For yet another year, BMIT Technologies has been a proud partner and sponsor of the Otters ASC’s Swimming and Waterpolo School. Every year, the school introduces and trains children in the swimming and Waterpolo disciplines and is the only one of its kind in Gozo.

The 2022 programme was attended by over 150 students, ranging from 4 to 15 years. Head Coach John Borg, and a team of 18 coaches and assistant coaches, covered the basics of both swimming and Waterpolo to newcomers, with other students tackling a more advanced curriculum.

At the end of the programme the children were presented with a certificate highlighting their achievements and progress in swimming and waterpolo.  The children were also treated to an end of season fun activity which included storytelling, STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) activities and fun games.

Over the years, a good number of students of the BMIT Swimming & Waterpolo School progressed to become Waterpolo players, and this season it was no exception. In fact, both the Otters Under 13 and Under 15 teams, mainly consisting of school graduates, registered very good results, with the Under 15 team led by Malta Under 16 international Luigi Dimech and by up-and-coming goalkeeper Mattia Grech winning all their games in Section B. They were presented with the trophy by ASA Vice President Karl Galea after the home game against Exiles. 

The SMB market in Europe and more specifically in Malta has always been the dominating market with very large numbers of businesses. Governments continue to support this market through various incentives, specifically to digitise and adopt cloud strategies.  We saw such incentives pushed during the COVID-19 pandemic for SMBs to enable hybrid/remote work and increase contactless business. These incentives help businesses enhance their operations, grow and even enter the market more easily. BUT! there is darkness glooming on this market… The DARK SIDE of technology has spread, evolved, and widened its threat landscape. The number of attacks on SMBs doubled in a 12-month period.

So, what makes SMBs a target?

The cost of DIY security is HIGH, high enough to eat a big chunk out of any SMBs budget. While vendors are creating more affordable security products and services targeting SMBs there is still the element of skilled resources to govern such security products. Security cost has a cascading effect and is one of the biggest factors why SMBs score very low on their security posture and why they lack the general security awareness.

The risk attitude for faster growth. SMBs have one objective in mind, to grow, grow fast! It is due to the size of the market, to stand out from its competition. And more often than not they are blinded by this goal that shrug security completely. Therefore, SMBs are more likely to risk a security incident to save costs or invest in other parts of the business.

Low security awareness. Not all businesses are IT focused and while the demand for general security awareness is a must in today’s digital age, we continue to see statistics grow in the wrong direction. Microsoft security signal registered 50 million password attacks daily. Microsoft digital defence report indicated that most of the users on their cloud services are using weak authentication methods as only 20% of Microsoft users and 30% of global admins are using strong authentications such as MFA. US giant Verizon reported that 93% of breaches come through compromised credentials for small medium businesses.

No or low IT-security staff. But what can lead to such low security awareness? Unlike bigger enterprises, SMBs do not have the luxury to build security teams to guide and govern the security for the enterprise as already established security costs are high. Some may not even have an IT skilled person but a designate with IT knowledge.

SMBs target larger enterprises as customers and partners for growth. And vice-versa, larger enterprises target SMB providers for a more cost effective and focused services. This allows attackers to target SMBs to try gain access to larger enterprise. Hence why we have been seeing an upward trend of larger enterprises enforcing tougher due diligence or cybersecurity assessments on their suppliers. Market regulators could be another reason why larger enterprises are enforcing tougher security requirements from their suppliers.

With such enforcement we are now seeing the real picture that SMBs barely have any cybersecurity foundation nor recovery plans in the eventuality of a security breach. A security breach is NOT a matter of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN. And surveys show that 55% of SMBs are willing to pay the ransom, this can only mean that they do not have adequate security to prevent or recover from a breach.

An 82% increase in ransomware attacks registered in 2021, nearly doubled the quantity since 2020. Most ransomware attacks are purely for non-other than financial motive. In a local survey across multiple industries conducted by BMIT with IDC we have observed that 59% of the SMBs have suffered at least 1 ransomware attack.

The ransomware debate whether to pay or not to pay the ransom? is forever hanging on the head of the victims. A lot of businesses put themselves in the situation by not having adequate security or recovery plans.

Ransomware attacks/groups, encrypt or double encrypt the business data. Research has shown that on average businesses that paid the ransomware only got back 65% of their data. This due to a widely known fact that decryptors are buggy and regularly fail to decrypt the largest, most critical data files.

