1. Reduce the Chances of Downtime

In order to operate smoothly, your company needs its computers up and running. If they stop working, you could end up losing a lot of money. Remote monitoring can reduce the chances of such an event. Your service provider can set alerts that trigger when a problem starts to develop but before it impacts system performance. This early notification means the issue can be resolved before it develops into a crisis.

2. Respond to Problems Instantly

An IT service provider’s remote monitoring team can protect your computers around-the-clock. This 24/7 service means that providing a solution to your tech troubles doesn’t have to wait until the morning.

3. Handle Problems Anywhere

Because of remote monitoring, it doesn’t matter where you are, where your systems are, or where your people are. A remote monitoring team can contact you, find out how you want a situation handled, and then take care of it for you. This means that you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your own home in order to take care of a problem. This aspect of remote monitoring is especially appealing to companies with facilities in distant or rural locations.

4. Track System Health

Remote monitoring collects system statistics over time. When viewing this data in monthly or quarterly reports, long-term trends can be identified, even before they reach levels that would trigger an alert. Using these reports, you can address potential problems as they develop and prevent them from ever impacting your computer system. Trend analysis can also identify needs for system expansion and help with technology budgeting.

5. Monitor and Support Every Device You Use

Remote monitoring is comprehensive. Every device can be monitored and supported remotely, whether it’s a server, a desktop, or a mobile device. Additionally, a remote monitoring service can provide for automatic updates. Configuration files and other changes can automatically be deployed without users needing to take any action.

6. Have Support Staff That Show Rather than Tell

If one of your employees ever has a computer problem, an IT expert can use remote control tools to take control of the employee’s desktop while they are watching. Remote control is different from remote monitoring, although the two are closely related. When it comes to IT support, remote control tools let technicians teach your employees about the issue at hand and explain to them how to address it in the future.

The Bottom Line

Businesses today rely on their computers. They need their IT infrastructure up and running at all times. They need to know about problems before they happen, and they need support regardless of their locations. Remote monitoring provides a cost-effective way for companies to fulfill these needs.

The Problems with Passwords

Many digital services call for using stronger, more complicated passwords. However, remembering several of these complex passwords is difficult, so people typically use simpler passwords or use the same one over and over again. These simple and repeated passwords are very ineffective security measures. This problem is not a small one. Verizon’s 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report stated that 76% of security breaches involved weak or stolen login credentials. To put that number into context, hackers were able to steal millions of passwords in 2014. Changing passwords after the fact doesn’t offer protection, as data is often stolen weeks before the breach is recognized. According to the 2014 Ponemon Cost of Cyber Crime Study, it takes companies about 45 days to handle the aftereffects of a cyber attack. These attacks have an average cost of $12.7 million.

Improving User Authentication

In light of these problems, IT experts are looking for new ways to enhance the security of a user’s accounts. Some experts even recommend eliminating passwords completely. However, their password-free solutions are extremely hard to implement, and therefore are unlikely to occur in the near future. The US National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) has a similar problem. This plan calls for the creation of one centralized, government-run system that manages user information for a wide array of services. However, the plan lacks widespread support, which is unsurprising given the recent revelations about the NSA. Similar proposals in other countries would likely be just as unpopular. The government is not the only one working on a solution to the problem of account security. An industry consortium is also developing a new approach. This consortium, which is called the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance, has a number of major IT companies on its list of members, including Google, PayPal, and Microsoft. The consortium has developed two new proposals for user authentication, Passwordless UX and Second Factor UX. Both proposals are built upon the concept of multi-factor authentication, an authentication scheme that involves the use of multiple forms of identification. Passwordless UX calls for getting rid of passwords entirely. Instead, people would use biometric indicators as the means for proving their identities. These indicators might include fingerprints, retina scans, voice analysis, and even the electrical activity of a person’s heart. Second Factor UX would require the use of a USB dongle, in addition to username and password. After logging in using the username and password, the user would be prompted to insert their authentication dongle into the USB port of the computer. The addition of the authentication dongle to the traditional username and password substantially increases the effort required to compromise an account, and strongly resists common phishing attacks. The consortium’s plans are relatively new, having only been announced in December 2014. However, the support of several key players in the IT industry makes them a promising alternative to contemporary means of user authentication.

