Category: Cyber security

Windows Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting provides the flexibility and control of a dedicated server with the affordability of a shared hosting environment. However, this control comes with the responsibility of securing your server.

Regular Updates and Patch Management

A crucial element of securing your Windows VPS hosting is ensuring that the operating system and all installed software are kept up to date. Microsoft regularly releases updates and patches that fix security vulnerabilities and improve the stability and performance of Windows. Neglecting these updates can leave your server exposed to known exploits.

• Automatic Updates: Enable automatic updates to ensure your system receives the latest patches promptly.
• Manual Checks: Regularly check for updates manually and ensure that critical updates are applied immediately.
• Third-Party Software: Keep all third-party applications and software up to date, as vulnerabilities in these can also be exploited.

Strong Password Policies

Weak passwords are a frequent vulnerability that attackers exploit. Implementing a strong password policy is essential to secure your VPS.

• Complexity: Ensure passwords are complex, including a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
• Length: Enforce a minimum password length of at least 12 characters.
• Expiration: Implement password expiration policies requiring users to change their passwords periodically.
• Account Lockout: Enable account lockout mechanisms to deter brute-force attacks by locking accounts after a certain number of failed login attempts.

Firewall Configuration

A properly configured firewall is your first line of defense against unauthorized access.      Windows VPS includes a built-in firewall, but it needs to be properly configured to be effective.

• Inbound Rules: Restrict inbound traffic to only the necessary ports and services. Commonly used ports include 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), and 3389 (RDP).
• Outbound Rules: Control outbound traffic to prevent malicious software from communicating with external servers.
• Monitoring and Logging: Enable logging to monitor firewall activity and identify potential threats.

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Security

RDP is often used for remote access to Windows VPS hosting, but it is also a common target for attackers.

• Change Default Port: Change the default RDP port (3389) to a non-standard port to reduce the likelihood of automated attacks.
• Network Level Authentication (NLA): Enable NLA to require users to authenticate before a remote desktop session is established.
• Limit Users: Restrict RDP access to only those users who need it and remove administrative privileges from non-essential accounts.
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Implement 2FA to add an extra layer of security to the RDP login process.

Antivirus and Anti-Malware Protection

Installing reliable antivirus and anti-malware software is essential to protect your Windows VPS from malicious software.

• Real-Time Protection: Enable real-time protection to detect and block threats as they occur.
• Regular Scans: Schedule regular scans to identify and remove any malware that may have evaded real-time protection.
• Updates: Keep your antivirus and anti-malware software up to date to ensure it can detect the latest threats.

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Even with robust security measures in place, it’s crucial to have a backup and disaster recovery plan to mitigate the impact of a security breach or data loss.

• Regular Backups: Schedule regular backups of your data and system configurations.
• Offsite Storage: Store backups offsite or in a different geographical location to protect against physical disasters.
• Testing: Regularly test your backup and recovery process to ensure it works as expected and that you can restore your system quickly in an emergency.

User Access Management

Managing user access and permissions is vital to limit the potential impact of compromised accounts.

• Principle of Least Privilege: Provide users with only the minimum level of access necessary to complete their tasks.
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Implement RBAC to assign permissions based on user roles rather than individual users.
• Audit Logs: Maintain audit logs of user activities to monitor for suspicious behavior and ensure accountability.

Secure Network Communication

Securing the communication between your VPS and external systems helps protect data in transit.

• SSL/TLS: Use SSL/TLS to encrypt data transmitted between your VPS and clients or other servers.
• VPN: Set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to secure remote access to your VPS.
• IP Whitelisting: Restrict access to your VPS to specific IP addresses to reduce the attack surface.

Monitoring and Incident Response

Continuous monitoring and a robust incident response plan are crucial to identify and respond to security threats promptly.

• Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS): Implement IDS to detect and alert you to potential security breaches.
• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): Use SIEM solutions to collect and analyze security data from various sources.
• Incident Response Plan: Develop and regularly update an incident response plan outlining steps to take in case of a security breach.

Conclusion

Securing your Windows VPS hosting involves a multi-layered approach that includes regular updates, strong passwords, proper firewall configuration, RDP security, antivirus protection, backup and disaster recovery, user access management, secure network communication, and continuous monitoring. Implementing these essential security practices will significantly reduce the risk of security breaches and help ensure the safe and reliable operation of your Windows VPS.

