For many smaller businesses the IT administrator?s position is not one held by a certified IT professional. It is held by whomever is most knowledgeable about computers; or, even worse, the person who most uses a particular machine. This can lead to a great deal of downtime and can cause a myriad of operational problems. What is a Help Desk? A help desk is a conduit provided to businesses that provides remote technology support to its individual users around the clock. If a user runs into a problem with technology, they can call the help desk any day of the week, any time of day, and get immediate support from a remote technician. How Does the Help Desk Help a Business? A help desk, either as a stand-alone service or as a part of a larger managed services platform, can provide the kind of comprehensive IT support every organization is looking for. It doesn?t just battle broken technology, either. It also works to significantly reduce downtime that comes from human error, whether it be from IT-related issues or situational incompetence. If your staff can?t do their jobs efficiently because they encounter technology-induced problems, having IT experts available around the clock to look into and fix most of the problems your staff could have is a huge benefit.  If you do have a dedicated IT administrator or outsource your IT management to a firm that doesn?t offer a help desk, having remote technicians at the ready can help any IT department that is stretched thin. Augmenting your IT staff by instituting a help desk can keep their attention on the projects that will help the organization move forward more successfully.  If your business finds itself having continuous issues with its technology, it?s probably costing you more than you know. If you would like to know more about getting the IT support your organization needs to reduce downtime and improve operational effectiveness, give us a call today at (603) 889-0800.

No, not likely, and it?s important that we acknowledge what we are doing when we give these applications this kind of carte blanche access to specific location data. How Precisely Do Your Apps Need to Know Your Location? That all depends, primarily on what the purpose is. For instance, your map application of choice will only be effective if it can tell you where you are and where you are going, and how far away that is. This means it needs to know your precise location. Can you say the same for your other applications, like your social media platforms, your shopping apps, or the apps that really have no need to know your location, but request access to it anyways? (The answer is a resounding no, by the way.)  This is what puts your privacy potentially at risk. How to Control How Precisely Your Apps Can Track Your Location Adjusting Location Permissions in Android: Find the application you wish to adjust your privacy settings in, and tap and hold it to pull up the app menu. Access App Info > Permissions > All Permissions. Find Location and check that Approximate location is enabled and Precise location is disabled. Adjusting Location Permissions in iOS: Access your Settings, and from there, access Privacy > Location Services. From there, check that the Precise Location option is switched off. Your Data is Valuable? Don?t Overshare It It?s important that you keep your data safe, even from the services you rely on every day. We strongly recommend you go through your applications and review the permissions you?ve provided to them, adjusting them as needed. White Mountain IT Services can similarly help you protect your business? data through our managed services and proactive monitoring. Find out more by giving us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Let?s start by reviewing some of the drawbacks that multi-factor authentication?while exceptionally helpful?does unfortunately suffer from. It?s Simple? Multi-Factor Authentication Can be Frustrating For all the benefits it offers to your security, there can be no denying that MFA can be a pain, especially if there are too many steps required for your team to effectively and efficiently access their accounts, creating some friction and (as we said) frustration. Plus, the most common form of MFA (a code generated by a smartphone application) is dependent on their having the phone ready and available. For instance, what happens when an employee is halfway to the office and they realize that their phone?and resultantly, their MFA key?is still at their house? Or maybe one of your remote workers discovers that their phone isn?t on its charging station where they left it, only to discover that their child has deposited it into the toilet?what happens then? This is just one of the potential challenges that MFA can pose. So while the security benefits are clear, there is no denying that this security feature can also create stress. Enter Adaptive Authentication While still only being used by a limited (but growing) number of organizations, adaptive authentication takes other factors into account to determine whether or not an MFA prompt is called for. Here?s how it works: let?s say that you go to work at the same time every weekday and perform more or less the same processes and tasks. Each person has their own typing patterns and ways to move the mouse, including you. These details can all be used to build a sort of profile of behaviors