--- title: Latest stories from James Slaby description: Stay up to date with the latest cybersecurity and cyber protection news, research, vulnerabilities, threats and computer attacks. canonical_url: https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/james-slaby/page/2/ locale: en last_updated: 2026-10-27 --- [Acronis Blog](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/) [Authors](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/) James Slaby ![Image 1: James Slaby](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/36117e925e5b5e501a197e22a2959987.png) James Slaby # Latest stories from James Slaby [05 April 2021 — 2 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 2: Louisiana Ransomware Attack Prompts A Statewide Emergency](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/18a373b02d45b7c3ed01a5efacfff718.png) Building MSP cybersecurity services isn’t hard with the right advice Small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) struggled through a fretful year of sudden pandemic-driven changes: employees forced to work from home, sensitive data abruptly moved to cloud-based SaaS applications, and a baffling array of new cyberthreats – including 350,000 new malware threats being identified every day and a 400% increase in cybercrime last year being reported by the FBI. For 2021, that last challenge is particularly daunting: few SMBs are capable of keeping pace with a daily barrage of ransomware attacks, tech supply-chain incursions like the SolarWinds breach, and severe vulnerabilities like Microsoft’s recent Exchange Server fiasco – especially in light of their paltry tech budgets and headcount. SMBs are desperate to outsource these problems, and that presents a huge opportunity for MSPs willing to step up and help.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/building-msp-cybersecurity-services-isnt-hard-right-advice/) [11 March 2021 — 2 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 3: Louisiana Ransomware Attack Prompts A Statewide Emergency](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/18a373b02d45b7c3ed01a5efacfff718.png) SaaS backup: Lessons from OVHcloud’s data center fire In the wee hours of Wednesday, March 10, 2021, a fire destroyed or damaged four major data centers operated by OVHcloud, the French company that is Europe’s largest operator of cloud infrastructure.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/saas-backup-lessons-ovhclouds-data-center-fire/) [11 March 2021 — 4 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 4: SMBs face cybersecurity challenges post-pandemic](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/30ed349a67c19cf8c26685d868f90f47.png) SMBs face cybersecurity challenges post-pandemic After a year of struggling to adapt to the pandemic-driven shift to remote work, rapid SaaS application adoption, and an FBI-documented 300% increase in cybersecurity attacks, small and mid-sized business (SMB) tech leaders and advisors are looking ahead with relief to a return to relative normalcy. But certain challenges are expected to remain, especially in light of their paltry budgets. In fact, Untangle’s 2020 SMB IT Security Report notes that 39% of SMBs are still investing less than $1,000 per year on IT security. Our recent panel-driven virtual conference, A New Playbook to Protect Your Users from Cyberthreats in 2021, examined how small-business IT managers anticipate that many changes wrought by the pandemic will have lasting effects on their cybersecurity strategies.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/smbs-face-cybersecurity-challenges-post-pandemic/) [11 February 2021 — 3 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 5: Phishing is back in the news, but it never really went away](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/bd62a55daae50fdec0d6a6b238034607.png) Acronis cybersecurity expert predicts 2021's top threats for Security Boulevard Attendees of a recent webinar hosted by tech news site Security Boulevard got a preview of the universe of cyberthreats that businesses will face this year based on the analysis of Candid Wüest, Acronis VP of Cyber Protection Research, and his team.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/acronis-cybersecurity-expert-predicts-2021s-top-threats-security-boulevard/) [16 October 2020 — 3 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 6: Acronis Academy Is Getting an Expanded and Revamped Curriculum](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/e44479aa9902652a121944102811a7bd.png) Acronis Academy Is Getting an Expanded and Revamped Curriculum The Acronis Global Cyber Summit 2020 kicks off on Monday, October 19, and among its many exciting announcements is an expanded mission and curriculum for the Acronis #CyberFit Academy, formerly known as the Acronis Academy, which delivers online technical and sales training and certification to our MSP, VAR, and distributor partners. I sat down with Jonathan McCarrick, Global Head of Partner Evangelism at Acronis, to get the highlights of this major upgrade of our educational operations. If you're interested in joining these training sessions and earning certifications on the latest Acronis Cyber Protection Solutions, there's still time to reserve your seat - but space is limited so be sure to register soon.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/acronis-cyberfit-academy-getting-expanded-and-revamped-curriculum/) [05 August 2020 — 3 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 7: Phishing is back in the news, but it never really went away](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/bd62a55daae50fdec0d6a6b238034607.png) Phishing is back in the news, but it never really went away The recent embarrassing hack of Twitter that led to the compromise of some very famous accounts (Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Barack Obama, et. al.) for use in a bitcoin-stealing scam grabbed global headlines for a few days. The story started winding down with the arrests of three young men in the UK and Florida. Twitter should feel lucky today that the thieves only set their sights on a small payday (netting less than $120K before they got caught) rather than broadcasting false headlines that might have shaken global financial markets. It’s a useful reminder that phishing remains among the most popular and successful attack vectors for a variety of cybercrimes, accounting for some 30% of all breaches.