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10 tips and tricks for Windows 11

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Every new version of Windows is met with a mixture of excitement for the new features that have been added and a sense of trepidation for the changes involved. But something all Windows users can agree on is that they want the best and fastest experience possible.

So whether you’re a Windows veteran who’s getting used to the new look and feel of the operating system, or a first-time user of Windows, we have gathered an essential collection of tips and tricks you need to get the most out of Windows.

Some will let you stamp your mark on Windows 11 and make it your own, others will speed up the way you use the OS. But they all have one thing in common – they improve Windows in some way.

 

Move the Start button

20 tips and tricks for Windows 11 screenshot

You will notice that the Start button and icons in the taskbar are centered – this is not something that’s to everyone’s liking. If you would prefer the Start button to be in the left-hand corner as it always has been, right-click an empty section of the taskbar and select Taskbar settings. Click the Taskbar behaviors section to expand it, and then select Left from the Taskbar alignment drop-down menu.

 

Enable dark mode

20 tips and tricks for Windows 11 screenshot

The option to switch to a darker color is a trend that has hit many different applications, and Windows 11 does not miss out. If you prefer darker tones, right-click an empty section of the desktop and select Personalize before clicking the Color section. From the drop-down menu labeled Choose your mode, select Dark.

Use Snap layouts

20 tips and tricks for Windows 11 screenshot

If you have several applications running and multiple instances of Explorer open, it can be difficult to organize the windows on the screen for easy navigation. Windows 11’s Snap feature could be the solution you’re looking for. Hover your cursor over the Maximize/Resize button and you can choose a layout to quickly arrange open windows. There are several to choose from, each suited for different tasks and screen sizes.

 

 Hide unwanted Taskbar buttons

20 tips and tricks for Windows 11 screenshot

 

Gather Your Widgets

widgets panel

While Windows 10 dabbled in widgets, Windows 11 goes all in. If you want to check the weather, look up sports scores, track stock prices, watch nearby traffic, manage your Outlook calendar, cross tasks off your to-do list, or read the latest news, a new Widgets icon on the taskbar has you covered.

More Multitask Layouts

snap layouts

Microsoft has supported the snap and resize feature since Windows 7, but it gets a boost in Windows 11 with Snap Layouts. You can still drag and drop windows into place, but in Windows 11, you can also hover over the Maximize button on supported apps to see a menu of layout options—one large window on the left and two on top of each other on the right, or three in a row, for example. Click to select your preferred formation and then move your apps into place.

Chat With Teams

teams chat

Microsoft Teams—the company’s free messaging, calling, and videoconferencing app—is built into Windows 11. Launch video calls and start chats from a new Chat icon on the taskbar; no need to open the Microsoft Teams app. You can sync your contacts through the Teams mobile app, but if your contacts don’t use Teams, send invites via email or text. You can also have SMS conversations with contacts even if they don’t sign up for Teams, and they can join a video chat from a web link.

 

Get Things Done With Focus Sessions

Windows 11’s Focus Sessions

With messages and video chats popping up throughout the work day, it’s easy to get distracted as the work piles up. Focus Sessions in Windows 11 encourages you to set aside time for work that requires uninterrupted, deep focus. It’s currently available in the new Alarms & Clock app, and offers a quick way to get at least 30 minutes of distraction-free work time. If you go beyond 45 minutes, the app automatically schedules a five-minute break about midway through your session. Here’s a step-by-step guide on setting it up for your PC.

 

Pair Input/Output Devices

input output

Windows 11 gets a full-featured Sound menu with the ability to pair new input and output devices. Open Settings > System > Sound and click Add device under the Output section to link external speakers or other devices. Or click Add device under Input to connect an external microphone. You will then be given the choice to connect via Bluetooth, wireless docks, and more. Scroll down to the Advanced section and click All sound devices to view a full list of all input and output devices that have been connected to your PC.

 

Pins Apps to the Start Menu

start menu

Speaking of live tiles, they’re finally gone in Windows 11. In their place is a more simplistic Start menu where you can pin apps for easy access. Open the App List, right-click on an app, and select Pin to Start to move it to the Pinned section. You can then drag the app into your preferred position. To remove apps, right-click and choose Unpin from Start.

