IT Trends & Technology

According to a holiday shopping projection from CMO, the 2017 holiday season will be the first to break $100 billion in online sales.

With credit card numbers and personal information being shared through web browsers and mobile and work devices, it is important for people to be vigilant when making their holiday purchases to avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime.

It’s easy to get lulled into thinking that just because IT systems are compliant with regulations, that means they are secure. After all, compliance is intended to safeguard data and ensure privacy. Security seems like the natural outcome and many organizations fall into a false sense of comfort, believing that just because they have checked all the boxes on compliance, their systems must therefore be secure.

First National Technology Solutions (FNTS), a leading provider in remote managed IT services, announced it will begin offering new cloud security technologies to companies, which will allow them to extend security policies outside of their own infrastructure.

Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solutions enable transaction level security for cloud managed services, including Software as a Service (SaaS) and (Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), by combining data science, machine learning, real-time traffic processing, insightful visualization and intuitive controls.

The cloud is growing in popularity in the digital world, and more businesses are taking advantage of cloud-computing strategies to stay relevant and competitive. The cloud is a network of servers that allows companies to provide services in an efficient and cost-effective way. At First Technology Solutions (FNTS), we are seeing an increasing number of companies leveraging server consolidations by moving to the cloud. Not embracing the cloud is becoming a competitive disadvantage for companies, and if they aren’t already using the cloud as part of their strategy, they are already behind one of the fastest growing IT trends.

First National Technology Solutions (FNTS) welcomed visitors of all ages Friday for AIM’s Amazing Tech Race in downtown Omaha. The Amazing Tech Race is an annual tech-driven competition and scavenger hunt hosted by AIM Institute.

This year AIM invited First National Technology Solutions to participate in this exciting event, which gets more people throughout the Omaha community excited about technology. At FNTS, we believe in the importance of building and sustaining a strong tech workforce. Providing engaging learning experiences like the Amazing Tech Race are important due to the increasing demand of tech and STEM jobs across the country. A Global Information Security Workforce study indicates there will be 1.8 million open cybersecurity jobs by 2022 due to a large population of cyber professionals retiring over the next ten years. 

In today’s digitally-driven world, technology and internet connections are everywhere you turn. When you step out of your home in the morning and make your way to work, you encounter hundreds, if not thousands of Wi-Fi networks. Any device that has access to the internet or a Wi-Fi connection can be vulnerable to threats, hacks and security breaches.

Take a minute to think about all of the devices you have connected to the internet at home. Computers, laptops, tablets, webcams, cell phones, lighting systems, security alarms, televisions, set top boxes and even kitchen appliances can be controlled by Wi-fi signals as a way to make our lives easier. Now think of how this relates to business. In an effort to work smarter and faster, there are just as many, if not more devices for business. If your network is compromised, hackers can pick up on your Wi-fi signals as a way to monitor your every move and steal private information. With the Internet of Things (IoT) evolving, it is only becoming easier for digital thieves to spy on you if your electronics aren’t connected to a secure network.

Desktop anti-virus software is still an important component of a defense-in-depth posture and aids in keeping endpoints secured, but the vast majority of protection focus has shifted to securing information stored online, primarily on infrastructure in cloud environments. Because of the shift, precautions and safety measures need to be taken into consideration.

Storing apps and services in the cloud is a growing trend for businesses, and keeping that information secure is becoming easier to do with a new service that acts as a gatekeeper, which can extend a company’s security policies outside of their own infrastructure.

The recent WannaCry virus cyberattack has left many businesses re-evaluating their security and privacy policies and procedures to avoid falling victim as the attack continues to spread and replicate.

First National Technology Solutions (FNTS), a highly compliant, highly secure, nationally recognized leader in managed IT services, has expertise in information security and risk mitigation.

Between an eventful presidential election season, the dawn of a ground breaking app in Pokémon GO and even an exit by Britain from the European Union, 2016 was an eventful year for many people. It was no different at First National Technology Solutions (FNTS), here are some of the highlights of initiatives from FNTS over the past year.

In the previous installment of this article, I discussed the detection mechanisms used with Network based Intrusion Prevention System (NIPS). In this particular article, the focus will be on particular threats that NIPS deals with. 

Intrusion Prevention System, or IPS as it is commonly referred to as, is undeniably the first level of defense in providing competent network security in real time.  It’s an active, in-line device, capable of provisioning security at all system levels from the operating system, to network data packets. The IPS stops network-based threats before they can impact the business operations of an organization.  Preemptive protection, which is protection that works ahead of a threat, is available by means of a combination of line-speed performance, security intelligence, and a modular protection engine that enables security convergence.    

When it comes to securing any corporate environment, the more in depth detail you have, the better. Depending on the size of an organization, a single day can be comprised of millions, or even billions of logs. At first glance this can seem like nothing more than informational nonsense, but these bread crumbs are the key to not only diagnosing a problem, but also possibly uncovering a breach.

OMAHA, Neb. – August 9, 2016 – First National Technology Solutions (FNTS), the recognized leader in the managed IT services industry, today announced it is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) 3.1 Certified. Recognizing the importance of a proactive security approach, FNTS maintains compliance with the highest standards to ensure its customers’ data is always safe, secure and available. 

You’ve heard the story before – Company X or Hospital Y cannot access their information systems, nor can they restore from backup for a variety of reasons.  How did they lose access?  Malware encrypted the file system and “hackers” (if you wish to call them hackers – I refer to them as extortionists) will only provide the decryption key for the right price.  This activity is referred to as “ransomware,” and is defined as “malware that infects computer systems and restricted users’ access” (US CERT). Imagine losing either a critical part of your business, or in certain cases, the entire business with no recourse. If the only option was to pay the extortionists, you would need to know how to purchase and send bitcoin, something not many are intimately familiar with.