This month, Microsoft has released 103 updates to Windows, Edge, Microsoft Office, and Exchange Server. This update also includes minor updates to Visual Studio. Three zero-days (CVE-2023-44487, CVE-2023-36563 and CVE-2023-41763) require “Patch Now” updates for both Windows and the Edge browser for this October update cycle.
While it’s not universally the case, many businesses actively using Macs for work may not be paying enough attention to ensuring those devices are secured, according to cloud security provider Qualys, which estimates that just over half of Macs remain unprotected by recent security patches.
Once upon a time, digital business sat inside the security perimeter. Devices were kept in offices, shared the same network, and were protected by antivirus software, firewalls, and software updates. This system wasn’t perfect and became increasingly specialized, with security teams, networking teams, and others all working in different sectors.
With mobility, this changed. Devices were unleashed from their locations, used their own networks, and stood outside of traditional corporate endpoint protection.
The pandemic accelerated these changes, fostering the evolution of innovative security protections outside of traditional perimeters, such as around zero-trust. The global zero trust security market is now expected to reach $99 billion by 2030, up from $23 billion in 2021.
Enterprise admins handling fleets of Macs take note: there’s a new security management tool from Apple device management firm Addigy.
The MDM Watchdog Utility monitors the MDM framework on devices and automatically forces software patches to be installed if they’re not already in place. This is designed to help solve a specific problem in which some (not all) managed Macs do not properly install Apple’s Rapid Security Response updates.
In today’s fast-moving threat environment, Apple has introduced Rapid Security Response (RSR) as a key front line against new threats. The defense is intended to be distributed and installed across Apple’s platforms as swiftly as possible once new threats are identified. The idea is that by expediting distribution and making installation a quicker process, it will be easier to maintain security across Mac fleets. That’s important as the scale of Apple deployments grows and enterprises move to support employee choice.
The use of invasive monitoring software that tracks employee productivity is unlikely to be popular with workers — and it turns out IT staffers aren’t keen on deploying the technology either.
In fact, many IT workers are apparently willing to defy company policy and help colleagues find workarounds to avoid being spied on by the boss. That’s according to a survey of 500 IT managers and 500 non-manager IT workers in the US conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of digital employee experience software vendor 1E. The survey results were made public last week.
In April, 2021, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins announced he would let all 75,000 employees work remotely indefinitely, even after the COVID-19 pandemic ended. The company had seen no drop in productivity by allowing employees to work from home and expected to save money by not fully staffing offices. When and how often employees should come into the office would be up to their managers, who abide by a flexible hybrid policy.
But that shift brought technology challenges most companies are by now familiar with: how do you secure networks when the employee’s home is essentially a branch office? How do you create company culture from afar? And, how do you retain employees at a time when IT talent is in historically high demand.
Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Thu, 26 May 2022 03:00:00 -0700
Pay for some IT professionals is failing to keep up with inflation, according to a salary survey by IT employment consultancy Janco Associates for calendar year 2021. But preliminary data indicates pay for tech workers could soon change drastically with job market in IT tight, and many companies eyeing major tech projects in the year ahead.
With inflation in the US running at about 8% over the past year, salary increases — even for IT execs — have failed to keep pace.
The mean compensation for all IT pros last year rose only 2.05%, with the median salary at $100,022 for those at large enterprises and at $95,681 for IT workers at mid-sized firms, according to Janco.
Credit to Author: Paul Gillin| Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2022 04:30:00 -0700
Human beings are natural pack rats, as evidenced by the 2.3 billion square feet of self-storage space that’s in use in the U.S. Fear of getting rid of stuff even has a name: disposophobia.
Keeping every pair of shoes your kids have ever worn isn’t a problem for anyone except those with whom you share living space.
But the same rules don’t apply to data.
All industries have records retention guidelines spelled out in compliance rules. They are usually strictly enforced for regulated companies, and firms that run afoul of them can be punished.