To make up for being such a crappy year, 2020 offers something extra to us: early storms! Usually the season gets rolling in August, but this being 2020, Tropical Storm Hanna may become a hurricane by the time it hits the Gulf States. While you were boarding up windows, some newsbits may have slipped by. Let’s catch up before they blow away.
Security News. Any security mistake stinks, but a misconfiguration that leaves holes open really hurts. Trend Micro Cloud One – Conformity is now available to Microsoft Azure customers, so they can better guard against misconfigurations, compliance challenges, and cyber-risks in the cloud.
KnowBe4, the security awareness and phishing training folks, have added a free new tool called the Browser Password Inspector (pictured). Surprise! It inspects passwords saved in user browsers to guard against breaches.
TEAMARES, the offensive security and incident response arm of CRITICALSTART, launched DeimosC2, a cross-compatible, open-source Command and Control tool. Manages compromised machines and includes mobile support.
Password vaults are great, but issues cause problems throughout the network. Centrify now includes Client-based Password Reconciliation in version 20.3 of Centrify Privileged Access Service. The PAM player also made Centrify Hyper-Scalable Privileged Access Service (PAS) available.
Speaking of new releases, check out the LogRhythm NextGen SIEM Platform version 7.5 and its Open Collector technology to simplify onboarding of cloud data sources.
MSPs in the LogMeIn Partner Network can now sell, manage, and support the LastPass Enterprise password management product.
With all the extra remote users you have to wrangle, the upgrade for the free Netwrix Account Lockout Examiner might come in handy. Dig out the root cause of lockouts with a single click. Did you catch the “”free”” part?’
Newsworthy items like COVID-19 sadly mean more identity fraud. TransUnion’s Consumer Financial Hardship studies found that phishing worldwide is the top digital fraud scheme related to the coronavirus.
Hardware news. Q3 2020 will see new desktop PCs powered by the AMD Ryzen 4000 Series Desktop Processors with Radeon Graphics and the AMD Athlon 3000 Series Desktop Processor with Radeon Graphics.
The “”Back to School”” season means something completely different this year. No matter what the mix of in-class versus online ends up being, the new ViewSonic myViewBoard Classroom (pictured) will help teachers with students anywhere and everywhere.
IoT devices needed to be small first, but now they’re supposed to be smart as well. Hello to the Avnet MaaXBoard Mini single-board computer with NXP’s i.MX 8M Mini processor.
Where do gamers game? Everywhere. Hence the new ASUS Republic of Gamers ROG Phone 3. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 Plus 5G Mobile Platform powers a 144 HZ / 1 ms AMOLED 6.59 inch display.
LogMeIn’s GoToRoom family of all-in-one video conferencing sets now has seven new hardware bundles. Mix and match pieces from partners Dolby, Logitech, Poly, and Extron.
Velocity Micro has a new NetMagix server series. Workstations running AMD Threadripper, EPYC, and Intel Xeon Scalable processors fit into a 4U rack mountable form factor with configurations starting at $3,000.
Or you might prefer the new Chenbro RB13804, a 1U rackmount server for storage-focused applications in the data center and HPC systems.
More servers mean more switches. The new EnGenius Cloud ECS2512 and ECS2512FP Multi-Gigabit switches could be helpful. Layer 2+ switching capacity (120G) and more.
Other product news. Automation can be handy. See what we mean by checking out the new Ivanti Neurons (pictured), a “”hyper-automation”” platform to proactively, predictably, and autonomously self-heal and self-secure devices.
Intel apparently likes the looks of Neurons. It inked a strategic partnership with Ivanti to integrate its Intel Endpoint Management Assistant with the new tool.
Let’s just admit that we’ll never be paperless and quit fooling ourselves. So relax and embrace the new HP Managed Print Cloud Services. Addresses both trusted and zero-trust cloud environments.
SAP partner apps for the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud are now available on the SAP App Center digital marketplace.
Salesforce Service Cloud Voice partnered with AWS to provide flexible phone support from the home or office via Amazon Connect telephony.
