The New Ransomware Threat

“On June 27, 2017 organizations in over 65 countries reported they had been infected with Petya ransomware. Petya ransomware was first discovered in March 2016, and like most malware, it was primarily spread via email phishing attacks. After a user was infected, the ransomware would encrypt data files on the systems and hold them hostage in exchange for a ransom payment. Once the ransom was paid, the attackers would typically (but not always) provide the decryption key so that users could restore their files. This ransomware is still in the wild, and users can still fall victim.

Notably, however, the initial Petya ransomware is very different from the Petya variant that was released in June 2017. This new Petya variant is not truly ransomware. Instead, it’s wiper malware disguised as ransomware. The wiper malware does not hold data hostage in exchange for a ransom; it’s sole purpose is to destroy data and corrupt systems. There have been no new reports of this Petya variant following June 27, 2017, but this and similar types of malware can (and will likely) spread at some point in the future.

While you can’t predict the next attack, you can take steps now to protect your IT resources from similar future attacks. Some of those steps include:

Train users to be suspicious. Don’t open email attachments or click hyperlinks in emails that you’re not expecting. If you don’t know the sender, delete the email immediately. If you do know the sender but the message is unexpected or suspicious, verify via call or text that the email is legitimate. If it’s not legitimate, delete it immediately.

Keep systems patched and up to date. Always apply the latest software patches and make sure antivirus signatures are up to date. In relation to this Petya variant, Microsoft patch MS 17-010 would have largely stopped the malware’s ability to spread using Eternal Blue and Eternal Romance vulnerabilities. Regular patching significantly reduces the attack surface and makes it more difficult for the attacker to get in.

Block specific ports. Block SMB ports (particularly ports 139 and 445) from external hosts to reduce the attack surface. Also Block UDP ports 135, 137, 138 to prevent lateral movement within the network.

Disable PsExec and WMIC. PsExec and WMIC are legitimate administrative tools, but they’re commonly used by attackers in a variety of attack types. In the case of this Petya variant, disabling these tools can help prevent the spread of this malware throughout the environment.

Backup data. Backup critical data on a regular basis, and make sure those backups are available offline. Be sure your backups are not always kept on the network; leaving them connected can expose them to encryption and destruction.

Segregate duties and isolate critical data. Segregate duties between user and administrative accounts, and make sure that no one account (including Domain Admin) can execute commands on all systems on the network. In addition, identify your critical data, and isolate and segment it from the rest of the network.”

Be Secure. Be safe.

Economic Times Features GoodWorkLabs CEO

Our CEO Vishwas Mudagal’s LinkedIn article got picked up by Economic Times recently. The post he wrote on the pitfalls of not being truthful in interview process received massive response on Linkedin and social media.

ET Wealth ran the story yesterday which re-emphasizes the fact that lying in an interview will not take you far in your professional career.

In the article featured on Economic Times he reiterates his belief of being completely honest in an interview. He recalls one of the interviews he took on Skype where the interviewer was constantly searching for answers on Google.

Vishwas goes on to say that an interview is a two-way decision-making process. We should be using the opportunity to understand as to how the parties will benefit mutually. If we are not honest with each other, then the interview process seems pointless.

Being successful in an interview with fake attributes might get you the job, but sooner or later the truth will catch up with you.

Employers would eventually verify your credentials after the initial interview. They may possibly contact your previous employers and references. You definitely do not want to be caught lying about your professional history. The consequences are horrific and may lead a black stain on your journey as a professional.

Click to read his entire article on Economic Times.

Predictions For 2017-18

Disruption has moved from an infrequent inconvenience to a consistent stream of change that is redefining markets and entire industries. In 2016, we saw the astonishing rise of Pokémon Go, which demonstrated accelerated digital change in areas such as augmented reality. Gartner’s top strategic predictions for 2017 and beyond describe not only the disruptive effects of digital business innovation but how secondary ripple effects will often prove to be more disruptive than the original disruption.

