Business Info - i142

01732 759725 magazine 17 SECURITY Plugging the weakest link Secure to the core security features at the very heart of a business’ cybersecurity strategy, along with a commitment to employee education. Secure devices for SMBs anywhere, anytime The world is currently going through a ‘remote working’ revolution, with more and more SMBs foregoing traditional offices and allowing employees to work from home, from a shared office, from a coffee shop or from public transport instead. According to IDC, as many as 60% of SMEs globally expect to have mobile worker support in place by the end of 2021. While mobile working with remote system access through BYOD devices provides great benefits to smaller businesses that may not have the budget for permanent physical office space, it does unlock potential new threat vectors and present new challenges in relation to device management. It effectively makes employees a business’s first line of defence against cyber-attacks. For this reason, it’s important that the tools workers use daily are robust enough to protect against potential cyber risks. In the case of laptops, this could include advanced biometric features and hardware-based credential storage capabilities to prevent password or access hacking. Other security features, such as zero client solutions, go beyond this and help nullify data-related threats by extracting sensitive data from the device itself. With information stored on a central, cloud-based system, these tools prevent unauthorised access to information if a device is lost or stolen. As 48% of SMEs access more than half of their business-critical applications from mobile devices 1 , these solutions Getting security right means starting with employee devices, argues Nick Offin, Head of Sales, Marketing & Operations at Dynabook Northern Europe Dynabook Europe, in partnership with Microsoft, has launched its most secureWindows devices to date – the Portégé X30-F, Tecra X40-F and Tecra X50-F Just because the cyber-attacks and security breaches that make the headlines tend to involve larger enterprises doesn’t mean cybercriminals aren’t targeting small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as well. In fact, recent research 1 from Ponemon Institute indicates that as many as two thirds of SMBs worldwide have experienced a cyber- attack in the last 12 months. With such attacks growing in number and sophistication and ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) fines for data breaches reaching a level that could put smaller enterprises out of business, it has never been more important for SMBs to have the right cyber security strategy in place. As part of a multi-pronged approach to the protection of company and employee data and assets it is essential to put employee devices with advanced Offering next-level hardware, software and identity protection right out-of-the-box, the new class of Windows 10 Secured- core PCs are ideal for use in data-sensitive industries, such as healthcare, and high profile industries targeted for phishing and other attacks, as well as by mobile workers who need to access business-critical information when away from the office. Damian Jaume, Managing Director of Dynabook Europe GmbH, said: “Devices are often the first line of defence for organisations – but those operating in the most data- sensitive of industries need an added layer of security to ensure comprehensive protection. That is why we’re partnering with Microsoft to develop an integrated hardware and software approach to security.” Secured-core PCs use hardware-based security components like Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM) and modern CPUs featuring Dynamic Root of Trust Measurement (DRTM), along with virtualisation-based security (VBS) andWindows Dynamic hypervisor code integrity (HVCI) service, to create a secure environment that isolates memory and other hardware components from attacks and unauthorised access to the operating system. Further protection is offered byWindows Hello, which prevents user identity and credential-based attacks through a combination of biometric sensors and hardware-based credential storage. This includes face, fingerprint, secure FIDO2 key or PIN authentication, backed up by Credential Guard, which leverages VBS to ensure malware running in the operating system cannot extract authentication tokens. To prevent malware or data loss from drive-by attacks, Secured-core PCs also block external peripherals from starting and performing Kernel Direct Memory Access (DMA) unless the drivers for those peripherals support memory isolations. Peripherals with compatible drivers will be automatically recognised, started and allowed to perform DMA to their assigned memory regions. Peripherals with incompatible drivers will be blocked from starting and performing DMA until an authorised user signs into the system or unlocks the screen. In addition, BitLocker Drive Encryption protects user data and ensures a computer has not been tampered with while the system was offline. emea.dynabook.com/secured-core Continued... Nick Offin