Tag Archives: Mike Foreman

AVG

UK Government is addressing SMB cyber security needs, but are you doing enough?

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The scheme will offer micro, small and medium sized businesses up to £5,000 for specialist advice to boost their cyber security and protect new business ideas and intellectual property.

The initiative will also enable firms to access services from the UK cyber security industry, and help them to adopt Cyber Essentials, a government-backed, industry supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common cyber-attacks.

With small businesses still guilty of underestimating how valuable their data is to the global, cybercriminal network, I fully support the initiative and would advise any small business to take advantage of the offer. In the UK, many small businesses are still not investing significantly in cyber security measures – recent government figures suggest SMEs with 100 or more employees spend about £10,000 per year, while the smallest firms spend as little as £200.

It’s clear that more guidance is needed, and with so many resources now available there is no reason not to be better informed. I wonder if this news has prompted you to consider your own cyber security needs and if so, how many of you plan to sign up?

It would be great to see similar schemes rolled out beyond the UK, and I fully expect this will happen as security continues to rise further up the news agenda. For those not eligible for schemes such as this, I would advise you to adhere to the following best practices:

  • Educate your staff via in-person training sessions and by providing regularly updated resources on the threats landscape
  • Always make sure your customer data is stored in an encrypted database
  • Require multiple levels of passwords to access any database storing customer information; and change these passwords frequently
  • Regularly run background checks on employees handling customer data
  • Make sure to have malware detection software running on both your servers (hosted or not) and workstations and that it, and your operating systems, are regularly patched and updated
  • Review and implement the standard network security health check controls
  • Make sure your Crisis Management or Disaster Plan (which you should also have) includes a data breach plan

With the volume and scope of small business security threats on the rise, SMEs simply cannot afford to wait and risk becoming the next breach we read about in the morning papers. It’s great to see that government is taking further steps to address the cyber security issues SMBs face, but it’s an issue we all need to address – both as businesses and employees.

For more information on keeping your business safe, visit the AVG Business website.

AVG

AVG Business lights up Europe!

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It’s been a really exciting week for AVG Business as we’ve launched AVG Business Managed Workplace 9.1 globally. As part of its development process, we spoke to hundreds of partners around the world to get their input and feedback. There’s been significant effort behind the scenes here, and we’re delighted to be have been able to share the new version with our partners.

This week, we’re taking AVG Business on the road to “light up” Europe. On April 22nd, Francois Tschachtli, Sales Director, DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) & Benelux and I spoke to 20 journalists in Munich about the company’s new vision and offering.

We are proud to have launched localized German language versions of AVG Business Managed Workplace, AVG Business CloudCare and AVG Business Secure Sign On. All data and products will be hosted at an AWS data center in Frankfurt. This is a significant step forward in our effort to be a major force in the German Internet security and remote monitoring and management (RMM) markets.

Today we’re speaking to a group of Swiss journalists in Zurich, where we will confirm our commitment to this market through our investment in infrastructure, people and products.

We’ve been joined on this press tour by our valued partners Centrify, Infrascale and Jackobsoftware. It’s been great to have them alongside to help get the word out. This press tour will be followed in May by a series of partner dedicated roadshows in Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, where we’ll be sharing this new vision and offering with existing and potential partners.

Our commitment is and has always been to put partners first. Not just in the DACH region, but globally. Our vision is to help our channel partners and their customers be confident in their choice of services for their business.

AVG

From Nottingham to Barcelona in 17 Years

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In my talk I spoke about how, 17 years ago, I started as a shop owner in Nottingham selling software and networking tools to small businesses. All those years later, I am General Manager of AVG Business and presenting at the world’s leading mobile show.

Of course, things have changed rapidly in this period, but one thing remains the same – my vision, which is the same as the AVG Business vision, namely to help businesspeople do what they do best – run their businesses.

Back in my Nottingham days, security meant four walls and a locked door. However, we all know that this has changed. Phenomena such as Bring Your Own Device and the so-called Consumerization of IT have changed everything.

Cloud apps and services made this happen. Businesspeople expect the connectivity and flexibility that the cloud delivers. In turn, cloud brings about security challenges. Staff handle business-critical and confidential data on an increasing number of devices, both company provided and their own.  My old-fashioned four walls and a locked door no longer applies. How can this connectivity and flexibility be controlled and secured?

I said on stage that Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is no longer a debate – it’s a responsibility. We are now at the point where BYOD has become “YOD.” Thanks to cloud computing, staff no longer need to bring devices into an office in order to access business data. The workplace is now everywhere, we live in an age of business without walls. Telling staff not to use their own smartphone for work purposes is not an option. Digital natives demand it.