Three high-level trends emerge from the predictions:

• Digital experience and engagement will draw people into non-stop virtual interactions
• Business innovation will create extraordinary change from mundane concepts
• Secondary effects will be more disruptive than the initial digital change

Gartner’s Top 10 Predictions for 2017 and Beyond

1. Immersive Shopping Experience – By 2020, 100 million consumers will shop in augmented reality.

Whether they allow you to try on makeup or place virtual furniture in your home, immersive technologies such as AR increase consumer engagement by enabling them to fully explore features and conveying additional information that can aid in a buying decision. Popular applications, such as Pokémon Go, will help propagate the technology and bring it into the mainstream. 1 in 5 global brands will use AR for shopping by the end of 2017.

2. Voice First Browsing – By 2020, 30% of web browsing sessions will be done without a screen.

Many teens already use voice search daily and new audio-centric technologies, such as Google Home and Amazon’s Echo, are turning “voice first” interactions into ubiquitous experiences. By eliminating the need to use your hands and eyes for browsing, vocal interactions extend the web experience to multiple activities, such as driving, cooking, walking, socializing, exercising, operating machinery, etc. By the end of 2017, watch for room-based screenless devices to be in more than 10 million homes.

3. Mobile Apps Decline – By 2019, 20% of brands will abandon their mobile apps.

Many brands are finding that their mobile apps are not paying off. They simply haven’t delivered the level of adoption and customer engagement that companies expected. App stores are crowded and the cost of application support in not only maintenance, upgrades and customer support but also marketing to drive downloads, exceeds original ROI calculations. Google’s effort to make the mobile web more “app like,” will gain traction, and companies will opt to reduce their losses by allowing their apps to expire. Watch for Apple’s reluctant embrace of the mobile web as a vehicle for customer engagement.

4. Algorithms at Work – By 2020, algorithms will positively alter the behavior of over 1 billion global workers.

Employees, already familiar with behavior influencing through contextual algorithms on consumer sites such as Amazon, will be influenced by an emerging set of “persuasive technologies” that leverage big data from myriad sources, mobile, IoT devices and deep analysis.

JPMorgan Chase uses an algorithm to forecast and positively influence the behavior of thousands of investment bank and asset management employees to minimize mistaken or ethically wrong decisions. Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic uses influence algorithms to guide pilots to use less fuel. By year end 2017, watch for at least one commercial organization to report a significant increase in profit margins because it used algorithms to positively alter its employees’ behaviors.

5. Blockchain Grows Up – By 2022, a blockchain-based business will be worth $10 billion.

Blockchain technology is established as the next revolution in transaction or event recording. A blockchain ledger provides an immutable, shared view of all transactions between engaging parties in a distributed, decentralized network. While the Bitcoin blockchain ledger is itself well-understood, blockchain remains an immature technology. By 2020, new businesses and business models will emerge based on smart contracts and blockchain efficiencies. These smart contracts automate at a reliability, customization level and speed not achievable with traditional business systems.

6. Digital Giants Everywhere – By 2021, 20% of all activities an individual engages in will involve at least one of the top-seven digital giants.

Many of us interact with at least one of the digital giants (by market capitalization: Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent) in our digital worlds of web search, mobile, social networking, messaging and music streaming. As the physical, financial and healthcare worlds become more digital, many of our activities will be connected and within reach of the digital giants. Note that collectively, the digital giants will have direct and indirect knowledge of what we do as individuals and the fundamental issue will be what they do with the data.

7. Innovation Requires Greater Investment – Through 2019, every $1 enterprise invest in innovation will require an additional $7 in core execution.

Many organizations have adopted a bimodal style of work to jumpstart innovation. While exercises are designed to experiment and “fail fast,” those that do receive approval for implementation involve a level of complexity, scale, and business change ramifications that may not have been considered in the initial planning stage.

8. IoT Saves Trillions – By 2022, IoT will save consumers and businesses $1 trillion a year in maintenance, services, and consumables.

Digital twins capture real-time data, allowing smarter maintenance and service schedules for physical objects such as large pumps, airframes, and turbines. When the sensor-enabled real world twin sends data to the digital twin, it can simulate the physical state, allowing the digital twin to be inspected instead of the physical object. This would be helpful for a submerged sewage pump or any other asset in which on-site inspection is inconvenient, costly or hazardous.

Consumers, too, will benefit when they can extend the life of the oil in their cars from a prescriptive replacement “every 5,000 miles” to replacement triggered by a measurement of the engine’s performance.

Emerging and established companies need to keep in mind these predictions, especially the tech leaders during hiring and procurement. Investments need to be smarter, better and more calculative in nature.

