Customers are more aware than ever of how vulnerable their information is, and they depend on you to step up and to keep them safe while providing them with excellent customer service. Here are 5 steps to help your company gain a competitive edge with cybersecurity.

Audit, audit, audit – you can’t fix a hole unless you know where it is, and more than 70% of all cybersecurity incidents today are the result of internal security issues. Frequent and consistent audits of your network will give you the knowledge you need to address any issues before they become a security breach.

Get certified – does your industry have guidelines or standards for compliance in security? If so, make it a point to get very familiar with them and seek out any certifications offered. This will help you better protect your customers and your business, help you avoid costly fines, and it will show your customers that you take your commitment to them seriously.

It’s a culture thing – cybersecurity is all about team work. Every single person in your company is a part of your defense against data breaches and other security threats, and it’s important that they understand how valuable a proactive approach is in protecting your company and your customers. Making security a part of your company culture also communicates your dedication to your customers. The more they feel comfortable and safe doing business with your company, the more they’ll be inclined to recommend you.

Get everyone up to speed – values and culture are important, but your employees need the practical skills to walk their talk. Make sure that you’re taking the time to educate your employees on best practices, current threats, and how to get the most out of the technology and software you provide.

Spread the word – top notch cybersecurity isn’t something you want to keep to yourself. Tell your customers about your commitment to their privacy on your website, in your newsletter, and in ads. Let them know about your certifications, or talk about your employee certifications and trainings on social media. It will help them appreciate your company in a whole new way.

Don’t wait for a breach to take care of your business and your customers, start today. And if you want an expert to help you get everything done right, we have engineers and advisers that are more than happy to help you assess your situation and move forward with a plan that’s tailored to your business. Contact us today to learn more.

“I don’t believe there is any single item that is more cost effective at improving security for public facing services than two-factor authentication.  This is why most Internet banking and other sensitive websites are requiring this nowadays.” – Darrell Brooks, Director of Infrastructure at Think

Even the strongest password may not be enough to protect your sensitive data. Luckily, two-factor authentication (2FA) is here to help.

Two-factor authentication adds an extra level of security to your basic login process. Think of it like this: Having 2FA required for your account login is like having a deadbolt and a keycode for your front door. That way if you lost your key, you would still be protected by the keycode. Or if someone overheard your keycode, you would still have the deadbolt in place.

Just as you would require both the keycode and the physical key to get into your front door, you would also require two different factors to access an account secured with 2FA.

There are three categories used for two-factor authentication:

1. A thing you know (like a password or keycode)
2. A thing you have (like a keycard or a mobile phone)
3. A thing you are (like a fingerprint)

Your two factors should come from two different categories. This is often a password and an auto-generated PIN number that has been sent to you through a text or an app.

Many (if not most) people are guilty of using weak passwords or duplicating passwords for different accounts. This probably includes your employees. Adding 2FA to your security is a simple, easy, and inexpensive way to tighten security for your business.

Take a look at the different two-factor authentication apps available online, or contact Think to discuss options for your business needs. In the end, the one you will use will depend on the kind of deployment that you desire and the structure of your organization.

If you lost all your business data today, how long would it take for your business to recover? What steps would you take to get everything up and running again? How would it impact you financially? Knowing the answers to these questions is all part of being prepared. Just like having a back up and recovery plan. Here is some more compelling evidence that this is a necessary part of any business today:

1. Data is Easy to Lose – not just major events, a lot of it is human error. This is especially true in a BYOD culture where you may have business data being stored on personal laptops or in personal cloud accounts of your employees.

2. Cyber Attacks Keep Coming – the average cost of an attack for a company with 10 – 24 employees is over $38,000, and it just goes up from there. It doesn’t matter what type of business or the size, hackers will target anything they can profit from.

3. Downtime – loss of data can bring your entire business to a grinding halt. And if that data can’t be recovered, it takes even more time to replace (if that’s even an option).

4. Irreplaceable Data – some documents or files are truly invaluable. Everything from client lists and research to files on upcoming projects. If all that disappeared in one day, where would your business be?

5. Reputation – do you hold any sensitive or personal data on for your clients or customers? Or data that your clients will need to access in the future, like health care records or financial information. How would telling them it was all gone impact your relationship with them? Or your reputation in the business community?

A variety of back up and recovery options are available and can be customized to suit your business. Contact one of our engineers today if you would like to learn more about your options or get an expert’s perspective on developing your own backup and recovery plan.

Some things in life are guaranteed to happen, like death, taxes, and email scams. The email scams get more creative as time goes by.

