In a time when businesses and individuals are stepping up and helping their neighbors, the true nature of a hacker really shines through. Right now, businesses are offering sick-leave, donating medical supplies, and some are even opening their doors as supplemental hospitals. Professionals are either risking their lives to help others or are dutifully working from home to help contain the virus spread. Continue Reading
At BWS Technologies, we are looking at a global workforce that has been forced by COVID-19’s threat to a new focus on working at home (WAH). This novel virus started in China, and, as of late March 2020, has impacted more than 189 countries and territories. There is no disputing the need for social isolation, and there is a need for public and private workforces to be innovative without decreasing productivity. Continue Reading
Cybersecurity writer Sue Poremba recently shared an experience that shows how blind many companies are to the IT security risks they face when an employee leaves.
Weeks after quitting a job to take a new position, Poremba needed some information that she thought might be in her email inbox at her former company. Acting on a whim, she tried to log in to that old email account. To her astonishment, not only was she able to access her email, but she found that she still had access to everything on that former employer’s network, including sensitive employee records and company financial information. As Poremba notes, if she had been a vindictive ex-employee, she could have done untold damage to her former company. Continue Reading
Drawing up a disaster recovery plan for a small- to mid-size business can be a challenging prospect. You may have looked online for a generic guide on how to write a disaster recovery plan. While this can be a good start, there are also steps you should include that you may not consider after looking at a blank template.
Let’s take a closer look at six steps that might be missing from your disaster recovery plan, why you should include them, and how to implement them into your plan. Continue Reading
According to the Cost of a Data Breach Study by IBM and Ponemon, the global average cost for data breaches was $3.6 million. This amounted to an average of $141 per record.
Although insider threats are often thought of as being the biggest risk, employees who have recently quit or been terminated may pose an even bigger one. What type of dangers could your company be facing, and what can you do to mitigate them? Here is some information you need to know. Continue Reading
Your company depends on its network for everything from email and other internet services to your most business-critical applications. When that network begins to slow down, it can have a significant impact on your ability to carry out vital business functions, and ultimately, on your bottom line.
If it seems that your network is slower than it used to be, that’s a situation that merits immediate attention to identify the problem and correct it. Continue Reading
Eleven years ago in 2009, Microsoft released the operating system Windows 7. It was stable, functional, and compatible with software. In other words, everything a business computer system needs. Naturally, businesses build their software and internal tech stacks on computers that ran Windows 7. And not just when it was new.
As newer versions of Windows were tried and cycled through, Windows 7 remained a reliable fallback. Many people built installations on Windows 7 when there were newer alternatives because of the stability. However, part of that stability was the fact that Microsoft has been supporting Windows 7 installations for the last decade. They have been providing performance and security patches to keep Windows 7 systems functional. Continue Reading
Today, hacks and malware are everywhere. There is no tech stack a business can build that will be completely safe from the risk of hackers. Part of the reason for this is the social engineering trend. While your firewalls and network monitoring may be secure, your network must connect to the outside for the purpose of communication and data access. And through communication, hackers can gain access by manipulating employees. Emails, chat messages, and phone calls among other communication methods can all be used to socially engineer an employee into allowing malware or a live hacker to connect with your network. Continue Reading
Modern business communication goes above and beyond email and phone calls, and your small business’ CRM is at the center of this. No matter what communication channel you use, your CRM should be intimately involved in all client interactions. When a client contacts you through live chat, the CRM can and should be there. When a client is called by your sales team, the CRM can be there. The same applies when your business upgrades to a new VOIP communication suite. Continue Reading
With its release of the “Windows 10” computer operating system in July 2015, Microsoft made bold, sweeping claims for its security features. After four years of “builds” that have extended the Windows 10 series, with some 900 million users, today, those security features have to say the least undergone sustained and varied test in practice.
There have been continual modifications and patches, of course, including a recent one that embarrassed the company by seeming, when installed, to disable a key Windows 10 security feature. Continue Reading