Tuesday, October 31, 2017

RANSOMWARE Bad Rabbit

Alert: New Ransomware "Bad Rabbit"

IMPORTANT MESSAGE REGARDING 
NEW RANSOMWARE STRAIN



Good morning,

The U.S government has issued a warning about a new ransomware attack which is spreading through Europe and into other countries around the world.

The new cyber-attack known as 'Bad Rabbit' is believed to disguise itself as a Windows Flash update in order to convince innocent people (like you) to download the virus.

Once installed it quickly hijacks your computer encrypting your personal files and data demanding a ransom payment to decrypt.



Monday, October 23, 2017

On Premise Vs Cloud-Based Voice

The definition and difference:

A premises-based PBX solution (also known as an IP PBX) is
dependent on a voice server kept on-site in the
equipment/server closet. Physical phones are located
throughout the office. Calls can route through a traditional
phone company as well as over the internet using SIP trunking.
Hosted PBX is a cloud voice solution where the provider
manages/maintains the voice server in a cloud data center.
The only equipment in the office are physical phones. Calls
route over the internet using SIP trunking.


On-Premise PBX
• Cost – higher upfront costs and set-up fee. Above certain
threshold it might be cheaper to own equipment than pay a
monthly fee, but servicing and maintenance can get expensive.
When using only basic call features with >25 phones per
store, total cost of ownership is less over 5-year period

• Scalability – purchase phones to expand (in addition to any
licensing required). PBX needs to be able to accommodate
growth and possibility of complexity with added features
• Failover – if issue with PBX in store, calling is affected and
potentially down until PBX can be repaired via service
contract

• Features – find Me / Follow Me feature requires adding a
mobility server to each PBX – can become expensive
• Presence, tablet/mobile apps for wireless calling can be
added– usually works together with Find Me / Follow Me for
seamless use across devices

• Maintenance – managed services contract (with phone
vendor) required for software patching and maintenance to
ensure security and uptime.

• Changes to system settings require PBX in store to be
adjusted on-site by phone vendor or internal IT team

• Can leverage traditional phone company service (PRI) for
inbound/outbound calling, or SIP trunks over the internet
> PRI is not affected by quality or busyness of internet
connection

• Handsets do not contain a lot of features/functionality –
providers push users to use the desktop application.


Hosted PBX
• Cost – usually low upfront costs, monthly fee per user.
Typically low total cost of ownership as hosted provider
takes care of server configuration, maintenance and
software patching.

• Scalability – purchased or leased IP phones added to
service plan, picking and canceling numbers and moving
phone system is easy and quick.

• Failover – calls can be rerouted to cell phones if issue with
SIP trunk quality, power at store or catastrophic event.
Safeguards at off-site facility includes back up power
sources, geographic redundancy of data centers,
active-active failover of servers, etc.

• Features – can integrate into CRM for advanced customer
analytics

• Can integrate contact center-life features for advanced call
routing or call analytics for advanced reporting.

• Dedicated internet bandwidth required to maintain high call
quality of SIP trunks.

• Tablet/mobile app allows users to make/receive phone calls
from app over wifi/cellular connections.

• Presence allows users to see who is available and on the
phone within store.

• Find Me / Follow Me feature included – will ring desk
phone, tablet, cell phone all at once or in order.

• Maintenance – no managed services contract required –
provider performs software patching, maintenance, upgrades
of PBX in the cloud.

• Changes to system settings performed through online portal
for remote management.

• Handsets do not contain a lot of features/functionality –
providers push users to use desktop/mobile app