Why SMBs should seek MSSPs for their Cybersecurity journey

Cost-effective

Certified security engineers are very hard to come by and thus why a single resource can put a big dent in your security budget or budget in general. MSSPs are equipped with skilled certified resources that can service and focus on multiple organisations. The cost of MSSP support is a fraction of the pay requested by a single resource. MSSP will also eliminate the hassle of searching, skilling and maintaining that resource. MSSPs can also provide advisory services and cost-management to tailor a cost-effective security solution to ensure you are not overpaying.

Dedicated & Efficient

Businesses should focus and dedicate their time on their product and services. Most businesses try to rely on existing resources such as an office IT administrator to be an expert in security. The security expertise requires dedication hence why MSSPs can be more efficient to deliver a strategic security roadmap tailored to your business needs.  

Monitoring

To monitor your infrastructure and security round the clock “24/7” comes at a hefty price as you are required to build an operations centre or outsource it. Monitoring and Alerting is essential in security to react, prevent and recover from security incidents in a timely manner. MSSPs offer 24x7 Monitoring and support with proactive alerting and services to avoid security incidents before they happen. An MSSP can even act on your behalf to stop or recover from a breach.

Technology

Many times, businesses attempt DIY security utilising in-house hardware and resources to avoid MSSP services and costs. This is until the business realises the resources and expertise required to procure, implement, and support the relevant technologies and how vast security is within various technologies. Security goes beyond endpoint it is required on all enterprise network and infrastructure. Hardware or perpetual software has a lifetime of roughly 4 to 5 years before it becomes inefficient and most likely unsupported, therefore, deemed a security risk. MSSPs evolve with technology and always keep their infrastructure, software, resources relevant to the current market needs.

Compliance

Most markets are regulated or quasi-regulated, as well as GDPR which cuts across all European businesses. Compliance needs are ever changing and requires that your business is compliant to evade fines or lawsuits. Even if not regulated you will come across a partner or customers that requires you to have specific standards. Most MSSPs comply with the majority of the required standards or compliance needs. Or can guide your business to implement the necessary processes, security policies and solutions. Taking on an MSSP can simply mean ticking a box when it comes to compliance.

Take-away

SMBs are the most targeted businesses and there is no silver bullet when it comes to security incidents, a business will experience a breach, it’s only a matter of when, how prepared and how efficient it is to recover from the event. Cybersecurity has become a necessity in today’s business and an MSSP such as BMIT Technologies is more than an IT partner, it is also a technology advisor that can provide a strategic roadmap to enhance your business security posture. In conclusion, BMIT is a cost-effective choice for any small, medium business (SMB) to start their security journey. Reach out to start your journey.

Most Common Threats

Various reports indicate that social engineering is growing as almost 70% of data breaches are through phishing attacks while malware-related attacks are decreasing as one of the global leading vendors in endpoint security detected 62% of attacks in Q4 2021 being malware-free attacks.

How can BMIT Technologies help?

Every client we work with requires different solutions. So, we tackle each need with our expertise in technology, business strategy and innovation.

We propose and develop intelligent, secure infrastructure solutions, help build your internal capabilities and identify opportunities to enhance your business potential through the application of innovative technologies. This ensures a greater level of business management and progression.

Want to learn more about Why MSSPs are fuelling SMBs to reach their destination? Contact us and one of our experts will reach out and guide you accordingly.

As the threat landscape continues to expand, cyberattack numbers reach new heights and attack trends continue to change, as the good vs evil battle rages on. Cybersecurity should be top priority for businesses of all sizes as we depend on data information in this technology era to drive and grow. In this article we shall focus on the SMB market, the dominant market. Starting with a reality check! Most SMBs are still reactive when it comes to securing their business from cyberattacks and would rather risk their data, their business, than invest or budget for security.

Defend your business
Defend your business

Various reports indicate that social engineering is growing as almost 70% of data breaches are through phishing attacks while malware-related attacks are decreasing as one of the global leading vendors in endpoint security detected 62% of attacks in Q4 2021 being malware-free attacks.

Microsoft digital defence report indicated that they registered through Microsoft security signal 50 million password attacks daily. However, the most shocking statistic is that only yet only 20% of Microsoft users and 30% of global admins are using strong authentications such as MFA. US giant Verizon reported that 93% of breaches come through compromised credentials for small medium business

An 82% increase in ransomware attacks registered in 2021, nearly doubled the quantity since 2020. Most ransomware attacks are purely for non-other but financial motive. In a local survey across multiple industries conducted by BMIT with IDC we have observed that 59% of the SMBs have suffered at least 1 ransomware attack.

