To ascertain whether or not the cloud is right for your business, consider these suggestions. Assess Your IT Infrastructure Business owners will often come across times when they need to do a cost-benefit analysis of integrating new solutions. Many cloud computing solutions state that they only need an Internet connection to transform the profitability of your organization. These claims are often completely overstated. The first element your organization will have to consider is if it has the bandwidth to implement a solution properly. Any cloud service will have a point of contact. Take your concerns about implementing new cloud services to your cloud representative to get a more succinct idea about how easy it is to implement a cloud solution into your organization’s IT infrastructure. If you don’t have the right connectivity, your cloud solution’s effectiveness could be significantly limited. Don’t Jump Right In Face it, cloud computing is cool. Being able to receive the computing power, storage space, applications, and integrated cooperative abilities are likely the factors that have you looking to switch to the cloud. The problem is that if you have years of information that you need to virtualize, a cloud computing implementation gets rather difficult. This is one reason why implementing one function to the cloud, like email or backup, can be the best way to go about making the cloud work for your business. Traditional IT delivery, whether it be processing, storage, applications, or communications needs to be configured and managed in order to maintain it’s effectiveness. Now, with cloud computing, you can deliver your organization all the dynamic capabilities of a full-scale IT infrastructure with very little overhead cost. The tendency to immediately commit to an overhaul of the computing infrastructure should be tabled. Implement one solution at a time to get a good feel for how the cloud is working for your organization. Security is Always Important One element that keeps many organizations from seriously considering implementing a cloud solution is the perceived lack of security that cloud platforms have versus the traditional IT delivery methods. This is a falsehood. The cloud has distinct potential to produce scalable and secure computing platforms. The issue for many business owners is hosting your company’s most integral information, and often the financial information of your customers, in the cloud. If management of these computing systems is done by a third party, how can it be as secure as it needs to be to give them the peace of mind they need to trust the solution properly? The answer is that by having a dedicated security conversation with your cloud provider, you will learn that many cloud platforms are more secure than IT systems that you house at the office. Who Maintains the IT? One of the major advantages of moving your organization’s computing resources to the cloud is that maintenance is no longer your responsibility. The problem is that even though many of the issues you’ve typically had to address are already taken care of for you, IT problems are not eliminated altogether. Before you decide to jump on the cloud bandwagon, determine the computing needs of your organization and plan how you are going to take care of the issues that do pop up. If something does happen and your cloud provider responds with indifference, […]
Here’s what we know: Capital One has admitted that the personally identifiable information (PII) of over 100 million American and Canadian credit applicants’ information has been exposed. The company did admit that no credit card account numbers or authentication credentials were compromised in the hack. They also go on to mention that in 99 percent of the files, social security numbers were not compromised. The largest category of information that was accessed were individual and small business credit applications that span from 2005 to 2019. The perpetrator, Paige Thompson of Seattle, Washington, was a former software developer for Amazon Web Services (AWS), which took advantage of a firewall misconfiguration to gain access to the information, AWS confirmed Monday. The flaw came as a result of a setup error and not a flaw within the massively popular AWS. The breach happened on March 22 to 23, 2019. Thompson was apprehended as a result of being reported to Capital One for storing incriminating evidence on her Github and Slack accounts. Capital One contacted the FBI on July 19, 2019 and after a short investigation, Thompson was arrested and indicted by the Western District of Washington. The CEO of Capital One, Richard Fairbank released the following statement: “While I am grateful that the perpetrator has been caught, I am deeply sorry for what has happened. I sincerely apologize for the understandable worry this incident must be causing those affected and I am committed to making it right.” For a full report of the event, visit: https://www.capitalone.com/facts2019/ Capital One has said that it will inform you if you have been a victim of this massive attack, but if like many of us, too much is at stake to wait for the company to reach out to you, you can take some immediate steps to safeguard your personal information. Check your accounts – Account monitoring and fraud detection should be a major part of any action you take to secure personal information. Change passwords – One great way to at least feel more secure after a major hack like this is to immediately change your passwords. Freeze your credit report – One option you can take to protect yourself is to freeze your credit report, this won’t let any credit reporting services check your credit, meaning if someone were to try to take money out in your name that the banks wouldn’t be able to authorize credit. Avoid scams – A big part of keeping any data secure is to not give unauthorized parties access to it. That means avoiding phishing attacks and other scams. Continued vigilance – Vigilance over your account information, your personally identifiable information, and your overall financial health is more important than ever. As mentioned above, credit monitoring and fraud detection services give users tools to combat unauthorized access. Keeping yourself and your business secure online is more difficult than ever. To learn more about data security, subscribe to our blog.
