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Businesses around the world are reexamining their business continuity plans in the wake of COVID-19, and that includes checking in on your organization’s policies surrounding data backup essentials. While you probably have methods for preventing data loss due to human error, system malfunctions or cybercrimes, you may not have been as prepared to protect your information during a pandemic. The need for sound data backup strategies has never been more apparent. Take a minute to go through our checklist of three ways to keep your data safe during the COVID-19 crisis.

Take advantage of the latest in data backup solutions. Contact us today.

Prevent Data Loss with the COVID-19 Backup Checklist:

Become Proactive About Data Backup Essentials

By now, your business has likely experienced some unfortunate disruptions due to the current pandemic. Between paying the bills, making payroll and keeping your clients satisfied, it’s easy to overlook the current state of your IT infrastructure. But neglecting to do so could be costly. There has never been a worse time to lose valuable data due to something as simple as human error. Think about the data your company couldn’t survive without, and make sure you’re doing everything you can to protect it by performing both automatic and manual data backups.

Educate Your Employees

When your workforce went remote, part of your company went home with them. During the COVID-19 crisis, many people are using technology in their homes in new and innovative ways. As they explore new programs and experiment with different set-ups, some of your employees may prove less experienced at handling data than others. Begin by identifying what your team members already know about backup solutions—and then ask them what they’re doing at home to ensure that data is not lost or stolen on their watch. Now is an excellent opportunity to go over best practices for data backup and recovery both inside the office and at home.

Identify and Rectify System Vulnerabilities

As more businesses undergo digital transformations, brick-and-mortar establishments are putting more data online than ever before. If your brand is facing virtual threats that you never anticipated, it can be easy to focus entirely on improving cybersecurity—and to forget about something as simple as performing routine backups as a result. Don’t let that happen to you during the pandemic. Do some investigating and see what you uncover and remember to repeat the process frequently. Backing up your data in more than one place is easier than it sounds—just make sure you’re doing it.

Protect Your Good Reputation

Yes, losing your data is a nightmare from a logistical standpoint. But losing your hard-earned reputation? That’s hard to recover from, especially during a tough economic crisis like the one presented to us by COVID-19. With clients threatening to cancel contracts and budgets shrinking by the minute, it’s more important than ever to back up your organization’s data and make sure you don’t suffer the consequence of its loss. Your customers entrusted you with private information, and its value to your bottom line cannot be underestimated. Don’t sacrifice that by forgetting to do something as easy as strengthening your current data backup solutions.

Preventing data loss should always be a top priority, but when so many team members are working from home during the COVID-19 crisis, backing up critical information has never been more important. Instituting best practices for data backup and recovery now will prevent you and your employees from dealing with additional IT headaches during these uncertain times. If you’re ready to learn more about data backup essentials or discuss how our other services might help your business weather the storm, please reach out today.

You don’t have to turn on your television to see the impact of COVID-19; simply go for a drive and you’ll see the “closed” sign in business windows. In light of COVID-19, companies everywhere are looking for ways to flip their closed sign back to open. The key is to understand how this situation impacts various aspects of your business, and to learn from it so you can bring in profit and ensure business continuity in the future.

What is the Impact to Your Customers?

When customers face a disaster or crisis, their priorities change. What was once important may no longer seem essential. Your customers will be more cautious about how they spend their money and will only maintain or seek out the necessities. It’s important to understand where your product or service lands on your customers’ list of priorities. If you are seen as essential, you need to make sure you’re able to continue to deliver for your customers. If not, take a look at your capabilities and see if there’s something you can reposition to help them through this tough time. Depending on the customer’s ability to buy, you’ll need to take into account the potential of having to scale back your resources to lower overall costs.

What is the Impact on Your Workforce?

In the wake of COVID-19, we’ve seen many businesses reallocate some or all of their staff to a mobile workforce. This would also be the case if your business was ever impacted by a fire, flood or any natural disaster that might displace your staff for an extended period of time. The key to a successful remote workforce is the ease of accessibility matched with security. Even before COVID-19, remote access was an accessible entry-point for cybercriminals. Business owners need to make sure they have the right technology in place to monitor remote access and keep out malicious users.

What is the Impact on Your Revenue Stream?

According to Gartner, the average cost of IT downtime is $5,600 a minute. How long can your systems be down until you reach an unrecoverable amount of revenue loss? In regards to COVID-19, businesses are facing tough numbers. Many are counting down to how long they can continue to pay their employees with their door closed, while others have seen a significant number of layoffs. The sooner a company can get back to work, the faster they can regain revenue and keep its people and business afloat.

