Tag Archives: Management

Cyber-attacks On UK Sports Industry

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The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) report cyber-attacks on UK sports industry have increased. At least 70% of sporting institutions in the UK have suffered a security incident in the past 12 months.

Some of the cyber-attacks on UK sports industry are disclosed in the report Cyber threat to sports organisations. They include blocked turnstiles at stadiums after systems were taken offline by ransomware. This almost led to the cancellation of a football match. A £15,000 loss to a racecourse after a staff member fell victim to an eBay scam. It promised equipment that never materialised. Similarly, organised criminals tried to sabotage a Premier League transfer deal by hacking into emails worth £1m.

The NCSC said cyber criminals tended to use common tactics. They target the sports industry with cyber-enabled fraud and shutting down critical systems with ransomware.

Cyber-attacks On UK Sports Industry

Sports industry urged to reform cyber security after £1m Premier League phishing scam.
Greater awareness is needed by the industry as attacks increase.

Cost of the damage by cyber-attacks on UK sports industry

About 30% of the incidents reported to the NCSC caused direct financial damage to the victim. On average £10,000 per attack and the biggest single loss clocked in at £4m. Some 40% of the reported incidents involved malware and a quarter of those were ransomware attacks.

“Cyber security might not be an obvious consideration for the sports sector. Sports are slowly returning as lockdown eases. The impact of cyber criminals cashing in on this industry is real.” Said Paul Chichester, operations director at the NCSC.

Chichester added, the sports sector struggles to recover from the impact of Covid-19. Organisations could reduce their risk by paying more attention to increasing their security of attacks.

“Sport is a pillar of many of our lives. We are eagerly anticipating the return to full stadiums and a busy sporting calendar” he said. “I would urge sporting bodies to use this time to look at how they can improve security. In conclusion, acting now will help protect them and fans from the consequences of cyber-crime.”

British Olympic Association

Hugh Robertson, chairman of the British Olympic Association, said: “Improving cyber security across the sports sector is critical. The British Olympic Association sees this report as a crucial first step. It will help sports organisations to better understand the threat and highlights practical steps to improve cyber security.”

Rugby Football League

Tony Sutton, chief operating officer at the Rugby Football League, added: “The issue of cyber security is one that all sports, including rugby league, take seriously. We are growing our digital capabilities and online platforms. Protecting the governing body, members, customers and stakeholders are important and we welcome the guidance from the NCSC report.”

Make sure you are protected

Unfortunately, LIS are unable to predict when your team will win their next match. However, enjoy watching your favourite sport whatever the result.

Above all, do not make the same mistake as the sports industry. Do you have any concerns about your IT security? Then contact the LIS Help Desk and our friendly team will recommend the latest solutions to upgrade your security. However, stay safe, secure and protect your business.

LIS – SECURING YOUR DIGITAL WORLD

#CyberCrime #Security #ITSupoort #Sports

Understanding Cloud Security

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The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase of employees working from home. Understanding cloud security when moving to the cloud for remote working is crucial. This sudden change means that remote access to software and data are important.

Read the latest UK Tech News article from their Editor Mark Baker.

Cloud computing provides employees with the ability to work from any location. As long as they have internet access, they can work within a virtual desktop or remote infrastructure. Some companies are reluctant to move towards remote working. However, others are following the trend in offering flexible working hours to their employees as an incentive – which can also be cost-effective. We would encourage our clients to implement cloud computing within their IT infrastructure.  It will enable them to enjoy the benefits of remote working and much more.

Understanding Cloud Security

Understanding the challenges of cloud security. Stay grounded as cloud security becomes more complicated. LIS are here to keep you protected and give you peace of mind.

Understanding Cloud Security provides flexibility

Cloud technology is what enables employees to work from any location. The main benefit is it gives them access via a virtual environment to the same information they would have in the office. Collaboration and communication tools ensure that your team can keep in touch with clients and their colleagues. This enables your staff to complete work at the same level as they would be able to from their office desktop.

