Keep in mind that these ?office? tools, as they will be referred to from here on out, will largely consist of the same types of applications, just with different names. We?ll use Microsoft Office as an example, but you can apply similar logic and functionality to Google Apps and other productivity suites. Microsoft Word With a word processor like Microsoft Word, you can create all of the documents your business might need to succeed. You might need to write up contracts, letters of hire, physical mailings, and other important documents, all to keep your operations running. A word processor makes this process much easier and more dynamic, unlike the simple tools provided by Windows, such as Notepad or Wordpad. Microsoft Excel The ability to build spreadsheets and charts is extremely important to provide a visual tool for examining data, but they are helpful for much more than that. They can be used to build budgets, analyze statistics, and so much more. If you have good spreadsheet software, you?ll find that comparing or viewing data is easier than ever. Microsoft PowerPoint A successful business often must put together presentations, be they for their potential clients or for their employees. With slideshow software like Microsoft PowerPoint, you can create more dynamic slideshows to keep your audience engaged. Microsoft Outlook An email solution is absolutely crucial to the success of your business, and most productivity suites will come with an email solution to leverage to your advantage. An email system gives your business a professional outlet for people to ask questions or inquire about your goods and services. Other Office Tools Productivity suites also hold a lot of other tools for your business to use, like note-taking applications, publication editing, meeting and communication software, and so on. If you know which tools you want and need to use, you can look for a productivity suite that provides all of those tools; anything else is extra and might be fun to experiment with, provided you aren?t paying extra for it. Get Started Today We know that it?s not always easy to choose a productivity suite, so we want to help you make the process easier by working with White Mountain IT Services. We can help you determine the best path forward for your business. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Is Malware Spending Your Money? This type of malware is especially tricky. Where ransomware is immediately in your face, demanding money in order to give you access back to your computer and data, toll fraud malware just spends your money without your consent. It works by subscribing you to paid content and adding the charge to your phone bill. It might temporarily disconnect your device from Wi-Fi in order to force your phone to use the cellular network. It will also try to hide any one-time passwords, two-factor messages, and verification messages in order to keep its work hidden from you. This isn?t an entirely new concept?toll fraud was a problem years ago that would affect users with dial-up internet connections, and it has made a few appearances over the years with the popularity of mobile phones. Microsoft, however, has issued a warning that toll fraud malware is becoming a very big problem for a lot of users. How to Prevent Getting Malware on My Device To protect yourself, you need to be aware of what you install on your device. You can?t trust everything. While Google and Apple both do a pretty good job at vetting applications, the system isn?t perfect. An app on a trusted app store isn?t always going to be safe to use. Often malware is found on apps in popular categories found in the app store, like wallpaper and lock screen apps, or apps claiming to speed up your device or protect it from viruses. When you install an app on your phone, it will ask for permissions that don?t make sense (there?s no reason that your new wallpaper app needs to have access to SMS or notification listening privileges). You do, however, want to avoid installing apps that aren?t on the Google Play Store. There?s an even higher chance that an app that isn?t on the Play Store might be dangerous. It?s all about being careful. Don?t install things that you don?t really need, and if you are having an issue with a device, have someone take a look at it. An application usually isn?t going to improve the performance of a device, but if you feel like you need to speed up an older device, a professional can help you determine the best way to do that, if it?s possible. You can also look at reviews for the app, and take your time reading the app description and information about the developer. If something seems suspicious, it?s worth scrutinizing. If you are having an issue with any technology, don?t hesitate to give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Why is Risk Management Crucial to Your Cybersecurity? In a word, preparedness? but a strategic approach to it. Let me ask you this: if your business was located in the middle of the Sahara Desert, would you be terribly concerned about a snowstorm interrupting your processes? Of course not, so you certainly wouldn?t prioritize any efforts that were specifically intended to fight a snowstorm?you wouldn?t keep a supply of snow shovels to clear off the roof, for instance. Risk management is the practical approach behind this extreme example, and when applied to your cybersecurity, it is based on the unique balance of cybersecurity risks that your business exhibits. By developing a cybersecurity risk management plan, you are able to adjust your approach to match this balance. How to Fulfill Cybersecurity Risk Management Generally speaking, the process behind cybersecurity risk management is as follows: Identify Potential Threats