Why is Security Training So Important? With the improvements that have been made to security in general over the years, many cybercriminals of all kinds find it far simpler to go through your users as a means of bypassing your protections. There?s also the fact that there are plenty of ways that you and your team could make the cybercriminal?s job easier by undermining your own protections. So, plain and simple, security training is required to minimize the risk of your team members being used to undermine your business. This all leads to an important question: what needs to be involved in your training to help protect your business from these kinds of issues?  Let?s go over some critical topics. Social Engineering Awareness Like we said, users are?generally speaking, at least?one of the most potentially vulnerable elements of any business. However, they have the potential to become one of any business? greatest security assets at the same time. Repeatedly reinforcing how prevalent social engineering efforts are, showing them examples, and frequently testing them with simulated phishing attacks are all effective ways to raise your team?s awareness of the threats they face and prepare them to deal with them appropriately. Security Protections and Preparations Of course, this doesn?t mean that you can focus exclusively on your employees? preparedness and neglect what you can directly influence. Installing and, crucially, maintaining your network protections will help reduce the number of threats that your team needs to interface with directly. Every phishing attack that your spam blocker stops is one less that could fool one of your employees. Every software update that is installed in a timely manner equates to less time a cybercriminal has to strike. Teaching your team about the defenses they need to have allows them to better work with them in place, and helps educate them to optimally supplement these tools through their own aforementioned alertness. Debunking Problematic Presumptions It?s likely that many of your employees feel that your business isn?t very likely to be targeted by a cyberattack. You may have these feelings yourself?and if so, thank you for sticking around this far into the blog. However, we need to discuss this for a moment. With many of today?s cyberattacks not needing active involvement, many cybercriminals essentially take the shotgun approach, hitting as many targets at random as possible. So, while the thought that you won?t be targeted may not be wrong, it?s very different from the presumption that you?ll never be attacked. Want to Improve Your Security Training? White Mountain IT Services is here to help. Turn to us to find out how we can prepare your network against modern threats, and teach your team how to keep it that much safer. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 today.

Reduce Paper Usage Paper use has long been focused on as a way businesses can improve in their ?green? status, namely by trying to reduce it however possible. Many modern technologies support efforts to go paperless, like cloud platforms and collaboration software, by eliminating the need for additional paper use. Meanwhile, scanning existing documents into a document management system allows these documents to be shredded and recycled responsibly. Go Remote Did you know that every gallon of gas burned emits 24 pounds of carbon dioxide? Now, multiply that by the number of gallons each of your employees use commuting to the office. That?s probably a massive amount of gas released into the air, every single day. While it is true that a lot of different circumstances can and do contribute to energy consumption and the environmental impacts different work behaviors can have, eliminating the commute isn?t nothing. Track Your Energy Use The Internet of Things is a fascinating technology for many reasons, not the least of which being how applicable it is to creating a greener company. Using the IoT to monitor the performance of your various network components and keep an eye on their status can help you to better maintain them, helping you to minimize the likelihood that any piece of your IT will get to the point that it needs to be replaced. Plus, you can get a better grasp of how your infrastructure is expending energy so it can be replaced over time with improved options. Seek Energy-Efficient Options Finally, there?s a ton that you can do to help make your office space more sustainable overall. Replacing your amenities with more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly alternatives make some difference, but all these little differences certainly can add up quickly. In many ways, the cloud is a relatively energy-efficient option. White Mountain IT Services is here to help New Hampshire businesses achieve their technology goals, which includes upgrading and improving your infrastructure to optimize your processes in any way you choose. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.

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.