Children across the North East may wake up on Christmas morning to very little, or worse still, nothing at all under the tree – something we simply can’t ignore!

Inspired by our friends over at Caterpillar, we’ve decided to get in on the action and do our bit for such an amazing cause, Sun FM’s Toy Appeal.

Tis the Season to Be Generous!

Every year, the local community and its businesses donate to Sun FM’s Toy Appeal, and this year, we decided to get in on the action too!

Sun FM reported that last years Toy Appeal raised over £76,000 worth of gifts, and hopes this year’s efforts are going to be even bigger.

Our client and friends over at Caterpillar inspired us to get involved, along with the support of many other amazing local and nationwide brands, The Bridges Shopping Centre, Smyth’s Toys Superstore and Go North East to name a few.

Over the past few weeks, our amazing staff, their friends & families and some of our amazing clients have donated a whole host of toys for the appeal, something we’re all particularly proud and grateful of.

There will be children across the North East may who may wake up on Christmas morning to very little, or worse still, nothing at all under the tree, so when you’re out getting your last bits of Christmas shopping over the next few days, why not pick up an extra present (or two), and do your bit for an amazing cause.

How to Get Involved

To get involved, all they ask is that the gifts you donate are brand new, unwrapped, and with the amazing assistance of Sunderland’s Salvation Army, who sort all the presents into age groups, they will make sure that the presents are all distributed ahead of the big day.

Like us, pictured above, you can drop your presents off at Caterpillar’s site in Peterlee, 1A Mill Hill, Peterlee, SR8 2HR, or at any of the following locations before 23 December:

• Sun FM Radio, Unit 63-67, Riverview, Business & Innovation Centre, Sunderland Enterprise Park, SR5 2TA
• The Bridges Shopping Centre, Sunderland, SR1 3DR
• Smyths Toys Superstore, Riverside Retail Park, Timber Beach Rd, Sunderland, SR5 3XG

No matter how big or small your donation, it could make such a difference to a child’s day this Christmas, so go on, be a superstar and get involved!

From everyone at Advantex, we’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Below are all of our help desk opening hours over Christmas and New Year.

Our last working day in the office will be Tuesday 24th of December and will return to our normal working hours from January the 2nd 2020.

24/7 Support

If you are covered with 24/7 support and need to contact us out of the above hours, please use the 24/7 support line which can be found on your contract welcome pack.

From everyone at Advantex, we hope you have a great time over the holidays and wish you a very merry Christmas and all the best for the new year!

As the North East’s leading and award-winning technology firm, we’re proud to announce that we have partnered with UK travel experts, Hays Travel to improve communications and technology at their new Sunderland city-centre-based HQ.

The partnership will see Advantex provide a new communication and telephony system that will interconnect over 500 members of staff from their Gilbridge House Head Office in Sunderland city-centre.

Hays Travel has more than 180 retail stores, which are supported by 240 experienced home workers, and with the recent acquisition of 555 new stores nationwide, the newly installed solution is robust and scalable – meeting the ambitious and continuous growth plans of the business.

Head of Marketing, Digital and Telesales at Hays Travel, John Milburn said:

“The partnership with Advantex has been fantastic. Not only have they allowed us to seamlessly integrate and migrate communications across the business into one solution and place, but they’ve done that without out any downtime or disruption, allowing us to focus on our day-to-day operations. – I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend”

The work, which is ongoing, utilises the Mitel MiCloud Flex solution, delivering the highest levels of performance, reliability and security through the Mitel global mobile cloud.

Advantex Business Development Manager, Scott Duncan said:

“Everyone in the North East has heard of Hays Travel, and soon, following the recent acquisition of 555 new nationwide stores from Thomas Cook, so will the rest of the country – so for us to call them a client, that’s something we are extremely proud of.

The partnership has already allowed us to consult, design and implement state-of-the-art solutions at their new Gilbridge HQ, so we’re all very excited to help grow the business over the coming years too.”

Our partnership with Hays Travel is one of many recent wins, adding them to a prestigious client list that already boasts the likes of Rockliffe Hall Hotel, Newcastle International Airport, McDonald’s, Hitachi Rail Europe, Caterpillar Trucks, GE Oil and Gas, and END Clothing.

As the North East’s leading and award-winning technology firm, we’re proud to announce we’ve partnered with Sunderland AFC to further enhance the club’s technology and communications.

We have not only refreshed the Black Cats’ existing technology, but also created a communications solution that interconnects the entire club – from the ticket office and club shop, to the Academy of Light and Stadium of Light.

