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How Companies Can Avoid Running into Technology Issues

The different ways in which companies deal with technology and the issues that crop up will result in different outcomes. When a business fails to perform backups, it is at risk of losing its internal network and data to a hacker. Even when nothing bad has happened yet, the possibility is still there. Your company is on the line if you fail to act before a problem occurs.

In this article, we cover the essential moves you need to make to avoid running into technical issues as a business owner.

Data Management and Backups for Peace of Mind

Where companies focus on their technology needs, they reduce the number of potential problems that can happen. While technology isn’t the panacea for every issue, failing to protect against the downsides with its use definitely could be costly.

Staying organized by using data management software to perform backups of the network and data storage protects from a business interruption. Anything from a power surge to a power cut to the hacking of the network could cause data corruption or loss. Whether you are using Windows, Mac, or Linux networks, using professional data management software such as P5 Backup or P5 Archie from Archiware is ideal when you need to back up data for small workgroups. This type of software can make use of LTO tape storage, migrate data, or work with cloud storage too.

Update Software to Continually Secure It

The software that’s used in the business is only as good as its updates. When newer versions are released that plug security holes, then updating quickly is essential to avoid a bug from allowing intruders to gain access to the company’s network.

The main areas to be concerned about are as follows:

Desktop and Server Software

Patches for network operating systems such as a Windows Update and Linux Kernel updates are vital to patch buggy code. Along with closing security holes, updates often include small incremental improvements to built-in or add-on features which are useful too.

Enterprise and desktop software used by the IT team or other employees also needs regular updates to the latest version. For example, this doesn’t mean updating to the new version 2.0 release, but it does require updating to the latest 1.x version that handles security holes.

Mobile Software

Mobile users that connect to the intranet need to update their mobile OS (Android, iOS, etc.) to the latest version. Apps can also become vulnerable if not updated too.

Website Software

While most hosts will update their server software, a company using WordPress, Magento or another content management system must ensure they update it regularly, including their core code, add-ons or plugins that extend functionality.

Test Systems Against Threats

Along with running network security software, it’s important to test existing systems for threats. Only by making controlled attempts to get into the network can its security actually be verified. It also provides indicators where security is lacking and requires improvement. If the IT personnel aren’t able to perform these tests, use an IT security firm that can do so.

By paying attention to the important details covered in this article, it’s possible to protect your business from potential threats before they happen. This allows your staff to focus on serving your customers.

WE GOT HACKED

I am sharing this story with you guys because I think there is a lot to learn from this case about the security and best practices or what is just enough in terms of security. If you are using any of the cloud platforms like AWS , GCP, Azure or another Cloud Vendor to support your Applications and have not really paid attention to the security aspect or feel that since you are using one of the well known Cloud Providers you are safe, this article might change how you approach this domain entirely.

Unless security is something you look at being an important piece of work or domain which you need to invest your time in or there is work done to ensure security is tested and a vulnerability assessment checklist is maintained and worked on, your system is still prone to breach.

Now what happened with us was a minor incident, but the way it happened made us wiser and more focused on security. The hacker gained the access to one of the AWS access key-secret pair from the environment file which was hosted on a web application, a developer had forgotten to put that file in gitignore and there was another developer who forgot to check for bad paths and excluding certain files from being served at all.

Still could be worse …

The DevOps team had been lazy and was using a single key for all the AWS resource API and this key was associated with an admin role. More so this key was also shared with various application services or micro-services to provide access to AWS resources and services.

We had One Key to Rule Them all … ( AWS resources )

Once he got that access he waited for the right moment and found out the IP of our productions instance as it was the public IP of our website. Now for the hacker to try and get access to our sensitive data he would require to either ssh into our instance, but trying to SSH into that instance will be futile as he would not have the key or pem file which is req by AWS.

But here is the most clever and simple trick he used yet no one thinks of this stuff or the fact that this will happen to them.

The hacker cloned our current EBS storage volume which was stored as a snapshot for backup purposes. Then went ahead to create a new VM instance, attached the volume. Since he created the VM instance from scratch thus a creating a new key pair, allowing him to SSH into the newly created VM instance.