Source: Gartner

What Is Wrong The Hiring Policies?

The most inherent problem with IT companies is the hiring process, and with it begins the downfall for most of them.

Recruiters miss out on these basic points.

1.) Transparency on financial interests & conflicts.

Very few candidates realize how much they are worth to a recruiter if they just happen to respond to that InMail. They also don’t realize that a contingency recruiter might get paid different rates by different clients and thus be incentive oriented to not disclose all prospective opportunities upfront, or to sell one opportunity harder than the other.

2.) Transparency on clients & the opportunity.

A surprisingly large number of agency & contingency recruiters claim to work with companies that have never made a hire through them.

Saying “I work with clients like AirBnB (or whatever)” usually means that they remove your contact information from your resume, and cold-email it to the Internal Recruiter or Hiring Manager there.

Likewise, a huge number of recruitment emails are unnecessarily vague on details about the company, the salary, the location, the team. It’s only after investing 30-minutes on a phone call that you learn that the “Senior iOS Engineer” position is actually a 6-month contract consulting for 3-person web design shop in Oracle, Bangalore.

The result? The good opportunities get tossed out with the bad, because the time cost of pursuing every lead is so massive.

3.) Intent filtering & centralization.

 Most source explorers play a guess & check game.

– I guess that this person might be open to new opportunities.

– I send them an inMail/Email/Private Message to check whether or not my guess is correct.

80% of the time you don’t even get a response, and when you do, most of the time the answer is “not interested right now”.

 Thus, a massive amount of time, effort & manpower is spent simply uncovering people who might potentially have the skills for a particular position and are potentially interested in interviewing or at least learning more about an opportunity.

 Even once all that hard work is done, the most common outcome is that they don’t get hired

Let’s say you’re the technical co-founder of a new startup that has had some traction, and there’s a backlog of work piling up. Fortunately, you’ve raised enough money to hire a few engineers. Because you’re probably the sole technical person, you are probably working on recruiting engineers full-time.  This is a bit troublesome you because it’s probably not what you think you’re best at. However, you’re probably doing a pretty good job because:

 1) You’re really good at selling the vision of the company because you’re so vested in it

 2) You have the technical chops and intuition to evaluate people based on some set of internal heuristics you’ve acquired through experience.

 Eventually, things are going well, your startup gets some more funding, and you decide you want to go back to doing what you think is real work. You hire an in-house recruiter to deal with your hiring pipeline full-time.

 This is where things start going south. Because recruiters are, generally speaking, not technical, instead of relying on some internal barometer for competence, they have to rely on some set of quickly identifiable attributes that function as a proxy for aptitude.

 So, what is the solution?

 How can you save your company the hiring costs?

 How can you save your company from hiring the wrong people?

 How can you optimise your hiring and concentrate on the core issues?

Contract Hiring is the answer.

Contract employment offers a variety of benefits for both employers and independent contractors. To receive the full benefits of hiring contract labor, businesses must study the guidelines for the definition of a contract worker set forth by the Internal Revenue Service to avoid paying extra taxes and other fines.

Money Saving

The hiring process, training and benefits associated with hiring full time employees can cost well into the thousands of dollars. Many small businesses do not have the resources to go through this process when in need of workers for a critical but finite project.

Specialized or Seasonal Help

Companies needing a specialized skill set for a finite or indefinite project may not wish to take the time to train new or current employees. They can hire contract laborers already experienced in the necessary competencies. These independent contractors can get the project off and running, supervise permanent employees who possess only the minimal skills necessary, set up project plans and fulfill all project needs in an expedited manner.

Employer Satisfaction

One of the main benefits, next to cost savings, for hiring contract labor involves the ease of separation. If an independent contractor does not fit in well with the company culture or is not performing to the satisfaction of the employer, the hiring manager can terminate the relationship with little or no paperwork.

Benefits to Contractors

Independent contractors make their own hours, decide when to work and who to work for. They do not depend on the success of a single business to produce income and meet their financial responsibilities.

Hiring is important.

Take the smarter way!

Apple Re-invents Again- iOS 11 features:

Apple constantly keeps updating its features and it recently announced iOS version 11. Buzz is that it allows for a better user experience and has improved features compared to the previous version. With Apple, you can expect the best time and again.

