Doug Theis Leave your comfort zone.

The pros and cons of using internal and external talent, or a mix of both

You’re a small or mid-sized business and have a growing sense of unease that you aren’t doing enough on cyber security. Must be all those headlines about ransomware infections and databases ransacked. Or – perhaps – you’re experiencing an upsurge in phishing attempts.

Congratulations – you’ve woken up to something that a surprising number of companies haven’t. But now you’ve patted yourself on the back, the big question is: what’s next?

SMBs spent on average 27 per cent more on security in 2017 than the year before according to a survey last year by Cyren and Osterman Research, yet less than half felt confident they could prevent a network intrusion. Half, 52 per cent, had an IT security staff of two or fewer people.

More of The Register article from Dave Cartwright

According to the CyberArk Global Advanced Threat Landscape Report 2018, nearly half (46 percent) of IT security professionals rarely change their security strategy substantially – even after experiencing a cyber attack. This level of cyber security inertia and failure to learn from past incidents puts sensitive data, infrastructure and assets at risk.

An overwhelming number of IT security professionals believe that securing an environment starts with protecting privileged accounts: 89 percent stated that IT infrastructure and critical data are not fully protected unless privileged accounts, credentials and secrets are secured.

More of the Continuity Central post

Office 365 subscribers always have the latest version of Microsoft Office — currently Office 2016. They also get more frequent software updates than those who have purchased Office 2016 without a subscription, which means subscribers have access to the latest features, security patches and bug fixes. But it can be hard to keep track of the changes in each update and know when they’re available. We’re doing for you, so you don’t have to.

Following are key updates to Office 365 for Windows since Office 2016 was released in September 2015 — all the 2017 updates and the most important ones from 2016 and late 2015, with the latest releases shown first. We’ll add info about new updates as they’re rolled out.

Note: This story covers updates released to regular Office 365 for Windows subscribers. If you’re a member of Microsoft’s Office Insider preview program or want to get a sneak peek at upcoming features, see the company’s “What’s new for Office Insiders” page.

More of the Computerworld article from Preston Gralla

Business apps have emerged as essential in the digital workplace, according to a recent survey from VMware. The resulting report, “The Impact of the Digital Workforce: The New Equilibrium of the Digitally Transformed Enterprise,” indicates that these apps are significantly increasing productivity and efficiency among employees. They also serve as a great recruitment tool, as they foster an environment of optimal collaboration and decision-making that leads to inspired innovation. CIOs and other top IT managers, however, must do a better job of making the latest apps available in a “one-stop shop” manner, findings reveal. “(The) digital transformation — particularly through highly accessible employee-centric applications and productivity suites — is forcing management to adjust to a new equilibrium within the enterprise,” according to the report.

More of the Baseline slideshow from Dennis McCafferty

In today’s enterprises, line-of-business (LoB) departments are playing a bigger role in the technology buying process, especially when it concerns applications and services related to mobile and collaborative technologies. And increasingly, those two technologies are viewed as a single entity by most IT and business executives. Those findings highlight the “CDW Digital Workspace Solutions Report,” which is based on a survey of nearly 2,000 IT and non-IT executives who participate in their organization’s purchasing decisions for digital workspace solutions. This view aligns with CDW’s definition of digital workspace as the culmination of various technology silos coming together to seamlessly connect people and get work done effortlessly, anytime, anywhere and on any device. “The fact that our survey found 41 percent of digital workspace solutions are now selected by departments outside of IT shows how pervasive and integral voice, video and other collaboration technologies are becoming to organizations,” observed Nathan Coutinho, director of workspace solutions for CDW.

More of the Baseline slideshow from Eileen McCooey