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Let?s go over why a unified communications system is precisely the thing to satisfy this need. Understanding Unified Communications When you hear the term ?unified communications,? you should know that it describes a business communications strategy that relies on a diverse mix of solutions to ensure that everyone is able to collaborate freely and comprehensively. In fact, it isn?t uncommon to see this strategy referred to as UCC, or unified communications and collaboration. Of course, while communications and collaboration are closely related, they are not synonymous terms. How Communications and Collaboration Differ As a real-life example, let?s say that Mary and Bob are neighbors who both enjoy gardening. ?Communication? would describe the fact that Mary and Bob could converse with one another, without considering what the subject is. While Mary and Bob could very well communicate about their gardens, they could also communicate about the weather, the latest episode of a TV show they both watch, or any other topic. ?Collaboration? would be more accurately demonstrated if they spent the time they were communicating by exchanging gardening tips or cultivating their shared compost pile. So, some communication is necessary to collaborate, but there can be communication without collaboration. How Unified Communications Offer Benefits There are considerable benefits that businesses can enjoy by introducing unified communications to their operations. Teams can work more productively and perform better. With improved access to shared resources and the ability to collaborate effectively using their UC tools, more higher quality work can be accomplished by your employees. This is the case whether your team is in-house or operating remotely. User experience is improved. By giving your team the tools they need to work together properly, their overall experience will be elevated. This will not only allow them to be more productive, as we mentioned, but it will also assist your staff?s workplace satisfaction levels. Improved rates help businesses budget more effectively. Due to the cloud-based nature of UC platforms, they can be budgeted as an operational expense, rather than the far less predictable capital expense. This makes your business? available finances much more flexible. Tie communication into everything you do. This is where the ?unified? comes into unified communication. The idea is that all communication automatically flows and gets tracked. All communication for a project stays available for everyone working on the project. Nothing gets lost in the mix, and no one, including your clients and customers, are left out of the loop. White Mountain IT Services is here to help businesses with their essential business technology needs, including the implementation and maintenance of unified communication platforms. To learn more (or to get started) reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

How Impactful Can Remote Work Be? According to a recent survey by Intermedia, there have been plenty of impacts to businesses that should only motivate these businesses to continue it. For instance, in this study, owners of the 250 businesses surveyed indicated that they had experienced an assortment of positive influences, such as: Increases in employee availability in 19 percent of these businesses Increased job satisfaction?15 percent?and life satisfaction?seven percent?alike Decreased overhead costs Improved employee attitudes Reduced work-related stress Increased engagement These businesses had primarily operated out of a centralized office beforehand, at a rate of 85 percent. Since then, that number has dropped to 26 percent as remote work has been embraced. Conversely, the use of video conferencing jumped up by 27 percent, from 57 percent to 84 percent. This makes a lot of sense. After all, many businesses have needed to stay open in order to survive (which will continue for the foreseeable future) while simultaneously trying to preserve the safety of their employees, clients, and customers. Will Remote Work Stick Around? While it may still seem optimistic to look to a post-pandemic future, it is unlikely that many businesses will resume their unofficial moratorium on remote work. The largest concern that many of the survey?s respondents had were themed around engagement?how to engage and attract new and returning clients when an in-person meeting was once the preferred tactic for doing so. It is also important to mention, however, that technology restrictions were not the source of this unease. Just look at the jump in conferencing use that we mentioned above. Therefore, it seems overwhelmingly sure that many businesses will continue to implement remote work options in some shape or form even after the immediate need to do so has passed. After all, if a team is happier and more satisfied working remotely while still accomplishing as much as they could in the office, offering that freedom to them only makes sense. White Mountain IT Services is here to help your business deploy and manage its remote teams and technologies, among other crucial IT services. To learn more about the litany of solutions we offer, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

As you might imagine, your criteria for a business email should differ from what the average private email user may consider. A personal email account, or one that a private user would likely make use of, has a few standard qualities: Free to use Limited storage space and features Generic Domain, like gmail-dot-com or outlook-dot-com This is all just fine for a private user, but for a business? purposes, these options fall short. Limited storage space alone would make email far less convenient for the business in question, the lack of features could complicate business processes, and the generic URL renders your communications unrecognizable at first glance. While ?free? can be hard to argue with, the costs that you?re trading for that price tag make this option a non-starter. Instead, a business will need more control over its email platform, which has led to many hosting their own Exchange servers. While this option works, it is not without its assorted challenges, such as: A need for greater technical skill and experience A larger time investment for set up and maintenance An increased chance of significant downtime Spam filtering will cost extra in time and finances All responsibility belongs to the business for upkeep and updates Any one of these issues would be extremely costly on its own, never mind combined. Fortunately, there is another option, one that pairs the benefits of a local email server with the advantages of cloud email. Hosted Email Businesses now have enterprise-level hosted email solutions available to them that are commonly included in productivity suites. For example, both Google?s G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 have an enterprise-level email paired with each account. Utilizing these platforms can provide a plethora of benefits for your business, such as: No added infrastructure costs Scalable number of accounts No more email infrastructure management Unified billing Built-in productivity suites Built-in management and security No software licensing or maintenance Scalable storage Provided email backup Access from anywhere, at any time Need a solid set of productivity solutions for a more business-friendly expense? Give our IT professionals a call at (603) 889-0800 to discuss what White Mountain IT Services can do for you.

