Inventorying Your Vendors First, let?s list all the vendors you likely have to deal with. There?s the company that provides your network infrastructure, your Internet service provider, your phone provider, the people who provide your network security implements, anyone else that provides some aspect of your business? information technology, not to mention all the other vendors you have. Frankly, that?s a lot of vendors, which means that managing them is going to take a lot of time. Is that really time that you and your employees can spare? Furthermore, you have to consider any vendors that you utilize as an extension of your business. Their performance will have repercussions on your operations, influencing your ability to serve your clients and thereby affecting their impression of your company. In short, you need to be sure that all of your vendors deliver what they promised, when they promised, adding yet another layer to the task of managing them. Potential Issues with Your Vendors Of course, there is also the risk that your business could suffer due to the disparate priorities of your assortment of vendors. If a solution provided by one interferes with another solution?s performance, you?re hardly in a better position. Then there?s the question of quality. Not all vendors are going to provide the service that you rightly expect them to, so again, you need to be sure that they are held accountable. These issues can also complicate your vendor management, which wastes your valuable time. What If Someone Else Could Manage Them for You? With the right managed service provider, this question doesn?t have to be a hypothetical. At White Mountain IT Services, we can take responsibility for managing your many vendors. We?ll use our knowledge of your infrastructure and needs to ensure that your business gets the solutions and support it needs, when it needs it. In the meantime, all you have to do is continue your operations. You can be confident that your interests are being served under the watchful eyes of our staff. To learn more about how our vendor management services can help your operations, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.
What is Breadcrumb Navigation? Breadcrumb navigation is more or less what the fairy tale would suggest it is: a path that leads back home (or in this case, the homepage). It is effectively an easier way to keep track of the path to and from a certain page (or area of an application) and is often displayed at the top of the viewed page. Each step provides a link that navigates back to the page in question. So, let?s say that you were looking at a service page on some website. If the path to that page led from the homepage, to the second menu on the homepage, to the fifth menu item in that menu, the breadcrumbs would look something like this: Home > [Menu 2] > [Menu Item 5] Because these breadcrumbs serve as links, clicking on the [Menu 2] breadcrumb would bring you to that menu?s page, allowing you to continue browsing from there. More Than Just Websites You may also recognize this style of navigation from the toolbars of the folders and files saved to your system. This just makes it easier to find certain files again later and can be shared with another user if they need to know where a file is located. Again, breadcrumbs are specifically meant to make navigation and organization easier for the user. Can you think of any other features that do the same? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
Nope! While yes, the fact that we no longer have to remember each different password for our online accounts may seem ideal, relying on the browser to remember them for us presents a few issues. Each of these browsers leaves some kind of opening for a hacker to review a user?s list of passwords. Google Chrome – When a user is logged into their Google account, Chrome will automatically save any passwords that user inputs. If a hacker was then able to gain access to that Google account, the entire list of passwords would be available to them. Mozilla Firefox – Utilizing low-level encryption, Firefox hides a user?s passwords, utilizing a single master password as the encryption key. However, because this encryption has such a low level, a brute force attack can break it. Plus, if someone is in possession of the device itself, they can access the passwords without having to log in. Safari – Just as is the case with Firefox, Safari stores all passwords in the browser?s settings, where they can be accessed without a login required. Internet Explorer – When Internet Explorer saves passwords, all it takes to expose them is a readily available tool. Microsoft Edge – Edge has had some security issues, such as a flaw that enabled hackers to read files that were browser-compatible (like the notepad files that some might keep a list of passwords in). In addition, some third-party password managers, like Edge Password Manager, have failed to require password authentication in the past. Of course, there are other threats to your password security as well. For instance, a bug that dates back 11 years was discovered early this year that allowed website credentials to be stolen. A secondary form was hidden behind the login form, stealing usernames (which were often just the user?s email) and passwords without the user having any idea. What Can Be Done? Your first step should be to disable your preferred browser?s built-in password manager. Google Chrome – Under the toolbar, select Chrome Menu, and from there, Settings. Scroll down until you can select Advanced, and from there, select Manage passwords (found under Passwords and forms). Finally, switch Auto Sign-in to off. Mozilla Firefox – In the toolbar?s Firefox Menu, access Options. On the left, access Privacy & Security, and find Forms & Passwords. Find the Remember logins and passwords for websites option and deselect it. Safari – Select Safari Menu from the toolbar, and then select Preferences and Autofill. Then you?ll need to deselect Using info from my Address Book card, Usernames and passwords, and Other forms. Internet Explorer – First, you need to reconsider utilizing Internet Explorer, assuming your organization gives you a choice in the matter. If you must, you will want to access the toolbar?s Internet Explorer Menu and select Internet Options. From there, click into Content, and select Settings (found under AutoComplete). Deselect both Forms and Searches and User names and passwords on forms. Finally, save your changes by clicking OK. Microsoft Edge – Again, from the toolbar, select Edge Menu and from there, Settings. Scroll down to find View advanced settings. Under Privacy and services, deactivate Offer to save passwords, and under Manage passwords, deactivate Save from entries. We understand, remembering all of your different passwords can be a real […]
