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We are thrilled to announce Cormac Costello as the newest member of our team at Bytek IT Solutions. Cormac is not just a phenomenal addition to our team, but also brings with him a commitment to excellence, matching Byteks' customer promise to provide first class support. With a stellar background in education and sales, Cormac's journey resonates with Bytek's own ethos, as we have been a formidable force in the IT industry for 35 years. His eight time, All Ireland winning mentality aligns perfectly with our commitment to delivering exceptional solutions and services to our clients. At Bytek, we believe in the power of a winning team that not only works together but also celebrates and learns from each other. Cormac's extensive experience and dynamic approach to sales and customer relationships alongside his background in education, make him an invaluable asset to our team. Join us in welcoming Cormac Costello to Bytek IT Solutions, where he will be playing a pivotal role in driving our mission forward and contributing to our continued success and growth. Contact Cormac or our team on sales@bytek.ie

In an era where cyber attacks are more frequent and the digital landscape is expanding at an unprecedented pace, the importance of cybersecurity cannot be overstated. Let's take a moment to delve into why cyber security is not just a buzzword but an absolute necessity in our interconnected world. Protection Against Evolving Threats: Cyber threats are evolving and becoming more sophisticated by the day. From ransomware attacks to data breaches, the stakes are high. How has your organisation adapted its cyber security measures to stay one step ahead of the threat landscape? Safeguarding Digital Assets: Our digital assets are the lifeblood of modern businesses. Whether it's proprietary information, customer data, or intellectual property, securing these assets is paramount. How do you prioritize and safeguard your organization's digital treasures? User Education and Empowerment: The human factor is often the first line of defense. Educating and empowering users to recognize and respond to potential threats is crucial. How does your organisation approach cybersecurity awareness training? The Cost of Inaction: The consequences of a cyberattack can be severe, ranging from financial losses to reputational damage. What steps do you believe organisations should take to communicate the real cost of cybersecurity breaches and drive proactive measures? If you're looking to elevate your cyber security posture or have questions about how we can assist, feel free to reach out info@bytek.ie Together, we can navigate the ever-evolving threat landscape and build a secure digital future. #Bytek #cybersecurity #ITmanagement #cyberireland

New and more sophisticated attacks can target your local backups. All the more reason to up your defence systems with offsite backup solutions. Data backup is often underestimated. While hackers and ransomware outbreaks are certainly causing damage and making headlines, old-school malware, spyware, and viruses are among the leading reasons for system breaches and data loss. Bytek IT Solutions has been providing superior quality cloud backup solutions to professional Irish businesses for more than 35 years. Bytek’s fully managed back up services enable Irish companies to protect their data. Call Us On 01 8135500 for an informal chat or email us info@bytek.ie

The adoption of technology in the classroom has been rapid in the last decade. We have witnessed new digital tools and the ways that they support teaching practices transform traditional learning experiences and build more meaningful connections with students. Not only has learning become more active and integrated, but also more flexible. Students can now learn from anywhere and benefit from greater exploration, understanding and collaboration aided by tech tools. And the results speak for themselves. EdTech is vital for boosting student engagement and learning outcomes; particularly when the technologies’ core principles are grounded in supporting active learning. In fact, SMART’s EdTech Assessment Tool research found that with increased adoption of classroom technology which integrates active learning, schools across the UK  are reporting better outcomes for their students and teachers. What is active learning? Active learning is exactly what its name implies. It is an approach that helps learners store new information into long-term memory and develop a conceptual understanding of the material. It takes teaching beyond ‘sit and get’ to enable learning that engages students and makes learning ‘stickier’. Research has identified several benefits of active learning for students: it improves critical thinking, increases retention of new information, improves transfer of new information and promotes higher-order thinking skills. Now, teachers are not only recognising active learning pedagogies, but aiming to incorporate them in all lesson planning and activities, with the support of digital infrastructure. As a result, EdTech solutions which directly support active learning are increasingly embraced by schools. In fact, the UK has become a world-leader in EdTech adoption in recent years, with the demand exceeding the DfE’s projection, as the UK EdTech sector grew 72% by November 2020, bringing its value to almost £3.5bn. Moreover, according to research collected from SMART’s EdTech Assessment Tool, 64% of UK schools are now embedding technology in everyday teaching and learning practices. How can EdTech support active learning and create outstanding learning experiences? Investment in edtech has skyrocketed over the last three years, as the nature of the pandemic forced school leaders to reevaluate the ways students learn and find creative solutions to provide active learning amid subsequent lockdown and hybrid learning periods. Entire school communities were opened up to the benefits of edtech in the classroom from promoting active learning experiences, to providing flexibility and engagement in different learning environments, as well as the potential to personalise learning. And three years on, the integration of edtech inside, and outside of the classroom, remains. Here’s why: Boosting classroom engagements EdTech has transformed the way we teach, and the way we learn, and it goes far beyond substituting whiteboards for digital screens. Igniting student’s interest with game-based learning has been a game-changer in supporting active learning and boosting engagement in the classroom. Students are not just participating with their learning, but instead, given an active role. With game-based activities, students feel excited by their learning, gain confidence and better understanding in their subject matter, all while channelling their creativity and testing knowledge in a fun and engaging way. Tracking student performance And these interactive activities and games are not just beneficial for students. Teachers can gain hugely valuable insights around student’s understanding and knowledge level based on their performance in activities and assessments in real-time. Having instant feedback and being able to monitor students’ progress in an immediate and measurable way, makes learning data-driven but also more personalised, allowing teachers to better tailor their teaching plans according to each student. Development of critical skills Along with boosting classroom engagement and understanding of subject knowledge, EdTech is a huge support in developing critical skills like teamwork, collaboration and digital fluency – all core skills that will prepare them for a future and present where tech skills, adaptability, and collaboration are vital for success. Supporting with teacher burnout For teachers, with huge responsibilities to juggle including heavy workloads, exam preparation, lesson planning, deadlines, student wellbeing and behavioural challenges to manage, the risk of burnout is increasing. In fact, according to the National Foundation for Educational Research, those working within the education sector are more likely to suffer job-related stress than any other profession. To prevent burnout from escalating, teachers need greater support and tools that can ease workloads and support them in the classroom so they continue to provide outstanding learning experiences and maintain their mental wellbeing. This is where EdTech can really support, providing teachers with the tools and resources they need to provide outstanding learning experiences, and giving them the time back to focus on their students while balancing their own personal development and energy. In fact, the majority of headteachers (74%) and teachers (65%) admit that EdTech has offered crucial support in relieving them from exhausting workloads. In many cases, EdTech can do time-consuming work for teachers, boosting efficiency and transforming lessons into interactive and collaborative experiences wherever learning takes place. With Lumio for instance, teachers have access to professionally curated resources, including templates, digital manipulatives, activities, and full lessons available to help create and enhance teacher’s materials. And as well as offering teachers the ability to create lessons from scratch, they can import and integrate existing content from a variety of sources (PDF’s, Google Slides, PowerPoint), combine different pages and resources, and add interactive elements like games, Shout it Out! features, collaborative whiteboards, handouts, and assessments – all from a single browser tab. In short, EdTech that places students at the centre of their education and gives them an active role is a huge ally in the classroom, supporting teachers and pupils alike. Making a shift towards cloud-based EdTech platforms makes it easy to incorporate active learning into everyday teaching, and elevates the learning experience dramatically – producing impressive results, inspiring pupils and building connections that matter in the classroom. With the Government’s recently announced £2.3bn additional investment in schools, education leaders will be considering how best to use the funding, and the right EdTech will be a core area to prioritise. Investing in tools and technology that develop skill sets and prepare students for future careers, all while reducing teacher workloads and keeping staff and students supported will be crucial. By Jonathan Moore, Education Consultant at SMART Technologies

