Info & Advice

You may have seen the incredible story of the Hong Kong banker taken for $25 million after someone deepfaked the entire company board on a video call.

Well folks, there it is. The Mother of All Breaches, with a staggering 26 billion electronic records leaked. That’s about 3 or 4 records for every living person, if you were to simply divide the number of records with the estimated world population.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful tool. It can enhance the productivity, efficiency, and creativity of your staff. But AI also comes with some challenges and risks. Businesses need to address and manage these to use AI effectively.

While you’re decking the halls with holly and reveling in the long-awaited holidays, other folks are hard at work through their ‘busy time’. It’s not just the hospitality industry expecting a bumper Christmas either – hackers, scammers, and other online miscreants see December and January as one of the most potentially lucrative periods of the year.

The global cost of a data breach last year was USD $4.45 million. This is an increase of 15% over three years. As we step into 2024, it’s crucial to be aware of emerging technology threats.

In the pulsating digital landscape, every click and keystroke echoes through cyberspace. The battle for data security rages on.

Breached or stolen passwords are the bane of any organization’s cybersecurity. Passwords cause over 80% of data breaches. Hackers get in using stolen, weak, or reused (and easily breached) passwords.

Cybersecurity has become a critical foundation upon which many aspects of business rely. Whether you’re a large enterprise or small business, network security is a must. Cyberattacks can have long-term consequences.

This Cyber Smart Week (30 October – 5 November), we’re supporting CERT NZ to highlight the importance of staying secure online and showing New Zealanders what’s at stake when they don’t get their online security right.

New Zealand-based IT consulting firm Advantage was recently awarded the NZ-wide Innovation Award at the Reseller News Innovation Awards. The award recognizes partners that deliver innovative solutions to their customers headquartered outside of the three most-populated metropolitan areas in the country.

Ah, outsourcing. There’s a long and successful history and well-understood principles underpinning the now-familiar concept of outsourcing IT or any other specialist function to ‘the professionals’. It works because it makes sense: not an expert in [whatever], but [whatever] is essential? Hand it to those who are the experts. It works for general IT. And it works for security, too.

Imagine you’re working away on your PC and see a Windows update prompt. Instead of ignoring it, you take action. After all, you want to keep your device safe. But when you install what you think is a legitimate update, you’re infected with ransomware.