This conclusion has been around for quite a while, as the North Korean hacking group Lazarus was first associated with WannaCry in June, a mere month after the attacks took place. As Bossert said in an opinion-editorial piece for the Wall Street Journal: ?We do not make this allegation lightly. It is based on evidence. We are not alone with our findings, either. Other governments and private companies agree. The United Kingdom attributes the attack to North Korea, and Microsoft traced the attack to cyber affiliates of the North Korean government.? WannaCry was so effective because it leveraged a flaw in the Windows Server Message Block that was the foundation of the National Security Agency exploit EternalBlue. EternalBlue had been stolen from the NSA and released by another hacking group, the Shadow Brokers, in April. This combination managed to infect thousands of businesses around the world, and wound up shutting down healthcare organizations. These events also spurred Microsoft to partner with Facebook to help take a stand against future attacks like WannaCry. This is a very good thing, as North Korea has–according to Bossert–shifted its focus from nuclear threats to cyber initiatives as a means of funding their other projects and creating discord around the world. So, what does this have to do with your business? More than anything, activities like these being leveraged by governments only reinforces the importance of ensuring that your business has a comprehensive security plan of action. While some attacks like these can?t be avoided, the damage can be mitigated with the proper preparations. White Mountain IT Services can assist you in making those preparations effectively. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 for more information.

Compared to the more traditional break-fix IT model, you?ll find that there are substantial differences (and benefits) to using managed IT as your preferred method of technology maintenance. Here are five of them. Minimized CostWith break-fix IT, your business is reacting to technology problems rather than preventing them. This costs you a considerable amount of cash in the long run, as it?s easier to keep issues from happening in the first place than dealing with them. We like to use the example of a hardware failure to illustrate this point. If your server fails, you?re already in a pretty bad situation since no work can be done. It makes sense to ensure that this server failure doesn?t happen in the first place, as the cost of recovering data and all of that downtime can be crippling at best. Basically, it costs less overall to keep issues from happening. It?s finding the help that is the real challenge for small businesses–and outsourcing work is easier and more cost-efficient than hiring an entire in-house team to handle the responsibilities. More EfficiencySoftware solutions need regular updates and patches in order to stay secure. However, you don?t necessarily have the time to make sure this happens. If you have an internal IT department, they might be able to handle it, but they?re probably busy enough on their own. Outsourcing at least some aspects of your IT can lighten the load a little bit for your other staff members so that they can focus on completing their work on time and on budget. In fact, most issues can be resolved remotely anyway, so you save even more time by not waiting for an on-site worker. Quicker ImplementationHow does your business handle the implementation of new technology solutions? Is it a painful experience that takes far too long? Chances are that you will encounter at least a couple of roadblocks for your implementation process, be it in the form of providing support for the rest of your team members, or just not having enough time in the day to get everything done properly. Working with a managed IT provider ensures that a new project can be implemented while maintaining proper in-house maintenance scheduling. Experienced TechniciansIf you?re planning to hire an entire team of technicians on your in-house budget, you might want to reconsider, as it?s a huge burden on your budget. We don?t want you to skimp on the service that you deserve, so make sure that you only hire the best. You don?t have to worry about individual qualifications when working with an IT provider as you?ll be hiring established professionals. One Phone NumberWhen you have troubles with your technology, do you have to reach out to multiple vendors? Do you have to sit on the phone for hours on end just to resolve basic problems? This is frustrating, and you don?t have time to work with your vendors when you should be running your business. White Mountain IT Services can be the single point of contact your organization needs to ensure that your business never has to struggle with vendors again. If you have a problem with your technology, just give us a call and we?ll sort it out from there. To learn more, reach out to White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.

