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What Should Small and Medium Businesses in Miami-Dade Pay For IT Support And IT Services?

One of the most commons questions we get from new prospective clients calling our office is “What do you guys charge for your IT services?”

While price certainly needs to be one consideration, it’s extremely important you make an informed decision and choose the right IT services company instead of using price as the main deciding factor.

This seems obvious, but the reality is that most business owners don’t really know what questions to ask or what to look for when choosing one IT company over another and therefore put too much weight on the quote.

What you want to avoid is getting lured into a lowball quote from an IT company that is in financial trouble, cutting corners to lower their fees to get you as a client, but then unable to afford to hire experienced, knowledgeable techs and the security tools they need to ensure YOU are actually getting the security, stability and service you need.

So, how much is “too much” and what are the signs that someone is underpriced?

Recently, an industry report from Service Leadership, the leading financial benchmarking organization in the IT services industry, revealed that a whopping 28% of MSPs (managed services providers, or IT services companies) were unprofitable, and nearly half of all MSPs were under 10% net profit.

While everyone likes a “bargain,” here are the reasons why “cheaper” is not the advantage you think it is when you choose an underpriced IT company:

  1. They are woefully short-staffed because the biggest expense in any IT company is the technical staff. THAT means if one of their techs quits, they’re quickly overwhelmed and unable to support your account, and response time suffers, not to mention critical security and backup maintenance of your network.
  2. The staff they hire are at the lower end of the pay scale, which means you’re not getting the most competent people working on backing up your data, keeping your network secure and handling the critical operations and data your business needs.
  3. They are one or two bad months away from going out of business because they have no buffer. That means you could wake up one morning and find yourself without an IT company, scrambling to find a new one.
  4. They are not “operationally mature.” Operational maturity means their business has the people and professional processes aligned to provide the highest level of QUALITY services to the end client (you).

In general, according to Service Leadership, the average “per user” fee for managed IT services is $205.07 to $249.73. Those IT firms with an operational maturity level of below average is $146.08 to $157.49 per “user” (or employee using a computer or device they are supporting).

As you can see, if someone quotes you $120 a user for managing your network, it might feel like a good deal, but you have to ask yourself how they are able to charge nearly 50% less than IT firms that are operationally mature. The answer is obvious – they’re cutting corners, hiring cheap labor and leaving out critical security and compliance services.

If you want to know what types of questions you should be asking your IT firm (managed services provider), then click here to download our executive guide, “ 16 Questions You Should Ask Any IT Company Before Signing A Contract Or Letting Them Touch Your IT.”

This report discusses in detail exactly what to look for to get exactly what you need without unnecessary extras, hidden fees and bloated contracts. But most importantly, it will show you how to get the right support you want in order to lower your risk and eliminate the frustration of dealing with a less than competent IT company.

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May A Force Field Be With You

“That won’t happen to me” is something many business owners say when discussing cyber-scams and the need for adequate protections for their business, but these days it’s getting to be a really, really stupid statement that you definitely don’t want your clients, employees and banker to hear.

Generative AI (artificial intelligence) tools are allowing scammers to produce deep fakes to defraud their targets. Earlier this year, Clive Kabatznik, an investor in Florida, called his local Bank of America representative to discuss a big money transfer he was planning to make.

Immediately after this legitimate call, a scammer called the bank back using an AI-generated deepfake voice of “Clive” to convince the banker to transfer the money to another account. Fortunately, the banker was suspicious enough that no money was transferred, but not everyone is as lucky.

According to a report titled The Artificial Imposter by McAfee, a well-established cyber security firm, 77% of AI voice scams were successful in securing money from their target. Even scarier, AI tools can clone a voice from just three seconds of audio.

A UK-based energy firm’s CEO was the victim of a voice scam when he thought he was talking to his boss, the CEO of the parent company based in Germany. The voice on the other end of the line instructed him to send the equivalent of $233,000 to a Hungarian supplier. The voice was so convincing, down to the slight German accent, that the CEO complied without hesitation. By the time they realized what had happened, the money had already been transferred to Mexico and distributed to other locations that weren’t traceable. 

But big businesses aren’t the only ones targeted.

