Defining CrimesAs we mentioned, while credit card theft and identity theft are related to one another, they aren?t terms that should be used interchangeably. Rather, credit card theft is just one of many kinds of identity theft. Think of it this way: cars, trucks, and SUVs are all types of motor vehicle. In this example, credit card theft is the car, while identity theft is represented by all varieties of motor vehicle–including trucks and SUVs. Summed up, credit card theft is what happens when someone is able to access your account and make purchases without your permission. While this isn?t the only form of identity theft, it is certainly a prevalent one. A 2015 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a section of the U.S. Department of Justice, states that 8.6 million Americans of age 16 or older were victimized in 2014 alone, out of a total of 17.6 million affected by identity theft. Identity theft is a blanket term for criminal activity that falls into one of three categories: Fraud or misuse of an existing account — This kind of identity theft is the most common, with 16.4 million of 2014?s 17.6 million victims being targeted by this variety of identity theft. When a thief obtains access to an account of yours–through a credit card, for example–and uses it to their own ends, or passes bad checks through it, it falls under this category. Fraud or misuse of a new account — If a criminal obtains your personal information and uses it to open an account in your name, you are made a victim of this kind of identity theft. This kind of identity theft can range from relatively small, like opening a line of credit or a checking account, to large, like applying for a fraudulent mortgage on a house. This was reported about 1.1 million times in 2014. Fraud or misuse of personal information — All other uses of stolen personal information or data fall under this category, which held 713,000 of 2014?s reported cases. In this form of identity theft, someone improperly uses your information for their benefit. This may be to find employment, rent property, see a doctor or even to lie to the authorities. Protecting Yourself (and Your Clients and Employees) from Identity TheftOf course, you?ve probably already considered how much personal or otherwise sensitive data you have stored on your business network. There?s your business? financial data, with employee information if they are paid through direct deposit bundled in there. Additionally, if any of your clients have financial data on file, that certainly counts as well. This also includes any non-financial records your business may keep on your clients. In short, you have plenty of data that needs to be protected, including credit card and other personally identifiable information. White Mountain IT Services can help you keep it safe. Call us at (603) 889-0800 for more information.

Insider threats contribute to a significant number of data breaches. These cases of data exposure are enabled by a member of your staff, whether they intended to harm your business or simply made an honest mistake. With so much focus directed toward the threats out in the world, sometimes we forget that the biggest dangers can be among our ranks. To make up for this, we?ll discuss a few ways to keep insider threats from doing your business too much harm. As we begin, let?s refer to some stats that were drawn from a Forrester Research study. Insider threats cause 40% of data breaches. 26% of these data breaches are malicious. Accidents and general use cause 56% of these breaches. Clearly, simple mistakes contribute the most to data breaches. To prepare for these circumstances, let?s examine some of the most common errors made by end users. Misplacing Devices while TravelingMost workers have some sort of commute to look forward to as they go to and from the office, and business often requires an employee to travel on behalf of the company. This creates an opportunity, should the employee have a work device with them, for that device to be lost–left at airport security or in the backseat of an Uber–or stolen. Remind your employees how easily such devices can disappear, and that they need to be cognizant of them as they are traveling. Using Unfamiliar Flash DrivesFlash drives are everywhere these days, which isn?t necessarily a good thing for your business. While many are harmless, the little storage devices can easily be converted into a vehicle for malware. If this is the case, once the USB drive is plugged in, the workstation and quite possibly your entire network could be infected. While this doesn?t mean that flash drives should be forbidden from your office, you should mandate that IT takes a look at them all before they are used. Letting Devices Connect Willy-NillyChances are almost everybody in your office has a smartphone, along with a laptop and various other devices that all utilize an Internet connection–which means that potential points of access to your network have increased considerably. To counter this, you need to put a Bring Your Own Device (or BYOD) policy in place that protects both your employees and your business. Utilizing a comprehensive mobile device management platform, a BYOD policy will dictate what control you have over user access and data transmission using employee and customer mobile devices. Being Careless With Company InformationBack in World War II, there was a propaganda campaign by the United States Office of War Information warning citizens against the possibility of providing enemy spies with information: ?Loose lips sink ships.? The same can be said of most business operations. Seemingly innocuous choices, like using a personal email account for business purposes, could potentially lead to a data leak. Personal email simply doesn?t have the same protections as business-class email does–and that?s just one example of how your data could be left vulnerable through employee negligence. If your organization has difficulties with your end users making mistakes, reach out to us for help. Call White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800 for more information.

