Recent Blog Posts
Ransomware Ransomware, in many ways is the most honest of malware. Once it sets up shop on your network or device, you are given an option: pay or else. With the number of devices with Internet connectivity growing quickly; and, the amount every business seems to be relying on these devices, it presents plenty of opportunities for threat actors, like those that disseminate ransomware, to do so. Despite the nature of ransomware to infiltrate and take over your network, if you don?t let the ransomware bug in, you won?t ever have to deal with it. That is why proactive measures are vital to an organization?s anti-ransomware policies. Your staff will have to shoulder a lot of the responsibility of keeping malware out of your businesses network, which is why training them to look for suspicious variables in the emails they receive is key. In 2018, the best defense against ransomware is awareness. How to Promote Organizational Cybersecurity Awareness First you will want to ascertain if your business is in an industry that will be more apt to be targeted by hackers and their ransomware. If you hold a great deal of sensitive data, or are heavily reliant on your information systems, your business is a popular choice to be a victim of ransomware. Industries like healthcare, education, government, finance, and utilities (all known for having individual personal and financial information) get the most ransomware attacks, but other businesses have been known to fall victim as well. Even with the increase in ransomware attacks, and the new and different features each strain has, the main reason your organization would be hit with a ransomware attack is because it was directed at an organization that could provide a nice return for the hackers involved. From 2016-2017 there was nearly a 74 percent increase in the types of ransomware, but saw those strains used on many less businesses than in the past. Ransomware is also a competition. Since the advent of the ransomware malware, cybersecurity has changed. Today anyone who chooses to go down that route can purchase a ransomware-as-a-service model that provides developers financial gain and give less-than-expert hackers a tool in which to bring wholesale destruction to their enemy?s computing networks. For the IT administrator, there are a lot of potential problems. Doing what you can to ensure that your organization?s staff is trained on industry best practices, that your network is outfitted with a powerful security platform, and that it is constantly monitored and frequently maintained, is the only way that you can ward off a potential ransomware attack. For those companies who are looking for a comprehensive network and cybersecurity platform, or that is interested in backing up their data to ensure that any malware won?t take their business down with them, call the IT professionals at White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800.
Data Backup is now a mission-critical process that is neglected far too often, unfortunately. In fact, studies show that 30 percent of people have never backed up their data – despite being inundated by a myriad of situations where data could be lost, stolen, or corrupted. With 113 phones being stolen every minute, and 1-in-10 computers being infected with viruses and malware every month, protecting your data has to become a priority. Frankly, data is a very easy thing to lose without the right precautions in place, which is precisely why World Backup Day was created to promote data protection. Nobody wants to see an organization fail, and the statistics for a business? survival after a data loss event indicate that if you are not strategically protecting your digital assets, your company is one situation away from catastrophe. Maintaining a comprehensive data backup can negate the effects of such an event, allowing your business to bounce back. In order to do so effectively, however, there need to be certain standards met by any backup solution your business puts in place. They include: Redundancy It isn?t uncommon for businesses to streamline their operations, eliminating redundancies wherever they can. When it comes to data backup, the opposite is actually preferable. To optimize your data?s survivability, your backup should consist of more than one copy of your data – safety in numbers, so to speak. Frequency Of course, there?s a limit to how useful an older data backup will be for your business. The progress that would be lost between the time of the backup and the time of the data loss incident would be less effective than one that is current. The best data backups are taken frequently enough to protect your progress without causing downtime. Off-Site Your backup won?t do you much good if the same disaster destroys it along with your original data. To keep this from happening, you need to make sure that your backup is kept separate and disconnected from your network. Your business needs its data in order to be successful. Observing World Backup Day is a great opportunity to ensure that it will be safe. Visit the official World Backup Day website for more information.
Of course, you should always check with IT to make sure it is okay before you make any changes to your system, or ideally, have IT handle it on your behalf. 1. Use Fast Start-up Windows 10 comes equipped with a special function expressly intended to speed up the time it takes Windows to boot. Fast Start-up saves your boot information in a special file system, which makes the startup process faster the next time. Instead of going to sleep or turning off completely, your device hovers somewhere in between. To activate Fast Start-up, open your Control Panel and navigate to Power Options (you may need to search for it). From there, select Choose what the power buttons do. One of your checkbox options will be Turn on fast start-up. Don?t forget to save your changes once you?re done. 2. Edit Your Start-up Programs Windows has a list of programs that start up along with the operating system. While this list is meant to improve the user experience, it can easily become overcrowded and bloated, ultimately bogging down your system. Trimming some unnecessary programs from this process can help speed things back up. Pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc will open the Task Manager and clicking the Start-up tab will bring up this list, where you can disable any unwanted applications. It is especially important that you check with IT to make sure this isn?t a task they want to have a hand in, as disabling the wrong program could cause you quite a few problems. 3. Simple Hardware Updates Finally, giving your equipment a few component upgrades can improve your performance considerably. For example, if you aren?t using an SSD drive to hold your Windows 10 installation, you are missing out on some speed benefits there alone. Adding a small SSD drive to run the operating system, and some additional RAM as well, can likely give you the performance boost you are looking for. Is your computer running slow? We can help you! Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 today.
