Understanding the Threats to Your Printer There are a surprising number of ways that an unsecured printer can be compromised. Once something is printed, just about anyone could stroll on by and retrieve the paper. Print jobs could also be routed to other printers or manipulated, again breaking the chain of custody of the produced documents and potentially dispersing fraudulent data. Data stored on the printer itself can also be harvested, and attackers have been known to use printers to infiltrate or directly attack a network system. Printing over Wi-Fi introduces similar security issues as well. However, printers still play an important role in most offices and other businesses today? So how can these threats be overcome? By following some simple best practices, you may find that these security challenges aren?t quite so challenging to address. Practices for Printer Protection If you want to make sure that your own printing infrastructure is secure, you need to follow a few best practices: Keep your printers updated: Software updates are commonly released to help resolve potential security issues that may be within your technology solutions. In order to take advantage of these improvements, you have to actively apply these updates to the solutions you rely on. Implement access controls: Just as is necessary with anything that is connected to your network, your printing infrastructure needs to require some validation before someone can use it. Requiring access credentials that meet security recommendations is a good starting point. Require MFA: To further secure your printing infrastructure, you should also supplement your access controls with multi-factor authentication requirements. Disable unused services: The more services that you have active on your network (including those on your printing devices), the more access points there are for an attacker to take advantage of. White Mountain IT Services can help you see to your cybersecurity on every level, including protections for specific pieces of infrastructure like your printers. To learn more about the solutions you need to maintain comprehensive cybersecurity standards, reach out to White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.
Just a quick recap: what is phishing? Phishing is when a quote-unquote hacker sends you an email disguised as a legitimate email from someone else. Usually a phishing email might look like your bank trying to get you to log in to check your statement, or PayPal telling you that there was a recent charge they want you to look into. Phishing attacks can also be very personal and specific, like an email from your CEO asking you to quickly move some funds to a certain bank account or authorizing a payment. The hacker will spoof the email in a way to make it look legitimate – the email would have all of the logos and header and footer information that, at a glance, makes it look real. When the user falls for the trap though, they end up providing sensitive information to the hacker. It?s one of the leading cybersecurity threats in the playing field right now. Phishing attacks are annoying, and they trick a lot of users, and this latest one even made me double take. The Fake Voicemail Phishing Attack Most modern phone systems, especially VoIP phone systems, have a convenient feature that will email you voicemails. That way, you can check them easily from your email instead of dialing into your phone. I like this feature a lot–it gives me one less place to check for communication–and I already spend a lot of time in my email. It?s really handy to be able to listen to a voicemail message directly from my inbox on any device. That said, hackers have figured out that a lot of businesses use this feature, and now they are crafting phishing emails to look like voicemails. The email comes in very much like it would from your phone system. The subject line will say something like ?New Voicemail from: (555) 555-5555? (but with a real number) and attached will be a file that looks like it could be an audio clip of the voicemail. Be very wary of this. That file could contain malware. Some of these emails also contain links or buttons to click on to download the voicemail. These could lead to sites that might try to steal your information or infect your computer with malware. In other words, if you get one of these, don?t click on anything or download anything. How to Tell the Difference Between a Real Voicemail and a Phishing Attack? This is where things get tricky, because hackers are going to continue to experiment and try to increase the accuracy of this spoof. Right now, the best way to ensure that you don?t fall for fake voicemail phishing attacks is to ensure that your REAL voicemail get labeled in your inbox. Depending on your VoIP system, your voicemail emails will come from a specific email, and have a specific subject line. You?ll want to filter these emails so you know they are legit, and when you get one that doesn?t get labeled as a voicemail, you know you should be suspicious. Look for your previous voicemail emails. Note the email address they come from and the subject line. In Gmail use these steps: Click on the Gear icon and go to Settings. Click Filters and Blocked Addresses and scroll down and click Create a […]
The Current Situation The novel Coronavirus that has economies all over the world shrinking came at a time when most of them were expanding rapidly. Businesses were suddenly faced with some very difficult decisions to make. Some businesses were deemed essential and could continue to operate, but most were forced to either move their employees out of their workplace or shut operations down completely. To try and keep from losing money, some of these businesses started exploring the capabilities of the tools they already had in place, finding that many of them could offer more automation. In fact, in the face of the virus, and the uncertainty surrounding it at this juncture, it isn?t a surprise that companies are innovating quicker than they probably would have if they weren?t faced with the COVID-19 situation. The Future With the increased reliance on software-based automation, you are likely to see businesses begin to trust in technology more than they do today. At this point, if automation can offer alternatives to businesses struggling with their costs, it stands to reason that when the pandemic finally fades, that they won?t go back to spending money on parts of their business covered by this newfound automation. The truth is that some workers are going to be made expendable by this forced innovation. The shift was slowly inching along, but COVID-19 changed all that. You have to decide whether or not you are going to jump at the opportunity that this situation has given you. Automation isn?t going to replace your workers, it will just change their jobs. If they don?t adapt, they don?t fit. The future of your business is tied to how efficient and streamlined it can be, and automation looks like it will give it the best opportunity to accomplish that. Big changes are happening in business. Some sources say that automation will replace almost 60 percent of jobs in the next five years. It?s your choice. Call the IT consultants at White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800 for more information about automation and where it fits in your business.
