Top 5 Tips for NOC/SOC Collaboration

Summary: NOC and SOC teams must work in tandem to mitigate and eliminate any potential security threats.

This guide is designed to showcase how NOCs and SOCs can collaborate to improve a company’s overall efficiency.

  1. Aligning Your IT With Your Business Goals

One of the most important tasks for a company is obtaining a consolidated view of the entire IT operations data so that it aligns with one’s business goals. Now, there there are numerous executive dashboards each of them in the current market but staying true to your business goals will allow you to thrive.

  1. Security Lies in Visibility

If your IT team is unable to identify the problem, how are they going to secure it? Look for a single vendor that can provide integrated tools to solve your IT issues. It starts with a centralized approach to managing all of the important data.

  1. Log Management

With the emergence of new data management, you’ll need to analyze every single event or piece of data that comes your way to maximize security. By using comprehensive log management solutions to manage your system, you’ll enhance the overall level of efficiency.

  1. Utilize Event Correlation Tools

You’ll want to connect users with their roles, responsibilities, and access controls to maintain a balanced, well-rounded IT environment. Without any direction or organization, your IT team is less likely to secure your network.

  1. Network Tools

Every IT operation requires network monitoring tools to prevent and minimize any damage done by intruders. Utilizing certain intrusion prevention systems that integrate these tools with log management is one positive step towards efficient network security management. Be sure that the tools you’re using are capable of handling every aspect of securing your network.

 

How the Deployment of Video Walls in Command Centers are Increasing Productivity

Summary: Today’s command centers are utilizing video wall displays to spur competition and increase productivity.

Various organizations are finding value in deploying flexible video walls within command centers that deliver a numerous benefits. Now, by delivering a little something called real-time information across a variety of facilities, organizations are spurring competition and providing an adequate digital solution to today’s risk management industry. This information is not only driving internal competition but it’s also increasing productivity and functionality, which proves to pay huge dividends in the long run – including significant returns on investment.

Contradicting Thoughts

Video walls tend to be immediately compared to an expensive set of high-end displays that are pinned to the wall only to display information that’s dependent on the command center’s needs. However, organizations of all sizes are find out that the increased quality and technology of these screens and supporting peripherals are making video walls a must-have in today’s command center design.

In the past it would be unthinkable to allocate a large amount of capital to spend on resources to digitally display information that could easily be replicated on a chalk or dry-erase board. However, with the rapid jump in technology, organizations knew that video walls both catch the eye and automatically pull information from designated systems at a price point that people certainly couldn’t pass up on. This is where the quaint command center became a haven for advanced technological equipment – which include the high-tech video walls you are all familiar with today.

Video Walls are “Displaying” Promise

Now, video walls don’t need to be the largest in size or the latest model. Rather, a small installation can even deliver an impactful expression of what the organization is trying to portray. The future of video walls is here and is showing an immense amount of promise for all types of organizations.

 

How NOCs Can Improve Productivity Efficiency

Summary: In order to improve your company’s effectiveness and overall security, a NOC can be your solution.

The Network Operations Center (NOC) is more than just a central command center. It not only provides the customer that peace of mind that they need when it comes to running a successful and efficient business, but it also monitors the health, productivity, and security of the network infrastructure that’s required. Here are some of the reasons why co-sourcing a Network Operations Center might be the best decision you’ll make for your business.

24/7 Protection

One of the issues with in-house monitoring is the limited time frame that the IT specialists have. More specifically, the team cannot manage an issue if something goes wrong during the middle of the night. In most cases, if a problem does occur, the team will walk into the next day to resolve it, as opposed to a 24 hour NOC that’ll handle anything by utilizing remote monitoring and management software that can remotely access any network and obtain the information they need to correct the problem.

 

Resolution

With these alerts, the team can resolve the issue immediately as opposed to having to rely on making tickets that are categorized by priority and severity. Now, you might be thinking there may not be a need for security operation center consoles, but consider the fact that you could be the target of a major hack. What if it occurs at the middle of the night when your employees are sleeping soundly? Consider it “open season” for those that are targeting your company. And, the effects of this can be devastating.

Data center or server room: Which is better for your business?

