Self-Healing Software Has Been Developed and Adopted ABN Amro, a major Dutch bank, and Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek (also known as the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, or TNO) partnered up to design improved ways to protect the software that financial institutions rely on. The result: a system that draws on the human body for inspiration. A Brief Biology Lesson Here?s the thing about the human body: it?s constantly refreshing itself. Scientifically, your body contains none of the cells that it did 10 years ago. Not only do cells naturally die off and need to be replaced, the body will ostracize cells it suspects to be infected and replace them with healthy ones.  This periodic replacement, known as the principle of disposability, offers a pair of benefits when translated to cybersecurity: Undetected infections are protected against If there is suspicion of an infection, your protections are automatically elevated The system that was created to emulate this principle of disposability does so quite well, allowing it to repair itself and register when it needs to do so. There is Little Question That These Tools Could Be Useful to Businesses… …and fortunately, this could be a reality sooner than later. Reports have come out suggesting that this software will soon be made public? so before long, cybersecurity may become that much simpler to keep managed. In the meantime, White Mountain IT Services is here to serve the same purpose, monitoring your business? IT to ensure that all is well and working properly. Find out what we can offer you by giving us a call at (603) 889-0800.

In No Uncertain Terms, Ransomware Has Grown More Dangerous Let?s face facts for a moment: in order to be effective, a cybercriminal can take advantage of a few different challenges that small and medium-sized businesses frequently struggle with. For instance: Cybercriminals frequently rely on deception in the form of phishing. Using phishing attacks, a cybercriminal bypasses the protections a business has in place by taking advantage of their employees in order to gain access to the business? network. A lack of communication between departments makes issues even greater. A lack of communications between a business? departments can exacerbate the risks to be seen from cybercriminals. Smaller businesses don?t always have the resources needed to prepare their team members. Unlike corporations, SMBs likely don?t have a dedicated budget for cybersecurity training, and almost certainly can?t afford the salary of a dedicated security professional on-staff. On top of these opportunities, however, today?s cybercriminal has others they can exploit: Automated Threats Cybercriminals, like many of the businesses operating today, have embraced the concept of automation to their advantage. Rather than manually attacking individual targets, cybercriminals are able to wage widespread attacks with minimal effort. Even the extortion component of ransomware has become increasingly automated. One ransomware variant, Avaddon, has been using automation to its advantage. With a Dark Web site listing the companies that have been infected, a countdown is provided that ticks away the time before data is automatically publicized. Ransomware as a Service Cybercrime is now a legitimate industry (in a manner of speaking), with teams of developers and commission-based structures responsible for spreading attacks far and wide. Ransomware as a Service is just one example of this, with a packaged ransomware attack bundled up for an aspiring cybercriminal to use. These kinds of services only make cyberattacks more accessible to those who would wage them. Layered Extortion Many ransomware attacks have historically extorted money from their victims more than once. Not only are the victims charged for resumed access to their data, but they then have to pay up to keep the attackers from leaking this data out. Unfortunately for businesses, this approach has evolved. Now, this kind of extortion takes place in four parts: The victimized business is instructed to pay for their access to their encrypted data to be restored. Hackers release the data they?ve stolen if the ransom isn?t paid. Denial of Service attacks are used to take down a victim?s website. The cybercriminals responsible reach out to the targeted business? customers, partners, employees, and the media to inform them of the hack. All in all, these tactics have only made ransomware attacks more successful. You Need to Be Ready to Resist Ransomware Ransomware is a serious issue for businesses, and isn?t going away anytime soon. That?s why we?re here to help you stop it. Find out more about what we can do by calling (603) 889-0800 today.

