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Things to Consider with Tenant to Tenant Migrations

Tenant-to-tenant migrations

As the great migration from physical servers to the Cloud continues, tenant-to-tenant migrations are fast becoming the most common type of migration performed. In this post, we break down how to prepare for them, and what it takes for a successful migration.

Tenant to tenant migrations are typically required when a company has rebranded, an organization is subject to divestiture, a merger and acquisition has taken place or an organization is looking to move to the cloud. Here’s some steps to help you prepare for a tenant-to-tenant migration.

How to prepare for a tenant-to-tenant migration

During a tenant-to-tenant migration, both parties might be using Microsoft, however, there are still a large number of technical components to the project. Any migration brings pitfalls and challenges, which is why the most important part is planning. Knowing exactly what you’re doing, how you’re going to do it, and when to do it is essential for a successful tenant-to-tenant migration.Here are a few tips to get you started.

Know where your data is coming from

The first thing to do is perform an extensive discovery of the source tenant and data usage. Take note of things such as:

  • What workloads and M365 licenses are in use?
  • How many of each workload type are in scope of migration e.g. User mailboxes, SharePoint document libraries, Teams etc.
  • Is there any legal hold or archived data that needs to be migrated?
  • Are there any workflows that are critical to the business to be mindful of?
  • What external sharing is required post-migration (if any)?
  • Understand what additional projects are scheduled that may impact the migration of data.

Set boundaries and expectations

Before a tenant-to-tenant migration begins, everyone needs to be on the same page. It’s important to understand what is and is not possible during the process, where priorities lie, and who is responsible for what.

  • Agree on what project metrics are important. Is it the speed of the migration or the user experience that will define project success?
  • Understand which data can and cannot be migrated using available tools e.g. CloudM Migrate
  • Understand the cost, time, and effort required to complete the migration in agreed timeframes
  • Design the migration approach with business stakeholder buy-in. Will you perform a phased or ‘big-bang’ cutover?
  • Build-in project time to perform a Pilot phase to ensure the migration approach and experience is as expected
  • Think about the user experience and plan communications accordingly.

Prepare the destination tenant

Where your data is going to is the final piece of the puzzle. Make sure your destination is prepared for the new data arriving.

  • Provision of necessary destination objects and associated licenses
  • Compare policy settings (e.g. retention policies) and plan accordingly
  • Check for user name conflicts or similar Teams/SharePoint sites and decide to merge or keep the data separate
  • Plan for contingency. Migrations are complex, make sure additional time is added to timelines for unexpected events and clean-up at the end of the migration.

Tenant-to-tenant migrations are a specialized area

Tenant-to-tenant migrations bring with them their own unique challenges and solutions.

Even though the migration is from Microsoft to Microsoft, it’s still a technical feat and you need a tried-and-tested third party tool to make it happen. CloudM has performed over 70 million migrations with an astonishing 99.8% success rate. We work with huge brands like Netflix, Spotify and Uber, and we’re proud to be a Gold Microsoft Partner.

Alongside our powerful tool, we can also provide a Managed Migration Service which takes the stress out of the project. Our team of migration experts can take control of the project and perform the migration for you, handling everything so you don’t have to.

If you sign up for a Managed migration, you are assigned a project manager that will constantly keep you up to date with everything, reporting back regularly so you never have to ask how things are going. All our clients are also assigned a deployment specialist – a migration expert that can fix issues before they become a problem. Being able to spot a bump in the road ahead of time means it can be resolved before you are even aware there was anything to worry about.

Don’t take risks with your data. Tenant-to-tenant migrations are our domain. Let us handle it for you.

About Version 2 Limited
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About CloudM
CloudM is an award-winning SaaS company whose humble beginnings in Manchester have grown into a global business in just a few short years.

Our team of tech-driven innovators have designed a SaaS data management platform for you to get the most from your digital workspace. Whether it’s Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or other SaaS applications, CloudM drives your business through a simple, easy-to-use interface, helping you to work smarter, not harder.

By automating time-consuming tasks like IT admin, onboarding & offboarding, archiving and migrations, the CloudM platform takes care of the day-to-day, allowing you to focus on the big picture.

