Publish Date
25/07/2024
Categories
Blogs Hot Topic
The recent CrowdStrike failure was indeed an unfortunate event, causing significant disruption across many organisations. However, it also provided a stark illustration of the potential consequences when critical systems are compromised. Unlike a cyber attack, this outage demonstrated how even non-malicious failures can have far-reaching impacts.
Downtime, regardless of its cause, can have devastating effects on a business. These range from loss of revenue and inaccessible data to diminished customer confidence and, ultimately, loss of business.
In the case of ransomware attacks, the impact can be even more severe, comparable to the dreaded “blue screen of death” experienced worldwide last week. While a blue screen may have straightforward solutions, ransomware attacks often leave organisations without viable workarounds. This leads to significant operational disruptions, data loss, and financial repercussions. Essentially, a ransomware attack is like a blue screen of death—for all the data in your business.
The CrowdStrike outage affected a vast number of users, highlighting the vulnerability of even the most robust systems. The incident underscored the critical need for businesses to have strong cybersecurity measures in place, not only to prevent attacks but also to ensure quick recovery from unforeseen failures.
The financial impact of IT downtime is staggering. According to a report from MSN, companies are losing billions every year due to IT downtime. This loss is not just due to ransomware but also from unexpected system failures, like the one experienced by CrowdStrike. Despite these recurring issues, many organisations are not improving their ability to fix such problems promptly.
However, the facts show that the chance of downtime is increasing, with the ‘it’s not if, it’s when’ mantra commonplace amongst cyber security experts.
According to the Hiscox Cyber Insurance Readiness Report 2023:
These statistics emphasise the critical need for robust cybersecurity measures and quick incident response protocols.
This recent event has served as a wake-up call for businesses to reassess their IT strategies. It is crucial to invest in robust protective measures, proactive threat detection, and swift incident response protocols. Many organisations operate under the false assumption that “it won’t happen to us” until it does. The CrowdStrike outage is a powerful reminder that downtime can strike any business, at any time.
Who is Responsible?
It’s essential to have clear accountability within your organisation for managing cybersecurity risks. Typically, the IT Lead is responsible for the overarching cybersecurity strategy. However, every employee has a role to play in maintaining security protocols and reporting suspicious activities.
As Microsoft advises,
“In the event of an outage or disruption to the Service, you may temporarily not be able to retrieve Your Content. We recommend that you regularly backup Your Content and Data that you store on the Services or store using Third-Party Apps and Services.”
This highlights the importance of regular data backups and having a well-defined disaster recovery plan in place.
Lessons Learned and Moving Forward
The disruption experienced during the CrowdStrike failure serves as a sobering reminder of the critical need for robust protective measures. To mitigate the risks associated with IT downtime, businesses should consider the following steps:
Conclusion
In conclusion, the CrowdStrike outage has provided valuable lessons on the cost of downtime. No one thinks it will happen to them—until it does. By learning from these experiences and taking proactive measures, businesses can better safeguard their operations and minimise the financial and operational impact of future disruptions.
As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), we are committed to providing and maintaining secure and resilient IT infrastructures. If ever there was a wake-up call required around the impact of downtime, last week provided a stark reminder. If you are interested in mitigating the risk of downtime, and want a no obligation discussion around email security, backup & disaster recovery, or security awareness and testing for staff, please fill in this form.
Stay Secure.
Publish Date
10/07/2024
Categories
Blogs Guides
Removing a former employee’s Microsoft account can be complex, and it might be challenging to determine the best approach. Should you wipe the account and set it up again? Or remove the license and then add another?
Employee turnover can make managing accounts a time-consuming task, especially with other responsibilities on your plate. To save time and focus on other IT priorities, consider outsourcing this process to Microsoft experts through a managed service. These professionals handle the secure management of your Microsoft tenant daily, ensuring your business’s data remains protected. But for the time being, below is a step-by-step guide to ensure you follow best practices, keeping your data safe and secure. While the process might seem lengthy, safeguarding your data should always be a priority.
Ensure that you are a global administrator. Only global administrators have the necessary permissions to alter Microsoft 365 licenses and complete the following steps.
To ensure the former employee can no longer log in to their Microsoft 365 account, follow these steps to block their access:
Reset the Password to Force Sign-Out:
Alternatively, Block the User:
If your M365 subscription includes email, you need to block the former employee’s access to their email as well:
To ensure that the former employee’s mailbox content is saved for reference by new or current employees or for potential litigation, follow one of these options:
Why Choose This Option?
