Recent Blog Posts

Creating a Dropdown Menu in Microsoft Excel First, you need to create the list that your dropdown will reference as its options. On an Excel sheet, create a new table that contains the various options you want included in your dropdown. Once that?s completed, select the cell where you want your drop-down menu to appear. Once the right cell is selected, navigate to the Ribbon and find the Data tab, and from there, find Data Validation. In the window that appears, go to the Settings tab and?under the Allow box?select List. In the Source box, identify the range that is populated by the table you created with your options, omitting the cell that contains the title. If it will be okay for people to leave the selection blank, make sure that the Ignore blank box is checked, and of course the In-cell dropdown box is as well. Under the Input Message tab, you can set your cell to display a message when it is selected by checking the Show input message when cell is selected box. You can then add a title and the message you want displayed. The Error Alert tab allows you to notify someone when they?ve entered something that isn?t included in your predetermined list. Check the Show error alert after invalid data is entered box and provide your desired title and message in the appropriate boxes. You also need to pick the Style of the alert. Information or Warning won?t stop someone from putting data not included in the list in, and will display a blue circle with an ?I? in it or the yellow warning triangle respectively. Stop will prevent someone from entering data not included in your list at all. Creating a Dropdown Menu in Google Sheets Google Sheets presents you with a few methods to create a dropdown menu. If you want to use specific words or numbers, you should first select the cell or range of cells you want to use for your dropdown and select Data from the toolbar, followed by Data validation. A panel will open, where you can select List from a range to define the Criteria. A menu will open, where you should select List of items. In the box next to the selection, type out all the options you want your dropdown list to present, only separated by commas. For instance: banana,orange,apple,grape A small downwards arrow will appear by default in the cells used for your dropdown, but you can disable this by unchecking Show dropdown list in cell. Click Save, and you have your dropdown list. However, if you want to base your dropdown off of data already in your spreadsheet, you should again select the range of cells you want populated by your list. Again, select Data and Data validation, and leave Criteria set to List from a range. In the box, provide the range of cells that already have your list populated. So, if your list ranges from F5 to F12, type in F5:F12. You can also click on the small grid pattern that appears in the entry box to manually select the cells to include. Click Save, and once again, you have your dropdown list. Hopefully, this tip helps you organize data that much more effectively. Reach out to White Mountain IT Services to find out […]

What is Passwordless Authentication? A simple way to look at passwordless authentication is to consider what can be involved in multifactor authentication and simply omit the password element of it. The hard truth of the matter is that passwords just aren?t that secure?in fact, they were never really intended as a security measure. The original shared networks more used them to confirm which data to retrieve than they did to keep others from accessing this data. It wasn?t security, it was convenience. So, technically speaking, we?ve all been relying on what was never really meant to be a security system in the first place. The other forms of authentication, however, have always meant to be security measures, which is why we?ve seen more and more personal identification numbers (PIN) or biometric-based forms. Google is Implementing Passkeys in Chrome and Android This is a big step for Google to make in exacerbating the difficulties that an attacker will have. The idea of the passkey is that a user can create and store them in their hardware, also backing them up in the cloud, to access their different accounts and data without a password. By eliminating passwords in this way, phishing risks are greatly diminished, password reuse is eliminated, and it isn?t as though you can reuse something you don?t know at all.  Again, this is big. Reducing, if not eliminating outright, these passwords can significantly improve your cybersecurity. Time will only tell how widespread these alternatives will become in the near future? but considering that the market is currently valued in the billions and growing, we?re confident that we?ll continue seeing news. In the meantime, White Mountain IT Services is here to assist you with your cybersecurity needs. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more about what we can do to assist you.

Here?s the thing though; those common email scams we look back on and laugh about today were common for a reason?they worked sometimes. Folks fell for them. Gullible widows wired cash overseas in the hopes that the Prince of Nigeria would share some of his vast fortunes with them, and life-sentence bachelors fell for the steamy romance that started with a canned email. Modern spammers are driven by success. The goal isn?t to just flood your inbox with junk mail, but instead they see it as a numbers game. A certain percentage of users fall for different spam campaigns, and the scammers have learned over the many years that certain tactics have a better conversion rate. With these tactics, they know if they send x-number of emails out, a certain percentage of people will fall for the trap. To protect yourself from dangerous spam scams today, you need to be aware of these tactics. Email Spoofing You wouldn?t expect an email from Amazon, Paypal, your bank, Microsoft, or Google to be dangerous, right? What about an email from your family or friends, your boss, or your partner? Spammers can easily mimic email addresses that look legitimate in order to give you a sense of trust. Traditional email phishing attacks have been doing this for a long time, where the scammers pose as legitimate companies like Google, Amazon, or your bank. These types of attacks are easy to just blanket out to a million inboxes, because there?s a pretty good chance most recipients will have an Amazon account, or a Google account, or a Microsoft account, etc. They can also be targeted toward specific contacts who definitely do business with an entity. If your bank suffers a data breach where the list of email addresses of their users are leaked, spammers can easily target all of them with personalized scams. Thanks to social media, it?s also pretty easy to determine who a person interacts with in their daily life. You could easily look up a friend or colleague and usually figure out their family members, and with a little digging, figure out what their email addresses are. It only takes a little technical knowhow to spoof those email addresses and run highly personalized spam campaigns. Homograph and Punycode Attacks These tactics are a little harder to wrap your head around if you aren?t technical, but essentially this is one method scammers can use to make an email seem more legitimate. A homograph, in the English language, is where two words look the same and are spelled the same, but have different meanings. For example, the word bow (like a bow made of ribbon on a gift) and the word bow (like to take a bow after a performance), or the word tear (like what comes out of your eyes when you cry) and tear (the act of ripping something). When it comes to online scams, homograph attacks are used to trick a recipient into trusting an email or website. It?s a little complicated to explain, but essentially non-traditional keyboard characters get translated to look like traditional letters. This means someone can easily spoof, say, Paypal.com, without actually owning or controlling the domain for Paypal.com. Homograph and Punycode attacks don?t just take place in email either. Fake versions of legitimate websites can […]