Jennifer DeStefano, a mother of a 15-year-old daughter, recounted during a US Senate hearing her terrifying encounter with an AI scammer who used the voice of her daughter to attempt to convince her that the girl had been kidnapped. Fortunately, her daughter was in her bed sleeping at the time, and Jennifer was able to realize it was a scam. Many others aren’t as lucky as Jennifer and are getting scammed by AI voices of grandchildren, children and other loved ones who “urgently need money.”

This approach is still so new that there’s no comprehensive accounting of how often it’s happening, but the CEO of Pindrop, a security company that monitors audio traffic for many of the largest US banks, said he had seen a jump in its prevalence this year – and in the sophistication of scammers’ voice-fraud attempts. Another large voice-authentication vendor, Nuance, saw its first successful deepfake attack on a financial services client late last year.

With the rapid advancement of AI technology and its wider availability as costs come down, coupled with the broad availability of recordings of people’s voices on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, the perfect conditions have been created for voice-related AI scams.

What do you need to do to protect yourself?

For starters, share this article to make sure your staff is aware of these types of scams. Next, instruct them to ALWAYS check with you via a text message or other means BEFORE transferring money. If you’re not a business owner, you can do the same with your family, using a code word or other means of verifying the caller’s legitimacy.

Also, check the caller ID. If it’s something you don’t recognize, or it’s a blocked number, that’s a BIG red flag that it’s a scam. Even if it sounds like them on the other end of the line, hang up and call their phone direct or the place they’re supposed to be (school, office, etc.).

If the person calling has on-fire urgency and wants money wire-transferred or a Bitcoin payment, that’s another huge red flag. Real emergencies don’t come with highly skeptical payment demands.  

In business, you’ve clawed and climbed your way to the top, dodging all sorts of pitfalls and predators that have tried to make you their meal. Such threats are everywhere, and the higher you climb, the more you’ll find hiding behind every tree, every rock and every step. No matter how small and insignificant you might think you are, you ARE a target for someone, and being casual about cyber security and the threats they pose is an absolute surefire way to be robbed.

If you don’t want this to happen to you, click here to request a free Cyber Security Risk Assessment to see just how protected your organization is against known predators. If you haven’t had an independent third party conduct this audit in the last 6 months, you’re due.

It’s completely free and confidential, without obligation. Voice scams are just the latest in a tsunami of threats aimed at small business owners, with the most susceptible being the ones who never “check the locks” to ensure their current IT company is doing what they should. Claim your complimentary Risk Assessment today.

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Why Cyber Security Compliance Doesn’t Belong In The IT Department’s Hands

What if you discovered that all of the hard work, investments and time you’ve put into growing your business is at risk due to a failure of your outsourced IT company, or possibly even your well-meaning (but overburdened) IT department? If you were exposed to that level of risk, wouldn’t you want someone to tell you about it?

This article is that wake-up call.

Over the last several years, the risks associated with cyber security attacks have grown in magnitude. They are no longer a low-probability hazard that will result in a minor inconvenience. Businesses of all sizes and types are getting hacked and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even multiple millions, in addition to suffering significant reputational damage and loss of customer goodwill. For some, it’s a business-ending event. For nearly everyone else, it’s a significant financial disaster that can negatively impact profits and revenue for years.

Yet too many CEOs and small business owners are still abdicating critical decisions regarding risk tolerance and compliance policies to their IT company or IT department when these decisions no longer belong there.

For example, let’s suppose you have an employee who refuses to comply with strict data security and password policies and continually fails cyber security awareness training, putting your company at risk for a cyber-attack and compliance violation. Should your IT manager or IT company fire this employee? Reprimand them? Is it even their IT department’s job to manage employee behavior with company data and devices? If you say yes, the question is, when was the last time you met with them to specifically address this issue and direct them on how to monitor and manage it? Likely never – or once, a very long time ago.

Therein lies the problem. Most CEOs would agree that it’s not up to the IT department to make that call, yet many of these same CEOs leave it entirely up to the IT department (or outsourced IT company) to handle the situation and make decisions about what is allowed, what isn’t, how much risk they want to take, etc.

Worse yet, many CEOs aren’t even aware that they SHOULD have such policies in place to ensure your company isn’t compromised or at risk – and it’s not necessarily your IT person’s job to determine what should or shouldn’t be allowed. That’s your job as the CEO.