When we say outsourced, we mean that managed IT services are managed and maintained by someone outside of your business. This means that you don?t have to hire new staff to manage the technology you need to keep operations moving forward. Depending on how much you want to invest in managed services, you could either outsource a single solution or an entire project?s implementation. Either way, managed IT?s purpose is to help small businesses like yours through better access to important technology management services. It?s inevitable that you?ll ask why you should trust something as important as your IT infrastructure to outsourced workers. After all, they don?t work for your business. Well, to put it simply, the right managed service provider does work for your business. They want to help your organization make the most of its technology solutions. The right managed IT provider will act as an extension of your business? internal IT department (or lack of one), providing support as needed for your organization?s administrators and users. It?s basically like having an IT department, minus paying for their salaries, onboarding, and training. This makes outsourcing a viable alternative for small businesses, as the small monthly payments are more affordable than other options. Overall, the quality of IT management when outsourcing it to a managed service provider increases. This is basically because the quality of your service increases compared to if you have either no support, or you?re relying on your untrained employees to maintain IT solutions. If maintenance isn?t done properly, your business could suffer from large repair or replacement costs, and that?s not even mentioning projects that aren?t managed properly. In times like this, it helps to have professionals who can provide a helping hand–whether it?s simply operating in a supplementary role or as your full-fledged IT department. Managed IT makes managing IT easier for small businesses, which can go a long way toward making sure your organization remains profitable and efficient. To learn how your business can take advantage of managed IT solutions, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.
Today, we?ve compiled some statistics that give these threats context, as well as a list of some of the most devastating hacks from the first half of 2018. Hopefully, these lists will put into perspective just how important building a network security strategy is for your company. Here are some statistics to help reinforce just how important cybersecurity is: In 2017 over 130 large-scale breaches were reported, a 27 percent increase over 2016. Nearly 1-in-3 organization have experienced some sort of cyberattack in the past. Cryptojacking (stealing cryptocurrency) increased 8,500 percent in 2017. 100,000 organizations were infected with the WannaCry ransomware (400,000 machines). 5.4 billion WannaCry attacks were blocked in 2017. The average monetary cost of a malware attack is $2.4 million. The average time cost of a malware is 50 days. Ransomware cost organization?s over $5 billion in 2017. 20 percent of cyberattacks come from China, 11 percent from the United States, and six percent from the Russian Federation. Phone numbers are the most leaked information. 21 percent of files are completely unprotected. 41 percent of companies have over 1,000 sensitive files left unprotected. Ransomware is growing at 350 percent annually. IoT-based attacks are growing at about 500 percent per year. Ransomware attacks are expected to quadruple by 2020. 7.7 percent of web requests lead to malware. There were 54 percent more types of malware in 2017 than there were in 2016. The cybersecurity market will be worth over $1 trillion by 2025. If that isn?t scary enough, below are some of the attacks that have taken place in 2018. We?ve broken them down into public (individuals, governments, etc.), and private (businesses). Keep in mind all these events took place before the calendar turned to July: Public January The Department of Homeland Security was affected by a data breach that exposed information about 247,167 current and former employees. March Atlanta, Georgia was targeted by a ransomware attack called SamSam. This resulted in a massive problem for their municipal infrastructure. The ransom price given was $51,000, but Atlanta?s leadership refused to meet these demands. Overall, the numbers show that Atlanta has spent more than 10 times that number in the fallout of the attack. Some estimates place the actual cost of this event at nearly $20 million. India?s national ID database, Aadhaar, leaked data of over a billion people. This is one of the largest data breaches in history. A user could pay 500 rupees, equal to about $7, to get the login credentials that allowed anyone to enter a person?s 12-digit code for their personal information. For 300 rupees, or about $4.20, users could also access software that could print an ID card for anyone associated with the database. Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics company that U.S. President Donald Trump used to help his campaign, harvested personal information from over 50 million Facebook users without asking for their permission. Facebook hasn?t called this a data breach, but Cambridge Analytica has since been banned from using the service thanks to this event. June A hack of a U.S. Government-funded active shooter training center exposed the personal data of thousands of U.S. law enforcement officials. This also exposed which police departments aren?t able to respond to an active shooter situation. Private January 280,000 Medicaid records were exposed when a hacker attacked […]
