Fileless malware is one of the recent topics in the truly horrifying cyber-security headlines that have been popping up over the last few months month. If you’ve been reading about “fileless” malware attacking banks and other big-name institutions around the world, we’re here to set the record straight: Your business isn’t in direct danger. But even if you’re not, staying abreast of all the details is still worthwhile. What is this new threat? To oversimplify the matter, fileless malware is stored somewhere other than a hard drive. For example, with some incredibly talented programming, a piece of malware could be stored in your Random Access Memory (RAM). RAM is a type of temporary memory used only by applications that are running, which means antivirus software never scans it on account of its temporary nature. This makes fileless malware incredibly hard to detect. This isn’t the first time it’s been detected Industry-leading cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab first discovered a type of fileless malware on its very own network almost two years ago. The final verdict was that it originated from the Stuxnet strain of state-sponsored cyber warfare. The high level of sophistication and government funding meant fileless malware was virtually nonexistent until the beginning of 2017. Where is it now? Apparently being infected by this strain of malware makes you an expert because Kaspersky Lab was the group that uncovered over 140 infections across 40 different countries. Almost every instance of the fileless malware was found in financial institutions and worked towards obtaining login credentials. In the worst cases, infections had already gleaned enough information to allow cyber attackers to withdraw undisclosed sums of cash from ATMs. Am I at risk? It is extremely unlikely your business would have been targeted in the earliest stages of this particular strain of malware. Whoever created this program is after cold hard cash. Not ransoms, not valuable data, and not destruction. Unless your network directly handles the transfer of cash assets, you’re fine. If you want to be extra careful, employ solutions that analyze trends in behavior. When hackers acquire login information, they usually test it out at odd hours and any intrusion prevention system should be able to recognize the attempt as dubious. Should I worry about the future? The answer is a bit of a mixed bag. Cybersecurity requires constant attention and education, but it’s not something you can just jump into. What you should do is hire a managed services provider that promises 24/7 networkmonitoring and up-to-the-minute patches and software updates -- like us. Contact Multi IT today on 011 435 0450 or give our website a visit to get started.

A growing number of small and medium-sized businesses are turning to social media to help facilitate growth. The reasons are obvious, social media is easy-to-use and capable of reaching an enormous amount of users. That being said, you might be missing out on one of the fastest growing platforms available: Snapchat. Snapchat for Business is a great new avenue for businesses wanting to engage a younger audience. Over 71 percent of Snapchat users are under 34 years old; as of 2017, the social network boasted over 100 million active users. It’s an ideal marketing option for businesses targeting a millennial audience. If you’re still unsure about Snapchat for your small business, consider these statistics: 58 percent of college students are likely to purchase a product from coupons sent over Snapchat 65 percent of Snapchat users contribute content on a daily basis Only 1 percent of marketers are taking advantage of Snapchat, which means you can be an early adopter and gain a competitive advantage Snapchat is a social media application that allows users to send pictures and videos - called “Snaps” - to others. The media sent can only be viewed for 10 seconds or less (you can specify the length), after which it disappears for good. You can add a Snap or multiple Snaps to create your own “story” which can be viewed by others for 24 hours. The reason Snapchat is getting the attention of marketers is that it allows users to personally interact with brands. Instead of regular content, you audience gets a candid, behind-the-scenes look at your business. Also, by using Snapchat regularly, you’ll be able to keep your brand in the forefront of your audience’s mind. Then, when they’re making a purchasing decision between you and your competitors, they’ll choose you because of the relationship you’ve established with them. Now that you know what Snapchat is, the next step is to gain followers. How to grow a following on Snapchat for Business Unlike other social networks like Twitter and Instagram, hashtags don’t suffice when you want to get your audience’s attention. They have to find and add you - not the other way around. Even if you want to add other users so they could add you back, you can’t base the search on vague terms -- you have to know their Snapchat username to add them. Basically, Snapchat has no native discovery features. In order to gain followers on Snapchat, you’ll need to use your online presence as well as other social media sites to create awareness and entice others to follow you. Here are some easy methods to get the ball rolling: The “Add Me URL” feature - share a custom URL on other social media platforms that allow other users to quickly add you as their Snapchat connections. To do so, replace “yourusername” in the following URL: https://www.snapchat.com/add/yourusername Promote your username in your social media profiles - promote your Snapchat username by posting it in other profiles to encourage people to add you. You can also share your username in email signatures, blog posts, and even your company website. Share relevant content - plan an interesting series of Snaps to share with your followers and post all the details on other social media accounts along with your username and/or QR code image, this gives followers an incentive to connect with your brand. Snapcode image as your profile picture on other social networks - take a screenshot and crop your Snapchat QR code image (Snapcode) and set that as a profile picture on your other social media accounts. Anyone who points their Snapchat camera at the code will automatically add you to their friends list. Snapchat is one of the newest social media outlets to date. If you start building your brand on it now, you’ll be taking a huge step ahead of your competitors - especially now that Snapchat is catching up to Facebook and other social media giants. If you would like to know more about what Snapchat can do for your small and medium-sized business, feel free to contact Multi IT & Telephony Solutions or give us a call on 011 435 0450.

