Acronis Recognized as Visionary in Gartner 2020 Magic Quadrant for Data Center Backup and Recovery Solutions

Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, was positioned in the Visionaries quadrant in the Gartner 2020 Magic Quadrant for Data Center Backup and Recovery Solutions

According to the report, “the move toward public cloud, heightened concerns over ransomware, and complexities associated with backup and data management are forcing I&O leaders to rearchitect their backup infrastructure and explore alternative solutions. This research provides analyses of backup and recovery vendors.”

“Over the past several years, Acronis has shifted its focus from being a backup vendor to offering cyber protection, a holistic approach that combines data protection and cybersecurity. It is encouraging to be acknowledged as a Visionary by Gartner, and we see this recognition as validation of the critical interdependency between backup and cybersecurity,” said Acronis Founder and CEO Serguei “SB” Beloussov.

While the Gartner 2020 Magic Quadrant for Data Center Backup and Recovery Solutions report is focused on the data center, the primary focus for Acronis has always been protecting the edge and endpoint. Beloussov continues, “We have a unique ability to provide cyber protection for enterprises - focusing on edge and endpoint workloads. Our newest solution Acronis Cyber Protect provides AI-powered anti-malware protection, vulnerability assessments and patch management, continuous data protection, URL filtering and fast, reliable backup and disaster recovery, all from an easy-to-manage console.”

Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for Data Center Backup and Recovery Solutions”, Santhosh Rao, Nik Simpson, Michael Hoeck, 20 July 2020.

Gartner Disclaimer

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's Research & Advisory organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Acronis

Acronis unifies data protection and cybersecurity to deliver integrated, automated cyber protection that solves the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) challenges of the modern digital world. With flexible deployment models that fit the demands of service providers and IT professionals, Acronis provides superior cyber protection for data, applications, and systems with innovative next-generation antivirus, backup, disaster recovery, and endpoint protection management solutions. With award-winning AI-based antimalware and blockchain-based data authentication technologies, Acronis protects any environment – from cloud to hybrid to on-premises – at a low and predictable cost.

Founded in Singapore in 2003 and incorporated in Switzerland in 2008, Acronis now has more than 1,500 employees in 33 locations in 18 countries. Its solutions are trusted by more than 5.5 million home users and 500,000 companies, including 100% of the Fortune 1000, and top-tier professional sports teams. Acronis products are available through 50,000 partners and service providers in over 150 countries in more than 40 languages.  

Restrategize Your Workspace with Qpro by Qdesq Across India

Qdesq recently launched Qpro, a new vertical to accelerate the restrategizing of workspaces. As the world is amidst the battle with COVID-19, people who started work from home are still sticking to it post lockdown. The fear of the pandemic is restricting many professionals to step outside of their homes and sit out of office. 

Qpro provides on-demand dedicated desks and promotes work near home. You can book any number of desks and pay monthly. Qpro stresses highly on the word 'flexibility' and hence ensures no-security deposits and no lock-in period. 

The traditional days of having a single office are to be left behind. The new world workforce seeks flexibility to work from anywhere. The head office should be reformed as the place for top executives and conduction of data-sensitive operations. While the teams can work remotely from various managed offices. Qpro acts as the business contingency plan and creates a framework to segregate your team in various offices inter/intra city and puts your business back in action. 

"Qpro will enable all firms to have a financially prudent and productive parallel to work from home, having a fruitful workspace with no strings attached that too on-demand basis in terms of location and flexibility," says Paras Arora, CEO & Co-Founder, Qdesq.

All the offices booked through Qpro are affordable and aesthetically designed. The presence of premium facilities will increase the level of productivity. The managed offices have all the basic and advanced amenities like high-speed internet, transport accessibility, CCTV/security, cafeteria, centralized A.C., etc. One of the key advantages is all the spaces available for booking, abide by the COVID-19 precautionary and check measures, including regular sanitization, social distancing, and adherence for masks

"Qpro not only upgrades the performance factor of the quality but also applies on your financial front where you save capital in the form of no Capex, add of multi-year leases, add or removing a desk as per your requirement, zero fit-out cost etc. which makes it a viable option,” says Lavesh Bhandari, CTO & Co-Founder, Qdesq

Productivity and growth-oriented environment comprise various factors such as infrastructure, energy, and team collaboration. All of these traits are present in a good working milieu and will have a positive impact on your performance. The future of the workspaces is not working from home rather work near home. 