As another example, many companies have invested in cyber liability, ransomware or crime insurance policies to provide financial relief in the event of a cyber-attack and cover the exorbitant legal, IT and related costs that result when such an event occurs. Yet our experience shows that most insurance agents and brokers do not understand and cannot convey to the CEOs they are selling a policy to the IT requirements needed to secure a policy. Therefore, they never advise their client to make sure they get with their IT provider or internal IT to ENSURE the right protocols are in place, or risk having coverage denied for failure to comply with the requirements in the policy they just sold them.

When a cyber event occurs and the claim gets denied, whose fault is it? The insurance agent for not warning you? Your IT department or company for not putting in place protocols they weren’t even briefed on? Ultimately, it’s on you, which is why you as the CEO must make sure that decisions impacting the risk to your organization are informed ones, not decisions made by default.

Of course, a great IT company will bring these issues to your attention and offer guidance, but most are just keeping the “lights” on and the systems up, NOT consulting their clients on enterprise risk and legal compliance.

If you want to make sure your organization is actually prepared for and protected from the aftermath of a cyber-attack, click here to schedule a private consultation with one of our advisors about your concerns. It’s free of charge and may be extremely eye-opening for you.

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College-Age Kids Are A Prime Target For Cybercriminals – Make Sure Your Students Are Safe At School

College has changed since many of us were students. Years ago, we’d be shuffling from class to class, holding a single notebook and a pencil for scribbling down notes. There wasn’t as big a risk of photos or data being stolen online.

That’s no longer the case. Students today have at least one – usually two or three – devices readily available. The scary part is, most college-age students think of themselves as tech-savvy “digital natives”; however, a study by Atlas VPN showed that Gen-Zers and millennials are the age groups most likely to fall for phishing scams.

In fact, according to the National Cybersecurity Alliance, 20% of Gen-Zers have had their identity stolen at least once.

Here are just a few of the terrifying ways cybercriminals attack this young crowd:

  • Unpaid tuition notifications – scammers will send fake e-mails to students claiming they owe a certain amount of money or it’ll affect their enrollment.
  • Fake financial aid, grant or scholarship websites that, when clicked, either steal their information or install malware on their computer.
  • Fake Wi-Fi accounts set up by hackers in public places to steal passwords and private data when their device connects.
  • Social media scams used to gather private information to either hack accounts or set up new ones.
  • Hacking phones or social media accounts to steal photos and blackmail students into payment so they don’t release them publicly.

Sadly, the list goes on and on!

How can kids raised on technology fall for so many scams? Here are just a few of the big reasons why:

  • Hackers know most students aren’t properly educated on cyberthreats because they’ve always worked on computers that were secured by the school or their parents.
  • They grew up using social media and feel comfortable divulging private information about themselves (that thieves can harvest and later use to initiate an attack).
  • This is a big one – they have no or very little credit, giving cyberscammers a smoother path to opening accounts in their name.
  • They have multiple connected devices like phones, laptops, tablets and watches that give criminals more avenues to attack.
  • College kids are distracted. They’re focused on school and making friends, and NOT cyber security, making it easy to let a cybercriminal slip by undetected until it’s too late.

What can you do?

We have robust cyber security solutions and 24-hour monitoring to protect the businesses that we work with and can even recommend at-home security software, but what about when your kids go off to school, away from your watchful eye?

You certainly can’t pack up and camp out at college to make sure they’re following cyber security best practices. But you can make sure they know what to look out for and give them the tools and resources to stay as safe as possible.

Here are 14 actions your child can take to prevent being a victim of cybercrime when they’re off at college:

  1. Invest in strong, trusted virus and spyware protection and run scans once a week.
  2. Never click “Remind Me Tomorrow” when a phone or computer wants to update. Turn on automatic updates when possible.
  1. Keep all browsers, extensions and operating systems updated.
  2. Back up the computer to the cloud regularly to avoid losing data if there is an attack.
  3. Do not visit or enter credit card information on websites that aren’t secure (HTTPS:// only!).
  4. Don’t connect to public Wi-Fi. Use a personal hotspot or VPN when on the go.
  5. Beware of phishing scams. Do not click links or open attachments in e-mails, especially from unknown senders. Google websites and search instead of clicking links.
  6. Use strong, unique passwords and use a password manager.
  7. Regularly delete cookies. These can create “loopholes” for hackers to get into a network.
  8. Only install software and apps from trusted sources.
  9. Use multifactor authentication.
  10. Lock all devices and don’t share passwords, even with your new best friend.
  11. Cover all webcams – there are stickers for purchase online, but tape and paper will work.
  12. Register devices with the school in the event they are stolen.

