7 minute read
business support
The Sherrards Academy – building your Employment Law knowledge and skills
Sherrards is a leading specialist employment law firm, providing employment law advisory services, HR consultancy and employment related training to clients throughout the UK. The Sherrards Academy is a learning and development platform incorporating a full range of online employment law and HR related training courses. The Sherrards Academy UK Employment Law Course has been designed for people managers and HR professionals looking to acquire or reinforce their knowledge of UK employment law legislation. The course blends direct contact with an experienced, specialist employment law solicitor with engaging learning content, accessed 24/7 via the Academy website.
Advertisement
Our UK Employment Law Course is certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to continuing professional development principles, and delegates who complete the course can record 8 CPD hours.
To find out more please visit www.sherrardsacademy.com
Sherrards
4 Albourne Court, Henfield Road, Albourne West Sussex BN6 9DB Tel: 01273 834120 email: academy@sherrardslaw.com www.sherrardsacademy.com
Sherrards Generic Academy ad half pg BEM 22-01 v3.indd 1 11/01/2022 09:34
bespoke • simple • professional
CityCoast Centre, North Street, Portslade, East Sussex BN41 1DG 01273 433433 judith@citycoastcentre.co.uk citycoastcentre.co.uk corporate venue hire
How to Prevent DDoS Attacks…
In its purest form, DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. A DDoS attack is a combined cyber attack on a specific server or network, with an overwhelming amount of information, with the intended purpose of disrupting normal service. That’s the dictionary version, but what does a DDoS attack look like in the real world?
Imagine if you called your favourite takeaway. 45 mins later, the food turns up. Wonderful. Let’s say the phone at the takeaway rings every 5 minutes with a food order. No problem. But imagine if 456 customers, every second, for an hour rang the same restaurant, ordering a fake meal. Very quickly the chef would become overwhelmed with orders. The real meal orders would be lost inside the fake orders. The legitimate customer could potentially go elsewhere for service, thus immediately affecting your bottom line.
What’s a Botnet?
A botnet is a network of computers running bots, all run by a central bot ‘herder’. It can often happen without the computer owner’s knowledge that their computer is now part of a network of computers or “bots”.
So how can one computer get so many other computers to collaborate with it and create such havoc? We all receive many emails in a day, and it’s so easy to click on the wrong email. The virus software is then quietly installed onto your computer. Then, when commanded by the cyber criminal’s prime computer, it will send out fake requests to the targeted server.
And it’s getting worse. DDoS attacks are getting bigger in threat level. Only recently a record-breaking 3.47 Tbps (Terabytes per second) DDoS attack was launched, using 10,000 infected computers, from ten countries around the world.
How to Stop a DDoS attack
The first thing to do is to create a strategy to deal with a potential attack. Put together an audit of your current systems. This will help to identify potential security flaws within your network. As DDoS or DoS attacks can run for any length of time, so increase your network’s bandwidth, so that you will be able to accommodate unexpected activity.
Strengthen your network infrastructure. This may include upgrading your firewall security, anti-virus, along with anti-malware software and some form of network threat monitoring systems, and software that will help you to detect any unusual network traffic across your systems.
Look out for any warning signs across your systems. For instance, have you noticed an increased amount of spam across your network? Has your website been behaving oddly, going offline inexplicably, or slowing down? You should also include a plan as to how the business will communicate with the various stakeholders of the company, both internally and externally.
If your company depends on an online presence, then you need to protect it. DDoS attacks can be incredibly painful to a company’s bottom line if they are unprepared for one. So, a multi-layered strategy that aims to shield your business is definitely the way to go.
IMAGINE HAVING ACCESS TO ALL THE BEST IT SERVICES.
CNC provide the most comprehensive range of IT services in the South East including:
We would love to talk to you and offer a Complimentary systems & security check-up with no obligations to use our services.
– IT Support & Outsourcing – Internet Connectivity – Installation & Infrastructure – IT Hardware & Software – Cloud e-Mail Archiving – Mobile & Remote Access – Off-Site Data Backup – Hosted Phones & Mobiles – Security Services – Cloud & Hosting – Disaster Recovery – Apple Support – Virtualisation – Office 365 & Azure ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 27001:2013 Certified
24
Celebrating 25 Years in business
1996—2021
There’s a huge buzz about this year’s South East Construction Expo
It’s being hosted on September 22nd at it’s new home of the impressive K2 conference centre in Crawley, which offers great transport links and free parking to visitors. The size of the venue also means the expo will be double the size of last year.
Visitors can expect to see an inspiring and hugely diverse construction exhibition, including exhibits both inside and outside the hall, live demos, and interactive stands, as well as meet and network with industry connections from across the South East.
This year the show will be officially opened by Lee Rowley MP, Minister for Industry and Construction. He will also deliver the opening speech of the expo and then visit the exhibitor stands while he is there.
Impressive Industry Speakers
Expo organiser, Carole Black, says, “We are really pleased to have the support of the Minister for the show. The construction industry is extremely wide-ranging and has performed exceptionally over the last two years, in that it was one of the few industries that actually grew and helped the UK economy during the pandemic. We think it’s great that the Minister for Industry is coming to show his appreciation of that.”
Also confirmed as a keynote speaker is David Smith, Economics Editor of the Sunday Times. He will be discussing; ‘The economic and business outlook for construction. Amid sharply rising inflation, intense cost pressures and supply-chain difficulties, what is in prospect for the economy and the construction industry? Can we weather the storm?’
Tickets selling fast!
Exhibitor bookings are already up on last year, with companies from all parts of the construction industry looking to show off the latest innovations, services and products to attendees. The high ceilings inside the venue mean that large items can be brought inside and exhibitors can get really creative. In addition, there is also the capacity to have large plant and vehicles on show outside in the car park right next door to the hall. Don’t worry though, there’s enough free car parking at the venue for both visitors and exhibitors to use.
The show will be highlighting various sectors within the construction industry and also the diversity of the supply line it supports. “If you think that your business can’t get involved in the construction industry, think again,” says Carole, “Construction reaches across many sectors and also requires one of the most diverse supply chains going, from specialist lawyers through to environmental consultancy. You can almost certainly do business in the construction sector.”
Getting to Know You
During the day there are multiple opportunities for networking, contact building and knowledge growth. These include the Women in Construction Lunch where, Coast to Capital Chair, Julie Kapsalis, will be sharing the stories of Katie Kelleher and Caroline Gumble. Katie left a career in recruitment to become the operator of one of the largest cranes in the UK, while Caroline tells us how her career path led her to become Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Building. Two very different stories but both equally compelling! Tickets for this lunch can be booked separately through the website.
There will also be further keynote speaker announcements, networking areas, ‘meet the buyer’ areas and outdoor displays. “The 2022 Expo is going to be a vibrant, exciting and brilliant place to be on September 22nd and we’re really excited.” says Carole.
South East Construction Awards
In addition to the Expo the South East Construction Awards are also open to enter, with the awards dinner being held at Lingfield Park Racecourse on Wednesday 23rd November and six categories to enter. The event is being hosted by top comedian Aaron Jones and is set to be a celebration of the best and brightest in the South East Construction industry. The awards are judged by a panel of industry experts and categories include; Best Apprentice, Best Architectural Design, Best Construction Project, Best Construction Contractor, Best Supplier and Women in Construction. If you think you’ve got an award winner for one of these then enter now via www.
constructionexpoawards.co.uk
For more information on exhibiting or attending the expo please visit the website: www.constructionexpouk.co.uk.