Employees can access documents and data that they need by using specific credentials to maintain security. At the same time, it gives them flexibility to work from home or any other location. This can be useful when you have multiple office locations. Cloud technology provides a greater level of flexibility and shared access to information centrally accessible via a single server.

Increasing security for remote working

Do you have concerns about understanding cloud security? Cloud computing can actually work towards increasing your overall security levels as a business. Security measures can be put in place. Such as user-specific passwords and encryption of files when there are attempts to open these by unauthorised users. Additional security measures can be implemented in the event of mobile devices or laptops being lost or stolen. This helps to prevent a security breach. So, you do not need worry about cloud computing compromising high levels of security in favour of remote working capabilities.

Scalability for growing businesses – in the office and remotely

Cloud computing also enables your business to accommodate a large increase in a remote workforce. Since employees can use their own mobile devices and laptops without incurring additional hardware costs. They can also access internal information via the cloud wherever they choose to work, and on any device. As long as each user is provided with access details, employees can easily be granted access. All of the information that they need is at the touch of a button, without them ever having to visit the office. This is ideal when there is restricted physical office space and there is no restriction on the number of remote workers.

Cloud computing and the future

Cloud computing can offer a greater level of flexibility, security and scalability for any business. Contact the LIS Help Desk to discuss cloud setup and maintenance services. We offer support contracts for cloud support and advice on an ongoing basis if required.

Almost everything in the digital world is connected to the cloud in some way or another — unless it is kept in local storage for security reasons. As companies find new ways to organize, process and present data. Cloud computing will become a more and more integral part of our lives.

#CloudComputing #WFH #DeviceSecurity #CyberCrime

Covid-19 accelerates digital

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Covid-19 accelerates digital transformation efforts by over five years. Digital transformation in the B2B sector is being fast-tracked to address immediate needs due to the pandemic. With a majority of those surveyed (54%) saying that their customer relations were strained, developing or non-existent. 41% said that selling directly to customers online is the most significant opportunity in the next year. While another 36% wanted to provide their sales teams with the right digital sales tools.

71% of digital leaders also agreed that their company’s digital experiences do not meet their client expectations. This means that consequently, 85% of these leaders expect their digital experience budgets to increase, economic downturn notwithstanding.

Apprehensions around digitisation remain, with 61% of B2B leaders fearing that AI will replace human workers within five years. But, 82% expected AI to make them better at their job in the next two years. Read the full article about how Covid-19 accelerates digital transformation on the YouGov website.

Covid-19 Accelerates Digital Transformation-01

During the pandemic, businesses are turning a negative into a positive. They are looking to streamline their operations and how they do business.

5 reasons how Covid-19 accelerates digital efforts for businesses

1. Enhancing employee collaboration during the COVID-19 outbreak

Remote work has come, and it’s here to stay. Experts and business leaders agree that companies across the globe will keep supporting remote work even after this crisis is done.

This situation where employees are physically separated has completely changed the way our employees collaborate and work together.

The key business impact trigger will be a result of the quarantines, travel restrictions, school closures and sick family members. However, many organizations have already realized that technology can help organizations better adapt to the current changing situation.

2. Ensuring the right flow of information

In times of crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic, your internal communication should be clear, transparent, and easy to understand. What’s more, it is extremely important to be able to reach the right employees at the right time with the right message.

This is the time when employers, leaders and internal communicators should drastically improve their communication efforts.
3. Maintaining employee productivity during the crisis

Most companies have made arrangements to accommodate remote working  already at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. Indeed, their priority was to protect their employees and help reduce the spread of the virus.

Businesses are now looking for solutions to maintain employees’ productivity while working from home during the pandemic.

4. Enabling leaders for success

During these times, it is crucial that business leaders and managers demonstrate good leadership skills in order to increase business resilience and prepare for rebound and future growth.

5. Planning for business continuity

Business leaders have to plan for post-pandemic recovery already now. They need to implement the right strategy and tools now to limit damages on their business.

How can LIS help your business?

The benefits of having the right digital tools in place during a crisis such as COVID-19 are obvious and significant. As the way we do business has drastically changed in the last few months. Only the companies that adapt to these changes can succeed.

