On July 29th, it was discovered that cybercriminals had ?exploited a U.S. website application vulnerability to gain access to certain files,? according to the company. In the statement released on August 7th announcing the breach, Equifax reported that those responsible had managed to access information including names, birth dates, addresses, Social Security and Driver’s license numbers. 209,000 people also lost their credit card information, and dispute documents with personally identifiable information were accessed affecting another 182,000 people. The scope of this attack is staggering, especially considering that the total population of the United States is estimated by the Census Bureau to be 324 million adults. A quick calculation tells us that the 143 million potentially affected makes up a full 44 percent of the country?s total adult population. As if this situation isn?t bad enough for Equifax, the activities of some of the company leadership are also being called into question. Chief Financial Officer John Gamble Jr., U.S. Information Solutions President Joseph Loughran, and Workforce Solutions President Rodolfo Ploder sold almost $2 million in company shares mere days after the breach was uncovered. While it is not yet clear if the breach and these sales are connected, Equifax has released a statement stating that the men had no knowledge of the intrusion when the sales were made. The company?s stocks fell by more than 12 percent shortly afterward. Equifax is currently working with state and federal authorities, including the FBI, and is actively alerting those whose information was accessed through the mail. We suggest that you keep an eye on your mailbox in case you have been breached. There are plenty of websites and services, including one from Equifax, dedicated to determining whether or not your personal information was accessed–all you have to do is give these sites and services access to your personal information. In light of what has happened, we do not recommend taking this route. Instead, you should be careful to monitor your own financial information and to report any oddities to the proper authorities. You may also be tempted to enroll in an identity protection service. Equifax themselves are offering a free year of monitoring from their service, called TrustedID. However, there have been reports that enrolling in this service will leave you ineligible to participate in a class action lawsuit against Equifax. If you decide to enroll, make sure you understand all of the fine print. Otherwise, you should make sure to go through and change your passwords and watch your credit statements for suspicious activity. This is especially true if you utilized any of Equifax?s business services, as your business could be affected as well. If you suspect that your information was stolen, the Federal Trade Commission offers a helpful guide to determining if that is the case. If so, you need to report it to the Federal Trade Commission as well as place a fraud alert on your credit report.

Business-critical data can be corrupted in a multitude of ways. Malware, hackers, hardware failure, and even user error could put your business in a very precarious position if you fail to set up contingencies. In fact, a majority of small and medium-sized businesses will fail within 18 months if they are faced with a major data-loss incident. Our network-attached backup and disaster recovery system will ensure data that is lost isn?t lost for long. The BDR works wonders because organizations understand that in order to have any continuity in the face of disaster, critical information must be maintained. The device is attached to your network, and set up to your needs. Once you decide what business-critical data you want to protect, a full backup is performed. Subsequently the system will, at intervals that you choose, back up only files that are changed. This creates a much more lightweight solution than using traditional tape backups or manual HDD-to-HDD backups, as many organizations still do. The best part of the solution is that while the protected data is backed up on the NAS BDR, it is also automatically uploaded to the cloud. Hosted in an off-site data center, your data will be redundant in multiple places, both onsite and off, and ready for recovery when you need it. This provides the organization the secure data protection they are looking for in a backup system, without the manual work and downtime that many of yesterday’s top backup systems required. If you are looking for a way to protect your business from the threat of data loss, call White Mountain IT Services’s IT professionals at (603) 889-0800 to set up a consultation.