The partnership has seen Advantex introduce a multiple-server-based solution alongside Mitel’s state-of-the-art virtual software to efficiently install a high-availability solution that connects the entire football club with no disruption or downtime.

SAFC now benefits from a 24/7 supported and reliable phone system that allows exceptional communication across numerous club sites, with a full disaster recovery solution also in place to ensure that if an outage occurs, the club remains operational.

Both brands have already seen success from the partnership, with Advantex’s sales and marketing director, Steve O’Connell, explaining:

“The partnership with Sunderland AFC is one that we are particularly proud of as a business, and adding such a local brand that is steeped in history to our list of partners is fantastic.

“Having the chance to showcase some of the most innovative technology on the market is always great, but to do it with SAFC is brilliant.”

The club’s business manager accountant, Roger Whitehall, added:

“At Sunderland AFC, how we perform off the pitch is equally as important to us as to how we perform on it, and Advantex help us to ensure we always deliver innovative solutions to help us succeed.”

Our partnership with SAFC is one of many recent wins, adding them to a prestigious client list that already boasts the likes of Rockliffe Hall, Newcastle International Airport, Hitachi Rail Europe, Caterpillar Trucks, GE Oil and Gas, Northumberland Estates and END Clothing.

You can read more about the partnership and download the case study here:

VIEW CASE STUDY

We reveal 3 top tips to keep your business safe online and to help protect yourself from the forever-growing threat of ransomware.

The threat is growing. In fact, according to statistics, a business will fall victim to a ransomware attack every 14 seconds in 2019, and every 11 seconds by the year 2021 – highlighting the seriousness of this global pandemic which is a threat to us all.

What is Ransomware?

Firstly, for those not as familiar, ransomware is a type of malware/malicious code that demands payment after launching a cyber attack on a computer system. This type of malware has become increasingly popular among criminals, costing organisations millions each year.

How Do I Get Ransomware?

Whilst there are numerous types of ransomware, and some very cunning ways hackers infect your machine with malware, ransomware is still down to human error.

In order for your machine to be infected, some form of human interaction must take place, whether it be clicking on an infected .pdf or Word document, or what is becoming more and more popular, malvertising, where hackers imitate our favourite brands with online ads, luring us onto a fake page or link – and all it takes is a click for your machine to be compromised, putting your entire business at risk.

So you’re probably wondering, what can I do to help prevent ransomware?

How Can I Protect My Business from Ransomware?

As mentioned above, ransomware involves human error at some stage of an attack, but with the right education and tools, you can prevent and protect your business from the fastest-growing form of cyber attack.

Here are our top 3 tips to help protect your business from ransomware:

1. Education

Whilst you don’t have to go back to school, education on ransomware and cybersecurity is essential for any business – even just knowing what ransomware is can help in a huge way.

Knowing what to look out for is key, being able to spot phishing tactics and staying up-to-date with the latest threats will help enable you and your employees into making better and safer day-to-day decisions online – significantly reducing your chances of being hacked.

2. Install Your Updates (On Time)

We just need to cast our minds back to May 2017 when the NHS was hit by WannaCry ransomware which exploited vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system to spread across their networks, affecting over 200,000 computers and devastatingly cost the NHS a whopping £92m.

However, the worrying thing is, companies like Microsoft patch these vulnerabilities, but there are still hundreds of thousands of users out there who choose to ignore them, and if they haven’t already, will no doubt fall victim to cybercrime because of this.

Keeping your machines operating system, browser and other software up-to-date with the latest updates is a surefire way to help protect you and your business from ransomware, and other online vulnerabilities for that matter.

Just think, there’s a reason software developers are making these updates, yes, a lot is for vanity, however, the majority of these updates are to patch known security vulnerabilities, so switch on auto-update and stay one step ahead of hackers.

3. Backup Your Files

Batten down the hatches, as its a matter of when, not if you’ll be attacked, and the out-of-the-box antivirus software your IT manager said would be enough, simply isn’t good enough – so a disaster recovery strategy is absolutely essential.

Like I said before, it literally is a matter of WHEN NOT IF, so prevention is by far better than the cure.

Whether it be an important piece of work, a business-critical document, personal and financial details of employees, or more importantly, the data of your customers, ask yourself, could your business function if they were to go missing, not to mention, could your business afford to pay the hefty fines for losing that data?

To put this into perspective, the average cost of a cyber attack in the UK costs businesses over £65,000 per attack, and with the likes of British Airways being fined just under £184m for their data breach, it begs the question, can you afford to take the risk?