The ransomware debate - whether to pay or not to pay the ransom? is forever hanging on the head of the victims. A lot of businesses put themselves in the situation by not having adequate security or recovery plans to avoid paying a ransom to unlock their own data.

Ransomware attacks/groups, encrypt or double encrypt the business data. Research has shown that on average businesses that paid the ransomware only got back 65% of their data. This due to a widely known fact that decryptors are buggy and regularly fail to decrypt the largest, most critical data files.

Defender for Business a secure solution for SMBs

Microsoft has recently announced and introduced Defender for Business their latest addition to their endpoint protection security products. The product itself is aimed to help and protect SMBs for up to 300 employees. The new product plan is cost effective similarly priced to the Defender for Endpoint P1 with more features for businesses to reap from. BUT the biggest gainers are those businesses who purchased and use Microsoft 365 for Business Premium as Defender for business was included in this offering following the recent price increase.

Benefits of Defender for Business:

  1. Simplified Client Configuration.
  2. Threat and vulnerability management
  3. Attack surface reduction
  4. Next-generation protection
  5. Endpoint detection and response
  6. Auto-investigation and remediation

Make the switch from Standard to Premium

If you are using Microsoft 365 Business Standard then you might want to continue reading and most importantly understand how the additional license cost can provide a secure foundation for your business and how to benefit from such features.

First let’s understand what your users will get with Business Standard. The Standard plan will get the attach user the productivity tool set in both the application and web versions, which includes exchange online services with malware detection. And that is as far as security goes with this plan which does not really protect the user or the business data. Obviously, there are add-ons which you can purchase but you’ll double the price if not more to come close to what the Business Premium plan offers.

Benefits with Business Premium:

  1. Defender for Office365 P1 helps protect you against threats such as Phishing and spoofing with advanced threat protection capabilities. These capabilities include Safe Attachments which provides an additional layer of protection for email attachments, this uses a virtual environment to check attachments in email messages before they're delivered to recipients. And Safe Links which provides URL scanning and rewriting of inbound email messages in mail flow, and time-of-click verification of URLs and links in email messages and other locations.
  2. Defender for Business Enterprise-grade security. Defender for Business brings powerful endpoint security capabilities from our industry-leading Microsoft Defender for Endpoint solution and optimizes those capabilities for IT administrators to support small and medium-sized businesses.
  3. Microsoft Endpoint Manager is a cloud-based service that focuses on mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM). You control how your organization’s devices are used, including mobile phones, tablets, and laptops.
  4. Information Protection The information protection capabilities of Microsoft 365 Business Premium helps safeguard confidential data against breaches or accidental loss by encrypting email and protecting against unauthorized access.
  5. Azure Active Directory P1 enables Single-Sign-On (SSO) for Windows 10/11 and Conditional Access policies to help ensure only authorized people have access to company data. It also allows hybrid identity users access to Self-Service Password Reset with password protection to eliminate the use of bad and weak passwords.

How can BMIT help SMBs

Microsoft 365 Business Premium is one of those well packaged plans for any SMB, rich with productivity and security features but they are only advantageous to the business if they are exposed and properly configured. A service provider such as BMIT Technologies can truly identify and implement solutions that best fit your business to improve your IT posture. Reach out to us so we can help support and grow your business effectively and securely.

There’s been a significant increase in the number of businesses transitioning to a cloud infrastructure. More and more organizations are switching to cloud as operations go remote. Cloud computing provides a myriad to excellent advantages for different types of businesses regardless of size or scope of work.

However, “going cloud” does require assessing the different types of models that you can integrate to, and it includes finding a solution that is best in line with your business. Although there are two primary types of cloud computing infrastructures (public and private cloud), there’s also been a buzz about a third type – hybrid cloud. And many organizations have started to explore this new cloud environment.

In light of this, we’re going talk about all three types of cloud environments, their advantages and uses cases – so here goes.

A Glance at the Public Cloud Environment

The public cloud infrastructure is basically a computing model where online and IT services are conveyed through the internet. It’s the most common type of cloud system and provides a host of different options when it comes to online data solutions and technical resources that are required to fulfill the continually expanding needs of businesses of all verticals and sizes.

The two most prominent features of a public cloud environment are:

Use Cases

The Benefits

A Glance at the Private Cloud Environment

A private cloud infrastructure involves the use of a “dedicated” environment for a single business. You won’t be sharing all the features and resources of the private cloud with any other business. Private cloud data centers are either secured on-site or are managed by a third-party company, providing a secure and “private” network. One of the best things about the private cloud environment is that you can have the vendor customize different features and security protocols in line with your business’ requirement.

