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The first protocol is called POP, or Post Office Protocol. Your imagination might immediately jump to ?snail mail,? a common term for sending messages through the traditional postal service. POP works by downloading messages to your device through your installed email client. These messages are then deleted from the email server. This keeps you from downloading the same messages to your other devices. This means that if you wanted to check your email on a desktop, you would then be unable to see the same message on your smartphone. This is why the preferred method of handling multi-device email is IMAP, or Internet Message Access Protocol. Compared to the way POP handles your email messages, IMAP actually keeps the messages stored live on the email server rather than downloading them directly to the device. Basically, whenever you perform any action with a message in your inbox, you?re performing that message directly on the mail server. Any email clients that you use will see the changes as they happen. Naturally, this is the best way to experience email, as your messages will always be in sync. Most modern email solutions allow for IMAP, with some going so far as to default to it. Some of the solutions that support IMAP include Google?s Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla?s Thunderbird, with Apple?s iCloud mail defaulting to it. Depending on your business? communication solutions, you?ll want to work with your service provider to ensure that your email access protocol is right for you. This is especially important if your business requires the use of multiple devices. For example, most employees have at least a smartphone, but they also might have a laptop or tablet that they use for work purposes. If these devices don?t have unified access to company information, you might encounter miscommunications which result in loss of productivity. Therefore, you should take the time to ensure that your business is using email as effectively as possible. Does your business need assistance with email or integrating it on your staff?s mobile devices? White Mountain IT Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Network security is a crucial consideration for every single business, especially ones that utilize the Internet. There were a lot of negatives and some positives that came out of 2017 in regards to cybersecurity. Below we have listed some of the most troubling cybersecurity statistics collected in 2017, and we?ve followed it up with suggestions on how to keep your business safe in 2018. Statistic for 2017: In the United States, 61% of small businesses experienced a cyberattack and 54% experienced a data breach that had severe financial consequences in 2017. This year saw phishing/social engineering scams out number web-based attacks for the first time. Phishing (or the attempt to use fraudulent emails that look legitimate to obtain sensitive information to exploit for financial gain), and social engineering (or the psychological manipulation that persuades others into offering personal information), make up about 48% of all cyberattacks. SMB Action for 2018: One way to reduce the risk that your company will fall victim to phishing and social engineering to make sure that your employees are aware of up-to-date cybersecurity best practices and follow them at all times. Even something as simple as opening an email attachment can have a catastrophic impact on your business. Creating an Acceptable Use of Technology policy is a great way to make sure that your employees know what is expected of them when it comes to technology and your business. Statistic for 2017: Despite that fact that many business owners feel like their employees and/or contractors would never do anything to cause data loss or put their network at risk, more than half (54%) of the data breaches for small business in 2017 came from employee/contractor negligence, up from just 48% the previous year. While negligence was at the top of the list of was followed closely by third party mistakes (43%) and errors in system or operating processes (34%). Surprisingly, however, nearly ? of those companies who experienced a breach stated that their company could not determine what caused the incident. SMB Action for 2018: Short of having a computer forensics unit on standby, businesses will need to improve their resilience by properly training their staff in, at the very least, the industry standard of protecting an organization?s network. Enforcing strict guidelines on how people access and interact with data will go a long way toward mitigating organizational risk. Employing the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to encrypt remote access data flow provides a strong defense against the interception of data. Organizations will also need to follow strict procedure to close any vulnerabilities they may have with software systems, or former employee, contractor, or vendor access to their network infrastructure. The more diligent organizations are in training staff, and enacting a fast-acting strategy against closing vulnerabilities, the better chance they have of coming through 2018 unscathed. Statistic for 2017: One question that is frequently overlooked during most run-of-the-mill security surveys is what it is that small businesses believe to be the most likely target of cybercrime attacks on their business – and are therefore most likely to be protected by SMBs. According to the results of this survey, about 63% of small business owners felt that the theft of their customer records was of primary concern. Followed by the theft of their intellectual property […]

Defining CrimesAs we mentioned, while credit card theft and identity theft are related to one another, they aren?t terms that should be used interchangeably. Rather, credit card theft is just one of many kinds of identity theft. Think of it this way: cars, trucks, and SUVs are all types of motor vehicle. In this example, credit card theft is the car, while identity theft is represented by all varieties of motor vehicle–including trucks and SUVs. Summed up, credit card theft is what happens when someone is able to access your account and make purchases without your permission. While this isn?t the only form of identity theft, it is certainly a prevalent one. A 2015 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a section of the U.S. Department of Justice, states that 8.6 million Americans of age 16 or older were victimized in 2014 alone, out of a total of 17.6 million affected by identity theft. Identity theft is a blanket term for criminal activity that falls into one of three categories: Fraud or misuse of an existing account — This kind of identity theft is the most common, with 16.4 million of 2014?s 17.6 million victims being targeted by this variety of identity theft. When a thief obtains access to an account of yours–through a credit card, for example–and uses it to their own ends, or passes bad checks through it, it falls under this category. Fraud or misuse of a new account — If a criminal obtains your personal information and uses it to open an account in your name, you are made a victim of this kind of identity theft. This kind of identity theft can range from relatively small, like opening a line of credit or a checking account, to large, like applying for a fraudulent mortgage on a house. This was reported about 1.1 million times in 2014. Fraud or misuse of personal information — All other uses of stolen personal information or data fall under this category, which held 713,000 of 2014?s reported cases. In this form of identity theft, someone improperly uses your information for their benefit. This may be to find employment, rent property, see a doctor or even to lie to the authorities. Protecting Yourself (and Your Clients and Employees) from Identity TheftOf course, you?ve probably already considered how much personal or otherwise sensitive data you have stored on your business network. There?s your business? financial data, with employee information if they are paid through direct deposit bundled in there. Additionally, if any of your clients have financial data on file, that certainly counts as well. This also includes any non-financial records your business may keep on your clients. In short, you have plenty of data that needs to be protected, including credit card and other personally identifiable information. White Mountain IT Services can help you keep it safe. Call us at (603) 889-0800 for more information.

