To help make sure that your company is in compliance, White Mountain IT Services can be there to help you to be compliant with the regulations your business operates under. Compliances and regulations usually fall into one of two categories: Government Mandated Compliances – Depending on the industry being regulated, the state government, federal government, and in some instances both, have the ability to pass laws requiring establishments to meet certain technology requirements and standards. Government mandates are usually focused on network and data security?and will audit a business to make sure that they?re in compliance and stay that way. Internally Mandated Compliances – More and more businesses that aren?t technically required to meet regulations by law are setting their own technology standards. IT policies, best practices, processes, and procedures are just a few items that may be part of internally mandated compliances. These types include: Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or Mobile Device Management policies to control which devices can access your network. Employees that are looking to access a company?s network remotely must do so using a secure, virtual private network or VPN. Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery The majority of government compliances are going to require some type of business continuity planning. Managed Services Providers are in a position to help with business continuity in a few different ways. First, is with a data backup and disaster recovery. Ideally, every plan should have a BDR solution. Another function of an MSP is keeping a detailed inventory of hardware, software, and user access which comes in handy in the event that the building or workstations are damaged. Monitored and Managed Infrastructure When it comes to security measures, remote monitoring and maintenance of a network is a requirement for most regulations. Even when business hours are technically 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or something similar, servers and networks are often powered on 24 hours a day. Government mandates require that your network and data are operational whenever technology is. MSPs not only provide monitoring and maintenance services, they can also provide you with the data proving your network was protected during an audit. Vulnerability Assessment using Penetration Testing To determine how secure a network is, many regulations require that regular penetration tests be performed. This common tool is an intentional attack on a company?s network by a friendly entity. Additionally, vulnerability assessments are often required, as well. This assessment is a report that indicates where potential weak spots in your network can be found. In the event of an audit, we can also provide the necessary documentation to prove these measures are being taken. Depending on the requirements of your industry, there are many other ways that we can help with technology compliances and regulations. Whether government or internally mandated, contact the IT experts at White Mountain IT Services today to help you get and stay compliant.
How Your Business? Productivity Can Be Threatened Distractions, Distractions, Distrac?Wait, What?s That? Here?s the thing: as humans, we are hardwired to be distracted. Research suggests that our brains are built to function in brief sprints of concentration, every so often taking a moment and scanning the environment around us. It just makes sense. Way back in the day, those who looked up from the fire they were trying to make every so often were more likely to see the dangerous animal approaching their camp. Combine this short attention span with the stimuli we?ve saturated our world in, and it?s little wonder that it?s so easy for us to be distracted, despite the numerous costs that this tendency can have on us all?both personally, and on an organizational level. Whether an employee is working in the office or remotely, there is always something there that could take their attention away from their goals. We Were Going to Say Procrastination First, But We Put It Off Despite the many negative impacts that procrastination has, from missed opportunities to suffering performance to poor decision making, it can really feel good to decide that something is a problem for the future version of yourself. Of course, once you are that future version of yourself, you still have to deal with all of the stress. It?s just exacerbated. This problem is due to something called the avoidance loop?a pattern of thinking that always gives you something else that takes preference over your actual goal. The modern office doesn?t help any, either, as most people could tell you. When everything is a top priority, nothing really is. Time Poverty is a Problem that You Take Home with You If you aren?t familiar with the term, time poverty is not having the discretionary time needed to focus on the things outside of work that are crucial to a successful and happy life as a human being. If someone?s life can be effectively summarized by ?sleeping? and ?working,? it?s going to have an impact on them. These impacts can range from physical and mental health issues to relationship troubles, as well as detriments to their work performance. How Can You Address These Issues and Protect Your Productivity? Let?s run through some of the steps that you can take to buck your procrastination tendencies. First, you should do your best to identify your avoidance triggers and reframe them to become actionable steps toward your goal. For instance, instead of saying, ?I can?t do X until Y,? reframe it so that it?s framed as ?I need to do Y, so I can do X.? It may seem like a small thing, but even that can make a difference. This will help you create an actionable to-do list, turning an excuse into an honest to goodness productive effort. Next time, we?ll dive into how you can actively boost your business? productivity, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, you can always reach out to White Mountain IT Services for assistance with your IT at (603) 889-0800.