Run through this list with your children! When students leave for college, cyber security is not a priority for them, but unfortunately, if they’re targeted it could negatively impact their lives at a time when they’re just getting started.

Cyber security takes just a few minutes of conscious effort but is a critical lesson to learn in this age when nearly everything we do involves technology. The risks of cybercrime will only continue to grow.

If your organization could benefit from cyber security training similar to this but more in-depth for employees, so they know the risks and best practices of cyber security, we can help. Start with a completely FREE Cybersecurity Risk Assessment by clicking here.

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Scammers Are Using These 10 Popular Brands To Trick You Into Revealing Your Private Data

Cybercriminals know the easiest way to sneak under your radar is to pretend to be a brand you know and trust. These large companies have spent years on marketing, customer service, branding and consistency to build a trustworthy reputation, and hackers leverage this to go after you.

The most common method is to use phishing attacks. These thieves set up URLs that look scarily similar to the real company’s website. To slip by your watchful eye, here are some of the simple switches hackers make that can go unnoticed:

  1. Switching out a zero for the letter “O” or a capital “i” for a lowercase “L.” If you’re quickly reading an e-mail, it might look legit.
  2. Adding in a word that seems like it could be a subdomain of the real company, like “info@googleservice.com.”
  3. Using a different domain extension, like “info@google.io.”

Some criminals will take it a step further and set up a web page that looks identical to that of the real website. When you click the link – via e-mail, SMS or even through social media – several dangerous results can occur.

The first is that malware can be installed on your computer. Clicking a bad link can set off an automatic malware download that contains malicious files with the ability to collect personally identifiable information from your device, like usernames, credit card or bank account numbers and more.

The second is the fake website will have a form to harvest your information. This could be login credentials, passwords and, in some cases, your credit or bank information.

The third most common issue is an open redirect. The link might look legit, but when you click on it, you’re redirected to a malicious website where the intent is to steal your information.

What brand impersonations do you need to look out for? Well, all of them, but according to Check Point’s latest Brand Phishing Report, there are 10 companies that top the chart in overall appearance in brand phishing attempts.

Here Are The Top 10 Most Frequently Impersonated Brands In Phishing Attempts In Q2 Of 2023:

  1. Microsoft (29%)
  2. Google (19.5%)
  3. Apple (5.2%)
  4. Wells Fargo (4.2%)
  5. Amazon (4%)
  6. Walmart (3.9%)
  7. Roblox (3.8%)
  8. LinkedIn (3%)
  9. Home Depot (2.5%)
  10. Facebook (2.1%)

Take a minute and ask yourself how many of the companies on this list send you regular e-mail communications. Even just one puts you at risk.

Cybercriminals go the full mile with these scams. They know what types of messages work best for each company to get your attention.

Here are three common phishing attacks cybercriminals have used under these brands’ good names to gain access to your private information.

1. Unusual Activity – These types of e-mails will suggest that someone gained access to your account and you need to change your password quickly. They leverage fear so people will click without thinking, hurrying to change their password before they’re a victim of the attack.

They usually have buttons that say, “Review Recent Activity” or “Click Here To Change Your Password.”

These e-mails can go as far as to show fake login information detailing the region, IP address, time of sign-in and more, like real messages from the companies do to convince you to click.
 

2.  Fake Gift Cards – These e-mails suggest that someone sent you an e-gift card. When you open the e-mail, they either redirect you to a website to “claim your gift card” or have a button to “redeem now.”

3.  Account Verification Required – These e-mails suggest that your account has been disconnected, and they need you to verify your information. As soon as you enter your login credentials, the hacker has access.

These scams are happening every single day. You’re a target, but so are the unsuspecting employees in your company. Without proper training, they might not know what to look for, panic and try to resolve these “issues” under the radar, ultimately causing the problem.

