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Blockchain By now most people have heard of blockchain. It is an encrypted digital ledger system most often associated with Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies). Since new blocks represent a single transaction, added to a chain of transactions and information that is encrypted, development of security tools in financial technology and other sectors continue to grow in popularity. AI and Machine Learning Machine learning technology, a rudimentary form of artificial intelligence is powering many more pieces of software these days. It is growing fast in multiple sectors for the additional value businesses can get out of automating some tasks. The cost reduction combined with AI-enabled application effectiveness makes automation using AI extremely attractive to almost any business.  AR and VR Of any technology, none potentially have the long-term applications that augmented and virtual reality have. The concept is simple, virtualize elements of reality for the benefit of people. It is a wonderful thought. Businesses have been slow to implement VR, or even AR, as both seem to be in a state of feature creep, which refers to the state a product will get into when a product demands constant attention causing consumers to lose interest altogether. The businesses that have implemented these technologies are finding that they are great for marketing and training purposes. It is only a matter of time before AR and VR are everywhere, but it just hasn?t happened yet.  Rest assured, it?s coming. What do you think about these new technology trends? Is your business using these technologies? Where do they fit in your plan? Sound off on these questions and more in the comments section below.

Customer Relationship Management Software Let?s face facts – without clients or customers, your business isn?t going to be around for very long. As such, it helps to have the tools to communicate with your prospects, and to keep track of their preferences and interaction levels. Using this information, you will have the capability to more effectively convert your prospects into loyal clients and retain them for longer. Project Management Software Of course, you?ll only be able to retain your clients if you can deliver the services they are expecting of you. This is where project management software is very useful. This software helps to keep your processes, goals, and tasks on track and on schedule. Project management software does more or less what it says on the box – allows you to manage your internal projects more effectively. Security Software As your business becomes more successful, you will only become more attractive for cybercriminals to target – and it isn?t like your business is ever immune to attack. This is precisely why you need to be sure that your interests are protected with updated and comprehensive security solutions. In addition to this, many threats are automated in this day and age, so your business could be at risk without someone actively targeting it. The right software solution can help minimize these threats. Collaboration Software Finally, what?s a business without effective communication capabilities? Usually, less successful than one that can effectively communicate – both internally, and with clients, vendors, and partners. Various software solutions, such as VoIP, enable businesses to improve their communications – in turn, improving their productivity. If you are seeking out the business benefits we?ve outlined here, reach out to White Mountain IT Services by calling (603) 889-0800. We can provide you with these and other useful business tools to assist you in accomplishing your goals.

Habit 1: Too Few, Too Weak Passwords This habit is a particularly bad one, as an employee with a weak password can potentially undermine your entire organization?s security. While nobody likes having to remember a different, complex password for every account they have, many users will default to reusing one password. What?s worse, these passwords are often very simple – simple enough for a hacker to decipher will little trouble. While some will require a little detective work on the hacker?s part, like a personal detail that can be found somewhat easily, an unfortunate number will use something too easy, like ?password? or ?12345.? You need to hold your staff to a higher standard. In addition to establishing minimum password requirements, make sure these passwords are updated regularly. If remembering these passwords proves to be a challenge, suggest alternatives, like a password management solution or using passphrases. Habit 2: On Top of Having Too Few, Too Weak Passwords, Sharing Them One thing that all of your employees will have in common? Whether you call it ?being efficient? or ?cutting corners,? they will always be on the lookout for ways to simplify their work processes. One simple way (in their eyes) to do so? Sharing credentials! Now, for the record, this isn?t in reference to company-owned accounts that are often set up, such as company social media accounts and shared resources. However, since these should be managed by (surprise, surprise) the company, these aren?t really applicable to our considerations. The main takeaway here is that anyone in your company could create a very bad situation through the wrong actions, and any safeguards you have (such as password protection) are in place to keep the company safe. Habit 3: Storing Company Files in Personal Storage Solutions While cloud computing provides a vast amount of value and utility for businesses, there are also a few concerns you need to be aware of. For instance, it isn?t uncommon for employees to utilize their own personal cloud solutions to store company files. It is important to address the fact that their motives for doing so are oftentimes pure. If an employee wants to commit a little extra time to a project, they very well may simplify things for themselves by sharing a company document with their personal cloud account. However, by doing so, this employee is also taking this document out from behind the protections your company should have in place for its data. This simply should not be done, despite the good intentions that motivate your employees – after all, we all know what they say about good intentions. Fortunately, there are solutions out there to allow your employees to safely access work materials, boosting their productivity without undermining your data security. Habit 4: Introducing Shadow IT Shadow IT is software (or hardware) that has been installed (or implemented) on your business? solutions without the knowledge or approval of IT. This usually happens when your employees are unfamiliar with the solutions you provide to them, so they instead seek out an alternative that they prefer to use. Unfortunately, shadow IT is often the cause of severe issues, so your users need to be compliant to a policy of clearing any technology not provided by IT past IT, helping ensure nothing problematic pops up. Habit […]