The Impact of a Business Continuity Plan

Having a business continuity plan in place creates a safety net for business owners. It helps businesses get back to “normal” as quickly as possible in many different worst-case scenarios. It ensures you have the proper technology in place to maintain operations, keep your people productive and service your customers. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you implement a business continuity plan, or discuss other services that can help you during tough times, please contact us.

As companies continue doing more online, business owners need to be on the lookout for hackers trying to steal your data. Over the last few years, ransomware has emerged as a popular way to extort businesses for money. While many business owners are aware of ransomware as a threat, many myths get mistaken as fact.

Believing these myths can leave your business vulnerable to a ransomware attack, or uncertain of what to do if the worst happens. Below, we broke down three common myths about ransomware to keep you in the know.

Myth 1: Cybercriminals Only Target Large Companies

Fact: While large companies are still prime targets for hackers, small to medium-sized businesses are also at risk of attack. According to Verizon’s 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report, 43 percent of breaches involved small businesses. Hackers know small businesses don’t have the same levels of security as enterprise corporations, which makes them easier targets.

Myth 2: A Firewall is All You Need to Protect Your Data from Ransomware

Fact: Firewalls are an essential security measure when protecting your infrastructure, but it shouldn’t be your only line of defense. Ransomware can attack your database from a variety of ways, and not all of them can be stopped with a firewall. If a phishing email slips through, or an employee clicks a bad link on an unsecured website, then the wrong people may get access to your precious data.

Myth 3: You Should Pay the Hacker to Get Your Data Back

Fact: Back in 2015, the FBI was caught in the middle of a controversy when one of its agents publicly admitted that the bureau was recommending ransomware victims pay the hackers to get their data back. Today, the FBI and cybersecurity consultants from Microsoft never encourage a ransomware victim to pay any form of ransom demand. They advise against doing so because there’s no guarantee the hacker will return the data after receiving the payment. Even if they do, the decryption key may contain additional viruses.

How We Can Help

The threat of a cybersecurity attack keeps many business owners up at night. Thankfully, you don’t have to protect your network alone. As your managed security provider, we’ll take the lead identifying any weaknesses within your system and make recommendations on how to strengthen your security. That way, you’ll have peace of mind while we protect your data. Give us a call today and let’s talk about how we can help. 

As 2019 makes its exit, everyone in the tech industry is starting to look ahead to what the future holds.

One of the best ways to protect your business while staying ahead of the competition is knowing which obstacles or innovations are coming. So, which tech trends will dominate 2020? Let’s look at some of the trends we think will become popular next year.

The Cloud Continues Gaining Acceptance

Over the last couple of years, businesses started moving away from purchasing expensive computer programs and on-site data storage models every couple of years in favor of cloud subscription services. More companies realize that the cloud is a better, faster, less expensive and more resilient solution for their needs. According to a 2018 IDG survey, 73 percent of companies have at least one application in the cloud and that number will increase in 2020.

Hackers Will Get Smarter

With more companies opting for the cloud—or hybrid cloud—to run more of their business, data security is of the utmost importance. Companies are starting to see the light that ransomware is a significant issue that can’t be ignored. While the cloud automatically updates with the latest security measures, that doesn’t mean hackers will stop trying to steal people’s data. There are many ways hackers can get into your network, including human error, so proper training and security are essential.

The Decline of Company Apps

How many apps do you have on your phone but hardly ever use? Companies may be moving away from the dedicated app model in favor of cloud-based progressive web apps. Progressive web apps are web pages that include features, such as push notifications, that can be accessed via standard browsers.

BYOD Will Be More Secure

Who wants to carry around two smartphones? As more millennial and Gen-Z employees join the workforce, there will be a higher demand to minimize the number of devices needed to get the job done. As mobile devices and tablets continue offering comparable features to desktop PCs, workers will want to do more from their personal devices. This push for the bring your own device (BYOD) model means mobile software security will be essential to accommodate this workplace trend.

Don’t Fall Behind

While we expect these trends to make a splash in 2020, there’s no guarantee of what the future holds. That’s why you have to be prepared for the unexpected. If your IT infrastructure is starting to show its age, then you’re opening your business up to threats. Get your IT ready for 2020. Contact us today to find a solution for your business.

The holidays are almost here and now is the time to start thinking about what you’re going to buy for the people closest to you. It’s also a good idea to think about the perfect gift for long-term business success.

Instead of buying the newest computer, smart speaker or tech gadgets for your business, how about getting something you’ll enjoy for many days to come — peace of mind. How do you do that? By protecting your business from cybersecurity attacks.