Next to the Start button, you will see the Task view and Widgets buttons. If you don’t need these, you can hide them by right-clicking an empty section of the taskbar and selecting Taskbar settings. You can then toggle Task view and Widgets on and off. You can do the same with Search and Chat buttons.

5. Banish distractions with Focus assist

20 tips and tricks for Windows 11 screenshot

Focus Assist can be used to prevent notifications from appearing when you need to limit distractions and get on with work. Open Settings and move to the System section followed by Focus assist. If you select Alarms only, alarms are the only notifications that will disturb you. You can use the Priority only option to choose other notifications that should also be permitted, and choose times that Focus assistant should be automatically enabled.

 

6. Exclude Edge in Alt + Tab

20 tips and tricks for Windows 11 screenshot

You’re probably used to using the Alt + Tab keyboard shortcut to switch between open applications and windows. With Windows 11, you can also include browser tabs from Edge in the Alt + Tab list for easy navigation. Open Settings and head to System > Multi-tasking, and then use the drop-down menu in the Alt + Tab section to choose Open windows only to ignore Edge tabs.

 

7. Make use of widgets

20 tips and tricks for Windows 11 screenshot

Widgets are mini-apps that are displayed in a small pop-up window when you click the Widgets button in the taskbar – the blue-and-white button next to the Start button. You can customize the widgets you see by clicking the button followed by your profile picture to the upper right. Click the + button next to a widget preview to add it to the display. Back at the main widget panel, unwanted widgets can be removed by clicking the x in their upper right-hand corner.

 

8. Start menu shortcuts

20 tips and tricks for Windows 11 screenshot

Right-click the Start button – or press Windows + X – to display a handy menu providing easy access to a number of Windows 11 components. This includes a link to Explorer, Settings, and sections of the Control Panel.

 

9. Enhance your sound

20 tips and tricks for Windows 11 screenshot

Whether you’re listening with speakers or headphones, Windows 11 can make your audio sound better. Right-click the volume icon in the taskbar and select Sound settings. Click the arrow to the right of the audio device you are using, scroll down through the options and move the toggle labeled Enhance audio to the On position.

 

10. Pin frequently used apps

20 tips and tricks for Windows 11 screenshot

The apps you use most can be pinned to the taskbar or the top of the Start menu for easy access. Click the Start button, locate the shortcut for an app you use a lot, and right-click it. From the menu that appears, you can select the Pin to Start or Pin to taskbar option – whichever you prefer.

What Are WiFi Heatmaps?

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What Are WiFi Heatmaps?

WiFi heatmap is a two-dimensional map that uses colour to show the speed of a network connection in an area, this could be a warehouse, office building, conference centre or anywhere else.

The heatmap uses a traffic light-style colour spectrum to show areas where WiFi is working best – a green colour indicates a good connection in an area, whereas a red colour indicates a weaker connection.

A slow wireless network can be caused by a number of different factors, and WiFi heatmaps are one of the tools that experts use as part of a wider health check of a wireless network (otherwise known as a WiFi survey).

 

What are the causes of slow WiFi?

There are a number of different reasons why the speed of your WiFi could be slower than desired. These could include:

1.Too few (or too many) WiFi Access Points

You probably are aware that WiFi ‘dead zones’ can be caused by a lack of WiFi access points (AP’s) in an area.

Common sense might suggest that you should adopt a ‘more is better’ approach, but it isn’t always as simple as that. Too many WiFi Access Points can actually be detrimental to the speed of your WiFi network too, so it’s important to consult an expert to make sure you have the right number of AP’s, and that they are located in the right places.

A WiFi Heatmap can help with this by identifying the areas in a premises where more access points may need to be installed, in order to improve wireless speed.

2. Physical obstructions

Physical obstructions, such as walls, furniture and even the number of people in a building can all affect the speed of your wireless network.

A WiFi heatmap can identify physical obstructions in an area that might be preventing a wireless network from working properly.

Once these areas have been identified, adjustments can be made to resolve the issue. The adjustments could be as simple as installing more WiFi Access Points in certain areas, or, when possible, even making structural changes to a building.

3. Other nearby wireless networks

It’s not your imagination, other nearby wireless networks can play havoc with your own WLAN (wireless local area network), and lead to slower network speeds.