The growing prominence of cyberattacks in the form of phishing and malware has poked the user to be aware of suspicious activities. Your personal and bank-related data are always at stake when you input them into an insecure website.

Even while downloading software, one needs the assurance that it is safe and has not been tempered. This assurance comes when you know that the software has been coded by the original publisher and not someone masquerading as him. Here, comes the need for a Cheap Code Signing Certificate. Let us take an insight into Code Signing Certificate to let you understand the reasons for using it clearly.

What is Code Signing Certificate?

A Code Signing Certificate is used to fortify that a software, app, and executable is free from any cyberattack. It ensures the legitimacy of that software. When an app is transferred from the developer’s end to the end user’s end it is not tempered when a Code Signing Certificate is encapsulated with it.

Code signing is a process in which executables and scripts are digitally signed to assure the software publisher and developer about software code integrity. It assures that the code is intact since it is signed and not modified.

To add to the point, Code Signing Certificate works to ensure- Validation and Integrity. It validates that an authorized publisher has written the software. Integrity because it makes sure that the software is not corrupt or has been altered by a third party.

How does it work?

Code Signing Certificate works on the principle of public key infrastructure (PKI). Here are two keys- The private key and the public key, which are generated at the time when a software publisher asks for a certificate from the certificate authority (CA).

These two cryptographic keys provide encryption to the code. The private key is used to sign the code and the public key authorizes the developer’s identity. The private key needs to be kept intact by the publisher after he/she has signed the code.

Once the CA receives the request it validates the publisher and on completion of the vetting process, the certificate is provided to the publisher to ensure its legitimacy.

5 reasons why Code Signing Certificate is beneficial

In the urge to keep our software secure from hackers, Code Signing Certificate is used. It is of high importance to developers. Below are a few reasons why one should use it,

• Validates code integrity

Code signing is used to check the integrity of the code at the user end. It ensures that the code has not been altered by an intruder. The hash function is used to check the integrity.

At the time of signing, a hash function along with the signature is placed. If the hash function at the time of download is the same at the user end, then the code integrity is maintained. If the hash function doesn’t match, then a security warning occurs, or the download fails to complete.

Integrity is also checked with an additional timestamp that can be placed along with the signature at the time of signing. This timestamp needs to be the same when the user downloads the software otherwise it is tempered.

• Issuing company reputation and authenticity

Code signing ensures that the code remains intact, and no tempering is done with it. This makes sure that no malware or phishing activity can happen on your device. This further enhances the customer’s trust in the company. The customer relies more on such firms with strong security measures. With the increasing trust, the loyalty of customers towards the firm also increases. Your company’s reputation can increase four folds in such scenarios. Hence, you can very well visualize how well your company can benefit from such a growing reputation.

• Increase in revenue

The code signing process makes sure that the publisher’s authenticity is verified by a trusted certificate authority. This makes the end-users trust the publisher. The end users find it reliable to download software or use apps of such secured developers.

The trust showed by the end-user results in an enhanced reputation for the company. The customers using the company’s software increases over time contributing to the revenue of the company.

• Seamless integration with multiple platforms

It is highly required that your code reaches the targeted audience seamlessly and uninterruptedly. You will surely not want to face a code rejection message popping up. Multiple platforms like Android, JAVA, Windows, Apple iOS etc. follow code signing process. These platforms require a code-signing process for code distribution.

There are many browsers including the search giant Google that requires a code signing certificate from a trusted and relevant certificate authority. Even Firefox and Microsoft office macros require publishers to safeguard their code using a code signing certificate.

• Safe and secure customer experience

For the smooth running of any company, trust is required. Vendor and customer trust are important if you want to flourish. Code Signing Certificate brings in this trust by providing a safe and secure experience to the customer.

The customer knows that the code is signed by an authentic company and no tempering has been done with it. They feel safe in using the software and are free from the mind of any malicious attacks. This security when comes from a trusted certificate authority makes things more seamless.

Closing words

The aforementioned information must have made it clear to you why Code Signing Certificates are important to developers and why one should invest their time and money in them. You can mitigate the risk of your software or other executables being tempered by unauthorized access. Also, this encryption process is of no use if the end-user doesn’t listen to the warning bell. The user should know whether the code is secured or not. So, if you are a developer make sure you secure your code and if you are an end-user always download software signed by genuine publishers only.