With over 35,000 customers including the likes of Spotify, Netflix and Uber, our all-in-one platform is putting office life on auto-pilot, saving you time, stress and money.

Navigating the Changing Landscape of OT Security in the New Year

It’s become somewhat of a ritual at the beginning of every year, (almost) every company comes up with a review of the past year, and an attempt to forecast what the next 12 months will bring. This year is more challenging than ever. Not only are geopolitical tensions and conflicts at an all-time high but there’s a lot of uncertainty due to the bear markets and the almost inevitable recession that is lurking.

2022 was a year of incredible growth and evolution for OT cyber security. If there is one word that sums up the past year in my mind, it is “change.”

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Why runZero is the best way to fulfill CISA BOD 23-01 requirements for asset visibility – Part 1

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently published the Binding Operational Directive 23-01 for Improving Asset Visibility and Vulnerability Detection on Federal Networks. CISA’s asset visibility requirements are doing a big part in moving the industry forward and evolving our approach to asset inventory while also highlighting the importance of asset inventory in relation to national or organizational security.

The directive covers both vulnerability management and asset inventory. This blog post only focuses on the relevant parts for asset inventory. However, there are some important areas where the two disciplines interact and asset inventory is better suited to fulfill the requirements.

CISA recommends unauthenticated scanning for asset discovery

Many organizations are using data sourced from authenticated vulnerability scans and installed EDR agents to derive asset inventory. CISA’s directive demonstrates that while this is a viable way to augment the data set, it is no longer sufficient:

“Asset discovery is non-intrusive and usually does not require special logical access privileges.”

“No special logical access privileges” translates to either unauthenticated active discovery or passive collection, which is confirmed in the following statement:

“Discovery of assets and vulnerabilities can be achieved through a variety of means, including active scanning, passive flow monitoring, querying logs, or in the case of software defined infrastructure, API query.”

API queries are only recommended for software defined infrastructure, such as cloud-hosting other virtualized environments, but not for your physical network.

Log files can be a helpful way to augment breadth of asset inventory but they do not yield depth. DHCP and DNS logs don’t yield much more information than IP addresses, hostname, and MAC addresses. This misses the essence of what a device is: you know it’s there but you don’t know what hardware and operating system it’s running or what ports and services are active.

CISA directive solves for unmanaged devices

When talking to security teams about challenges with their asset inventory, they frequently cite unmanaged devices as the biggest headache. The CISA directive seems to optimize for unmanaged devices since these are the hardest to cover.

Many asset inventory vendors, particularly those in the CAASM (Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management) space, claim that you can magically solve for unmanaged devices via integrations with existing tooling. That is a great pitch, but it ignores the fact that security teams have tried to use the data from vulnerability scanners and EDR agents for asset inventory for a long time and failed. They do not provide the right data–we’ll get to why in part two of this series.

CISA is well aware of this fact and recently published a binding directive that requires more than just integrations for solving asset inventory.

We’ll take a deeper look into why that is throughout this blog series. Stay tuned for more details and subscribe to our blog so you don’t miss out.

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Part two of this story was published on Tuesday, January 18, so be sure to follow the story. Also, don’t forget to subscribe for regular blog notifications.

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About Version 2 Limited
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About runZero
runZero, a network discovery and asset inventory solution, was founded in 2018 by HD Moore, the creator of Metasploit. HD envisioned a modern active discovery solution that could find and identify everything on a network–without credentials. As a security researcher and penetration tester, he often employed benign ways to get information leaks and piece them together to build device profiles. Eventually, this work led him to leverage applied research and the discovery techniques developed for security and penetration testing to create runZero.

IPEVO TOTEM 180 Award Winner at CES 2023

TWICE and TechRadar Pro selected IPEVO’s newest release as one of the best and most influential consumer technologies.

Sunnyvale, CA, Jan 12, 2023 – IPEVO Inc, the leading communications provider, today announced that its TOTEM 180 Panoramic Conference Camera has been awarded both the TWICE Picks Award and TechRadar Pro Picks Award at CES 2023.