Addicts in Plain Sight There is a stigma that comes along with being an addict. Whether a person is addicted to smoking cigarettes, having sex, or something much worse, the notion that they have lost the ability to moderate their behavior is a big deal, and carries with it serious problems. Using a mobile phone can be an addictive behavior. The problem becomes, how can you tell smartphone addiction and what negative consequences does this addiction have? The normal person probably uses the smartphone more than is healthy, but people use it for work, to keep in contact with the people in their lives, to recreate, to read, or to interact with their digital community. If your smartphone is both a personal and a work hub, how can using it all the time be problematic? Telltale Signs of Smartphone Addiction Smartphone addiction is similar to drug addiction according to the DSM-5. Using the device releases dopamine creating a physical dependence on having the device at the ready. Some of the most prevalent symptoms include: Conscious use of smartphone in dangerous situations or when it is prohibited to use (driving, walking stairs) causes social conflict A loss of interest in other social or group activities Withdrawal, panic, and anxiety when smartphone isn?t in hand Lack of focus Social anxiety Relationship stress Eye pain Neck pain Insomnia Dependence on digital validation Smartphone Addiction?s Effects While it can be something as benign as not getting enough sleep, smartphone addiction can also have many negative effects on a person?s day-to-day wellbeing. Serious problems such as depression and anxiety can develop, even when the phone is nearby. One study suggests that people with smartphone addiction can have as much as a 270-percent higher-than-normal chance of developing depression. If you think that someone you love has a smartphone addiction, here are some things you can do to aid them: Monitor usage – if you can, help them monitor their use of their phone. Don?t use your phone for everything – Phones have very useful features, so substituting the things that a smartphone emulates can work. Things like an alarm clock or physical books can cut down on the dependence on the mobile device. Turn off notifications – Most people have a steady flow of notifications that come in during the day. Turning off these notifications can go a long way toward getting someone?s mind off their device. Do you know someone that could use some help controlling their use of their smartphone? Call our consultants at (603) 889-0800 today to find out more ways you can go about working around a smartphone addiction.
Not all businesses can use the same type of technology, so while we were trying to make our list here we tried to limit it to technology that most businesses could take advantage of, and the addition of which would make a major difference in the way they can fuel productivity, security, and cost effectiveness. #1 – Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) Protecting your business? assets has to be a priority. There is no better system to protect your data from data breach and data loss than the BDR. The BDR is a network-attached device that incrementally backs up your data as it changes. The BDR can be set to run backups as frequently as every 15 minutes, ensuring that any changes your teams may make are collected and protected from loss. What makes the BDR stand out, is that once the backup is taken, it is also saved in an offsite data center, far enough away from your business as to deliver the redundancy it needs. So while your data is backed up and protected onsite, if something were to happen to your place of business (and there are a lot of disasters that can strike), you know that your data is backed up and safe in the cloud. #2 – Virtualized Environments A decade ago, this product would have been out of many small and mid-sized businesses’ price range. Today, it is the most effective way to save money on your business? IT spend. Many businesses will dedicate a server for a specific function. That function may not actually use up more than 25 or 30 percent of that server?s resources. Spending five or six figures on centralized computing hardware every five-to-seven years can really be problematic for a small or medium-sized business, but with virtualized environments, a single server can run several virtual machines (VM). Each VM can emulate a specific server, so that each server, outfitted with VM technology can actually serve multiple functions for your business. What?s better yet, that this technology can now be purchased in the cloud, further reducing your company?s upfront costs. If you are looking to get the technology needed to really compete, and do it without spending huge swaths of capital, hosted servers may be your best bet. #3 – Voice over Internet Protocol Every business leans heavily on their phone system. Today, reliable and feature-rich phone systems through a telecom provider will cost any business more than it should. VoIP is the alternative. Using your business? existing bandwidth, your business can have a telephone system with the reliability and features of a traditional phone system, with built-in conferencing, messaging, and mobile calling solutions for a fraction of the cost. VoIP platforms come in all shapes and sizes so you can find one that has the features and the costs that fit your business? specific profile. Best yet, VoIP solutions have built-in security to help your business keep your communications from being intercepted and your business? operations interrupted. You might expect to pay a lot for your business? technology, but the IT experts at White Mountain IT Services can help you find solutions that work for your budget and for your business. Call us today at (603) 889-0800 to learn more about the IT you can use to get a leg up on your […]