Whether you are suspicious or not, today seems like a good day to talk out what can happen if some bad luck interferes with your business. Disasters can come in all shapes and sizes, from a freak storm destroying your place of business and every IT component you had inside, to an employee whose path was crossed by a black cat accidentally spilling their coffee on their keyboard as they access some key data. With so much that can go wrong on the best of days, can you really afford to go without a little insurance? After all, the majority of businesses that are unable to recover their lost data are out of business within a year–a statistic only made more alarming when one considers how many small and medium-sized businesses don?t bother backing up their data. These businesses are like the character in every horror movie that says that there?s ?nothing to worry about,? Remember, these characters are usually the next to fall into the monster?s clutches. However, instead of being dragged to their fate off-camera, unprepared businesses can do something about their prospects of survival. A Backup and Disaster Recovery solution (or BDR) can be a big help where your business? safety and security is concerned. Your BDR should be cloud-based and needs to be ready to help your business bounce back from whatever threatens it. Here are three different methods that a BDR uses to make that happen. Cloud StorageUsing the cloud to store a data backup is firmly a best practice in today?s business computing needs. First of all, the cloud allows your BDR device to keep your backups away from your physical location. This keeps your backups safe from being destroyed by the same disaster that eliminated the original copy of your critical data. Take a Backup Multiple Times a DayIn the past, tape backups were the method of choice for most backup needs. However, these systems had a few drawbacks that have rendered them obsolete. For example, taking a backup used so many resources, they could only be performed after-hours. This meant that you could potentially lose a full day of progress, especially if the backup was never activated at the end of the day. On the other hand, a BDR that utilizes the cloud to take backups can take multiple backups each day, reducing the amount of potential data loss. Reduced DowntimeDowntime is never a good thing to experience, so minimizing it as much as possible is ideal for any business. A BDR can help to do just that, either by acting as a temporary server while needed, and restore your data instantaneously to a network-attached device, allowing your operations to resume with minimal time wasted. Whether you break a mirror at the start of your day, or you step on a crack in the walkway, we can help protect your business against data threats of all kinds. Reach out to us at (603) 889-0800 for help with your data practices–before it’s too late!

Your computer is mostly just a machine used to accomplish specific tasks. This doesn?t mean that you shouldn?t know all of the advanced tips that help you get the most out of it, though. Here are some of the best shortcuts that you can use to take full advantage of your workstation. WindowsYour Windows workstation has a couple of tricks up its sleeve that even years of use might not necessarily uncover. Here are some of the best ways you can use your Windows computer: Clutter on your screen can be a major cause for distraction throughout the workday, so you should always do your best to keep it to a minimum. There?s a quick shortcut that you can use to minimize all open windows at the same time so you can catch your bearings. All you have to do is click the top bar of any Windows ?window? box that has the minimize, maximize, and close functions, and shake your mouse from side to side. This will minimize any other open windows that you have. If you repeat the function, your windows will return to normal. The taskbar can be used to similar effect. By pressing the Windows key and the number corresponding to your task bar at the bottom of the screen, you can easily minimize or maximize any open applications. If you want to rename a file, just select a file and press F2 rather than going through the right-click and Rename process. To delete a full sentence, just press Ctrl as you hit the Backspace. This deletes your text by the word rather than by the character. To take specific screenshots of any active window, just press the keyboard shortcut Alt and Print Screen. For Google ChromeIf you prefer Google Chrome as your browser of choice, you?ll find plenty of shortcuts available to use as you see fit. If Google is recommending specific searches that you?d prefer it forget about, you can use the arrow keys to select the unwanted suggestion and delete it with Shift + Delete. If you want to move several tabs to a new browser window, hold the Ctrl key to select the tabs you want to move, then drag the mouse to either an existing or entirely new window. For Any BrowserIf you?re not a Google Chrome user, you?ll still find plenty of shortcuts to use that work in most browsers. If selecting the specific text you want isn?t working out for you, just hold down the Shift key and click anywhere in the paragraph you want to select. This selects the entire chunk of text. Access the address bar anytime by using F6 or Ctrl+L. If you?re done with one of your tabs, middle-click it and it will close. This will often be the scroll wheel on the mouse. Do you have any tips to add? Share them with us in the comments.

Facebook Workplace Improves CommunicationIf there?s anything that is critical for collaboration to take place, it would have to be communication. To this end, Facebook has created a desktop app to work with the chat element of their enterprise social network, Workplace. Workplace Chat, as the application is called, allows users to share screens and files in addition to the prerequisite text and video capabilities apps of its kind usually feature. There are also integrations with third-party applications in the pipeline for Workplace Chat, which will only help the over 30,000 organizations that leverage Workplace to communicate more clearly and effectively. Slack Adds Improved Screen SharingSlack has always been intended for collaboration, reaching back to when it was an internal tool to assist in game development. While Slack has offered a comprehensive set of collaboration tools, its screen sharing tool is getting a pretty impressive upgrade: interactivity. After Slack purchased Screenhero in 2014, certain features and elements have been slowly incorporated into Slack?s flagship application, with the latest update as of this writing finally moving the last function over to Slack. Now, paid subscribers will be able to use an improved version of Slack?s remote access capability that enables users to share control of the displayed screen, a useful feature for remote workers. With the ability to make temporary notes, navigate through the shared document, and edit it freely, Slack has given its previous collaboration functions a considerable upgrade. Gmail Accepting Third-Party Add-OnsGoogle plans to make Gmail play nicely with common enterprise applications, potentially improving upon the utility that the email program offers. By accessing the settings button, Gmail users will soon be able to use a variety of tools and programs to incorporate information without having to leave Gmail. With a growing list that includes, among other programs, Trello, DocuSign, Intuit QuickBooks Invoicing, and RingCentral, Gmail will soon have the means to become an invaluable collaboration tool. App developers will even be able to create add-ons for their applications with a write-once code. What is your favorite collaboration tool? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to subscribe to this blog!