How to Minimize General Exposure in the Office Based on what is currently known about the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have some recommendations as to how to keep the potential impact of coronavirus to a minimum: Encourage employees who are ill to stay home. This will help to minimize the spread of infection within your business. Make sure that your employees are aware of this policy by reiterating it verbally, and by posting notices around the office encouraging them to stay home if under the weather.Emphasize hygiene and etiquette. Properly stifling coughs and sneezes and keeping hands clean are surprisingly effective ways to keep your workplace healthier. Rather than using their hands to catch a cough or sneeze, your employees should use a tissue or–if unable to do so–use the upper part of their sleeve. The CDC recommends that tissues and alcohol-based hand sanitizer should be made readily available. Make sure your employees are washing their hands with soap and water for the recommended 20 seconds. Engage in keeping the workplace clean. There is a chance that coronavirus (and other illnesses) could be spread via infected surfaces. Make sure that all surfaces that are touched frequently, like desks, workstations, and doorknobs, are kept sanitized. Provide your employees with disposable wipes so they can proactively disinfect these surfaces before use. If you find that one of your employees is confirmed to have been infected with coronavirus, make sure that you inform their coworkers of their possible exposure while still maintaining the confidentiality that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires. These employees and those who are living with a sick family member should assess their risk of exposure using the CDC’s guidelines. Coronavirus as a Cyberthreat Unfortunately, coronavirus will also require you to also keep an eye on your network security, particularly if you operate within the healthcare industry. Hackers and cybercriminals have taken advantage of the widespread concern that the disease has caused. For example: Scammers have phished healthcare providers with updates that appear to have come from the World Health Organization or hospitals local to their area, but actually introduce keyloggers into their systems. Those involved in the medical supply chain have been targeted with emails referencing the coronavirus that install malware to steal information. Ransomware has been introduced into consumer systems by promising recipients of an email information about COVID-19’s spread. While the current climate may not make it easy, these emails and other threat vectors can be overcome through the same best practices that foil other cyberthreats. In addition to comprehensive digital protections, training your employees to spot these threats will be crucial. Of course, you should also maintain a comprehensive backup in case you need to recover from a successful attack. How to Maintain Productivity with Your Team at Home With today’s technology, sending an employee home sick doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be sacrificing that employee’s productivity. We now have many ways that your team can work effectively from home, still contributing to your organizational agenda without exposing their coworkers to their illness. Equipping Your Employees Remote access solutions, paired with virtual private networking technology, can allow your employees to securely continue their work from home, safely accessing the applications and data their tasks require through an encrypted connection. As collaboration […]
Security Considerations Even though you aren’t in the office, you still need to follow the same security protocols and the processes you would need to follow if you were working in the office. In fact, these processes become even more important, as your home network is likely less secure than the one in the workplace. Here are some tips: Be Hygienic We aren’t telling you to brush your teeth or wash behind your ears, we are talking about practicing good security hygiene while you work remotely. Don’t reuse your passwords, use multi-factor (or two-factor) authentication to secure all accounts, and don’t share out information over email if you don’t know for certain who will read it. In other words, all the basics still apply. Be Mindful For similar reasons, you also need to be extra careful of online scams or phishing attacks while working remotely. Lost business data is lost business data, regardless of where you were when it was left vulnerable. Make sure you are up-to-speed in terms of identifying and mitigating breach attempts. Use a VPN Finally, because you will not be protected by the defenses on the company network, you need to implement a few extras, such as a virtual private network. A VPN uses encryption to conceal the contents of any data you transmit over the Internet, protecting the contents from virtually all attacks. Business Practices Again, as you aren’t in the office, your remote work needs to follow the same processes as it would if you were in-house, and you will need to be more deliberate about carrying them out. For instance: Use Communication and Collaboration Since you are not working alongside your colleagues and coworkers while you are working from home, you should be extra diligent about remaining in contact with them. Use your email, instant messaging, and phone capabilities to keep the rest of the team apprised as you progress with your tasks. Follow Processes As we don’t want anything falling through the cracks as we continue our operations, it is important that each team member sticks to procedures with every task they touch. This will help ensure that all the ‘i’s are dotted and each ‘t’ is crossed, and that things progress productively. Schedule Strategically While you should still work the amount of time you would be in the office, you may have a little more freedom and autonomy as far as your schedule is concerned. Don’t be afraid to arrange your tasks around any scheduling conflicts you may have, or shuffle your tasks to better fit your productivity levels throughout the day. Personal Wellness Finally, it is crucial that you are able to manage yourself and your time while not in the office environment. Here are a few tips to help you do so, that may be useful to keep in mind. Set Limits While the assumption surrounding remote work is that employees are prone to slacking off, it is also likely that you may be tempted to push yourself a little further than you should with your day to try and accomplish as much as possible. While this is an admirable goal, it isn’t effective if you overwork yourself one day and accomplish almost nothing the next as a result. Moderate yourself and stop when it’s time. Build Patterns Process […]