that your systems start to associate with each user. If something unusual happens?like a login attempt from an unfamiliar device at an odd time?an MFA prompt will be required. The idea is to strike a balance between security and convenience in such a way that neither your protections or your productivity is unduly impacted. Various industries have started adopting this new approach, and while it may be some time before the average small or medium-sized business can easily do so, it?s something interesting to keep your eye out for. In the meantime, White Mountain IT Services can assist you with the other aspects of your business? IT to help boost your security and productivity. Learn more by giving us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Let?s take a look at what MFA fatigue is and what you can do about it. MFA Fatigue is a Fancy Name for a Specific Type of Social Engineering If one of your applications asked you to log in from your mobile device, you wouldn?t think twice about it. You would probably just accept the notification, even if it?s spamming you, maybe due to a ?glitch in the system? or some other excuse. Admit it; you would probably confirm the login just to get the notifications to go away. MFA helps you keep an account secure even in the event your password is stolen, and by adding in additional methods of authentication, MFA is supposed to make it harder for hackers to break into your accounts. If a hacker does plug in your credentials, you?ll still receive the notifications on your smartphone or in your email asking you to confirm the login. So, if you receive what appears to be a legitimate authentication prompt, would you simply confirm it? Even knowing that it could be a hacker attempting to break into your account? What if that notification appeared over and over and over and over again? How to Identify MFA Fatigue Here are some of the dead giveaway signs of MFA fatigue attacks: If you receive approval requests without attempting to log into an application. If you receive multiple requests from a single application. If you receive authentication request notifications at odd hours. How to Address the Threat of MFA Fatigue Thankfully, there are ways to protect yourself from the threats posed by MFA fatigue-based attacks. If you have a strong password to begin with, you can keep your accounts secure from MFA fatigue by virtue of them being difficult to guess. Your team also needs to be aware that MFA fatigue attacks actually exist and can pose a problem for your organization. Simply put, if it?s unidentified, then the request should be denied. Let Us Help You with Network Security White Mountain IT Services can be your trusted network security source. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

We want to tell you that it?s okay to feel overwhelmed and to not know enough about certain things in business. You started your business because you wanted to provide something of value to others, whether it?s a product or a service. You want to help people solve their problems in the best ways possible. You might have specialized knowledge refined through years of dedication and experience, but there will always be things that you don?t know. All business owners have to relent to this fact at some point in their professional careers. The same can be said for your staff, as well. You hired them for their own specialized skill sets, but you can?t expect them to know how to do every little thing you ask of them. If they did know how to do everything, they wouldn?t be so great at what you need them to do. Teamwork is crucial, as you are using the collective knowledge of your staff to achieve great things. It?s important that you foster this collaborative spirit amongst your staff, as they have limited knowledge bases on their own. The long and short of it is that you need to accept the fact that you won?t know everything, and neither will your staff, so it?s okay to accept the help of others when you need to. If you don?t know how to do something, it?s better to make sure that your tasks get completed properly the first time by asking others for help so that you don?t waste time, money, and patience on trying to do them yourself. This is an important foundational skill for any business professional to have: knowing what you can and cannot do. Businesses can embrace this mindset shift by considering outsourcing to be a viable option for many of the challenging functions of day-to-day operations. By outsourcing to trained professionals, you can avoid the hefty costs of hiring in-house staff for various responsibilities. One way businesses use outsourcing is with technology management and maintenance through a managed service provider, a practice which is highly profitable for organizations that don?t have an in-house IT department or the resources to fund one. White Mountain IT Services can be your go-to technology resource, and we can prove to be a valuable investment for your organization?s operational needs. We can work as a help desk to offer technology support, assist with the implementation of new technology solutions, and whatever else you might happen to require of us that is technology-related. Simply put, we want to be the ones you go to when you don?t know what to do next. To learn more about what we can do for your business, contact us at (603) 889-0800.