Cloud is here, but it has made control and security harder – business owners are demanding solutions from their IT partners and providers, and this is where we come in.

I was delighted to be joined on stage by Shreyas Sadalgi, SVP Business Development at Centrify, market leader in Single Sign On technology. Together we unveiled a simple, affordable way for small businesses to help keep company confidential data safe, private and within their control even when shared with employee-owned mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets) and externally hosted cloud services.

We’re making it simple for businesses. Through Secure Sign On, a new employee can have access to any of their employer’s apps through any device. When an employee leaves, access is removed very quickly. This simple solution solves the YOD question and puts control and security back in the hands of the business, as quickly as physically taking a key and locking a door.

It’s amazing how far you can go in 17 years!

AVG

How BYOD is building business without walls

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I’ve just googled “Bring Your Own Device” and “BYOD” and got more than 150 million results. It’s fair to say that this is a hot topic. The industry has long agreed – the BBC included Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in its 2012 technology predictions (or at least one of its commentators did) and did so again for 2013.

In a relatively short period of time (Wikipedia claims the term was coined in 2009) BYOD has become a well-used business term – both at enterprise level and in the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) space where AVG Business operates. Many of us want to use our own device for work purposes, so businesses of all sizes need to allow their employees to do so. Consequently, it’s up to us and our partners to enable this by making the BYOD ecosystem secure.

I am old enough to remember when I had to crawl under a desk to plug an ethernet cable into the back of a PC tower. Security in those days meant four walls and a locked door.

Today users want the flexibility and speed that cloud apps bring, often on their own smartphone or tablet. As I said in my last blog, Dropbox, Gmail and Skype are very popular tools which help businesspeople do what businesspeople do best – run their businesses.  But how secure are they?

Our job at AVG Business, through our partners is to give our customers the right tools to do just that, to make technology simple and secure, and to enable them to have control over their business.

I am hugely looking forward to presenting at AVG Business’s Mobile Security Forum at Mobile World Congress next week – I will be talking about BYOD in the context of the SMB community and discussing how we’ll introduce control and flexibility so that businesspeople can concentrate on their core business.

AVG

AVG Business Releases VMware® ESXi Service Module

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AMSTERDAM and SAN FRANCISCO – February 25, 2015 – AVG Technologies N.V. (NYSE: AVG), the online security company™ for 197 million active users, today announced the immediate availability of its VMware® ESXi service module for the AVG Business Managed Workplace remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform.  The new service module is an easy and cost-effective way for partners to extend their ability to manage customers’ virtual networks remotely via the AVG Business Managed Workplace multi-service management console.

Integrating the VMware ESXi service module into AVG Business Managed Workplace gives AVG partners the capability to perform additional, valuable services for their customers, including:

  • Real-time health checks – at-a-glance views of the health status of host hardware components as well as failure notifications help to greatly simplify monitoring of VMware environments
  • Early alerting – automatic notification when VMware snapshots exceed pre-set thresholds allows service providers to take pre-emptive action on issues long before the end customer is aware of them
  • Storage status reports – ready access to the past 7 days’ data store space in granular detail makes it easier to troubleshoot storage issues of what is consuming excessive space on the data store
  • Routine management functions – such as support for a series of standard activities including remote power on, off, pause of virtual machines; create and manage snapshots; remote access to the host console; as well as the automatic discovery of any existing VMware host and guest devices and flagging them as opportunities to manage more devices in the end customer environment

 

AVG Business Managed Workplace already delivers virtualization capability through the Microsoft® Hyper-V service module. Today’s addition of the VMware service module gives services providers a wider ranging capability in the virtualization space.  For example, as they roll out virtualization services to customers, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can use AVG Business Managed Workplace to quickly and easily manage those virtualized architectures. MSPs new to AVG Business Managed Workplace can have the added functionality of the VMware and/or Hyper-V service modules included within their overall subscription.

“We have made it our resolution this year to focus on enhancing our RMM platform for partners managing customer devices, business data and users. With our known security heritage, we are committed to bringing some of those best practices into RMM, including introducing advanced proactive alerting and real-time health checks for virtualized environments,” said Mike Foreman, General Manager, AVG Business at AVG Technologies. “This new early warning system gives partners unprecedented insight into their customers’ VMware installations. Early reporting is an important step in making partners’ lives easier, helping them to take remedial action in timely fashion and with minimal impact on the end customer.”

The AVG Business Managed Workplace VMware service module is available immediately.

