TSG • 3rd January 2020

How to prevent cyber-attacks in 2020

It’s clear that cybercriminals haven’t been resting over the festive period, as a spate of cyber-attacks have been announced in the past week. UK-based currency exchange business Travelex has taken its website down in the wake of a cyber-attack. The organisation first discovered the malware on New Year’s Day, immediately taking down its systems in response. The company has stressed that no customer or personal information has been breached, but rather its cybersecurity experts are working to c

TSG • 5th November 2019

Microsoft 365 Business Voice launch – an essential guide

We’re excited to announce the long-awaited launch of voice services embedded into Microsoft Teams, also known as Microsoft 365 Business Voice. We’ve been working behind the scenes with Microsoft on this ground-breaking internet telephony development as part of its adoption programme. TSG was involved on the advisory group to help shape what voice services within Microsoft Teams should look like. Microsoft 365 Business Voice will bring all of your business communications together into a truly u

TSG • 21st October 2019

Hearing aid manufacturer hit by cyber-attack costing £78 million

Demant, a hearing aid manufacturer which operates globally, was hit by a ransomware cyber-attack in September which has cost the business £78 million to date. According to ZDNet, this is one of the costliest ransomware attacks outside of the WannaCry and NotPetya incidents, incurring costs not in ransom payments as you’d expect, but in the incapacitation of the business’ critical systems. The organisation released a statement after being hit by the cyber-attack, stating it was shutting down it

TSG • 23rd September 2019

3 business strategy questions you should ask of your IT

It goes without saying that all businesses now rely on technology in some shape or form for their day-to-day operations. From infrastructure and hardware to ERP and CRM software solutions, businesses could not compete successfully without their critical systems or technology services. But that doesn’t mean that those systems meet their requirements. Many businesses still operate on outdated, legacy systems because they’ve used them for so long, they can’t imagine a world without them. In realit

TSG • 13th September 2019

How to stop ransomware 2019

New research has found that ransomware attacks have doubled in 2019 compared to 2018. So ransomware attacks are on the rise again. If that’s not startling enough, hackers are using your own passwords to infect your systems with ransomware. Ransomware is a type of malware that hackers use in cyber-attacks against your business. Ransomware encrypts your files and the cybercriminals demand a ransom payment in return for a decryption key.

TSG • 15th August 2019

UK businesses experiencing more cyber-attacks in 2019

The rise in cyber-attacks in business Hackers are attacking UK businesses even more in 2019; recent figures show the rise in the number of cyber-attacks aimed at organisations and the frequency at which they occur. 60% of businesses have already faced at least one cyber-attack in 2019 according to a survey from Hiscox. Additionally, UK businesses are receiving a large volume of cyber-attacks; organisations are hit every 50 seconds (Beaming). According to Beaming, the number of cyber-attacks h

TSG • 19th July 2019

Windows Server 2008 end-of-life: Everything you need to know

All Windows Server 2008 products will reach the end of their support lifecycle in January 2020, with serious implications for those who don’t upgrade before this date. In addition, SQL Server 2008 is no longer supported as of July 7th, 2019. As with all older servers and software solutions, Microsoft is ending support for these legacy systems to pave the way for more modern, secure and up-to-date servers. With Server 2008 products already 11 years old – which is ancient in the technology world

TSG • 3rd July 2019

Cyber-incidents in the financial sector rise by over 1000%

“Cyber-incidents” against organisations in the financial sector have increased by over 1000%, according to newly-released figures from the Financial Conduct Authority. The number of reported attacks rose from 69 in 2017 to 819 in 2018, whilst a total of 370 have already been recorded in 2019. The steep rise has been attributed in part to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in May 2018 and has stringent requirements around data breach reporting. However, there’s

TSG • 11th June 2019

How housing associations are discovering the art of the possible with Office 365

Office 365 is a topic we’ve blogged about frequently at TSG. That’s because there’s always something to say about it; whether it’s a new feature or app, a new way of working or to talk about how TSG is using it. For many businesses, Office 365 is simply an up-to-date version of the applications, such as Word and Excel, that they use every day. But, as we’ve said for years, it’s so much more than that. We’ve had great success in deploying Office 365 as a solution to a number of common business

TSG • 26th April 2019

Cybersecurity is essential but confusing, according to survey

Cybersecurity is becoming a high priority for both businesses and consumers, but nearly 50% of people don’t know what steps to take to achieve this according to the UK Cyber Survey. The first-of-its-kind survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), revealed some telling statistics about the state of cybersecurity in the UK including the good and bad habits we practise, the most commonly used and hacked passwords and our biggest cybersecurity fears.

