D2NA's Blog

The top 5 questions to prepare for Cloud Computing

D2NA — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Are you currently using Cloud Computing?
What considerations did you make before using the service?
Maybe you are thinking about using a Cloud Computing service but are unsure whether it is right for you?

These questions will help to protect you and your business...

Score yourself from 1 to 10 on each of the statements below (1 = Poor and 10 = Excellent)
1. How do I get my stuff out?
I have complete confidence that I know exactly where my data is held and I can obtain copies at a moment’s notice.

2. How is my data backed up?
My Cloud provider backs up my data using multiple independent backup systems, which are checked and tested regularly.

3. How secure is my data?
My Cloud provider uses a secure centralised storage system and no data is held on end-user devices such as PC's and mobiles.

4. How long am I tied in for?
All my Cloud services can be cancelled with 30 days' notice.

5. How reliable are my Internet Connections?
I have reliable internet connections available and I have a backup plan for internet access in case my primary connection fails.

If you don't know the answers to these questions, ask your potential suppliers or take advice from a trusted Cloud Computing specialist.

5 Top Tips to Secure your Business Data

D2NA — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:00:00 GMT

We are in unprecedented times – poor worldwide economy, tightening budgets, fast moving technology developments and an increase in network security threats. IT departments therefore need to stay on top of their network security but with tighter budgets this could seem difficult as it normally requires investment.

Here are our 5 top tips to help you increase network security with a limited budget:

1.       Share the workload
All areas of your business will have access to your data. To rely just on your IT department to manage security is a poor strategy. Train everyone in your business to handle data effectively and securely. Ensure that they understand the importance of security and how to deal with data effectively.

2.      Contract an IT Partner, not just a vendor

IT vendors deploy products that will operate on your network to secure any holes you might have. However this tends to cover your security issues at the time of deployment and not protect you against future IT developments and therefore future security issues. Hiring an IT Partner is a great way of outsourcing your IT security to someone that will maintain and monitor your systems and make ad-hoc improvements to security as and when required. This is a far cheaper option than going down the vendor channel.

3.       Key Stakeholders

As well as sharing the workload with all people within your business it is a good idea to have internal IT Champions within each department. These are people that are trained to a certain level of IT proficiency that will monitor systems and data on a regular basis. If they notice any potential issues they can inform your IT Partner who will then action this in an effective manner and very quickly. Your IT Champions will be able to disseminate what is classed a security risk and pass on factual information to your Partner which will be an effective use of man power and resources.

4.       Take regular backups

Believe it or not we notice that the majority of businesses still do not have an effective backup solution. Data can be held on various PC’s throughout the business that may not be backed up by your IT Department as they are not aware of it. A classic example is spread sheets – your workforce may create ad-hoc spread sheets to handle their operational requirements and hold these on their PC’s. If these are not backed up and their terminal goes down they effectively become redundant until this can be re-built. Determine your backup strategy with your IT Department, staff and your IT Partner to ensure it is effective for your business requirements today and moving forward – it will save you a fortune in downtime.

5.       Software Updates

You may think that your internal software is secure and take for granted that it is up to date. However you will find that security patches, software updates and firmware are normally out of date very quickly. By working with your IT Department and IT Partner you should add this to the weekly and monthly checks you should be performing on your network. It will greatly increase your protection internally and allow for system uptime to be greatly increased.

For more information on IT Security, Network Security and how D2NA can become your IT Partner visit www.d2na.com today.

10 Tips for Total Online Security

D2NA — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Online Security can seem a little daunting however there are certain things you can do to avoid security issues whilst using the Internet. Here is our quick rundown on the top 10:

1. Education
Learn about scams on the Internet. There are tons of articles available that can bring you quickly up to speed on the latest security threats and scams. Also you could sign up for newsletters from websites such as Symantec as they will proactively send you updates on the latest and most vicious scams out there on a regular basis.

2. Think before you click!
Most scams and Internet security issues are derived from you inadvertently saying “yes” to downloading something. If it looks too good to be true, don’t click it. A common scam is where a message will appear on a web page that looks like your computer telling you it has detected a threat – it hasn’t, so don’t click it!

