"PHISHING ATTACKS PREVALENT AMONG SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES"

Does this common headline make you wonder if you have taken the right steps to protect your small and medium-sized business (SMB)? Let's assume you have a robust firewall, up-to-date antivirus, and a current patching program. Your remote employees are working from a private VPN, ensuring secure network access. You've created a password policy requiring complex passwords that must be changed frequently. And recently, you've implemented multi-factor authentication (MFA), adding extra security against compromised credentials. If this describes your network security, then you are on the right track, but have you considered the human element?

The prevalence of video conferencing is changing the way we conduct business. As we adapt to this new meeting practice, cybercriminals are adapting as well. The recent surge in use of cloud-based video conferencing technologies creates opportunities for cybercriminals to reengineer their phishing tactics.

Every morning we log on to our corporate email and begin the day sifting through a myriad of messages, most of which are equally important and needing action. Likely, you haven't even finished your first cup of coffee and not focused on the cybercriminal who is hoping you will react to their highly sophisticated phishing email waiting in your Inbox. So how do you recognize and react to the myriad of fake emails coming at you multiple times a day? 

UPDATED MAY 2020

Most businesses have some form of a wireless network (WiFi) in place, but is it really necessary to set up a separate guest wireless access? There are a few good reasons why this is an important step to take. We know having WiFi is imperative for employees who move throughout the office, but it also makes sense to offer wireless access to your guests, customers, vendors, and auditors. The question is how to do it safely?

If you haven’t heard the term “SD-WAN” (software-defined wide area network) by now, you’re either awakening from a two-year coma, or you haven’t been paying close attention to the onslaught of demonstrative offers, vendor emails, and introductory phone calls likely thrown in your direction.

The topic of SD-WAN has become the moniker for “building your company’s next WAN design." Needless to say, the term is out there as a hot topic, information is readily available, and most people feel that SD-WAN will be a positive disruption over the next three to five years. Due to the fact that clients want to build a better WAN experience with the benefit of lower costs, this makes perfect sense. Let's explore. 

Has anyone at your organization ever received an email that was not what they thought it would be? Maybe it was a message from a vendor looking to verify sensitive account information; a message from an accountant sending completed tax returns in the month of August; or, a note from what appears to be from your healthcare insurance company asking you to confirm your date of birth in order to process a claim? 

Have you ever been responsible for moving your organization from one office space to another? If so, you know the burden of everything that needs to be thought of; from decor, to furniture, to kitchen space and, most importantly, technology. After all, technology is what keeps the business running, whether it's corresponding with your clients, maintaining your core business applications, or just ensuring monitors turn on the first morning after the big move.

Microsoft has once again added Systems Engineering (SE) to the FY17 Small Business (SMB) Managed Partner List (MPL). According to Microsoft, SE has demonstrated a continued focus on cloud solutions and modernizing today's SMB business environments. 

Without contest, Microsoft Outlook has been the cornerstone of my professional development. It was not always that way; before breaking into the world of IT, I used Outlook indifferently within various jobs. I read and replied to internal company emails without much thought about what it could do for me beyond that.

The world of hyperconvergence is relatively new, bringing forth a new approach to technology that should not be ignored. As Information Technology (IT) is ever-changing and continuously becoming more streamlined and sophisticated, it's important for businesses to stay "in the know" on the latest and greatest and to understand if it's the right 'next step' to take. To fully meet the needs of the ever-evolving and more tech-savvy clients businesses serve, it's a 'must' to have what IT takes to keep them satisfied. So, what is hyperconvergence and what does IT do?