This is where we could have been more active in setting alerts on the account activity and making sure we got active alerts for any new resource creation. This would have helped us to take note of new resources being created from a foreign location or at a very unusual time. There is a perfect solution for this which we will discuss soon.

Now the hacker had access to our virtual machine instance which had our code environment variables and all of our sensitive data. This included our database credentials and other sensitive information. He already had access to aws account. And now with all the credentials, he had all the ingredients to successfully reach into our database and do harm us.

And these events took place over several days, but none of the DevOps could spot the extra resources or keys which were created. And to the credit of hacker, the naming conventions he used were able to skip the negligent eye. So basically all the new resources like security groups and ec2 instances or keys created were named by twisting the names of existing resources so that these will not be spotted over just a glance.

For example, if a resource was named — launching-wizard5

the hacker named his security group lanuching-wizrad5.

This is where we learned another lesson for we had not given importance to the naming of some of the resources or did not have a clearly defined naming strategy for resources. If we did we would have been abler and have had more chance to spot abnormalities.

Alright so how did we eventually find him or what was it that we did right which allowed us to recognize something was happening albeit a bit too late …

Find out here…

Backlink –  https://medium.com/@damitj07/we-got-hacked-86552e22197a

5 Essential Things You Need To Enhance Your Digital Presence

Any company or organization needs effective marketing to make their products and services visible to be availed. You may have a stable company or organizational name, reputation, and brand. But if you don’t have proper exposure, consumers will not be enticed or attracted enough to the products and services you offer. Internet marketing has been all the rage since the innovation of the internet. Most consumers now go conveniently online to search for products and services they are looking for.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization

This type of marketing type aims to make your product or service visible in search engine result pages or search hits. If your company or organization is ranked up in the search results, chances are you will get clicked on and discovered by most consumers. This kind of internet marketing is ‘organic’ or ‘soft sell’ since you are trying to swerve your way into search engines and not screaming to consumers that they should avail your products. You are merely making your product or service an option through search results. If you are intimidated by SEO and its technicalities, there is undoubtedly an internet marketing company that specializes in SEO marketing and others in your state or city.

Furthermore, one of the easiest ways to rank up high on SERPs, you could buy pbn domain. What are pbn domains? PBN domains are a group of high authoritative websites that are no longer active. You can use these sites to build backlinks to your site to increase your website’s domain ranking.

Video Marketing

YouTube has to be the place for video content where most people are subscribed. Video content placed as ads is another internet marketing strategy that strategically targets consumer age and interest. However, like SEO, video marketing should also focus on content since there are already competing in video marketing. Thinking of fresh video content ideas and themes will ensure the promotion and exposure of your product. It’s a more pricey kind of marketing type since video production will be included in your marketing campaign. However, this is one of the most interactive ways to give consumers a taste of your service.

Social Media Marketing

Your consumers also thrive in social media platforms, and tapping these kinds of networks would be better if you’re interested in targeting teenagers and young adults. Social media already has a means of discussion flow as it is made for socialization, so choosing this kind of strategy is a cost not only practical but also convenient if you want your product to be praised and criticized at the same time. Customer feedback and suggestions are some elements to expect from marketing on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Blogging

It may be similar to SEO since the content is required, but if you look closely, blogging could be both a strategy in itself or a tool for SEO. All promotional material and content will all be in one place with additional videos, podcasts, audios, or any other element used for your marketing campaign. Blogging could be the strategy for you since it serves as a one-stop-shop for all information or content your consumers need to see to be convinced of your service.

What are some choices for you if you are a data scientist?

Data scientists are earning a tremendous amount of money. They get jobs at reputable places all over the world. There are lesser professionals than the number of jobs in case of this field that is the reason for the high pay of data scientists. Having a piece of proper knowledge about future options is really important before actually entering the field. In this way, you can check if you have any interest in the applications of the field. If you are going to pursue a career in data science, followings are some possible options for you:

  • Data science is involved extensively in weather forecasting. Thus by gaining the knowledge about data science, you can enter a weather forecasting company. Professionals in this field are highly paid for their services because weather forecasting is associated with many things.
  • By the knowledge of data science, you can easily enter the self-driving cars industry. This is the place where most of the people are interested in. It is very pleasurable to learn in this industry because it is continuously emerging and self-driving cars are the need of the hour.
  • Big companies of today use the knowledge of data science in order to fulfill their marketing and business need. Data science is particularly very important in the field of online marketing.

