The SME Edge provides complete network protection against phishing and ransomware for your home or business.
Article Contents
This article will serve as the first part of a series covering the SME Edge and its IT security benefits for businesses.
These are the topics we’re going to cover in this article; if you want to skip ahead, click on whichever topic is interesting to you:
The SME Edge: The Why
The internet was not designed for security. When it was created in 1983, the only goal was to make connections between computers possible, which required the ability to communicate with other computers without interruption.
Honestly, not much has changed; we still use the same internet protocols for computers to communicate when the internet was created.
Operating system software developers Microsoft, Apple & Google, and open-source projects like Linux have been working diligently to make your devices & computers as secure as they can by default. Still, with 450,000 new malicious programs (malware) and potentially unwanted applications (PUA) released every day, it’s a fight they are never going to win.
This is where traditional internet security companies come in!
Anti-virus, endpoint protection & firewalls promise to protect your computer and network from known threats; quite frankly, they do a great job at what they can control.
Some anti-viruses do a great job of offering real-time protection against known threats.
Anti-virus works by flagging specific code sequences as malicious and tracking if said code is present on your computer. If they find a program containing the bad code, they will quarantine and remove it from your device.
Anti-viruses like Webroot Endpoint Protection and Malware Bytes Cyber Security have become exceptionally good at detecting threats in real-time and eliminating them before they cause a problem on your computer.
Not all anti-viruses are built the same way.
Free anti-viruses are free because they use your computer or data for personal gain. We have discussed this in detail in other articles we’ve posted, but remember, free is never free.
Firewalls try to block the holes in a block of swiss cheese
Computers are connected by using an IP address (your internet identifier) and a port; this allows for information to be processed depending on the purpose of the data.
Computers have 131,070 ports, and the job of a firewall is to determine what is trying to connect to your IP and if it should be allowed to transfer data between your IP, that port, and your computer.
The core problem with firewalls is that if an internet threat can emulate an action the firewall thinks is expected, the firewall will not help protect your system.
Traditional security does a great job of protecting you against known threats.
If you download a known malware or virus or your firewall detects a bad connection attempt, traditional internet security does a great job of protecting you.
What happens when it’s an unknown threat?
What happens when it’s one of the 450,000 new malware & PUA programs released that have not yet been added to the anti-virus database?
What happens when it’s one of the 20,000 new Common Vulnerabilities & Exploits (CVE) that have no available protections and can be openly exploited released each year (Zero Day)?
What happens when it exploits a known bug an operating system has yet to fix?
You get breached. You have no active protection.
SME Edge: The Solution
This is why we created the SME Edge. We wanted to give SMEs the Edge when it came to cyber security. To fill the gap that traditional security is unable to & to offer peace of mind at a fraction of the cost of corporate solutions.
The SME Edge: The How
The SME Edge is a hardware/software solution that combines the power of AdamNetworks® patented Zero Trust connectivity (ZTc) solution adam:ONE® with business-grade security-focused hardware combined with a full suite of security tools and security awareness education.
What is AdamNetworks?
AdamNetworks is an advanced AI-driven patented ZTc security solution created by David Redekop, co-founder & chief technology officer of Nerds On Site.
AdamNetworks protects over 3 million devices globally and has had zero instances of network-related breaches or ransomware for any active customer.
How does it work?
(Technical) Using some of the theories behind Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), adam:ONE uses allow and block listing technology to verify all traffic in and out of your network.
(Technical) Unlike a traditional SASE environment, all traffic is handled locally, so you do not experience lag or latency issues usually associated with a conventional SASE solution.
(Technical) adam:ONE combines some of the philosophies of Zero Trust & SASE to create a unique (world first & only solution of its kind) patented on-the-edge protection that verifies all traffic coming to and leaving your computer locally.
adam:ONE® protects your network by doing the opposite
As explained in the section above, computers allow connections through IPs and ports, and traditional security protects those computers from the known bad.
adam:ONE® blocks the entire internet. No connection is pre-approved, and nothing is allowed through your network.
Rather than allowing everything and then deciding what to block like the traditional computer with traditional security, adam:ONE® blocks everything and then decides what to allow.
Large-scale case study of adam:ONE®
We currently protect over 3 million devices globally.
Our biggest individual Client has tens of thousands of employees across hundreds of locations. We’ve discovered that out of 1.6 Billion websites that exist today, this Client only needs access to 17,000 of those to operate.
Allowing those 17,000 websites, this mega organization can operate normally without the risk of breach or infection.
Blocking the entire internet
When you attempt to gain access to a website or IP address that is not flagged as allowed on your network, you will be unable to connect.
The same goes for the opposite, if an entity tries to connect to your network from the outside and they are not approved, they will get no response, and for all intents and purposes, you won’t appear to exist on the internet.
Usecase example
Ransomware is software designed to infect your system, encrypt your files and then ransom those files to get a payout.
Ransomware has become the biggest threat to internet security in recent years, with ransomware events responsible for hundreds of billions in damages worldwide.
Because of ransomware’s effectiveness, the software has become more prevalent and efficient, and significant breaches are reported regularly.
Phishing is one of the most common tools utilized by ransomware gangs. Over 3.4 billion phishing emails get sent daily. Cybercriminals use phishing to trick users into taking action based on the contents of an email.
Clients protected by adam:ONE® have the peace of mind that if they ever fall victim to a phishing email and try to click through to the cybercriminal’s site, adam:ONE® will not allow your computer to talk to the website or the attackers.
Learn more about Ransomware by reading IBM’s definitive guide to ransomware.
The SME Edge: The Who
The SME Edge is designed to protect small-and-medium-sized enterprises (But adam can protect enterprises & MSPs.)
Nerds On Site specializes in supporting and protecting SMEs in Canada & the United States. We provide on-site IT support combined with 24/7/365 remote protection & monitoring to ensure your team, data, and customers are always secure.
Request a business consultation if you want to know more about the SME Edge and how it can help secure your business.