Experts can use a WiFi heatmap as a guide to where other competing networks might be affecting your wireless speed.

4. Your WiFi network is not optimized for your needs

Wireless networks can sometimes struggle during times of higher usage. This could mean during a business event or a meeting (which is exactly the time when you want your WiFi to be able to keep up!).

By consulting the experts at Lanworks, you can get a clear picture of whether or not your current network is up to the job, or requires a replacement.

What Is A WiFi Survey?

A WiFi heatmap forms a part of a wider WiFi survey, which is essentially a health-check for your wireless network, and a way to identify and resolve issues which may be affecting the speed of your network.

There are different types of WiFi surveys, and an expert can help to direct you to the one which is best suited to your needs. The factors usually considered in every WiFi survey are:

  • The size of your premises.
  • The number of devices using your network (capacity).
  • Your current infrastructure.
  • The construction of the building.
  • Interference

Types of WiFi Surveys

Depending on your needs, there are a number of ways in which a WiFi survey can be undertaken, these include:

  • A predictive model WiFi survey (carried out virtually).
  • A pre-deployment onsite WiFi survey.
  • A post-deployment or fault-finding WiFi survey.

Which survey you choose to do can depend on your personal needs and the accessibility of the area. To find out more, call us or email below!

Wi-Fi 7 Is Already Coming: Here’s What We Know

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To us, Wi-Fi 6 still feels like the new kid on the block but it would appear that Wi-Fi 7 is just around the corner. In fact, MediaTek has already been demonstrating its Wi-Fi 7 technology to “key customers and industry collaborators.”

But what will this mean for the tech that you care about? Join us as we find out.

What Wi-Fi 7 promises

  • 2.4x faster than Wi-Fi 6 on 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz
  • Up to 40Gbps speeds
  • Wider bandwidth and lower latency even in congested environments

The Wi-Fi 7 standard, which is also known as IEEE 802.11be, will essentially be capable of much higher speeds than its predecessor, as well as bringing lower latency and more stable connections in difficult environments.

Wi-Fi 7 can handle at least 30 Gbps and potentially up to 40Gbps. That’s up to the same speed as Thunderbolt 3 or four times faster than 10 Gigabit Ethernet – all without wires.

Now, we know what you’re thinking, your internet provider can’t give you anything close to those speeds, but that’s not the full story.

Firstly, if it proves to deliver on all of its claims, Wi-Fi 7 could spell the end of costly wired ethernet installs by offering equivalent or faster connectivity over the air.

Secondly, it could have a massive impact on how we use our local area networks.

One especially cool example is that Wi-Fi 7 could allow for wireless uncompressed 4K video streams for untethered VR and AR experiences.

Qualcomm’s Andy Davidson said, “Immersive, realistic XR (extended reality) experiences require exceptionally high-quality video with very high refresh rates that demand very high speeds and bandwidth.”

“Cloud gaming, social gaming, and Metaverse are additional applications that will test the boundaries of wireless technology and for which Wi-Fi 7 will deliver ample performance.”

On the more practical side of things, imagine accessing a NAS over the Wi-Fi but with Thunderbolt 3 equivalent transfer speeds, blissful.

QUALCOMMWhat is Wi-Fi 7 and why should you care? photo 3

Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi 7 tech will use “High Band Simultaneous Multi-Link” that will allow devices to operate simultaneously on multiple bands in order to avoid congestion and lower the latency.

It will also use some clever technology to work around interference in Wi-Fi channels, Qualcomm calls this “Preamble puncturing”.

Traditionally, if there was interference in the desired channel, devices could only take advantage of the spectrum up to where the interference is occurring, and not beyond it.

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“Preamble puncturing” allows devices to use the spectrum beyond the interference, resulting in more available bandwidth in tricky environments.

QUALCOMMWhat is Wi-Fi 7 and why should you care? photo 2

In practice, this means that Wi-Fi 7 promises to alleviate struggles of connecting in particularly congested environments and will provide much higher speeds and lower latency once connected.

When will Wi-Fi 7 products be available?

  • To be certified by IEEE in 2024
  • Compatible products may ship by 2023

The bad news is that as of right now, Wi-Fi 7 is just a draft specification and it isn’t expected to be certified by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) until 2024.

