What you need to know about Android malware
Smartphones are like palm-sized computers, so you should protect them the way you do your laptop and desktop. While you don’t need to install bulky security software to protect against cyberthreats, there are some effective steps to keep cybercriminals at bay: Mobile malware MO Mobile malware can be just as harmful to a business’s network as infected desktops and laptops are. Potential problems include overcharges on phone bills, stolen data, intercepted messages, phishing attacks, and fake notifications to one’s contact list. Most examples of malware come from applications downloaded from third-party app stores. These give hackers access to passwords, user account information, and other sensitive personal data. Since many business users link their Android devices to each other, malware could transfer across multiple devices with ease. Who is responsible? The burden doesn’t fall solely on smartphone users. App stores are responsible, too. In one instance, malware-ridden banking and weather apps became available in the Google Play Store. Victims were urged to update their phones with the latest security patches in response to the issue. How to avoid mobile malware The Google Play Store isn’t 100% secure, but downloading from established app stores — and not from little-known and less secure ones — reduces the probability of downloading malicious apps. In cases when an infected app makes its way to the store and starts getting lots of downloads, Google will be quick to remove it and make everyone aware of the risks of using that app. Despite app stores’ best efforts, however, it’s nearly impossible to prevent mobile malware from getting through. That’s why it pays to read user reviews where infected users post detailed warnings. Also, regularly updating your mobile device’s operating system and security software helps prevent infection, as the latest versions are patched against the latest known cyberthreats. Malware doesn’t discriminate, so it will find a way to infect your device if your software isn’t up to date. To find out whether your business devices are safe and fully protected, consult our cybersecurity experts today. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Why hyperconvergence could be the solution your business needs
For many small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), resources can be scarce and, very often, IT takes a back seat. Hyperconverged IT infrastructures are a great way to keep your IT updated without the heavy expenses normally associated with it. What are hyperconverged infrastructures? In a traditional IT environment, networking, server, and storage hardware need to be purchased separately and configured to work together as a cohesive system. Later, manufacturers started offering converged systems — pre-built “stacks” of hardware that work together right out of the box and come with advanced management tools and tech support. Now, hyperconverged infrastructure packs the entire stack into one box and configures everything to be managed via a single interface. Not only is this box more affordable and easier to use, but it can also be used like Lego — just keep adding boxes as your business grows. Streamlined upgrades through software-centric computing Putting everything you need into a single box and then wrapping it with a flexible and adaptable management software makes receiving regular patches and updates more convenient. Restructuring or adding more hardware later is also easier than ever before. Unified administration Hyperconvergence consolidates a number of separate functions and services into one piece of technology. Your network manager can tweak storage, cloud, backup, and database settings from one control center, saving time and effort. Simple scalability Different hyperconvergence boxes come in different sizes and capabilities, and all it takes to scale up is to install additional units based on your forecasted needs. If all you need is a little extra, you can simply purchase a small upgrade. But when you’re expecting rapid growth, a bigger box should help you cope with the demands of bigger operations. An added benefit — hyperconverged boxes make for faster deployment of IT services to remote offices as well. Stronger data protections Complexity is the Achilles’ heel of IT networks. Staying on top of a mounting pile of account management settings, malware definitions, and data storage settings is next to impossible. A hyperconverged infrastructure combats this problem, as your servers and virtual machines form an all-in-one service. Keep in mind that while hyperconvergence is simpler than most virtualization solutions, rarely is it simple enough to be handled by in-house IT departments of SMBs. A managed services provider (MSP) is better equipped to handle the growth and evolution of technology catalyzed by hyperconvergence. The better your technology, the faster you can respond to business challenges. And the faster you can address your shifting needs, the less downtime you’ll experience. Call us today to find the hyperconverged system that best fits your business. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Simple tips to prevent Mac ransomware
