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Advance Solutions Inc (ASI) presented the 3rd round of its seminar series on Cyber Resiliency and
Security on November 20, 2024 at Seda Vertis North in Quezon City. The “Innovations in
Cyber Security 2024” was held in cooperation with HP Philippines, Microsoft, AMD. For the 3rd leg of the event, ASI’s stakeholders came both from the government and the private sector.
The world of digital technology is constantly evolving and today’s business enterprises need technology solutions to keep pace and get ahead of the game. But even the most sophisticated technology tools can be vulnerable to cyber disasters. And as developments in information technology continue to move forward, cyber security is a growing concern that every company/organization needs to address.
For the morning program, Mr Paul Skaria from AMD kicked off with the presentations on the subject matter of cyber security. Paul is a Solutions Architect Leader at AMD with over 20 years of experience in IT. He tackled the AMD Ryzen™ PRO processors which include the following security features:
AMD Secure Processor — This dedicated security processor validates code before it is executed to improve data and application integrity helping protect your system from unauthorized software.
AMD Memory Guard — The world’s first processor family with real time, full system memory encryption. This is enabled by default for Windows Secured-Core PCs on all AMD PRO processor platforms.
AMD Shadow Stack — helps protect against control-flow attacks by checking the normal program stack against a hardware-stored copy. Microsoft Hardware Enforced Stack Protection in Windows 11® is enabled as one component of a comprehensive set of AMD security features.
AMD Platform Secure Boot — is designed to provide protection in response to growing firmware-level remote attacks being seen across the industry. AMD Secure Boot helps continue the chain of trust from the system BIOS to the OS Bootloader.
Microsoft Pluton Security Processor — is integrated into the latest AMD CPUs to deliver built-in, next-generation security including Trusted Platform Module 2.0 for scenarios like Windows Hello and BitLocker.
Next in line was the Microsoft presentation from Mr Joshua Ruinata who is a Product Solutions Engineer at VST-ECS. He said that with the coming of Windows 11 Pro, end-users will be entering a new era of security protection. Windows 11 Pro delivers security for business anywhere by protecting your valuable business information anywhere with layers of protection enabled out-of-the-box for a reported 3.1x reduction in firmware attacks, and 2.8x fewer instances of identity theft.
Joshua made an important announcement: Support ends for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025 hence it’s time for an upgrade to get ahead of the competition and respond faster to business demands by empowering employees with AI-powered multitasking and videoconferencing plus the performance to speed demanding workloads to completion 42% faster on average.
Windows 11 Pro has Smart search across web, apps, and files from the taskbar delivers fast, relevant results and dynamically updated search highlights. You can achieve more with less effort using Copilot in Windows with Bing Chat Enterprise. Your AI assistant at work does the heavy-lifting so you can do the extraordinary. Smarter videoconferencing including intelligent noise canceling, and background blur, with optional AI enhancements including natural eye contact with Windows Studio Effects.
The HP discussion came next with Mr Niel Oliveros who talked about the HP Printer and PC solutions. Niel who is Pre-sales Technical Consultant for PC and Print solutions for HP has been with the company for 18 years. His presentation centered on securing printers against cyber attacks which are becoming more frequent, sophisticated, and diverse. He said that HP’s role is to protect, detect, and recover your devices from damages in the event of cyber attacks.
He underscored the importance of protecting printers for the following reasons: Peace of mind; risk management; for compliance or internal audit. He explained that HP security is built on 20 plus years of endpoint security innovation hence the guarantee in providing protection. Since printers are also considered endpoints, keeping them secure is necessary –from hardware, printing supplies to network access. The HP defense mechanism called BIOS Defense provides unique protection and active system monitoring.
Another HP speaker Mr Gary Lim of HP (Active Care) shed light on the topic “Endpoint Security Landscape.” Gary Lim is Senior Salesperson at HP with 15 years of sales experience in Enterprise Defence and Homeland Security Sector. He revealed that cyber attackers are employing the so-called “social engineering” to carry out their activities. [Social engineering is a manipulation technique that exploits human error to gain private information, access, or valuables.] If AI is the new approach to fight attacks, hackers are also using AI to assist in developing malware and that hybrid work has put social engineering on the front of the attack model.
