A year-long partnership between Google and UC Berkeley yielded a study of how online accounts are cracked. They found that businesses are much more vulnerable to phishing attacks than actual legitimate data breaches. Google found that keyloggers were one of the primary contributors to this trend, capturing an estimated 788,000 compromised credentials. Phishing, on the other hand, had exposed 12 million credentials. Data breaches contributed 3.3 million credentials to the total. This information led Google to the conclusion that phishing attacks were a much greater threat to businesses, backed up by research showing that up to 25 percent of the passwords that were still in use were stolen in phishing attacks. Data breaches provided credentials currently used by individuals only seven percent of the time. Phishing is known to do much more than just allow unauthorized users to enter a network or infrastructure. In some cases, phishing can help malicious entities spread viruses or install malware on unsuspecting victims. There are usually signs of such a breach, though, even if they aren?t obvious at first glance. The problem is that it?s not always apparent when such a breach occurs, with the worst-case scenario being a complete and sudden halt to operations. Either way, the point stands that the first step toward a data breach could very well be a phishing attack. While phishing attacks are more common than data breaches, a data breach has the opportunity to cause more damage than you can possibly imagine. Take your worst-case scenario and double it–that?s probably a good estimate for how much trouble a data breach could cause for your organization. A phishing attack steals specific data, but a data breach can expose so much more, including the data of your staff, customers, and vendors. Besides the obvious data security problems associated with phishing attacks, it?s just downright embarrassing to have been had by hackers. It can leave a scar on your business that?s difficult to recover from. To learn more about how you can protect your business from security threats, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

To begin to set this up you have to open Cortana?s Settings. To do this, click on the Cortana Icon on the taskbar. Then select the gear-shaped icon in the Cortana window to access Cortana?s settings. Make sure that the Let Cortana respond to ?Hey Cortana? setting is toggled on. Then select Learn how I say ?Hey Cortana?. You will then be asked to answer six phrases to help Cortana determine the way you say ?Hey Cortana?. Once you?ve completed that step, return to Cortana?s settings and make sure that the try to respond only to me option is selected. Now you have Cortana?s full attention. You can have her help you with any number of issues, while helping you navigate Windows 10. Do you use Cortana? Siri? Google Assistant? Alexa? Bixby? If so, which are your favorites? Leave your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Recovery Point Objective (RPO)The Recovery Point Objective is a name for the amount of data that you can restore in the event of a disaster. The recovery point objective is determined by how much data can be saved following a data loss incident, be it an internally caused affair or one caused by external threat actors. The data loss could be caused by something as wild as a natural disaster (flood, fire, power surge), or unpredictable as user error or a hacking attack. Either way, you?re staring data loss in the face with no real guarantee of how much you can expect to lose. The type of data backup you implement will have a major impact on how much you lose in the event of a disaster. For example, tape backup has long been a staple in the business environment, but it?s not the ideal way to approach disaster recovery in a loss scenario. Tape backup is resource-intensive and can only happen once a day during your business?s off-hours. This means that you could potentially lose an entire day?s worth of data in the event of a disaster–much more than if you were to implement a cloud-based backup system. Recovery Time Objective (RTO)Once you have found out what portion of your data you can recover in the event of a data loss incident, you?ll be able to determine an adequate recovery time objective, or RTO. You want to have a clear idea of how long it will take to get back in action following a major data loss incident. Any time that your business isn?t operating as usual is time that?s not being spent productive–downtime, also known as one of the most dangerous things for any business in the wake of a critical data loss incident. Your goal should be to minimize downtime whenever possible, which includes ditching your tape backup solution and replacing it with one which allows for a quick and efficient restoration process. Cloud-based backup allows for minimum downtime by allowing for automatic backups every fifteen minutes. It?s just one way that BDR can allow for maximum recovery with minimal downtime and loss on your business?s part. Does your business need to implement a more dynamic data backup and disaster recovery system? A cloud-based BDR is the answer. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

We say that wireless charging is an innovation, but in reality, it?s been around for quite some time. There just wasn?t much practical use for it up until recently. Wireless charging has existed since the late 19th century. Nikola Tesla used magnetic resonance coupling to transmit electricity across air currents via a magnetic field. While the concept was interesting, it simply wasn?t used for much of anything. Nowadays, however, wireless charging is trying to redefine mobility. But how does it work, exactly? Let’s find out. Modern Wireless ChargingThe specifics behind wireless charging have shifted primarily to a magnetic field that?s created between two copper coils. This limits the distance between the device and the charging pad, but makes way for many advantages as well. Here are some of the different types of wireless charging that can be seen in modern electronics: Charging pads: You place your device on these and it is charged. Charging bowls: You place your device within the vicinity of these chargers and it gets a charge. Uncoupled radio frequency: You can charge your device up to a few feet away from the charger. These devices all work in largely the same way, using similar technology to create a wireless charging field around it. What determines the charge radius is the size of the copper coils. Due to the charge pads having smaller coils, they have a more limited scope of charging. Large coils, on the other hand, allow for charging at a distance. However, a technology like this comes with a loss in power, depending on the tactic used. An MIT physics professor Marin Soljacic found that electricity could be transferred over the distance of two meters, but at the cost of losing 60% of the power during the transition. He went on to form a company called WiTricity, which creates wireless charging technology for use in cars and other devices. After working tirelessly, the company managed to create technology that could supply power anywhere within 25 centimeters at 92% efficiency. Clearly, the sky is the limit for this technology, but how will your business use wireless charging? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe for more informative blog articles about technology trends and ideas.

We?ll go over some of the most important parts of business communications management, as well as what you can do to ensure that they are adhered to. Mobile DevicesMobile devices like tablets and smartphones have brought about a new level of complexity for businesses that want to stay productive at all times. While they allow for an ?always on? mindset that keeps executives connected to clients and internal employees, they also make for a much more complex networking situation. The more devices that access a network, the less secure it will be–particularly if these devices are employee-owned. To take these matters into your own hands, you need to implement a Bring Your Own Device policy that secures your organization while allowing for productivity on your employees? part. This policy should take blacklisting and whitelisting of apps, user-based access to critical data, and the ability to remotely wipe any infected or compromised devices. It?s up to you to enforce this policy. Telephone SolutionsHaving a uniform telephony solution is another critical component of a business communications plan. Basically, you don?t want your employees using their personal telephone numbers for reaching out to both prospective clients or current customers. The reason for this is that they may accidentally lose contacts or give the company a false number of contact for your organization when they need it most. A hosted VoIP system can shore up this issue easily enough by providing access to a centralized telephone system in the form of a cloud-based application, easily accessible through an Internet connection on a desktop or mobile device. These solutions are often more affordable than traditional telephone service and the bells and whistles associated with it. Since all you need is an Internet connection, it?s more flexible and dynamic as well. EmailAgain, centralized email is the key to any organized email correspondence for your business. It?s the same conundrum that comes from using your personal email to conduct business communications. Miscommunication happens, which can disrupt operations and make things more difficult for everyone involved. It all comes down to emphasizing best practices when working with email. Make sure that your team knows how to best use the resources at their disposal. You should regularly check with your employees to make sure they keep best practices in mind when using your email. For information on how to improve your business communications, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.