Business, Reimagined We often talk about the benefits organizations see from investing in technology. In effect, the integration of targeted technology can go a long way toward changing the way that your business operates. Since a budget isn?t necessarily a ledger designed to manage every dollar and cent your business uses, having the right mindset when creating it is important. If you go into your budget resenting the capital you propose to spend, you likely will have a more difficult time creating one that works for your company. After all, your budgets are business tools, that if completed competently, a properly formed budget can really put your business on a fast track to success. What Does an IT Budget Do? Like budgeting for any other reason, the IT budget is the process of allocating money to fund the programs a business undertakes. Most of the IT budget will be taken up with recurring costs that come with the technology that your business already uses, including hardware and software support, software licensing, and the like. Since most line-items on an IT budget are just reaffirming familiar costs, you may only be using your IT budget as a wish list for funding new technology. The typical IT budget covers two major expenses for a business: Ongoing IT expenses Project expenses As far as the ongoing IT expenses go, this makes up every dollar your business plans on paying for the IT it uses day in and day out, the support and management for those machines, and any other expenses that will be necessary to account for as they pertain to your organization?s IT.  Examples of ongoing IT expense include: Hardware (servers, workstations {and any other client}, networking hardware, cloud subscriptions, support and management) Software (licenses, cloud subscriptions, support and management) Staff (internal IT support staff, remote IT support contractors, and recruiting costs.)  Project expenses are any expenses that a project would further cost the company. These include: Any outsourced consulting and/or management service costs Any administrative costs (e.g. any new infrastructure or temporary development platforms) Any special software Any special hardware More sophisticated organizations could try to incorporate certain IT-related costs into their departmental budgets, using what are known as chargebacks to officially itemize these expenses. This method can get much more convoluted, but it may be an ideal way to successfully prioritize expenses.  Why Do You Need an IT Budget? Regardless of what your organization uses its IT for, there is a good chance that it is a core part of any budgetary coordination your business will do. The IT budget allows a business to itemize (and earmark) capital specifically for IT-based initiatives. In doing so systems that automate tasks, provide a reduction in operational downtime, and ultimately run your business from top-to-bottom have the necessary funding behind them, rather than having to have managers justify every IT expenditure to their superiors; a venerable nightmare for any manager looking to maintain productivity. Another reason is that organizations are going through somewhat of a culture shift at this moment. Businesses are removing antiquated technology and processes for ones that are more computer-driven–even automated–and are using new tech to fill in gaps in workflow. Ultimately, the addition of high-end technology is used to drive down costs (typically from bloated payrolls). With this shift, […]

How This Economy Works Much like a business can turn to a provider and purchase the tools they need to operate effectively, cybercriminals of all levels of expertise can do the same via the Dark Web. A relative amateur can procure a fittingly simplistic hacking tool, while those with some experience can make some alterations to these programs, and a veteran hacker will often offer their services in creating custom products for others to use. How the Costs Compare to the Payouts According to researchers, these prices can vary wildly, some phishing and data harvesting kits putting an aspiring cybercriminal back a mere $28, while others cost an oddly specific $1601. A complete ransomware kit (which would bring in revenue for the wannabe-hacker) could cost anywhere between $391 and $1044. However, when comparing the investment that a cybercriminal makes to the potential payout they could make from their scheme, even the higher costs can be seen as chump change. Researchers have estimated that the economic damage incurred by cybercrime is approximately $600 billion per year. How to Foil Cybercriminals While it may seem that the natural way to stop a particular cyberattack is to take out a particular tool?s teeth, this is unfortunately a less-than-effective methodology in the face of cybercriminals? ingenuity. Instead of focusing specifically on the tools being put to use, the behavior of hackers should also be taken into account. By focusing on an attacker?s methods and tactics, their efforts can quickly become far less cost effective for them and make it more difficult for them to successfully leverage an attack against your business. White Mountain IT Services has the tools and resources to help you fight back, and we can even monitor your infrastructure to catch incoming threats. To learn more about what you may be up against and how we can help you succeed in the face of adversity, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Let?s explore a hypothetical situation: a mouse asks you for a cookie. If you were to give this mouse a cookie, which do you think would be more likely: he says ?Thanks!? and goes on his merry way, or he simply increases his demands of you until they are untenable? The latter is almost certainly going to be the case, and the same goes for cybercriminals. How Ransomware Has Proven Effective It is no secret that holding valuable things for ransom has long been a choice tactic of criminals of all kinds, but via ransomware, cybercriminals have taken it into the digital world. The way ransomware works is that, by infecting a device (frequently via phishing or spam), a cybercriminal is able to leverage encryption to lock down their target?s device and potentially the rest of the network the device is attached to. In order to maximize the efficacy of these attacks, cybercriminals will often leverage spear phishing tactics to minimize any suspicion surrounding the attack. One of the other reasons that ransomware is taken so seriously is the fact that – despite the number of infections dropping – the FBI?s Internet Crime Complaint Center states that the damages experienced by targets have risen. This is where the attacks on municipalities come into play. Why Municipalities Have Been Targeted In the early summer of 2019, two Florida cities, Lake City and the City of Riviera Beach, were effectively shut down by ransomware attacks. Indiana?s LaPorte county paid a ransom of about $130,000 worth when their domain controllers were infected by a ransomware known as Ryuk. One of the primary reasons that municipalities and governments have been targeted by ransomware is the fact that insurance coverage is available for such attacks, meaning that there is less of a risk to municipalities in paying the ransom. As a result, these cities, towns, and counties have less to potentially lose, and are more inclined to just pay the ransom. However, if your business is targeted, this is not a strategy that we can recommend. Instead, You Have to Be Prepared To help minimize the risk of your data being lost to a ransomware attack, you need to make sure that you maintain up-to-date backups of your data that are kept isolated from the original copy. It is also crucial that these backups are tested, as the only thing worse than losing your data to a ransomware attack is losing your data to a ransomware attack after your backup failed. Furthermore, you need to be sure that your employees remain educated on how to spot and avoid attacks like ransomware and phishing. Ideally, your employees won?t have more access to your systems than their roles require. For more help and assistance in securing your IT, reach out to White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.

