How CEO Email Fraud Works In a CEO email scam, fraudsters use LinkedIn and other sources to glean information about a company’s CEO or other top executive. They gain insight into how to pose as the CEO or executive in order to send a convincing email to an employee ordering an immediate bank transfer. It works because the email uses specific language that persuades an employee, who is often eager to do a good job and please the boss, to initiate the urgent transaction. Scammers often send the fraudulent email when the boss is traveling out of town, making it seem all the more genuine. These cyber criminals are well-organized and understand the structure and practices of the businesses they attack. They may also impersonate a trusted business partner such as a lawyer, auditor, payroll representative, or outside accountant. They directly contact a manager or employee in accounts payable using language that Deloitte reports incorporates these persuasive techniques: Authoritative Order: It is an order to do this Secrecy: This project is still secret and its success depends on this transaction Responsibility: I count on you for your efficiency and discretion Pressure: The success of the project rests on your shoulders To make matters worse, it is unlikely that criminals will be caught perpetrating CEO email fraud. Email sources are easily blocked by sending them through anonymous proxy clients or virtual private networks.  Steps to Prevent CEO Email Fraud Criminals also find other ways to gain access to the sensitive information needed to add convincing details in the fraudulent emails. Some victims reported to the FBI that they first received ?phishing? e-mails requesting details about the business or individual being targeted such as names, travel dates, etc. Others were victims of various Scareware or Ransomware cyber attacks prior to the BEC incident.  Global Risk Insights points out, “CEO email fraud is one of the least sophisticated social engineering schemes. It is low cost, low risk, and can generate high rewards.” It is important that your company develops internal IT policies and accounting procedures to help detect and prevent these simple yet devastating scams.  Education and Awareness Educate employees about the means and methods criminals use to commit CEO email fraud. Simply becoming aware of the fraud is highly effective in detecting it. The scam relies heavily on preying on people’s judgment and desire to do a good job. Discussing ahead of time the potential for exposure to CEO email fraud builds an employee’s confidence in handling the situation. This will help them make the right decisions if it actually does occur. Two-Step Verification Process Implement a policy requiring that significant transactions requested by email must also be confirmed through telephone verification. It is important that employees don’t use the phone numbers provided in the suspicious email. Rather, they should use established contact information to reach the person who is allegedly requesting the transfer. Contacting the person directly by cell phone is preferable. IT Prevention Methods The FBI recommends several methods IT can help prevent intrusion by cyber criminals. Incorporating these tips into your company’s policies makes good business sense and increases communication security. Delete Spam: Immediately delete unsolicited email from unknown parties. Do not open spam email, click on links in the email, or open attachments. They often contain malware to gain access to your entire computer system. Forward vs. Reply: Do not use […]

1. Employees expect professional IT support, and they don’t seem to care how your company provides it. Your employees can be receptive to getting help from off-site support technicians. Bottom line, they want to submit a helpdesk request and receive a solution as soon as possible. This is especially true if the technical problem they have involves something they should already know or involves a technology solution that isn’t working according to its design. If you’ve ever worked in an organization where it takes days to get a resolution to a helpdesk ticket, then you can appreciate why expert IT support matters. 2. Customers benefit from employees who are supported in their jobs, especially in their daily use of computing tools. Think back to your office job two decades ago. It took ten minutes to boot up your computer and wait for all desktop applications to open. You had plenty of time to return phone calls and review old paperwork. You probably spent much less time responding to email. All of the modern communication tools were in their earlier stages or didn’t exist. In that environment, you would spend hours working in Microsoft PowerPoint to finish a report, and you weren’t accustomed to instant results. Technology moved slowly. Today’s employees consult multiple information sources on their smartphones and computing devices. They make rapid decisions. They have tight deadlines, and they have to accommodate demanding customers who can monitor their work, so to speak. They can’t afford to deal with server downtime or their inability to make an application respond to their request for information. They need expert IT support regardless of the time of day or night. They have a whole new set of tasks that will require their attention tomorrow.  3. We can help managers alleviate their employees’ IT concerns. The key is to help your employees become more efficient now by supporting their business applications. What we love about working in IT managed services is that we can easily scale our services up or down to fit your organization. We have our own IT experts running our consultancy, our helpdesk, maintaining our data centers, and performing many other tasks. We can offer as much or as little support as your company needs to get through the day. It’s starts with setting up the right service agreement and letting our people work for you. We have some secret strategies that help us to keep our rates for managed IT services cost-effective even for small and medium businesses. We can take the time to explain our services in ways that fit your present business model. In 2017, give your employees the gift of professional and responsive IT support. We will gladly write your business a competitive plan for IT services that fits your current business needs and keep up with the provisions of your service agreement. For more details on getting cost-effective and professional IT services, please contact us today.  