One of the latest email scams going around has a particularly devious set up.

Targets of this scam receive an email from what looks like their own email address, as if you’d sent an email to yourself. This is strange enough to ring alarm bells, but it gets more alarming when you read the content of the email. The scammer claims to have installed programs on your computer that tracked all your information (including accounts, passwords, and contact lists) as well as recording you via your own webcam. Then the inevitable threat: pay $1,000 in bitcoin to the scammer within 48 hours, or everyone on your contact list will receive compromising personal information and video of you.

The language in the email is much coarser than that, but you get the idea. And it is a scam. This person didn’t send the email from your account, no matter what it looks like. And they don’t have access to your personal information or your webcam. There’s nothing to ransom; they’re just hoping to scare you badly enough to get you to pay them.

What You Can Do

Getting a good filter will help keep a lot of the junk from ever reaching your inbox.

Staying aware of the latest types of scams will help you be aware of what could come your way.

And always, always take a minute to think through and, if necessary, research anything that looks suspicious. A quick Google search can show you if others have encountered a similar situation.

If you want to do more to protect your email but aren’t sure where to start, our engineers would be happy to help. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and learn more about what you can do to protect yourself and your business.

All good things come to an end, and that includes operating systems. This time around it’s Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 r2. As of January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer be providing security updates for these systems. This means that any devices running on these operating systems will become vulnerable to security threats after January 14, 2020.

What You Can Do

We encourage you to begin planning for the upgrade of these devices to a newer, more secure operating system. The sooner you start this process, the easier it will be to ensure that you can:

1. Have time to determine the most beneficial IT solutions for your business.
2. Work in the transition period during a more convenient time for you and your staff.
3. Plan for the expense of the upgrade.

What You Don’t Want to Do

Put it off until the last minute. Something this vital to your business operations and security isn’t something you want to rush or push to the side.

We’re Happy to Help

Here at Think our engineers are ready to help you find the best IT solutions for your business. And with their extensive experience and knowledge, they can help make the transition as smooth and convenient as possible for your business and your staff. To schedule a consultation with a Think engineer, contact us today.

For more information from Microsoft, you can read their information page here.

Fire is a Real Threat

On Sunday, May 21, 2017 a fire engulfed 1111 Camino del Rio in Durango, CO.  This location was the former home of Think Network Technologies.

Disasters are real and business owners should have a disaster readiness plan in place to continue business operations during and after a disaster. There is no time like the present to review and/or implement data backup, disaster recovery and business continuity plans. So what can you do to ensure you’re prepared before disaster strikes?

First, it’s important to understand the definition of data backup, disaster recovery and business continuity and how they relate to business processes. Data backup, disaster recovery and business continuity are used interchangeably are different, but equally important and interconnected facets to protecting your business. Second, it’s important to employ an IT partner to develop a comprehensive strategy and plans that fit your business.

What is “Data Backup”?

Data backup is the process of creating copies of your important data and storing in another location that would not be affected by the same factors that could affect your primary copy of data.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. Your backups should include all important business data.
2. At least one up-to-date copy should be stored off-site.
3. Backups should be monitored regularly to make sure they are working properly.
4. Restoration tests should be conducted regularly to make sure data can be recovered from the backups when needed.
5. Periodic reviews should be made to ensure that all critical data is being backed up. A set-it-and-forget-it approach can lead to future important data not being backed up.

What is “Disaster Recovery”?

Disaster recovery is the concept and strategy for recovering key IT systems and processes in a timely manner in the event of some form of disruption to these systems.  It’s critical to have a plan for how to use data backups in the event of a server failure or physical destruction of property, e.g. fire or flood.

What is “Business Continuity”?

Business continuity is the plan and processes that a business has in place to to continue business while key IT systems are unavailable or are being recovered. While disaster recovery is focused on how to recover key IT systems and business processes, business continuity is the plan for how to continue business operations while IT systems and data are being recovered. A business continuity plan should answer the following key questions:

1. What people, equipment, resources, and information need to be available so that business can continue without key IT systems?
2. What steps can be taken to manually complete normal, day-to-day business processes with impaired IT systems or completely unavailable IT systems?

We Can Help…

As you can see from the above, data backup, disaster recovery and business continuity are equally important. Having one of these processes without the others, is like having a car with seat belts but no brakes. Having strategies for backups, disaster recovery and a business continuity in place can help protect your business during and after a disaster.

Think Network Technologies can help you develop strategies tailored to your business, systems, and processes.  We can also help execute these strategies if and when disaster strikes.

For more information about this topic and how we can support your business, contact us.