On the other hand, MediaTek believes that the first consumer products capable of supporting the Wi-Fi 7 standard could ship by 2023.

Whatever the case may be, we’ve got a while to wait, but the future sure is looking bright for wireless data transmission.

What is Nmap? And where to use it.

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Nmap is a free yet very powerful port scanning utility that has been around for the past 25 years. Nmap is one of the first tools a “hacker”, penetration tester or network admin uses on a network for discovery purposes. Nmap would be like a security guard going around your house checking every door, every lock, the mail slot, every window, your skylights and every other opening to determine what is exploitable to possibly gain entry into the home. Nmap does the exact same for a computer system by testing every TCP and UDP port for a response from the host. When it does get a response, it does further probing (TCP/IP Stack Fingerprinting) to try and determine what operating system is running or, are any hardware characteristics available for further identification. When Nmap is finished its testing (probing), it provides a very detailed report of all findings.

 

Where to use Nmap

Nmap is one of the easiest penetration tools to run against your servers to show you what ports are open helping to assess the security of your organization’s infrastructure. For example, if you run Nmap on your File Server and it indicates 80 and 443 are open and responding (which are not required), as a network admin you would want to disable that service on the server to reduce the available attack surface on the server.

When Nmap comes back with the complete list of open ports for the server, you can make a determination what is really required for the specific function of that server and disable everything else.

Nmap is also a very valuable tool to run against your public IP addresses to determine what ports are open and being forwarded by your firewall. The Nmap scan report should be validated against the services you intentionally have open and all other ports closed on the firewall.

 

What is Zenmap?

Nmap by itself is a command line utility where you have to remember all of the arguments to customize the type of scan you want it to perform. Zenmap is a very user friendly GUI front end to Nmap that lets you create the scan using intuitive drop down menus.

 

Conclusion

Nmap is an extremely powerful network scanning tool for any network admin wanting a detailed report of all the hosts and services on the network. Running an Nmap scan is a great way to begin assessing the security of your organization’s infrastructure. Zenmap front end makes the tool very easy to use with minimal learning curve.

 

Endpoint Protection: EDR vs XDR

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First what is EPP?

Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) aim to prevent traditional threats like known malware and advanced threats like fileless attacks, ransomware, and zero-day vulnerabilities. An EPP detects malicious activity using several techniques:

  • Signature— detecting threats using known malware signatures
  • Static analysis— analyzing binaries and searching for malicious characteristics before execution using machine learning algorithms (also known as “pre-execution analysis”)
  • Behavioral analysis— EPP solutions can determine the baseline of endpoint behavior and identify behavioral anomalies, although there is no known threat signature (also known as “post-execution analysis”)
  • Allowlisting and blocklisting— blocking access or only permitting access to specific IP addresses, URLs, applications, and processes.
  • Sandbox— testing for malicious behavior of files by executing them in a virtual environment before allowing them to run

 

EPPs typically provide passive endpoint protection employing the following tools:

  • Data encryption, potentially with some data loss prevention capabilities
  • Antivirus and Next-Generation Antivirus (NGAV)
  • Host-based firewall protecting the endpoint

EPP Products do a good job at protecting an endpoint but their “field of view” is limited to the endpoint itself and their ability to take intelligent corrective action is somewhat limited, hence the opportunity for EDR and XDR.

 

What is EDR — Endpoint Detection and Response?

The term “EDR” describes emerging security solutions that detect and investigate suspicious activities on hosts and endpoints, using a high degree of automation to enable security teams to identify and respond to threats quickly. The key difference between EDR and EPP is the word “Response”. EDR is designed to provide intelligent response (can be Human based or Artificial Intelligence based or both) to a threat detected by the endpoint client.

The primary functions of an EDR platform are:

  1. Continuous monitor and collect activity data from endpoints that could indicate a threat,
  2. Analyze this data to identify threat patterns,
  3. Automatically respond to identified threats to remove or contain them,
  4. Notify security team or SOC team when threat is recognized, and
  5. Act as a forensics and analysis tool to research identified threats and search for suspicious activities.

