In 2020, many organizations pivoted their business models due to the pandemic. If you're one of these companies, you may have developed new processes and procedures that allowed you to safely continue operations and maintain high customer service levels. Now that the dust has begun to settle, it is an excellent opportunity to evaluate or reevaluate any new cybersecurity risks that could have been created by these changes. In this article, we offer practical guidance on how to classify and measure your cybersecurity risks for effective cybersecurity risk management.

At Systems Engineering, employees are our number one resource.  Our success depends on our dedicated and skilled staff who share our values and contribute to our vision.  The Systems Engineering Spotlight gives a brief but revealing look at one of our valuable members.

Dear friends,

In many respects, the year 2020 has been among the most challenging in memory. Undoubtedly many of us will welcome the new year as not just another year, but a reminder that life does move on, we do heal ourselves, and we do get better, stronger, smarter, and more resilient with every challenge met. 

Educational institutions are heavily dependent upon technology to support today’s digital learning environments.  At a minimum, schools need high speed internet access, telecommunications services, and internal connections in order for faculty and students to access the digital resources they need. In addition, your teachers and students need a secure learning environment in which to teach and learn. When resources and budgets are constrained, E-rate, a technology federal funding program, can help schools obtain the technologies necessary to facilitate an effective and modern educational environment.

UPDATE FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 21

As you may have seen in the headlines, Malwarebytes recently announced it was targeted by the same threat actor who attacked SolarWinds. After an extensive investigation, Malwarebytes reported their Microsoft Office 365 and Azure environments were targeted, but they found “no evidence of unauthorized access or compromise in any internal on-premises and production environments.”

Have you ever questioned how you can measure the quality of a managed service provider (MSP), and their stance on security. Do they put security first within their own organization? Well, the good news is a reputable MSP can answer this question by producing an impartial 3rd party SOC 2 Compliance audit!  Take a look at what is involved in this voluntary annual review, and how the results can be an invaluable piece of information for leveling up trust within an MSP.

What would it be like for your organization if there was an IT disaster such as an office fire, systems failure, or ransomware attack? If all your data was lost, how long would it take for your organization to be functional again? Minutes, hours, days, or weeks? How would this affect your customers and your employees? These are types of questions business leaders should ask when thinking about their data backup solutions and recovery needs.

Our internship program at Systems Engineering has always played a significant role in building a vibrant tech workforce community in New England. Through the years, our relationships with standout educational institutions, such as USM, Colby, UMO, and UNH, have provided the opportunity to meet exceptional students across New England who have a deep desire to build their skills in the IT Industry. 

It seems we can’t go more than 24 hours without hearing about the latest and greatest data breach affecting millions. These headlines are worrisome and has lead to many sleepless nights for business leaders at small and medium-sized businesses. 

One of the most important documents  your organization can create is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP). This plan is a comprehensive review of how your organization will continue to operate when responding to unplanned disasters that impact business processes, applications, and IT infrastructure. We are all familiar with the burdens that the COVID-19 pandemic placed on businesses throughout the world. Companies that had a BCP in place were much more prepared than those without. The level of response this pandemic required highlighted the importance of business continuity planning and raised some unforeseeable questions that all companies should now ask themselves.