You can take an online Data Science Course. After taking the course, you can enter any field of the above choices. Now, it depends totally on your interests.

Technology has a great connection with Data Science:

The increase in the use of technology has certainly increased the demand for data scientists. The world requires talented data scientists today to succeed at their online business. The thing to note hear is that it is nearly impossible to run a successful online business without the use of data science. Data science provides you with a fair opportunity to grow. Thus, it is better for online business owners to hire the services of data scientists to expand their business. Thus, you should take the online Data Science Course in Bangalore to get a job at an esteemed company.

Name: ExcelR Solutions

Address: Behind Tata Motors, 49, 1st Cross, 27th Main, Old Madiwala, Jay Bheema Nagar, 1st Stage, BTM Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560068

Phone Number: 096321 56744

Email ID: enquiry@excelr.com

Person Name: Amit Tavva

App Monetization Statistics

When searching through an app store, everything seems to have been developed already. There are thousands of free games options, helping to exercise, or saving money. Recently, however, new statistics have been published which show that there is still a great potential for growth. If you are considering an app monetization attempt, now is the time for the statistics to show.

In this article, we will be talking about some key app monetization statistics which will hopefully be useful to you.

Overall Global Revenue and In-App Purchases

It can quickly reach a global market when you develop an app, unlike other products. So you have to keep track of global revenue and in-app purchases.

Which channels bring the most revenue in a selected year?

Of course knowing which channels bring the most revenue is important in order to know which channel you want to invest in. Also you need to compare annual data to capture changes in trends for making future plans.

Downloads

Tracking downloads from apps is actually one of the easiest ways to measure your app’s success, as you can see in plain numbers how many people are interested in your business or product enough to download your app.

Other statistics which can be helpful for your app monetization statistics are as follows:

1. Countries with the highest number of app downloads in selected years

2. Number of mobile app downloads worldwide

3. The app category people spend time the most

4. The most popular app, both iOS, and Android, by penetration

5. The age group that spends the most time on apps

6. The most popular app, both iOS and Android, by penetration

We hope this article is helpful for your app monetization statistics. If you want to be a publisher you can visit this site to learn more about business opportunities. Also if you want to examine a successful mobile advertising report, you can check here.

BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH A GOOD WEB AGENCY

The vast majority of the business heads of new businesses will experience this inquiry, web design agency or a freelancer? At present, this is one of the trending discussions that each organization head will look in picking the opportune individual or group for their online business.

The mystery behind a successful business is the planned and skillfully executed computerized showcasing efforts; that incorporate their sites, SEO, web applications and so forth. So as to make due in the present markets the business needs to go for a decent website composition organization.

Advantages of Working with a Web Design organization

Devoted group:

Most of the website designing company will accommodate all the needs of your website designs and promotion. It comprises of different multi-faceted cooperative people who can cover numerous regions of website designing and advancement; just as computerized promoting. This implies everything identified with your business including the structure and promoting needs are taken into consideration by a similar group in a similar spot; that implies you can get the total outcome of your business from a solitary source for example –with the help of a good and reputed web design agency.

Proper services:

Working with a website designing organization can help you to get a progressing administration and bolster, for example, SEO and promoting administrations that depict increasing custom to your business as well as fabricate effective battles with common rivals in the market.

The more extensive scope of assets:

The significant advantage in working with a web design agency is the way that they offer bunch assets when contrasted with a specialist. This incorporates a more extensive territory to programming licenses every one of these serves more conceivable outcomes for your site.

More Efficiency:

Working with a capable group that is based under a similar rooftop has its very own advantages; it includes the proficiency of usage with regards to working on an undertaking. An agency comprises of various talented individuals in a group coordinated with the capacity to actualize numerous undertakings crosswise over various regions of a venture to get more prominent effectiveness.

