While we may be IT professionals and—as such—take security extremely seriously, it can occasionally help to discuss business cybersecurity with a different approach… such as a daytime soap opera. What follows is one of these occasions.
Welcome to Oak Falls, a cozy little coastal hamlet shielded by the trees that give it its name. Unfortunately, these trees do little to protect the residents from the cyberthreats that loom over us all. Like bytes through the Internet, these are the Zero-Days of Our Lives.
Good communication is key for any business. Today, there are tons of ways companies stay connected: phone calls, emails, messaging apps, and video meetings. While all these tools can be helpful, they can also get confusing if not managed properly. Let’s break down the basics of business communication so it’s easy to understand.
You know what they say: “Don’t make a promise that you can’t keep.” Making promises to your clients and customers can be a sticky business, and we all know that IT can be a bit unpredictable, making promises difficult to manage. Still, we’re confident that we can promise the following three guarantees for your business.
Accessibility is a crucial but often underappreciated aspect of modern life… particularly in the workplace and the technology enabling any work that needs to be done. Fortunately, the Windows OS has quite a few features intended to boost its accessibility baked in.
Let’s review some of them so you know what’s available to you.
Following the heinous attacks that caused the Twin Towers to fall in New York on September 11, 2001, you heard about terrorism every single day for years. The “War on Terror” waged for over a decade toppled multiple governments and set a precedent that terrorists will be relentlessly pursued. While there have been a few massive terrorist events that have shocked the world in the subsequent years after 9/11, cyberspace has become one of the biggest battlegrounds. Today, we’ll briefly discuss the rise of cyberterrorism.
Unless you’ve been living completely off the grid, you’ve probably heard of Facebook, Twitter (now X), and Instagram. Most people are on at least one of these platforms—or maybe they’re on TikTok, YouTube, or LinkedIn. Businesses have also relied on these platforms for marketing. But even though these companies are worth billions, people are starting to question whether these platforms can keep going as they are. In this blog, we’ll break down some of the problems with today’s biggest social media platforms and why alternatives might be the future.
Phishing attacks are the most common security risk your business faces, and if you’re not careful, you (or your employees) could fall victim to them with ease. All it takes is clicking on the wrong link or downloading the wrong file, and boom, your business is dealing with a full-blown security breach. To prevent this, we want to cover some of the major signs you’re dealing with a phishing message and what you can do about it.
Software does plenty for your business, so it is inevitable that you are going to need to make plans to get applications that can best help it run. Acquiring software used in mission-critical tasks can be tough because there are similar products with slightly different integrations and slightly different features that could determine the effectiveness and ROI it will have for your business. Let’s take a look at how to get the right, and right amount, of software and how having too much technology can be a drain on your business.
The Internet of Things, or IoT, refers to the countless devices connected to the internet today. These include everything from smartwatches to connected thermostats. For businesses, figuring out how to use IoT effectively can feel overwhelming. Not only do you have to think about the new possibilities these devices bring, but you also need to take their security seriously—especially since many IoT devices have little to no built-in protection. Let’s take a look at why IoT matters and how you can use it to be an effective tool for your business.
Supercharging your productivity is all about making small, deliberate changes that create lasting impacts. Unfortunately, there is no roadmap to follow, so you will have to figure it out for yourself. In today’s blog, we talk about prioritization, time management, and focus and how they each work to help you get more done.
If your business has a server room—or maybe just a small, stuffy closet with some machines in it—you might wonder if you’re taking care of it properly. Servers need constant care to work their best, and if you’re unsure how to manage them, it’s smart to get help from a managed IT company. This way, your servers are in good hands, and you get the most out of them.
This is the final part in our 5-part series. You are on the last leg of the journey, and just a few steps away from drastically improving your overall cybersecurity. We wanted to thank you in advance for going through these steps, and if you are finding this article for the first time, be sure to click on #Password Guide at the bottom of this page to see all of the other posts in the series.
This is part 4 of our 5-part series on getting your digital life in order! So far, we’ve discussed the importance of using strong, unique passwords for all of your online accounts, how to establish a primary email address so all of your accounts are tied to a single inbox, how to set up MFA to secure that email and your other accounts, and finally, we’re going to discuss setting up a password manager and going through the process of logging all of your accounts into that password manager.
In the last two parts, we walked you through the importance of strong, unique passwords, as well as establishing a primary email address that you will use for controlling and managing your accounts. Having everything in one secure place can make things a whole lot easier. Now we’re going to cover setting up Multi-Factor Authentication to add an extra layer of security to your primary email and your other accounts.
Previously, we covered why it’s important to protect your online accounts and why it’s critical that you use strong passwords. We also provided some good tips for creating unique, strong passwords that are easier to remember. You’ll be using that method to create a couple of strong passwords, but ultimately, you’ll be using a password manager by the time you are done with this 5-part guide.
In this part, we’re going to do some housekeeping to make sure that all of your important online accounts are tied to a single email address, and we’re going to walk you through steps to secure that email account.
We’re doing something a little different this time around. Normally, we try to keep the focus on business technology, but this article is geared towards the typical low-tech home user.
These days, nearly all human beings are wrapped up in a little technology, and there isn’t a huge divide between protecting yourself as an employee at a company versus protecting yourself as an individual—at least as far as cybersecurity habits go. Even if you feel like you are pretty low-tech, you still have to worry about protecting your identity, financial information, and personally identifiable information online.
We encourage you to share this article around with everyone you can, from students to those enjoying their retirement. We all have family or friends who have a loose ream of paper they scrawl their passwords onto, or might even have worse habits that they think are perfectly healthy that are putting them at risk. This article might help them reduce the risk of expensive, frustrating problems.
If you were sent this article, hello! There is someone who cares about your safety online and wants to try to make your digital life a little easier. We hope you find this guide useful, and we’d love to get feedback from you if you have any!
Who makes the decisions related to technology for your business? If you’re the one calling the shots, can you honestly say you have all the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions regarding your technology infrastructure’s future? If the answer is “no,” we’ve got just the service for you: a virtual CIO.
Imagine one of your employees receiving a phishing message in their email inbox. Would they fall for it or report it to the appropriate individuals within your business? With phishing training, you can take the guesswork out of this scenario and know—for sure—that your team knows how to respond to a potential phishing scheme.