There are three ways you can organize your files. You can distribute them based on clients (or projects), dates, or file types. We?ll focus on how it can be beneficial to organize your files based on the file type. A file-based setup helps you group all files in folders designed to hold a specific file type. If you have a lot of ebooks, for example, they would be placed in a folder that is labeled ?ebooks,? meaning they are all located in the same place, not all over your desktop or Downloads folder. This file organization method focuses on making sure all files are in places where they belong. This could take some work, but it?s well worth the effort. If you work for a business, chances are they use a shared network of some sort with its own custom file storage nomenclature, so be sure to do your research before making any major changes in file storage. Tip #1: Stick to Your Filing System Once you?ve made your choice on a filing system, it?s important to stick to it. File things away as soon as you can; this keeps folders like Downloads from getting too out of control. Plus, you mitigate the risk of misplacing files by putting them in the right location as soon as possible. Tip #2: Avoid the Desktop & Download Folders That being said, it might be tempting to just choose your desktop or the downloads folder for storing files, but you should avoid doing so at all costs. The issue stems from the fact that your desktop only has so much real estate, meaning that it will fill up before long and leave you with a giant mess to clean up. If you put the files where they are supposed to go as soon as possible, you can avoid clutter and wasted time by knowing exactly where files are located soon after the download. Tip #3: Sort Once a Week If you aren?t able to file away files where they belong immediately, you need to make it a point to do it periodically. We suggest once every week or once every 10 days or so. If you go any longer than this, chances are it will get pretty messy. Tip #4: Naming Practices A great way to sort out of your files, even in folders, is to use a naming convention that distinguishes them from each other. That being said, having a ton of files with the same names will be confusing. Therefore, you should shoot for specifics when putting together file names. Managing your files doesn?t have to be challenging. White Mountain IT Services can help you out with that. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Here?s what we know: Capital One has admitted that the personally identifiable information (PII) of over 100 million American and Canadian credit applicants? information has been exposed. The company did admit that no credit card account numbers or authentication credentials were compromised in the hack. They also go on to mention that in 99 percent of the files, social security numbers were not compromised. The largest category of information that was accessed were individual and small business credit applications that span from 2005 to 2019. The perpetrator, Paige Thompson of Seattle, Washington, was a former software developer for Amazon Web Services (AWS), which took advantage of a firewall misconfiguration to gain access to the information, AWS confirmed Monday. The flaw came as a result of a setup error and not a flaw within the massively popular AWS. The breach happened on March 22 to 23, 2019. Thompson was apprehended as a result of being reported to Capital One for storing incriminating evidence on her Github and Slack accounts. Capital One contacted the FBI on July 19, 2019 and after a short investigation, Thompson was arrested and indicted by the Western District of Washington. The CEO of Capital One, Richard Fairbank released the following statement: ?While I am grateful that the perpetrator has been caught, I am deeply sorry for what has happened. I sincerely apologize for the understandable worry this incident must be causing those affected and I am committed to making it right.? For a full report of the event, visit: https://www.capitalone.com/facts2019/ Capital One has said that it will inform you if you have been a victim of this massive attack, but if like many of us, too much is at stake to wait for the company to reach out to you, you can take some immediate steps to safeguard your personal information. Check your accounts – Account monitoring and fraud detection should be a major part of any action you take to secure personal information. Change passwords – One great way to at least feel more secure after a major hack like this is to immediately change your passwords. Freeze your credit report – One option you can take to protect yourself is to freeze your credit report, this won?t let any credit reporting services check your credit, meaning if someone were to try to take money out in your name that the banks wouldn?t be able to authorize credit. Avoid scams – A big part of keeping any data secure is to not give unauthorized parties access to it. That means avoiding phishing attacks and other scams. Continued vigilance – Vigilance over your account information, your personally identifiable information, and your overall financial health is more important than ever. As mentioned above, credit monitoring and fraud detection services give users tools to combat unauthorized access. Keeping yourself and your business secure online is more difficult than ever. To learn more about data security, subscribe to our blog.