 

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About AVG Technologies (NYSE: AVG)

AVG is the online security company providing leading software and services to secure devices, data and people. Over 197 million active users, as of December 31, 2014, use AVG´s products and services. AVG’s Consumer portfolio includes internet security, performance optimization, and personal privacy and identity protection for mobile devices and desktops. The AVG Business portfolio – delivered by managed service providers, VARs and resellers – offers IT administration, control and reporting, integrated security, and mobile device management that simplify and protect businesses.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

www.avg.com

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

www.avg.com


Contacts:

US

Holly Luka

Waggener Edstrom for AVG

[email protected]

+ 1 (415) 547 7054

 

UK

Paul Shlackman

PR Manager, SMB & Channel

[email protected]

+44 (0)7792 121510

 

Note to Editors:

AVG Business sells and markets a comprehensive, integrated set of cloud security and remote monitoring and management (RMM) software applications that are  designed from the ground up to simplify the lives of IT providers, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and their small-to-medium sized business customers.

The portfolio comprises AVG Business CloudCare, a cloud-based administration platform offering resellers a simple way to implement and manage services such as antivirus, content filtering, online backup and email security services for their customers and AVG Business Managed Workplace, an open eco-system RMM tool.

Supported by a worldwide network of more than 10,000 partners, AVG’s strong IT security heritage complements its proven strength as an RMM provider and partner to help smaller IT companies and MSPs transition and flourish as fully-fledged managed services businesses.

AVG

All roads lead to Barcelona

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I’m excited about attending Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona in a couple of weeks’ time. Not only is Barcelona a great city to visit, but also if, like me, you love getting a new smartphone, take a quick look at this set of predictions as to what the handset manufacturers will be showcasing there.

MWC has quickly grown to be the world’s premier mobile industry event and I am looking forward to hosting AVG Business’s “Mobile Security Forum” on March 3rd with our Chief Technology Officer, Yuval Ben-Itzhak.

The session also features three guest speakers who will give their views on the importance of mobile security for smaller businesses – Shreyas Sadalgi, SVP Business Development at Centrify, Ronen Sasson, CEO of Communitake and George Georgiou, Sales Director at TIG.

Yuval and I will be making a major AVG announcement for small business at the Mobile Security Forum – we’ll be unveiling a simple, affordable way for small businesses to help keep company confidential data safe, private and within their control even when it’s shared with employee-owned mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets) and externally hosted cloud services.

Why’s this important? Take, for example, Dropbox, Gmail and Skype which are popular with small businesses, indicating that small businesses want easy-to-use and ultra-effective cloud-hosted business tools. These sorts of services are often used outside a company’s formal IT set-up and the general lack of appropriate protection is putting small firms at risk of data breaches. According to research by PwC, a breach costs smaller firms between £65,000 and £115,000 on average.

Our solution will be taken to market via our partner network and I encourage all of our partners to act as enablers for this to support their small business customers. Our goal is to enable small businesses to use this new breed of business tool safely and securely, giving them the confidence to concentrate on their core business.

I look forward to seeing you in Barcelona.

For more information on our solutions for small business visit our new webpage.

Title image courtesy of  TechRadar

AVG

Passwords aren’t enough for small business security

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From Target to Sony Pictures, security breaches at businesses of all sizes were in the headlines throughout 2014. We are only in February but the data breach stories show no sign of abating.

Whether it’s a specific hacking attack on a British shoe retailer or hacktivism at companies with millions of online members, the loss or compromise of passwords is frequently a common factor.

Ever since they emerged in the late ‘90s, passwords have been our primary security measure. Fast forward to today and we often find that employees are still routinely using the same style of basic password  – except now these passwords are required to protect smartphones and tablets  carrying sensitive company-related data, as well as social media and cloud-based applications used regularly in the workplace.

It’s clear that conventional password use is no longer fit for 21st century purpose and businesses must adopt additional measures to ensure their passwords are up to the task.

Extra levels of authentication are needed to verify the identity of employees using their passwords, and businesses should start to enforce these as standard within their organization especially if they have in place bring your own device (BYOD) policies.

AVG has created this short eBook to help you develop a BYOD policy that fits your business:

 
In my view, many of the user identity breaches reported in the news could have been prevented with better password practices and stronger, multi-factor authentication methods.
 

Five top tips for more effective password management in 2015:

 

  1. Make sure security measures include formal staff training on password best practice. Passwords need to be strong, long and as secure as possible – complicate them by using “passphrases” rather than individual words – e.g. rather than “spotthedog” use “5p0tth360g”
  2. There is no harm in turning on “two-step authentication”. Most services are offering this now and is a simple code based system that send you a numeric password by SMS/Text to secure you login credentials
  3. Create a single profile for all corporate log-ins, with segmented privileges for individual employees within the same profile. This way, when someone leaves the company, they can be removed automatically.
  4. Some mobile phones now provide both identity and access management capabilities. Encourage employees to adopt these and incorporate them as part of your BYOD policy.
  5. To aid productivity, make it easier for employees to work anywhere, anytime with mobile technology by moving to a single sign-on environment where every employee has one-click to access to a secure area in the cloud containing all of their work accounts and applications.

