Your Average Website People spend a lot of time online researching, buying, and interacting with companies. When you fill out a form with your name, and often your address, email address, and phone number, you are expecting that information to be secured on the other end. This information isn?t always protected the way you would assume. In fact, many companies actually take your information and bundle it with hundreds or thousands of other people and sell it off for a profit. Of course, this is happening less and less as individual data protection is taken more seriously. The problem becomes, what happens when this company gets breached. All of the information they have attached to your name (and other personally identifiable information {PII}) is exposed by hackers; and guess who is responsible? You are. Nearly every website that you go to will have all of this information in the fine print, leaving you with almost no recourse but to have your personal information out there for people to buy. It?s even worse when the lost information is medical or financial information. It can get real personal real fast. That may be the worst-case scenario, but privacy isn?t great on the Internet to begin with. Every message you send, every movie you watch on a streaming service, every time you search something using the search function on a website, every item you buy online, leaves a data trail right back to you; and, this goes for everyone. It isn?t only willing participation that strips you of your data, either. Almost everything you do on the Internet–whether it be messaging, streaming media, shopping, or simply surfing the web–leaves a data trail right back to you. Your data trail may not work against you, but it is always there and that data shapes your individual story online. If someone were to take an interest in you, there is a good chance that they would be able to find out a whole lot more than many people would be comfortable with. How Do You Protect Yourself? If your data has value, then you need to make an effort to protect it. You?d actually be surprised how much money companies pay to get your information. It may seem like it is thrown around, but actually to get the data they want about you (consumers) they need to pay. Think about all the ads you see on an average day. Most of those ads are there because they know what you want, and how to get it right in front of your face. Here are a few things you can do to protect yourself online: Make up complex, unique passwords – Having passwords that protect your data online is essential. The trick is to use passphrases that only you can remember. Sprinkle in upper-and-lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols and never use a password twice. Read the Terms of Service – Reading the fine print can really be a huge benefit; and, we get it, it?s tedious. If you want to protect yourself online, know what you are allowing a company to do, whether it?s at a website or in a mobile app. Monitor your financial activity – Today there are several services dedicated to helping people manage their finances more effectively. Finding one that you trust […]
Access to Power and Internet No matter what you decide to do about your home office, you definitely will need access to power and bandwidth. What good is a desk that doesn?t have power available? Not all people have the space to make a dedicated office, but if you carve out a space where the Internet is fast and there is a reliable power source, you should do alright. Position Your Workspace Aside from the connectivity issues, there are some solid practices you should consider when setting up your home office. First, you will want to situate your workspace in low traffic areas. If you have an extra bedroom, a loft, or simply a lonely corner you will definitely be apt to get more done than if you are working from the writing desk in the hallway you got from your grandmother. After all, the less distractions you have, the better you will perform. You will definitely want to have enough light to not nod off during your more menial tasks. You should also try to find a flat surface with a chair that doesn?t cry out ?nap here? while you are sitting in it. Avoid Clutter Obviously, when you are stuck in your house most of the time, constantly cleaning can be extremely annoying. You know what? Just do it. The more junk you have laying around, the worse your headspace is going to be. Comfort? Now this is the real challenge for the person working from home. Your house is built to be a refuge for you after you have completed all of your daily tasks. Now that you are stuck there, there is the tendency to use your comfy surroundings while you work away on your laptop. This isn?t ideal, but if you can make it work, do what you please. Working from home can be a challenge for people who haven?t been allowed to before, but it can be a wildly rewarding experience that will change the way you look at your job, as long as you don?t let your home?s comforts eat up your productivity. For support where and when you need it, make sure you reach out to us by calling (603) 889-0800.
Scenario 1: No Backup Chuck runs a small business that does a fair amount of work with various clients and customers, so he relies on an extensive record-keeping system to ensure that his agreements and contracts are up-to-date and honored. There are also the tools that enable his necessary inventory to be maintained, automatically contacting the appropriate vendors and suppliers when his materials run low. Chuck relies on his technology, as it has promoted growth and has expanded its reach. Unfortunately, a member of Chuck?s staff is using their email one day and automatically opens an attachment that contains ransomware. Chuck learns that this has locked him out of his entire system, preventing him from accessing any of his files or tools. To eliminate the threat, Chuck has no choice but to completely wipe his systems and start fresh? but in doing so, he is forced to sacrifice all the data that his operations rely upon. A few difficult months later, Chuck is unable to recover from this monumental setback, and closes the business. Scenario 2: Backup Laura runs a bustling small business, serving a healthy assortment of customers and clientele. To keep track of everything, she makes use of customer relationship management and inventory management tools, in addition to her HR software. While her own innate business sense has powered her success, her prioritization of technology as an indispensable asset has helped Laura apply these insights in a meaningful way. This approach also helps when a storm strikes and surges power into her location and fries her infrastructure. While replacing the equipment is going to be costly, the true cost would come from the data loss. Fortunately, Laura had taken the advice of her managed service provider and implemented a comprehensive backup solution, which had proactively taken incremental backups of her data and saved them in an off-site data center. As a result, her employees can work from home to some extent while replacements can be procured (with the proper surge protection now implemented) and maintain the business somewhat. After a brief interlude, Laura?s business can resume its full operations. So yes, our tip to you is to have a backup solution in place, that meets certain best practices: You have a total of (at least) three copies of your data. Two of these copies are maintained as backups. (At least) one of these copies is stored offsite in a cloud solution. Ideally, this cloud solution would itself have copies stored in various places for redundancy. White Mountain IT Services can help you establish the kind of data backup and recovery strategy that you need. We can also help you develop an entire business continuity plan to mitigate the aftereffects of any kind of data loss scenario, all while providing you with more tips and best practices to minimize the possibility of such a scenario in the first place. Reach out to us at (603) 889-0800 to learn more and subscribe to our blog today for more insights.
