Ferrum Technology Services Blog

Machine learning has become a big deal in a variety of industries, healthcare being a prime example. There are a variety of applications for machine learning in this incredibly important field, all of which show great potential in improving patient care. Below, we dive into just a few examples of how machine learning can improve healthcare.

While data backup is a necessary component to any modern business’ success, the idea itself certainly isn’t modern. The act of protecting information dates back to before dates were even an inkling, when humanity was still writing data on cave walls to preserve it and notching animal bones to aid in primitive mathematics. Let’s review the history of data preservation, and how we’ve gotten to our current point.

On March 22, 2018, a remote-triggered ransomware called “SamSam” demanded a one-time payment of $51,000 be made to restore the city of Atlanta, Georgia’s, data. Despite an operating budget somewhere in the neighborhood of $625 million, Atlanta’s municipal leaders refused to pay the fine. The “hostage situation” has cost the city over $2 million already with an expected $9.5 million more likely to be spent restoring and re-enforcing the municipality’s network and infrastructure. This doesn’t take into account downtime and the significant amount of data lost in the hack. Whether or not you think it’s a good idea to not pay the ransom, if a whole city - especially one as large as Atlanta - can effectively be crippled by a single hack, you better believe that your business has to get serious about its cybersecurity efforts.

Mobile data is extremely important to the productivity and efficiency of modern businesses--especially when employees and administrators are out of the office. The major drawback of this is that it can be an expensive setup, as mobile data transfer can be pricey. We can help you get around this issue by minimizing the amount of data your Android device uses.

One of the biggest problems with emerging technologies is the fact that it can be very hard to tell if they will actually provide any benefit to a business without taking the risk of implementing it. This leaves many businesses in a catch-22 of sorts: they lose money by not implementing a new solution, or they lose money because the new solution wasn’t a good fit.

In business, everything is measured. Every minute is quantified in order to run the most profitable business possible. When measuring data the measurements you’ll most hear are in bits and bytes. Today, we’ll get into the various ways bits and bytes are used to describe the technology we all use.

January 28th marks Data Privacy Day, a day intended to raise awareness of the importance of data privacy and educate users and business owners of its benefits. Spearheaded by the National Cyber Security Alliance, there are plenty of lessons the NCSA has to share with businesses as this day puts their, and their clients’, privacy in the spotlight.

Data is one of the things in business that you collect naturally and can benefit from, but do you have a system in place that lets you collect and store it for future use? Considering how vital data collection is to the success of any organization, it’s reasonable to suggest that data storage can be a valuable investment for your business’s long-term futures and goals.

Have you deleted a file and immediately regretted it? Well that may be easy enough to get the file back. What if your intention was to make that file disappear for good? Then you have to understand that the way many operating systems handle the deletion of files may present problems for you.

Your business is much more vulnerable to dangerous entities than you’d care to admit. Think about it--all it takes is one unexpected event to cause untold amounts of chaos for your business. To make matters worse, these events are often outside of your control. Data loss incidents might be unpredictable, but they can be soothed thanks to a little bit of preventative management.

Cloud computing is taking the business world by storm. Despite this, not every organization has made the switch. While every company that hasn’t yet migrated to the cloud has their reasons, one big reason often tops the list: the perceived lack of cost savings. Thanks to a new study, this perception is now proven to be inaccurate.

Data loss: it’s not a fun term for any business to hear. However, when one considers all of the ramifications that data loss can have upon a business, it swiftly transitions from “not fun” to “alarming.” Have you taken the time to think about what losing your business’ data would really mean for your company?

Data storage has long been a major pain point for technology development, but a rather large (or small) breakthrough has resulted in data being stored on a single atom. The development comes from researchers at IBM, and it could have a potentially nuclear impact on the way that data storage functions.

Businesses rely on analytics more every day, with one of the primary reasons being that they’re exceptionally helpful for developing artificially intelligent technology systems that can aid in their missions. One of the qualities of a good AI program is machine learning, which is the ability of a system to look at information to identify and learn from trends. In fact, this practical aspect of AI is one of the reasons why it’s becoming popular in the business setting.

Big data continues to be a big topic for businesses, as organizations stand to gain much from analyzing data and identifying trends. This can help you understand how your business will function in the future, but there are two topics of concern that you need to consider before using the data: how exactly do you want to use the data, and will the data that you’ve collected help you in achieving that goal?

Unfortunately, stories of major data breaches are the norm in today’s news cycle. However, what often gets left out of the story is how the hacker profits from the stolen data. In the case of a recent major hack in Russia of more than one billion credentials, what the hacker did with all of this data has us scratching our heads.

Data systems are always looking to improve the way that data is stored. The efficiency of your data storage systems is a crucial part of managing your data infrastructure, and there’s a constant search for ways to improve the way that it’s done. Scientists are now turning to the field of optoelectronics to develop new ways to store incredible amounts of data, for enormous amounts of time.

Businesses utilize a ton of data in order to keep operations running smoothly, but what happens to data that’s unused? Are they files that are potentially sensitive in nature? If your dark data isn’t being stored securely, it could be at risk of data compromisation, or worse. Therefore, it becomes critical to address your business’s dark data issue before it becomes an even bigger problem.

This month saw one of the largest recorded data breaches ever, when healthcare-provider Anthem experienced a hack causing data belonging to more than 80 million of its patients to be exposed. This includes sensitive information like Social Security numbers, dates of birth, email addresses, and more. How can you protect yourself from a hack like this?

Do you get some of your best ideas somewhere other than at your desk? Ever get a brilliant game-changing idea while walking the dog, driving home from work, when out at a restaurant, or even in the shower? If you do, then you’ve experienced the frustration of forgetting your life-changing idea before you get a chance to write it down.