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Dropbox is Not a Remote Access Solution: A COVID-19 Case Study

April 30, 2020 by Kevin Denee
Dropbox is not a remote access solution article feature

The Scenario in Brief

During this challenging time, we all have had to scramble to adjust to a new normal, both on a professional and personal level.

Here is an example of a company that was trying to find their own way to work remotely. This particular customer has a case management suite that links to Dropbox in the office. Their case files and templates link to the cloud, their Dropbox. Our client decided to give all their employees access to Dropbox through their personal home computers.

It was easy.

The employee can work from their home computer, make their edits on Dropbox, and it updates to their case management suite. When we dug deeper, we learned that the computers they are using are shared with other family members.

If ransomware got on this computer from a clicked email that would then infect the locally-stored Dropbox files. This would then sync up to the cloud because Dropbox would not know that the data is compromised. It just sees data. The original data would not be available and the new data would be encrypted and locked.

From a support side, we had servers being backed up in the office, as well as other important folders. The client thought they had a backup, but they did not realize that Dropbox was not being backed up.

Further, the client was not aware that Dropbox stores a local copy of its files on computers that are synced. This means these confidential case client files were available to other family members in the household. To make matters worse, if the machine got infected, the case studies would be readily available to bad actors.

The Solution

We ended up setting up a VPN solution for this client, which allowed them to remote into their desktops. This is a common and easy solution, which gives employees their work environment at home. They now log in to their work computer that already had Dropbox. We uninstalled Dropbox on the unsecured personal computers.

People have this belief that everything that is going to be out in the cloud is going to be safe. Sometimes it is not clear that this “cloud” is just a server sitting somewhere else. The reality is unless you invest in creating backups, or backing it up yourself, it is as susceptible as your hard drive getting ransomware.

Finally, Dropbox has an additional plan that allows data retention for the 30 days. We implemented this as an extra safety measure.

The Lesson

Companies are going to find quick methods to solve their problems. This case study was an easy solution to remote access and our client had no idea they exposed vulnerabilities and security holes. Nothing had gone wrong, so they thought they were safe.

It’s always wise to engage a consultant in cases like this. We were thankful we could help in this regard and prevent what could have been a bad situation.

Categories Technology and Business News Tags cloud, COVID-19, data protection, data security, remote access

Microsoft Integrate 2019 – Delivering Hybrid Cloud Solutions

September 7, 2019 by Kevin Denee
Microsoft Integrate 2019 – Delivering Hybrid Cloud Solutions

Our team member Zach Partee recently had the opportunity to attend Integrate 2019 in Redmond Washington at Microsoft’s Headquarters.  This event is the premier opportunity to learn and connect directly with Microsoft Program managers and others on the Microsoft Leadership Team.

As stated on the event website: “Integrate 2019 is the premier integration conference for everyone working in the Microsoft Integration Space. The 3-day event, with Speakers from the Microsoft Product Group and from the Global Integration Community, is the ideal event to listen to the leading Integration Specialists, to learn what is coming next in integration and to network with your peers.”

The Need for Continued Integration

The PCS engineering team has been integrating technologies for over 20 years. It is a priority for our team to attend these events to learn directly from the source and to develop direct relationships with key Microsoft team leaders and others in the industry.

As the age of large and robust platforms continue to develop, integration between these systems is becoming increasingly important. It is not practical to build everything from the ground up as it does not serve our client’s best interests to rebuild tools that already exist. Integrating systems is where our experienced team of integration engineers can help.

What also makes Integrate 2019 such an important event is that Microsoft is one of the predominant vendors of our clients. Learning the latest of these technologies and how they can be integrated is something we want to pass along to our customers.

Hybrid Cloud Solutions Increasingly Important

As we continue to help business make intelligent use of technology, we have seen that our clients appreciate our ability to implement and integrate hybrid solutions. In other words, many of our clients cannot transition fully to the cloud, but are interested in utilizing the latest tools sets, many of which are cloud-based. This is where a hybrid solution comes in, and our team of consultants can be a huge asset with these projects.

At Integrate 2019, Zach also learned more about “Intelligent Edge,” which is bringing the power of cloud to on-premise servers and IOT devices. There was also a heavy focus on Azure’s Logic Apps, which has tremendous potential.

It is our goal to continually stay on the cutting edge with system integrations. We strive to learn and to take what the big enterprises are doing and help our small to mid-size business community apply these same technologies. If your business needs help with business process or system integration, reach out to us and begin the discussion.

