The nights are getting longer and colder and that means more time you curl up with your favorite electronic device for some good reading!
Right now, you need reading material more than ever, and our best blogs for include stories on ransomware, the effects of remote work on relocation, and the rise of low-code software tools.
Ransomware Is a Potent Cyberthreat
Ransomware is a cyberthreat that involves malware blocking a company from accessing its network, with access is only being granted if the company pays a ransom to hackers.
Any company that falls victim to a ransomware attack faces revenue losses due to downtime. Law enforcement officials recommend against paying ransom, but many companies do pay because it seems the fastest and most straightforward approach to restoring access.
Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that paying the hackers will restore access. Furthermore, paying ransom encourages cyber criminals to carry on with these illegal campaigns.
Regrettably, it requires a ransomware attack for most companies to take this threat seriously. In a recent survey, more than three-quarters of respondents said they upgraded their security measures after a ransomware attack, and two-thirds of respondents said they made changes to their security staff after an attack.
Remote Work Relocation
For decades, job opportunities have become more concentrated in urban areas, where too little housing and other factors lead to high costs of living.
Remote work has offered an attractive alternative to these high costs of living by enabling people to work from a more affordable location. Being forced to pay high mortgages and rents in cities like New York or Boston is no longer as necessary as many people can now do the same job from small towns and rural areas.
According to a recent survey from Upwork, the prospect of being able to work from anywhere has considerably boosted the odds that people will move from where they currently live. In the Upwork survey, between 6.9 and 11.5 percent of households are planning on moving as a result of increased freedom afforded by remote work.
The Rise of Low-Code
Low-code tools reduce the technical knowledge needed to create software and understandably, low-code platforms are growing in popularity. In principle, they let businesses leverage state-of-the-art IT tools without having to make large investments in IT talent.
Rather than having to write lines of code, low-code platform users can build a project using point, click and drag mouse actions. Low-code platforms are designed to let non-coders cobble together blocks of prefab code to make custom software, quickly and at a reduced cost compared to using the services of a professional software designer.
Of course, low-code platforms have limits. In practice, these platforms tend to be used as an extension of the tools that programmers already use, as opposed to being a replacement of these IT professionals. While low-code platforms can help some small businesses access solutions without IT talent, they cannot completely replace a flesh-and-blood programmer in most situations.