Windows 10 lets you schedule your updates with its Anniversary Update. This is thanks to the Active Hours feature, which lets users set times to update when their PC will most likely not be in use. By effectively using Active Hours, you can essentially set a restart schedule to make sure that the Anniversary Update doesn?t initiate an unplanned restart. First, make sure that you have the Anniversary Update installed, which you can do by going to your PC settings. If you need to install this update, you can do so through the Update Assistant, which can be found here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/features Once you have the update, just follow this guide to set up Active Hours. First, click on the Start menu and navigate to Settings. If you want to do this with minimal difficulty, just press the Windows Key + i. After that, go to Update & Security. In the Windows Update tab, you?ll see a link where you can Change active hours. Click it. You can then set your active hours, but keep in mind that any times that exceed 12 hours cannot be plugged in. Finally, click Save. Your PC will now only install updates during the hours that you have set. Still, it?s imperative that you keep in mind that this only applies to a 12-hour period. If you?re working on a major project that demands more rigorous working hours (like an overnight binge), you?ll want to take measures to make sure that this doesn?t happen while you?re in the middle of a task. To do this, you can adjust your restart settings by staying in the Update & Security menu of your PC?s settings. Click on Restart options. Turn this feature On. Finally, set the time and day that you want Windows to install updates. You won?t have to save anything, so as long as you make sure the switch is turned On. If you notice that the switch is grayed out, this means that you don?t have any updates available, and therefore, shouldn?t be concerned about updates becoming a problem and forcefully restarting your computer. Just check back from time to time if you find yourself needing to run your PC during your scheduled restart time. For more tips and tricks, reach out to White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.

The cloud has seen explosive use of its services and solutions since it was first introduced, and for good reason–it offers benefits that are too useful for a business to pass up. These benefits vary, but all serve a singular purpose: to make the user?s experience easier. Here are some of the ways that the cloud can enhance the daily operations of your business. Security: Starting off with a critical consideration for any business, the cloud can offer improved data security. Cloud providers base their entire business on their ability to safely store your data, and so they invest heavily into their security protocols. Furthermore, you can greatly reduce the risk of a lost device leading to a security breach, as there is cloud-based software that permits you to wipe the device remotely. This prevents your data from falling into the wrong hands, whether the device is misplaced or stolen. Reliability: Cloud providers stake their reputations on the ability to guarantee service to their clients at all times. While true 100 percent uptime is impossible, a cloud provider will keep the necessary skilled manpower on-hand to resolve any issues as efficiently and quickly as possible. Cloud services also allow you to enjoy the use of resources without worrying about keeping them up-to-date. Most providers will take the liberty of implementing operational and security updates on your behalf. This leaves you free to remain productive, instead of interrupting the workflow to install another patch. Access: A cloud solution allows productivity to have a place outside of the office. If an employee gets sick, or otherwise can?t leave their home, a cloud solution gives them a way to access their work files and maintain their output. The same goes for an employee on the road. If they can establish a secure connection, the cloud will allow them to continue their progress on work-related tasks. Financial Effects: Perhaps the most enticing feature, the cloud also allows for some considerable cost savings upon implementation. Since cloud computing utilizes your provider?s hardware instead of your own, you are no longer responsible for its acquisition and upkeep. As a result, you can otherwise utilize the funds that would have been devoted to your on-site infrastructure and the not-always-considered utility bill. White Mountain IT Services can help you to enjoy these benefits. Call us at (603) 889-0800 to find out more about what cloud-based services we offer.

What a Firewall DoesIn its simplest terms, a firewall is software that analyzes data flowing in and out of your network. Before allowing the data through, the firewall makes sure that it doesn?t pose a threat to your system. If the data in question meets the criteria of a threat, it doesn?t get through–similar to how a roadway checkpoint works. Plus, in order to safeguard your system from the latest threats, firewall software routinely updates itself via the Internet with the latest threat definitions. A firewall is most commonly used to analyze threats from Internet traffic, but it?s also useful for discovering threats from the traffic of your in-house network. They are also helpful for validating connection and data packets, checking for legitimate application data, and performing cavity searches on all messages going to and from your network. You also need to know that firewalls come in varying strengths. For example, an operating system for a home PC comes pre-installed with a firewall. However, a consumer-grade firewall is woefully inadequate to handle the traffic of a company network. Therefore, businesses need an enterprise-level firewall solution that can adequately safeguard all of its servers and workstations, like what you?ll find with a Unified Threat Management solution. Another advantage of a UTM is that the included firewall is just one of its security tools; spam blocking and content filtering are additional UTM tools that are included in order to provide your business with a comprehensive approach to network security. What a Firewall Doesn?t Do While it?s crucial for every business to have a firewall, it?s equally important for business owners to have additional security measures in place so they?re not solely reliant on their firewall solution. This means taking additional preventive security measures like backing up data, actively monitoring the system for threats, and applying security patches and updates. For your convenience, these tasks and all of your security needs can be outsourced to White Mountain IT Services. Companies also need to be mindful that having a firewall solution doesn?t give employees a pass to browse the Internet irresponsibly. Too often, users will think they can click on every link and download every email attachment because they?ve got a firewall in place to block malicious content. While it?s certainly helpful to have a firewall, the fact remains that a user who?s intent on downloading a certain file can bypass the restrictions put in place by their firewall. Therefore, a firewall is most effective when users are educated with security best practices, like knowing what a scam or a malicious link looks like, so they can avoid it altogether. Now that you know what a firewall does and doesn?t do, your next step is to equip your business with a firewall solution that?s right for your needs. Not all firewall solutions are the same, therefore, you?ll first want to take an assessment of your network?s size, traffic patterns, and number of users before selecting a model of firewall that fits your organization. To that end, White Mountain IT Services can assess your network?s security needs and equip your business with a firewall solution that protects you from the worst of the web. To get started, call us today at (603) 889-0800.