With a safe and secure offsite cloud backup and storage plan, your business can benefit from ultimate peace-of-mind for when things do go wrong, reducing downtime and helping you get back up and running in no time.

Weigh up the cost of cloud storage and a recovery plan compared to the downtime and fines from a ransomware attack, that’s if you still have a business of course.

ACT Now

Whilst everything we’ve told you above will help help you deter, or more than likely, delay the inevitable threat of an attack, there is a way on which you can ACT to protect yourself from the number of forever-growing threats online, including ransomware.

Let me introduce you to the Advantex ACT (Advanced Cybersecurity Technologies) suite, utilising the industries most intelligent and powerful solutions from the cloud, we can help educate, protect and restore your business from ransomware and any other vulnerabilities online – giving you maximum protection and ultimately empowering you and your workforce into making better and safer day-to-day decisions online.

– Educate

Advantex Educate eliminates your organisation’s human cyber risk and transforms user behaviour into just one simple and easy-to-use solution, all managed in-house here at Advantex.

– Protect

Utilising the industries most intelligent and powerful solutions from the cloud, Advantex Protect gives your business and its users the ultimate protection and peace of mind from online threats, no matter where they are across the globe.

– Restore

Knowing your data and digital assets are in safe hands allows you to focus on what’s most important, your business. With Advantex Restore, you can benefit from safe, secure, and scalable offsite services – including storage, backup and recovery for any data or system, anytime, anywhere.

FREE 14-Day Trial

Send us your details below and we’ll get you started on your FREE no-obligation trial of the Advantex ACT suite.

Don’t take the risk, get in touch today!

To those who proudly protect our nation, who do so with honour, courage, and commitment, the Armed Forces Covenant is the nation’s commitment to you

Last week, Advantex Network Solutions signed the Armed Forces Covenant, proudly pledging to support the men and women who have served in the armed forces.

What is the Armed Forces Covenant?

It is a pledge that together we acknowledge and understand that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy and society they serve with their lives.

Proudly Supporting Those Who Serve

The armed forces and the covenant is something that is particularly close to the heart of Advantex, with our very own Sales & Marketing Director, Steve O’Connell being part of the Royal Marine Commandos serving for over 6 years touring places like Northern Ireland, Kuwait, Monserrat and training for Arctic warfare in Norway – so being involved with the Armed Forces Covenant was a no-brainer.

The 24th of September 2019 marked the day Advantex signed the Armed Forces Covenant, and with that signature, made a promise to proudly support all those who have served.

Pictured above are Steve O’Connel and Commanding Officer Graham Deighton signing the Covenant for Advantex Network Solutions. Steve said:

“Being a former Royal Marine myself is obviously something I am very proud of, but to be able to build a successful business like Advantex and have the opportunity to give back to those who served is fantastic”

Steve isn’t the only former serviceman at Advantex, account managers David Cooling who served as a Submariner in the Royal Navy, and Dave Armstrong who also served in the Royal Marines, as well as our engineers Mario Rush, Campbell Stott, Adam Walker and Andy Fluen who served in the Army – highlighting the already present commitment to those who have served.

The Armed Forces Covenant was introduced to Advantex by our friends and client, Veterans in Crisis Sunderland, a fantastic cause who dedicate their time, effort and resources into helping former service men and women who have fallen on hard times.

So many men and women who have served come out of the forces with mental health issues such as PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), making it difficult for them to adjust and settle into civilian life. Steve added:

“Too many of our fellow armed forced personnel give so much yet get too little support once they leave, the transition can be very hard and those vulnerable need all the support and help they can, so being able to support ex-service personnel is something I am extremely proud of.”

In addition to our work with the Armed Forces Covenant, we’re also proud to say we helped with the opening of the new Veterans in Crisis building in Roker, Sunderland.

In partnership with North East training provider Springboard, who owns the building, we were able to provide Veterans in Crisis with the latest IP Surveillance and IT equipment, including infrastructure and wireless Internet access throughout the building – providing a safe and secure place for the veterans to get some much-needed respite from their troubles.

Director at Veterans in Crisis, John Sargent said:

“Establishing a 24-hour emergency facility for Veterans in Crisis is a high priority for us. The support that Advantex has given us has been crucial in achieving that ambition, and we are now proud to call them a partner”

Our commitment to helping those who have served is something we are extremely proud of and will continue to go from strength to strength.

