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This is the result of one year of training where Watson sifted through immense amounts of data to find information pertaining to cyber attacks. Watson can dig through various news sources and online databases to take the good fight to the latest security problems, and by taking a look at what the industry?s current best practices are, it?s even capable of prioritizing the most dangerous threats out there. Granted, Watson wasn?t built from the ground up to be the best detective in the world. At first, it couldn?t even identify what ransomware was. It actually thought that ransomware was the name of a place, rather than the nastiest threat that you could run into on the Internet. Thanks to Watson studying a ton of data, the supercomputer can now take the next step in its journey to end all cybercrime. The computer will look through security events from all kinds of companies in an attempt to find patterns or trends that hint toward actual threats, and ones that are caused by simple user error. Of course, any new technology will suffer from the same faults as you might expect, including the learning curve. However, the capabilities of Watson to find potential threats can only increase as development continues. Unfortunately, not all organizations have the luxury of relying on a supercomputer to manage their network security, so you need to make arrangements to ensure that your business isn?t vulnerable to potential threats. Network security is something that all businesses need to consider. White Mountain IT Services can equip your organization with what?s called a Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution. A UTM includes a firewall, antivirus, spam blocker, and content filter, allowing your organization to detect threats and eliminate problems in a prompt manner. It?s a great way to protect your business from the dangers of the web without hindering operations. Furthermore, it?s an automated solution, so while it?s certainly no Watson, you?ll have your own detective-like security solution looking for dangerous entities on your network. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Too many businesses find themselves in this exact situation, suddenly left “up the creek without a paddle” as they discover their data has been lost. There are plenty of causes for data loss, such as user error, malicious invaders, and hardware failure. These circumstances can have catastrophic effects on a business; effects that often lead to the business in question closing its doors for good. Fortunately, this doesn?t always have to be the case. A good way to avoid this data-loss scenario is to have a backup solution implemented by a trusted provider. They can ensure that your data is backed up incrementally, allowing data redundancy as often as every 15 minutes. That way, even if your systems fail, the amount of progress you have made on a task will not be completely lost. Today is World Backup Day, and at White Mountain IT Services we dedicate a lot of time and effort to implementing and managing comprehensive data backup and disaster recovery protocols for New Hampshire businesses. To that end, we have the solution your business needs to protect and preserve your information. For more information about data backup, business continuity, and hardware and network management, call us today at (603) 889-0800. One of our knowledgeable professionals can work with you to procure and deploy the technology solutions your company needs to forge ahead.

Set Up and Utilize Private VLANsA Private VLAN (virtual LAN) gives your organization?s IT administrator more control over your hosted VoIP solution. It acts as a single access and uplink point to connect a device to a network or server. By partitioning your network, you present your administrators with the ability to secure specific devices, essentially creating separate networks. By being able to single out devices, it makes it easier to group devices together, even if they don?t share the same network switch. A private VLAN gives your organization’s another layer of security while allowing access to the same feature-rich phone system; and, it helps mitigate risk, something every business is looking for in their security solutions. Track Your UsageNo matter what platform VoIP solution you use, there is a chance it may get hacked. Most of the hacks that businesses see are ATO attacks, or traffic pumps, which aim to utilize the target organization’s phone system for calls that will cost them capital. To be sure to avoid this type of interference, tracking your organization?s call usage is a solid practice. Having an up-front conversation with your VoIP vendor about what they are doing to protect your business can be a good strategy to secure it from taking on parasitic users that drain your company?s resources. Enable Strong Authentication ProceduresYou can?t talk about security today without mentioning access control. To ensure that only your users are able to access your hosted VoIP solution, there are several practices you can implement. You can go ahead and implement a two-factor authentication strategy, or go for the gusto and deploy a powerful identity management solution. Whatever you decide, securing your solution through all applicable manners of entry is important. This includes the physical phones on your desk, mobile applications, and anywhere access can be granted. A hosted VoIP solution is a great service to implement for the growing business. It allows you to save money while receiving all the dynamic features you are looking for in a business communications solution. For more information about hosted VoIP, communications, or how to better secure your company from threats, call White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800.

Set Up and Utilize Private VLANsA Private VLAN (virtual LAN) gives your organization?s IT administrator more control over your hosted VoIP solution. It acts as a single access and uplink point to connect a device to a network or server. By partitioning your network, you present your administrators with the ability to secure specific devices, essentially creating separate networks. By being able to single out devices, it makes it easier to group devices together, even if they don?t share the same network switch. A private VLAN gives your organization’s another layer of security while allowing access to the same feature-rich phone system; and, it helps mitigate risk, something every business is looking for in their security solutions. Track Your UsageNo matter what platform VoIP solution you use, there is a chance it may get hacked. Most of the hacks that businesses see are ATO attacks, or traffic pumps, which aim to utilize the target organization’s phone system for calls that will cost them capital. To be sure to avoid this type of interference, tracking your organization?s call usage is a solid practice. Having an up-front conversation with your VoIP vendor about what they are doing to protect your business can be a good strategy to secure it from taking on parasitic users that drain your company?s resources. Enable Strong Authentication ProceduresYou can?t talk about security today without mentioning access control. To ensure that only your users are able to access your hosted VoIP solution, there are several practices you can implement. You can go ahead and implement a two-factor authentication strategy, or go for the gusto and deploy a powerful identity management solution. Whatever you decide, securing your solution through all applicable manners of entry is important. This includes the physical phones on your desk, mobile applications, and anywhere access can be granted. A hosted VoIP solution is a great service to implement for the growing business. It allows you to save money while receiving all the dynamic features you are looking for in a business communications solution. For more information about hosted VoIP, communications, or how to better secure your company from threats, call White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800.

Before you start to panic over a new type of ransomware, you should know that Osiris is a particular strain of the Locky ransomware. The only difference seems to be the file extension for the encrypted files, which is ?.osiris.? The main takeaway from this event is that sometimes even the good guys don?t have what it takes to protect themselves from unfortunate events–a truth all-too-painfully real for a business owner. This type of ransomware attack started off just like any other. Out of nowhere, the police were shown a message that claimed their files had been locked down, with paying a fee of $4,000 being the only way of recovering them. The cause for this ransomware was a spoofed email that claimed to be from another part of the police department. In an attempt to get rid of the ransomware, the police followed what?s commonly called a best practice for this type of situation: restore a backed-up copy of the server?s data. Unfortunately for them, the backup that they tried to restore from had also been infected, as it was taken after the systems were infected with the ransomware. As you can imagine, this caused quite a bit of trouble for the Cockrell Police Department. Included in the encrypted files were photographic and video evidence that could have been used in the prosecution of criminals. Whether or not this particular instance will mean anything for legal battles in the future is yet to be determined, but it sure is convenient for those who are involved with them. What this shows us is that ransomware is a threat for anyone who relies on data to perform their daily duties, businesses notwithstanding. A ransomware attack at the wrong time could be enough to completely upend operations, and it forces you to reconsider your approach to cybersecurity. You need to consider every single user of your email solution is a potential outlet of a ransomware attack. It also emphasizes the importance of keeping current backups archived in an off-site location so that you can guarantee you won?t be put in the same situation as these police officers. If your business wants to take a stand against ransomware, White Mountain IT Services can serve and protect you. We can help you implement spam-blocking solutions and security measures to keep ransomware from installing on your devices in the first place. Furthermore, we can help your employees know what to look for so that they don?t make the same mistakes as the Cockrell P.D. To learn more about network security, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.