A hunch may have a place in sports, detective work, or fortune telling, but for businesses, relying on gut-instinct can lead to disastrous outcomes. That’s why enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and business intelligence (BI) applications are gaining ground as organisations strive to make more data-driven management decisions. Having sound infrastructure pays off almost instantly and in the long run and here is why. It’s also best to leave hunches and guesswork out of any IT implementations. Deploying ERP, CRM, and BI solutions is a bit more nuanced than purchasing a product, plugging it in, and watching all your data magically fall into place. In fact, before you even begin shopping for a solution, you need to consider whether your current infrastructure can support any of these systems. Hardware requirements Regardless of where your applications are hosted, having a solid hardware foundation on which to run the software is imperative. Take for instance Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Even though it’s delivered in the cloud, considerable computing power is still required to use the system. At the very least, endpoints must have a 1.5 GHz dual core processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 1024x768 screen resolution. Even if your current infrastructure meets the bare minimum to maintain this web application, running it alongside ERP and BI systems may be problematic. For all these systems to work in unison, your organisation will need to have more than 4GB of RAM and higher processing power. Stick with ill-fitting hardware and you limit your business to slow data collection, ineffective workflows, and system crashes. But with a well-designed physical infrastructure, you get the opposite: reduced future infrastructure management costs, and maximum benefits from ERP, CRM and BI. Of course, robust hardware is only as good as the power that supports it. Here, it’s also just as significant -- if not more so -- to conduct thorough power assessments and install uninterruptible power sources to minimise unplanned outages. Network infrastructure Cloud-hosted ERP, CRM, and BI can be taxing on a company’s Internet connection. And, in a world where split-second business decisions can make or break a business, organisations can’t afford to be slowed down by poor performance networks. Assess your company’s bandwidth usage and ask yourself: Is my network capacity suitable for multiple cloud-based applications? If the answer is no -- and it probably is if you’re planning on running cloud-based ERP, CRM, and BI simultaneously -- you will need to increase your network’s Internet bandwidth and restrict access to bandwidth-hungry websites. As a general rule, giving 100 kbps per user is sufficient for cloud-based services. Doing so will dislodge network bottlenecks and increase upload and download speeds, which is incredibly important for tracking up-to-the-minute financial data in ERP systems. Security Another vital component you need to consider before deploying cloud-based applications is your system’s security. Starting with a strong network security infrastructure puts you in good stead to deploy cloud-based applications without the risk of dormant malware or spyware ruining your ERP, CRM, and BI experience. By combining antivirus software, firewalls, web filtering, and the latest security patches, you can keep sensitive customer data from being compromised beginning on day one, saving you from costly lawsuits and reputational damage down the line. Even if an application is hosted in the cloud, you can’t sidestep infrastructure considerations. Purchasing a solution without considering the integration path can cost your business thousands in operational bottlenecks, upgrade costs, re-implementation costs, and time. So why don’t you do yourself a favour and minimise these problems with a thorough infrastructure plan? We promise it’ll pay off. Working as your safety net, the team at Multi IT & Telephony Solutions can assess your current infrastructure and advise how to best meet the technical requirements. Whether it’s hardware, software or anything else in between, contact us today to make sure all your technology implementations go off without a hitch.