How Does This Threat Work? According to security researcher ProxyLife on Twitter, there are several strains of malware utilizing an old version of the Calculator application loaded on Microsoft?s Windows operating systems. This particular version of the Calculator app was used on Windows 7, and this threat works by tricking a user into downloading an ISO disc image disguised as a PDF or other file. The ISO uses a shortcut to open the included Calculator application. One of the features of the Windows 7 Calculator app is the use of Dynamic Link Libraries, or .dll files, rather than defaulting to Windows? system default libraries. This is a feature that hasn?t been used in the Calculator app since Windows 7, hence the need to run the older version of the software. The Calculator app runs these libraries to infect the system with malware, and since the Calculator appears to be a legitimate application used by Windows, the system doesn?t think twice about it, allowing it to circumvent Windows? built-in security benchmarks. How Much Should You Worry About It? Ultimately, we think it?s reasonable to look at this threat as an obscure one that simply shows off the ingenuity of hackers and how they are using tools in different ways. It?s not clear whether or not Microsoft has issued an update to Defender to stop these attacks, but all you need to know is that you likely won?t encounter this type of threat, so long as you are treating potential threat vectors with the scrutiny they deserve, i.e. not downloading random files that are suspicious at best. Even if it is unlikely you will encounter these threats, it?s a bit unnerving that trusted and known applications can create these types of issues for your IT department. One way to make sure you don?t let threats fly under the radar, even for those that aren?t deemed threats by your operating system, is to proactively monitor your infrastructure for anything that is out of the ordinary. You can then take steps to contain, isolate, and eliminate them. Let Us Help You Monitor Your Network If you would rather not worry about keeping tabs on your network, White Mountain IT Services is happy to assist with this incredibly important part of running a business. We can implement comprehensive data security measures that minimize the opportunity for hackers to infiltrate your network. To learn more, contact us today at (603) 889-0800.
Automate What You Can Every business has a lot of moving parts. In a small business, one person could wear a half-dozen or more hats. The more that can be reliably done by machines, the more effective your business is going to be. When you are thinking about how to invest in your business, the answer should always be to produce and sell more and spend less to do it. That?s not always easy, but with tools integrated with artificial intelligence, end-to-end management software, and smart tools this can become a lot easier. Collaborate Better These days, businesses are often forced to do more with less. Even if they aren?t, having systems in place that improve the ability for people to collaborate can mean enhanced efficiency and productivity. While there are software systems and other technologies that can individually boost your staff?s ability to collaborate, true collaboration is achieved through a dedication to trust the other members of your team. In order to do that, you need tools that make this easier (or possible). Let?s take a look at some of the tools teams are using to improve their collaboration. Customer Relationship Management – The CRM doesn?t just help improve customer satisfaction, it can also help your team work together on projects. The software can help stabilize any task by giving a consistent platform to update team members (and customers) to keep any task or project working efficiently. Video conferencing – A video conferencing software doesn?t just help businesses with remote teams?although it is a must-have for organizations that sport them?it is one of the very best collaboration tools there is in business. Not only can team members meet with each other at the push of a button, it can also speed up projects and help ensure tasks are completed correctly more frequently, a major consideration for any business that relies on collaboration. Collaboration tools – Today, there are many collaboration tools that are specifically designed to keep project teams working together. Most feature a forum-like construct that allows for person-to-person communication and a myriad of software integrations designed to give every member of a collaboration team the resources they need in one easy-to-use platform. Productivity apps – Today?s cloud-based productivity applications give employees the ability to work inside the same document/spreadsheet/presentation. This can not only work to improve productivity, it can bring with it a level of rapid quality assurance that traditionally wasn?t available to businesses with stand-alone productivity suites. What?s best, any person with an active login and an Internet connection can use these tools, providing the flexibility and organizational scalability needed to ensure that any deadline is met. Engage with Your Customer Base Without your customers, your business wouldn?t be one. This is why one of the most important parts of your business is to reach out to your customers and keep them engaged. Studies show that customer retention is almost five times less costly for a business than customer acquisition. Moreover, it is much easier to expand your current customers? spend than it is to try to find new customers to fill the gaps. We listed the CRM above as a crucial collaboration tool, but its main function is to keep your customers in the loop. This provides opportunities to get more feedback from them and […]
Defining the Internet of Things About a decade ago, these new ?smart? devices and technologies became extremely prevalent and started to add value to peoples? lives, making them easier and more efficient. Naturally, businesses wanted to capitalize on the desire for these new technology solutions, leading to the massive growth of smart technology we see today. And, of course, when consumers find value in smart technology, businesses inevitably do as well. There are now well over 14 billion IoT devices, including smartphones, connected to the Internet. The IoT is also one of the most well-funded technology markets out there with nearly $5 billion invested in it every year. IoT Devices Are Everywhere The IoT has several practical uses for your business, and they all come with their own unique challenges with integration and security. You also need to consider the fact that most if not all of your employees have a smartphone, a factor which could influence the applications your organization uses. Furthermore, you?ll want to ensure that they are not inadvertently putting your organization at risk by bringing threats onto your network. For enterprises and manufacturers, industrial IoT devices can impact operations and give employees better ways of getting things done. Therefore, you?ll have to train your employees on how to use them. Setting up IoT as a platform for business efficiency might mean building your infrastructure from the ground up with IoT in mind, or it might mean integrating applications with the back-end operations of your infrastructure. Setup and Security Questions for Implementing IoT for Business It?s natural that businesses will use the IoT in ways much different from what you might expect a home user would, but that doesn?t mean these consumer-level tools can?t also save you money. You can use IoT devices to save time and resources with smart thermostats, lights, personal assistants, and so on? all adding specific value to your organization. There are more complex solutions to utilize, too, like asset tracking and inventory management. While these can help you keep tabs on your supply chain and resources, they can quickly complicate your infrastructure if you don?t set them up properly. Still, they enable automation that could be a valuable tool for your company moving forward, enabling you to get data to make better decisions in the future. To ensure your business is profitable and adaptable to change, you need to implement technology that can scale according to your needs while maintaining security. IoT can complicate this, as it creates several security discrepancies that must be considered if you want to maximize the value gained from using them. It?s true that businesses can use the IoT to cut costs and improve efficiency, but you?ll need to be strategic in their implementation to see these results. White Mountain IT Services can help you assess your business? needs and examine how IoT devices can improve your operations. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.