There are multiple steps to making sure your network is secure. One would be getting e-mail monitoring to help reduce the likelihood of these phishing e-mails ending up in your inbox. It’s also important to make sure employees know what to look for so that if an e-mail does get by the phishing detection system, they can still keep your company safe. The best thing to do is to start here with your FREE Cybersecurity Risk Assessment. We’ll evaluate your network and provide a full report on areas where you are vulnerable and what to do to fix them. There’s no obligation, but you should know where you’re at risk. Click here to schedule your assessment now

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7 Quick Fixes To Fix SLOW Home Wi-Fi

Nothing is more aggravating than attempting to watch a video or use your PC when the Internet is operating slower than molasses flowing uphill in winter.

For our clients, we have many solutions to make your Internet connection faster, more reliable and secure. But what about at your home? Spotty, unreliable Wi-Fi is almost certain to happen at the most inconvenient time, like when you’re about to watch a great movie on a Friday night.

Here are our top 7 fixes for slow home WiFi signals.

Step 1: Make sure your Internet Service Provider (ISP) isn’t having issues. Most ISPs will have outages published on their website using your phone’s mobile network instead of your home Wi-Fi. If there are no outages or known problems, you can move on to the next steps.

Side Note: If you haven’t talked to your ISP in over a year, you should call and see if they have new plans that will give you more bandwidth for less money. You might also shop other providers to see if they have recently upgraded their network and can offer better, faster service than your current ISP.

Step 2: Update your router, especially if you haven’t done so in the last 2 to 3 months. This will not only reset your router with the latest (and fastest) connection speeds but also ensure you’re up-to-date with security patches and other preventative programs. You might just reboot it as well, powering it off and on again. Sometimes that’s enough to fix the problem.

I would also suggest you get a new router if yours is over 3 years old. Aim for one with Wi-Fi 6 and dual or triple band capabilities, which allows your router to connect with multiple devices without sacrificing any speed or bandwidth.

Step 3: Change the channel. Download the app Network Analyzer to help find the most appropriate channel for your connection. If you’re using the 2.4 GHz frequency, change to another less “noisy” channel. How you do this depends on the brand and model of your router, so refer to your router’s manufacturer for details.

Step 4: Upgrade to a mesh Wi-Fi router. When too many devices connect, Internet speeds decline. One option is to get a mesh router like Google Mesh routers, NETGEAR’s Nighthawk Mesh, or eero Mesh from Amazon.  Unlike a traditional router which broadcasts it’s signal from a single device, a mesh router emits a signal from multiple units strategically placed around your home.  In smaller homes, upgrading to a single, more expensive router like a Nighthawk could help.

Step 5: Turn on QoS, or Quality of Service. This is a router feature that lets you prioritize traffic and apps, such as Zoom or gaming programs. Essentially, your router will prioritize certain uses over others. Of course, how this is done varies by router, so you’ll have to check your router’s manual for details.

Step 6: Check that you haven’t been compromised. If your Wi-Fi network is open without security or is using WEP, WPA or WPA2, change your settings immediately. Go with WPA3 encryption (which is the most secure) and disable any remote management options on your router. Viruses and hacks can suck up resources and may be the reason for your network grinding to a halt.

Step 7: Change your router’s location. The basement might not be the best place to store your router. Try placing it up high and as close to the center of your home as possible, free from obstructions and appliances, mirrors, concrete walls and metal materials that can cause signals to bounce or be blocked. If you put your router on a wall of your house, your signal is only impacting half of your home. If you have a large house, you will probably need to invest in Wi-Fi extenders around the house to boost the signal.

If your business Wi-Fi is slow, spotty and problematic, click here to request a free diagnostic of your office Internet connection to see what’s causing the problems you’re experiencing. Obviously, business Wi-Fi is more important than home Wi-Fi and can cost you in untold frustration and low productivity if not fixed. Contact us today!

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Why Hiring The Cheapest Computer Support Company Will Actually Cost You More

As anybody working in IT will tell you, the most common
question we get isn’t, “Why is my computer running so slowly?” or “Why is my
Internet not working?” It’s, “What do you charge for your services?” With so
many

IT companies clamoring for your attention, it makes sense
that you’d want to look for the most inexpensive, cost-efficient option, right?