 

This constant flow of data breach stories in the media has done much to raise awareness of the issues around passwords. Education is positive, of course, but action must be taken to foil the hackers.

If your business is supported by a mobile workforce equipped with either work or personal devices which provide ready access to company-sensitive systems and information, ask yourself that important question: what password practices do I need to implement to keep those devices and that data secure?

Don’t take it for granted that your people have the knowledge to handle this themselves. Instead make sure you equip them to help protect your company.

AVG

Top Threats to Business Data in 2015

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Around 1,000 delegates at the NexGen Cloud Conference in San Diego last week heard Tony Anscombe give some valuable insight into the partner opportunity for the Internet of Things.  The good news for our service provider partners is the opportunity is huge. Our recent Monetization of IoT study shows that around three fifths (62 percent) of small businesses has budget specifically assigned over the next 12 months for the development of IoT solutions.

On this evidence 2015 is shaping up to be an important year for IoT investment.  Engaging with IT providers on NextGen Cloud matters is just one component of what’s to come. The other part concerns the immediate future for their small business customers and the ever changing threat landscape.

With that in mind, here are my top threats to watch for in 2015:-

More ransomware

The latter part of 2013 was notable for a spate of ransomware attacks on small businesses. This has continued in 2014 and we are likely to see more instances in 2015. Ransomware, like the infamous CryptoLocker, encrypts or locks personal files on your machine and extorts a ransom to recover them.  To avoid falling victim, businesses should use reputable antivirus software, avoid risky downloads, educate staff and keep security software/operating systems regularly patched and updated.

 

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)

Cybercriminals are increasingly focusing their attacks on small businesses.  APTs are a relatively new class of malware developed by cybercriminals to steal passwords, logins and customer data.  They are purposely designed to gain a foothold in the business and remain there undetected for a prolonged period of time.  To counter this businesses require an equally sophisticated approach to defense that includes protection from risks in mobile communications and Cloud services as well as traditional networks.

 

Password-related breaches

As Cloud services and the Internet of Things become part of everyday business life password management is going to become a hot issue.  We saw a good example of this in the news last month where streaming images from thousands webcams and CCTVs around the world ended up on a Russian website simply because they had default passwords or no log-in codes at all.   Many of the images were taken from business CCTV equipment.  Until companies learn to manage their passwords efficiently we can expect to see a lot more of this kind of incidents.

 

Mobile threats

Not so long ago it was probably quite natural for your Apple®-loving colleagues to congratulate themselves for using the relatively threat-free Macintosh platform. But the tide is turning.  The prevalence of iPad® and iPhone® mobile devices in the office has turned the Apple operating system into a prime target. Last month we saw reports of a new combination of malware that infects Apple’s OS®X and iOS® mobile devices called the OSX/WireLurker Trojan.  Android™ too is subject to attack. You may have seen recent news reports about a new variant of Android malware called NotCompatible that uses spam email blasts and compromised websites to infiltrate secure company networks.

 

In summary, the outlook for business security threats is one of increasing diversity.  At the same time more IoT devices and Cloud services are coming on stream. Our study strongly indicates that small businesses are ready to spend on ways to simplify how things are kept up to date, secure and monitored in 2015.

iPhone®, iPad® and Apple® are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.
Android™ is a trademark of Google Inc.

AVG

AVG Business strengthens team for big push in 2015

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However, as always in business, you can never afford to rest on your laurels and we will continue to invest in and expand our bleeding-edge cloud security and managed services platforms.  To assist us with this task it gives me great pleasure to welcome on board Francois Daumard as our new vice-president of Global Channel Sales.

Most recently with the mobility management company FiberLink, Francois has a strong background in Channel Sales and has previously worked for such organizations as Apple and Microsoft.  Francois’ experience encompasses Global Sales & Marketing, Operations and establishing international strategic Channel Partner Programs.  He is well-recognized as an active participant in the Channel Community and currently sits on the Vendor Council of CompTIA.

Francois will be responsible for the channel sales teams across the globe.  He brings a tremendous amount of experience to the team and will be working closely with our VP of Marketing & Product Marketing Joanna Brace and her marketing team as we work to add a little sparkle to our channels in 2015.