It wasn’t very long ago that all servers were entirely in-house. The company invested in the server room, the backup systems and security. Also, the company hired staff with specific skills to manage the different systems. Today, the story is very different, with cloud hosting or an LA data center, these same organizations have the option to stay in-house or move everything out. Here is a quick look at the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining your server room:

Advantages:

The main advantage is that you own all the systems. Everything happens on your schedule, and any costs can be deferred or incurred as you see fit. It is a lot of work, but it comes with the sort of customization that is difficult in most third-party environments. You can modify or change any component of the system to your needs, where in any other setting it might clash with the policies of the host or the requirements of other clients.

Disadvantages:

There are two big disadvantages. The first issue is with the resource requirements. You want your IT staff working on solutions and improvements to the technology related to running the business, rather than working to keep the data center running. The other is security. According to Rack Alley, there is an ever-increasing threat of new and advanced malware, viruses and malicious Internet traffic, which requires the sort of security expertise that is expensive to maintain in-house.

Running Employment Checks: The Pros and Cons

 

 

Summary: Pre employment checks are mandatory for successful companies (especially nonprofit organizations). There are however, both pros and cons to performing these checks.

In today’s work environment, background checks have become the norm. Too many applicants tend to cover up their previous history or try to hide information that should be worth mentioning. However, there are both pros and cons to performing this screening process. This article will discuss both sides to help you get a better understanding of what you’re subjecting your applicants (and workplace) to.

The Pros

Pre employment checks can help an organization or company be more successful through numerous factors. Some of them include: reduced negligent hiring liability, reduced losses from dishonesty, minimal workplace violence, and increased new hire quality. All of these improvements will most likely have a positive impact on your business.

One of the first benefits revolves around the inclusion of fewer applications that contain serious discrepancies. It also discourages applicants to apply that are hiding something on their record that you don’t want to see. And, since you most likely want a safe and nonviolent workplace, you’ll be able to dictate what type of individuals you’ll want in your work setting.

As an employer, you have a moral and legal obligation to provide a safe work environment for your employees. Therefore, knowing whether an applicant has been involved in criminal activity will allow you to determine whether or not the applicant will be a good fit in your business. Factor in the costs of workplace violent, which can add up to the millions if something were to occur, and you have a system that’s definitely worth investing in. Many instant background checks are available online. However, it’s worth investigating whether or not the company is legitimate and provides you with a detailed report.

The Cons

While obtaining the background information on a prospective employee may be a solid indicator of future performance, they are also cons such as excessive costs and wasted time. When you’re looking for a service that provides a criminal background check for employment, you undoubtedly want to deal with a company that follows both federal and state legal requirements. Some background check companies tend to give a false sense of security and often leave out information that you need to further go about with the hiring process. It’s highly recommended that you perform a comprehensive check on your preferred screening company to ensure that you’re receiving a quality report each and every time. As the saying goes, “you get what you pay for”, and it definitely applies to pre employment checks.

4 Reasons landlords must request a tenant background check

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Making sure that you as a landlord are aware of your tenant’s previous history will ensure that you make the right decision. Like a criminal background check for employment, a tenant background check will provide information like your tenant’s prior behavior, criminal history, and credit behavior. Here are the 4 main reasons why as a landlord you should request for a tenant background check.

To protect yourself – Instant background check online will give you valuable information that will highlight any areas of concern. For example, if your tenant has a history of shoplifting, there is a good chance he/she will steal from you or your neighbors.

Discourage tenants who are trying to hide something – When potential tenants know that you will conduct a background check and they want to hide something, they may refuse the authorization form or opt out of renting.

Verify application claims – If you ask your tenant to fill a rental form which includes their criminal history, you will be able to verify the information that they have provided. If they are honest about their criminal history from the start, this means that your tenant can be trusted to some degree.

Reduce tenant turnover – Tenant background checks will help you weed out potential tenants that are of low quality or those who will stay for a short time.

The basics of Room Air Conditioners

movincool1

When it comes to the smaller room air conditioners, there are two types. Split type and the Window/wall units.

Split air conditioners consist of two parts, the indoor unit, and the outdoor unit. The outdoor unit generates the cold refrigerant which is then used by the indoor unit to cool the air. The outdoor unit uses a compressor and a fan cooled condenser to generate the refrigerant which is then sent to the indoor unit through ducting that runs from one to the other and back. The indoor unit runs the refrigerant through a cooling coil. The indoor unit blows air through the cooling coil which is what cools the air. The indoor units can come in the form of a cassette unit, which is usually ceiling mounted. Alternatively, the more common is the wall mounted duct type. Very large split units have floor standing indoor units.