Use cases

The Benefits

A Glance at the Hybrid Cloud Environment

The hybrid cloud infrastructure is a blend of features from both public and private cloud systems. Using both environments interchangeably are usually designed as a highly integrated cloud ecosystem. For example, hybrid cloud provides businesses to designate different types of data and apps processes, allowing them to split the workload to be deployed by both public and private cloud environments.

Use Cases

The Benefits

How can BMIT Technologies help?

In all, selecting the right cloud environment primarily hinges on factors such as IT infrastructure limitations and your business requirements. However, it’s safe to say that choosing one environment is strictly preference-based because most companies use a blend of public, private, and hybrid cloud ecosystems to harness maximum value for money. 

Every client we work with requires different solutions. So, we tackle each need with our expertise in technology, business strategy and innovation.

We propose and develop intelligent, secure infrastructure solutions, help build your internal capabilities and identify opportunities to enhance your business potential through the application of innovative technologies. This ensures a greater level of business management and progression.

Want to learn more about public, private and hybrid cloud? Contact us and one of our experts will reach out and guide you accordingly.

There’s no doubt your business needs to tackle an onslaught of growing compliance requirements – and it’s likely it’s going to continue throughout the life of your organization. Moreover, we can’t ignore the growing sophistication and frequency of cyberattacks and threats to evolving IT infrastructures across the board.

Plus, the Covid-19 pandemic has compelled organizations to permanently switch to remote work. In all, it’s important to realize that in today’s digital and corporate stratosphere, data and infrastructure security, and compliance are two peas of the same pod.

In light of this, we’re going to talk about how it’s unwise to manage your company’s IT framework by yourself and how relying on reputed third-party players can help lower costs, ensure data safety, and much more.

The Shift Towards Managed IT Systems and How It Can Help Grow Your Business

1.      Complexity in IT Systems and Threats

Nothing is more frustrating for a business then to consistently manage its data security and constantly adhere to changing regulations. This is especially true for start-ups, small, and medium organizations. In addition, a lot of industries are failing to find capable and skilled professionals who have experience and knowledge when it comes to compliance and security.

So, what do you do? Well, from a tactical standpoint, the best move you can make is to outsource your compliance to a capable and reputed IT management company. You’d be surprised to know that most financial companies do this to guarantee their processes will always be in line with the stated requirements.

However, another big reason why companies are choosing to outsource their IT compliance is because they can’t find the right type of people to build an in-house team. Outsourcing your IT landscape to a third-party organization is going to help achieve a peace of mind – it’s a simple method of ensuring you’re constantly safeguarded against cyberattacks.

2.      Data Security and Governance

Protecting and monitoring your data security isn’t exactly easy. There are so many facets and risks involved – for example, changing government regulations and compliance, growing competition, changing market trends, increased technological and digital innovation, etc.

Moving towards an IT management service is going to help mitigate most of these risks. How? Well, IT management organizations are staffed with a roster of experienced professionals with qualifications in different industry niches. They can also help your business keep cybersecurity threats at bay by providing strategic risk analysis and proactive digital security methods. Overall, this helps considerably decrease your downtime and operational costs.

3.      Reducing Costs

Hiring and maintaining an in-house IT monitoring and security team can be a costly endeavour, especially for a small business. Not to mention, most young to decently established organizations struggle with obtaining enough capital to invest in cutting-edge software and hardware resources.

 However, outsourcing this struggle to a professional IT management company can help save you a lot of money by designating the best IT minds to your company’s data security. They’re equipped with best technological resources and operate across multiple customers, reducing the overall cost of their services.

In all, you’re only liable to pay for the services you need to use, whenever you need to use them. This is far more cost-effective then spending thousands searching for reliable candidates and building an in-house IT team.

4.      It’s Not Smart to Rely on a Jack-of-All-Trades

There are a lot of costs involved in recruiting and training an in-house IT team, if you’re lucky enough to find great resources. Even if you do find the right individual, it’s going to be counterproductive to depend on them to maintain and secure your IT infrastructure on a day-to-day basis.

 As a business, you need to stay on top of your cybersecurity and data protection strategies and counting one individual who isn’t a specialist can throw a wrench in future-proofing your systems. Not to mention, you’ll be spending a lot on retaining that employee.