Most business owners will probably say that their data is stored on their main server at the office, or a server hosted with their cloud provider, or that their data is stored in OneDrive or Google Drive. Others might also add that their data is also stored on a backup device, and that backup device stores a copy of everything in the cloud. Very well done, for those who answer like that. I?m not here to prove anyone wrong. If you made these big investments into your business to safely store and protect your data, then that is where the data should be. That said, the problem usually isn?t with the one writing the paychecks? Your Employees Aren?t Focused on Data Security This isn?t to put your employees down. They have jobs to focus on, quotas to meet, projects to deal with, and everyday tasks to perform. Thinking about your IT is the last thing on their minds. To them, the computer, the network, and the servers are all things that exist in the background and sometimes get in the way of their jobs when something doesn?t work right. With that in mind, if a salesperson needs to get access to a proposal she has been working on, and she has no way to access the network when on the road (or she just wasn?t trained to use the proper way to access the network when on the road) then she will try to come up with the solution herself. She?ll email herself the file or stick it on a thumb drive or on her laptop and suddenly, that document is no longer protected by your network. Changes to the document are no longer backed up. In one swift move, a piece of data is no longer within your control. Sure, a sales proposal might not contain a whole lot of trade secrets or sensitive information, but you can see how easy it is for someone with good intentions to botch up the whole system. This salesperson doesn?t deserve to lose their job over what they did (although they probably should be corrected), but the fault lies with management. If your employees aren?t given the ability to perform their jobs as needed, they may find their own way. They?ll think they are going above and beyond, and they really are. Unfortunately, they aren?t as in touch with IT and cybersecurity and compliance standards and everything else you are likely worried about. This is Even More Important Now Let?s ask that question again, especially for industries where many users are working remotely. Where is your data? Do you have it under control? Are you providing your users a way to access everything without putting it at risk? We can help you audit your existing IT environment and take into consideration that users are accessing things remotely, and help you lock down your data. To talk more about this, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.
Let?s go into how a business needs to prepare to sustain themselves?while keeping their clientele up to speed?with a business continuity plan. Why is a Business Continuity Plan So Crucial? With digital technology now taking such a prominent role in daily operations, businesses now must deal with more than just potential weather issues and accidents. Now, there are technology interruptions to contend with, sourced from cyberattacks, user errors, and simple bad luck. Planning Ahead If you are to protect your business from the ramifications of these events, it is important that you create and implement a strategy that prepares you to do so. The idea behind a business continuity plan is to enable your business to dynamically adjust its operations so that they can be sustained to the highest degree possible amidst some form of disaster. While a weather event, power outage, or a pandemic likely will create some hurdles, a good business continuity plan can help you find your footing again. That?s why we always endorse preparing such a strategy proactively. While your planning is unlikely to completely prepare you for larger events, you will be much more able to react appropriately with a framework to base your response upon. However, the planning process is an involved one. White Mountain IT Services is here to assist you as you prepare for such events, as we?ll guide you through each step involved. Staying Engaged Of course, your operations are only half the battle. You also want the people who frequent your business to know what is going on throughout this time, so you need to make sure that you are keeping them updated. To do so, make sure that you are making use of all your communication solutions, and make sure your audience is getting the information that they need to continue their relationship with you. Adjusted schedules, the best means of contacting you, and any offers that you might be providing are all good things to share?especially on any of your company?s social media accounts. Don?t be afraid to use your technology to branch out into other messages as well, especially focusing on the ways that your clients can use what you?ve provided to help them out the most. This has already proven to be a difficult time for all kinds of businesses, but if you use technology to its full capability you have a better chance of sustaining your business? health through the entire situation, however long that may be. For more assistance with your technology, or any support you may need as you use it, reach out to White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.
