Cybercrime is an ever-present threat to modern businesses.

Without up-to-date and varied IT security measures, successful hacks can compromise your customers’ and employees’ sensitive data and harm your systems, resulting in costly downtime, and worse.

Email is the primary tool that companies like yours use for daily communications in the modern business world. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s effective, but it’s also the main source of malware and spam that could threaten your business. If you’re not careful, your email could be the key for cybercriminals that are trying to exploit you:

• Viruses and malware disguised as regular attachments from familiar sources.
• Phishing schemes from cybercriminals posing as familiar companies and contacts in an attempt to convince employees to give up sensitive information.
• Spam and junk email clogging up your inbox and blocking real, important emails from your clients and partners.

So what can you do? One of the surest ways to protect your business from a range of threats is to learn about them!

Need To Speak With An Email Security Expert Right Away?

Call In Your Local Email Security Experts at {company} For A No Cost Consultation Of Your Email Systems.

Call {phone}.

No matter how “bomb-proof” we make your network, you and your employees can still invite a hacker in if you click on a link or open an attachment in an email sent by a cybercriminal. Some spam is obvious, but others are very cleverly designed to sneak past all the filters and trick the recipient into opening the door.

Known as a “phishing” email, this still is the #1 way hackers circumvent firewalls, filters and antivirus, so it’s critical that you and your employees know how to spot a threatening email.

Here are four types of email ploys you should be on high alert for:

The Authority Email

The most common phishing emails are ones impersonating your bank, the IRS or some authority figure. The rule of thumb is this: any email that comes in where 1) you don’t personally know the sender, including emails from the IRS, Microsoft or your “bank,” and 2) asks you to “verify” your account should be deleted. Remember, ANY important notification will be sent via old-fashioned snail mail. If it’s important, they can call you.

The “Account Verification” Email

Any email that asks you to verify your password, bank information or login credentials, or to update your account information, should be ignored. No legitimate vendor sends emails asking for this; they will simply ask you upon logging in to update or verify your information if that’s necessary.

The Typo Email

Another big warning sign is typos. Emails coming from overseas (which is where most of these attacks come from) are written by people who do not speak or write English well. Therefore, if there are obvious typos or grammar mistakes, delete it.

The Zip File, PDF Or Invoice Attachment

Unless you specifically know the sender of an email, never, ever open an attachment. That includes PDFs, zip files, music and video files and anything referencing an unpaid invoice or accounting file (many hackers use this to get people in accounting departments to open emails). Of course, any file can carry a virus, so better to delete it than be sorry.

The good news is that there are many steps a small business owner like yourself can take to secure their business’ IT. Some of the most effective ways to combat security breaches are simple tasks that you can perform without having to hire a security expert.

Keep the following in mind:

• Keep Link Clicking to a Minimum: Clicking on links that appear in random emails just isn’t safe. Hyperlinks are commonly used to lead unsuspecting employees to phishing and malware websites. Be sure to only click links when they’re from a confirmed, expected source, and when they aren’t part of a sales pitch, or an attempt to get information from you.
• Manage A Safe Sender’s List: No matter how new, or costly, or flashy your current spam filter is, it won’t keep unwanted spam out of your inbox forever. Whenever you see that a spammer’s email has made it past your filter, take a moment to block it so that it won’t happen again.
• Do Not Open Unsolicited Email Attachments: This is a crucial email security practice. Suspicious email attachments from unknown or untrustworthy senders are the most common source of malware, ransomware, and other digital threats. Even if it’s from a friend or colleague, consider the message they send along with it; is it worded properly? Does it sound like it’s from them? It’s always a smart move to call the sender or speak in person if possible to confirm that they sent the email. Otherwise, simply delete it until you can be sure of its authenticity.
• Diligently Scan for Viruses and Malware: Another way to double check a suspicious email is to run a malware and virus scan on it. Even though you may have to do so more often than is convenient, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
  

Reach out to our team to find out more about the most effective email security practices that can help you keep your business safe. Contact {company} and our IT security professionals at {phone} or {email} today.

When someone thinks of spam they typically think of unsolicited bulk commercial email they receive in their inbox. However, the concept of spam started a little earlier than you might think. How far back? How does 1864 sound? Spam in 1864 you say? Yes, in the form of a telegraph, advertising a local dentistry actually. The Telegraph was so much news that the local paper even reprinted the telegraph that was sent to many households, further propagating the message.

More recently, people consider the first spam email coming out of Digital Equipment in 1978 which went to a total of 393 people promoting their latest computer model. You can thank a Monty Python sketch based on a cafe that only served the canned spiced ham SPAM for the origin of the name. Another early spammer was the lawyers Canter and Siegel posting their “Green Card Lottery” message to USENET, a shared messaging system.

What does all this have to do with today? You don’t want to be known as a spammer. There are three ways to attack the spam problem. First off, you don’t want your marketing emails to be classified as spam. Secondly, you don’t want your mail server to be abused where someone sends spam through your hardware. While this wasn’t sent to you directly, your hardware could be blacklisted, thus affecting your own emails. Lastly, you don’t want your employees to respond to spam. There are ways to filter this at the mail server to prevent them from seeing the messages, or at least classify messages as fishy before their opened. Our company {company} can help you to protect your business from being labeled a bad apple in the email business.