Steps:
💡Note: Inactive mailboxes cannot receive email and are not displayed in your organisation’s shared address book or other lists. For detailed instructions, refer to Manage inactive mailboxes in Exchange Online.
Why Choose This Option?
Steps:
(Skip this step if the employee did not use a company mobile device.)
It’s important to keep the former employee’s email address active to ensure that emails from customers or partners are directed to the person taking over their responsibilities.
💡 Note: If you’re setting up email forwarding or a shared mailbox, do not delete the former employee’s account. The account is necessary to anchor the email forwarding or shared mailbox.
When you convert a user’s mailbox to a shared mailbox, all existing emails and calendar events are retained. This shared mailbox can then be accessed by multiple people, rather than just one.
Things to be aware of:
Follow Microsoft’s guide: Convert a user mailbox to a shared mailbox – Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn.
💡Note: Remember to cancel all meetings that the former employee had scheduled in their calendar.
Access to OneDrive:
Access to Outlook:
To give another employee access to the email messages, calendar, tasks, and contacts of the former employee, import the information to the new employee’s Outlook inbox. Follow Microsoft’s step-by-step guide: Import email, contacts, and calendar from an Outlook .pst file – Microsoft Support.
💡 Note: If your organisation uses Active Directory, delete and restore user accounts in your local AD service. You cannot delete or restore them directly in Microsoft 365.
When you remove a license, you can either reassign it to someone else or delete it to avoid paying for it until you hire a new employee. When a license is removed, the user’s old email, contacts, and calendar data are retained for 30 days before being permanently deleted, so it’s crucial to have M365 backup solutions in place.
Removing the License:
Reducing the Number of Licenses:
Forwarding Calls: For information on forwarding calls within your organisation, refer to the guide on Calling policies in Microsoft Teams.
Managing Microsoft licensing when an employee leaves can be a complex and lengthy process. However, ensuring it is done correctly is crucial for the security of your business and the preservation of important data. Our Microsoft experts have extensive experience securely managing organisations’ tenants, allowing businesses to focus on innovation and other priorities instead of time-consuming administrative tasks.
Our managed service offers numerous benefits, including third-party patching, ongoing monitoring for suspicious activity, and monthly reports on your tenant’s activity. For a quick, informal chat about how we can help your business, call us on 0345 223 9000 or contact us.
We can do your Microsoft licence admin for you!
Publish Date
28/05/2024
Categories
Blogs
Keeping your business safe from cyber threats is a top priority in today’s digital landscape. One key aspect of this is ensuring your systems are regularly updated with the latest patches.
Cyber attackers often exploit vulnerabilities left unaddressed by outdated software, leading to potential financial losses and breaches for businesses. Addressing these vulnerabilities through regular patch management is crucial.
In a 2019 survey conducted by Ponemon Institute, 60% of breach victims said they were compromised due to known vulnerabilities they didn’t patch. In 2021, Microsoft found that more than half of known network vulnerabilities were due to missing patches, and a staggering 68% of organisations hit by ransomware lacked effective patch management. Clearly, patching is an absolute necessity for any business when it comes to their cyber security.
Patch management involves the timely deployment of updates by third-party applications to address evolving vulnerability gaps. This ensures that the software remains resilient against potential security breaches, mitigating the risk of exploitation by malicious actors.
By promptly applying updates as they become available, organisations can minimise their exposure to vulnerabilities, reducing the window of opportunity for a breach. Basically, you’re keeping your digital defences up-to-date to ward off potential attacks.
With technology advancing rapidly, cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated, especially with the rise of AI. Attackers can now exploit vulnerabilities faster than ever, meaning developers are having to constantly release patches where there may be a security gap.
While patching manually is possible, it can be time-consuming and prone to delays which is not ideal when it’s neck and neck between you and a potential cyber-attack. In fact, it is estimated it takes 28 days to patch once a high-risk vulnerability is detected on-premises.
On the other hand, automating patch updates streamlines the process, ensuring your systems stay protected without the risk of human error. Just remember to plan out these automatic patch updates so that you have the least amount of disruption for your business as possible. Not only does then mean less downtime for your business, but your IT team will have greater internal availability for other projects.
It may not always be possible with every application to just ‘automatically patch’. But if external management is the route you want to take, you could consider working with a managed service provider (MSP) to ensure seamless patch management.