With that in design, EDR provides increased visibility compared with traditional cybersecurity solutions and responds to advanced forms of cyber-threats, such as:

  • Polymorphic malware,
  • Fileless Attack,
  • Advanced persistent threats (APTs), and
  • Phishing or Social Engineering Attack.

Extra: New Capabilities of EDR

EDR is also recognized as an “essential component” for transitioning to zero-trust architecture. “No blindspot” is one of the reasons organizations deploy EDR to ensure they can monitor activities running inside workloads.

Additionally, new investigative capabilities in some EDR solutions can leverage AI and machine learning to automate the steps in an investigative process. These new capabilities can learn an organization’s baseline behaviors and use this information with various other threat intelligence sources to interpret findings.

 

 

XDR — Extended Detection and Response

As the name hints, XDR tools represent an extension of traditional EDR platforms. XDR aims to break down conventional security silos and deliver detection and response across all data sources. So not only does an XDR platform digest and analyze feeds from endpoints (like EDR), but it also takes feeds from the firewall and cloud infrastructure(s) providing a much more connected “holistic view” of the threat landscape allowing it to provide larger scale responses to emerging threats.

 

As such, according to Palo Alto Networks:

“XDR provides a far more robust view across networks, cloud workloads, servers, and endpoints. One of the limitations that we see with focusing solely on EDR (endpoints) versus XDR (endpoints, cloud, networks, etc.) is that it requires the security team to do the work manually that XDR automates.”

While its competitor, Checkpoint, defined XDR as:

“XDR solutions integrate security visibility across an organization’s entire infrastructure, including endpoints, cloud infrastructure, mobile devices, and more,”

“This single pane of glass visibility and management simplifies security management and enforcement of consistent security policies across the enterprise.”

“a SaaS-based, vendor-specific, security threat detection and incident response tool that natively integrates multiple security products into a cohesive security operations system.”

All in all, XDR tools focus on security integration and aggregating data from across organizations to provide the context needed to detect sophisticated and distributed attacks. Still, XDR products are limited today on the capabilities they can deliver.

 

Final Thoughts:

This integration of detection systems helps us determine a more accurate picture of past attacks as well as attacks in progress which is especially critical as networks become more distributed and more external services are incorporated and provide system access.

Therefore, the cybersecurity industries are looking into XDR, which was designed to fill this information gap. Unlike EDR, it can provide visibility into every phase of an attack, from the endpoint to the payload. By integrating XDR into your security platform, you can examine the information from across your systems.

 

Sources:

Palo Alto, Checkpoint, Gartner, TechCrunch

Cyber Security and Business Continuity Insurance Protection

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Curious what a typical Cyber Security and Business Continuity Protection Insurance Policy questionnaire, looks like?  Here are some examples:

Email

An insurance company is looking to determine what Phishing awareness training is in place and what email security products and processes are protecting inbound email.

Email Security has the following measures; select all that apply:

☐ Pre-screen, and denote when source is external, emails for potentially malicious attachments and links

☐ Quarantine service for suspicious emails

☐ Ability to automatically detonate and evaluate attachments and links in a sandbox

☐ Enforce Sender Policy Framework (SPF) on incoming emails

☐ Conducts simulated phishing attacks against employees?

☐ Applicant has a document process to respond to phishing campaigns

☐ Cybersecurity awareness training conducted with all staff at least annually

☐ A process for employees to report suspicious e-mails to information security resources to investigate

User Credentials

Lax user credential and password policies are a common attack vector for threat actors and the Insurance company is trying to assess the access restrictions, password complexity, privileged access logging and most importantly Multi-Factor Authentication.

With respect to protecting privileged credentials, select all that apply with respect to the Applicant’s posture:

☐ System administrators at the Applicant have a unique, privileged credential for administrative tasks (separate from their user credentials for everyday access, email, etc.).

☐ Privileged accounts are kept in a password safe that require the user to “check out” the credential (which is rotated afterwards).

☐ There is a log of all privileged account use for at least the last thirty days.

☐ Privileged Access Workstations (workstations that do not have access to internet or e-mail) are used for the administration of critical systems (including authentication server/Domain        Controllers).

☐ None of the above.

