Education Center

By now you’ve likely heard about the massive ransomware attack that plagued companies worldwide in May, called WannaCry (a.k.a. WannaCrypt, Wanna Decryptor or WCry).

WannaCry is a type of virus known as ransomware. WannaCry targeted Windows computers that were missing certain patches, or security updates. This virus got to those vulnerable computers through the Internet, or by users interacting with malicious emails. If successful, the malware encrypted files and asked for a ransom in cyber currency, Bitcoin, for the decryption key. It would also install a back door that must be removed after encryption.

In today’s fiercely competitive, technology-fueled world, there is one thing that businesses must provide their customers to survive: a great customer experience.

This cyclical process begins with the sales cycle, follows through post-sale support, and then repeats itself when the customer is ready to buy again. It involves selling more, fulfilling orders faster, and offering the best customer service.

Fraud and embezzlement – two words business owners never want to hear.

With recent hacker news coverage, you’d think that online attacks would represent the largest losses for companies. But that’s not the case. The largest losses usually come from internal attacks.

You want to trust that your people have your best interests at heart, and many of them do. But that level of trust can get companies in trouble. It’s just too easy for fraud and embezzlement to go undetected sometimes. Setting up controls to prevent it doesn’t mean you don’t trust people – it just protects you from the risks.  

What can you do to help prevent these things from happening in your company?

As an owner or business executive, have you ever contemplated your business objectives and come to realize that your technology is in the way of your plans?

Have you had a great idea about improving business operations or productivity and found out that you just don’t have the right computer systems, or that it will cost a ton of money to upgrade? Would you like to know what the new trends are and how they could benefit you?

Technology planning helps answer the above questions and many more that you may not think to ask. The primary goal of a technology plan is to support your business plan objectives and to keep productivity and compliance issues front and center.

Here are the five steps to creating and executing a successful strategic technology plan.

The term “managed services” gets thrown around a lot these days. Many providers in varying industries – from HVAC to uniform services – have some sort of “managed” product. Not surprisingly, the IT industry has a managed service as well. This article helps define what managed IT services is. 

It’s that time of year again – the annual NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship known as March Madness began March 14, 2017. College basketball fans will be filling out their brackets, watching games online, researching their teams, tracking game updates, and much more.

Information technology (IT) is the foundation of operations for many companies. It can propel the organization to a new level when utilized effectively. On the other hand, if IT isn’t managed properly, it can quickly become an expensive anchor to growth.

Ryan loved tweaking photos on his Android phone.  

He’d heard rave reviews from his friends with iPhones about Prisma, a new iOS app for image editing. So when he heard Prisma would soon be released for Android, he logged in to the Google Play Store to see if it was there yet.

To his surprise, he found one that looked just like what his friends were describing. Delighted, he downloaded and started using it. Meanwhile, the app—a fake—was busy installing a Trojan horse on his phone.

When he got to work the next day, he logged his phone into the company network as usual. The malware jumped from his phone to the network. Yet no one knew. Not yet, but that was about to change…

Cybersecurity is a hot topic these days. New threats are cropping up daily and hackers are using more sophisticated tactics to lure people into falling for their scams.

Hackers are exceptionally good at tying their schemes to trends, events, or a time of year. They fit themselves in to what’s already going on in your life, which increases the probability that you’ll take the bait. We are in one of the times right now – tax season.

These first few months of the year are when we’re gathering documentation from financial institutions, discussing details with tax professionals, filing taxes, and potentially communicating with the IRS about statements, bills, or refunds. The hackers know this and they capitalize on it.

With every New Year comes the chance to reset priorities. Unfortunately, when the topic of implementing a data recovery plan comes up, the comment we most often hear is “I know I should, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet…”

So…what if the pilot on the next flight you’re on announces right after takeoff, “I know we should have run through our preflight checklist, but we haven’t gotten around to it yet…”???

Without a solid backup and recovery plan in place, just one mission-critical file that gets lost or stolen could put your company in a world of serious hurt. When you compare the high cost of replacement, repair and recovery to the relatively trivial price of keeping good backups, the choice is an absolute no-brainer.