5.      It's Not Realistic to Monitor Your IT 24/7

We live in a highly sophisticated, competitive, and innovative digital ecosystem with regularly changing trends. Today, all businesses depend on a comprehensive and fool proof IT infrastructure to maintain and protect critical data.

It’s entirely different from the 90’s where only a handful of businesses used IT strategies to propel into the future. With that being said, it’s safe to say that you can’t realistically monitor your entire IT framework on a continual basis.

There’s too much room for error. Plus, imagine the amount of money you’ll be wasting covering discrepancies and frequent human errors. With a third-party IT management company, you’ll be able to focus on other critical aspects of your business while not worrying about your data and compliance.

How can BMIT Technologies help?

Every client we work with requires different solutions. So, we tackle each need with our expertise in technology, business strategy and innovation.

We propose and develop intelligent, secure infrastructure solutions, help build your internal capabilities and identify opportunities to enhance your business potential through the application of innovative technologies. This ensures a greater level of business management and progression.

Want to learn more about how we can help you manage your IT infrastructure? Contact us and one of our experts will reach out and guide you accordingly

At the heart of every business operation lies a backend infrastructure that is as important as running the business operations. Data Centre Services provide customers with peace of mind by enabling them to focus on their business whilst abstracting the complexity involved in deploying, operating and managing complex IT solutions.

At BMIT Technologies we do this by bringing together our best-in-class infrastructure and a talented team of people with expertise across various technologies, to deliver a portfolio which spans across three inter-linked categories of services which form the basis for our IT-as-a-Service offering.

BMIT Technologies is a public company, listed on the Malta Stock Exchange. With over 17 years of experience, we are Malta’s longest established data centre services operator, running multiple facilities and with the largest in terms of total rack footprint and market share.

Why us? Key differentiators to alternative providers

Expertise

We have been offering datacentre services for more than 17 years and today host hundreds of customers, from very large operators to small start-ups coming from diverse industries including online gaming, financial services, technology and more. Our scale and experience provide us with a sound understanding of the needs from both a technology and regulatory perspective. Our expertise does not stop at hosting, or co-location of full racks, half racks or just U sizes, but extends to provide a wide range of datacentre services, management of infrastructure, hybrid set-ups and much more.

Multiple-sites

We are the only data centre in Malta to operate two data centre facilities, both of which are PCI-DSS and ISO27001 certified and staffed 24x365. This enables us to offer our customers various colocation deployment scenarios (including single-site deployments, active-passive disaster recovery (DR), active-active geo redundant deployments) and at the same time increases the resiliency of our services since our sites are interconnected to further minimise the possibility that a single site remains isolated from an internet connectivity outage. In turn, our datacentres are inter-connected to points of presence we have in Germany and Italy, through our high-speed, private international network.

Private International High-speed Network

Our private network interconnects our data centre in Malta and our international points-of-presence  in Italy and Germany over multiple fibres and geographical routes and is protected by ourmulti-tier DDOS mitigation system – called BMIT Managed  DDOS Shield. This network is a fully redundant, fibre network which utilises multiple submarine links from Malta to mainland Europe and also via multiple links being provided by Lumen, Telecom Italia Sparkle, GTT, Fastweb and other providers. In order to ensure unparalleled internet connectivity quality and performance, IP bandwidth is provided via two leading Tier 1 global IP providers, Lumen and Telia Carrier, also in a redundant manner. This unique approach provides our customers with greater choice, flexibility, network resilience, cost-saving and speed to market – by integrating IP services from multiple providers, our customers have the fully-redundant, business-grade Internet access they need, without the expense and complexity of dealing with multiple providers.

Technical Expertise and Focus

We employ a team of  professionals who hold multiple technology certifications and vendor-qualifications (including Microsoft, Azure, VMware and Cisco), and are fully focused on delivering data centre and cloud services. This enables us to make available a span of technical expertise to our customer – from design, to implementation, to ongoing support.

Public, Private and Hybrid-Cloud Enabler

We operate multiple local public cloud platforms, including Azure Stack Hub.  These are offered together with a range of private cloud solutions, as well as hybrid set-ups for an increasing number of customers.  Our MultiCloud Connect quickly enables hybrid cloud scenarios, interconnecting any private infrastructure hosted in our facilities to public cloud services such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and many others.  This approach is a best-of-breed approach since it allows customers to benefit from the facilities of global cloud providers, whilst ensuring that critical data and resources are hosted and  stored in Malta. At the same time our partnership with Microsoft also enables us to offer Microsoft-hosted public cloud services including Azure and Microsoft 365 (and what previously were Office 365) services.  Finally our special relationship with HPE and Microsoft, including our several Gold Status credentials provide us the ability to design and implement private cloud infrastructures

With businesses increasingly dependent on the internet connectivity, data centres are a vital component of the global economy and every business in operation. Data center facilities are more than just a safe and secure facility with space that is equipped with reliable power, and internet connectivity. Hosting services have become a valuable addition to many businesses as they prove to be a dependable extension of their IT team. That is why data centers in modern business set up are increasingly becoming an essential factor for success.