Gary further explained how endpoint devices can be protected from social engineering attacks: There should be enterprise endpoint security controls; use of next-gen anti-virus protection; endpoint threat isolation which is a new approach against social engineering attacks. He even cited the benefits of endpoint isolation as follows: inherent protection; visibility; security efficiency; user experience; compliance and audit.
During the afternoon program, Mr. Kristoffe Abellera, Collaboration Specialist – HP-Poly started off the presentations. Poly outfits office and personal spaces so everyone can look and sound their best. Kristoffe presented Poly’s hybrid work solutions portfolio under the following categories: Group video; personal video; voice; headsets and speakers. Poly’s strategy is to create the experience of thoughtful design that delivers simple and powerful collaboration solutions to effortlessly create connection and move work forward. Product samples include the following:
Voyager wireless bluetooth® headsets: Crystal clear sound in any environment; Wearing style options; Perfect for hybrid work; Mobile-first with office options.
Blackwire wired USB headsets: Ease of use: simple plug and play; Never worry about battery life; Reliable, clear calls – always.
Poly Sync USB and Bluetooth® smart speakerphones: Turn any call into a conference call instantly; Audio alternative to headsets; High level sound quality; Hybrid and office work.
The presentation from Trend Micro came next and Mr. Ulysses Liao, Senior Presales Consultant of Trend Micro, provided the discussion. Uly centered his discussion on AI-powered platform strategy which he categorized in two levels: 1) Security for AI which is about securing your AI journey and defending against AI-based threats and attacks; 2) AI for Security which is about enhancing your cybersecurity efforts and transforming security operations with AI.
He went on to discuss about the AI Service Access which enables user to leverage GenAI services in a secure manner. This mechanism has the following attributes: Part of Trend Vision One Zero Trust feature; Gain holistic risk insights on risk-based adaptive GenAI service access control; Inspect GenAI prompt & response content to prevent potential sensitive data leakage or improper/unsecured outputs; Prompt injection detection to detect possible attacks on GenAI services; Provides telemetry/history and more leading to better visibility and monitoring.
The presenter from HPE Server followed and facilitated by Mr Darren Matthew “DA” Marquez who is a Solutions Engineer for HPE Compute at VST ECS Phils Inc. His discussion tackled the HPE Proliant ML tower server and the Proliant DL Rack Server boasting of the following features: Secure and versatile rack; plug and play; 360 degree security; compute management portfolio; one view feature; compute operations manager.
Their new HPE ProLiant Compute servers are optimized for enterprise AI workloads such as computer vision inference, generative visual AI, and end-to-end natural language processing. From inferencing to fine tuning, unlock new opportunities for your organization. Overall, HPE ProLiant servers are engineered with a fundamental security approach to defend against increasingly complex threats. Protect your infrastructure, workloads, and data with their newest HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers or with their full portfolio of both rack and tower servers.
The last, but not the least, presentation came from HPE Storage with Mr Gabriel Derilo, an HPE ATP Certified Product Solutions Engineer at VST ECS. Gab introduced the HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Business Edition which is the latest HPE virtualization capability with the following features: Easy Management of on-prem and cloud VMs and infrastructure with a unified cloud experience; Single solution with workload-optimized platforms to manage all VMs – edge/general purpose to mission critical; Harness hybrid cloud data protection and mobility.
This virtualization capability is anchored on HPE’s two major server products: HPE SimpliVity and HPE Alletra Storage MP/Series. Users can manage multiple HPE Alletra dHCI and HPE SimpliVity systems globally through Private Cloud Business Edition. Multiple HPE Alletra dHCI and HPE SimpliVity clusters can be associated with a single vCenter server or environment, each their own vCenter server, or a combination. Built for resilience and speed, you can run any app without compromise with a 100% data availability guarantee.
The whole day event was capped with a Q&A portion, where participants had the chance to interact with the speakers. The audience also had fun participating in games and in winning prizes in the raffle draws. But most of all, and for the unyielding third time, the event has brought a wealth of knowledge from this current trend about cyber security.
For further information on ASI’s products and solutions, you may call or visit our social media accounts:
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