What Is Zero-Trust? Basically, it is the removal of IT-related trust from your network. That means devices that you?ve put on the network yourself. Essentially, what this means is that even devices that are on the correct side of your network, those being the ones that have already connected to it, cannot be trusted to be inherently secure. How Does It Work and Is It Right for Me? Zero-trust security policies are not for all businesses, because they can actually do more harm than good as far as productivity goes. You will have to ascertain if your company?s network fits the bill here. It is important that organizations think of this less as a guideline and more like an approach to network design, meaning that this should not be considered a steadfast rule. Naturally, all businesses will have different needs, and some companies just might not be able to make a zero-trust policy work. This is particularly notable for companies that have large computing infrastructures, as the number of devices involved and the sheer cost of moving in this direction could eat holes in your business? budget for as long as you are building the strategy out. Businesses might have to acquire new hardware and services, train technicians, and frequently update all of this technology to keep up with security standards. Furthermore, companies that utilize a Bring Your Own Device policy (BYOD) have an even harder time implementing a comprehensive zero-trust policy. Despite these difficulties, it doesn’t hurt to consider a zero-trust policy for your business. Here are five reasons why it works: You gain greater control over data delegation to the appropriate users. Provides a construct for stronger authentication and authorization policies. It can provide a much cleaner user experience (single sign-on). Every action and device is subject to policy, leaving nothing to chance. Mandates the need for comprehensive access logs. Start Securing Your Systems Today There is a lot to be done to protect your business from the plethora of threats out there, and we guarantee that working with a cybersecurity professional like those at White Mountain IT Services will give you the best shot at protecting your business as possible. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

First, let?s review what this idea of a four-day workweek looks like in practice. A Four-Day Workweek Doesn?t Mean Four Longer Days or Less Pay The concept of the four-day workweek is based on the expectation that the workers involved will be paid the same as they would have if they had worked a five-day week. It?s based on the 100-80-100 model posed by 4 Day Week Global (a non-for-profit community that supports a four-day workweek), that suggests that employees should get 100% of the pay for working 80% while still accomplishing 100% productivity. A lofty goal, for certain?and one that it seems is perfectly attainable, based on recent events. Assorted Pilot Projects Have Proved the Efficacy of the Four-Day Workweek 4 Day Week Global, as its name would suggest, is a global organization. As such, there have been pilot projects conducted not only in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, but also in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. While we may have already spoiled the results, the level of success that participating companies have exhibited is impressive, to say the least. For instance, in the UK?s pilot of the four-day workweek, which ranged across industries and involved 3,300 workers from 70 companies, a full 95% of surveyed companies reported consistent or even improved productivity. The breakdown of these responses is as follows: 46% reported maintained productivity 34% reported slight improvements to productivity 15% reported significant productivity improvements Most telling, perhaps, is that 86% are considering making the switch a permanent one. Why Does the Four-Day Workweek Produce as Much as the Five-Day Workweek? Admittedly, it sounds counterintuitive to the point of craziness?how is it that less time spent at work results in equal, if not more, work being done? There are actually a few ways that businesses that have switched to a four-day week have seen benefits. A reduction of ?work theater,? or an employee trying to look busy instead of actually being busy, is one impact that has led to more efficiency. Staff burnout and turnover are also greatly reduced and their impacts on productivity are diminished as a result. Microsoft Japan actually saw productivity jump up 40% after it adopted the four-day workweek. The cornerstone of this kind of strategy is to focus less on the time spent working, and more on the output that is achieved. Similar Impacts Were Seen During the Remote Work Boom It hasn?t been nearly long enough to warrant a reminder of why remote work suddenly became such a popular option for so many. However, similar trends were seen with the sudden adoption of remote operations?indicating that the old ways of working are no longer the best option available. Now, while the adoption of remote work happened very quickly out of necessity, any widespread adoption of the four-day workweek is likely to take more time?it really comes down to the company culture of each organization and the willingness of its leadership to adopt whatever new thing is making waves. Therefore, how soon it will be before a widespread four-day work week is seen is anyone?s guess. Regardless of When You Work, We?re Here to Make Sure You Can That?s the big benefit of managed IT services?we?re here whenever you need us and our support to […]