Designed for small and medium-sized meeting rooms, the TOTEM 180 enables users to bring the team together within seconds by creating a highly efficient and immersive meeting environment. TOTEM 180 adopts video stitching technology by using two separate lenses to extend a 180-degree video capture, greatly reducing the distortion of the video while presenting a high-resolution natural view. Featuring 2 omnidirectional microphones with built-in noise-reduction and an AI chip-accelerated auto-framing feature, the TOTEM 180 combines all of these features to deliver a seamless experience.

TWICE Picks Award and TechRadar Pro Picks Award winners were carefully selected by a panel of judges based on innovation, quality, and the impact they’re expected to have on the consumer electronics industry. To be eligible for an award, nominated products had to come from companies exhibiting at CES 2023 or were introduced in 2022.

“We are honored to receive these awards from TWICE and Tech Radar,” said Oscar Tu, Marketing Manager, IPEVO Inc. “IPEVO’s TOTEM lineup aims to provide users with the new approach of plug-and-play, easy-to-use conferencing solutions, and immersive experiences.”

About IPEVO Inc.

IPEVO Inc. is a leading brand dedicated to the research and development of professional video communication products. With advanced technology and intuitive user experience design, it provides customers with solutions to improve communication efficiency.

Since its inception in 2007, IPEVO has been focusing on changing the face of video communication. Overturning the traditional overhead cameras for teaching, it redefined and designed a series of simple, lightweight, and easy-to-use document cameras and video teaching software. It further entered the field of commercial applications in 2022 by launching video collaboration products, enabling video-based teaching, learning, communication, conferencing, and creative sharing, to be as natural and unrestrained as being in-person.

TWICE, Residential Systems, And TechRadar Pro Announce Picks Awards Winners For CES 2023: https://www.twice.com/industry/ces/twice-residential-systems-and-techradar-pro-announce-picks-awards-winners-for-ces-2023.

To learn more about IPEVOs TOTEM 180, please visit: https://www.ipevo.com/totem180.

About Version 2 Limited
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About IPEVO
IPEVO makes versatile teaching tools instead of specialized “classroom equipment”.
We go beyond the usual conventions of classroom technology—large, expensive, specialized and complex—to rethink simple and flexible solutions for interactive teaching in today’s classrooms.
IPEVO’s interactive teaching tools empower educators and teachers with radically affordable and compact technology that is simple, intuitive and flexible, so that precious time and resources can be wholly dedicated to teaching. We intend to make educational technology accessible and available to all.

4 Keys to Consider When Evaluating Cloud Data Protection Tools

External Article by Keepit Staff

Keepit’s Chief Customer Officer (and frequent contributing author to the Keepit blog) Niels van Ingen has been featured in Solutions Review as part of their “Premium Content Series” written by industry experts. 

As a true veteran in the data protection and management space — not only from a product point of view but also from a customer and business development one — Niels covers what he finds are the most important elements to consider when evaluating cloud data protection offerings.

Those who work in IT disaster recovery understand that data is perhaps a business’ most valuable asset that needs protection all day, every day. Implementing a SaaS backup and recovery plan is essential for nearly every aspect of business operations, and those who have not made it a top priority are literally flirting with disaster.

To read the full article entitled ‘4 Keys to Consider When Evaluating Cloud Data Protection Tools’ on Solutions Review, click here.

About Version 2 Limited
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About Keepit
At Keepit, we believe in a digital future where all software is delivered as a service. Keepit’s mission is to protect data in the cloud Keepit is a software company specializing in Cloud-to-Cloud data backup and recovery. Deriving from +20 year experience in building best-in-class data protection and hosting services, Keepit is pioneering the way to secure and protect cloud data at scale.