Starting with the most important avenue, ensuring your marketing messages get through, there are some best practices to know about. For starters, don’t just send emails directly to your clients. Putting everyone’s email in the “To:” field of a message is bound to cause problems when someone does a reply-all. If you absolutely have to send a message to LOTS of people, it is better to use the BCC (for blind carbon copy) field of a message. Better yet, rely on a mailing list management package like that offered by Constant Contact. Typically, you don’t want to add people to the mailing list yourself. Instead, people should opt-in. More importantly, with each message you send, there should be unsubscribed instructions.

Protecting your mail server is not an easy task. There are some simple steps you can do like requiring that users are authenticated before sending a message, but someone can just spoof the email headers to make it appear messages came through your server. To best protect your server, in 2012 DMARC, or Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance was introduced. Combined with the earlier introduced SPF, Sender Policy Framework, this makes sure that any messages appearing to come from your mail server actually came from your mail server. {company} can help you keep up with the latest ways to protect your email servers and thus getting your marketing messages through.

Lastly, it is important to look at the inbound side of spam. With all the talk of Russians hacking servers and the release of inappropriate celebrity photos, most of these attempts are triggered by phishing attacks of targets. You still need to worry about viruses being sent through email, but phishing involves fraudsters sending what look like real emails in the attempt to reveal personal information like passwords and bank account info. You don’t want your employees giving away the farm so that others can then get into your company network or your employees worried about identity theft. {company} can help protect your mail servers from letting these unsolicited emails through.

Contact us at {email} or {phone} to learn more about how we can help you.

Technology Management has become an important aspect of doing business today.

Here are a few details about what it entails, and why a business may need it.  

Technology management is a term that is used to refer to a group of services offered to a business that may not have its own IT department. The process can include project management, technology planning, database services, disaster recovery, security, document services, document formatting, e-billing, mailing, mass printing, and much more. Here is some more information I have prepared on this topic. It should help you gain a better understanding of technology management.

Why Do You Need Technolgy Management Services?

The break and fix approach may seem like a good way to save money, but it is going to cost you. Such neglect will eventually lead to a major tech disaster in the future. Such disasters could take the form of tech failure or even a major security breach. Such breaches can lead to class action suits if critical information is lost.

However, having to hire an in-house team may not work either. The inflated costs on the payroll are not worth it for most business owners. When you outsource technology management, the IT infrastructure will receive the care of experts. Best of all, it does not cost an arm and a leg. Additionally, your business will get the full benefit of an experienced team of experts instead of just a few IT experts working in-house. Some of the benefits are:

• Proactive Management.

With technology management, you do not wait for technology to fail before fixing it. A technology management company will review your equipment often and make upgrades as they may be deemed necessary. Such a company will also ensure that you work with only the best antivirus and malware protection.

• Better Network Administration.

A good technology management company does not just hire fresh college graduates. People that work for such companies usually have years of experience under their belts. They know how to tweak each system to fit into a unique business environment. That way, a company is able to maximize its output. The result is that you will be getting more value for the salaries you pay your employees.

• Automated Monitoring.

A good company will have hundreds of system monitors that will allow them to take proactive measures to deal with any problem. That way, a company does not have to deal with an aftermath of a disaster.

• Technology Consultancy.

All companies have technology needs that continue to grow as the company grows. However, it is not always easy to know what you need unless you have an expert as part of your staff. A technology management company will give you the advice that you need to choose the right technology. That way, you will always have an edge over your competition in terms of technology utilization.

• Real Time User Support.

When you hire a technology management firm, it will not be much different to hiring in-house staff in regards to response time. Most of them can have an engineer at your office in minutes when you need a technical expert to solve an issue. Such an expert will give all the options you have and make a recommendation on which you should choose.

Some of the Cloud Service solutions you can expect.

Most business today use cloud services. A technology management can help you with these services if you use the cloud:

• Spam Protection.

A major downside of the cloud is spam. It takes up valuable space in the cloud. A good tech management company will provide you with solutions that prevent unwanted messages from ever reaching the inbox.

• Data Backups.

Data backup is another important service that you will get as part of the cloud-based solutions. By offering cloud-based backups, you will get the peace of mind that you need to run your business. You will no longer have to worry about losing backup tapes or the tapes were stolen.

What Types of Companies Need Technology Management?

All businesses, no matter how big or small, need some IT support to operate efficiently in the modern world. Such support can be useful in helping them to avert major disasters to their business operations.

However, different industries will have differing needs. Thus, not everyone wants the same kind of IT support. There is no one-size-fits-all that can work for all businesses. Some of the businesses that may need Technology management are:

• The Financial Sector.

A good tech management firm will provide you with a clear understanding of the current state of your systems. They will identify the vulnerabilities, risks, and prioritize the issues that are discovered. Additionally, they can also help you identify what has been changed since the last audit took place.

• Manufacturing.

Most people think of the manufacturing sector as the huge processing plants and large warehouses. However, these companies have office buildings that allow them to process the paperwork. If the back office operations are not efficient, an office could lose a lot of money. A technology management firm will help you keep an eye on the IT systems to ensure that they are always working well. That way, a company can focus on its core duty of manufacturing.

• Professional Service Industry.

Downtime is more than just annoying to customers. It can have a huge impact on the profitability of a company. Instead of waiting for equipment to break down, the company will often conduct assessments at regular intervals to prevent downtime. Less downtime will mean that employees have more time to work on their projects. Additionally, it will help to keep your customers happy.

• Non-Profits Operations.

Cyber security must be the priority of every business. There is a lot of malware being created all the time. A breach to a company’s network can have a crippling effect on its finances. The effects can be worse for non-profits since they rely on donors. If donors feel that you are not taking care of their money, they will simply move on. A good technology management company will help to ward off any criminals that may want to reap where they never sowed