From a single desk to an enterprise solution, Qpro believes in flexibility and productivity for you and your team. It currently caters to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, and key micro-markets in other cities. 

Edtech Venture GlobalShala Aims to Cultivate Awareness of United Nation’s SDGs Across India

GlobalShala has opened its doors for learners around the world to showcase their talent and creativity; the competition is open for Junior (up to 18 years) and Senior (18 years to 25 years)

Edtech venture GlobalShala has recently announced the launch of their one-of-a-kind “Superhero U” competition with an aim to accelerate United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and pave the way for a new generation of responsible and sound leaders. Across countries, the winners for the same will be awarded prize money worth $90,000 which includes scholarships, internship opportunities, gift cards, and electronic gadgets. 

GlobalShala has introduced this unique competition where individuals are to invent a “Superhero” that essentially takes on universal challenges and strives to make the world a better place. In an industry first, the Superhero U competition aims to tackle the 5 P’s of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that is People, Prosperity, Planet, Partnerships, and Peace. Hence, the Superhero created should address all these goals collectively and promote prosperity while protecting the planet, the theme of the competition which is inspired by the UN’s mission. 

Talking about the competition, Anushika Jain, Founder & CEO, GlobalShala said “Taking inspiration from the United Nations, we are trying to nurture creativity to address surrounding critical sustainability challenges around the world. As per the SDG Index 2020, countries across Europe like Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France and Germany have set the benchmark for adept sustainability practices, India still falls back at rank 117. This needs to be improved upon immensely and therefore more events, programmes and contests need to be introduced across Asia Pacific countries to inculcate awareness about SDGs for the betterment of our society. We at GlobalShala have taken upon this challenge through an out-of-the-box approach with our “Superhero U” competition to add an element of intrigue and enthusiasm for individuals to take up the challenge. We are excited to see different local as well as global perspectives on sustainability and the challenges each of their Superhero takes on.” 

The competition has opened its doors wide for creativity and has allowed candidates to submit stories, illustrations, photo collages, and even movies that demonstrate how their Superhero use their superpowers to win the day. Moreover, GlobalShala has shattered the eligibility criteria and kept the competition open to many, split into 2 categories- Junior (up to 18 years) and Senior (18 years- 25 years). The Superhero U competition has also permitted any form of submission, whether it is individual or group-led. 

Inspired by the United Nations, GlobalShala focuses on empowering students and educators through experiential learning and education to open up hopes and dreams of lifelong learners around the world. Through the GlobalShala platform, individuals have the opportunity to participate in exciting competitions and events, have a chance to earn global scholarships, receive hands-on training through global internships as well as several certifications and recognitions. 

Link for Superhero U: https://superherou.globalshala.com

About GlobalShala:

Inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (mainly Education, Gender Equality and Women Empowerment), GlobalShala embraces global collaborations and is venturing to make a good world better by extending services, scholarships, and a sundry of programs.

GlobalShala is providing learners across the globe a platform to express, experience, explore and engage through various learning opportunities and internships to obtain quality jobs and sustainable economic growth through purposeful possibilities that will open up hopes and dreams of lifelong learners around the world!

Notify Me for Huawei Freebuds 3i Goes Live on Amazon Market

Amazon Market 

* “Notify Me” for the best in class Freebuds 3i goes live on Amazon today, interested customers can get notified about the availibity of the product 

* The HUAWEI FreeBuds 3i TWS is a benchmark product of the TWS Industry, offering Active Noise cancellation with crystal clear voice quality and high fidelity music clarity. 

* HUAWEI FreeBuds 3i will be available in two classic colours: Carbon Black and Ceramic White and are  priced at INR 9990 with an exclusive introductory Prime Day offer– a free HUAWEI Band 4 worth Rs 3099

The new earphones provide an ultimate noise cancellation experience thanks to the Triple mic call noise reduction

Huawei Consumer Business Group, India today announces ‘Notify Me’ for its much awaited HUAWEI FreeBuds 3i TWS earbuds with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and a unique in-ear design that comes with a Triple Mic Setup for best in class ‘Active Noise Cancellation’. The TWS earbuds come with premium design elements and offer crystal clear and rich sound quality.