Experience:

Experience accompanies capability and commonality to specific industry that watches out for generally quality and triumph of an undertaking. One of the subjective factors taken into consideration is the height of experience that you possess. An organization will be fit to take and more beneficial as there are more individuals on board who have more aptitude in managing various customers.

Most recent Trends:

A decent business firm should move with the most recent news, patterns, and devices in the specific business they are in to. So the agencies are fully informed regarding all the most recent patterns in site structuring office. Therefore, the individuals who are searching forward for a more grounded and all the more surrounding favorable position for their business development will ideally decide on anall-around installed group of website designing agency. Be watchful in picking the correct agency that can help your business o develop.

You Pay for These Cell Phone – Find Out How Much Time They Are Being Used

Free SpyFone coupon codes and here is how to get these SpyFone Promo Code.  To be able to use the SpyFone discount, you just need to click on the SpyFone promo code, choose your subscription plans to get this powerful cell phone tracking software at a very discounted rate.

Monitor children

This is the software that you can be used to monitor your children with the world’s #1 parental monitoring software – trusted by parents worldwide.

Three Steps

Online demo for free. Begin monitoring in just three simple steps!  When you get ready to beginning monitoring your employee’s or kid’s smartphone – all you need to do is three simple steps.

Why Monitoring Software?

You collect the real-time SMS and sender’s and receiver’s details on their contact. You will learn what your kids or workers are texting about and how much time is being wasted by them on the phone. View all content of every SMS and MMS message received or sent – even if it also gets deleted!

Easily Monitor Your Kids or Employees

You will get information detailed on each call such as time spent, caller’s contact details, and length of a call. Find out the amount of time they spend on their phone, who as well as when they call.  You get all this using remote cell phone monitoring app.

Stop Worrying About Kid’s Internet Activities

You can set up a Geo-fencing, or profanity alert, as well as contact alerts. Get these alerts when your daughter or son run actions you have banned on any monitored mobile device (coming soon).

View location in real time

Live control panel providing you with instant monitoring, instant current location map view and informed screen view.

This program is also compatible with Android and iPhone. And it takes only 15 minutes to get up and running.

SpyFone benefits and features

This cell phone monitoring software is updated often by this company to make sure it has the more recent features as well as offering the best instability on the market.  You will not find many of their features in other software.

Now, SpyFone is accessible for sale at a heavy discount price of 70{69d371dc3a7215af1cf70e657e96c7414241106804c5daaddb02eee3606ab22c}.  Please check all the SpyFone promo code.

Why You Should Invest In NetBase For Your Next Social Media Audit

Having a social media strategy in place is increasingly important for businesses nowadays, as the internet continues to play an important role in helping companies grow and stay ahead of the competition. Having a plan on how a company will use social media platforms increases their chances of success, but in order to make sure that a strategy is going according to plan, a social media audit needs to take place after implementing it.

Understanding What A Social Media Audit Is

A social media audit refers to the process of reviewing the plan and assessing the areas that are going as planned, things that are failing, and finding out what can be improved upon across all social media channels.

While the process itself can sound very complex and might seem intimidating at first sight, due to the number of analytics tools available on the internet, it can be a fairly simple venture. By making the audit a routine procedure (quarterly or monthly), the process becomes increasingly easier as one gets accustomed to it.

Aspects Of An Audit

There are certain things that one would have to pay attention to when it comes to the process of a social media audit – however, it all depends on the needs of the company itself. A basic checklist should include engagement metrics, referral traffic, audience demographics, publishing metrics, and channel-specific metrics. In addition, each type of metric should include a percentage change from the past audit – this will help understand seasonal changes and which area is improving.

The audit’s aim is to not only assess the current situation but to also help make plans for the future. The information gathered can help set up new objectives for the following month or quarter – such as broadening the audience, gaining more followers, getting more engagement, etc. By using the data gathered coupled with the right social media analytics tools, companies can make an informed business decision when it comes to reaching new goals.

The Right Tools For Auditing

In case you’re using built-in dashboards provided by large social media platforms, while the analytics tools provided by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. can be very useful, they are limited to their specific platform, which means that gathering all the information necessary for an audit means putting all the numbers together manually.