Integrating patch management into your IT strategy is crucial for maintaining security best practices. Partnering with an MSP that offers automated patch management, along with device management and proactive monitoring, ensures your systems are always protected.
At Cobweb, we provide a comprehensive Microsoft managed service with third-party patch management for over 1500 applications. Our experts will handle the patching process, freeing you to focus on your core strengths and responsibilities. Learn more here about our managed services to keep your business secure and resilient.
Thursday 13th June 2024 @ 3PM
Publish Date
13/05/2024
Categories
Blogs
The IT infrastructure within your organisation is crucial for its success in today’s digital era. Business expansion is heavily dependent on the effective utilisation of technology to make a significant impact and the companies that excel are those that employ technology most innovatively and have the time to manage it.
However, with the UK grappling with significant issues like the skills shortage and the rising cost of living, the ability for many businesses to invest in IT to the necessary extent for success is becoming increasingly challenging.
But what about opting for a service which offers the same efficiency, practicality, security and expertise of an in-house IT team? This is a managed IT service. It’s like having an IT manager 24/7, who never leaves or goes on holiday, is never sick and yet costs only a fraction of what it would to hire one.
To remain competitive, your business must operate efficiently. A lack of efficiency can cause your entire operation to decelerate, preventing it from being well-equipped to handle the workload and challenges of a modern business environment.
Without an expensive IT department, maintaining efficiency is difficult. One IT technician or a small team may not suffice for all your requirements and they are often restricted to assisting just one or two individuals simultaneously, decelerating your operations and possibly resulting in greater downtime. Time is money after all!
Choosing a Managed IT Service resolves this issue at a minimal cost, providing on-demand access to a full team (which should possess strategic vendor relationships to expedite recovery times) without the need to enlarge your IT staff. Essentially, it grants access to IT specialists, enhanced security, and rapid resolution times, all while being more cost-effective than hiring and expanding your IT team.
For many businesses, budgeting for IT can be challenging due to the skills shortage, making it hard to find the right employee and agree on a wage that satisfies both the business and the individual’s needs.
Opting for a managed IT service, businesses only need to pay a pre-agreed service charge per term, gaining access to a team of experts and continuous support. This team can function as an extension of your existing IT department, liberating resources that can be redirected towards business growth.
Having access to IT expertise can provide your business with a competitive advantage. You will receive guidance on the latest technologies that can drive organisational change, enabling you to leverage tools like AI and business process automation (BPA) effectively.
The support of a knowledgeable team from a managed IT service provider ensures that you receive comprehensive assistance and can resolve issues swiftly, minimising operational downtime.
Much like security cameras monitoring your home 24/7, a Managed IT service will proactively monitor for any suspicious activity within your own digital environment, to mitigate malicious actors causing harm to your organisation’s data.
Protecting your business around the clock is a resource most businesses simply don’t have without using Managed IT services. Even if you employ an IT specialist to monitor your organisation’s security, there will be times when they are not available and need to go home. However, a Managed Service provides continuous 24/7 monitoring and ensures that new security patches and updates are applied promptly, so your business is never left exposed.
Managed IT service providers can also help you understand compliance regulations and provide advice to ensure you’re not violating these regulations. This helps to prevent noncompliance, which could lead to litigation consequences.
We’ve seen why IT for businesses can be costly. A managed IT service removes this stress and gives you access to a team of experts who work in the background and can help whenever you need it.
Check out Cobweb’s award winning managed services! We’ll be able to work with you and guarantee that your organisation has everything it needs to grow, as well as take care of anything else that you may require.
We’re Your Team, Extended.
Publish Date
09/04/2024
Categories
Blogs Hot Topic
There is often great debate about creating backups for data in services such as Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Teams. The common assumption amongst many is that Microsoft backsup, so everything is covered.
When explaining that 3rd party backup provides a more holistic, secure safety net for your business, customers often tell me, “you would say that, you want to sell more products!” But there’s usually one response that gets their attention:
Microsoft’s shared responsibility model firmly puts data in the court of the user. Microsoft have got you covered when it comes to Global Infrastructure, Uptime and Cloud Service. But access and control of data in your M365 tenant? That’s on you.
In an on-premises data centre, you own the whole responsibility stack. As you move to the cloud, some responsibilities transfer to Microsoft. The following Microsoft diagram illustrates the areas of responsibility between you and Microsoft, according to the type of deployment of your stack. Note that your businesses setup, data, devices and accounts & identity remain your responsibility.