Interested customers can visit the Amazon India Offcial Website and register themselves on ‘Notify Me’ or visit the Official Website for more information about the Huawei Freebuds 3i, which will be available for the price of Rs 9,990. The announcement of the launch also comes with an exclusive and exciting offer for customers – a Band 4 worth Rs 3099 that will come at no additional charge with the much-awaited Huawei Freebuds 3i; this offer will be available from 6th to 7th  August 2020 for Prime Member on Amazon, and it will be open till 12th August 2020 to all other customers.

Speaking at the occasion, Huawei India spokesperson, said, "Huawei as a brand  constantly aspires to be a leader in the technology innovation space. The Huawei FreeBuds 3i  offer one of the best ANC experiences in the industry today-giving users an immersive acoustic experience. The three-mic system is the best in enhanced listening and call quality regardless of outside noise and comes with an Aware Mode and offers the  user customised controls which makes it a unique device.”

“The design is inspired from the fast-paced lifestyles of  millennials , the earbuds snugly fit in the ears for long hours with ease, making it perfect for sportsmen and fitness enthusiasts, working professionals and music lovers. The FreeBuds 3i delivers impressive sound quality blocking unwanted noise and has a long battery life with the ANC on.”, added Huawei India spokesperson.

Ultimate Active Noise Cancellation

Whether listening to music, holding calls or experiencing thrilling movie audio effects, users can enjoy uninterrupted moments with the ultimate noise-cancelling experience. HUAWEI FreeBuds 3i comes with Triple-Mic call noise reduction, which has two outward-facing mics and one inward-facing mic. While the outward-facing mic detects ambient noise to actively counter with anti-noise, the inward-facing mic picks up the other noises in the ears for further cancellation, actively lowering background noise by up to 32dB*. The three mics offer thorough noise cancellation for improved call quality, bringing an immersive listening experience.

Convenient pairing, Powerful bass technology:

The Huawei Freebuds 3i comes fitted with a polymer composite diaphragm that offers professional tuning to deliver balanced audio. With its 10 mm large dynamic drivers it delivers powerful bass, giving audiences a ‘True Noise Cancellation, True Wireless Stereo’ listening experience. The pairing is simple and easy with the Pop to Pair, Ready to Start feature when the charging case is open, making it convenient for users. With its IPX4 water-resistant technology, the user can easily use this in rainy weather. The Freebuds 3i also gives a playback of upto 3.5 hours.

Premium design features, Lightweight:

The earbuds design gives it a premium look, with dimensions which are a perfect fit for the ears, it comes with 4 silicone tips in different sizes for comfort and a secure fit. Offering better sound quality because of its shape. The weight of each earbud is about 5.5g and the charging case is about 51g, making it light and easy to carry at one's convenience.

Three Tap technology, Powerful ANC:

The audio device boasts of a plethora of class-leading features including simple and stable connectivity, three tap technology which is an excellent user-friendly feature that has a double feature to play and pause music, and answer and end calls; and with its long tap technology feature to activate ANC.

Huawei’s FreeBuds 3i's latest technology advancements set it apart in design, sound quality, ANC capabilities, and easy to carry. With its wearing detection technology, the FreeBuds 3i syncs with the users every move.

Pricing and Availability

HUAWEI FreeBuds 3i will be available in two classic colours: Carbon Black and Ceramic White and is  priced at INR 9990

The product will come with an exclusive and exciting offer for customers – a HUAWEI Band 4 worth Rs 3099 for absolutely no extra charge; This offer will be available from 6th to 7th  August 2020 for Prime Member on Amazon, and it will be open till 12th August 2020 for all customers.

