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WhatsApp attack highlights consumer app dangers
THE COMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY is calling for
organisations to stop using consumer-grade,
free apps when handling sensitive or commercial
information. For people with jobs where
security is paramount, for example, journalists,
humanitarians, activists or special services
working in unfriendly regimes, a phone that has
been hacked via an app could put life at risk. For
others, the risk of individual’s private information
or commercial data being accessed will damage
an organisation’s brand integrity and share price.
This comes after WhatsApp was recently targeted
by cyber criminals.
David Holman, Director at Armour Comms said;
“This latest case of a serious vulnerability in a
consumer-grade app highlights the dangers of
using free apps, and that they are simply not
robust enough for business. While such apps claim
that they are secure because they are encrypted,
there is so much more to security than just
encryption. Encryption is rarely the weakest link,
and therefore, unlikely to be targeted by hackers.”
Dan Boddington, Systems Engineer, StarLeaf
commented “This example clearly demonstrates
that there are many organisations aggressively
hunting for fl aws in consumer applications for
commercial gain and for use by third parties.
Consumer apps are not designed for business
usage. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every
employee to only adopt the right solutions to
minimise risk and protect users’ data (company &
customer).“
NODE4 ACQUIRES ISV
SPECIALIST SECURA
NODE4 HAS ACQUIRED virtual private cloud provider, Secura. The
fi fth and largest acquisition made in Node4’s history, the deal will
strengthen its managed cloud hosting offering to the SaaS market.
Through its secure, scalable virtual private cloud offering, Secura
has built an impressive presence in the independent software
vendor (ISV) market, with over 70% of its customer base operating
in this vertical.
Secura has achieved impressive organic growth rates of over
40% year on year and is forecast to hit close to £5m of revenues
for their year ending June 2019. With the addition of Secura, Node4’s
total annualised run-rate revenues will be close to £55m with £20m
coming from cloud services.
“We are delighted to welcome Secura to the Node4 family and
look forward to working together to offer our customers a wider
range of services,” said Andrew Gilbert (pictured), Node4, CEO.
“We’ve worked hard to fi nd a business that is aligned with us both
strategically and culturally and believe that Secura ticks all the right
boxes for us. As we look to continue to grow Node4, it is important
to work with those who can complement our offerings, and this is
being achieved by adding Secura’s services to our portfolio.”
Our branded handset range
BYTES...
PARTNERSHIP
Exponential-e and CTERA Networks
have announced their partnership to
provide secure enterprise fi le services.
The focus of the relationship will be
on unifi ed data management, modern
content collaboration, and continuous
data protection for distributed
organisations.
54%
The top two frustrations reported by
UK IT staff are networks unexpectedly
failing with no warning (63%) and endusers
reporting problems before IT even
knew about them
M247
Global provider of cloud services and
super-fast internet connectivity M247
has expanded its London capacity in a
move to a newly refurbished offi ce in
Holborn Tower at the heart of its London
customer base.
comes with proprietary features as standard
Contact NTA on: 01708 320000 or Email: sales@nta.co.uk
16 | Comms Business Magazine | June 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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