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The Equifax Problem During the months of May and July of 2017, a credit-reporting firm called Equifax fell victim to a data breach that exposed a whopping 148.1 million records containing personally identifiable information. To put this in perspective, the Equifax data breach exposed almost half of the population of the United States of America. In the wake of this breach, the former Equifax CEO Richard Smith was cross-examined by Congress. Smith?s defense argued that ?human and technology errors? were at the heart of the issue. Ultimately, the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Greg Walden, came to the following conclusion: ?I don?t think that we can pass a law that fixes stupid.? How to Fix Your Data Security While it?s true that there is no guarantee legislation would resolve the issue, you still need to make sure that your organization is doing the best that it can to keep threats from infiltrating its network. You can begin by implementing specific standards on a company-wide level or a case-by-case level. Here are some ideas that you can start with: Start with compliance: Compliance regulations don?t always have data security in mind. That being said, it?s still an important part of managing your data security, as you could potentially be subject to fines and other troubling regulations. Resolve vulnerabilities: 99 percent of exploits rely on vulnerabilities remaining unresolved in network infrastructures. These exploits also often exploit vulnerabilities that are at least a half a year old. You should make patching these vulnerabilities a priority so that you can best protect your data. Centralize your data security: There needs to be someone at the helm of your data security endeavors. If there isn?t, you make protecting your data much more difficult. This person should be responsible for implementing access control and making sure that nobody can access data that they wouldn?t need for their ordinary workday. Encouraging Employee Security Employees hold more sway over your business? security than they may realize. This makes it difficult to protect important assets, because if you?re overly cautious, you could be compromising your business? ability to operate as intended. For your benefit, here are a couple of ways that your organization can help employees remain cognizant of their responsibilities. Lazy credential habits: Password problems have persisted in business for a long time. Employees should never reuse passwords or usernames for every account that they have. Each password should be a complex, containing letters, numbers, and symbols to maximize security. You can use a password management system if this gets to be a bit too much for your employees. Oversharing information: You should help your employees work toward limiting just how much information they share about themselves on social media so that passwords are not as easily predicted. Avoid using personal anecdotes whenever possible, and restrict who can see what information to minimize the chances of this happening. You also don?t want information to spread outside of the office, as an invoice or receipt with a customer number could be all a hacker needs to cause trouble. Using the wrong Wi-Fi: Public Wi-Fi is dangerous and therefore, not the ideal way to access secure data. You should work together with your employees to make sure that they have secure access to company documents whenever they […]

The cloud provides all manner of benefits to your business, including user productivity and efficiency. Here are some of the best ways you can take full advantage of the cloud. Asset Virtualization If your organization uses lots of different hardware and software, you can create virtual environments where they are stored and accessed as needed. This can be anything from a server operating system to a software solution. Basically, you?re storing these assets on someone else?s computer where they can be accessed at a later date from any of your connected devices. It?s definitely easier than installing an application on each of your workstations or purchasing multiple servers for each individual operating system. Software that is stored in the cloud is much more accessible to your organization?s employees. Basically, you store the application in the cloud so that it can be accessed on just about any device. In most cases, this can be anything ranging from a smartphone to a full-fledged desktop. Some applications like Gmail and Microsoft Office 365 can be accessed on just about any device, allowing for seamless productivity. Hardware virtualization also provides your organization with the opportunity to consolidate your server infrastructure, further enhancing operations. Data Access and Storage Data storage is also one of the other primary functions of cloud computing. Without cloud storage, none of its other functions would be possible. Cloud-based data storage is much more accessible on connected devices, allowing for productive use of data as long as the device has a way to interact with the data itself. The cloud also plays a pivotal role in data backup and disaster recovery. What?s the best way to take advantage of the cloud for your business? You can find out by calling White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.