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/phishing-back-news-it-never-really-went-away/) [29 April 2020 — 3 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 8: Louisiana Ransomware Attack Prompts A Statewide Emergency](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/18a373b02d45b7c3ed01a5efacfff718.png) How MSPs Can Leverage the Power of Platform Integration to Grow, Thrive, and Profit The typical managed service provider (MSP) faces a daunting array of obstacles to building a successful, sustainable and profitable business. To meet these challenges, MSPs must squeeze efficiencies out of their existing tech infrastructure and staff – even as they add new services. Acronis believes the key to this effort is a broad-based leveraging of integration and automation. We’ve outlined the opportunities to MSPs in deploying broader suites of cyber protection services as well and tactics to address the accompanying integration challenges in a new white paper titled The Five Levels of MSP Platform Integration. Here’s a brief preview.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/how-msps-can-leverage-power-platform-integration-grow-thrive-and-profit/) [02 April 2020 — 4 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 9: COVID-19 Ignites a Firestorm of Cybercrime: Protect Yourself](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/74dd033305077b8ad219667201379601.png) COVID-19 Ignites a Firestorm of Cybercrime: Protect Yourself No one needs a reminder of the enormous toll that the COVID-19 pandemic is inflicting on lives around the globe. It is affecting our physical and mental health, our economic prospects, and our connections to our loved ones. But two months ago Acronis predicted a lesser-known side effect of the contagion: a flood of new cyberattacks committed by criminals who see financial opportunity in the confusion, fear, and drastically new work habits that the pandemic has thrust upon much of the world. Now our global network of Acronis Cyber Protection Operations Centers has detected a spike in malware attacks that confirm those concerns.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/covid-19-ignites-firestorm-cybercrime-protect-yourself/) [30 December 2019 — 3 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 10: Doing Business in California? You Better Be Ready for The CCPA](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/8d171c9d5dce1ca04801e22dc732de75.png) Doing Business in California? You Better Be Ready for The CCPA The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect later this Wednesday, January 1, 2020, and if you have any customers that reside in California, you need to take steps now to protect the privacy of any sensitive information you collect on them. Fail to do so, and your business faces potential fines as well as embarrassing and costly consumer lawsuits. The good news is that if you’ve already stepped up your data privacy game for GDPR, you’re already on the path to achieving CCPA compliance, although some terminology and requirements differ.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/doing-business-california-you-better-be-ready-ccpa/) [26 July 2019 — 3 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 11: Louisiana Ransomware Attack Prompts A Statewide Emergency](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/18a373b02d45b7c3ed01a5efacfff718.png) Louisiana Ransomware Attack Prompts A Statewide Emergency A wave of ransomware attacks on public schools in the southern US state of Louisiana has prompted an unusual response, as the governor declared an official emergency to kick-start a coordinated response by several state-level law-enforcement and technology agencies. This latest ransomware attack, which locks up the data on computer systems and only provides the key to free up the data if the victim pays an online ransom, continues a global wave of similar attacks that lately has targeted municipal governments as well as the healthcare and manufacturing industries.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/louisiana-ransomware-attack-prompts-statewide-emergency/) [25 July 2019 — 3 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 12: British Airways Hit with GDPR Fine, Shows the Cost of Not Protecting Customer Data](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/701297a7531d17743bf6f7c5f50e97c8.png) When Tech Conferences Are Worth The Time and Expense: How To Build The Case To Go If you work in an IT operations, cybersecurity or tech leadership role, you probably receive several tempting invitations to industry events and conferences every month. They are usually held in comfortable venues with balmy weather and lots of nearby attractions to entertain family members you might bring along. Your hosts will probably serve up some good food, drink, and entertainment ... but in a working world where there already aren’t enough hours in a week, how can you justify time away at an event in Vegas or Orlando or some other sunny clime? Before you ask your boss to pony up precious T&E budget to fund your trip, you should build a business case to justify your attendance – one that lays out the company’s return on the investment of your time.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/when-tech-conferences-are-worth-time-and-expense-how-build-case-go/) [10 July 2019 — 3 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 13: British Airways Hit with GDPR Fine, Shows the Cost of Not Protecting Customer Data](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/701297a7531d17743bf6f7c5f50e97c8.png) British Airways Hit with GDPR Fine, Shows the Cost of Not Protecting Customer Data The kaboom you heard earlier this week was the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) laying the hammer on British Airways in the form of a ₤183.39 M ($230M) fine for its failure to prevent a 2018 data breach that disclosed sensitive data on over half a million BA customers. It’s exactly the kind of disaster that BA could have avoided had it heeded our advice early last year: “Get moving fast to improve cyber protection and privacy for your customers’ sensitive data. It won’t be long before national regulatory agencies start levying massive fines on well-known companies that fail to do so.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/british-airways-hit-gdpr-fine-shows-cost-not-protecting-customer-data/) [1](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/james-slaby/page/1/) [2](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/james-slaby/page/2/) [3](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/james-slaby/page/3/) [4](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/james-slaby/page/4/)