Building a Secure Network When looking to put in place a comprehensive network security strategy, you have to first look at the threats your business faces online. At one point, you just needed an antivirus, firewall, and a routine to update the software you use, and it would work to keep unwanted entities off your network and out of your information systems. Today?s threats are a little more sneaky. Today, the prevalent form of attack is the phishing scam. Instead of trying to find vulnerabilities in the computing network itself, now most hackers look to users to be the vulnerable parties. The phishing scam is a form of social engineering attack where people are targeted to unwittingly provide authorization (or at least enough information) to gain access. When it is successful, it can be potentially devastating. What Your Employees Need to Do to Protect Your Business With quite literally billions of phishing attacks sent out each year, it?s only a matter of time before your employees come into contact with one. As we mentioned earlier, your business? security is stronger now than it has ever been, so chances are, if you are ever going to deal with a cyberattack, it will come through a successful phishing attack. This means that you have to come up with a plan to train your employees on how to identify a phishing message and what to do with the message once they’ve identified it as phishing. Here is a three part strategy that you should use when coming up with your own cybersecurity training strategy for your business. Use Password Management – Since most of the attacks that come in are looking for access to password-protected accounts, it stands to reason that you should make it known that creating unique and complex passwords has to be a priority. A password management system allows users to keep their passwords in an encrypted repository, ensuring that they are secure. These tools generally come with a password generator too. Provide Comprehensive Phishing Training – As we stated earlier in the article, phishing is by far the most common way your business gets hacked. Having a dedicated strategy to train (and test) your employees is important. They need to be able to understand what havoc a successful phishing message could have on your business, be able to identify phishing messages, and understand how to proceed when they do identify one. Have Trained Support In Place – One problem some businesses run into is not having access to tech support when they need it. In this situation, it is often left to them to try and troubleshoot the problem, or just leave it and play Candy Crush on their phones until something can get done. You need access to trained IT talent to help you fix problems, even simple ones, when they arise. If you need help coming up with a thorough cybersecurity plan for your business, look no further than the IT experts at White Mountain IT Services. Give us a call today at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.
Let?s talk about why browser-based password managers are the inferior choice as compared to their standalone predecessors?and it?s not all about the difference in security. A Dedicated Password Manager is Better First Off, They Are More Secure Like we said, convenience should never precede security, but that?s precisely what browser-based password managers have historically done. The key is the use of zero-knowledge encryption (where a platform has no visibility into what is stored on it), or rather, the fact that Google doesn?t use it. Google?s option to encrypt passwords on the device also keeps the key on the same device as the data?which is effectively like leaving a key to your front door hanging next to the lock. Not exactly effective, if someone were to breach your network and the hardware on it. They are Also?Ironically?More Convenient That?s right?despite the idea being that a browser-based password management system would be more convenient, the limitations of it being tied to the browser limits its convenience substantially. After all, your browser isn?t the only place you need your passwords, but the browser-based manager keeps them there exclusively. Consider all the mobile applications that require you to log in on your mobile device, for instance. A browser-based password manager restricts them. Finally, Stand-Alone Password Managers Offer More Features In addition to being restricted to the browser that hosts it, a browser-specific password manager is just that?a password manager, exclusively. By comparison, stand-alone options not only store your passwords, they also help you generate secure ones, save other sensitive details like payment card credentials and account numbers, and even addresses. Dedicated password managers also offer additional features, like password strength checks, password sharing, and even biometric support. All That Said, Not All Password Managers are Created Equally We?ve seen the impact that an insecure password management system can have, so it is important that you select one that is reputable and trustworthy. Fortunately, you can trust White Mountain IT Services to select one for you, just like we can help shape the entirety of your IT infrastructure. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 today for our assistance with your business technology.
Cloud Computing Deployment There could be a number of reasons why a business would choose to deploy cloud-based computing resources. Obviously, cost is a major consideration. The cost of new computing infrastructure is prohibitive for many small businesses and the pay-as-you-go structure that cloud resources present can be a major benefit for any-sized business. Additionally, businesses can pretty much get any type of computing environment in the cloud, including ultra-secure computing that meets all IT hosting security requirements for regulatory compliance. Some Cloud Issues It stands to reason that as cloud computing resources have advanced over the past decade that more and more businesses have identified them as a valuable addition to their IT infrastructure, but there are some issues that continuously pop up. The first is that with many public cloud-hosted applications, the underlying infrastructure is managed by the provider, giving a business less control over their IT than they would probably like. Another issue is a security one. While the infrastructure the cloud resources are hosted on is sufficiently managed and maintained, it is also home to other customers? applications and data. This increases risk somewhat; as does transmission as all apps and data need to be transmitted over an Internet connection. What You Can Do to Better Manage Your Cloud Resources With a large percentage of organizations choosing to utilize cloud computing for one thing or another, strategies and solutions have been developed to circumvent the traditional problems that arose from cloud computing deployment. Let?s take a look at a couple of them: Cloud Monitoring If you are familiar with the way that IT administrators monitor and manage network resources, it won?t be a big surprise to know that there is always a shred of doubt that a business? cloud providers live up to their service level agreements. The best way to know that you are getting the cloud computing that you are paying for, especially if you are hosting mission-critical hardware with the provider, is to consistently monitor your cloud services. Workload Automation Workload automation has been an important IT management tool for some time and has evolved enough to help organizations manage their cloud computing resources. This allows businesses more flexibility to choose cloud-based resources while still hosting their mission-critical sources in house. Workload automation allows for what is called a hybrid cloud solution and can be a great reactive tool to provision more or less computing resources quickly. On top of that, it can give IT administrators a great guide to their organizational computing needs and allow them to make decisions about how to manage a business? computing inventory that often includes multiple operating systems, dozens of applications and databases, and various network management and security tools. Automating your workload management will go a long way toward the high-availability, highly secure experiences every growing business wants from their cloud-based resources. Businesses can go further and do more in the cloud than they could ever imagine doing by designing, building, hosting, and supporting their own in-house infrastructure, but they can also waste a lot of money if they don?t have the knowledge needed to do it right. At White Mountain IT Services, our technicians have extensive experience deploying computing infrastructures of all types to all manners of different businesses. Give us a call today to learn more about […]