IT Needs to Be Less About Product, More About Experience Lots of businesses are shifting their focus over to the experience they can give to their clientele, rather than what they offer taking the prominent spot. The theory is a simple one: clients are less interested in the how, so long as they see a desired and consistent result. This focus on customer experience has risen precipitously, with 78 percent of the CIOs (Chief Information Officers) who responded to IDG?s State of the CIO survey reporting that customer interaction has become more important over the last year. Let?s face it, recent events have changed a lot of what were once the default needs of a customer. Safety became paramount to a business? long-term success and reputation, while new ways to do business with their audience were required in order to keep an organization in operation. In light of this, there is little surprise that about half of businesses surveyed by SuperOffice were prioritizing customer experience for the next five years. Customer experience (abbreviated to CX) envelops everything about how a customer and an organization interact. The capability to ?delight? the customer, as the official terminology puts it, has become key? which itself requires the right technology.  Is CX Really That Important? To answer this question, let?s consider yet another study, undertaken by Forrester. In their US 2021 Customer Experience Index rankings, it was shown that the top 5 percent of performers were the brands who focused on making things easier for the customer during the tough times that the previous year had presented. So, in other words, yes! CX is very important. It?s simple math: a customer that has a positive experience is more likely to continue working with you, making you more money over time. How to Boost CX There are a few ways that customer experience can be improved, all of which should be carried out in tandem with one another: Understand Your Customers and What You Want Their Experience to Be It is important to remember that the people your business serves are not a generic monolith. Instead, they are a relatively diverse mix of people with different needs, tendencies, and capabilities. Depending on your business, you may serve tech-savvy clientele, those who are generally computer illiterate, and/or everyone in between. Once you?ve identified what range your business audience falls in on this spectrum, you can use that information to design an experience that suits it. Collect Feedback The simplest way to determine whether or not your clients are having a positive experience is to just ask them. This kind of feedback can be collected through a variety of tools, from live chat tools to surveys to your clients? conversations with your employees. Speaking of your employees, they are also an invaluable source of direct feedback. Listen to what they have to say about their interactions with your clientele. Their perspective is a valuable one when it comes to identifying opportunities to improve the client experience. Standardize Your Processes One particularly effective way that you can ensure your team provides your clientele with a positive experience is to simply make the processes that they follow ones that are most likely to generate that positive outcome. Once you?ve identified these promising processes, establishing that they are the ones […]

Before we get started, we want to preface this blog by saying that you should only proceed if you are confident that the files you are deleting are, in fact, unnecessary. The last thing you want to do is accidentally delete something important. When in doubt, you should always defer to your IT resource for guidance on how to proceed. Who knows? They might decide that, rather than have you potentially break something, they will take care of the issue for you or, even better, hook you up with even more internal storage. Delete Temporary Files Using Settings One of the best ways to delete your temporary files is to use the Settings application. To open this, go ahead and click on the gear icon in the Start menu. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut, which is Windows Key + I. Next, follow these instructions: From the Settings window, click on the System option. Select Storage in the left-hand panel Under the Windows group, select Temporary Files This option will show you temporary files on your computer. Check the boxes for the types of files you want to delete. Once you are ready, click the Remove Files button. Again, we want to emphasize that certain files might be needed by various applications, so you should be careful about what you delete. Certain other types of files, though, like temporary Internet files, are safe bets for deletion.  For more great tips and for more information on topics pertaining to Microsoft Windows, technology, and other business topics, be sure to subscribe to White Mountain IT Services?s blog. We?re sure you will find it helpful as you continue the ongoing process of improving operations and expanding on your efficiency!

Signs of Spam and Phishing Messages First, we should get this out of the way; spam messages and phishing messages are similar, but in the end are two entirely different things. Spam messages are often blanket messages that go out to hundreds of thousands of people with the intention of either wasting your time or getting people to click on them. Phishing emails, on the other hand, are a bit trickier to identify. Phishing emails are designed to take advantage of unknowing users by convincing them to hand over credentials, click on links within emails, or hand over other sensitive information. Phishing emails do this by impersonating trusted organizations like government agencies, banks, businesses, etc. Phishing emails often include: Spelling errors in the message Suspicious sender addresses A sense of urgency, like claiming a prize in a sweepstakes or paying a bill Spear phishing in particular can be a devastating threat. Phishing emails might be designed to be more broad in scope, whereas spear phishing are targeted efforts at a particular individual. These messages might include personal greetings or personalized information that make the user trust the sender more than with your typical phishing message. What Should You Do? If you suspect that you have received spam or phishing emails, you can report them to your IT resource. Chances are that the message circumvented your protections and managed to hit your inbox somehow, so the IT resource will likely block the IP address or email address and quarantine the message off. Whatever you do, do not click on links in the email or respond to it until you are certain of the nature of the email. Of course, it could also be the case that the message is, in fact, not spam or phishing. Depending on the sender?s email habits, they may have made their message look like one of these emails unintentionally. You can reach out to the sender via an alternative method of outreach, like a phone call, to confirm that it was them who sent the message. When in doubt, always practice caution. If this seems like a lot to keep an eye out for, don?t worry?most spam and phishing emails can be blocked thanks to comprehensive security solutions like those that White Mountain IT Services offers. We can implement a unified threat management tool that can block spam messages, prevent threats from accessing your network, and keep your employees from accessing harmful or dangerous content on the web. Don?t wait any longer! Get started with a UTM today by calling us at (603) 889-0800.