About Huawei Consumer BG

Huawei’s products and services are available in more than 170 countries and are used by a third of the world’s population. Fifteen R&D centers have been set up in the United States, Germany, Sweden, Russia, India and China. Huawei Consumer BG is one of Huawei’s three business units and covers smartphones, PC and tablets, wearables and cloud services, etc. Huawei’s global network is built on almost 30 years of expertise in the telecom industry and is dedicated to delivering the latest technological advances to consumers around the world.

What COVID-19 Means for the Data Breach Landscape?

A three-month analysis on the possible impact of COVID-19 on the data breach landscape has shed light on an increasing number of threat actors worrying cyber-security specialists.  The Verizon Business study reviewed 474 data breach incidents from March – June 2020 based on contributor data, publicly disclosed incidents and Verizon’s own observations drawn from its collective years of experience. It focuses on 36 confirmed data breaches which were identified as being related directly to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“ In view of the COVID19 pandemic,  many large and small organisations have adopted new technologies such as software- as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, increased cloud-based storage and the use of third-party vendors in record time to continue to support their customers. While the  SaaS solutions mentioned above, or the cloud itself, are not inherently less secure, however the  concern arises from the fact that due to the conditions the pandemic has created, most organizations are adopting them in a hurried fashion, and they are often forced to do so while relying on fewer resources in terms of both personnel and revenue thereby multiplying the risk.. ” said Prashant Gupta, Head of Solutions, Verizon Business.  

The analysis has thrown up an increasing number of commonly seen threat actors, which include: 

Increase in Error -- The Verizon Business 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) outlined that almost a quarter of all breaches were due to human error and this trend continues during the pandemic. This is due in part to organizations operating with a reduced number of staff due to illness, redundancies and/or with staff who have limitations due to their remote status. At the same time, these organizations are often experiencing unusually heavy workloads with a much higher reliance on new and unfamiliar solutions that need to be deployed quickly. 

Stolen credential-related hacking -- The DBIR shows that over 80 percent of breaches within the hacking category are caused by stolen or brute­ forced credentials. During the pandemic, this is now being exacerbated by the large number of employees working from home and the maintaining external workstations for remote access, leaning on SaaS platforms. Business IT departments are being challenged to secure company assets on the corporate network while the majority of the workforce is out of the office. 

Phishing -- In order to utilize stolen credentials, an attacker must first be able to obtain them and phishing remains one of the most commonly used methods. Prior to COVID-19 the 2020 DBIR flagged that credential theft and social attacks such as phishing and business email compromises were at the root of the majority of breaches (over 67 percent) and this trend has continued. Specific terms in combination with "COVID" or "CORONAVIRUS," such as "masks," "test," "quarantine" and "vaccine” were found to be widely used within the time period. In March, a phishing simulation, conducted by a DBIR contributor, performed on approximately 16,000 people found that almost three times as many people not only clicked through a phishing link, but also provided their credentials to the simulated login page.  

“Businesses need to start taking far greater responsibility in protecting their technology infrastructure. From deploying more robust security protocols to ensuring timely data breach disclosure policies. Once you lose public confidence, gaining that credibility back can often be an uphill task”, said Dr Zaki Qureshy, Founding Father, Hyderabad Security Cluster. 

Verizon Business 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report 

The Verizon Business 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report, analysed 32,002 security incidents, of which 3,950 were confirmed breaches; almost double the 2,013 breaches analysed last year. These cases came from 81 global contributors from 81 countries including the Government of Telangana and the Hyderabad Security Cluster.  

BharatPe Launches ‘ESOP Cheque Cash Karo’ Scheme in India

BharatPe, India’s largest merchant payment and lending network company, has launched India’s first ‘ESOP Cheque Cash Karo’ scheme. All ESOP holders have been given option to sell back shares from their 1st vesting back to BharatPe.  

BharatPe has one of the most progressive ESOP schemes amongst the startups. BharatPe has 6% (US$ 25M+) of its overall equity allotted to the ESOP pool. All employees are given ESOP Grant along with appointment letter. ESOPs carry ZERO strike price. The vesting is front ended in favour of employees with 25% vesting on year 1 and thereafter 2% every month. The employees are not required to exercise the ESOPs on leaving and can time it with a liquidity event anytime up to 5 years. Now with the ‘ESOP Cheque Cash Karo’ scheme, employees will be able to enjoy liquidity upfront which will establish ESOP as valuable and liquid currency.    