These statistics outline that by allowing employees to work from home, your company will see some very tangible benefits. Like any human resources strategy, however, you’ll need to keep a few considerations firmly in mind to get the most out of it. Treat It Like Business as Usual When you are working with your remote employees, it is important that you don’t focus exclusively on your in-house staff. Maintaining communication with every one of your staff is necessary for your operations to continue, so if anything, you need to encourage your in-house workers to regularly check in with your remote employees and involve them in their processes. You should also avoid the temptation to hold off on meetings. Again, don’t act like anything has changed as a result of your employees working from home. If you have regular meetings at a given time, continue them, and simply use the technology available today to include your remote staff members. Provide the Means to Communicate Speaking of which, it is also important that your remote team members have the tools that allow them to communicate with their contemporaries. If you haven’t already done so, consider switching your telephony to a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solution. This will enable your remote staff members access to your business’ phone system, rather than using their own for professional purposes. Other useful collaboration tools include things like video conferencing, instant messaging, and (of course) business email. Give Them Access and Tools Your remote workers aren’t going to be capable of being productive if they don’t have access to the necessary resources and applications required to carry out their assigned tasks. Make sure they have this access, either by enabling remote access into their workstation or by providing them with a laptop that they can take with them. It is recommended that, if you elect to take the remote access option, this access is secured through the use of a virtual private network (or VPN). This tool ensures that whether your files and applications are stored on-site or in the cloud, that access to data is available from anywhere a connection can be established. Don’t Forget About Security It is critical for the health of your business that you uphold remote workers to a higher standard for data and network security. Remote work brings increased risk. Using the aforementioned VPN is just one of the many tools that will work to maintain the integrity of your business’ digital assets. Another important security measure is to be sure that your remote users are forced into using password best practices for authentication. Some Suggestions: Hosted VoIP for using phones from any device and anywhere. A VPN for secure connections to the office network. Remote access policies to ensure compliance and security. Remote terminal access to keep files and applications centralized. Email accessibility for internal and external communication. Conferencing and meeting applications to keep your team engaged. Messaging applications to facilitate easy coworking. G-Suite/Office 365 for document publishing and collaboration. Disaster Recovery solution to prevent productivity-loss issues. Our IT professionals are here to help you extend the reach of your business and do it to ensure that your assets are protected. Reach out to SRS Networks today to kickstart your remote workforce on a path to productivity. Call (831) […]
1. HTML tags – Important HTML tags include the title tag, meta description and meta keywords. Make sure each page of your website has appropriate HTML tags. The title tag of each page should be unique and relevant to that particular page. 2. Alternative text images – Ensure that most of the images on your website have alternative text tags. Alt tags are basically descriptions for images. By adding relevant alternative tags to images, you are allowing search engines to recognize them, which will improve the likelihood of your page showing up in search results. 3. File hierarchy – How simple is your HTML file hierarchy? Check to see if your website’s pages are logically situated and avoid too many unnecessary folders. For example: ‘NFL=>Teams=>PittsburghSteelers’ is a better folder structure than ‘NFL=>Teams=>NFCEast=>PittsburghSteelers’, because here ‘NFCEast’ is redundant and only serves to push the Steelers page deeper down the order. This complexity makes your site less likely to show up on search results for people searching for Steelers websites. 4. Sitemap – A sitemap acts as a navigational guide for your visitors as well as search engines. Does your website have one? If not, then it’s time to put up a site map on your website. 5. Content quality – Read your website content to determine its quality. Is your content written for search engines or actual visitors? Is it stuffed with keywords? Does it truly add value to your audience, or is simply there to fill up the page? Answer these questions and make sure it has value for your audience. Value for your audience translates to better search engine rankings.