As a Microsoft 365 user, you act as the data custodian. Your main task is to ensure that your data is not only accessible but also securely backed up, separate from Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure and ready for recovery whenever necessary. Microsoft actually state this in their Service Agreement under section 6b:
“In the event of an outage or disruption to the Service, you may temporarily not be able to retrieve Your Content. We recommend that you regularly backup Your Content and Data that you store on the Services or store using Third-Party Apps and Services.”
Microsoft Service Agreement, Section 6b
Dependence on Microsoft for all aspects of data recovery, especially in scenarios like data deletion or security breaches, is risky. Microsoft’s built-in safeguards, such as recycle bins and retention policies, are meant for short-term fixes and may not suffice for comprehensive data recovery strategies.
Statistics reveal a troubling trend: a significant portion of businesses experience data loss or corruption within their SaaS applications, including Microsoft 365. The reality is stark – recovering 100% of data without a dedicated backup solution is often unattainable.
Opting to backup Microsoft 365 data with a third party solution such as Acronis safeguards against data loss and cyber threats. Cobweb’s alignment with Acronis for its backup solutions reflects a commitment to delivering advanced, secure, and dependable data protection services, enabling businesses to operate confidently in the knowledge that their cloud data is comprehensively secured.
If you’d like to learn more about M365 and backup, we’re hosting a virtual roundtable on the 2nd May with Microsoft MVP Andy Malone and Acronis experts. To sign up, please click here.
Publish Date
05/02/2024
Categories
Blogs Hot Topic
The arrival of Microsoft Copilot has brought a new era of productivity and innovation to software development. This AI-powered assistant has the potential to transform how developers write code and streamline the development process. However, while the excitement around Copilot is palpable, it is crucial to temper that enthusiasm with careful planning and a robust data strategy.
Microsoft Copilot is designed to be a powerful assistant, but it needs access to data to be effective. Ensuring that your company data resides within Microsoft 365 is essential. This enables Copilot to consume and interrogate the data efficiently, allowing it to provide more accurate suggestions.
Cobweb can help you migrate your data to Microsoft 365 seamlessly. We offer expert services in data migration, ensuring that your valuable information is stored securely and accessible for Copilot’s use.
Before integrating Microsoft Copilot into your Microsoft environment, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your existing data, permissions, and access controls. Copilot’s effectiveness depends on having the right data at its disposal, and a deep understanding of your data landscape is crucial.
Cobweb’s expertise in Microsoft 365 can help you gain insights into your data structure. We can assist in conducting data audits, helping you identify and classify data that Copilot should prioritise. This ensures that Copilot is equipped with the most relevant information to assist your developers effectively.
Microsoft recommends using sensitivity labels to add an extra layer of protection to confidential data. Sensitivity labels ensure that only authorised personnel can access and view sensitive information. Integrating sensitivity labels into your data strategy is crucial, especially when Copilot is dealing with proprietary code or sensitive data.
Cobweb can assist in implementing sensitivity labels across your Microsoft 365 environment. We can help you define policies and permissions, ensuring that confidential data remains protected, even as Copilot interacts with it.
Security should always be a top priority when implementing new tools like Copilot. Microsoft’s Conditional Access and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) are essential components of a robust security strategy. These features help ensure that only authorised users can access your organisation’s resources.
At Cobweb, we specialise in security solutions for Microsoft 365, by helping you configure and implement Conditional Access policies and MFA. This adds an additional layer of protection to your data and Copilot interactions.
To maximise Copilot’s capabilities, it’s important to have a standardised and secure device environment. Microsoft recommends Windows 11 as the preferred operating system for Copilot, although support for Windows 10 is being enabled in select markets. Ensuring that your devices are secure and up to date is essential for a smooth Copilot experience.
Cobweb can assist in device management and software updates, helping you maintain a secure and compatible environment for Copilot.
Being specific in your needs and goals when using Copilot is essential for maximising its effectiveness and ensuring a successful integration into your business operations. Copilot is a powerful AI tool, but its capabilities are not limitless, and it operates within defined parameters. To make the most of Copilot, you need to clearly understand what tasks it can automate and what tasks it cannot. By identifying the specific business units where you want to deploy Copilot, you can tailor its usage to suit the unique needs of each department, optimising its impact.
By ensuring your company data is well-organised, protected, and accessible, you can harness the full potential of Microsoft Copilot while safeguarding your organisation’s valuable assets. So, as you embark on your Copilot journey, remember that a solid data strategy and a partner like Cobweb can make all the difference in your success.
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