I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of information about the importance of strong passwords. But what else are your doing to protect your employees’ account?
Are “strong passwords” your main defense against attacks?
Let’s start with common mistakes…
Having a false security due to passwords meeting “complexity requirements”
Often people create “complex” passwords using the poor criteria. (i.e. People love to use “mangling rules” – replacing letters with symbols like @ for a or 3 for e.) Hackers and cracking software know these tricks and can guess them easily.
Recycling passwords
Everyone reuses passwords, even though we know that’s not smart. Remember, once a password is stolen, it can never be safely used again.
Not requiring MFA
MFA (multi-factor authentication) may take a few extra seconds to log into each account, but do not underestimate its power.
Think about this…
How many employees do you have?
How many accounts does each employee have?
Multiply these numbers and you are looking at the approximate number of security holes in your system.
Any one of your these passwords may only take THREE DAYS for a hacker to crack.
Now what?
Deploy mandatory multi-factor authentication
MFA may save your organization. This simple solution can protect your accounts and data even if a password has been compromised. Requiring MFA can stop 100% of all automated attacks, 96% of bulk phishing attacks, and 75% of targeted attacks.
Maintain control of your network
Do you have IT policies in place for offboarding an employee? Are you in control of employee email access on their mobile phone once terminated? Do you restrict access to data based on role? Ex employees can create a huge gaps in your security, whether intentional or not.
Train employees
When employees are unaware of security risks and unable to recognize threats, they are not able to protect the organization. Do you offer Security Awareness Training? Do you simulate phishing attacks? You may not be aware of just how vulnerable you are to attacks.
Invest in your security stack
Layering on multiple, intelligent solutions could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in a cyber attack. What’s your security posture?
Sounds like a lot?
You focus on what you’re good at – running your business – let PremierePC handle what we’re good at.
https://www.premierepc.net/wp-content/uploads/road-barrier-icon-vector-22007994-e1625234017341.jpg996999Geena Hammond/wp-content/uploads/ppc_site_logo-1.pngGeena Hammond2021-07-02 14:29:022021-07-02 09:58:44How Strong Are the Barriers to Your Data?
It’s no secret that cyber attacks are on the rise – hackers are attacking at a rate of once per 39 seconds.
Did you know 95% of cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error?
How about that only 5% of companies’ files are properly protected?
Let’s look at five common mistakes made frequently by businesses like yours.
Many SMBs believe they are too small to be a target.
FALSE. Hackers are not only interested in large organizations. The bad guys know that large companies have more resources, and a more robust cybersecurity stack. Makes sense to target a smaller firm that still handles sensitive payment and bank data for their clients.
Sharing passwords doesn’t seem like big of a deal, right?
They’re easier to remember, and surely you can trust your coworkers. Think again. There are many issues with this one. Sharing passwords creates giant holes in your security, makes accountability near impossible, you lose control over where your password is stored or used, etc.
Ever click “later” on suggested software updates?
Ever click “later” 12 times on that same update? You’re not alone. Again, seems like a small decision. However, think about this. Any time there is a security hole found in software, the developer seeks to correct it. They may come out with an update. With that update, they report the security hole they found. Enter hackers; anyone using a previous version of the software now has a known security hole in their system.
Free Antivirus: you may be thinking, “What a gift! This is surely just as good as any other antivirus.”
Let’s look at the facts. Free antivirus software offers low detection rates, collects data about your usage, may issue false positives to appear useful, carries bloatware and intrusive ads that slow computers, and suffers from data breaches making them counterproductive.
How often do you train your employees on cyber security?
Do you have a training protocol or standard operating procedures around this? Employee negligence is the number one cause of data breaches. Some of these actions seem harmless, like connecting to Wi-Fi at Starbucks and checking your email. Reusing your work password, or a variant of that password, across multiple accounts. Some actions could be as simple as clicking a link in an email from a seemingly safe sender. Hackers will even go so far as to drop a USB drive containing malware into the parking lot or hallway of your business; do you feel confident that none of your employees would pick that up and plug it in?
These are just five, in a list of many, common mistakes made by SMBs that leave them open to cyber security attacks.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to formulate a solid defense against these types of attacks.
The average cost of one of these attacks is $200,000.
https://www.premierepc.net/wp-content/uploads/cyber-safety-640x414-1-e1623157210613.jpg414414Geena Hammond/wp-content/uploads/ppc_site_logo-1.pngGeena Hammond2021-06-10 10:43:522021-06-11 14:08:17Is Your Business Making These Critical CyberSecurity Mistakes?
Have you ever thought about the health of your computer?
If not, it may be time to start!
There are preventative measures you can take to prolong the life of your machine.
Here are a few of the highlights:
Stay up to date
PremierePC handles this. Windows updates are pushed from us to make sure security updates are always current.
Scans/Anti-virus
We also handle this. Webroot anti-virus is pushed to all service plan computers, running regular scans.
Clean computer physically
This can be useful. Make sure that computers don’t sit in places that accumulate dust or dirt, as an abundance of dust inside a computer and prevent it from cooling itself effectively. Computers also have built in fail-safes to slow down if they get too hot so the machine doesn’t completely break.
Clean up files
Saving files to the desktop is convenient and useful, but the operating system has to load additional resources when there are more files visible on the desktop. Additionally, files piling up in the recycling bin generally won’t have an adverse effect on computer speeds, but it doesn’t hurt to clean it out every once in a while.