The other type is the window or wall unit. These are much more compact and entirely self-contained units that have no outdoor component. Window units are fitted into the wall and will be supported externally by a metal frame. These are used in older buildings and are not used as much now.  The disadvantages of using these room air conditioning units are their lack of portability and the fact that they cannot be used as a spot cooler.

Although they require regular maintenance and servicing, a rental portable air conditioner can be used during these periods to provide cooling.

The different types of hosting

rackalley1Written by Rack Alley

The most basic definition of web hosting is the service provided by the large hosting providers to host your website or application on one of or a part of their servers. The infrastructure required to run a data center is expensive and for smaller organizations, using an online web hosting service is the most cost-effective. Here are the main types of hosting in the market today:

Shared hosting

This is the most popular type of hosting because it is also the cheapest form. With shared hosting, several customer accounts are hosted on the same shared server. In some cases, this can be hundreds on the same server. This is the option when looking for la web hosting.

Dedicated server hosting

This is the rental of the entire physical server. It is only different from server hosting Los Angeles because the server is usually the property of the hosting company. This sort of hosting provides a lot of power and flexibility. However, it does require in-depth technical knowledge.

Virtual private server

This is somewhere between shared hosting and dedicated hosting. With this model, a virtual server is rented. It is one of many virtual servers on the same physical server. However, the number of virtual machines running on a single server will be far less than shared hosting. In addition, certain performance guarantees are provided.

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Rack Alley provides premium colocation services perfect for small and enterprise customers at their Los Angeles data center.

Does an e-commerce store require social media sharing buttons?

securenetshop1Written by Secure Net Shop

One piece of advice always gets repeated again and again when it comes to e-commerce stores: Always have social media sharing buttons. The fact is that 84% of online shoppers use one social network or another. However, several sites decided to test what would happen when they ran pages without the sharing buttons. Would their sales suffer? Would traffic go down? Would there be fewer sales?

In fact, after the test was completed, it turns out that sales increased by 11.9% on the page without the social media sharing buttons. While this might seem counter-intuitive, there are two valid reasons for this outcome:

First is the case of negative social proof. When a site has a high number of shares and pins, that is a strong endorsement and is a positive reinforcement of what is said on the page. Unfortunately, due to a large number of items in most stores, very few product pages will have those sort of numbers. Most will have zero shares and psychologically this translates to poor quality for visitors. Confirm this by doing an A/B test, your web shopping cart will need to support multiple templates.

The other reason is a distraction. When a potential customer is on a page, the primary goal is to get the customer to click the add-to-cart and make a purchase using the e-commerce cart. The problem with additional buttons on the same page is that they take away from that goal. A page with social sharing buttons can have as many as six to seven while a site focused solely on the sale will have two.

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If you want to succeed at running an online business, you’re going to need shopping cart software. The online shopping cart sold by Secure Net Shop should be at the top of your list.

 

The Tell Tale Signs of an Online Shopping Scam

online-shopping-scam-burglarWith the amount of identity theft today, the online shopping scene can be a scary place. There are a few ways, however, to spot an online shopping scam. Here are a few key things to be on the lookout for.

Users looking for a quick online shopping discount often mistype popular websites, which allows them to be taken to a fake shopping site. Scammers make these fake sites look exactly like their real counterparts, except that they will take your information and run up huge debts. Always double check that you are on the correct website.

Online auction sites are extremely popular for discount online shopping. Sites like Ebay protect their customers with their own insurance. Scammers will often lure shoppers off the website by sending a message claiming that the other buyer has dropped out. Once the shopper sends the money, they never receive the product. Since the transaction took place off the website, the online retailer cannot provide any assistance. Shoppers are advised to always complete transactions through the website.

Scammers will often used classified ad websites to gain personal information as well. Finding a discount online through a classified ad website such as Craigslist is a great idea. Sometimes scammers will attempt to get shoppers to send payment information or a check through email or the mail. This request is a red flag for a scam. Meet the seller in person and use cash. You will be able to see and test the product and pay without sharing any personal financial information.

Using some common sense while shopping online will help keep your information safe. If something appears to good to be true, or you feel uncomfortable with a transaction, follow you’re instincts and leave. You’re probably right.


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