Mechanical stature, cubic splendor, smart systems, and brilliant functionality are some of the conventional features associated with the robots and their extended versions. However, the modern face of robots has a diversified range of uses and applications. 

Bots are web versions of Robots which basically are software applications that execute automated commands on the internet. 

Today, Bots form half of the internet traffic and thus largely impact the internet.  

To better understand what bots are and how they work, let’s take a brief on bots’ origin. In the 1960s, bots were being used initially. But, they grow and develop larger with the growth and development of the internet.  

Initially and primarily, the purpose of bots was to reduce human labor from performing fairly routine-based and monotonous tasks.

Useful bots:

Google Web Crawler is responsible to rank pages on the search engine is a bot. This software regulates the function of SEO by visiting all the available websites. It makes an evaluation of how well a page is performing regarding the information it shares. As a result, the pages with the best search engine optimization appears at the topmost results. 

Moreover, another example of a bot is the automated replies of e-mails sent in case of unavailability or absence.  In order to avoid sending e-mails to everyone while you are not at work, email service’s built-in bots help us to send an automatic reply to all of those who contact. 

As time passes, technology evolves. Today any small or large business can take the help of a software development company to develop their own bot in a few minutes.

One of the most common user-created examples of chatbots is on the websites requiring customer service all the time.

Chatbots work on a specific number of guidelines. The guidelines to a bot can be given in the form of rails, which enables to detect certain types of commands and respond according to the given guidelines. 

Instead of employing a large number of customer service agents 24/7, a chatbot can save a noticeable figure of money. This finally has turned a worrisome prospect into a widely accepted functionality.

Forbes reported that 83% of customers are happy to shop online when they are assisted through the bots. It also predicts that by 2022, the use of bots technology is expected to save companies more than $8 billion.

Bot, or human?

The human-like attribute of Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant is another example of bots. This piece of a bot is programmed inside a metal box that is automated to respond in different ways to humans’ voice commands. 

Moreover, the capabilities or skills of these bots can be increased with more guidelines. For instance, you can add secondary bots to Your Amazon Alexa’s simple version. It can help you do things like ordering your groceries or giving you an update on the remaining amount in your account.

However, these chatbots are limited to perform according to the given guidelines. So, the inherent fragility of bots remains there. Software development companies and programmers can make software like a greeting response like “Hello” or “HI”, and through speech recognition, the bot responds based on the given instruction. However, chatbots usually do not have any critical thinking ability. And, for the most part, it cannot rely on its wits. Nevertheless, with more advancements in artificial intelligence, the improvising skills of bots are expanding. 

Bad Bots:

Since the use of technology has always been associated with both positive and negative activities, the use of bots cannot be avoided in criminal activities. With the rise in technology and an increased number of software development solutions, bots can be made to use for crimes.

For example, Twitter bots can automate social media feed. These automated programs can automatically post tweets, ‘like’ others’ posts, follow, and send messages to others on Twitter. Bots, thus, can also be used to spam harmful websites that are made to steal personal data and information. It may be used to post fake comments and reviews against a certain website to create a bad image among users/customers. 

In addition to this, social media bots can serve to defame and harass companies online by responding negatively to their posts. This may be intended to misrepresenting the general public’s view of a particular product or service.

Botnets and worse:

Spam messages and comments are a popular face of botnets. Botnets are popular among cybercriminals who used them dodgy pranks and thefts. These botnets are very cheap and can easily set up. The hackers do not even need the help of a software development company to set up these systems. Far worse, these bots can also be used to post political, religious, and sensitive content designed to affect the way people think and act. 

Automate your resistances:

Since we know that the threat of malicious bots is ever-increasing, we should take preventive measures for it. The bots with negative intentions can also be employed to automatically divert computing power, steal intellectual property, and add viruses that remain hidden until they can contribute to massive cyber-attacks.  

If your security services provider is not inspecting for bot attacks, you can be at the risk of both attacks. If you or your business has something worth stealing, you become an automatic target.  A software development companies in dallas that provides the solution for making bots can help you with getting a solution for your concerns in Cyber Security. 