Is Multifactor authentication required for the following access and platforms, select all that apply:

☐ Administrator and privileged

☐ Critical Information

☐ Remote Access

 

 Endpoint Security

The root cause of most breaches begin with a human being tricked to provide their credentials or entering information in a fake website. A good Endpoint product will look at the “behavior” of applications being run on the local workstation and stop suspicious activities. The insurance company is looking to assess if a next generation AV product is being used and is Enhanced Detection and Response features enabled.

With respect to the Applicant’s endpoint security of workstations (desktops and laptops), select all that apply:

☐ Applicant’s policy is that all workstations have antivirus with heuristic capabilities.

☐ Applicant uses endpoint security tools with behavioral-detection and exploit mitigation capabilities.

☐ Applicant’s workstations use a hardened baseline configuration.

☐ Applicant has an internal group which monitors the output of endpoint security tools and investigates any anomalies.

☐ Applicant has an external group which monitors the output of endpoint security tools and investigates any anomalies.

☐ Password management software is available to users on Applicant’s workstations.

☐ Applicant has a policy that all portable devices use full disk encryption.

☐ None of the above.

Please provide Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) vendor:

Please provide the EDR product used:

What percentage of workstations and servers have endpoint protection applied:

Has the EDR been configured to “block” threats?  ☐ Yes ☐ No

Has the EDR been tuned for your environment?     ☐ Yes ☐ No

 

Network Monitoring

Network monitoring is critical to the early detection of breaches from various points on the network. Insurance companies are looking to determine if a Security Information and Event Monitoring (SIEM) product is in place such that security events are correlated from numerous sources to intelligently determine if a breach is present.

With respect to the Applicant’s network monitoring capabilities and restrictions, select all that apply:

☐ Applicant uses a security information and event monitoring (SIEM) tool to correlate the output of multiple security tools.

☐ Applicant monitors network traffic for anomalous and potentially suspicious data transfers.

☐ Applicant monitors for performance and storage capacity issues (such as high memory or processor usage, or no

free disk space).

☐ Applicant has tools to monitor for data loss (DLP) and they are in blocking mode.

☐ Applicant utilizes external parties to validate network and security monitoring tools.

☐ Applicant has host-based and network firewalls that disallow inbound connections by default.

☐ Applicant uses a protective DNS service (e.g., Quad9, OpenDNS or the public sector PDNS).

☐ None of the above.

 

External Facing System Security

Insurance companies want to ensure there is a Penetration Test run on the Internet facing systems (eg. Web sites, Email Gateway, SSL/VPN, etc.) to ensure there are no available exploits present. If an internet facing commerce server is present, Insurance companies want to see a Web Application Firewall (WAF) in front of it for additional protection.

With respect to the security of externally facing systems, select all that apply to the Applicant’s posture:

☐ Applicant conducts a penetration test at least annually to assess the security of its externally facing systems

☐ Applicant has a Web Application Firewall (WAF) in front of all externally facing applications, and it’s in blocking mode

☐ Applicant uses an external service to monitor its attack surface (External/internal facing systems

☐ None of the above

 

Backup and Recovery

Propter Backup is critical for the successful restore of an encrypted environment which means you typically do not have to pay a ransom. The backup server should not be on the domain and should have a very difficult Admin and local Admin password. Also, storing copies of backup data offsite with no WAN connection to the corporate network better ensures recovery success.

How frequently is critical information backed up, where are back-ups stored, and what data is included?

Select all that apply:

☐ Daily

☐ Weekly

☐ Monthly

☐ Quarterly

☐ Semi-Annually

☐ Annually

 ☐ Cloud

☐ On Premises

☐ Offline storage

☐ Offsite storage

☐ Secondary data center

 

 ☐ Servers (file level)

☐ Servers (system state level)

☐ Endpoints (desktops, laptops, etc.)

☐ Databases

☐ Applications

 

☐ Applicant is able to test the integrity of back-ups prior to restoration to be confident that they are free from malware.

Summary

From my standpoint, I would recommend that all organizations review their Cybersecurity practices and look into obtaining business continuity insurance to decrease and/or offset some of the costs involved with the recovering from a cyber-related breach or similar event.

How safe are you?   If you’re unsure, check out our Vulnerability Assessment   https://www.lanworks.com/corporate-security-vulnerability/.

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