A virtual machine (VM) is essentially one piece of software that contains operating systems, software, and files that take a portion of computing resources from your on-premises server. VMs behave like normal files, so you could deploy a fleet of them on any workstation with ease. But there are some drawbacks. Too many VMs can cause a logistical nightmare and cost your business a lot of money.

The problem with VM sprawl
VM sprawl is a phenomenon that occurs when there are too many virtual machines on a network. Keep in mind that VMs have the same licensing, security, and compliance requirements as your other computers and servers. So when administrators are given free rein to create as many virtual instances as they want, issues concerning the security and management of VMs begin to appear.

Having too many virtual instances running at the same time exhausts server resources. In fact, a majority of virtual servers are idle, which means companies are paying for licenses they’re not using. Unused VMs are also not patched and maintained properly, enabling attackers to infiltrate a network.

However, there are some things you can do to prevent VM sprawl.

VM creation policies
Businesses should have policies in place for limiting the creation of unnecessary VMs. For instance, you can have a policy that forbids users from deploying a new VM unless they specify a good reason. This way, they’re more likely to think twice before requesting resources they may not need. You should also place limits on how many VMs each department can create to keep your virtualized environment small and manageable.

VM inventory
Documenting every VM in your network should be standard protocol in your company. They should be organized by their purpose (e.g., backups, app testing, resource-intensive software usage), who they are assigned to, and when their software was last updated. This will make it easier to review which VMs are necessary to your operations and decommission the ones that no longer serve a purpose.

Life cycle management
For businesses with large-scale VM deployments, life cycle management tools can give you total visibility into how many VMs are running on the network, how they’re being utilized, and who created them.

Such tools allow you to set time-based policies that remove VMs that were needed for only a short time (e.g., those used for app testing). This ensures you’re not wasting resources on idle VMs.

Although virtualization is a powerful solution, it must be carefully managed if you want to realize its cost-cutting and efficiency-boosting benefits. If you want to truly benefit from virtualization, call us today.

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Mobile device security is paramount in today’s IT landscape. There are plenty of ways to be sure your employees are accessing data safely away from the office, but there is one solution we recommend considering: combining mobile security efforts with virtualization technology.

Mobile device management and virtualization

Mobile device management (MDM) is about controlling how users on any device — from laptops to internet-connected printers — view, share, and store sensitive information.

For example, if you have a user who accesses data via a company-provided laptop, an office copier, and a personal smartphone, IT administrators can install an application on each device to enforce policies from a centralized console.

There are dozens of standalone MDM solutions that consolidate device administration, but by using one that integrates with your virtualization platform, you can standardize policies for any industry across a range of company-owned, line-of-business, and personal devices.

Users are constantly picking up and discarding devices. Solutions like VMware’s AirWatch and Citrix’s XenMobile mean you no longer need to manage security settings for each device; instead, you can configure one virtualized environment for one employee, and its settings will be applied regardless of which device it’s accessed from.

What are the benefits?

Beyond a centralized approach to device management and data access rights, virtualized MDM solutions allow you to enjoy a number of other benefits. For example, IT administrators can remotely lock or erase data on employee devices if the device has been lost or stolen.

You can also benefit from Single Sign-On security. This means your users need only one set of login credentials to access all their applications. Technically, each application will still use a different username and password, but your virtualized solution will securely store each of the credentials and automatically log in users whenever they sign in to your MDM platform.

Hardware and software are evolving so fast that it’s almost impossible to secure them without extensive IT training. With a little help from trained professionals, virtualization is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways for business owners to simplify user settings and management.

It only makes sense that the next step would be unifying virtualized desktops, laptops, smartphones and other mobile devices under a single solution. Call us today to get started.

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Healthcare companies and the vast amount of valuable patient information they hold have become a major target of cyberattacks. Hospitals must combat this with a highly trained team of technicians equipped with the following technologies and security tools.