Companies of all sizes are doing more business electronically, which makes having the right security in place essential. Phishing and ransomware attacks are on the rise, and businesses need to protect themselves. According to Tech.Co, cyberattacks cost U.S. businesses $654 billion in 2018. So, how can you give your business peace of mind?

Here are three cybersecurity gifts to give your business this holiday season:

Two-Factor Authentication

Cracking passwords is a hacker’s way to try to gain access to your network. One way to beef up your security is by creating an extra layer of protection. Over the last few years, two-factor authentication has become the new standard in safety. With this security method, once you enter a program password, you’ll receive an email or text message with a code to verify that it’s you trying to get in. This means you’ll be alerted if someone is trying to break into your network.

Automated Offsite Backup

When thinking about data security, redundancy is a good thing. Keeping regular backups of your essential business data is important to prevent data loss. However, to keep your business safe, your data needs to be kept in at least two separate physical locations, including one away from your primary location. That way, if a phishing or ransomware attack ever compromises your primary server, you’ll still have access to your data and keep working.

New Software

Are you still using old software to run your business? If so, you may need an upgrade ASAP. Microsoft Server 2008, Windows 7 and other products are reaching their end of service in January 2020, whether you’re ready or not. When a piece of technology reaches the end of life, that means no more updates. This exposes outdated tech to vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. If you’re still using any of the Microsoft products reaching EOL, then it’s time for an upgrade.

How We Can Help

While the burden of protecting customer’s data falls on your business, you don’t have to do it alone. Our team of cybersecurity experts can help select the right solutions to protect your business from bad actors. Contact us today to get peace of mind this holiday season.

If you were hit with a data breach, would you know?

It seems like a silly question, but companies take an average of more than 190 days to identify a data breach. Imagine the damage a hacker could inflict on your business in that time! Considering that the average data breach in the U.S. costs $7.91 million, it’s smart to know what you’re looking for, so you can quickly identify and contain the damage – minimizing the costs of lost data, lost productivity and noncompliance.

Here are the four major types of breaches you need to protect your business against:

RANSOMWARE

Ransomware attacks occur when a hacker takes your data hostage in exchange for a payment. This often means encrypting your data, so you can’t access or read it. For most businesses, this brings production to a standstill. Unfortunately, even paying the ransom may not resolve the situation. In 2018, 45 percent of U.S. companies that were hit by a ransomware attack paid the ransom, but only 26 percent of those companies had their files unlocked.

Ransomware can be delivered through email, malicious websites or social media messages, among other avenues. Even if your data is restored, assume that any sensitive data on the affected machines has been compromised.

MALWARE

Malware is a more general term that includes attacks like spyware and viruses. Malware is generally designed with the goal of stealing information from your systems in one way or another. Viruses can even spread between the computers on your network.

Unlike ransomware, which is usually detected right away, other forms of malware can cause months or years of damage before they’re detected. According to Verizon’s 2018 Breach Investigations report, 92 percent of malware is delivered by email.

PHISHING

One of the most common forms of email malware is phishing attacks. In a phishing attack, a victim receives an email that seems to come from a trusted sender. In generic attacks, this might be someone like UPS or Apple. The recipient clicks a link or downloads an attachment, unintentionally downloading a virus onto their system.

Some phishing attacks are even more targeted. They may appear to come from a source close to you, like your company’s leadership. This can be extremely difficult for your employees to recognize without proper security training.

DENIAL OF SERVICE (DOS)

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is designed to shut down a machine or network, making it basically inaccessible. Attackers accomplish this in two ways. One is a flood attack, where attackers flood the target with more traffic than the server can handle, causing it to slow down and eventually stop. Hackers can also exploit vulnerabilities that cause a system to crash.

The goal is typically not to steal information, but to lock legitimate users, such as employees or customers, out of a system. You may have also heard news stories involving Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, attacks. DDoS attacks can cause more intensive damage, since the target is being attacked by multiple systems at multiple locations.

OTHER TYPES OF DATA BREACHES

Not every breach comes from a hacker – there are other types of data breaches to be on the lookout for. Employees may accidentally cause a breach by viewing data they’re not authorized to handle, or by leaving a laptop or other device where it can be lost or stolen. Employees or other internal personnel may also act maliciously by downloading, sharing or erasing data with the intention of causing harm to a company.

HOW WE CAN HELP

Data breaches are constantly evolving and becoming more dangerous, but you can tackle them with help from a trusted security partner. Our security solutions shield your business from a broad spectrum of cyberthreats while we educate your team on best practices to avoid data breaches. If you’re ready to take your data security seriously, contact us now.