What Are Computer Forensics, and What Are They Used For? Computer forensics is generally considered the application of special processes and techniques that can be used to analyze information on a computer or network. Forensics are also generally meant to protect evidence that could potentially be used in a trial. Once the warrant required has been issued, a forensic technician will go on-site to isolate the device from the Internet or other attached networks that could influence its contents. They then copy over every file on the device and dig through them for anything of note. It?s important that the investigator makes a copy of each file so that the original evidence can be preserved. Even something as simple as accessing a file can lead to slight alterations, making the evidence of little consequence in a court of law, civil or criminal case. Computer forensics can be used for any number of different cases. Depending on the nature of the crime, any device could be used to obtain evidence of what is, was, or will be happening. These types of investigation take an extremely close look at the data, including not just the files that are currently there, but at the metadata for just about any items on the device. This includes looking at when the file was first created, when it was edited and saved, and who might have been the one to carry out these actions. This process can be used to solve any number of cases. Here are just a couple to look at as an example: Intellectual Property Theft and Industrial Espionage Employment Disputes Bankruptcy Investigations Inappropriate Email and Internet Usage in the Workplace Regulatory Compliance Forgeries and Fraud Investigations Alternative Sources of Analysts Law enforcement agencies are certainly not the only ones that place an emphasis on computer forensics. There are many others that also have accredited laboratories. You might be surprised to hear about a couple of these, as they include Walmart, American Express, and Target (which is kind of hilarious in the wake of the Target data breach not too long ago). There are also numerous independent labs that, while lacking accreditation, can potentially outperform law enforcement agencies under the right conditions. Independent labs are often onboarded by law enforcement to help with crime solving. The perfect example of this is Target, whose labs have helped with ?felony, homicide, and special-circumstances cases? in the past. These claims come from a spokesperson who, in 2008, claimed that about a quarter of cases managed by Target?s forensic laboratory were external and had nothing to do with the company itself. How Does Your Technology Compare? If your organization would like a team on your side to ensure that security is always a top priority, reach out to White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800. We aren?t a dedicated computer forensics agency, but we know all about network security and compliance issues.

First, let?s outline some situations where streaming may be acceptable in the workplace. Acceptable Uses of Streaming Not all streaming is bad for your organization?s productivity. In certain cases, it can even be beneficial. For example, some employees work best when they are listening to music. In other cases, they may even need to drown out noise in the office, which can easily be done with their preferred tunes and a set of noise canceling headphones. This keeps everyone happy for the most part, and it?s as simple as allowing employees access to an online application like Spotify and Pandora. There also might be reason to watch a video during your ordinary workday. If it?s an important news article pertinent to your industry or workplace trends, then perhaps it?s worth taking a look at it. Training videos, webinars, and other similar videos are in a similar boat, allowing you to learn something valuable through the experience. Regardless, it?s likely that you?ll be in a position where you need to stream something, whether you want to or not. Unacceptable Uses for Streaming Some employees just have a tendency to stream video at all times, which basically leads to them not getting as much work done. In other words, they are becoming a liability to both their own work ethic and your business?s mission. Streaming can also use up a lot of your bandwidth, which can create slowdown on your network for every other user. If you have employees who just can?t stay off of streaming services like Youtube, Netflix, and Hulu, you can implement a content filter on a user basis. This can keep them focused on their work throughout the day by banning suspicious or wasteful sites. In fact, social media services and streaming websites can often be infested with malware and other threats, so it might not be a bad idea to consider banning them in the first place for those who are proving problematic. Does your business need a content filter? White Mountain IT Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Analyzing the Costs While most users will understand cost in its literal term, it?s critical that you consider the other factors that make up cost. By definition, cost is what you give up in order to attain something else. Cost primarily focuses on what you?re giving up instead of what you get, so it tends to look at concepts such as pricing or other manners of investment. Cost can also include factors other than monetary value, including time, effort, or other resources. Analyzing cost can help you optimize the way that your assets are applied, thus reducing the amount of waste and ensuring the desired outcome for your organization. That being said, the cost of an item is only half the battle. Analyzing Value If cost is what you give up in order to receive something, then value is what you get out of something. Value can be inherently based on financial gain, but many times value is actually the total yield versus the total investment. One of the best examples is starting off communications with a new client, as one good action could create a considerably more valuable relationship with them as time goes on. An example where we can see the difference between cost and value for technology would be purchasing a new workstation. It?s one thing to look at the price tag, but this doesn?t give you the whole picture. Your old workstation hasn?t cost you much financially because you paid it off a long time ago, whereas a new computer is of considerable cost. However, your old workstation might suffer from issues related to outdated operating systems or components, making it a difficult piece of technology to work with from. The value in this case is saved time and enhanced productivity. Calculating Your IT?s Value If you ever need to calculate how much a certain action or decision will cost your company in terms of value, you can try to compare it mathematically. After all, numbers don?t lie. This helps you keep track of what you?ve invested, as well as how much you?re getting in return for your investment. To determine the value of something, you can use a simple ?x=y? equation. In this case, the invested cost is ?x,? while the result (the value) is ?y.? Now, let?s try out an example. You need to determine if your business? technology investment actually equals productivity. In this case, you can use a simple ratio method. Let?s say you invest $25 into a workstation and increase productivity by 10%, when investing an extra $30 will improve efficiency by 17%. If investing $31 only raises productivity by 16%, instead of investing more in something else, you just narrow down the cost until you have achieved the maximum value per dollar. White Mountain IT Services can help your organization get more value out of its technology. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.