Insider threats contribute to a significant number of data breaches. These cases of data exposure are enabled by a member of your staff, whether they intended to harm your business or simply made an honest mistake. With so much focus directed toward the threats out in the world, sometimes we forget that the biggest dangers can be among our ranks. To make up for this, we?ll discuss a few ways to keep insider threats from doing your business too much harm. As we begin, let?s refer to some stats that were drawn from a Forrester Research study. Insider threats cause 40% of data breaches. 26% of these data breaches are malicious. Accidents and general use cause 56% of these breaches. Clearly, simple mistakes contribute the most to data breaches. To prepare for these circumstances, let?s examine some of the most common errors made by end users. Misplacing Devices while TravelingMost workers have some sort of commute to look forward to as they go to and from the office, and business often requires an employee to travel on behalf of the company. This creates an opportunity, should the employee have a work device with them, for that device to be lost–left at airport security or in the backseat of an Uber–or stolen. Remind your employees how easily such devices can disappear, and that they need to be cognizant of them as they are traveling. Using Unfamiliar Flash DrivesFlash drives are everywhere these days, which isn?t necessarily a good thing for your business. While many are harmless, the little storage devices can easily be converted into a vehicle for malware. If this is the case, once the USB drive is plugged in, the workstation and quite possibly your entire network could be infected. While this doesn?t mean that flash drives should be forbidden from your office, you should mandate that IT takes a look at them all before they are used. Letting Devices Connect Willy-NillyChances are almost everybody in your office has a smartphone, along with a laptop and various other devices that all utilize an Internet connection–which means that potential points of access to your network have increased considerably. To counter this, you need to put a Bring Your Own Device (or BYOD) policy in place that protects both your employees and your business. Utilizing a comprehensive mobile device management platform, a BYOD policy will dictate what control you have over user access and data transmission using employee and customer mobile devices. Being Careless With Company InformationBack in World War II, there was a propaganda campaign by the United States Office of War Information warning citizens against the possibility of providing enemy spies with information: ?Loose lips sink ships.? The same can be said of most business operations. Seemingly innocuous choices, like using a personal email account for business purposes, could potentially lead to a data leak. Personal email simply doesn?t have the same protections as business-class email does–and that?s just one example of how your data could be left vulnerable through employee negligence. If your organization has difficulties with your end users making mistakes, reach out to us for help. Call White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800 for more information.

Whether you are suspicious or not, today seems like a good day to talk out what can happen if some bad luck interferes with your business. Disasters can come in all shapes and sizes, from a freak storm destroying your place of business and every IT component you had inside, to an employee whose path was crossed by a black cat accidentally spilling their coffee on their keyboard as they access some key data. With so much that can go wrong on the best of days, can you really afford to go without a little insurance? After all, the majority of businesses that are unable to recover their lost data are out of business within a year–a statistic only made more alarming when one considers how many small and medium-sized businesses don?t bother backing up their data. These businesses are like the character in every horror movie that says that there?s ?nothing to worry about,? Remember, these characters are usually the next to fall into the monster?s clutches. However, instead of being dragged to their fate off-camera, unprepared businesses can do something about their prospects of survival. A Backup and Disaster Recovery solution (or BDR) can be a big help where your business? safety and security is concerned. Your BDR should be cloud-based and needs to be ready to help your business bounce back from whatever threatens it. Here are three different methods that a BDR uses to make that happen. Cloud StorageUsing the cloud to store a data backup is firmly a best practice in today?s business computing needs. First of all, the cloud allows your BDR device to keep your backups away from your physical location. This keeps your backups safe from being destroyed by the same disaster that eliminated the original copy of your critical data. Take a Backup Multiple Times a DayIn the past, tape backups were the method of choice for most backup needs. However, these systems had a few drawbacks that have rendered them obsolete. For example, taking a backup used so many resources, they could only be performed after-hours. This meant that you could potentially lose a full day of progress, especially if the backup was never activated at the end of the day. On the other hand, a BDR that utilizes the cloud to take backups can take multiple backups each day, reducing the amount of potential data loss. Reduced DowntimeDowntime is never a good thing to experience, so minimizing it as much as possible is ideal for any business. A BDR can help to do just that, either by acting as a temporary server while needed, and restore your data instantaneously to a network-attached device, allowing your operations to resume with minimal time wasted. Whether you break a mirror at the start of your day, or you step on a crack in the walkway, we can help protect your business against data threats of all kinds. Reach out to us at (603) 889-0800 for help with your data practices–before it’s too late!