Contact the LIS Help Desk to discuss your IT support options. Office 365, email, domain names, hosting, security, anti-spam, antivirus and telecoms. Our friendly and knowledgeable team will be happy to assist you.

Proactive IT Providers

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Proactive IT providers can stabilize ever changing client demands, flexible working patterns and compliance issues. Not to mention sudden, disruptive changes to how we all work. Businesses require advanced solutions and strategic IT management.

In these uncertain times our team have gone above and beyond to help our clients. We have implemented, maintained and secured remote working solutions. This feels like an apt time to abandon social etiquette!

Choose the right IT company for your business

We would be interested to hear if your IT provider was proactive or let you down in the COVID-19 crisis. More importantly, were they able to cope with the demand for remote working and have they added any value to your business subsequently?

As staff return to the workplace in the coming weeks many small businesses are looking to restructure their processes and procedures. Therefore, if you feel that you have previously been let down, perhaps now is the perfect time to review matters.

Proactive IT Providers

Keeping business productivity high and downtime low! We pride ourselves on delivering nothing but the very best customer service and solutions to our customers whatever the situation may be.

How can you plan for the future?

Contact the LIS Help desk for a FREE IT AUDIT. Alternatively,  book a 15 minute phone call with one of our experts, for a time that suits you. At LIS we pride ourselves in providing a first-class IT support service, driven by our dedicated friendly team of support professionals.

At LIS we pride ourselves as being  proactive IT providers. Offering a first-class IT support service, driven by our dedicated friendly team of support professionals. Whether you are looking for IT support or telecoms in Essex, our range of managed IT services will cover your every need.

Find out why most small business are not meeting recent guidelines regarding returning to work. Click here to view the support for businesses and self-employed people at the Government website.

Our feelings are that this guidance will have direct implications for your business processes and your IT infrastructure. Take this opportunity to plan and prepare for the new normal. Every business should make every reasonable effort to enable working from home, as their default option.

Preparing to return to your work

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No one really knows when the lockdown will end and when we can start preparing to return to your work. Why not try to start planning to get ready for when you are allowed back into your place of work.

Preparing to return to your work: Three things to consider

  1. Your employees. If it is a phased end to lockdown, you might have some people at work and some still working from home. It is good to form a plan now for every scenario as we might not return to the “old normal” for a long time yet.
  2. Look at your hardware and software. What’s been difficult during lockdown and caused frustration? What needs to be upgraded or changed? Identify what you need and plan for this to be implemented quickly. To help you stay efficient in case we have another lockdown.
  3. Finally, look at your data. Now is the time to check your data security has not been compromised in any way.

If you need help preparing to return to work for the “end of lockdown”, let us make it happen quickly and efficiently contact us.

The governments five key points

1. Work from home, if you can

Take reasonable steps to help people work from home. Are you unable to work from home or is work place open?  You should then go to work. Staff should speak to their employer about when you will be opening.

2. Carry out a COVID-19 risk assessment, in consultation with workers or trade unions

This guidance operates within current health and safety employment and equalities legislation and employers will need to carry out COVID-19 risk assessments in consultation with their workers or trade unions, to establish what guidelines to put in place. If possible, employers should publish the results of their risk assessments on their website and we expect all businesses with over 50 employees to do so.

3. Maintain 2 metres social distancing, wherever possible

Employers should re-design workspaces to maintain 2 metre distances between people by staggering start times, creating one-way walk throughs, opening more entrances and exits, or changing seating layouts in break rooms.

4. Where people cannot be 2 metres apart, manage transmission risk

Employers should look into putting barriers in shared spaces, creating workplace shift patterns or fixed teams minimising the number of people in contact with one another, or ensuring colleagues are facing away from each other.

5. Reinforcing cleaning processes

Clean office more frequently, paying close attention to high-contact objects like door handles and keyboards. Employers should provide handwashing facilities or hand sanitisers at entry and exit points.

#returntowork

Preparing to return to your work

Help to control the virus. Staying alert. Follow the rules. We can continue to save lives and recover from coronavirus.