The concept of a network in IT, starting with the ARPANET at the end of the 1960s, and the transformation of personal to interpersonal computing some time in the 1990s, has always been building toward a trans-national, geographically distributed model, free from the need of “hands-on” expertise. The specialist who unblocks your laptop after you’ve forgotten your password yet again, or the tech support who helps you to configure your Internet connection will probably never come into contact with your machine, or indeed with you. Globalization has also played its part, creating the phenomenon of outsourcing, and the rise of countries such as India as global players in IT services. Extending networks out into cyberspace has given rise to the need and the possibility for machines to be remotely controlled, whether you’re speaking about domotics (remotely controlling the temperature or lighting of your home while you’re away, for example), or fixing a bug on a machine on another continent.
Every day more and more people are realizing what remote machine management can do for them. This area of IT has made giant strides recently, in terms of costs and functionality, and now the technology is applicable not only in the world of business and production/manufacturing but also in people’s personal lives, giving anyone access to their devices from their phone or PC. In the case of eHorus, it makes no difference which OS you use – Windows, Mac or Linux – you can see any desktop, anywhere in the world, from the comfort of your own home, or office, or just about anywhere, as long as there’s an Internet connection.
Remotely managing your machines makes sense as both a money and time saving method and provides the kind of peace of mind that only comes from knowing what’s happening on your machines, at any time, wherever you are in the world. Using remote management you can improve technical assistance, cutting support and maintenance times, moving your business closer to its customers and clients, creating closer collaboration between business and customer in the incident-resolution process, and even changing the way we work, such as in the case of teleworking, for example. Working from home can often be a win-win: for the employee the opportunity to structure their day around other priorities than simply being at the office from 9 to 5 can be especially motivating, as can the sense of responsibility that comes with being in charge of how and when they dedicate themselves to their tasks. For companies, a happy employee is generally a productive employee, and, furthermore, working remotely allows organizations to count on people who may be geographically distributed.
Many of you may already have some idea of what remote machine management can provide, and of what eHorus is. eHorus is simply this, a cloud-based remote machine management system (SaaS). For those of you who have never heard of it, SaaS (Software as a Service), or cloud software, is software that doesn’t need to be installed on your hardware, but rather is a subscription-based model, giving access to an application and all its services, via a temporary, renewable license. SaaS is used by many of the Internet’s most-visited websites like Facebook or Google, and now eHorus.
If you’ve read this far, you should be getting an idea of what remote machine management can do, and maybe you’re also thinking “But doesn’t it need an Internet connection to work? Isn’t that a little unsafe? Do I want my, or my organization’s, privileged information floating around the cloud? What about Trojan horses, botnets and malware in general?” Of course, there are bad things out there on the web, which is why it’s critical to understand how each system functions, and to ensure that the security measures in place on the software you want to license is up to the task of protecting your information.
In 2012 a vulnerability in the RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol), developed by Microsoft, was discovered, leading to improvements in security protocols and the launch of an update to avoid information falling into the wrong hands. Another case would be the recent example of an attack on TeamViewer by means of malware downloaded via a contaminated Adobe Flash Player update.
Since there is a multitude of different malwares, and many of us aren’t always as careful as we ought to be in our digital lives, here are a few tips for any user to keep in mind:
- Avoid using simple passwords; time to get creative with special characters. Frankly, if your password is “password” you deserve everything you get.
- Download eHorus from the official website. No third-parties.
- Have an up-to-date antivirus installed.
- Don’t install a number of antiviruses as this will just cause your hardware problems and do nothing to protect you.
- Avoid pop-ups or emergent windows that get past your firewall.
- Don’t open emails telling you you’ve won an iPhone 7 (you haven’t), or any other suspicious email or spam.
With these points in mind, you may be asking, “How safe is remote machine management?” Well, it’s as safe as it can be, in this world where it seems anything is hackable, from Iranian nuclear facilities to the Democratic Party’s database. Here’s how remote machine management can work securely. It’s possible to send communications through an SSL encryption protocol that enables you to apply a two-factor authentication protocol (when receiving a phone message). A third layer of protection can also be established, including a password for each piece of hardware, which is only stored on the remote system for greater security. In the hypothetical case of your database being hacked, it still wouldn’t be possible to get access to your local passwords, as these are stored on your agents rather than on your servers, so your information won’t be compromised.
You can download eHorus from our website at https://ehorus.com and try it out. Find out for yourself the advantages of remote machine management, and what’s more, it’s free for life if you download it during its beta phase.