Mr. Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder & CEO, BharatPe, said: “In Indian ecosystem, ESOPs have been one of the most abused and misunderstood instruments. Verbal grants, back ended vesting and last-minute changes to even documented ESOP grants have eroded employee faith in ESOPs.” 

”BharatPe is pioneering welcome change in ESOPs. BharatPe ESOP grant is like a cheque in the hands of employees. We are encouraging our employees to bank their first ESOP cheque and enjoy the value they’ve created as cash in bank. BharatPe ESOP is not a mere promise – it is an appreciating currency. 1US$ = Rs.70; 1 BharatPe ESOP = Rs.7,00,000” Ashneer added. 

Mr. Geetanshu Singla, Head of Engineering, BharatPe, said: “Really happy that the company has announced buyback of the ESOPs during the pandemic to support current and even ex-employees. It’s like a post-dated cheque. This is the first and last time I’m exercising my stock options and will hold on to them, they will be the most valuable asset that I hold"  

About BharatPe 

BharatPe was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018 with the vision to make financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants. BharatPe launched India’s first UPI interoperable QR code, first ZERO MDR payment acceptance service, first UPI payment backed merchant cash advance product, and the only P2P NBFC investment product. In 2020, post Covid, BharatPe also launched India’s only ZERO MDR card acceptance terminals – BharatSwipe. Currently serving over 40 lakh merchants across 35 cities, the company has grown business 30x in 2019 and is the leader in UPI offline, processing 5 crore+ UPI transactions a month (annualized TPV of US$ 3 Bn). The company has already disbursed more than 35,000 loans (Rs. 175 crores). 

Trend Micro Announces Cloud Solution to Strengthen Misconfiguration Protection for Microsoft Azure

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in cloud security, today announced its Trend Micro Cloud One™ – Conformity offering is now available to Azure customers, helping global organizations tackle misconfigurations, compliance challenges and cyber-risks in the cloud.

The company also achieved the CIS Microsoft Azure Foundation Security Benchmark. This certifies the Conformity product has built-in rules to check for more than 100 best practices in the CIS framework. 

“The security of the cloud is a cloud providers’ responsibility, but security in the cloud falls to the customer, which is where we fit,” said Wendy Moore, vice president of product marketing for Trend Micro. “Our Cloud One platform integrates closely with Microsoft Azure allowing DevOps to easily deploy against any hybrid cloud environment during their migration to the cloud.”

In-house skills are often overloaded with the challenge of managing hybrid cloud complexities. The proliferation of shadow IT projects in the enterprise also means IT functions are often the last to know if cloud accounts have been created by business units without adequate care and attention paid to compliance, security and governance controls.

Conformity tackles these challenges by providing powerful visibility and control of Azure environments. Its continuous cloud security and compliance posture management capabilities alert customers to the risk status and provide easy-to-action remediation recommendations. These can help prevent common mistakes such as unauthorized database access and public access to Blob storage accounts. 

By implementing the Conformity API into a CI/CD pipeline and existing workflows, DevOps teams can identify potential risk in their cloud infrastructure before they are deployed to live environments for automated, proactive prevention of vulnerabilities. 

Trend Micro Cloud One – Conformity identifies around 230 million cloud misconfigurations for its global Azure and AWS customers every single day. 

Trend Micro’s experience securing multi-cloud environments is a key differentiator to many organizations. “Trend Micro is one of just a few vendors that provides the same full security and monitoring capabilities across both Microsoft Azure and AWS,” said Mario Mendoza, Team Lead, Cyber Security Architecture and Engagement at Blackbaud. “Blackbaud adheres to a DevOps approach internally, so any shift in security vendors requires buy-in from the DevOps teams. The fact that Trend Micro is able to protect Blackbaud’s hybrid cloud environment without slowing down its DevOps teams was critical in our decision for Trend Micro.” 

Trend Micro helps Blackbaud maintain constant vigilance for security and monitoring across its cloud operations. Trend Micro is always on the cutting edge of new threats, and they include us in those efforts. As a market leader, that’s what we look for in partners,” said Mendoza.