Apps can help people in all sorts of ways. No matter what it is you’re looking for–dating, recipes, or finding a parking spot–to quote one of Apple’s trademarked slogans –“there’s an app for that.”

Nowadays, there is usually more than one app with the same function. The crowded app industry turns the app marketplace into an extremely competitive environment.

People want an app for a specific purpose, but now that there are more options for them to choose from, developers need to figure out new methods of standing out.

One answer to this question is to ensure your app has a superb user experience.

The International Organization of Standardization defines user experience as “a person’s perceptions and responses resulting from the use and/or anticipated use of a product, system or service.”

In other words, the experience encompasses every step that the user interacts with any aspect of your company. It’s important to note that it doesn’t stop just because the person is finished using your app.

On your quest to provide users with the best possible experience, make sure their data is secure. Use these three tips to have a great user experience without compromising security.

Personalize Your App

Customization has always been a unique way to attract customers. Now, people expect the same from their apps. Relevant communication can also help your app. A survey by HubSpot found that personalized calls-to-action improved the customer conversion rate by 202%.

Providing these kinds of custom experiences on a large scale means that your company will have to collect data on your users. It’s a straight trade. If people think that the benefits of letting you collect information outweigh its drawbacks, they’ll allow it.

Collected data will open many doors towards newer and exciting marketing opportunities and let you send personalized notifications, messages, and offers. Sunshine is a weather app that collects data based on responses to how daily weather makes its users feel, remembering situations that make them feel too hot or cold. The app then sends users customized forecasts each morning.

While data collection can help mobile app development companies create personalized app experiences, your app needs to show users that it will be worth it.

Always Ask Permission

Data privacy has been a controversial topic in recent years. Companies insist on collecting data, but sometimes they end up selling the information or not being secure enough to keep out hackers.

The Facebook leak caused many headaches for both the company and its user base. Users need to have a reason to trust your app with their data so it improves their overall experience. Almost half of people (42%) agree to share location data because it is more convenient.

Personalization can’t occur without data collection. Strive for a balance between both user experience and privacy.

Information collected from your users should be used to improve their experience within your app. Collecting data for the purpose of selling it to other companies doesn’t help your consumers and could cause trouble.

If customers find out you are selling their data without their permission, their experience may be entirely ruined, no matter how positive it had been leading up to that point.

Make sure to always ask for permission before collecting user data. Keep users notified that you have their information and how you’re using it. An open line of communication helps people feel more in control.

Treating your users as people by asking their permission indicates that you value their relationship.

Update Features and Security

As your users’ needs evolve, your app should follow suit.

Keep your app relevant by offering your users new features that will improve their experiences.

Many apps require users to download the newest update to improve security. Because data security is part of the user experience, keeping the app up to date is important to protect their information.

Unfortunately, some users won’t see security as enough motivation to update their app. They might think because the app has been safe up to this point, there is no need to update security measures.

Adding newer, more attractive features in addition to the security update can motivate users to choose to update rather than ignore it.

When Apple releases a new iPhone update, they send users notifications constantly. If the messages are ignored for too long, users will find that some features don’t work as well anymore because the phone is no longer compatible with certain apps.

Users download the update to fix the features and then also have the benefit of added security.

Consistent updates are a necessary measure to keep your data secure. Make sure to offer users incentives to download updates and keep users safe.

Conclusion

An engaging app will continue to try and improve its user experience by collecting data.

Data collection will allow you to provide a more personal and customized experience for your users, but you must ask their permission to gather it.

Security is an essential part of the user experience and it cannot be overlooked. Bundling new features with security updates will give users a reason to keep your app updated and help you keep their information more secure.

If you are trying to find the best balance between personalization and security on your app, try contacting one of these top mobile app development companies.

Both AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) are futuristic concepts designed to improve our lives. From online shopping to telemedicine, these concepts have brought more comfort and convenience in our daily routines.

Along with AI and IoT, the focus remains on cybersecurity to ensure safe data sharing across various devices in the network. Together, these three advanced concepts are set to transform various industry sectors and the healthcare sector is no exception!

The healthcare sector is thriving with a growing number of service providers and healthcare professionals. AI, IoT, and Cybersecurity help organizations improve patient care and accomplish necessary procedures speedily.

These concepts facilitate specialists to perform their duties with more efficiency and higher security.