Thankfully, there are a number of 3rd party options that can smooth out the process of auditing. Free options can be very useful, and depending on how deep you aim to dig for information, they can do the trick and provide with most of the necessary information. On the other hand, most free tools have upgrade plans available, and even in those cases, they might not have the necessary features in order to uncover the most amount of data.

Investing in paid tools is ideal for a complete audit, which not only means more data uncovered, but also more actionable insight. Paid tools come in various forms, meaning that they have various options designed to suit all budgets. In addition, most offer demos of free trials, which means that one can sample what an analytics tool has to offer before making an investment.

How NetBase Can Help

NetBase is an award-winning analytics platform, processing millions of social media posts every day in order to provide actionable business insight for PR purposes, marketing research, product innovation, sales, and customer service. The platform is used by global companies in order to run brands, connect with customers, and build businesses.

The analytics tool provided by NetBase help monitor, analyze and also provide an understanding when it comes to millions of conversations that take place across social media platforms. This helps business owners assess the brand sentiment, while at the same time measuring the impact that social media campaigns have.

How tech has helped the restaurant industry

The restaurant industry has been majorly impacted by technology and has been transformed by the rise in new technology. From booking a table online to ordering a takeout meal to your door through apps like JustEat, restaurants are now more profitable and accessible than ever before.

These advances have helped business management and customers’ experiences. We take a look into how these have helped:

Booking system

Years ago, if you wanted to book yourself a table in a restaurant you could only do so by ringing them up. Busy times meant that you could sometimes be waiting on hold for long periods of time. Even worse, you may have turned up to the restaurant and had to wait in the lobby. This is a major dissatisfaction to customers which will sour their overall experience.

Thanks to online booking systems and reservation managers this is no longer the case. To reserve table customers can click on the relevant tab on the restaurants’ app or website, choose a time and reserve a table that suits them, which in turn improves the customer service element.

Manpower can be reduced as this method of service is 24-hours, meaning that a restaurant is more likely to receive bookings due to customers being able to book their table any time of day. With such a tool, it’s likely that you’ll have data available to you that can keep track of every reservation, allowing you to plan and grow your business.

Payment

Nowadays all it can take is a tap of the bank card on a card machine to pay for a meal, making the whole payment process a swift and easy one and meaning you no longer need to carry cash on your person. This also means that there’s far more chance of upselling your product as the customer won’t be worried about how much money they physically have on them.  Research has found that there is a higher willingness-to-pay when debit/credit cards are used instead of cash. This is especially the case when it comes to treating yourself and eating unhealthy food due to impulsive buying.

Inventory management

Behind the scenes, technology has been able to benefit significantly too, alongside improving the customer service experience. The majority of restaurants now rely on technology to keep their stock levels accurate. This has allowed them greater visibility of their assets almost immediately. Employees can directly submit and view their inventory via a device, leading to greater efficiency and accuracy.

Feedback

Trip Advisor is a great way for the public to plan their next trip, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving reviews on a range of things, for restaurants receiving high scores on these type of sites can mean an increase in sales. For many, they may not have heard of your establishment, but great reviews can push them in your direction.

Social media analytics

Food and staff, those are the two main reasons as to why a customer will continue to come back. If customers enjoy the dishes and the ambiance, they are likely to return in the future. Thanks to social media analytics you can discover exactly what customers are looking for and tailor your business to these desires.

Social media can be a great way for customer and restaurant to build a relationship, restaurants usually like to reply to its’ customers to help build an appreciation from the customers. However, if you’re unable to respond to all replies, self-service analytics tools allow you to collate all responses so that you can get the overall feel of the public and what it is they’re saying.

Special offers

Showing what great deals you have available online can be a good tactic to gain potential customers. This can be the difference of whether they choose the competitor or yourself. Another great way to gain the attention of customers are flyers, local restaurants tend to take advantage of leaflet distributors. These leaflets tend to include on them a discount code in order to draw in the intended customers to make an order.

Fast food industry

Mobile ordering has joined sit-in restaurants on taking advantage of the technology available, making it really easy for people to purchase their food on a whim. Thanks to apps such at Just Eat, you can now browse a range of takeaways and quickly order – and pay for – your meal as and when you like it.