High-profile ransomware cases include the WannaCry and Petya outbreaks in 2017, which infected hundreds of thousands of Windows PCs around the world. However, Mac computers can get ransomware too. If you have a Mac, it’s important that you follow the security best practices below. What is Mac ransomware? Ransomware is a type of malicious program that forcefully holds computer systems hostage until the ransom is paid in untraceable cryptocurrency. It’s typically distributed using phishing emails, but it can also spread via unsecured networks. When Mac computers are infected by ransomware, users won’t be able to access their data since it’s fully encrypted. Ransomware messages will also threaten to release the information to the public or destroy sensitive data if victims don’t pay by a certain deadline. Healthcare and finance organizations, in particular, are more likely to pay the ransom because they need constant access to critical data. Types of Mac ransomware Even though Mac ransomware is less prevalent than Windows ransomware, there have been some cases in the past couple of years. In 2016, KeRanger ransomware was distributed through popular BitTorrent app Transmission. KeRanger was signed with an authorized security certificate, allowing it to evade the macOS’s built-in security measures. The ransomware also infected more than 7,000 Mac computers. Patcher was another strain of Mac ransomware that was discovered in 2017. This type of ransomware disguised itself as a patching app for programs like Microsoft Office. When opened, Patcher would encrypt files in user directories and ask for a ransom paid in Bitcoin. The problem was the ransomware was so poorly built that there was no way to retrieve the decryption key once the ransom was paid. Attacks like these can make a resurgence at any time, which is why you need to learn how to deal with them. An ounce of prevention goes a long way Preventive measures are the best way to keep your Macs safe from ransomware. This involves updating your software regularly to defend against the latest threats and only installing programs from the official App Store. Since ransomware initially infects computers using phishing emails, make sure to avoid suspicious links and email attachments. Always be on high alert even if the email appears to come from a legitimate company or someone you know. You must also maintain backups and have a disaster recovery plan to keep your business running in the off chance that ransomware successfully infiltrates your systems. Responding to ransomware If your Mac is infected with ransomware, never pay the ransom fee. There’s no guarantee that hackers will release your data if you give in to their demands, much like what happened with Patcher ransomware. Instead, use an up-to-date antimalware program to remove ransomware on your computer. Cybersecurity experts will also release free ransomware decryptor tools to clean up the infection, so keep an eye out for these on the internet. If these programs and tools are not effective, contain the spread of the ransomware by disconnecting from the network and run data recovery procedures — provided you’ve backed up your data in an external hard drive or the cloud. Mac ransomware attacks may not be common, but they’re still a threat you need to prepare for. If you need more guidance, contact our team of security experts today. We stay abreast of the latest Apple threats and know just how to keep your business safe. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Save on electricity with these PC tips
When it comes to saving energy, every little bit goes a long way. The more energy-efficient your PC habits, the more money you save. In fact, activating your PC’s power-saving features can save you up to $50 a year. And if you want to increase your savings even more, take note of the following tips. 1. Disconnect your external devices Devices that connect to your PC such as printers, headphones, and webcams consume power, too. That’s why you should disconnect or remove these devices from your PC when you are not using them. 2. Use a smart strip, especially for computers you cannot turn off A smart strip is a series of several electrical outlets in one strip, with circuits to monitor and maximize your gadgets’ power consumption. It can electronically unplug any device so that they stop drawing current, and you save energy. By connecting your PC and peripherals like printers and scanners to the smart strip, you don’t need to unplug your equipment when you’re not using them. 3. Adjust your computer’s energy settings You can also consume less energy by adjusting your PC’s power settings. For example, you can make sure your hard drive and monitor go into sleep mode when they’re left idle for a few minutes. You can further save electricity by lowering the brightness of your screen. 4. Shut down and unplug your computer when not in use If you are not yet using a smart strip, then it’s best to shut down your computer when you’re not using it. Make sure to unplug your machine and its peripherals as well, because leaving them plugged in consumes standby power. 5. Use a charger only when charging your laptop When we charge our laptops, it’s easy to just leave them there and forget about them. This overcharging eventually degrades the battery. Meanwhile, leaving the charger plugged in — even if it’s not connected to your computer — also consumes standby power. To save energy, either use a wall outlet with a timer, or plug your charger on a smart strip. 6. Choose an Energy Star-compliant PC Energy Star is the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) symbol for energy efficiency. Every product that earns the Energy Star symbol is guaranteed to deliver both quality performance and energy savings. The more stars a product has, the more energy-efficient it is. Studies have shown that a single Energy Star-compliant computer and monitor can save between $7 and$52 per year in electricity bills. These tips should help you develop energy-conservation habits and make smart choices in hardware. If you need assistance in choosing the best hardware for your specific needs, give us a call. We’ll be glad to help. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
What is VoIP theft of service?