3. Practice safe shopping
One top tip is to have a separate bank account for all of your online purchases. I transfer the money I need into that account and use it just for online purchases. Another way to shop safely is to be cautious of buying from websites you have never seen before. Check them out on the Internet before you buy as they could be a scam website that will take your money and not send you the items!

4. Use a Firewall
Your Windows PC will come installed with a Firewall, but make sure it is turned on. Also if you have anti-virus software this may also have a Firewall. Just check all of the settings and make sure it’s working OK. Windows will tell you if your Firewall is off, but double checking will always secure up your PC further.

5. Anti-Virus Software
This might sound obvious but you will be surprised at how many people don’t have anti-virus – make sure you have it installed and it’s up to date. Run regular security scans to check that your system is clean from any bugs and potential issues.

6. Secure Wireless Networks
We all have laptops and tablets nowadays that connect to your home network wirelessly. Ensure that your router asks you for a security key when you first connect to it. If it doesn’t, go through your manual to find out how to turn this feature on. If you still struggle contact a local IT company to help. This is one of the biggest security threats you can secure against. If you use other wi-fi hotspots make sure they are secure as well. If not, just use them for browsing and not anything where you may be sending secure data through e.g. banking.

7. Strong Passwords
You will be surprised just how unsecure your passwords are. Your date of birth or a friend’s birthday are common ones. You should be using a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters and numbers. Stronger passwords also use characters such as #, @ and *. The longer the password and with a greater combination of letters and numbers are a great way to secure your password.

8. Common Sense
The majority of successful Internet scams run of the back of people not using common sense. As mentioned before, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is! Try and use a little common sense when surfing the web and look out for links and popups that could be harmful to your PC.

9. Backup your data
Regularly take backups of your data. If you can store this online, that’s even better as then it’s not held in one location that can be accessed securely by you from any location. Having a regular backup strategy will ensure that your personal information is kept safe and can be recovered if anything does go wrong.

10. Off-Line Records
Finally, I wanted to cover off-line data. You will be surprised to know that a large number of scams are successful as people get hold of your paper bills, credit card statements and other security sensitive information from your bins! They can use this to compile a profile about you and then use this to gain access to your email, online banking, online shopping accounts that store your credit card details and much more. You should destroy all paper records before throwing them in the bin. Use a Cross Cut Shredder (not a cheap one!) or even better burn the information on a fire – it may sound like I’m scaremongering here, but this is really simple to safeguard against and is very common nowadays.

A lot of the tips are targeted for you to use at home. However these are also applicable to your work environment. If you would like any further help, advice or even just a free chat about your online security why not call D2NA and we will gladly help.

The importance of a secure Wi-Fi network

D2NA — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:46:00 GMT

How often have you been able to get onto an unsecured Wi-Fi connection? We have many times! That’s great news if you want free Internet access, but would you want others connecting to your network? You may have just been checking emails or looking on the Internet, but there are others out there that aren’t so friendly and actually want to get access to your private and personal data! Even large companies such as Google have come under fire for accessing unsecured networks and this has led to wider consumer knowledge of the issue. Recently Google admitted to storing over 600 MB of data gained from various unsecured Wi-Fi networks throughout 30 countries which included logins, passwords and even personal data. Once someone gains access to your Wi-Fi network they can use various tools to probe and monitor activity. This leads them to gaining knowledge of what information you browse on the Internet and in the end will gain control of data that you wouldn&r ...

Data Cap when roaming abroad gives greater consumer confidence

D2NA — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:43:00 GMT

As a key player in your business there will have been times that when you have been out of the office, maybe on holiday, and needed access to your PC. However the costs have always been deemed to be too excessive to make it work for you. However, the BBC reported at the beginning of the month that the price of using your mobile phone in Europe has come down again. This is great news for all of us planning our holidays during July and August and especially if we need to use these for business whilst we are away. Brussels has an aim to get roaming charges to be in line with domestic rates by 2015 and this is a good step towards that becoming a reality. But what does this mean for data? After all, we now use our mobile phones for emails just as much as voice calls/SMS and on our tablet of Internet-enabled laptops. The great news is together with the lower rates for telephone calls, they have also reduced the rate for mobile data from 72p to 45p per megabyte. We still advis ...

