Late last night, Microsoft released a warning to notify the public of a serious flaw in their Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). The flaw allows an attacker to run code behind the systems firewall, which gives the would-be infiltrator potentially limitless power over a given system. This security flaw affects all current versions of Windows, as well as the Remote Web Workplace function in Small Business Server 2003. Home releases of Windows such as Vista and 7 are less likely to be effected by this security flaw, as RDP is disabled by default. If RDP is enabled, users can also enable Remote Desktop’s Network Level Authentication (NLA) manually to negate the problem.

Microsoft’s official statements, along with additional information, can be found here – MS12-020.

The security flaw has been fixed by Microsoft’s March ‘Patch Tuesday’ bug fix release, which will prevent the attackers from executing code remotely without proper authentication. Microsoft is urging all Windows users to run updates as a matter of urgency. The software giant has set the flaws official ‘Exploitability Index’ to 1 (Critical), meaning serious attacks are expected within the next 30 days.

Outside of the regular bug fix update, you can also manually fix the flaw by installing Microsoft Fix It 50844 found under the ‘Fix it for me’ tab found here.

The Netwise Hosting team have already rolled out the update on all Windows system deployments within our data centres, giving our customers front-line protection as soon as it became available. However, we still urge all customers to review their own security policies in the coming days, as workarounds are expected to be in development now that attackers are aware of potential entry points. Home users should also check for security flaws, and ensure the new Microsoft Patch (or at the very least the fix to enable NLA) has been installed.

This years Data Centre World Conference and Expo takes place over two days (29th February – 1st March) at London’s Olympia Exhibition Hall. As one of the worlds premier industry-specific shows, the largest and most influential data hosting organisations from around the globe descend on London to promote their brands and services.

Though not exhibiting this year, some of the Netwise Hosting team will be in attendance to meet with some of our key suppliers and to mix with the interesting crowd the show pulls each year. One of the primary reasons for our visit this year is to provide a video testimonial for our evaporative cooling manufacturer, EcoCooling. The system has enabled our private London data centre to operate at a PUE of just 1.15, making it one of the most energy efficient in Europe.

We look forward to meeting with you at the show. If you are going, mention it on Twitter and we will make sure to come and see your stand on the day.

Experts all around the hosting industry are confirming the strength of data centre demand, despite general downturn in most major global economies. Data centre providers all around the world are proudly announcing growth across the board, a rarity for businesses operating in professional business-to-business industries in todays market conditions.

The worlds largest landlord of data centre property, Digital Reality Trust, told Data Center Knowledge of their “largest quarter of new signed leases” to date, all in times considered turbulent amongst market speculators. News across the pond in the USA is glowing to say the least, but that’s to be half expected given how the data centres operate over there; hyper-large warehouse-style data centre space enjoys economies of scale not felt in most other regions. DataCentre.me have also been sharing reports of such growth.

So how are things in Europe, where it is the quality of supplementary services that mean the most to end clients? Can such highly professional business services be enjoying similar growth to the stack-them-high, sell-them-cheap models adopted by the mega data centres of the USA? In short, yes.

Emerging economies in Eastern Europe are hungry of the levels of service on offer in the likes of the UK, meaning demand is very much on the rise. UK data centre space, particularly that inside the capital, is running out. New data centres are being built to fulfil demands, and are in many cases sold out before completion (Sentrum’s Croydon facility, for example). But why is this the case?

Its simple to see why this is when looking at current trends in computing around the world. Everything is moving to the cloud. From application hosting like Office 365 and Google Docs, to desktop virtualisation and browser-only computing as with Chromebooks, everything is becoming a readily available streaming service. OnLive allows you to stream game content to your home PC or internet enabled TV, NetFlix and LoveFilm allow for the streaming of HD films straight over the net. This trend is set to grow rapidly, as more and more services hit the cloud – and of course this means more data centre space taken up by new streaming content businesses.

Netwise Hosting, as a dynamic provider of flexible, bespoke data centre space, has enjoyed remarkable interest and subsequent growth since completion of its Netwise Hosting South facility in mid-late 2011. If you are looking for data centre space or other associated services (dedicated servers etc) in the UK, there has never been a better time to act. Space is in high-demand, and service quality is far in excess of that experienced in many other major hosting locations.

Contact us today for more information on our data centre, and how we can help meet the requirements of your service deployment.