Despite often going undetected, theft of service is the most common type of fraud for phone systems that use the internet to make calls. How does it affect an organization’s VoIP network and how can businesses prevent or minimize the risk of this type of fraud? Let’s take a closer look. What is theft of service? Internet-based phone systems are far more vulnerable to fraud compared to traditional telephony services. VoIP calls face threats ranging from identity theft, eavesdropping, intentional disruption of service, and even financial loss. Theft of service, the most common type of VoIP fraud, includes stealing usernames, passwords, and account information. Hackers usually introduce malware into your system to crash it or steal user passwords. From a legal standpoint, theft of service means obtaining service from an individual or a company without payment. It may involve deleting or changing invoicing records, unauthorized invoicing, or taking the property of a service provider. Also, hackers may simply want to crash your system and will flood the network with packets of data so that callers lose access. They may also try to intercept the packets to eavesdrop on calls. A third type of VoIP hack accesses your VoIP system and allows spammers to flood your office with promotional calls similar to junk email. This type of attack is called spam over internet telephony (SPIT). Once they infiltrate your communications system, they might broadcast unsolicited messages, advertisements, or other commercial messages over your VoIP. The solution Defending against theft of service requires nothing new or unusual, aside from a little common sense and technical preventative measures. Common sense measures involve making your passwords as secure as possible and preventing unauthorized physical access and use of your VoIP phone instruments. The technical stuff? Keeping your antivirus software up to date and combining it with fraudulent call routing detection and encryption software. VoIP has become an essential business communication tool, so it makes perfect sense to understand exactly what theft of service is to avoid its negative impact. We’d be more than happy to give you advice on implementing any of these protections or managing your VoIP services. Give us a call to get started. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
The benefits of Google Tasks
Small- to medium-sized business owners or managers deal with many different tasks from day to day. Having to do many things at once can be tough, but Google Tasks can help. This app can make accomplishing everything on your to-do list simple and easy. Here’s a quick look at the benefits of Google Tasks. What is Google Tasks? Google Tasks is a to-do list application that’s linked to your Gmail account and Google Calendar. With Google Tasks, you can create to-do lists for the day, week, month, or year. You can also add notes to provide more detail to each task as well as set reminders so you never miss a deadline. All lists you create are stored in the cloud, ensuring that you can access them on any internet-connected device whenever, wherever. How to use Google Tasks On your PC, you can easily access Google Tasks through your Gmail inbox. When you open Gmail, you’ll see a sidebar on the right. Click on the blue icon with a white diagonal dash at the bottom of the sidebar to launch Google Tasks. To create a new task, simply click Add a task. To edit the details of the task, add a subtask, or set a due date, hover over the task and select Edit (represented by a pencil icon). You can also right-click on the task and select a specific action from the menu. Once you finish a task, hover over the circular icon next to the task. This will transform the circle into a checkmark, and clicking on this will mark the task complete and remove it from your list. If you accidentally strike a task from your list before it’s done, simply click Undo at the bottom of the window. You can also install the Google Tasks app onto your smartphone or tablet so you can check and edit your lists even while on the go. Other useful features These helpful features of Google Tasks will make managing your to-do lists even easier: Create multiple lists. Click on My Tasks at the top of the window to open a dropdown menu. Select Create new list and enter a name for the list. Click Done. Select Add a task to populate your list. Rename lists. Click on More (the icon with three dots) and select Rename list. Change the order of tasks. Click and drag each task up or down the list. Move a task to another list. Right-click on the task and select Move to another list from the menu. Add reminders to Google Tasks from Google Calendar. Copy existing reminders from Google Calendar by clicking More and selecting Copy reminders to Tasks. Sort your to-do lists. You can sort the lists you make either by the order in which you made them or by due date. Click on More, and under the Sort by menu, choose My order or Date. If you would like to learn more about using Google Tasks or any other Google app, reach out to our team of experts today. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Ways Office 365 migrations fail