How Can BMIT Technologies Help?

Every client we work with requires different solutions. So, we tackle each need with our expertise in technology, business strategy, and innovation. As a Malta-based company, at BMIT, we rely on our expertise in data centres, cloud solutions, and productivity solutions to enable your company to reach new heights.

Want to learn more about data centres? Contact us, and one of our experts will reach out and guide you accordingly.

Smart devices are becoming commonplace, and not just for personal use. IDC estimates that by 2025, there will be at least 41.6 billion smart devices connected to the Internet and that figure is getting closer every day – reaching more than 10 million in 2021 already. Multiple sources report that 83% of organizations have improved their efficiency by introducing IoT technology.

While your business may not be interested in an electric toothbrush that tells you if you’re brushing long enough, there are tons of other smart devices that you could go for. Some of the examples are smart security cameras for better security monitoring, smart light bulbs to save energy, smart locks to make office entry easier, smart atmosphere controllers and smart air purifiers to improve the work environment, and many more. It’s even possible that you might have some of these devices in your office already – even more likely if you’re working from your home. But are you aware of the security risks associated with these devices?

Your company probably pays a lot of attention to the security of web applications, internal networks and VPN connections, desktop computers and laptops both in the office and used by remote workers, possibly even mobile phones. But it’s quite common that Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as those listed above, are exempt from any security policies. Unfortunately, they are often the first point of entry for malicious hackers because their manufacturers also often don’t pay much attention to security.

What can happen if your IoT device is hacked?

It is quite probable that your IoT device connects to the Internet via one of your internal networks. And that means that once a malicious hacker gets into that device, they have access to resources, which are normally not exposed to external threats, and therefore less meticulously protected. The attacker may scan your network and try to get into other systems. Some IoT devices, depending on their operating system, may even allow the attacker to introduce ransomware to your internal network.

While the above is the worst-case scenario, there are other annoying consequences of such an attack. Malicious hackers often take over smart devices for two primary purposes: to use them in DDoS attacks and to install cryptocurrency miners. In the first case, your business becomes an unwilling agent in a criminal operation against another business – not the best way to maintain a good reputation. In the second case, you help criminals fund their campaigns – at a small cost of an increased electric bill and lower efficiency of the device.

All in all, having a smart device that is prone to hacking is not a good idea. But how common are attacks against insecure devices? Armin Ziaie Tabari, Xinming Ou, and Anoop Singhal – researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Florida conducted a very complex, three-year study of IoT security and came up with some interesting results.

Luring malicious hackers to fake IoT devices

The researchers came up with an ingenious way to know how often IoT devices are targeted and by what attacks – they used a massive network of honeypots. The term honeypot means a fake system or device that is made to resemble a real one. However, such a fake system or device is placed in a safe environment and if it’s hacked, it can do no harm – but lets researchers observe the hacking process.

In this study, researchers used open-source and commercial honeypot software to create network endpoints, which would look to an attacker just like IoT devices and which were configured to be intentionally insecure. Such honeypots were placed in honeypot server farms, which in turn were placed both on on-premises servers and in AWS/Azure instances in multiple countries. Once these honeypots were up and running, the endpoint addresses were submitted to two search engines that help find IoT devices: Censys and Shodan. The bait was set, now all the researchers needed to do is wait for malicious hackers to find these devices and attempt to hack into them.

The experiment took three years – that’s much more than needed to see a lot of attacks on the honeypots. That amount of time was required for researchers to analyze the data from each wave of attacks and then adjust configurations and defences to see how effective they are in preventing further attacks. This way, the experiment not only provided lots of information on the threat landscape but also showed the efficiency of protection techniques.

The shocking results of the experiment

During the three years of the experiment, fake IoT devices were attacked by malicious hackers 22.6 million times. Over 75% of these attacks were aimed at honeypots that were made to emulate the most common software used for smart devices: Busybox. Fewer attacks targeted honeypots made to resemble typical smart security cameras and those that emulated Windows-based systems.

