MSP Voice Episode 71 – “Longevity as a Startup” with Larry Bianculli

Cloud Computing, Infrastructure, Network Security

This week’s guest is Larry Bianculli, managing director, with CCSI who provide MSP and MSSP services in the New York City/Long Island area. CCSI (which stands for Contemporary Computers Services) has been around since 1974. CCSI has always been focused on services, the founders coming from IBM. CCSI has a range of customers from SMB to fortune 500. They have customers around the US as well as overseas.

Larry has been with CCSI for 4 years and is focused on growing the enterprise and commercial business. Prior to CCSI Larry spent over 15 years working for vendors (both big and small). For their large customers, CCSI helps to augment their IT staff in specialized areas. They’ve seen some great opportunities with co-managed SIEM. CCSI focuses mostly on financial, healthcare, insurance and manufacturing.

Listen to the full episode for more information on how CCSI has been so successful over the years by essentially thinking of themselves as a startup.

regulations

7 Cyber Regulations Your Business Don’t Prepare For (But Should Be)

cybersecurity, Network Security, Ransomware, Regulation

The last five years have been monumental for cybersecurity. Between data breaches that have affected the world’s biggest corporations and new laws passed worldwide to ensure better data security, the increased focus on securing data is a welcome one.

However, the number of cybersecurity threats is going. According to a UK-based firm, Hiscox, 50% of surveyed firms experiences an attack, up from 40% over the same period during the past year.

POLICY AND PROCEDURE

Policy and Procedures – Security Compliance

cybersecurity, Network Security

All organizations have policies and procedures on how particular tasks and goals are established within the organization. The issue here is many of these are either word of mouth or haven’t been written down. This leads to having subjective policies and procedures that morph over time based off a loose understanding of the objective. Almost every regulated organization is being asked to have written policy and procedure to adhere with compliance that allows for a defined and objective method of handling policy and procedures within their organization. This creates a strategic framework for those that the policy and procedures are guiding. This being said, there are a few differences when it comes to policy and procedure.

security strategy

How to Write Perfect Cyber Security Strategy for Your Venture

cybersecurity, Network Security

Protecting your company from online dangers is one of the most important things you need to take into consideration when it comes to running your own business. The threats you can come across are plenty and in order to avoid them, you will need a strong cyber security strategy.

Even if you don’t know about this topic, there are still quite a few simple steps you can follow in order to protect your business while still educating yourself and your employees about the matter. Here are some of the best tips to help you write the perfect cyber security strategy for your venture.

Time Series Databases, the Future of Monitoring and Logging

Cloud Computing, Infrastructure, Network Security

Long gone are the times where “the” database was single Relational Database Management System installed typically on the most powerful server in the datacenter. The monsters handled anything the business required. Today databases run on commodity hardware, they are also more sophisticated in terms of the high availability and specialized to handle particular types of data. Specialization allows them to achieve much better performance – everything is optimized to deal with a particular kind of data: optimizer, storage engine, even language doesn’t have to be SQL, like it used to be in the past. It can be SQL-based with some extensions allowing for more efficient data manipulation, or it can be something totally new.

cloud security

It’s in the Cloud, So it Secure . . . Maybe!

Cloud Computing, cybersecurity, Network Security

Since the introduction of cloud computing, more and more companies have been flocking to cloud computing, because it has proven to be cost effective and inherently more secure than on premise data centers. However, no one has ever claimed that making switch magically happens by pressing a button. Cloud computing needs to be properly managed and configured. Processes and policies that protect the data and applications that reside in the cloud need to be developed and continuously monitored to stay within best practices.

threat hunting

Threat Hunting Strategies for 2020

cybersecurity, Network Security, Ransomware2 Comments

Cyber attacks are becoming more advanced with each year, as indicated by the increase in data breaches. According to a Risk-Based Security report, 2019 might break a new record, with more than 3,800 breaches, and still counting. 

Threat hunting aims to help reduce the number of breaches. Some security analysts even take threat hunting as far as infiltrating the dark web, all to ensure they are the first to discover a new attack type. Read on for an overview of the state of cybersecurity, and key threat hunting tips for 2020.