Microsoft’s Office 365 is continually gaining popularity with the growing number of businesses implementing this cloud-based version of Office. However, before you follow suit, you should be aware of five potential problems that can cause the entire process to fail. Slow internet connection speeds Because Office 365 is primarily cloud-based, you’re going to need a solid bandwidth connection to use it. Migrating your files and system over to Office 365 consumes a large quantity of bandwidth, which can result in slower internet speeds during the migration process. If this is being carried out during business hours, employees might struggle to do tasks that require online connection. Office 365 is most often delivered over an internet connection rather than in-house servers. This means that the day-to-day demand for bandwidth will increase. If you are already noticing slow speeds and service interruptions before implementing Office 365, these issues will likely worsen after implementation. To avoid this, you should ask an Office 365 provider to test your existing network connection to ensure that it can handle the migration and day-to-day operation of Office 365. If not, your provider should be able to offer you a solution. Mailboxes and files are too big While the business versions of Office 365 come with 50 GB of email storage and over 1 TB of file storage per user, accessing your emails and files online could take a while, especially if you have users whose inboxes are approaching the storage limit. Larger files will cause the migration process to slow down significantly, which is why you need to prepare for this to avoid disruptions at work. Encouraging your staff to archive their inboxes and delete large, unnecessary files is a good way to ensure the migration process goes smoothly. Uninformed users On average, migrating to Office 365 takes around one to three days to complete, depending on the size of your business and the amount of data being transferred. Starting the migration without informing your users that their files and email will not be accessible can lead to productivity loss and resentment towards the new platform. To avoid this, you should inform your employees about the migration and how long it’s going to take. You should train them how to use the new system to ensure that everyone is familiar with it before they start to use it. This will increase the overall chance that the platform migration and subsequent use will be successful. Outdated software While some versions of Office 365 come with subscriptions to the latest version of Microsoft Office, they also include built-in support for systems running older versions of Office. If your business is using a version of Office that is older than Office 2010 (e.g., Office 2003), you might have trouble using Office 365. When it comes to web browsers, Chrome and Firefox won’t give you too many problems. However, if you’re utilizing their outdated versions, using Office 365 will be extremely difficult. Your provider should tell you if your existing software needs to be updated before migrating to Office 365. Doing the process yourself On paper, migrating to Office 365 may seem like a simple and straightforward process. This leads many businesses to believe that they can do the entire migration process without the assistance of experts. However, without proper guidance, you may run into problems that can harm vital business operations. To ensure a smooth migration process from start to finish, contact us today. We’ll show you the proper way of migrating your system to Office 365 without affecting your day-to-day operations. Office 365, Office 365 failure, Office 365 migration, Office 365 migration failure, QS_3, Ways Office 365 migrations fail, 2019November14Office_C Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
6 Types of cloud solutions every business should have
It’s almost impossible to run a business today without using some type of cloud technology. But despite its pervasiveness, many business owners are unsure about which solutions will benefit their organization most. In our experience, there are six categories you should focus on first. Email Every business needs email. And while there are plenty of non-cloud options to choose from, they require a lot of maintenance. Opting for cloud-based email means you pay for the service without worrying about hardware requirements or software updates. These issues, among others, will be handled by the provider and backed by service level guarantees. File storage Storing company files in the cloud is a great way to give employees more mobility and flexibility. Everyone can access information from almost any internet-enabled device without compromising security, since providers include things like encryption and multifactor authentication as part of the monthly service fee. You can opt for either DIY cloud storage such as Microsoft’s OneDrive and Dropbox or a slightly more expensive managed solution that will