ESET Research discovers StrongPity APT group’s espionage campaign targeting Android users with trojanized Telegram app

  • ESET researchers identified an active StrongPity campaign distributing a fully functional but trojanized version of the legitimate Telegram app.
  • This is the first time that the described modules and their functionality have been documented publicly.
  • StrongPity’s backdoor is modular and has various spying features, such as recording phone calls, collecting SMS messages, collecting lists of call logs and contact lists, and much more.
  • If the victim grants the malicious StrongPity app notification access and accessibility services, the malware is able to exfiltrate communication from messaging apps such as Viber, Skype, Gmail, Messenger, and Tinder.
  • A copycat website mimicking Shagle, an adult video-chat service, is used to distribute StrongPity’s mobile backdoor app.
  • The app is a modified version of the open-source Telegram app, repackaged with StrongPity backdoor code.
  • Based on similarities with previous StrongPity backdoor code and the app being signed with a certificate from an earlier StrongPity campaign, we attribute this threat to the StrongPity APT group.

BRATISLAVA, KOŠICE— January 10, 2023 — ESET researchers identified an active StrongPity APT group campaign leveraging a fully functional but trojanized version of the legitimate Telegram app, which despite being non-existent, has been repackaged as „the“ Shagle app. This StrongPity backdoor has various spying features: its 11 dynamically triggered modules are responsible for recording phone calls, collecting SMS messages, collecting lists of call logs, and contact lists, and much more. These modules are being documented publicly for the very first time. If the victim grants the malicious StrongPity app notification access and accessibility services, the app will also have access to incoming notifications from 17 apps such as Viber, Skype, Gmail, Messenger, and Tinder, and will be able to exfiltrate chat communication from other apps. The campaign is likely very narrowly targeted, since ESET telemetry still hasn’t identify any victims.

Unlike the entirely web-based, genuine Shagle site, which doesn’t offer an official mobile app to access its services, the copycat site only provides an Android app to download, with no web-based streaming possible. This trojanized Telegram app has never been made available from the Google Play store.

The malicious code, its functionality, class names, and the certificate used to sign the APK file, are the identical to the previous campaign; thus ESET believes with high confidence that this operation belongs to the StrongPity group. Code analysis revealed that the backdoor is modular and additional binary modules are downloaded from the C&C server. This means that the number and type of modules used can be changed at any time to fit the campaign requests when operated by the StrongPity group.

“During our research, the analyzed version of malware available from the copycat website was not active anymore and it was no longer possible to successfully install and trigger its backdoor functionality. This is because StrongPity hasn’t obtained its own API ID for its trojanized Telegram app. But that might change at any time should the threat actor decide to update the malicious app,” says Lukáš Štefanko, the ESET researcher who analyzed the trojanized Telegram app.

The repackaged version of Telegram uses the same package name as the legitimate Telegram app. Package names are supposed to be unique IDs for each Android app and must be unique on any given device. This means that if the official Telegram app is already installed on the device of a potential victim, then this backdoored version can’t be installed. “This might mean one of two things – either the threat actor first communicates with potential victims and pushes them to uninstall Telegram from their devices if it is installed, or the campaign focuses on countries where Telegram usage is rare for communication,” adds Štefanko.

StrongPity’s app should have worked just as the official version does for communication, using standard APIs that are well documented on the Telegram website, but it no longer does. Compared to the first StrongPity malware discovered for mobile, this StrongPity backdoor has extended spying features, being able to spy on incoming notifications and exfiltrate chat communication, if the victim grants the app notification access and activates accessibility services.

For more technical information about the latest StrongPity app, check out the blogpost “StrongPity espionage campaign targeting Android users” on WeLiveSecurity. Make sure to follow ESET Research on Twitter for the latest news from ESET Research.


Comparing the legitimate website on the left and the copycat on the right

About Version 2 Limited
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About ESET
For 30 years, ESET® has been developing industry-leading IT security software and services for businesses and consumers worldwide. With solutions ranging from endpoint security to encryption and two-factor authentication, ESET’s high-performing, easy-to-use products give individuals and businesses the peace of mind to enjoy the full potential of their technology. ESET unobtrusively protects and monitors 24/7, updating defenses in real time to keep users safe and businesses running without interruption. Evolving threats require an evolving IT security company. Backed by R&D facilities worldwide, ESET became the first IT security company to earn 100 Virus Bulletin VB100 awards, identifying every single “in-the-wild” malware without interruption since 2003.