Here are some major aspects of healthcare app development on which AI, IoT, and cybersecurity have a great impact.

These aspects can transform the healthcare sector and take it to the next level where the more patient-focused approach is visible.

Reducing waiting time

The most common characteristic of numerous clinics and healthcare organizations is the long waiting time for the patients. As a result, they have to suffer until the specialist attends them.

Nowadays, thanks to AI, and IoT, we have a healthcare mobile app that can successfully replace a few human jobs like scheduling of appointment. IoT app development can enable healthcare professionals to utilize connected devices for providing improved patient care services.

Also, medication reminders, personal notification, and other patient-related services can be easily offered through a healthcare app.

Mobile app developers can come up with a patient-centric app that can take care of all necessary phases from scheduling an appointment to meet the specialist online for follow up or routine checkup.

Patients can also keep the record of medication, lab tests, and other related information in the app to share everything instantly with the physician.

AI can be utilized for social insurance for healthcare staff. The integration of AI advancements also enables specialists to pay attention to patients who are in dire need.

In a way, patients with acute and serious medical conditions need not wait for a long time.

Effective data collection

AI deals with the patient’s data to provide individual and personalized services. Innovative AI solutions can perform medicinal services by gathering information effectively.

It can reduce the paperwork significantly in the healthcare sector and facilitate specialists to access the patient’s data as and when necessary.

Before the advent of AI in the healthcare sector, physicians made therapeutic chronicles for all the patients and recorded their information in the files.

Now, making such therapeutic records is a time-consuming and troublesome assignment for the physicians, and at times, distract them from a proper diagnosis. In the manual record, there is a chance of human error and a possibility to miss a couple of important points. It can mislead the physicians.

Thanks to the integration of AI in the IoT app development, it is possible for specialists to record the whole discussion and make a flawless therapeutic history on the basis of examination. Also, the online data remains available online on a 24/7 basis for reference.

Secure storage of information

These days, it is of utmost importance to prevent the patient’s confidential data from going into the wrong hands. The cloud-based servers can securely store the information regarding the patient’s ailment that is either humiliating or too sensitive to admit.

Cybersecurity helps in maintaining therapeutic secrecy and the patients can remain assured of their ailments.

AI and IoT can fetch necessary details of the patients and cybersecurity can secure them.

Better analysis

In physical visits, it is possible that the patient may skip or forget any necessary information. Therefore, specialists have to remain alert during the discussion.

Now, thanks to the advent of AI and IoT, healthcare professionals have intelligent gadgets that can easily collect all necessary details of the patient to recommend or give precise prescriptions.

Also, the inclusion of advanced features during the healthcare app development process enables specialists to get rid of attempting to assist every patient to remember their past medicinal history and allergic reactions.

They can get the data online in just a few seconds and give medications after a better analysis. What’s more, healthcare professionals can comply with the prevalent healthcare standards through such healthcare apps.

At the end of the day, the patients can get the right prescription for their condition with a focused approach. It reduces the chances of human errors and various operational costs of healthcare service providers.

Improved devices

IoT and AI have combined to make intelligent gadgets that can make the prognosis simpler and more accurate. For example, diabetic patients with a history of heart conditions need exact medication and periodic visits.

Now, IoT app development can help healthcare professionals to connect the app with smart devices that measure the blood sugar level and keep the record of various lab tests of the patient.

Wearable gadgets also help specialists get real-time data of the patient’s vital parameters. Healthcare institutions can come up with wearable apps with the help of IoT app development services and track internal movements of body fluids. Patients and specialists both can make the most of wearable gadgets by integrating features of AI and IoT.

From measuring pulse rate to insulin levels, and to find the effect of prescribed medication, the healthcare app can benefit patients by bridging the gap between devices and the healthcare system.

Parting Note

It is fair to mention that the IoT, AI, and cybersecurity have made the life of healthcare professionals easy by enabling them to come up with more accurate diagnoses and prescriptions.

The healthcare services can be transformed from a physical to paperless patient-centric approach with the help of these emerging technologies.

Author Bio :- Robert jackson is a content cum digital marketer at Solution Analyst, a leading mobile app development company. He is an avid reader and likes to remain updated for technological advancements in the domains of web, mobility, IoT, and emerging technologies. His articles are informative and interesting at the same time as he expresses insightful thoughts clearly.