Tag Archives: HP

Users Rank Asigra as Best Backup Application

July 10, 2014 Damien Garvey

Asigra Cloud Backup is an enterprise-level backup and recovery software platform produced and marketed by Asigra Inc. Asigra Cloud Backup software is a product that swings both ways – it can be set up as your own cloud or as backup as a service: the choice is yours. Asigra Cloud Backup supports the backup and recovery of and can be installed on operating systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS. The software also supports the backup and restore of virtualization platforms including VMware.

Asigra’s win in the Quality Awards was clearly out of nowhere. It scored an overall score of 6.38 which is one of the highest it has ever got while its fellow competitors, including HP and Symantec, scored an average of high in to the 5s.

Purchasing new backup software is like making a lifetime decision so it is important to choose the perfect system that is right for you and the data centre. Asigra had the highest ratings for each of the seven statements in the sales-force competence category.

The list continues from the product features to the product reliability and the technical support category. Eventually Asigra got beaten in the Initial Product Quality but Asigra still got the highest ratings in six out of the seven statements showing that this product is a dark horse seeking for its name to be read out in awe. After being asked if ‘you would buy this product again?’ an impressive 93% of its users strongly agreed giving once again a huge amount of success. Asigra really did top off its performance for the Quality Award.

Computers fill our life and our work. They faithfully accumulate our pictures, our company’s books, and the ceaseless emails we get and send. But, unless you back it up, all that data can be gone in a blink of an eye. Backups protect us from viruses, hardware failure, theft, accidental deletion and natural disasters such as floods and fires.

Backup Technology who currently protect over 15 petabytes of data with the Asigra software would like to congratulate the whole of Asigra for this outstanding achievement.

Is Your Printer Putting You at Risk?

February 24, 2012

You spend time and money to protect your computer from hackers � but the next big threat may come from your printer.�

Security is probably the last thing on your mind when you go shopping for a printer. But some experts say your printer may be putting your sensitive information at risk. According to� a group of researchers at Columbia University, hackers are now remotely controlling printers and using them to enter secure networks and steal personal information.

According to the researchers, some printers � especially certain HP models — are easier to attack because they don�t go through the same testing and screening processes like computers. And since there is no printer antivirus software on the market, they are susceptible to attack.

Motives for attacks can vary from physical destruction to identity theft. A hacker can send repetitive instructions to a computer that will heat up the printer�s fuser (the mechanism that dries ink on the paper). The printer paper will then turn brown and set itself on fire. Hackers are also using malicious code to erase programming, break through secure firewalls, and steal personal information.

Researcher Ang Cui at Columbia University demonstrated how a hijacked printer sent information from a printed tax return form to a second computer that then scanned the document for pertinent social security information. Once found, the numbers were automatically published to Twitter.

Cui says his team still hasn�t found a way to tell if hackers have succeeded in infecting printers, and furthermore, are unable to pinpoint and fix the exact security issue.

�If and when HP rolls out a fix, if a printer is already compromised, the fix would be completely ineffective. That�s why this problem is so serious � this is nothing like fixing a virus on your PC,� says Cui. The only option right now, Cui says, may be tossing out your infected printer and starting completely over. Fixing this is going to require a very coordinated effort by the industry.

These printer attacks are further proof that you are responsible for your own protection.� You can’t assume that any equipment rolls out of the factory protected against hackers.

What do you think about this?� Do you think this is a serious threat? �Leave a comment and let me know.

What do job prospects look like in the Cloud.

January 25, 2011

There has always been a strong relationship between business technology and employment levels. With the International Data Corporation (IDC) predicting that the worldwide spending on Cloud Computing will be around the $42 billion mark in 2012, it appears that this advance is no exception.

The question remains as to exactly how the rise of Cloud Computing will affect the job market. Will there be a significant rise in the number of jobs created within Cloud suppliers or will there simply be an overall reduction in the number of IT jobs?

Forrester analyst Ted Schadler emphasises an inevitable shift from the nuts and bolts of IT to the more business/management side and calls this a shift from �Blue collar to White collar IT.�

One of the major companies where huge job losses were seen was within HP who laid off over 9,000 staff during 2010. One analyst remarked �If you can replace 9,000 staff with automations, you must have invented some earth shattering technology.�

So what does this mean for IT professionals and should they be worried? James Staten at Forrester research emphasises that networking professionals will simply have to update their skills, not necessarily search for a new job. Schadler encourages IT professionals to look at what skills will be required in the future and begin building on these.