First, consider your business? hardware infrastructure and the software that it hosts. Are there any known vulnerabilities that might affect it? What threats could potentially bypass your existing protections? Having a comprehensive list of these potential threats from the start will be crucial. Weigh Out Each Threat?s Potential Risk Once you?ve created your list of potential threats, you need to determine how likely each threat is to occur?and whether or not you can live with that likelihood. As you do so, you should keep the impact that each threat might have in mind. After conducting this impact analysis, you should have a tiered list of potential threats arranged by their risk. Establish a Response to Each Risk Level Using this list, you are ready to determine how each risk level should be approached. Generally speaking, there are four responses that you can take that are known as the four Ts of risk management: Tolerate – If you determine the risk is unlikely enough or not severe enough to address, you accept that you may encounter it. Treat – If the risk is sufficiently concerning, you put security measures in place to reduce its likelihood. Transfer – If there?s a risk that is beyond your capabilities to control, you involve other parties in the risk?outsourcing your protections, and/or taking out cybersecurity insurance. Terminate – If the risk is severe enough, you fully avoid it by altering the processes that create the risk, if not suspending them entirely. Continue to Monitor These Risks and Adjust as Appropriate After addressing your risks, based on the above responses, you should continue to keep an eye on them. Reexamine your potential threats every so often to see if your level of risk has changed and if you need to reconsider if your established response is still appropriate. With the threat landscape changing constantly, it?s almost guaranteed that your responses will have to change at some point. We Can Assist You with Your Cybersecurity Risk Management Remember the transfer option we reviewed above? White Mountain IT Services is one such party you can outsource some of your protections to. Our comprehensive cybersecurity measures can help to treat and terminate many of your largest business risks. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to start mitigating those things that threaten your business.

What Are Your Options? Nowadays, cloud computing has become reliable enough to do about any type of computing your company needs. With this fact, you now have to decide whether adding new hardware to your server stack is the best option; or, should you seriously consider deploying virtual environments through the cloud. Let?s go through some of the pros and cons of each. New Onsite Server Before we talk about some of the considerations that go into hardware purchases, let?s talk about some of the pros and cons of deploying onsite servers. The first, and probably the most important benefit of utilizing onsite hardware is that you have complete control over the infrastructure. Not only can you set it up the way you want, you maintain access and don?t necessarily need an Internet connection. This can be extremely beneficial if you house sensitive and proprietary data.  Since the business environment has changed substantially over the past several years one of the leading talking points in the discussion between cloud and on-site infrastructure is the question: who needs access to it? With a lot of people now being able to work remotely, they need access to company data. This creates two big issues: How do you get your new onsite server set up reliably and ready to work for your company? How do you get remote workers access to the data and applications they need on that server? These are important questions and ones that any business that decides they would like to get the benefits of hosting their own servers have to immediately confront. After all, if you don?t set your infrastructure up effectively, you will be constantly tinkering with your IT and it won?t bring your organization the value it should.  Cloud-Based Servers Over the past several years, cloud computing has become a mainstay for businesses of all types. Before that, enterprise businesses were the only ones that were able to take advantage of these hosted servers, as the costs associated with data transmission?the way many of these systems are charged?were seen as prohibitive to businesses and organizations with smaller technology budgets. Prices have dropped substantially and now, with the needs of many businesses including catering systems to remote workers, cloud servers are now one of the most utilized by all businesses. Obviously, if your servers are outsourced and hosted in a public cloud environment, you lose the capabilities to set up your machines. For most business purposes such as application deployment, communications, and collaboration, this doesn?t have the ?risks? it once did. Additionally, cloud-based infrastructure can always be scaled to the amount of computing and storage your business needs, putting an end to the constant hand-wringing over software licensing and storage costs.  What you will absolutely need to take full advantage of cloud-based servers is a reliable and fast Internet connection. This can be a sticking point, especially if your organization likes to use innovative new communications platforms hosted in the cloud. Your end-users may not always have access to the type of bandwidth needed to reliably take advantage of the cloud-based tools. As far as cost goes, the cloud-based infrastructure doesn?t demand that your organization make huge financial decisions with their IT infrastructure, but it does require that you pay the per GB or service subscription fees […]