How to Protect Accounts in the Present

While the FIDO Alliance’s industry-wide effort is still in the early stages, there are plenty of other ways to incorporate multi-factor authentication into a company’s IT strategy. This method is highly recommended by the majority of IT experts, and it can significantly boost the security of a company’s accounts. Companies should also promote the use of stronger passwords. Users should stop using obvious passwords and should not use the same password with multiple accounts. Since most people have trouble remembering their passwords, many experts recommend using a password manager. This tool can keep track of your passwords in one vault. Users can access the vault with a password, and from there, they can access any of their other accounts. People with password managers only have to keep track of one password, but don’t have to suffer the risks involved in using the same password for multiple accounts. Multi-factor authentication, password managers, and better password protection protocols are currently the best means for a company to improve the security of their accounts. As such, they should be strongly considered by all businesses, no matter how large or small they may be.

1. Recognize the Problem

The end of support for an operating system means that Microsoft will no longer provide security updates for it. Running an operating system after support ends is very risky. Outdated operating systems are susceptible to all sorts of remote attacks and malware. Additionally, even after problems are discovered, they won’t be addressed by Microsoft. This means unsupported operating systems remain permanently vulnerable.

2. Assess Your Infrastructure

This is an IT problem, so to solve it, you need to know your IT infrastructure. Make a list of all of your computers, and find out what operating system each one is using. Then figure out each computer’s workload. Microsoft recommends identifying which servers are mission-critical to your business, so that you can focus on upgrading those servers first. Non-essential assets can wait until the end of the process.

3. Find A New Server Operating System

Now that you know what your IT infrastructure looks like, you can determine which new server operating system will work best for you. The server operating systems that Microsoft currently provides are Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. Some of these options may require you to purchase new hardware, while others will let you reuse the hardware that you have. Companies should have a new server operating system in place before the Windows Server 2003 end of support. They can also move services to the cloud in order to cut costs and reduce the reliance on physical infrastructure.

4. Make the Change

After selecting a new server operating system, companies can begin migration. Migration is the process of moving from one server operating system to the next. Migration can take several months, so companies should start as soon as possible. For help with migration, or any other concerns related to the end of support for Windows 2003, consult an IT service provider.

Initiate Simple and Routine Employee Testing

One of the clearest ways to find out which of your employees is most vulnerable to unwittingly “opening the door” to data thieves is through thorough and regular testing. The US Agency for International Development has created a handy security quiz that can be downloaded from their site via the Information System Security Line of Business program. By conducting tests on a monthly basis, you will be able to identify which employees need to undergo extra data security training.

Use Employees to Test Your Own Security

By bringing in employees into vulnerability assessments, you can ascertain they are learning the practical aspects of their security lessons. Compile a vulnerability assessment team from your own IT staff and have them try to discover as many passwords as they can, by carefully probing and checking for any security lapses, which includes passwords being written down on sticky notes, phishing scams, or even performing bogus phone calls to try and extract information from other company employees. Not only is it fun, but they will learn a great deal.

Educate Employees about Home Computer Security to put things into context

The idea behind this one is that employees who understand how to safeguard their own private information will learn good habits and implement them at work too. It’s easy to frighten people about how at risk they are, so do so and then educate them about how they can protect themselves. You’ll see the basic principles are the same. Just with organizations the possible risks and repercussions are on a much larger scale.

Introduce Consequences for Sloppy Practices

A kind of carrot and stick approach can be very effective. For employees who make mistakes or fail tests, they can be given a series of warnings, with a third warning resulting in immediate disabling of employee access to computers systems until remedial training has been completed.

Remember, Training Has its Limitations

No matter how good your training methods are, you can only expect to accomplish so much. There is always a chance of security breaches, especially when involving particularly ingenious phishing or malware schemes. Additionally, an employee may just decide to flagrantly disregard company policy and all that they have been taught. For this reason, a layered approach to security is required. Employee training can only do so much, you also need to invest in the best data security software and invest in monitoring detecting lapses in security.

Features

In March 2014, Microsoft debuted its Office apps on the iPad. Users are able to view documents as well as copy and paste between them. They can also share documents, and present their work using PowerPoint. This first version of Office for the iPad did have some restrictions. In order to create new documents or edit old ones, users needed to pay for an Office 365 subscription. Users also needed an Office 365 subscription for saving documents to OneDrive or SharePoint. The newest versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint do not have these restrictions. Users can freely create and edit their documents, though they still need a Microsoft account. Microsoft created a couple of new views that make navigating and editing documents on the iPhone much easier. Within Word, the “Reflow” view temporarily resizes documents to fit on the phone’s screen. This eliminates the need for panning and scanning through a document. Within Excel, The “Full Screen” view accomplishes this task. These universal apps work on all iPhone and iPod Touch devices running iOS 7.1 or a later version. Microsoft intends to develop universal versions of Office for both Android and Windows phones as well, although the release dates for these versions have not been revealed. The company’s announcement about new mobile versions of Office follows the creation of an exciting partnership between Microsoft and Dropbox. The new iPhone, iPad, and Android versions of the Office apps allows users to open, edit, and save their documents from Dropbox as well as Microsoft’s OneDrive.