Speaking of Amazon Connect, it now has a new service called Contact Lens that call centers can use to measure calls for sentiment, trends, and compliance with policy.
Wish you could spin up disaster recovery environments instantly in Wasabi’s “”Hot Cloud Storage”” environment? Thanks to a partnership with Caringo, you can.
ManageEngine’s ADSelfService Plus now offers Conditional Access Policy. Uses predefined risk factors such as IP address or device type to authorize user access.
LG Business Solutions expanded its set of Health Protocol Solutions. Includes new digital signage packages to help health facilities provide eye-catching platforms for info, guidance, and more.
To help SMB clients better manage decentralized employees, Onepath launched Cloud PBX, a UCaaS product designed to support remote workers for a fraction of the price of enterprise-grade options.
Clients trying to move databases to the cloud probably need help. Hello, 2nd Watch database migration services.
Non-product vendor news. Bitdefender consolidated its Business Solutions Group, named Steve Kelley its president and general manager, and made Chris Brazdziunas its SVP of product and service engineering.
Claroty welcomes new Chief Executive Officer Yaniv Vardi (pictured).
Schneider Electric has a new opportunity registration program for its APC power quality partners.
Cloud communications player 8×8 expanded its 8×8 Open Channel Program globally. Partners in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region can be Master Agents, Sub Agents, and VARs.
A new global distribution agreement with Arrow Electronics will help Taoglas spread its AI and IoT products to a larger customer base and improve supply chain services.
Atos and RingCentral expanded their strategic partnership with the launch of a co-branded UCaaS program called Unity Office from RingCentral. Look for it starting August 31, 2020.
Need some security for your SD-WAN? Of course. So the partnership between Aryaka Cloud First (SD-WAN) and Check Point CloudGuard Connect and CloudGuard Edge (security) might help.
This week’s stats ticker:
Cisco commissioned a study in three parts from late 2019 to May/June 2020 and found some of the ways work will change in the future. “”A New Perspective on the Modern Workplace“” reports 74% of 1,500 senior managers from 13 countries say their business will in some ways emerge stronger from the coronavirus . But flexibility will remain important, with 49% reporting flexible work hours are here to stay. 50% say increased remote work would lead to a more inclusive and extended talent pool. 87% report an increased emphasis on employee wellbeing and work-life balance. Nearly half (47%) see this being maintained over the long term.
The McAfee COVID-19 Threat Report: July 2020 examined cybercriminal activity in Q1. Threats are evolving, with an average of 375 new threats per minute and criminals exploiting the pandemic with phishing, malicious apps, malware, and more. PowerShell malware increased 688% over the course of the quarter. Total malware grew 1,902% over the past four quarters. Disclosed incidents increased, and nearly 47% of all publicly disclosed security incidents took place in the United States. Testing, treatments, cures, and remote work topics were dangled to trick users into clicking on malicious links. While new ransomware declined 12%, total ransomware increased 32% over the past four quarters.
Barracuda’s “”Spear Phishing: Top Threats and Trends Vol. 4 – Insights into attacker activity in compromised email accounts“” finds a specialized economy has emerged around email account takeover. More than a third of the hijacked accounts had been occupied by attackers for longer than one week. 20% of compromised accounts appear in at least one online password data breach. In 31% of compromises, harvesting hackers sold monetizing hackers the info to exploit. 78% of attackers didn’t access any applications outside of email.
When criminals need editors. Speaking of criminals, not all are clever (lucky for us).
Robert Berger, 25, sent a State of New Jersey death certificate to Nassau County, N.Y. Why? To fake his own death and avoid a likely jail sentence.
However, new forger Robert didn’t pay enough attention in English class. The DA in Nassau County noticed the word ‘Registry’ in the department name was misspelled as
‘Regsitry’ in one section. And the fonts didn’t match quite right.
Berger’s attorney claimed he had been tricked into submitting the fake death certificate. And Berger faces four more years in prison for the bad forgery on top of his sentence for theft-related charges.
The attorney dropped Mr. Berger as a client. Dead clients are notoriously slow to pay.