Attackers used different methods to get into the honeypots, including vulnerabilities unique to devices from specific manufacturers and typical default username/password combinations. Almost a million attacks were attempts to log into the honeypot using the combination: admin and 1234. Fewer attempts were based on combinations such as root with an empty password, admin with an empty password, admin/admin, and similar.

The attacks were meant mostly to make the hacked device part of a DDoS bot network or to install the Mirai cryptocurrency miner. The Windows-based honeypots were also often infected with viruses, trojans, and rootkits. Once the attackers acquired access to the honeypots, they also attempted several types of further attacks aimed at internal networks, including finding other systems connected to the same network and scanning these systems for potentially open ports.

What does this mean for you?

The huge number of attacks on these fake smart devices is the best proof that your smart device is most probably undergoing such attack attempts too. What can you do to protect yourself?

At BMIT Technologies, we guide you through the whole process of designing and setting up your secure networks, both at your premises as well as in the cloud or our multiple data centres. Get in touch with us and let’s discuss how best to ensure your business is as secure as possible.

Hybrid IT is the future of business technology, and every company should start embracing it right now. Don't be left behind. Hybrid IT, which combines cloud services with on-premises technology, gives you the benefits of the cloud while still allowing you to use your own data centres and other on-premises technologies.

What Is Hybrid IT and How Does It Work?

Hybrid IT is a blend of on-premises and cloud services. IT is an evolution from multi-platform usage. It emphasises several key concepts, including improved resource coordination, governance, and synchronisation for better use, better agility, and improved reliability. This is where most IT departments are now, due to the need for a flexible and scalable way to support the dynamic workloads in today's modern organisations.

Hybrid IT can be a flexible solution for organisations looking to create a scalable and cost-effective environment. Hybrid IT bridges gaps in data accessibility, provide an alternate location for sensitive data and offers a backup if the cloud goes down.

The Benefits of Hybrid IT Are Plentiful

A hybrid cloud solution could be the best choice for storage and cloud hosting for small businesses. It can offer:

Increased Agility and Innovation

Companies that use this approach to IT and cloud services can efficiently respond to changes in business needs, customer requirements, and technological advances. Hybrid IT also helps companies innovate because it offers them greater flexibility in deploying resources, such as reducing costs by using cloud services instead of building on-premises infrastructure.

Improved Scalability and Control

By combining private and public cloud infrastructure, businesses can scale quickly when needed to support peak periods. This creates a more dynamic environment that's easier to manage than a fixed-capacity private cloud setup. It also gives you more control. Thus, allowing you to provide additional resources as they're needed while maintaining full ownership over your data.

Reduces Costs

By combining on-premises infrastructure with cloud-based services, Hybrid IT helps companies save money by allowing them to pay for only what they need. It also minimises spending on hardware and software upgrades. Instead, you can use existing tools and infrastructure to support new projects without spending more cash on new solutions.

How Can BMIT Technologies Help?

Today's businesses are under increasing pressure to be flexible and adaptable – Hybrid IT is the solution. Our BMIT team of experts can help you leverage the benefits of a hybrid IT solution to address these challenges and simplify your IT operations. Contact us today for more information on how we can support your business.

On August 2nd, 2021, Microsoft released a new managed Virtual Desktop solution, Windows 365. Now rewind a few months back and Microsoft renames their only virtual cloud desktop solution, Windows Virtual Desktop known as WVD to Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD). This change raised a few eyebrows until they announced the Windows 365 solution, then all made perfect sense. But it left everyone with one simple question “Which solution should I use?”

Main difference between AVD and Windows 365

AVD is a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) running on the cloud, providing IT admins with a platform to spin up compute resources. With the possibility of allowing simultaneous users to log in to their virtual desktop session from one single VM. AVD is quite a scalable solution, allowing the administrator to scale the cloud server up and down depending on the business needs.

Windows 365 serves the same purpose i.e. offering its users a virtual cloud PC / virtual desktop session with Microsoft native apps, user applications and line of business apps. The difference with AVD is that Windows 365 infrastructure is mainly managed by Microsoft. Why mainly? Because the Enterprise edition it provides the organisation control on the Azure network resources letting the organisation configure the Azure vNet, which includes static IPs, Azure firewall, VPNs, and more. But this network resource consumption is at an extra cost to the organisation, hence why you will, strangely enough, find that the Enterprise plans are cheaper than the Business plans.