Strict access policies
To control access to protected health information (PHI), your IT department must introduce access restriction policies. For example, accountants should not have access to the same data as physicians. This guarantees that none of your employees are viewing off-limits records or increasing the chances of a breach.

Healthcare executives must also enforce policies that reprimand staff for accessing patient data without a valid business-related reason. This coupled with strict training for IT security best practices will significantly reduce the chances of a data breach.

Full-disk encryption
Full-disk encryption is an inexpensive and quick method to secure private information. It renders stolen data indecipherable to anyone without the matching decryption key.

Even though this recommendation is old news in the healthcare sector, the recent shift to greater mobility makes encryption a top priority more than ever, particularly because stolen or lost devices pose a massive security risk.

Let’s say a healthcare provider’s laptop got stolen. The thief could sell PHI for over $350 per record. By comparison, encrypted devices would never be subjected to such a scenario.

Resilient infrastructure
Your primary goal is to reduce potential entryways into your network. Since email and unsecured websites are the most common malware distribution systems, you need to set up proper safeguards, such as advanced firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and email filtering software.

If malware does manage to infiltrate your network, you must stop it from spreading. This means you’ll need next-gen anti-malware software that can detect and quarantine any signs of a breach. If such systems fail, you’d also need a data backup and recovery plan so you can continue caring for your patients during a major incident.

Your patients trust you with their lives and their privacy. If the strategies in this article sound too technical for you, just give us a call and we’ll make sure these cybersecurity measures have your back.

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Google Chrome is the most preferred web browsers across the world. Unlike its competitors that take forever to load because of their media-heavy landing pages, Chrome is a minimalist browser that runs at top speed. But, like any expandable browser that allows features and extensions to be installed, Chrome can slow down because of the extra weight. If you’re experiencing snail-like Chrome performance, use these handy tricks to speed up your browser again.

Clear your browsing data

Chrome stores a cached copy of a website you visit, so it can load the page faster when you visit it again. It also keeps a database of your browsing history and cookies for the same purpose. As you visit more and more websites, these pieces of data accumulate in Chrome and can slow the browser down.

Thankfully, the solution to this is easy: clear your cache. To do this, simply access your browsing history by entering chrome://history on your address bar. From the left panel, select Clear browsing data. Choose which data will be deleted by clicking on the checkboxes of all items you want to delete, like cached images or cookies. You can also select the time range that will be affected by the deletion. You can delete your history for the past hour, the last 24 hours, the last 7 days, the last 4 weeks, or from the beginning of time. Once you’ve selected the files you want to delete and their corresponding time range, click Clear data.

Disable extensions

Extensions are downloadable programs from the Chrome Web Store that you can add to your browser to give it more functionality and a personalized touch. For example, you can add an extension that blocks ads, one that shortens URLs, or one that shows you your most important tasks of the day. While these extensions are useful, they can slow Chrome down when there are too many installed at once.

Most extensions will show on Chrome’s address bar, and you can quickly uninstall them by right-clicking on their icons and selecting Remove from Chrome. You can also manage all extensions by typing chrome://extensions on your browser and hitting Enter. From there, you’ll find a list of all the extensions you have (even those you don’t remember installing). Simply scroll through the list and click Remove to delete the extensions you don’t need.

Remove ads and malware

Sometimes, Chrome slows down because of malware or adware extensions. Extra toolbars, recurring pop-up ads, and web pages redirecting to other addresses are clear indications of these. Google once had a downloadable app developed for Chrome that scans and removes unwanted programs called the Clean Up Tool. In 2018, Google discontinued that app and made malware scanning even easier. Just go to chrome://settings/cleanup on your browser, and click on Find to find and remove harmful software on your computer.

A top-performing web browser benefits your business in many ways, including upping employees’ productivity and speeding up communication processes. It’s therefore critical that yours is fast and reliable. If your web browser is performing poorly or takes forever to load a page, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us so we can identify and fix the problem right away.

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