What Exactly Is Cloud Computing? Cloud computing is actually pretty straightforward. It is a computing environment, hosted on a remote server and accessed through the Internet. Nowadays, there is very little computing that can?t be purchased as-a-service, and the benefits are apparent. Basically, someone doesn?t have to purchase the underlying hardware to host data, applications, and even processing and can scale their IT to their specific needs. What Type of Cloud Options Are Available? Since cloud is a broad term, companies can use the cloud for just about anything they need. Let?s take a look at some of the most common use cases for cloud computing in the business world: Cloud storage – Data storage is a big deal for most businesses. You need a compliant, secure, and available place to keep your business? data. For a long time, businesses were reluctant to use cloud-based storage options as there were questions about the viability of their security and their reliance on an Internet connection, but today, there are many great options that provide even the smallest business reliable and secure storage with guaranteed uptime. Cloud backup – Most of today?s prominent data backup services rely on cloud platforms to ensure that data is available in the face of a disaster. With these situations becoming more commonplace, and with data?s value to an organization what it is, having redundancy in the cloud makes a lot of sense for most businesses.  Cloud hosting – Today, there are cloud service providers that offer all the processing a business could ever need. This option essentially replaces centralized servers for cloud-hosted ones, providing any computing setup a business needs.  Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) – Software-as-a-Service has become one of the most utilized methods of application delivery in modern business. Essentially, a business pays a subscription fee for access to a piece of software. It allows them access to many applications that they may not have the budget for and can be scaled up and back quickly. SaaS covers a lot of ground: from business telephone, to productivity, business management, marketing, and much, much more.  A Brief Look at Why the Cloud Is Great for Growing Businesses For small business owners, the benefits of cloud computing might just change the way you feel about service-based computing. Let?s go through some of the major benefits here: Accessibility – Cloud computing allows businesses to deploy their computing resources to their employees (and in some cases even their customers) wherever they are located. This has huge benefits as it allows a distributed workforce to all access the same applications and data without the business having to physically host the underlying infrastructure. Improved Collaboration – This method of computing provides unparalleled consistency and access to documents and other files; as well as the ability to work directly with others over separate connections. Scalability – One of the most valuable parts of cloud computing is the near-instant scalability of any cloud-based platform. If you need more space, accounts, etc. You can acquire it/them in minutes.  Saves Money – Since you only get the computing you need, you aren?t wasting valuable capital on systems that are majorly underutilized, saving money in the process. Redundancy – Most cloud platforms come with built-in redundancy. This means that outages are minimal. With better uptime, you can get […]

Let?s begin by examining the purpose of cybersecurity compliance standards. Why is My Business Required to Meet Certain Cybersecurity Benchmarks? Similarly to the codes that a new construction needs to abide by as it is built up, modern industries are beholden to various requirements from the federal government, state governments, local governments, as well as industry groups and different sources of authority. Many of these requirements relate back to cybersecurity. Why? Not just because cybersecurity is so incredibly crucial for a business, which it of course is, but also because your cybersecurity?s influence doesn?t end at your business. Consider for a moment the kind of data you collect and store as you go about your daily operations. How much of it could potentially be used in the interest of cybercrime? Any payment information you have stored is a target. Personally identifiable information on your clients and staff alike is a target. Data you?ve collected or generated about your business itself is a target. Your business is a target. Not just for the data and resources it has, but the fact that this data and these resources can then be used to victimize other parties. Therefore, it is important that all, or at least as many as possible, businesses uphold a set minimum level of cybersecurity. That?s where these regulatory benchmarks play their role. By applying gentle pressure to businesses, these regulations and requirements help to ensure that there is at least some level of overall cybersecurity achieved by these organizations. These kinds of compliance standards are effectively a means of putting a digital safety net over different industries. Unfortunately, unless you have actively been pursuing your compliance needs (and even then) there is a non-zero chance that you might have missed something. The thing is, this is all it takes for your business to be fined?and these fines are just the start of your troubles. Failing to meet your compliance obligations could potentially result in a litany of consequences, ranging from financial penalties, to loss of reputation, to legal troubles, to a loss of your privileges and capabilities as a business. For instance, consider how much business is done via credit and payment cards at this point. In order to accept these payments, an organization needs to be in compliance with the standards and practices set by the PCI DSS, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. If an organization isn?t, and cardholder data is breached, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council could very well fine the organization, increase their merchant fees, or even disallow them from accepting payments via cards at all. This is just one example that happens to apply to most businesses. How many other regulations are you beholden to that involve some aspect of your business? cybersecurity? We?re Here to Help Ensure Your Cybersecurity is Compliant to All Applicable Requirements White Mountain IT Services has experience in managing the IT needs of businesses around New Hampshire, which includes the process of maintaining compliance to the assorted laws, rules, and regulations that must be followed. We can be here for you as well. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.

