When your business migrates to a hosted cloud email platform, the user experience will be very similar to using an in-house infrastructure only with a few enhancements and new procedures. Hosted email allows you to increase productivity while reducing costs associated with maintaining an in-house infrastructure.
Hosted cloud email is also commonly referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS). This type of service provides you with access to the latest applications in business class email without being required to purchase the necessary infrastructure and maintain it on the premises. Instead, you pay a monthly subscription fee while the hosted email provider worries about maintenance and upkeep of the infrastructure. You can also access the email service from any location that provides a connection to the Internet.
By now you may have heard about the “Heartbleed Bug”, a serious security vulnerability in the OpenSSL cryptographic library. The OpenSSL library is used by a number of different computing platforms to secure communication between a client (typically in a web browser session) and a secure endpoint, typically a website or device used to allow access to secure business systems. Anytime you are conducting a transaction online you are typically using SSL, and you can tell that you are doing so when the URL starts with “https://” or when you see a padlock appear in the browsing session. It is estimated that this vulnerability effects upwards of 50% of Internet websites that use SSL, so the scope of the bug is potentially huge.
Because the vulnerability exposes extremely sensitive information to an entity who tries to exploit it, such as usernames, passwords, banking information, credit card information, and more, the threat is a very real and very serious one. You should take all reasonable precautions to secure your environment if you have systems that contain the vulnerability, as well as being aware of any communications from online vendors, such as banks, that may reach out to you indicating that they may have been subject to the vulnerability and that data may have been compromised.
For more technical information about the vulnerability you can start by looking here.
Thrive suggests that you do the following in response to the Heartbleed vulnerability:
- Analyze and secure your business systems that have the vulnerability present by shutting down and / or patching effected systems.
- Reach out to your third party vendors or providers about systems that utilize the Open SSL cryptographic library to ensure that the vulnerability is not present in those systems.
If you have any questions or would like Thrive to conduct a security audit of IT systems that are not managed by Thrive directly, please contact Thrive Networks today.
Many businesses are under pressure nowadays to meet the increased demand for technology while working with limited technology budgets. One of the ways that businesses are saving on costs while increasing productivity is through the implementation of a hosted email solution. A hosted email solution, such as Microsoft Exchange, allows businesses to increase productivity without having to invest in costly infrastructure.
With hosted email, you can use email configurations which are complex and can be used with a variety of mobile devices as well as onsite. When you implement a hosted email solution, your email and data is securely stored on a remote platform which is maintained by your email hosting provider. The hosting service provides redundancy and security while your business enjoys the benefits associated with business class email services. (more…)