If you thought viruses were scary, wait until you encounter Stuxnet and Flame. Well, let’s hope you don’t encounter them. What is Stuxnet and Flame you might wonder? Stuxnet is a computer worm that originated from the “Olympic Games,” a code name for a series of cyber attacks that were secretly launched on Iranian computers by President Obama. The worm was found traveling from computer to computer in different parts of the world and was powerful enough to take down between 1,000-5,000 centrifuges that Iran was using for its uranium. Stuxnet is the first cyber weapon ever used to cripple another country’s foundation.

The New World of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) -- Good for Your Company?

BYOD is a concept that is rapidly gaining steam throughout the IT business industry. By “gaining steam” I mean two things. It could reference the cartoon-like explosion of hot gaseous vapor from a person’s ears due to incessant aggravation; or it could simply be defined as an increase in positive momentum. The notion is rudimentary and obvious, almost intuitive: Should employees utilize their personal devices (phones, tablets, laptops, etc.) to complete work-related tasks while on the clock? Though the idea may be basic, the answer is a bit more complicated.

Continuous data protection (CDP) differs from traditional backup recovery software in one essential way: whereas backup methods require data to be copied to another entity, such as a tape or a disk, CDP data is copied and then stored on the local storage area network (SAN) or the network-attached storage (NAS) system. CDP works by making frequent, incremental copies of the data itself. Essentially, CDP tracks every change made and captures continuous changes to data. CDP serves as a baseline reference to the original state of the data, it tracks the state of a file when a change occurs and tracks the change in the backup system, and it allows granular recovery for multiple point-in-time states of the data.[1] When an incident occurs and backup recovery is necessary, CDP allows the user to go back and reset a file, dataset, or entire database to the state it was in before. So, should CDP replace traditional backup methods?

Pros

• Using CDP after the initial setup does not require intensive IT training and the backed up files can be easily accessed by the average desktop and/or laptop user.
• CDP integrates into established data protection frameworks very easily and can protect data on other storage tiers.
• CDP preserves a record of every change made to a computer.
• If a system becomes infected with a virus or a while is corrupted and the problem is not discovered until later, it is still possible to recover the most recent clean copy of the affected file.[2]
• Data recovery is possible in a manner of seconds, much less time than with other backup systems. However, this is contingent on file size and network speed.
• Installing CDP hardware does not put existing data at risk. Furthermore, there is no gap in data when a restore occurs.

It can take new IT consultants anywhere from a couple of weeks to over a month to acclimate themselves to NSK Inc’s work style, ethic, and load. NSK’s newest team member, Ahmed Fadili, didn’t need such a substantial time period to become oriented. In fact, Ahmed was on site with a client during his very first days on the job. Determination and experience like this can be hard to come by and since February 6^th, NSK has felt lucky and excited to have Ahmed spearheading the charge to find solutions to any technical problems encountered by clients on a daily basis.

In any business, managing a single client’s expectations can be a daunting task. Two months into the job, Bridget Benner manages 15 clients. One of the newest members of the NSK Inc. team, Bridget has the perfect job to complement her self-described bubbly personality. She’s NSK Inc.’s new client account representative.