Today, we?ll review a few ways that the IoT can be leveraged to your workplace?s benefit. Why the IoT?Setting the current security concerns of the IoT aside for a moment, the technology promises clear benefits for the 30 million small businesses in the United States. Not only can it greatly simplify the workload that these businesses must contend with throughout the day, it enables so many other business-critical tasks to be completed without worry of human error or neglect. Simply put, the IoT can directly benefit your business in three simple ways: reducing your operating costs, increasing your organizational productivity, and enabling you to embrace new opportunities. Decreased Operating CostsWhen it comes to the Internet of Things, automation is the name of the game. Locks that automatically engage after a certain time or lights that can be deactivated via a mobile application are two simple examples of how the IoT permits a greater level of control over the office environment. Furthermore, these technologies (along with many others) can help you to trim back your operating costs by enabling you to control the office environment based on predetermined conditions. Increased ProductivityThe IoT also provides numerous means to give your organization a boost to its productivity. For instance, the increasingly popular virtual assistants of today – like Amazon?s Alexa or the Google Assistant – offer functions that make many of the rote, time-consuming tasks that the business environment requires as simple as just saying what you want. Your productivity can also be boosted through the consolidation of your work-essential data into one place through the Internet of Things. With this approach, the time you spend jumping from browser to application to a different tab in the browser can be significantly chopped down and consolidated. Finally, the IoT can also be leveraged as a way to keep your team organized and informed. By combining IoT technologies with automation processes, you can ensure that your employees are receiving important messages in a timely manner. Whether you want to remind the team of an impending meeting or keep them abreast of business developments, automation with the IoT can enable you to do so. Embracing OpportunityAdmittedly, the IoT initially seems to be the kind of tool that is reserved for large corporations. Despite this impression, there are plenty of connected devices that a small business can utilize to improve their processes as well. Security features, like smart locks and Internet-connected cameras, can enable a business owner to keep their establishment safe and secured. Other IoT-related technologies, including chatbots and automation, can assist in advancing the business by taking some of the responsibility off of the human element and free them up to attend to other critical tasks. However, Caution Is NeededOf course, you can?t ignore the various shortcomings that plague the IoT, either. Many Internet-connected devices feature substandard security measures, and the novelty of these devices make them appealing for many business owners who seek to be on the cutting edge. As a result, it is easy to make your business vulnerable, especially if extraneous and unnecessary IoT technologies are providing additional points of entrance. White Mountain IT Services can assist you in establishing which IoT devices will prove to be a benefit for your business, as well as helping you to remain secure as you leverage them. Call […]
A Refresher Many will likely remember when it was discovered last year that Equifax, one of the three major credit reporting bureaus, had been breached. As a result of this breach, approximately 143 million people were potentially affected, with various forms of personally identifiable information made available for cybercriminals to use. Doing the math, this meant that 44 percent of the United States? total population could have their information out and available to those who would misuse it. Then, in October 2017, it was announced that an investigation revealed that 2.5 million more people were exposed than first thought. This brought the total number of potential victims up to 145.5 million. Unfortunately, it would seem this is a running total. Equifax has since discovered 2.4 million more victims, whose names and partial driver’s license numbers were accessed and stolen. Fortunately, this data – while not worthless – is of limited value to a cybercriminal, especially when compared to the data that other victims lost, like Social Security numbers. Regardless, it is still important to view reminders of events like the Equifax breach as what they are: reminders. As such, they serve as an opportunity to reflect on what is to be learned from events like these. Lessons from the Breach There are a few takeaways to be had from a data breach event, the first of which being: there?s always going to be another data breach. The unfortunate reality is, with valuable information stored by so many entities, data is always at risk of being stolen. So much information is shared, in fact, that it is not only possible for one?s data to be breached, it is now probable. As a user in such a world, there are steps you need to take to prepare for this paradigm. First and foremost, you need to prepare yourself on a personal level. Regardless of how cautious you are about your personal data, you need to accept that, yes, it will probably be stolen one day – and not necessarily from you. As the Equifax breach and countless others have proven, the companies that collect your data aren?t always storing it in the most secure way. So, even if you shred your bank statements and follow all the rules when it comes to your passwords, there?s still a chance that your data could find its way into the wrong hands thanks to someone else?s negligence or bad luck. This is why you also need to be prepared to both prevent and detect attempts of crimes like identity theft. This can be accomplished through the use of credit freezes, locks, and alerts. You also need to be sure that you are prepared to share this information with your clients and customers, should you find that your records were breached. Taking ownership of the event and doing everything possible to help those involved through it will help reduce the ill will that is felt toward your company. Unfortunately, data breaches aren?t going to stop happening. As a company, it is up to your organization to best prepare for them, and should one strike, handle it as best you can. White Mountain IT Services can help. Call us today at (603) 889-0800.