For more about the Armed Forces Covenant and what it means for you, visit www.gov.uk/government/policies/armed-forces-covenant

A new wave of hackers is attacking IT companies in probable supply chain attacks across the globe.

We reveal the who, what, where, when and why behind the attacks, and more importantly, how you can help keep you and your business safe from the forever-growing threat of an attack.

Who?

A previously undocumented hacker group dubbed ‘Tortoisehell’ is using a custom execution alongside an off-the-shelf malware to target IT providers in what appears to be supply chain attacks.

The skillset of the group is said to be of an advanced level, with at least two attacks successfully gaining domain admin-level access to the IT providers’ networks, a feat that gave the group control over all connected machines.

What?

The Tortoiseshell hackers are utilising a unique malware called Backdoor.Syskit which can download and execute tools and custom commands. It is believed the Malware has been developed in both Delphi and .NET.

The backdoor.Syskit is run with the “-install” parameter to install itself.

• reads config file: %Windir%\temp\rconfig.xml
• writes Base64 encoding of AES encrypted (with key “fromhere”) version of the data in the “url” element of the XML to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\policies\system\Enablevmd

This contains the command and control (C&C) information.

• writes Base64 encoding of AES encrypted (with key “fromhere”) version of the “result” element of the XML to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\policies\system\Sendvmd

This holds the later portion of the URL to append to the C&C for sending information to it.

• deletes the config file

The malware collects and sends the machine’s IP address, operating system name and version, and Mac address to the C&C server using the URL in the Sendvmd registry key mentioned above. Data sent to the C&C server is Base64 encoded.

The backdoor can receive various commands:

• “kill_me”:
  stops the dllhost service and deletes %Windir%\temp\bak.exe
• “upload ”
  downloads from the URL provided by the C&C server
• “unzip”
  uses PowerShell to unzip a specified file to a specified destination, or to run cmd.exe /c <received command>

Where?

Whilst some attacks will are yet to be documented, nor I’m sure even detected, the Tortoiseshell hackers have a keen interest in the Middle East, with a total of 11 organisations being hit by the group so far, with the majority being situated in Saudi Arabia.

However, just because the spotlight is on the Middle East, that doesn’t mean you can relax and put your feet up, cybercrime is a global pandemic, with new and unique techniques popping up every day, meaning you and your business are at risk more than ever.

When?

The discovery was made by Symantec who published the news on their website last week, September 18th.

The security firm claims the group has been active since July last year (2018) and indicates there has been a number of reported hacks occurring in just the past few months.

Whether it be fresh attacks or those only detecting previous ones, I’m more than confident we will see and hear of more in the coming months.

Why?

A hacker’s motives can be a number of things, but more so than others, it’s for financial gain.

With a 78% increase in 2018 alone, supply chain attacks are a likely candidate, with hackers targeting the IT companies in the hope of infiltrating the networks of their customers.

The profiles of the targeted IT companies are still unknown, but Tortoiseshell is not the first, nor I’m sure the last group to target companies in the Middle East, however, there is no evidence to indicate that Tortoiseshell’s motives are linked to any existing known group or nation-state.

Don’t get caught out, protect your users, data, and technology!

Whether you’re an IT company, SMB or one of the world’s largest organisations, you’re probably wondering, what can I do to protect myself from such vulnerabilities?

Well as the North East’s leading technology company, and Cisco Premier Partner, we utilise some of the industry’s most advanced and state-of-the-art security technology available.

Practising what we preach, we’re fully protected from the constant threat of attacks we see on a daily basis.

By using ACT (Advance Cybersecurity Technologies) we are able to Educate, Protect and Restore our business from the forever-growing number of vulnerabilities online, and you can too!

To give you an idea on how all, or each of these solutions can help protect your business, we’ve broken ACT down into 3 bitesize pieces:

Educate

With Advantex’s ‘Educate’ solution, we can evaluate, educate, simulate and report on any vulnerabilities within your business – ultimately empowering you and your workforce into making better and safer day-to-day decisions online.

Protect

With Advantex’s ‘Protect’, we can give your business the ultimate protection. Using the industry’s first Secure Internet Gateway in the cloud, Protect acts as the first line of defence against threats online, and the best bit is, we can get set you and your users up in a matter of minutes.

Restore

World-class data protection designed to fit any business environment—from a single workstation to an entire enterprise infrastructure, Restore allows users to seamlessly store business-critical data, and get back up and running in minutes if things were to go wrong.