As the world of hybrid work becomes our new normal, companies globally have widely accepted that location doesn’t impact the productivity and potential of their employees. According to Gallup, 42% of ‘remote-capable’ employees continue to work in a hybrid fashion today. Let’s unpack the term ‘remote-capable’ a bit further. To you, it may mean someone who is able to do their job anywhere. To me, it means someone who is able to do this securely. Security though, has become more difficult in the hybrid world. 6 Ways to Secure Remote Employee Workstations Hybrid working has put employees and their workstations far beyond the ‘walls’ of traditional corporate networks. This has made workstations incredibly easy endpoint targets for attackers, and one of the simplest places for hackers to hijack identities, conduct ransomware attacks, use privileged credentials, advance toward key IT systems, and steal private information. During an attack – usually by the time incident response specialists are called in – the environment has already become overrun by threat actors. There is, though, a way to harden endpoints in such a way that recovery efforts are accelerated. It has been discovered time and time again that organisations can speed up their recovery efforts by putting the following fundamental Identity Security rules in place at the endpoint. These safeguards include: Creating policies for application control: The endpoint must be able to defend against ransomware and other attacks in addition to being able to allow and deny known applications. To lessen the risk of ransomware, organisations must be able to; “greylist” apps, such as sandboxing an unidentified application and allowing it to run without access to the internet; and implement advanced control policies so workers can use trusted applications safely. Secure Local admin Accounts: Administrator accounts are used to install and update workstation software, set up system preferences, and manage user accounts. Attackers target these privileged accounts to run ransomware and other malicious software, disable antivirus software, and block disaster recovery tools. The quickest and most straightforward method for securing employee workstations is to move local admin powers away from normal users and into a secure digital vault with credential rotation. Doing sosignificantly reduces an adversary’s ability to move through a network while also lessening the effects of unintended (but unavoidable) employee mistakes, such as clicking on phishing links. Remove Admin Rights and Enforce least privilege: Employees frequently have a valid reason to carry out an action requiring administrative privileges. Just-in-time privileged access enables employees to carry out certain tasks in accordance with policy, at the appropriate time, and for the appropriate cause, without end-user or help-desk interaction or without the user having to be given local administrative rights, that could be abused by an attacker. Keeping cached credentials secure: The greatest risk to organisations today is credential theft. Credentials can be saved in memory by many common business apps, and many web browsers and password managers store application and website credentials locally. An essential endpoint security layer is the capability to automatically detect and deny credential harvesting attempts. This is because threat actors can frequently get cached credentials without ever requiring admin capabilities. Setting up traps: While we’re on the subject of detection, endpoint protection technologies that supportprivilege deception functionality, such as the capability to generate phoney “honeypot” privileged accounts, can help identify potential attackers right away. Tracking privileged activities: Attackers frequently sneak up on targets while they test defences. By proactively monitoring privileged workstation activity, organisations can automatically detect and stop adversaries before they move laterally, elevate privileges, or do significant harm. Complete logs of privileged workstation activity are also essential for speeding up forensic investigations and compliance audits. Too often, inadequately protected employee workstations end up being the perfect vulnerability for attackers to exploit. Businesses that want to strengthen security against ransomware and other harmful assaults need to act right away to protect these endpoints, before they fall victim to a breach – this is where the aforementioned safeguards can help. Heeding this advice – adhering to key risk mitigation steps, separating workstations from services, and embracing a layered defence-in-depth strategy – will assist organisations to better isolate attacker activity, reduce impact, regain control of their environments, and restore trust quickly and effectively should they fall foul to attackers exploiting their endpoints. Contact us to learn more info@bytek.ie