As we pivot AVG business towards a cloud model, expansion of our global footprint has gathered pace. In 2014 Brazil, Australia, Germany and, following the recent acquisition of Norman Safeground, Scandinavia, DACH and Benelux have all come on stream.

Of course the size of the challenge ahead of us should not be underestimated.  We are not going to convince businesses overnight how radically we have changed as an organisation.  We must show them that today we are the online security company for devices, data and people with a modern consumer and business product portfolio to suit both markets.

Hopefully our continued roll out of market-leading cloud security and remote management solutions coupled with an unwavering commitment to helping our 10,000 global partners and their customers manage large numbers of business mobile devices will help to overturn some of those entrenched perceptions.

In summary, as we build up to the strategically important Mobile World Congress 2015 we can count on a solid framework, closely aligned to the ever changing needs of the Channel, that is capable of carrying us towards our next goal. That goal is to become the market leading applications vendor for streamlined delivery of cloud security and managed services to small and medium sized businesses.

AVG

Internet of Things is web’s next money spinner say small businesses

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We all suspected it and now we know it to be true.  Most small businesses (57 percent) are expecting the Internet of Things (IoT) – IP-connected devices, machines with sensors and cloud-based services – to make a significant impact on their bottom line.  Yet almost three quarters (71 percent) admit they are not ready from an IT security and data protection point of view.

These are just two of the key findings in AVG’s latest independent research which polled 1,770 small businesses and MSPs in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia on a number of issues related to monetizing IoT. Over half (55 percent) of MSPs taking part in the study confirmed that customers are demanding IoT-related services and 77 percent are planning to expand their service or product portfolio to meet it. Little surprise then that only 18 percent of the small businesses we spoke to thought their IT provider was ahead of the curve when it came to their capacity to manage IoT.

So just what is IoT’s potential as a money spinner?  Well, more and more devices with built-in sensors are being connected to the Internet.  By remotely monitoring the data on these devices a business can achieve much greater all-round efficiency through raised productivity, lower costs and reduced wastage.  And as cloud services become the default way to make sense of this data you no longer need heavy up-front investment so IoT starts to become affordable for small businesses.

Our research highlighted four industries in particular – IT/telecoms, pharmaceuticals, utilities and manufacturing – that are set to make money from IoT. The IT/telecoms industry, as might be expected, is especially upbeat on IoT. Among the IT decision makers surveyed 84 percent indicate that their organization would shift its product/service offering to make the most out of the rise of IoT.  The proportion of pharmaceuticals companies looking to expand product offerings using IoT was even greater (91 percent).   Three quarters (75 percent) of utilities companies and 73 percent of manufacturers are also expecting to benefit.

Overall our study found the vibe from small businesses around IoT to be extremely positive.  If there was one note of caution it was the recognition that they need to do more about the security side of things.  They are right to be cautious. Many connected devices use the Linux operating system which has its own set of vulnerabilities as highlighted by the recent Shellshock event.  The lesson for companies is that they need to approach IoT just like the rest of their IT – by keeping them regularly updated and using identity management and user authentication.

Video

IoT Business Opportunities

A summary of the other key findings in the study were:

  • Almost half (46 percent) of SMBs think that the Internet of Things will be the IT trend that has the greatest impact on their organization over the next five years.
  • Around three fifths (62 percent) of SMB respondents report that their organization has budget specifically assigned over the next 12 months for the development of Internet of Things solutions. 49 percent have a moderate or substantial budget assigned for these solutions.
  • Only 18 percent of SMB respondents say that their IT provider is completely ahead of the curve with regard to the Internet of Things and the potential for their business. Of those with an IT provider, 68 percent feel that their provider could improve their service with regard to Internet of Things offerings and understanding.
  • The majority (84 percent) of SMB respondents say that their organization has purchased mobile devices within the last year, spending an average of over $6,500 on these devices. Of those who have purchased mobile devices within the last 12 months, SMB respondents estimate that their organization spends an average of around $4,500 in hidden costs annually.

In conclusion, the days when work was confined to an office with four walls and a locked door are gone for good.  Thanks to mobile technology and popular cloud-based applications today’s start-ups are already living in a world where doing business without walls is perfectly normal.  IoT is a further example of how small businesses are becoming more and more connected.  The flexibility and simplicity is great. But is it secure? AVG is ready to help businesses embrace IoT safely. A couple of weeks ago we announced that we will shortly expand AVG CloudCare’s capabilities to include breakthrough integration of Multi Factor Authentication, Secure Sign-On (SSO), Mobile Device Management and Mobile Application Management all managed through Active Directory to ease complexity and simplify management.