Another major difference is that while AVD allows simultaneous users/sessions per VM, Windows 365 only allows a 1:1, this means that for every VM only a single user is assigned a license through Microsoft 365 admin portal.

Selecting the appropriate solution

Cloud Infra Medium

The solutions are not that different since they use the same platform and cloud resources. What’s certain is that one is not better than the another, but the choice is subjective, depending on the usage and the business requirement. Organisations may find that rather than having to choose, they prefer having a mix, which can really optimise performance and costs.

When users require a dedicated 1:1 virtual desktop without automatically switching the infrastructure off, then Windows 365 will suit the use case better and pan out cheaper than AVD. These 1:1 dedicated virtual desktops are used when there are compliance matters or the organisation has remote or an elastic workforce such as developers, temporary employees, or sub-contractors. They can also be utilised with third parties that require access to internal systems, this eliminates the need to ship or remotely manage hardware.

On the contrary, if the user has specific working hours through the month, AVD VMs can be automatically switched off at certain hours (such as a branch offices workforce). Then using Pay-As-You-Go VMs on AVD will be cheaper in the long run. However, the saving needs to be justified depending on the quantity of users and the hours required versus the IT admin resources required to manage and maintain the AVD infrastructure.

If the desktop usage is basic and thus does not require 1:1 performance, the VM resources can be utilised by multiple users such as call centres or other similar environments. Whilst the performance may not compare to a 1:1 session, the overall business savings using pooled resources on AVD is noticeable compared to Windows 365. The savings are even more significant when you have a scenario where your organisation will utilise pooled resources and uses auto-scaling (not to run the VMs on a 24x7). This allows the VMs to be switched off and using Pay-As-You-Go will allow the organisation to get the optimal performance and reduce running costs.

Conclusion

AVD and Windows 365 Enterprise are one and the same using the same platform and address “mostly” the same business needs. With the major difference being that AVD is completely managed and maintained by the customer and can offer simultaneous sessions over a single VM. So it boils down to the level of IT capabilities to implement and maintain the infrastructure (VDI) and the operational cost.

Windows 365 Enterprise will be more attractive to SMBs since it is less complex and requires less IT capabilities. Still, it should not be shrugged off by IT Admins or larger enterprises as there are certain use-cases showing that having a mix will optimise their operations.

Choosing the right solution for your business or your users can be challenging, and this is where you can take advantage of BMIT Technologies. Harnessing the skilled resources in Azure to offer support services, deployments, and even IT architectural design needs. Engage with us today, to achieve the required capabilities, identify the business needs and the right solution.

Deciding where to host your company's servers can be overwhelming, especially if you don't have experience in the field. There are many factors to consider, including cost, location, network quality, and service reliability. While it can be tempting to save money by hosting your servers in your office, this isn't always the best choice.

Benefits of Colocation

Reliability

Colocation providers guarantee you access to power and internet connectivity. By choosing to host in a colocation data centre, you're, indeed, taking advantage of 24/7 constant security power and cooling systems. These measures mean you can trust that your services will be up and running at all times. That means fewer downtime issues, which equates to greater profitability. Most providers also offer backup generators in case of complete power failure at their data centre.

Speed

Colocation ensures your servers are always running in peak condition. Colocation also reduces downtime because you can access hosting facilities 24/7 with a login provided by you. Should something go wrong, it's quick and easy to log in and make repairs or adjustments to get everything back up and running quickly.

Colocation Performance

Most electronic equipment works at its optimal level only when kept in a specific range of temperatures and humidity. Anything outside that optimal range can cause trouble—and that means it's more difficult to keep those things working properly. Colocation facilities have access to high-end climate control systems, ensuring that their servers run well. This also helps owners save money on repairs and replacements.

Security

Colocation providers offer physical security to ensure that no one unauthorised gains access to a colo facility. This means using biometric scanning systems, digital surveillance, and even lock-and-key technology.

Scalability

One of the colocation's most compelling selling points is scalability. You can always add hardware to an existing physical server or add a new server to an existing virtual server. This flexibility comes at a lower cost than renting dedicated hardware from another provider. It also allows you to scale on-demand and avoid paying upfront capital expenditures in a year where you don't need that much power.

How Can BMIT Technologies Help With Colocation?

Every client we work with requires different solutions. So, we tackle each need with our expertise in technology, business strategy, and innovation. As a Malta-based company, at BMIT, we rely on our expertise in data centres, cloud solutions, and productivity solutions to enable your company to reach new heights.

Want to learn more about colocation? Contact us, and one of our experts will reach out and guide you accordingly.