So, what can the user expect from iOS 11 on their iPhones and iPads?

We bring you the pivotal features from Apple’s recent press release, and tell you how it is going to to affect the common Apple user.

And here they are!

A New Look to the App Store:

Apple is completely redesigning its app store. It seems more focused on presenting fewer, high quality apps instead of a list of applications to dig through. There’s a new section dedicated to games, and an entire new recommended section of apps. This should definitely make finding the right app much more easier.

A Revamped Control Center:

Control Center currently allows you to make small tweaks to your phone. You pull it up from the bottom of the screen to put your phone in Airplane mode, toggle Wi-Fi or activate the flashlight and so on. With this update, you should be able to control more by adding favorite shortcuts for smart lights in your home, your Apple TV remote, a voice recorder, your activity and much, much more.

 Better Siri:

Apple has promised to spur up Siri in iOS 11.It is going to allow you to ask Siri to speak translations, a feature that Google Assistant already offers on Android. Siri will also automatically play music that you like, if you ask her, based on past listening habits. Siri will also use your interests to provide relevant news inside the revamped News application, will make calendar suggestions as you book reservations inside Safari and can suggest places and names of movies as you type in iMessage.

Drag & Drop Features:

iOS 11 brings support for dragging and dropping items between applications. On an iPad, you might drag a photo from your photo album right into an email. Apple hasn’t talked much about drag and drop on the iPhone, but developers have reported the option exists in early iOS 11 code, so expect to hear more on that. Multitasking on the iPad will take advantage of drag-and-drop creating a more powerful experience than ever before.

Payments on iMessage:

It will let you use Apple Pay to send money right to another person through iMessage. It’s linked with your debit or credit card, too, so there’s no messy configuration required. Likewise, you can request you friend or roommate on iMessage for the money he owes you for last week’s beer.

The features seem well justified keeping in mind the UX concepts. Hopefully, it will cement Apple’s position further in the market.

What do you think?

Excited yet?

Source: Apple Website

The Uberisation Of Work Force

Pune-based Persistent Systems recently took a step away from the industry practices by including several freelancers and consultants in a team that worked on a short-term project, a trending new idea that’s steadily gaining popularity in the global technology services space.

It’s called the ‘gig economy’ or ‘Uberisation’ of workforce, where talent works on a demand-supply model, moving across projects and organisations as per the demand and their interest areas.

Talent on demand, the sharing economy, “Uberisation” of the workforce – call it what you will, but there is one thing everyone can agree on: the app-driven labor market is spreading like wildfire. Combining real-time data, mobile payments, instant gratification and dynamic pricing, this emerging model is still in it’s infancy but growing quickly.

Much of the growth in the freelancer workforce is due to the emergence of numerous technology platforms aimed at connecting employers with on-demand talent. Portals such as Elance and Toptal have millions of users around the world, and technologies such as Gigwalk and Twago have made freelance talent much easier to find and hire. A growing number of sites are offering freelancers for all types of services from grocery shopping to legal services and medical care. As a result, millions of new on-demand workers are now available. According to the Freelancers Union, the US alone has 53 million freelancers, and tens of millions more are spread out across the world.

Technology alone isn’t driving the growth of freelancers. Workers are also motivated to supplement the income of their full-time positions, and many simply enjoy the freedom of being a contractor. The traditional stigma of being a contractor is lessening as many choose to take on freelance assignments to gain new skills, work on interesting projects and advance their careers.

According to a freelancer’s union study:

• 80% of non-freelancers say they are willing to work outside of their primary jobs to make more money

• 65% said freelancing as a career path is more respected today than three years ago

• 36% of moonlighters who have a primary job – 5.1 million people – have thought about going completely independent.

So, how can your organisation adjust to the opportunities of the growing on-demand economy? First, the answer begins with adaptability. Consider flexible workers for roles you traditionally fill with permanent employees. Freelancers are no longer viewed as supplemental talent only; they may be the best-quality workers for your roles. Second, it’s also important to recognise that more companies are competing for their services. That means you will need to expand your employer brand strategies to directly target freelance workers.

Five tips for engaging and retaining freelance talent

• Make your brand stand out – Highly desirable freelance workers have options when it comes to their choice of employers. When developing your employer brand strategy, consider how it helps you attract the best freelancers.