Premium Components for Office 365 Users

Only Office 365 users will have the ability to edit documents that are stored on Dropbox for Business and OneDrive for Business. They will also have 1 terabyte of storage on OneDrive. Microsoft has said that in the near future it will provide Office 365 users with unlimited online storage. Office 365 users will have access to PowerPoint presenter mode and Excel pivot tables, as well as unrestricted use of the Track Changes feature. They will also be able to use certain chart customization options for color and design.

Refunds for Office 365 Users

Microsoft is offering pro-rated refunds to Office 365 users that subscribed just to get the ability to edit Office documents on their iPads. The refunds are only available to those who purchased an Office 365 Personal or Office 365 Home subscription on or after March 27, 2014. This was the day that Office for iPad was first released. The account must have been activated before November 6, 2014. Eligible Office 365 users must cancel their subscriptions and request their refunds by January 31, 2015. Users that purchased their subscriptions from Microsoft or a reseller should contact a Microsoft Accounts and Billings representative. Those who purchased their subscriptions through Apple should contact iTunes store support.

Before your employees’ new phones leave the IT department, make sure your IT staff has loaded them up with some essential software. These essentials should include a disk encryption system that will keep the contents of the phone locked down and out of reach of anyone who happens to find the phone. They should also make sure to install a remote wiping program, and configure the phone to require a strong password to unlock.

Once the IT department is done setting up all the appropriate applications, you need to make sure that your employees understand the importance of mobile security. You should have a policy set up that employees who receive a company phone are familiar with and understand. This should cover things like what kind of passwords to use on mobile devices (stress that they should be no less thorough than those used on desktops), as well as the process for reporting a phone lost or stolen. Remind your employees that the sooner they report a phone as being lost or stolen, the more likely you are to either recover it or lock it down/remotely wipe it.

If a phone is actually lost or stolen, the first thing your employees should do is report it. A lot of phone recovery tools, like GPS tracking or remote wiping, require the phone to be on and in range of the wireless network to use. That means you have a limited time until either the batteries run out, or (if it was stolen) until the thieves remove the sim card, turn the phone off, or otherwise take it offline. As soon as the phone is reported lost, your IT department should lock it down using the remote control software you installed earlier. If the phone has GPS tracking, you should turn it on and immediately try to recover it, if it appears the phone was simply misplaced, or contact the police if it appears the phone was stolen.

If the phone is not recovered within the first few hours, you should have your IT team wipe the phone remotely to prevent any chance of your sensitive information falling into the wrong hands. All the contents of the phone should be backed up regularly to a secure server, so wiping a mobile device clean shouldn’t cause your company to lose any more than a few hours or a day of information.

Remember, security on mobile devices is quickly becoming as important, if not more so, than security on your desktops and corporate networks. Take the time to secure your devices before the worst happens and it’s too late.

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China Rising

While technologists and conspiracy theorists alike could argue for the next 17 years about what will happen in 17 years, one thing from the report is crystal clear: Emerging economies, especially China, will become dominant in the technology arena. Even now, China is making strides towards dominance as it scrambles to catch its available IP addresses up to its growing population. The country has almost twice the number of Internet users as the U.S., and it is working to deploy a new protocol, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). This version, strongly motivated by the urgency to create room for China’s Internet users, will offer advanced security and privacy options, along with many more IP addresses, and it is evidence that the future of the Internet is already emerging in China. Many U.S. experts believe the future of computing as a whole will also be in China. Due to the availability of low-cost labor, China has already become the world’s dominant maker of computers and consumer electronics. The country’s booming economy and technological infrastructure is enabling it to branch out into many areas of technology beyond merely assembling the desktop PCs of the world. Over six decades, the U.S. has paved the way in computing, and technological innovation has been as American as apple pie and baseball. And, Silicon Valley has been the technological hub of the planet. However, today China innovates not just because it can – but because it must. China’s massive population is emerging into a whole new economic world, and its own technological innovation will be the key to enabling the future of its society.