What Are Some Password Best Practices? In a list format, we have put together some password best practices for your review: Use complex strings of characters: Your passwords should consist of both upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters. The longer, the better: If you have more characters in your password, there are more opportunities for a hacker to get it wrong. Your passwords should be easy to remember, but hard to guess. Opt for passphrases rather than passwords: To make your passwords easier to remember, you can use a passphrase. The passphrase is basically an upgraded password variant that is harder to guess, but easier to remember. For example, if you were to use a favorite 80?s movie, you might pull a famous line from the movie along with the title and tie it together. For example, if your favorite movie of all time is Short Circuit, you might make your passphrase Sh0rtCIRCUIT#5isALIVE!86 Use different passwords for each account: You should be using different passwords for each of your accounts, just in case one of them gets stolen. After all, if you use the same password for every account, you?ll have to change every single one of them anyway. With these practices, you can make more complex and secure passwords. In addition to these practices, you can consider some of the following to make using them easier and more efficient. What Else Can You Do to Protect Your Online Accounts? To capitalize on the benefits of password security for your business, we recommend that you take things just a hair further with additional policies and technology solutions. We recommend multi-factor authentication and password management solutions to get the most out of your password and authentication policies. With multi-factor authentication, you can use additional authentication protocols alongside passwords to maximize security. Your average multi-factor authentication tool will utilize two of the three methods: something you are (biometrics), something you have (smartphone, USB key), or something you know (a password, PIN, or passphrase). In comparison, password management tools take what you have applied to your password security and make them that much easier to manage. Password managers store your passwords in an encrypted database where they are protected by a master password. You can then call the passwords as they are needed when you access your accounts. Password managers often have the capability to generate passwords for you, just in case you need some help with your complex passwords. It makes using complex passwords and passphrases that much easier. White Mountain IT Services is here to help outfit your business with the security and productivity tools it needs. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.

How Does Thinking Critically Provide Business Advantages? When referring to your business, critical thinking is defined as the capability to gather information and data and use it to make better decisions and solve problems more effectively. This ultimately leads to greater productivity with fewer errors made. Not only does thinking critically help solve challenges and better utilize the data you have at your disposal, it helps to promote communication skills and open-mindedness amongst your team. Let?s explore a process that helps promote critical thinking skills that you can encourage your team to do. How to Encourage Critical Thinking Skills in Your Business Operations The following procedure is an effective way to solve business challenges in a way that acquaints your team with the concept of applying critical thinking to everyday processes. Step One: Identify the problem so you have a goal to focus on.By singling out the root cause of the issue you are presented with, you can more effectively direct your thoughts toward resolving it. Is this predictable? Yes?but no less of an important step for it. Being able to identify the source of an issue, rather than its symptoms, is key to resolving it and will require you to practice critical thinking. Step Two: Come up with a bunch of solutions, and narrow it down to the best.Start brainstorming potential ways to solve the problem, starting by accepting any and all suggestions. This not only helps you be more open-minded, it can help introduce new viewpoints to the conversation. Once you?ve managed to land on a few that the team involved can get behind, focus on those and critique them, adjusting them to better suit your needs until you find which of them has the optimal potential outcome. Step Three: Create a strategy to put your proposed solution in place.Once you?ve selected your approach to your given challenge, put together a team to tackle it based on their capabilities and skill sets. It is important that this strategy should be based on the value that you are aiming for, and that each team member understands how their role contributes to the ultimate goal of the strategy. Trust Us to Think Critically About Your Business Technology As a managed service provider, our job is to do exactly this as we manage the IT your business relies on. Find out more about what we have to offer by giving us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Essential Cybersecurity Investments for Businesses Nowadays, businesses have dozens of options when it comes to protecting their operations. For simplicity, we?ve taken three that we feel can be used most effectively to catch the majority of threats. This is not an exhaustive list and you should absolutely implement more than just these options, mind you, these are just the ones we are highlighting today. Endpoint Management Businesses have many more endpoints at their disposal nowadays than they did in the past. Where there were once only workstations to consider, mobile devices and the Internet of Things can also provide inroads into your business? network. This is even more the case with remote work having exploded in the recent past. By better taking stock and managing your endpoints, security can be improved upon considerably. Network Monitoring Risk mitigation is generally the overall goal of any form of monitoring, because it just makes sense that the closer something is being watched there?s a smaller chance of something happening without you being aware of it. Today?s cybercriminals are going to do whatever they can to hide their attacks, so you need to understand your network infrastructure and have better visibility into how it works. This makes monitoring your network essential. Threat Detection On a related note, it?s important to have a plan on how to catch and handle any threats that do make it onto your network. It doesn?t matter how much you invest, all it takes is one mistake or one bit of code that lets in ransomware for it all to come crumbling down. Millions of threats are swirling around every year?you aren?t going to have a 100% success rate in stopping them. There?s just no way. That?s why threat detection and remediation is so critical. If your business isn?t prepared to manage the threats against it, it won?t be nearly as successful as it could be. White Mountain IT Services can help you make these preparations. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.