Do I need IT Support?

D2NA — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:41:00 GMT

As a provider of IT related services we have a varied mix of clients. One aspect of our services is supporting clients with their hardware and software requirements. Some would see our service as a necessity where some see it as an ad-hoc requirement. We are obviously in business to make money, however we offer an honest service and to that end realise that not all businesses require a retained IT service from a company such as D2NA. Depending on your size of business, what it is you do and where you do it are all strong reasons to carefully look at your IT requirement and therefore on-going support needs. You will have most likely suffered from IT letting you down in the past and therefore had to look for a service provider to help you get back up and running. We have noticed that a large proportion of our ad-hoc services could have been avoided should our clients have looked at their IT beforehand. Simple things such as regular backups would have saved those hours and therefore £100’ ...

Meet the Team: From Art School to IT Business Owner

D2NA — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:18:00 GMT

It's not a journey that many people have done, particularly when you throw into the mix a motorbike ride to India and back! D2NA's Managing Director, Graham Doyle left Art School in the early 90's to pursue a career in the high street fashion industry. Disillusioned with the lack of creativity and originality; In 2001 Graham jumped on his motorbike and rode to India! After a few years of searching for enlightenment, Graham returned to the UK and started working for a friends IT company as a field engineer - this was Graham's IT apprenticeship! Following 4 years of learning the trade, the company was sold on and the new business owner was heavily sales driven which meant customer service suffered. A burning ambition to leave London and head for the hills, Graham and his partner, Caroline moved to sunny Stoke-on-Trent: this was the catalyst of Graham starting his own business - Stoke IT! (Read more about how Stoke IT became D2NA and how D2NA got its name) 15 Years later after leaving Art Sch ...

ISO 9001

D2NA — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:14:00 GMT

Being accredited with ISO9001 certification is a great accolade for any business and D2NA are proud to part of that select number of businesses able to achieve this level of quality. ISO9001 is a hard quality standard to not only meet but maintain. D2NA have placed great efforts into devising exceptional internal processes that are re-shaping the way the business performs and this has great benefits for our clients which include: Systemised approach to inbound customer support queries to speed up our response; Allows us to be proactive in providing customer support on a daily basis ensuring that client systems have exceptional up-time and resiliency; ISO9001 is not about delivering exceptional customer service once; it is about doing this every time and for every client. Our processes now form a major part of our business which allows us to deliver quick and efficient responses to our client requirements that not only protect them, but also free up our time to look for new and innovative ...

How many times have you left a file on your office PC and wished you'd had it with you?

D2NA — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:11:00 GMT

I think you will have thought this countless times and in all honesty so have I! Today the difference between you and I is that I have a Virtual PC that allows me to access my desktop from anywhere, anytime and from any Internet connected PC or Mac. Not only can I now get access to my files I'm also comforted by: Increased security as my files are not held on my laptop; Improved Business Continuity as if my laptop gets stolen I can access my desktop from anywhere; And reduced costs as the server is maintained externally from my office For years we have been using "cloud computing" but probably not realised it. Today we have the technology and the power to access our files, desktop, pictures and more from any computer and really use the Internet to drive your business forward. There are 5.5 million remote workers in the U.K. and they are perfectly suited to Virtual Computing. They may not realise it but most business owners could deploy this technology which will be more cost e ...

Would You like £1200 of free IT Consultancy?

D2NA — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:59:14 GMT

D2NA is offering a FREE Network Health Check worth £1200 for anyone registering before end of July 2011*. A Network health Check will give you: A clear picture about the state of your IT Network The ability to make informed decisions about your IT Network The ability to plan resources and budgets effectively A 12 month plan for your IT Network, ensuring it meets your business plan What we do in the Network Health Check One of our senior engineer's will visit you and install various tools to analyse your network We spend time with the key people, find out how they use your IT and what you can get out of it in the coming months and years to save you money We take an inventory of all the software and hardware you have in place so you know what you have - you will be surprised what you actually have in place which probably isn't being used as efficiently as it could! Once complete, we present a detailed report to you comprising all of the key elements of your IT Network, and a 12 month plan for managin ...