The problem is that this question doesn’t get to the heart
of the issue. Sure, any IT company can offer rock-bottom prices, but as with
anything else, those savings are going to come with fewer, lower-quality IT
services. Also, many cheaper services say they are inexpensive, but they
typically have slow response times and nickel and dime you over
everything.  Instead of asking about
price right off the bat, the better question is, “What will I

get for my money?”

With cheapo IT companies, the answer is not much. Maybe
they’ll be there when the server breaks down or if Microsoft Word is acting
weird on your computer. But you can bet they won’t help you implement IT
systems that will prevent real, catastrophic issues from arising – the kinds of
things that determine the success or failure of a company at the most basic
level.

Today, business and technology go hand in hand. It’s an
inescapable fact that good tech forms the pillars upon which successful
companies stand. Many business owners still insist on cutting corners with IT,
hiring cheap and inexperienced “professionals” to protect and support the most
fundamental aspects of their operation. 

Of course, it’s hard to fault them for doing so. Without a
firm grasp of a business’s IT needs, it’s all too easy for a subpar, would-be
IT partner to convince an owner they meet the company’s requirements. That’s
why the

question, “What will I get for my money?” is so important.
IT support coverage needs to be comprehensive, addressing every potential
sink-or-swim crisis before it actually happens. The integrity of your network

infrastructure should support your business, rather than
force you to run around putting out fires.

A downed server or temporarily unreliable network might seem
like minor issues, but even the smallest of IT problems can easily snowball
into an expensive nightmare that threatens your company’s very existence.

Take a company that stores all its data on a central,
networked server, for example. Maybe they’re a content creation firm, with
terabytes of custom-designed client marketing materials stashed away, or a
large law practice with thousands of vital case documents. They were reluctant
to spend much on IT support, so they went with the cheapest option available.
Of course, regular server maintenance wasn’t included in their

package, but they assumed their trusty hardware would keep
kicking for at least a few more years. But when an employee tries to access the
database, an error pops up. Upon further investigation, it turns out the
outdated server has finally broken down, apparently for good. All those
documents, all that data instrumental to the basic

functionality of the company, is irrecoverable – thousands
of hours of work (and thousands of dollars) down the drain, and all because of
an issue that would easily have been caught and prevented by a team of qualified
IT

experts.

When technology works, it’s easy to imagine that it’ll
continue working without issue. But the fact is that a computer network
requires constant, behind-the-scenes monitoring and maintenance to ensure it
stays up and

running, not to mention secure.

From hordes of hackers waiting in the wings for you to slip
up, to hardware failure, to natural disasters, rogue employees and a million
other IT threats, it’s important to ensure the stability of your network before
a

problem comes knocking. Cheap Band-Aid solutions work great
until the day they cost you thousands. It’s better to invest in a team of real
IT experts, and avoid crisis altogether. It’s much cheaper to prevent something
from

breaking than it is to replace it altogether.

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The Most Common Ways Hackers Access Your Network

You are under attack. Right now, cybercrime rings in China, Russia, and the Ukraine are hacking into small businesses like yours to steal credit cards, client information, and swindle money directly out of your bank account. Some are even being funded by their own government to attack American businesses, and half of all cyberattacks are aimed at small businesses. The National Cyber Security Alliance reports that one in five small businesses have been victims of cybercrime in the last year. It’s critical that you protect yourself from the following 10 vulnerabilities.

1.  Poorly trained employees are the biggest risk. It’s common for an employee to infect an entire network by opening and clicking a phishing email designed to look like legitimate correspondence from a trusted source. If they don’t know how to spot infected emails or online scams, employees can easily compromise your entire network.

2.  We strongly recommend an acceptable use policy that limits the websites employees can access with work devices as well as work material they access with personal devices. We can easily set up permissions that regulate which websites your employees access and what they do with company-owned devices, even granting certain users more freedom than others. You also need to detail what an employee can or cannot do with personal devices when taking work home.

3.  Weak passwords are bad news; passcodes should be at least eight characters long with both lower and uppercase letters and include symbols and at least one number. On a company cellphone, requiring a passcode makes stolen devices harder to compromise. Again, this can be enforced by your network administrator so employees don’t get lazy and put your organization at risk.