TSG • 12th April 2019

How housing associations are using Office 365 and Microsoft Teams to supercharge their efficiency

Instead of using Outlook to work and collaborate, housing associations are looking further into the Office 365 suite to supercharge their investment and use collaboration tools to improve efficiency and work smarter. We’ve helped a number of our customers discover the ‘art of the possible’ with Office 365; show us what you want to improve, and we bet we could find a way to do so using the Office 365 suite. Microsoft Teams is available as part of Office 365 and the number of businesses taking ad

TSG • 5th March 2019

Celebrating our apprentices for National Apprenticeship Week 2019

National Apprenticeship Week (NAW 2019), a week dedicated to celebrating the value apprenticeships bring to both learners and businesses, is upon us. In an economy that is continually shifting and experiencing a number of skills gaps, apprenticeships could be the answer. However, many job roles are still skewed to university graduates; entry-level roles that were once used as a foot in the door for many young people starting their careers now require at least a bachelor’s degree. What’s more, o

TSG • 4th March 2019

How Office 365 is helping housing associations with compliance and innovation

Since its inception, the Microsoft Office suite has been relied on by businesses around the world, many of whom would be unable to operate without Word, Excel or Outlook. But in a few short years, the Office suite has evolved from basic functional apps to a catalogue of applications that can be used for a never-ending list of transformational projects. One of the strongest features of Office 365 is that, while the suite is all-encompassing and can be used to improve processes in almost any busi

TSG • 27th February 2019

Digitising the social housing tenant experience

With increased access to technologies that simply weren’t viable a mere 10 years ago, tenants are now expecting more from their social housing providers. With the world at your fingertips and the ability to manage your finances and utilities at the press of a button, why wouldn’t you expect the same options when it comes to managing your home? It’s essential that the social housing sector responds to these expectations to keep satisfaction ratings and tenant retentions high. But alongside the p

TSG • 8th February 2019

Digital transformation in 2019

For many businesses looking to remain competitive, digital transformation is firmly on the agenda. Having matured from a buzzword to a legitimate business strategy, more and more cases now show digital transformation is the key to efficiency, productivity and profitability. Forrester has released its predictions for digital transformation in 2019 with a lot of positivity but also some stark warnings. According to its report, 25% of businesses will decelerate their digital efforts and will lose

TSG • 5th February 2019

Safer Internet Day and the surprising cybersecurity habits of our future workforce

An online presence is near-ubiquitous in the UK. Children as young as toddlers are equipped with smartphones and our daily use of the internet doubles in less than 15 years (ONS). A lot of criticism has been aimed at the younger generations – typically millennials, generation Z or younger – for spending a lot of time online, but on the flipside, this ‘always-on’ generation is the most digitally-enabled yet. That’s why initiatives like Safer Internet Day are so important; a constant online prese

TSG • 22nd January 2019

The 3 top cybercriminal tactics you need to know in 2019 and how to prevent them

Hackers will attack your systems using local admin tools and continue to spread malware through macro-infected Office documents in 2019, according to Sophos’ 2019 Threat Report. The report lauds the cyber security industry for blocking a number of common hacker techniques in recent years, but warns that cybercriminals are continuing to come up with inventive new ways to breach our systems, steal or render our data unintelligible and swindle us out of money. Using macro-infected Word documents

TSG • 3rd December 2018

Marriott’s data breach, the second-biggest in history

Over 500 million consumers have had their personal data exposed to cyber-criminals as Marriott announced a breach of its Starwood booking database on Friday. The number of affected customers makes this the second biggest data breach in history; the unenviable position of experiencing the biggest breach goes to Yahoo when its 3 billion accounts were compromised. How did the hack occur? The company says unauthorised people have been able to access the database since 2014 in an additional worryi

TSG • 29th November 2018

Hackers are targeting your Office 365 account - Here's how you can stop them

By now, you’re probably familiar with the concept of phishing attacks; cyber-attacks that are often email-borne and aim to steal login credentials, financial information or infect a user’s machine with malware like ransomware. If you’re not familiar with phishing attacks, you can read our blog on the most common threats. What you might not be aware of is account takeover (ATO) attacks, which result in very calculated and convincing phishing attacks 78% of the time. Why are they so convincing? B

TSG • 16th November 2018

Nearly half of small businesses have experienced a data breach

Think that because you’re a small businesses, hackers won’t target you with a cyber-attack? Think again. Data breaches and various cyber-attacks are in the headlines daily, as hackers target businesses more ferociously than ever before. One key theme with the media coverage is the size of the businesses; Merck, Maersk, the NHS, British Airways… it’s not exactly relatable to the smaller business. This leads to the assumption that only large enterprises are targeted with cyber-attacks, but that c