Accessible Pricing for Small Businesses That Want Enterprise-Grade Solutions: Enterprise phone systems are often designed to meet the needs of large firms and often have a price that is out of reach for many small business owners. With Allworx, small business owners have access to enterprise-grade services that are affordable, and easy to use. Mobile Integration with Allworx Verge for Small Business Workforce: Today, small businesses often have mobile or telecommute workforces. Allworx offers small business an enterprise solution to integrate mobile devices into phone systems with Verge. The Allworx Verge feature will allow you to: Receive, Forward, and Hold Calls-Managing calls on the go can be challenging. With the mobile app, you will be able to direct calls to where they need to go. Organize Contact Lists in System Directory and Mobile Devices-Finding contacts from your mobile device when you need them is often frustrating. With the Allworx mobile app, you will be able to access contacts from your business phone system or the contacts on your phone. You can also organize contacts in lists for easier access to contacts when you need to make calls. Integration with Any Mobile Device-It can be frustrating to have to take calls on your phone when you are using another device like a tablet. Allworx mobile app is compatible with IoS and Droid devices, so you will be able to take calls on any device you are using. Set Status and Route Calls Accordingly-You may be in a meeting or emergency where you cannot take calls. Use the mobile app to set your status as ‘away’ and set calls to automatically be directed according to the status you have set. Priority calls can override restrictions. With Verge, business phone systems are mobile and allow businesses to access all the features. Call Center Distribution to Management Developed for Small Business Needs: Call distribution is important in a busy office. With Allworx automatic call distribution, calls get to where they need to go and ensure that important calls are received by the right department. Some of the features of automatic call distribution include: Linear, Circular, Longest Idle or Ring All Distribution-Different businesses need to manage calls in different ways. The automatic call distribution allows you to choose the priority of calls and the manner they are distributed. Queue Management-With automatic call distribution, you will be able to manage queues to ensure calls go to the right person and are answered in a timely manner. Call Monitoring and Notifications-Small businesses that receive a large volume of calls need to be able to manage them efficiently. With Allworx, calls can be monitored and you can receive alerts for additional calls in queue. Automatic call distribution is an affordable call center solution to meet the needs of growing small business. It helps you to manage incoming calls to your business more efficiently. Performance Tracking, Security and Analytics to Better Manage Business: Allworx also has several features that help you manage your business phone systems. With performance tracking, security, and analytics features, it is easier to manage phone systems. The administrative features that Allworx features include: Analytics and Activity Reports-Allworx gives you data for your phone system performance. You can look at different metrics like incoming and outgoing calls or performance of employees that answer phones. Security and […]

Android to PC File TransfersAndroid devices are neat because they allow you direct access to its filing system. You can essentially access the internal storage of the device, allowing you to use it in much the same way as you would an external hard drive. You can use your charging cable to connect your device to the PC via a USB port. Once you?ve done this, you can transfer data from your computer to your device while it?s charging. First, however, you?ll notice that a little notification window has popped up on your device, which will tell you that your device is charging. If you tap this notification, a menu will pop up providing you with the various functionality that comes from connecting the device to a PC. You need to select Transfer Files from this menu. Once you?ve done so, a menu for File Explorer should open on your workstation. You?ll be able to see your device in the explorer, which should allow you to transfer any files as you see fit. But What About Security?Using this type of solution comes with various concerns, chief among which is security. How can you make sure that using an Android device in this fashion doesn?t put your company?s device at risk? The problem here is that employee mindfulness can only get you so far–you?ll need to implement a Bring Your Own Device policy to ensure that your staff?s use of mobile devices doesn?t put your business at risk. Does your business need a hand with managing mobile solutions? We can help you come up with the best BYOD policy out there, tailored to your business? specifications. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

This organization–the Software Alliance (BSA)–was founded by Microsoft back in 1988 in an attempt to preserve intellectual property of member companies. Its initial goal was to put a halt to copyright infringement, especially in more recent years as pirating software has grown more popular. Only recently has the BSA started using some rather underhanded tactics to find unlicensed software on business systems. One of these tactics tries to entice employees (or former employees), to report instances of software licensing fraud. In other words, they try to get your employees to report any suspicious software handling by promising complete and total anonymity and a cash reward. It?s a tempting offer for employees who might feel downtrodden about their work, and a report from one of these workers could be condemning for your company. The BSA runs ads across social media looking for whistleblowers – it?s not like a former employee needs to look very hard to find them. But what if you don?t know that you?re using unlicensed software? Surely that makes a difference, right? Well? no. Being unaware won?t help your case, and there?s no excuse for using unlicensed software. Therefore, you need to ask yourself whether you?re willing to risk a situation like this potentially costing your business. One of the best ways you can keep your business safe from the BSA is by restricting user permissions on your company devices. By this, we mean allowing only your IT department to install applications on your company?s computers. This keeps your employees from finding questionable software licenses on the Internet and implementing them without IT approval, effectively eliminating a big risk factor for your organization. The need for software licensing documentation cannot be expressed enough. You need to be ready for an audit at any given time, as they can (like many business matters) be unpredictable. Therefore, what we recommend is that you reach out to an unbiased third-party provider for a comprehensive network audit to look for unlicensed software. The goal is to find any instances of unlicensed software so that, in the event of an unexpected audit, you aren?t caught red-handed–even if it?s not your fault. White Mountain IT Services can provide your business with the quality network audit needed to snuff out any instances of unlicensed software on your infrastructure. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.