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Will China Be the Next Silicon Valley?

CryptoWall’s Modus Operandi

The ransomware typically enters a system by masquerading as a legitimate program update. Usually these programs are well-known, such as Java, Flash Player, or Adobe Reader. CryptoWall can also infiltrate a system through an infected email attachment. Cyber security professionals have also warned about the criminals using exploit kits. This term refers to web pages with pre-packaged methods for sending malware. This means that in some cases, an ill-advised download is not necessary in order to spread CryptoWall. Victims can instead become infected just by visiting a website with a hidden exploit kit. Once the system is infected, CryptoWall will begin encrypting its files. These protocols use twin encryption keys. The public key locks the files and the private one unlocks it. While this method may sound simple, it has been touted as nearly uncrackable. Digital criminals have also developed offshoots of the basic CryptoWall virus. These new versions can infect mobile devices as well as personal computers. After CryptoWall encrypts the system’s data, the ransomware will display a warning. This tells victims that their files have been “irrevocably changed,” and that they will not be able to work with them or even see them. The ransom note demands that people pay several hundred dollars in order to free their files. Victims are directed to the Tor network, where payment can be received anonymously. They also face a ticking clock, since the criminals generally threaten to double the ransom if they do not pay within a few days.

Authorities’ Ongoing War Against Ransomware

As part of law enforcement’s crackdown on ransomware, the FBI in June 2014 put Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev on its list of most wanted criminals. The authorities have accused him of committing bank fraud, wire fraud, computer fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. Bogachev is believed to be the man behind CryptoWall’s predecessor, CryptoLocker. While the US government was shutting down his criminal network, a group of private cyber security professionals was hard at work on recovering the stolen data. In August, they announced that they had uncovered the encryption keys used to hijack people’s data. They also created a website where victims can receive the key needed to unlock their files. While these efforts crippled CryptoLocker, they left CryptoWall unaffected. As of this publication, the ransomware is still at large and IT experts have yet to find a remedy for it. Thankfully, there are a number of ways that users can protect themselves.

Defense and Prevention

First and foremost, users should have current anti-virus software on their computers. In general, all software programs should be kept up-to-date with the latest security enhancements. Suspicious websites should be avoided at all costs. Users should never open emails that appear suspect or were sent by entities that they don’t trust. Similarly, users should never download attachments that they’re not expecting. These statements may seem intuitive, but the spread of ransomware is driven almost entirely by the behavior of careless and unsuspecting victims. Additionally, files should be regularly backed up. Ideally, one backup copy should be stored through a cloud-based service that backs up daily and provides for access from anywhere. The second backup should be on an external hard drive. Users should update this copy on a weekly or monthly basis. Once a computer has been infected, users should also be concerned about their networked devices. CryptoWall victims have found that the malware can infect connected drives through the network. Users should carefully examine these devices to see if they have been compromised as well. Threats like CryptoWall pose serious challenges to businesses across the globe. Being aware of these issues is the first step in combating them. For assistance with the prevention of CryptoWall, or possible recovery, contact us today.

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1. Choosing a CRM platform that cannot scale If your CRM was chosen years ago when your company was smaller, there is a good chance it isn’t serving your needs now. As your business expands, and you gain more clients and contracts, assess your current data to be sure your CRM solution can handle your current and future business needs.

2. Choosing a CRM system that is not sales-friendly Does your CRM tool serve your employees who are out in the field? If not, it isn’t serving your overall company well, either. Select a user-friendly CRM system for higher engagement among your sales team so they will actually input valuable data into the system.

3. Failing to integrate your CRM tool with social media Like it or not social media matters, even when it comes to your CRM system. If your CRM tool does not include social media interactions with customers, you are missing a big piece of the customer relationship puzzle. Tracking social information and engagement provides vital customer insights that you don’t want to miss.

4. Including too many fields in each record Give your sales team the option of only filling out the most important details about each contact so they can capture that information and move on. They can always go back and fill in additional information later, and the initial simplicity will help them work more quickly.

5. Failing to establish metrics to monitor success As with other marketing efforts, you should use metrics to measure how well your CRM tool, or the way in which you use the tool, is serving you. Set metrics for each of the business areas that will be impacted by the CRM system, and monitor them regularly.

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5 CRM Mistakes and How to Avoid Them