ALVAKA – Celebrating 40 Years!
After 40 years in business, Alvaka Networks is now simply Alvaka! As a recognized market leader and pioneering IT managed services provider, our success has centered on our ability to innovate new ideas and continue our investment in the [...]
Why Ransomware Targets Education and Healthcare Sectors
Nowadays, tech and ransomware go hand in hand. Hackers look for two characteristics when they scope out their next target: first, an organization or individual with valuable information and assets; and second, someone who is fairly easy to attack. [...]
U.S. Department of State’s $10M Bounty on Conti Ransomware
The U.S. Department of State announced last week that it is offering a $10,000,000 bounty for information on the identification or location of five highly ranked members of Wizard Spider, the Conti ransomware syndicate. Since the emergence of Conti in [...]
OFAC Sanctions Cryptocurrency Mixer Tornado Cash
What is Tornado Cash? A virtual cryptocurrency mixer on the Ethereum blockchain, Tornado Cash was officially sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on August 8th, 2022. The platform works to facilitate [...]
The EPA Adds Cybersecurity Rules for Water Sector
As cyber attacks continue suppressing critical infrastructure sectors like water and wastewater systems, implementing proper cybersecurity practices is becoming more vital in protecting against highly disruptive cybersecurity incidents. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these threats on process control [...]
Windows 11’s New Update Defends Against Compromised Credentials
Passwords protect our identity in the digital space, allowing for safe and secure interactions. Despite the strength and efficacy of any given sophisticated password, private data is at risk when credentials are compromised. To combat these online attacks, Microsoft is [...]
Smoke testing is a term used to describe the testing process for servers after patches are applied. 
Estimating an average time for patching servers and PCs can be a bit tricky. It can vary from one month to the next, depending upon the number and complexity of the patches released by your software vendors. You must consider all versions of operating systems and have a complete inventory of all your application software to do this job correctly. Our experience has shown that manual patching of systems takes on average of about 1.5 hours each.
This is a basic cost calculator for you to compute your typical monthly cost for patching your servers, PCs, laptops, tablets and associated application software. It also forms the basis for you to begin calculating your Return on Investment for software patching, or for comparison with alternatives to the manual process of patching operating systems and application software—such as Patch Management as a Service, also known as Vulnerability Management as a Service.