Future IT professions may act more on a project management, supplier management and consultancy basis rather than working in strictly technical roles.

CIOs will have to dedicate much less time to concentrating on CPU, disk space and cooling systems, instead focusing their energies on contractual negotiation and management.

Of course there is always scepticism surrounding the subject of Cloud Computing and concerns that accountability, availability and security may stunt its growth. In addition analysts such as Ben Pring at Gartner attempt to reduce panic through emphasising his view that any large scale move to the cloud is at least a decade away.

Despite such scepticism the wide spread utilisation of Cloud Computing is largely regarded as inevitable and it would appear far more sensible to embrace it rather than fight it.

Study finds inconsistent IT security levels

November 1, 2010

A report into the way in which businesses and organisations in the UK comprehend and consequently deal with the threat of cyber attacks and the activities of criminals and terrorists, has found a worrying discrepancy between awareness and action.

Conducted by the Ponemon Institute, the survey took answers from leading IT security specialists from a variety of organisations and, while 69 per cent said that they were anticipating cyber attacks, under a fifth claimed that they were able to respond with adequate support from their peers.

Fifteen per cent of respondents said that collaboration in the event of an attack would involve not only fellow organisations but also governmental intervention.

The survey was conducted on behalf of electronics giant HP and spokesperson, Peter McAllister, said it was clear that many leaders were anticipating attacks on critical systems and data, without actually taking the initiative and preparing for these eventualities.

More than 50 per cent of those questioned said that their responses would be carried out independently of other organisations, while almost 20 per cent claimed that they lacked any form of unified security strategy.

Mr McAllister pointed out that even among those firms who said they operate a collaborative plan involving their peers, there is no consistency in these agreements, with personal relationships usually ensuring the bonds, rather than policy and procedure.

Mr McAllister believes that the government is confronted with a significant hurdle to surmount when it deals with privatised firms which are nonetheless integrated into the UK’s critical national infrastructure (CNI).

Experts hope that with half a billion pounds of extra funding for the government’s cyber security sector, there will be a greater effort to identify how the CNI relates to various disparate organisations and how these tenuous links can be best harnessed in the event of a cyber attack.

It is thought that while the government is taking positive steps to tackle the risks posed by cybercriminals, foreign states and international terrorist groups, public and private sector organisations also need to adopt a stance, which not only shows their awareness of threats, but their readiness and ability to react in the event of an attack.

Growth of cyber attacks aimed at businesses recorded

September 21, 2010

The number of hackers targeting businesses and organisations is growing, according to a new report published by HP. It concluded that many enterprises are failing to take onboard the severity of the risks facing their data and IT systems, leaving them much more vulnerable to attack.

The TippingPoint labs, a division of computer giant HP, wrote the report and it found that without reflecting on the inadequacies and exploitable loopholes of current security, many businesses would be unable to retain the integrity of the data for which they are responsible in the face of a sophisticated assault.

TippingPoint’s Mike Dausin, said that the only way to combat the current threats was to further analyse the usage of social networking tools and web-based programs which have access to a business’ systems. This would stop any malicious software leveraging access for third party users.

Mr Dausin went on to explain that organisations will be able to take remedial action to streamline and secure the processes of handling data and conducting business on a daily basis, but said that this will only be possible if they are willing to investigate and educate themselves about the potential for disaster.

Various industry analysts and findings from independent studies were considered by HP’s researchers in the creation of this report and most experts are in agreement, in relation to the theory that the intensity and complexity of cyber attacks are increasing at an alarming rate.

The report claims that web-based apps are weakening the security of most business systems because cybercriminals are able to write software that can easily infiltrate via a seemingly harmless online tool and then wreak havoc.

The report suggests that employees are liable to automatically trust any web-based application, consequently leading to the speedy spread of malware, as unsuspecting users make the mistake of allowing fake apps onto business systems.

TippingPoint identified that one of the major problems with the current epidemic of malware targeting businesses is that the software can sit undetected, harvesting data without being challenged and irradicated.

The good news is that the 2006 high point for cyber attacks has never been repeated, but experts are persistent in their assertions that the increasing sophistications of the hackers should concern many businesses.