With over 60% of British firms reporting some form of cybercrime in the past 12 months, up from 45% in 2018, the seriousness of this global pandemic is one we simply can’t ignore, and with the average cost of an attack hitting a business for over £25,000, it begs the question, can you really afford to take the risk?

Start Your FREE 14-Day Trial Here

With Advantex’s ACT suite, we can educate, protect and restore your business from any vulnerabilities online – giving you maximum protection and ultimately empowering you and your workforce into making better and safer day-to-day decisions online.

Send us your details below and we’ll get you started on your FREE no-obligation trial of the Advantex ACT suite.

Don’t take the risk, get in touch today!

Proudly sponsored by Advantex, a group of young dancers from South Shields are preparing to take to the stage for a magical performance at Disneyland.

Students of the Lauren Anderson Academy of Dance at All Saints Community Centre in South Shields have been handed a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ to perform overseas at the famous Disneyland Paris resort in France.

Aged between 5 and 16, the 30+ students have worked hard over the past year to raise cash to fund the trip. By packing bags in the local ASDA, organising family-fun days and sourcing sponsorship from ourselves and other generous local companies alike – they’ve successfully raised more than £18,000 to cover the costs of costumes, travel and accommodation for the trip.

After 8 months of intense training and rehearsals, the students are ready, and will travel to Disneyland Paris on the 25th of October for two nights and will perform at the Videopolis Theatre at Disneyland.

Lauren Anderson told the Shields Gazette:

“Every single one of the students is thrilled to be going and excitement is only growing the closer it gets”

“Since stepping into the principal role I have tried to do all I can to push the school and we have had some amazing results in competitions and championships”

“I’m always looking for new opportunities and experiences for the students. The students attend lectures and workshops regularly and I’ll always encourage them to try new things and learn from a range of different experiences”

“The teachers are incredibly proud of the school’s achievements and a school trip to Disneyland is a once in a lifetime opportunity”

The dance school is one that is close to the heart of Advantex Account Manager, Ian Butterfield, with his daughter Lucy Butterfield being part of the talented dance group on their way to Paris.

Advantex sponsor the kit of Lucy and will continue to support the development and success of Lucy and everyone at the Lauren Anderson Academy of Dance.

Advantex always strives to exceed in everything we do, so as part of our corporate social responsibility, we like to give back to the local community and wider causes. Whether it be sponsoring professional footballers like Sunderland’s Chris Maguire, right down to sponsoring Brandon Girls football team and the above local dance students, we take great pride in doing our bit to help local causes and charities, guiding them on the path to success and recovery.

Plans to improve security and IT services for the historic Tyne Pedestrian Tunnel have been given the green light as part of an extensive refurbishment project.

The move will see Advantex provide a new IP infrastructure in an undisclosed six-figure contract, which will involve the installation of water-resistant fibre optic emergency cabling to span the 270m length of the Grade-II listed structure.

The work, which is already underway, will see a new network infrastructure implemented by Advantex that will allow for the connectivity of IP security systems, telephony and other IT services.

The technology is part of a package of improvements being undertaken by owners Joint Transport Committee, which represents the North East and North of Tyne combined authorities to provide fast, reliable and cost-effective IP cameras, access control and communications systems for the tunnels, which are currently being refurbished.

New concrete floor paving slabs are also being installed to provide a better surface for cyclists and pedestrians.

The Advantex contract will also include onsite and remote technical back up and annual health checks for all network hardware and software. This will allow the firm to upgrade the system to accommodate any future user requirements.

Using IP technology will also enable surveillance equipment to be specified and designed to improve operational management, particularly around tunnel safety and security.

Alastair Swan at Newcastle City Council said the 20,000 people a month who use the tunnel will benefit from new levels of safety and security.

He added:

“This is an important investment for us, providing not only a technology-based deterrent but also delivering assurances that our customers will be in a safe and secure environment.

“Advantex’s proven experience in designing and delivering technology solutions for demanding operational conditions, together with cost-effective aftercare, also impressed.”

The tunnels’ contract is the latest success for the £7m turnover firm, which currently employs almost 60 people at its Follingsby Park-based head office and recently marked 15 years since being established.

Tony Easingwood, account manager at Advantex, said:

“We’re seeing continued demand for IP-based solutions. These allow our clients to migrate from out-dated systems to new digital security and telecoms technologies that operate from remote and secure sites.

“We are continuing to work with leading North East businesses to help them improve their operations through the provision of quality advice and network infrastructure services.”

To see how Advantex can help provide you and your business with the most innovative technology solutions available, click here to get a quote and we’ll be in touch to discuss your needs.

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