JustEat had over 10 million people ordering through their app last year, and in 2017 the company seen its revenue rise 45{69d371dc3a7215af1cf70e657e96c7414241106804c5daaddb02eee3606ab22c} which meant that money being spent on fast food on the app hit the £1.9 billion mark.

With technology continuing to advance, there’s no doubt restaurants will have numerous new options in the near future. Whether they choose to pursue them is up to them, but for those who don’t, the end could very well be nigh.

Three driving apps all motorists should download in 2019

We certainly aren’t limited to the number of apps that we can download onto our smartphones today. Statista has predicted that in 2017 alone, 197 billion mobile app downloads were processed. With the world population currently standing at around 7.7 billion individuals, that’s close to 25 apps downloaded per person on Earth every year.

The only thing that’s limiting us from downloading every app available is the storage on our smartphones. To ensure you only fill your devices with apps that are useful and possibly even life-changing then, VW dealership Vindis has recommended that every driver downloads these three apps heading into 2019…

Make navigating easier with HERE WeGo

We’ve all been there. Just as we drive into a busy city center and have no idea about the road layout, our smartphones lose their internet connections and, as a result, the sat nav on the devices stop working. However, the HERE WeGo app should mean that you never need to go through it again.

Using this app, you can download offline maps of the UK and many other countries straight onto your smartphone. Other nations covered include France, Spain, Italy, the US. This means that you can be navigated to your destination even when you haven’t got an internet connection.

Don’t think that the HERE WeGo app is pointless if you’ve left your car at home either. This is because it’ll inform you of carsharing opportunities nearby whenever you need it and can call a local taxi too so that you never need to worry about being stranded in an unfamiliar city.

Download the app here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.maps&hl=en_GB

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/here-wego/id955837609?mt=8

Make parking easier with JustPark

How stressful is it for us drivers to get to the end of a commute and then fail to find a single parking spot? Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of the JustPark app.

High praise has been delivered towards this award-winning service at both the 2017 British Parking Awards and Richard Branson’s 2015 VOOM event. The app itself has made up a database of 1.4 million parking spaces, off-street parking options (think car parks, private spaces, and even driveways) and on-street parking possibilities (that’s stretches with parking meters and free parking zones).

It does not just help to find a parking space where the JustPark app proves extremely useful though. You can also reserve a guaranteed space and pay for the spot via the app using either a card, PayPal or either Apple or Android Pay services. You’ll even be provided with easy-to-follow instructions and directions to space once it’s reserved.

Download the app here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.justpark.jp&hl=en_GB

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/justpark-parking/id519652671?mt=8

Make driving more entertaining with Android Auto or Apple CarPlay

The setup and functionality of these two smart driving companions are very similar. However, the choice of which one you download will depend on the type of smartphone you have.

Have a smartphone that makes use of the Android operating system? Then you’ll be wise to enhance your gadget with Android Auto. This smart driving companion essentially means that while you’re behind the wheel, you only need to mutter ‘OK Google’ in order to…

  • Set up real-time GPS navigation and be informed about traffic alerts.
  • Check your calendar for any occasions that you have scheduled.
  • Set reminders.
  • Get up-to-date news.
  • Setting up a do not disturb message on your phone.
  • Make or answer phone calls handsfree.
  • Access so many of your media apps, such as those containing your favorite music playlists, audiobooks, and podcasts.

Is your smartphone based around iOS instead? Then Apple CarPlay is the alternative option. Featuring Siri voice control, here are just a few things you can do once you open the app:

  • Search for attractions while driving by simply asking for directions by the following means: “Siri, where’s the closest petrol station?”.
  • Have the app predict where you need to be by analyzing addresses on your recent emails, text messages, contacts, and calendars.
  • Make calls and listen to voicemail handsfree.
  • Have Siri read and reply to text messages, as well as send messages in new conversations too.
  • Gain access to content via your iTunes, Apple Music or other audio apps accounts, as well as even request for Siri to become your personal DJ for the duration of a road trip.

In effect, you can remain connected without needing to avert your focus from the road at any point!