and remembering NOT to over-share.
 
3)  Maintain an Open & Honest Relationship – easier said than done, but try as a parent to maintain and open and honest relationship with your children and the use of technology in the home.
 
– Parent-as-teacher – start an ongoing dialogue with your children around cyber and the risks it brings. Use some real world examples to bring the risks to life for them. Discuss news stories with them.
 
– Parent-as-confidant – one of the biggest risks children face is the feeling of feeling isolated – this is exactly what sexual predators have techniques to try and engineer. Try and position yourself as the person they can come to when things go wrong online.
 
– Parent-as-expert – it has been shown that kids have a short-sighted view of cyber risks as they interpret risk as a measure of how much something bothers them. Parents need to have an understanding of cyber security risks themselves in order to help their children bridge this gap.
 
– Parent-as-student – reverse the usual roles…ask your kids to teach you! Be inquisitive about the social media they use, how they keep their accounts secure and how they identify suspicious activity or communications. Don’t ask leading questions and be genuine in your questions and supportive in their responses.
 
4) Home wifi setup – our home WiFi is the primary way that we access the internet but it is surprising how insecure some WiFi routers come out of the box. To ensure the security of our WiFi router and help protect all of the family devices that connect to it, ensure you change the default password and set up automatic software updates.
 
5)  Keep phones out of bedrooms – kids can end up squirrelling themselves away in their rooms, becoming more and more isolated as they endlessly scroll social media on their own. The solution? Buy a cheap Family Charging Station that can be placed on a hallway or corridor table. All family members can place their smartphones on charge before they go to their rooms, they are left outside and when they return to them in the morning they are all fully charged and ready to go!
 
6) Secure browsing – our internet browsers are the main portal through which we access the internet and you would be amazed at how insecure some standard browsers such as Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox are. We need to either ensure we review the security settings of our chosen browser or we are using a secure browser like BRAVE.  
 
7) Family & friends education – educating our loved ones is vital because cyber criminals know that kids can be the weak link and can often be their way ‘in’ to get access to the more sensitive data stored by parents. Education can help combat almost all of the cyber threats out there in some form or another, so the little time it takes to talk about cyber security is time well spent. For example, if everyone in the family knows how to spot a phishing email, this will drastically reduce the number of viruses making their ways onto family devices.  
Of course, each family will have slightly different security needs – which is why to make it even less daunting – SimpleCyberLife.com have a short one-minute quiz for potential members to complete, to help them decipher what their internet safety priorities should be.
It’s important to feel supported in your endeavour to keep your family safe online, and simplecyberlife.com are the world’s first membership network designed to provide accessible resources and expert advice, all in one place. There’s also a community forum where you can pitch questions direct to internet safety experts and fellow parents. Join today – launch offer on now at simplecyberlife.com.

Review – The Aukey T21 cost just €35 but deliver. #Aukey #T21 #TrueWireless

The Aukey T21 are a budget pair of true wireless earbuds and at this price you will question on how good they can be, Like I have said before the cost to performance ratio is coming down on true wireless as it has on smartphones and something to keep in mind Aukey  have had a constant good audio signature from what I have tested over the last few months.

First notable thing here is the fit, they fit really well and they are really comfortable and will not budge from the ears,the noise isolation is better than expected and they sit well. They have a plain bland look with no buttons on board but that is fine and at this price point you really cant complain when you get the sound they deliver.

Build quality is simple and a plastic affair with IPX4 rating which will suit most people like commuters or for those who want to have a spare pair lying around or if you are heading off for a trip or camping weekend and dont want to bring your more expensive ones away.

The touch controls for me where fine with simple commands to follow. Double tap on the left and right to play and pause, Triple tap either side to get access to your voice assistant and a long press left or right to skip or reverse tracks and that is all there is to it. There is no volume control here which is fine but something to think about,being honest it does not bother me and again you have to think of the price.

There is no auto play or pause and they can be used individually once not in the case, the right side will work with the left charging and the left wont with the right side charging in the case, again people like to know these things.

Calls are fine and clear here too on both sides, The audio experience though is where they excell for the price, they have a nice bass level though not too deep and overall the sound experience is bright and well balanced and you will not be disappointed at all,there is no lag latency whilst watching Netflix or You Tube and the volume level is quite decent so for me the max is the better level but that is my personal taste.

Battery life is around the 4 hour mark which is fine but you get 25 hours in total with the case which is not to sniffed at and these are on par with the companies claims with two full charge and discharges.. So for the money are they worth it?? An easy yes if you want something clean and just works minus the aesthetics and just do the job they are meant to do and these do just that and more for the price tag. Tested on both Android and iOS and work fine with both.

Technology: BT 5, A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP
Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 5
Driver: 1x 6mm / 0.24” speaker driver
Operating Range: Up to 10m / 33ft
Battery Life: Up to 5 hours
Input: DC 5V
Charging Time: 2 hours
Battery Type: Li-Polymer (2 x 40mAh)
Weight: 9g / 0.32oz
Charging Case: Li-Polymer (380mAh)
Number of Earbuds Recharges: 4 times (pair)

BUY HERE 

BUY ON AMAZON