Categories Technology and Business News Tags cloud, cloud computing, hybrid cloud, microsoft, Palitto Consulting Services, technology, zach pertee Leave a comment

PCS Attends Global Azure Bootcamp

June 19, 2019 by Kevin Denee

Microsoft Azure, the ever-evolving set of cloud-based tools from the prolific software giant, is one of the dominant forces in cloud-based computing and hybrid systems solutions for every size of business. So, when over 300 communities worldwide host a day devoted to every topic imaginable relating to this growing set of services, you know that PCS will be there to learn all we can learn about the latest trends and implementations.

That level of learning took place on April 27, 2019, when PCS team member Jay Holiday attended the Microsoft Global Azure Bootcamp in Cleveland. His sole intent on being present was staying current with the latest tools and features within the Microsoft Cloud platform.

Learning More, Serving Better

At PCS, we believe the more we learn about the latest technologies, the better we can help our clients implement them in meaningful ways to affect their businesses positively. Since Azure is currently such a significant part of the cloud and hybrid solutions for business, we knew attending and gleaning as much information as possible was crucial to our clients’ success.

The Azure-related topics covered at the workshop were wide-ranging and included security, data analytics, machine learning, bots, cost optimization and business implementations. Another aspect of the conference that matters as much, if not more than, the actual information sessions was the opportunity to make contacts and network with professionals involved in developing and deploying Azure applications at every level.  Nurturing these contacts results in the growth of a valuable information resource that we use to benefit our clients in their endeavors.

Making Contact With PCS

We specialize in helping companies leverage the latest technologies to improve their competitive advantage in the marketplace. Our commitment is to study your operation, gain a thorough understanding of what you do and then offer our expertise in technology to help you do it better and more profitably. Contact us today, and let us start working together to build a better future for your company.

Categories Technology and Business News Tags azure, cloud, cloud computing, data analytics, jay holliday, machine learning, microsoft, microsoft azure, security Leave a comment

PCS Deepens Expertise at Microsoft Ignite Tour Conference

March 12, 2019 by Kevin Denee
PCS attends Microsoft Ignite Tour

At PCS, we strive to “help businesses make intelligent use of technology”. So, when the Microsoft Ignite Tour, a two-day deep technical training conference, made its only US stop, we made sure we were there. We never want to miss an opportunity for members of our team to learn new ways to help companies modernize their organizations with cutting-edge technologies.

Extensive Learning Opportunity

Business use of the cloud is a growing and evolving field, requiring companies to rethink their ideas about the way IT functions within organizations. Events like the Microsoft Ignite Tour provided our developers a chance to learn from experts who are directly involved in driving these new technologies. The conference featured hundreds of technical sessions and a choice of several learning paths. Among other tools our team acquired, we learned some new strategies for coding that will enable us to better optimize our clients’ use of the cloud in their operations.

Networking with Experts

These days, keeping up with the latest technology requires staying immersed in the technology community. Attending events like the Microsoft Ignite Tour help us to build and maintain our extensive network of contacts. The need for rapid software deployment and constant refining of best practices make close professional relationships with industry influencers an indispensable part of providing relevant advice to our clients. We believe keeping our finger on the pulse of the latest trends and technologies is vital not only to our success but also to the success of the companies we serve.

 

 

Categories Technology and Business News Tags cloud, cloud computing, jay holliday, microsoft Leave a comment

PCS Attends Enterprise Connect in Orlando

April 20, 2017 by Brianna Palitto
Enterprise Connect Logo

Bryon Palitto and Tim Zarkovacki attended the yearly Enterprise Connect conference in Orlando Florida. Both team members were impressed with the emerging technologies and the relevant applications they have for our customers and prospects. Some of the highlights are Google and Amazon unveiling new Contact Center solutions, Cloud and SD-WAN solutions, performance monitoring and enhancing tools, new and enhanced security solutions, and many new Internet or Things (IoT) tools that focus on business process automation, simplification and streamlining. Bryon noted, “these new technologies resonate 100% with PCS because our core focus is also business process automation, simplification and streamlining.”

Categories Uncategorized Tags bryon palitto, business process automation, business process simplification, business process streamlining, cloud, contact center solutions, emerging technologies, enterprise connect, internet or things, Palitto Consulting Services, sd-wan Leave a comment

Recent Posts

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    Recent News

    • “Aunt Kate” Retires after 17 Years at PCS
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