What Industries are Often Targeted By Ransomware? Lately, ransomware has been increasingly directed towards a few industries, in organizations of all sizes. These industries are as follows: Professional Services Education Government IT Services Healthcare Manufacturing Utilities Finance Let?s briefly discuss the situation surrounding each of these industries. Professional Services The various businesses that fall within the umbrella of professional services?ranging from everything from accounting to consulting to legal assistance?have all been targeted by ransomware attacks with uncomfortable frequency. This is largely due to many of them possessing sensitive data that cybercriminals seek out, and with many small organizations lacking sufficient cybersecurity, they become relatively easy targets. Education Considering the sheer amount of data that school systems collect and store on their students?in addition to the faculty and staff that work there?it should be no surprise that educational institutions have been attacked more and more in recent years. 2021 saw operations disrupted across over 1,000 such institutions throughout 88 attacks. Emsisoft, an antimalware provider who provided that previous stat, also reported that at least half of the 2021 incidents resulted in employee and student data being stolen. Government Government processes?all that fall under that umbrella term?are pretty important, which makes it chilling to think that 40% of surveyed IT decision-makers from government organizations around the world had been impacted by ransomware within a year prior to the survey. One only has to consider the shutdown of Ireland?s national health service in May 2021, 2019?s ransomware attack on the City of Baltimore that shut down services for months, or 2019?s lockdown of a United States Coast Guard facility to see how severe attacks like this can be. IT Services While it may seem like we?re blowing up our own spot, it is important to recognize that even the experts can be suckered by ransomware attacks. This not only highlights how truly dangerous ransomware can be, but also how important it is to ensure that you have an IT provider you can trust, like White Mountain IT Services. Healthcare It?s little wonder that healthcare organizations are a favorite target of those who use ransomware to their own selfish and nefarious ends. With tons of critical data and systems being used at all hours in hospitals and health centers, they tend to be highly motivated to pay the demanded ransom to avoid loss of life. Manufacturing As of late, manufacturers have been demonstrated to also be popular ransomware targets, specifically by having much of their data published online (as many now threaten to do if a ransom payment isn?t received promptly, or a business refuses to pay a second ransom). Manufacturing was actually the most common industry sector to have stolen data leaked online, and since it was also the most well-prepared industry to restore backed-up data, the least likely to fork over a ransom. Utilities On the opposite end of the spectrum, however, are those who provide oil, gas, and utilities. According to Sophos, these organizations are much more likely to pay ransomware demands? and cybercriminals know it. Remember the Colonial Pipeline shutdown a few years ago? While the Department of Justice managed to recover half of the ransomware payment back from the attackers, the attack still crippled a lot of the United States? eastern operations through fuel delivery disruptions. Finance When it has been said […]
What are Some Best Practices for Managing Remote Workers? There are plenty of ways that you can do a better job of managing your remote workers, including: Establishing Communication Standards Without maintaining clear and open communications, your remote workers are going to become islands?separated from the rest of your team and isolated. Setting an expectation for how and how often your team members are to communicate and collaborate helps to encourage them to reach out and interact more. Delegate Responsibilities and Hold Them to It Remote workers are just the same as your in-house ones? the only real difference is where they are doing the work. Therefore, it is important that you treat them just the same and hold them to the responsibilities you give them. Now, if these tasks are too much of a challenge in a remote environment, there are many ways to delegate these tasks, from breaking them down into smaller jobs to discussing the process in detail with your team members to incentivizing their work processes. Provide the Necessary Tools for Success Fortunately, many businesses are already using tools that are well-suited for remote work, like cloud-based software and storage and mobile-friendly devices. One particular tool that we strongly recommend?whether or not remote work is in play, to be honest?is a unified communications and collaboration platform. A UCC platform gives you a single tool that provides numerous options for communication amongst your entire team. Acknowledge the Impacts of Overwork and Isolation While many people might assume that those working remotely are kicking back and accomplishing less over the course of the workday, these people would be (for the most part) very wrong. In many, many cases, remote workers are subject to pressure to accomplish more simply because of that assumption. Pairing this kind of overwork with the isolation of working remotely over a long period of time can develop some seriously negative feelings and detrimental impacts to their productivity. Acknowledging this and making efforts to reduce both will help bring you a more successful remote team. Give All the Support You Can As we?ve suggested thus far, your remote team members will need the same things your in-house team members will, including support in numerous forms?not just the IT support required to keep them productive, but also the emotional support that enables them to maintain that productivity over extended periods of time. Listen to them, check in on them, and try to develop support networks for your team members to utilize. Collect Feedback Here?s the long and the short of it?remote work only works if it works for your remote workers. One of your most valuable sources of data is the people you have working remotely. While things might seem hunky dory on the surface and work is being done, your team members may be experiencing some challenges coping with things on their end. Don?t be afraid to ask your team for an account of their experience, possibly using anonymous polling or one-on-one check-ins with your team members. You might be surprised what you learn, or how good some of the ideas that come from your team members are. We Can Help You Embrace the Benefits of Remote Operations In terms of actually enabling remote operations, that?s where we come in. We?ll help you implement and […]