Here are some of the most important predictions for where the Internet of Things is heading, as per a HAX Hardware Trends Report. Consumer Devices Are ChangingHardware providers are always competing with each other over the next best solutions for businesses and other environments. With the data collected by the Internet of Things, companies can innovate and create new ways of reinventing older technologies for new purposes. The smart home (and smart technology on a greater scale) is a perfect example of this, providing functionality on devices that didn?t necessarily have it before. With this new type of usage, connected devices can change many infrastructures in the near future. Health Technology Makes ProgressForbes describes the incoming healthcare technology as P4 Medicine, standing for predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory. The IoT devices of the future will be able to predict future health conditions, diagnose issues, and proactively treat them before health problems reach a peak. It?s kind of like monitoring your business?s network for future hardware failure symptoms before they actually become issues. By looking at data collected by healthcare devices, conditions can be proactively treated. Enterprises and Industries Will See Greater GrowthSmall businesses can use the Internet of Things to make progress, but enterprises and industries will stand to gain a considerable amount of ground through its implementation. Some examples of industries that could be affected by the Internet of Things include infrastructure, logistics, agriculture, and retail–all of which benefit greatly from data. IoT technologies can help your business put together better workflows and streamline operations. Some technologies used include automated technologies, maintenance robots, agricultural sensors, and so on. Is your business ready for the Internet of Things? White Mountain IT Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Select Your ChartExcel has several built-in chart types that you can choose from, with many of the more complex ones being a little difficult to use for normal business purposes. You can easily get your point across with a simple column, pie, or line chart. Column/Bar ChartsColumn charts are used best when you need to show how much data has changed over a certain period of time. You can also use them to compare values at a single data point. For example, you could use a column chart to show the revenue earned by individual sales people. You use a bar chart to do mostly the same thing as a column chart, only it?s horizontal rather than vertical. These are very useful to show particularly large discrepancies between data, or when you need to label your points. Pie ChartsA pie chart is great if you need to compare percentages according to a group of data. Let?s say that you are tracking how new customers say they find your business. You can break them out into a pie chart to compare and visually explain the bigger slices. Line ChartsYou can use a line chart to see how your data changes over time, as it allows you to showcase multiple data trends all at the same time. With the aforementioned examples above, a line chart could be used to showcase the frequency of how often these threats made themselves apparent on your network. Building the ChartsExcel has a simple chart building tool that you can use to showcase data from a spreadsheet. First, you want to make sure your data is properly organized in the spreadsheet. Next, highlight what data you want to show in your chart. Once you?ve done this, just select the chart type that you want to use. You can do so either in the list of Recommended Charts, or from the list of All Charts. You?ll then see your new chart appear. You can further customize your chart by using Chart Elements, Chart Styles, and Chart Filters. You can use other options to further customize your chart, and with a little bit of improvisation, you can build a chart that both accurately represents your data and gets your point across in the most effective way possible. To learn more about technology tips and tricks, be sure to subscribe to our blog.

Mostly, people do celebrate the holidays. According to Pew Research, between 90-and-95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas. As a result, many businesses will not be staffed for Christmas. One element that has to be taken into consideration is cybersecurity. While a study by IBM suggests that cyberattacks don?t peak during the holidays, many organizations like to hire seasonal help to make operations run more smoothly. This opens these companies up to social engineering attacks and other malignant computer issues. This extra risk, along with the undeniable amount of stress and reliance these computing systems have on them, make it crucial to have a full-scale cybersecurity plan in place. That?s why many organizations have consulted with IT professionals like White Mountain IT Services to protect their business? network and infrastructure through diligent planning. ?It takes roughly six months to really prepare,? said Peter Tran of RSA, a computer security firm. Another expert, Demetrios Lazarikos of Blue Lava Consulting stresses testing systems to ensure their cyber security protocols are strong, ?The fear is that the system will break. You test the system; you stress it; you try to anticipate the traffic.? He goes on to say that different types of attacks, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks create big issues, and that if there is no dedicated incident-response plan in place, a company?s IT is a sitting duck. By having a plan to protect, test, and guard the systems your business depends on to ensure no infiltrations happen, and any that do are mitigated quickly, any company, especially one that depends on its IT to succeed (think eCommerce), can sustain themselves until business returns to normal after the holidays. The IT support leaders at White Mountain IT Services understand how important cybersecurity is for the sustainability of your business, and are committed to helping New Hampshire businesses protect their networks through any type of situation. Call us at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.