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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.

Doing so will require you to have some understanding of how each type of cloud functions. Below, we have provided a few basic guidelines to help you identify cloud types – complete with examples. Public Cloud First, we have the public cloud. The public cloud includes any service that leverages cloud technology and hosting to provide some utility to anyone who needs it. Depending on how you look at it, this could include solutions like Dropbox, Google Drive, Office 365, and the like. The public cloud arguably also includes services that may not come to mind nearly as quickly, like Netflix. While this is really more of a technicality, the public cloud includes any service delivered through shared hosted resources. This includes data, applications, or whatever service is being offered.  One of the nicest features of the public cloud is also one of its biggest drawbacks: the fact that a business leveraging the public cloud is entrusting the provider to keep their storage infrastructure secure. On the one hand, that takes the responsibility out of a business? hands (cutting costs), but it also means that the business needs to be selective about the cloud provider they use. Private Cloud In comparison to the public cloud, a private cloud is one that you have control over. When utilizing a private cloud, you could be either leveraging an external provider?s hardware resources (which are offsite from your location), or using an onsite server to host a cloud yourself that enables remote access for your employees. As you are in control of a private cloud, you can choose to use it for any of a variety of needs. These needs could include application hosting, data storage, backup support… the list goes on. Hybrid Cloud Of course, very few businesses find that one type of cloud can fulfill all of their business needs, so a hybrid cloud approach – one where both public and private cloud resources are leveraged – is a common approach for businesses to take. Company documents can be shared in a public cloud solution, like Google Drive, while mission-critical applications can be hosted in a private cloud – and that?s just one example. For assistance bringing cloud utility into your business? operations, reach out to White Mountain IT Services. Our professionals can assist you in creating a cloud strategy that suits your needs.

Keep It with You Hopefully, you aren?t naturally inclined to leave a thousand-dollar gadget lying around willy-nilly, but it doesn?t hurt to bring up the possibility anyways. Your phone should never be left unattended out in public, as any data that the device has access to is put at risk. This includes your own data, as well as company documents if the device was used to access them via a Bring Your Own Device arrangement. While BYOD policies typically include remote wiping measures, who knows what data may have been viewed before the wipe was initiated? Be Selective Concerning Wireless Networks Under the right conditions, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are great, allowing a user to connect to the Internet and other devices that boost their phone?s utility. Unfortunately, these connections can be a wolf in sheep?s clothing – unsecured networks can easily subject your device (and the data it contains) to any number of threats. A good way to minimize the chances of this happening are to avoid making connections to unknown networks, using your data plan if you have to. Protect Your Sensitive Credentials As people use their phones for almost everything these days, most of these devices now allow a user to store passwords, PIN numbers, and payment card information on the phone itself for simplified access. The thing is, if your phone was to fall into the wrong hands, this means that the person who now has the device is given that simplified access. While the best move is to simply choose not to store these details in your phone, there are secure applications that are much better to use if you do. For help in selecting one, reach out to us. Clean Out the Data You?ve Generated There?s a lot of data that your phone retains, from the words (including personal data) that its autocomplete records, to the web browsing app?s history. All of this data and more is very valuable to a cybercriminal, so as a precautionary measure it is good to clear out this data every so often. To keep your data safe, you need to protect it from all of the potential ways it can be breached. White Mountain IT Services has the tools and experience to help. Reach out to us at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.