While corporate-level data losses and insider theft are well publicized, many smaller businesses have also become casualties of data loss and theft. Following a significant data loss, it is estimated that a small-to-medium sized business can lose up to 25% in daily revenue by the end of the first week. Projected lost daily revenue increases to 40% one month into a major data loss. According to The National Archives & Records Administration in Washington, 93% of companies that have experienced data loss, coupled with prolonged downtime for ten or more days, have filed for bankruptcy within twelve months of the incident while 50% wasted no time and filed for bankruptcy immediately. Finally, 43% of companies with no data recovery and business continuity plan actually go out of business following a major data loss. Still, a survey conducted by Symantec SMB revealed that fewer than half of SMBs surveyed backup their data each week. Only 23% of those surveyed said they backup data every day and have a business continuity plan in place. Businesses play on a much bigger playing field than they did two decades ago. Any disruptive technological event – even the smallest of incidents – can have an amplified impact on day-to-day business and profitability. Being proactive with data recovery solutions, and having emergency response procedures in place prior to a disruption or data disaster, is the only way to minimize downtime and soften the impact of such events.
What’s the Issue? Social media platforms are extremely powerful, this much is undeniable. In fact, in the United States, 72 percent of adults believe that they carry too much power and political influence according to a 2020 poll. Some in government believe that much of the power that Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms hold is due to some language found in the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA). Specifically, Section 230, which has provided protection from liability for providers and users of an “interactive computer service” that publishes information by third-party users. The law also states that the provider shall not be prosecuted for the removal or moderation of third-party material as long as it is done in good faith. This means that social media platforms have civil protection over the moderation of their platforms. This is what has politicians so angry. Alternative Facts The political landscape is extremely contentious at present. One reason for this is that there seems to be two sets of facts. Despite there being several entities whose only job is to independently fact check the rhetoric of government officials and media personalities, there seem to be dual truths to almost every issue. In industries where transparency should be of paramount concern, public relations strategies have moved the discussion to social media. If who a person believes is largely dictated by what political party they support, facts, real facts, become pointless. This is the most important of the several issues that has social media preparing for a legal battle with the government. You see, the scrutiny of social media has been there since its inception, but it only went mainstream in 2020 after one of the President’s tweets was flagged as misinformation. The White House considered this an egregious action, as to them this wasn’t just moderation, it was censorship on political bias, not good faith. Despite several legal precedents that should work to continue to protect the social media companies, a bi-partisan challenge to the law as it stands now will be hard for social media companies to fight. Both parties’ candidates have stated their support for a revocation of section 230 for social media, but with two different versions of the truth out there, who is to say if there is any legal standing in the fight against misinformation and censorship on social media? Where Does the FCC Fit In? This is where the Federal Communications Commission comes in. In May, after Twitter flagged one of President Trump’s tweets as misleading, he sprung into action signing an executive order to have the FCC look into the claims of censorship. This was just months after the would-be Democratic Presidential Nominee also blasted social media’s role in propagating misinformation, calling Section 230 to be revoked. Ajit Pai, the current FCC chairman who is famous for his very public rollback of the net neutrality mandate, has come out to say that he will help set up rules that, despite the First Amendment and CDA protection, will work to remove the immunity that these businesses have enjoyed over the past decade-plus. Time will tell how the situation will play out. If the rhetoric coming from Washington is any indication, we should expect to see some legal wrangling happen in the future. What are your thoughts on this issue? […]