What is Ransomware? Simply put, ransomware is malware that holds either files or entire drives ransom, until the perpetrator of the attack is paid via cryptocurrency. If the scammer isn?t paid in the time outlined, the data/drives are deleted, and if not properly backed up, lost forever. You can see how this can be a major problem for any business unfortunate enough to be victimized by ransomware.  Ransomware has been around for quite a while, but over the past few years, with the availability of an alternate source of payment (cryptocurrency), ransomware attacks have been commonplace. As media attention surrounding these attacks has grown, businesses have started being more vigilant. How Businesses Ward Off Ransomware It?s not just the one thing that can keep ransomware from being a problem for your business, but there are a few actions that need to be taken to help avoid exposure to these nefarious strains of code. Let?s take a look at a few now: Have a strategy for emails – Most ransomware attacks are sent through phishing emails. Make sure that you–and your staff–understands the best practices of dealing with emails and how to spot fraudulent messages.  Have a backup strategy – Ransomware is a fabulous example of why organizations need to have offsite data backup in place. If your systems are hit by ransomware, having offsite backup in place will allow you to rest assured that your data remains unencrypted and available for use.  Patch your security tools – One major problem with many organizations? cybersecurity platforms is that the tools they rely on for network and data security aren?t always updated regularly. Keeping your antivirus and firewalls updated is a good practice regardless of the presence of ransomware.  Never pay – There have been high-profile ransomware attacks where the victims pay the ransom. There is no guarantee that these scammers will unencrypt the files/drives or won?t leave other malware behind after they successfully extort you.  White Mountain IT Services is the trusted name in New Hampshire when it comes to helping businesses utilize IT the right way. Our expert technicians can help you outfit your IT infrastructure with the tools you need to keep your network up, running, and free from downtime-causing malware. Call us today at (603) 889-0800 to learn more. 

What is Credential Stuffing? Credential stuffing is an aptly named method for an attacker to gain access to an account. It?s also the reason why we always recommend that you use a different username and password for each account. Let?s say that Website A, a popular social media platform, suffered a data breach, and some of its info was leaked, with usernames and passwords included in the mix. This means that John Q. Hacker can take this list, go to other sites, and start trying them out. If a user was reusing their credentials, our hacker has a match and now has access to their account and information, whatever it may be. So, by essentially running through a spreadsheet, an attacker can gain access to far more accounts than they should. The Current Problem In their most recent report, Akamai (a platform-based service provider) had reviewed data collected throughout 2018 and 2019 to deliver insights to the media industry. As they explain in their included letter from the editor, the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic quickly caused them to reconsider. Thanks to this reconsideration, the report also shows trends as influenced by the pandemic. As you might imagine, these trends are quite telling. Credential stuffing exploded as the coronavirus tightened its hold. In fact, reviewing the documents that Akamai produced shows that their graphs needed to be dramatically increased in scale, tens of millions transitioning to hundreds of millions as numbers increased fourfold. As Europe locked down, a video media service was hit on March 26 by over 364 million malicious login attempts, with over 6 billion attempts taking place in that month alone. The economics of these stolen credentials also share some insights. In the beginning of Q1 2020, researchers took note that video media accounts were priced at about $1 to $5, with bundled services coming in at $10 to $45 each. However, these prices plummeted by the end of Q1 with all the new credentials that were made available. Why This Matters As we have already stated, these kinds of attacks are exactly why it is recommended that access credentials aren?t recycled. ?Why would anyone hack into my stuff?? We?ve all had this rationalization sound off in our heads as we?re asked to provide a password for a new account. We wonder if it really matters how secure our password is, after all, we?re not anyone of interest, so is all that security really worth the effort? Besides, it?s easier to just remember the one. As a result, a sizable number of people have the same usernames and passwords on multiple platforms. This is where the problem lies. Sure, some person accessing your Netflix account is one thing, but someone accessing your bank, or your tax returns, or your work email (sending us down another rabbit hole) is quite another. So, where do we go from here? Well, first thing, you need to go over your own accounts and make sure that all of them are properly secured. At White Mountain IT Services, we tend to recommend that your passwords include the following, to help boost their security: Lots of characters A diverse mix of letters, numbers, and symbols No personally identifiable details (like your pet?s name, hobbies, etc.) Alternatively, you could consider a passphrase. A passphrase (like ?flankingcollisioncurtlytabletbovine?) takes […]