provide customization opportunities and regulatory compliance management. Document creation and collaboration It’s easy to confuse apps like Office 365 and Google Docs with cloud file storage but they’re not the same. What sets them apart is whether or not you can edit documents stored on these platforms. In most cases, multiple users can alter the same document simultaneously and see mirror images on their screens even if they’re hundreds of miles apart. Between faster document turnaround times and fewer separate versions of files, there’s no reason to keep everything offline. Business owners used to worry about security but vendors today invest 100 times more resources in protecting client info than a small operation could ever match. Server hosting Whether your business requires a single low-scale server or several high-powered ones, it’s becoming harder to justify maintaining those at your physical location. They’re too finicky and expensive compared to their cloud alternatives. Server hosting enables you to accomplish via an app all that you could with in-house hardware. The costs are also spread out month to month rather than all at once during the setup phase. Backup and recovery The entire basis of cloud technology is that you have total access to hardware and software that’s located far from your office. That makes things like cloud file storage and server hosting perfect for recovering from a disaster. If a natural disaster or cyberattack renders your office inoperable, all you need to do is log in to your cloud platform from somewhere else. If you are looking to move your business into the cloud, we have a broad range of products tailored to small businesses. Contact us today to learn more. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
How CRM boosts business revenue
There are several factors that contribute to a business’s success, such as a good location, quality products and services, and a well-planned marketing strategy. But one important component that every company should have is a reliable customer relationship management (CRM) system. As a business owner, you know that a solid base of loyal customers is the source of your revenue, and the relationship you build with that base will determine how far your business can go. Imagine buying a product, and it breaks the first time you use it. You contact customer support and describe the issue, only to be told to wait for another representative to call you back. You wait for hours, and still nobody calls back. After sending an email to customer support, there’s a chance that somebody will return your call, but it’s from someone unfamiliar with your problem and you awkwardly have to explain yourself for the third or fourth time. An effective customer relationship management system can eliminate this problem and many more. Here’s what you need to know. What is a CRM system? CRM is a system that allows businesses to manage, record, and evaluate their customer interactions to provide better services and boost sales. You can use CRM to store customers’ contact details, accounts, leads, and sales opportunities all in one place. What are the features of a CRM system? Data management – When customer data is recorded, the CRM system centralizes the data into one file, called a master file. Everyone within the company then has access to this data source, preventing confusion from inaccurate or duplicated data. Collaboration – Nowadays, clients demand quick and efficient customer service, so all involved departments must work together to quickly resolve client concerns. CRM systems enable collaboration by enabling the sharing of customer information among departments. This way, everyone is on the same page on clients’ circumstances and requirements. Customer segmentation – A CRM system arranges your customers into groups based on criteria such as age, gender, location, and even their likes and dislikes. This allows you to target marketing messages to your customers more accurately, potentially increasing your sales numbers. Task tracking – CRM systems have task tracking features that enable your employees to stay on top of important tasks, such as contacting customers via email or phone and following up on leads. CRM systems also send reminders to employees about their assigned tasks so that nothing falls through the cracks. In-depth reporting – CRM systems provide a thorough analysis of your customer base. Its reports give details including an overview of product sales numbers, marketing strategy performance, most successful products or services to date, and even a prediction of whether your sales target will be met at the end of the month. If you’re looking to improve customer service and increase sales conversion using a CRM system, contact us today! Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Windows PC running slow? Just clean it
If you’re noticing a significant slowdown in your Windows PC’s performance, it may be because it’s bogged down by too many unnecessary files. Free up some disk space and revitalize your machine by using the Disk Cleanup tool.