• Leveraging freelancers as ambassadors – By encouraging freelancers to spread the word about your company, you can tap their extensive network for both contingent and permanent talent. Consider how you can add them to your ranks for company ambassadors.

• Maintain a talent community – Retain freelance talent and intellectual property by establishing a talent community for them. It’s easier to keep great talent than to go out and find it.

• Be a talent ambassador – Can permanent-hire requisitions submitted by managers be filled by freelancers? Work with business leaders to determine how alternative work arrangements can address their needs.

• Embrace a compliant approach – A growing number of regulatory bodies are cracking down on the mis-classification of contractors and freelancers. If you are not sure whether you are compliant, consult and expert for advice.

Designing with Lean UX methodologies:

Before you get down to designing any product – ask yourself who are you designing for and what experience do you want your users to leave with once they interact with your product or service?

Lean UX helps you add the “experience” to design. Every stage of design is broken down into smaller components to ensure that every aspect of user interaction and experience is taken into consideration while designing and developing any technologies.

Why follow a Lean UX methodology:

With organizations and startups soon adapting to agile development, it is necessary that even UX follows a similar quick process that captures all the iterations and implement user feedback on the go.

At GoodWorkLabs, we aim at providing UX design services that trigger customer retention and user engagement on your digital products. We follow a thorough and Lean UX design process as below:

Why Staff Augmentation?

When you have a large project looming ahead, the last thing you need to do is worry about recruiting and hiring a team to work for you. Choosing staff augmentation services allows you to get the help you need on a scalable, per project basis and makes it easy to focus on the big picture and your business goals. Convenience, affordability, and efficiency are just a few of the reasons businesses of all sizes rely on augmented staffing to get things done; there are some surprising benefits to switching to an augmented staffing model.

The process of augmenting your existing staff with temporary professionals as per need basis is known as Staff Augmentation. The reason why staff augmentation is so common in the IT industry is beacause of the innumerable projects. While many companies do possess the expertise to handle all their demands, some may not have specific knowledge or expertise about a particular area. During such situations, companies are forced to augment their existing staff with new professionals on per project basis.

Sometimes organizations could also be short of resources to complete a given project on time. In such a scenario, hiring permanent staff might accomplish the task at hand, but you will have to end up paying them year round without assigning further tasks with them. There are many reasons why IT companies are looking more and more towards Staff Augmentation.

Here are 5 Major advantage of Staff Augmentation

1. Cost Effective:

Staff augmentation helps IT enterprises to cut costs at various levels. First, as already mentioned, you can pay augmentation workers only for the period of time they work. You don’t have to spend on recruiting, employee benefits, taxes and more. It also helps to reduce the cost of training new professionals as augmentation workers are selected because of their expertise in a particular area and require very little acclimatization training.

2. Increased Adaptability & Flexibility:

The scalability of your organization is greatly benefited by staff augmentation services. You can afford to take up projects of all sizes and never say no to your customers’ requirements. With Staff augmentation, you scale the size of your work force according to the demands. It also helps you to diversify your services and provide great quality solutions with the expertise gained from the temporary staff.

3. Better Control:

Compared to complete outsourcing, Staff Augmentation allows you to control your project at all times and perform regular monitoring. When you have outsourced your project completely, you will not be able to track the progress of your project and quality of your project is also completely dependent on the outsourced team. With staff augmentation, you can place the augmentation staff at any requirement to improve the efficiency of the project. It also helps to reduce the privacy and security risk which is common with normal outsourcing.

4. Counteract Attrition:

In many situations, the need for staff augmentation arises because of an unexpected attrition. Staff Augmentation allows enterprises to not get stagnated in crucial project management and delivery times. Recent statistics show, as the economy grows, up to 40% of IT employees are looking for quick job changes. Staff augmentation could be the perfect solution for both parties as companies could always be adequately staffed all times and professionals could put their skills and expertise to better use in a larger arena.

Choosing staff augmentation services over traditional hiring methods benefits your business in many ways, including:

• Access to experienced professionals ready to hit the ground running
• Cost effective alternative to recruiting, interviewing and hiring a regular employee
• Focus on the skills you need for a particular project — choosing an expert, not a generalist
• Fresh ideas and objectivity from a professional who is not engaged in office politics
• Flexibility when you need it most

And honestly, these are just a few of them.