Of course, this isn?t the only reason that SMBs turn to managed service providers (MSPs). Other benefits of leveraging an MSP?s services also include: Greater Freedom to Focus on Core Business Matters As the authority figure in your company, there are responsibilities that are only appropriate for you to take on for yourself. However, if you find yourself stuck in a position where you have to see to other responsibilities – ones that don?t require the boss? input, but do require the experience you?ve built up – the time you have to see to your duties is encroached upon. An MSP?s services can help resolve this conflict. Rather than you needing to divert your attention to these ?other? tasks, you can delegate some to the MSP?s team. They have the experience needed to properly see to the needs of your business, leaving your time free to see to other responsibilities. Unbiased Technology Strategy It isn?t that many small and medium-sized businesses completely lack any technology planning – it?s just that ?call repairman/buy replacements when things break? isn?t an effective plan of action in a business environment that is built upon efficiency. Furthermore, without the right insight into the technology, it can be easy to focus too much on the ?cool factor? of a certain technology, and not enough on what would actually benefit your business and its operations. Part of an MSP?s responsibility is to work with you to identify your business? needs – both imminent and impending – and create a strategy that sees to fulfilling them all. While the technicians here at White Mountain IT Services can still appreciate if a certain technology has some cool features, this doesn?t factor into what it is that goes into an infrastructure? your needs do. Better Investments (Or Predictable, Often Reduced, Costs) Which sounds like a better strategy to you: paying to resolve expensive technology malfunctions and issues as they happen, or paying a set cost each month to proactively minimize these annoyances and maintain your productivity? This is the difference between the traditional approach to technology maintenance and the more effective strategy that managed services leverage. While the traditional first example was once the best way to go about utilizing (and maintaining) technology in a business, the second example – managed services – has left it behind. Really, which one sounds better for a business that needs to maintain a budget to use? Experienced Resources Let?s face it… unless you have a dedicated team of IT professionals on staff, you don?t have the in-house experience needed to really keep your information technology at the level it needs to be. Supplementing your existing staff (however many people that may be) with managed services can prove to be a huge help to your business? IT wellness, as it affords your team the opportunity to focus on improvement, rather than trying to keep up with maintenance needs exclusively. Managed Services with White Mountain IT Services Offers This Support To enjoy these benefits and more, reach out to the professionals at White Mountain IT Services. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 today!

In reality, it takes several solutions working in tandem to make a network as secure as possible. Why a Firewall Isn?t Enough A firewall serves only one purpose, and that?s to monitor traffic that goes in and out of your network for any security issues. However, it?s important to remember that there are threats that can bypass firewalls, and that there are other components of network security besides monitoring traffic. To use an analogy, you can lock your front door, but that?s not stopping someone from opening up the window and breaking in anyway. This is why it?s so important to include a firewall in your overall cybersecurity strategy, but also use it in conjunction with other security solutions. Spam Protection Spam messages generally don?t present an actual threat, unless they hold infected attachments or malicious links, to your business? security, but they are often a waste of time and an unwanted distraction. Spam filters can help you alleviate this issue, but you should always encourage employees to stay on the lookout for suspicious messages. Centralized Antivirus It?s much easier to update all of your business?s workstations at once rather than individually, and it wouldn?t be possible without a centralized antivirus solution. Whenever you update your threat definitions, your entire infrastructure and network will be much better off. Data Backup If you ever find yourself in a corner and you?ve lost a considerable amount of data, then you?ll want a backup solution in place to alleviate the issue. With a proper data backup and disaster recovery solution in place, you can keep your business safe in the event of a worst-case scenario. Virtual Private Networking VPNs are great for maintaining access to files that are stored locally on your business?s network while out of the office. You can use a VPN to prevent direct remote access to these local files and resources, effectively putting a lid on any unauthorized access or onlooking. Phishing Awareness Phishing is quite common these days, and scammers will stop at nothing to attack people via email and text messaging. Sometimes it is difficult to determine who is legitimate and who is fraudulent. Many scammers will try to convince users to hand over credentials to accounts and other important data. Some attacks can be blocked by filters, but again, it?s a matter of being vigilant and aware of the dangers out there. Remember, it?s not that a firewall is a bad investment; if anything, it?s meant to be used alongside other enterprise-level security solutions to maximize security. To learn more about how you can implement the best security services on the market, reach out to White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.