Using the Outlook Polling Feature To create a poll, pull up Outlook and start a New Email. Proceed as you would with any email, filling out your subject line and identifying who it should be sent to. You can then insert a poll by clicking into the Insert tab and selecting the Poll option, or by navigating to the Options tab of your message, clicking Use Voting Buttons, and selecting Poll. A window will appear that allows you to specify the question you want to ask your recipients, as well as the capability to customize your answers. You can add additional responses by clicking +Add option. Be warned, the poll has a character limit of 330, many of which are taken up by the poll structure itself, so keep your polls brief. To authorize multiple responses, you can toggle the Multiple answers button to green. Once your poll is completed, click Insert poll into email, and it can be shared. Reviewing Your Results Once you’ve created this poll, the results will appear to you in your version of it. So, if you keep it brief, Microsoft has provided a very useful way for its users to collect feedback. You can also review your results—as well as how the vote broke down amongst your users—by clicking on Review answers or the button labelled Open in Excel. A Few Caveats You should be aware that this feature is only available to those using a Microsoft 365 hosted email account, with a subscription to Microsoft 365. So, does this sound like something you could use? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
Over the next couple of weeks we will be looking at the smartphone market from the flagships, to innovative new devices, to the budget smartphones that can present consumers a lot of value. The Flagships Flagship smartphones are the cream of the crop—by designating a particular device as their flagship, a manufacturer is stating it’s the best-period-option-period-available-period. Every spec or component is improved as much as possible. They are the devices in demand, and as such, they’re the ones with the largest price tags. It isn’t uncommon for many of today’s flagships to out-spec many PCs. This is simply because mobile computing is the new default for many. Whether they’re creating content, using an app, or whatever, people are going to want a device that can do what they need it to do, when they want to do it. This is why flagship devices are produced. Here are the ones coming out from now until the holidays: iPhone 12 Pro Max As the first official smartphone manufacturer on the market, Apple has always proven itself a contender. This has only been reinforced over the past three years. This year’s model of their trendsetting device, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, bears the same stainless steel construction as other recent models with Gorilla Glass 6 on its front and back. The 12 Pro Max features a massive 6.7-inch Super Retina OLED display with a 1,284 x 2,778 resolution, equalling about 458 pixels per inch. The specs look just as good as the device does. The iPhone 12 Pro Max is equipped with Apple’s proprietary A14 processor, the first-ever 5 nanometer processor seen in a smartphone. While there is no expandable memory, it comes with 6 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of onboard storage. While the 3,687 mAh battery may seem a little small, the optimization settings built into iOS 14.1 gives it enough efficiency to power through. Plugged in, the device has 20 watt fast charging and 15 watt wireless Qi charging. As for cameras, the iPhone 12 Pro Max features a similar set as its 11 counterpart with three 12 megapixel lenses, but with the added photo depth benefits of an added Time of Flight sensor. Coming the second week of November 2020, the iPhone 12 Pro Max will be available in Silver, Graphite, Gold, and Pacific Blue. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max Body: Stainless Steel with Gorilla Glass 6 Display: 6.7-inch Super Retina OLED (~458 ppi) OS: iOS 14.1 Chipset: A14 Bionic Memory: 6 GB RAM, up to 512 GB onboard storage Expandable Memory: No Cameras: Rear: 12 MP (wide), 12 MP (ultra wide), 12 MP (telephoto) 2.5x Front: 12 MP (wide) Sounds: Stereo Speakers, no headphone jack Battery (battery endurance rating): 3,687 mAh (~100 hours) Security: Face ID Miscellaneous: Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Proximity, compass, barometer, Siri assistant, IP68 dust/water resistant Other versions: iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro OnePlus 8 Pro The OnePlus 8 Pro is the first real flagship model built by a Chinese device manufacturer with a growing market share in the west. Coated front and back in Gorilla GLass 5 and built on an aluminum frame, the OnePlus 8 Pro is built with ergonomically-friendly curves. WIth a 6.78-inch AMOLED display, it can hold its own comfortably with the flagships from Apple and […]