4.  If your networks aren’t patched, new vulnerabilities (which are common in programs you already use, such as Microsoft Office) can be exploited by hackers. It’s critical that you patch and update your systems frequently. If you’re under a managed IT plan, this can be automated so you never miss an important update.

5.  Are you backed up in multiple places? Aggressive ransomware attacks, where a hacker holds files for ransom until you pay a fee, can be foiled by backing up your data. You won’t have to pay a crook to get them back. A good backup will also protect you against accidental deletion and natural disasters, and it should be automated.

6.  One of the fastest ways cybercriminals access networks is by duping employees to download malicious software by embedding it within downloadable files, games, or other innocent-looking apps. This can largely be prevented with a secure firewall and employee training and monitoring.

7. Not all firewalls are created equal. A firewall blocks everything you haven’t specifically allowed to enter or leave your network. But all firewalls need monitoring and maintenance, just like all devices on your network, and a weak one does you little good. This, too, should be done by your IT person or company as part of their regular, routine maintenance.

8.  Many hackers exploit your devices when you connect to public Wi-Fi, getting you to connect to their Wi-Fi instead of the legitimate public one. Always check with a store or restaurant employee to verify the name of the Wi-Fi they are providing. And never access financial or medical data or enter your credit card information when surfing public Wi-Fi.

9. It may be one of the oldest tricks in the book, but phishing emails still work. The  goal is to get you to download a virus by clicking a link or getting you to enter your login information on a clone of a legitimate website.

10 In 2009, social engineers posed as Coca-Cola’s CEO, persuading an executive to open an email with software that infiltrated the network. Social engineering is another old-school tactic, but, like phishing, it works well. Hackers pretend to be you, and people often fall for it.

If you are concerned about cybercriminals gaining access to your network, then call us to learn more about implementing a managed security plan for your business. You’ve spent a lifetime working hard to get where you are and have earned every penny and every client. Why risk losing it all? Get the facts and be certain your business, reputation, and data are protected.

You can reach out to us at 305-600-5459 or at info@virtualitmanagers.com

 

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4 E-mails You Should NEVER Open

No matter how “bomb-proof” we make your network, you and your employees can still invite a hacker in if you click on a link or open an attachment in an e-mail sent by a cybercriminal. Some spam is obvious (can you say, “Viagra at a discount”?) but others are VERY cleverly designed to sneak past all the filters and trick the recipient into opening the door. Known as a “phishing” e-mail, this still is the #1 way hackers circumvent firewalls, filters and antivirus, so it’s critical that you and your employees know how to spot a threatening e-mail. Here are four types of e-mail ploys you should be on high alert for.

 

The Authority E-mail. The most common phishing e-mails are ones impersonating your bank, the IRS or some authority figure. The rule of thumb is this: ANY e-mail that comes in where 1) you don’t PERSONALLY know the sender, including e-mails from the IRS, Microsoft or your “bank,” and 2) asks you to “verify” your account should be deleted. Remember, ANY important notification will be sent via old-fashioned snail mail. If it’s important, they can call you.

 

The “Account Verification” E-mail. Any e-mail that asks you to verify your password, bank information or login credentials, OR to update your account information, should be ignored. No legitimate vendor sends e-mails asking for this; they will simply ask you upon logging in to update or verify your information if that’s necessary.

 

The Typo E-mail. Another big warning sign is typos. E-mails coming from overseas (which is where most of these attacks come from) are written by people who do not speak or write English well. Therefore, if there are obvious typos or grammar mistakes, delete it.

 

The Zip File, PDF Or Invoice Attachment. Unless you specifically KNOW the sender of an e-mail, never, ever open an attachment. That includes PDFs, zip files, music and video files and anything referencing an unpaid invoice or accounting file (many hackers use this to get people in accounting departments to open e-mails). Of course, ANY file can carry a virus, so better to delete it than be sorry.

For additional information or User Awareness/Prevention Training, reach out to us at https://virtualitmanagers.com/network-security-services/.  Complete the contact form and one of our specialists will contact you as quickly as possible.  Or, call us at 305-600-5459.

Posted in: Tech Tips for Business Owners

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