Close out programs not in use
This is two-fold. One, it allows other programs on the computer to use more resources, and generally, run faster. Two, without getting overly technical, when a program is open for a long time, resources in memory can get “lost.” Closing or restarting a program can help flush out the system.
Restart the computer
It can be beneficial to turn off, and/or restart computers from time to time. Not necessarily every day, but once a week is a good time frame. This, similar to the previous tip, helps to clean things out that are stuck or wasting space in the background of the computers resources.
https://www.premierepc.net/wp-content/uploads/orange-computer-e1622229958815.png491498Geena Hammond/wp-content/uploads/ppc_site_logo-1.pngGeena Hammond2021-05-28 15:33:232021-05-28 15:31:11Tips on Computer Health
The workforce is becoming more and more remote each day, while we are accessing sensitive data from unprotected locations like our home and public Wi-Fi.
And the bad guys are always lurking.
So how can we protect ourselves and our data from unwanted third parties?
VPN to the rescue!
A VPN, or virtual private network, gives online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network from a public internet connection. Fancy, huh?
The VPN masks your IP address so online actions are virtually untraceable.
It also creates a secure and encrypted tunnel for all data to pass through, providing more privacy than a secured Wi-Fi hotspot.
Think: checking emails, looking at your bank account balance, shopping online, paying bills, etc. How often are you doing these things without a secured connection?
A few things to examine when it comes to VPN selection:
Do they respect your privacy? Do they run the most current protocol? Do they set data limits? Where are the servers located? Will you be able to set up VPN access on multiple devices? How much will it cost?
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, we get it. This is a lot to navigate if you’re not experienced in the IT space. Let us handle that.
When you partner with PremierePC, you get forward-thinking, intelligent consulting every step of the way. Click here to learn more.
Let’s face it. We are all extremely busy all the time; or so it seems.
So we LOVE shortcuts. Anything that can maximize efficiency and multi-tasking gets my vote.
Here’s a review some of the most commonly used Windows keyboard shortcuts. This can increase productivity and offer a smoother workflow in day to day computing.
Note: ‘Win’ refers to the Windows Logo Key pictured below
How Strong Are the Barriers to Your Data?
I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of information about the importance of strong passwords. But what else are your doing to protect your employees’ account?
Let’s start with common mistakes…
Having a false security due to passwords meeting “complexity requirements”
Often people create “complex” passwords using the poor criteria. (i.e. People love to use “mangling rules” – replacing letters with symbols like @ for a or 3 for e.) Hackers and cracking software know these tricks and can guess them easily.
Recycling passwords
Everyone reuses passwords, even though we know that’s not smart. Remember, once a password is stolen, it can never be safely used again.
Not requiring MFA
MFA (multi-factor authentication) may take a few extra seconds to log into each account, but do not underestimate its power.
How many employees do you have?
How many accounts does each employee have?
Multiply these numbers and you are looking at the approximate number of security holes in your system.
Any one of your these passwords may only take THREE DAYS for a hacker to crack.
Deploy mandatory multi-factor authentication
MFA may save your organization. This simple solution can protect your accounts and data even if a password has been compromised. Requiring MFA can stop 100% of all automated attacks, 96% of bulk phishing attacks, and 75% of targeted attacks.
Maintain control of your network
Do you have IT policies in place for offboarding an employee? Are you in control of employee email access on their mobile phone once terminated? Do you restrict access to data based on role? Ex employees can create a huge gaps in your security, whether intentional or not.
Train employees
When employees are unaware of security risks and unable to recognize threats, they are not able to protect the organization. Do you offer Security Awareness Training? Do you simulate phishing attacks? You may not be aware of just how vulnerable you are to attacks.
Invest in your security stack
Layering on multiple, intelligent solutions could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in a cyber attack. What’s your security posture?
Is Your Business Making These Critical CyberSecurity Mistakes?
Let’s look at five common mistakes made frequently by businesses like yours.
Many SMBs believe they are too small to be a target.
FALSE. Hackers are not only interested in large organizations. The bad guys know that large companies have more resources, and a more robust cybersecurity stack. Makes sense to target a smaller firm that still handles sensitive payment and bank data for their clients.
Sharing passwords doesn’t seem like big of a deal, right?
They’re easier to remember, and surely you can trust your coworkers. Think again. There are many issues with this one. Sharing passwords creates giant holes in your security, makes accountability near impossible, you lose control over where your password is stored or used, etc.
Ever click “later” on suggested software updates?
Ever click “later” 12 times on that same update? You’re not alone. Again, seems like a small decision. However, think about this. Any time there is a security hole found in software, the developer seeks to correct it. They may come out with an update. With that update, they report the security hole they found. Enter hackers; anyone using a previous version of the software now has a known security hole in their system.
Free Antivirus: you may be thinking, “What a gift! This is surely just as good as any other antivirus.”
Let’s look at the facts. Free antivirus software offers low detection rates, collects data about your usage, may issue false positives to appear useful, carries bloatware and intrusive ads that slow computers, and suffers from data breaches making them counterproductive.
How often do you train your employees on cyber security?
Do you have a training protocol or standard operating procedures around this? Employee negligence is the number one cause of data breaches. Some of these actions seem harmless, like connecting to Wi-Fi at Starbucks and checking your email. Reusing your work password, or a variant of that password, across multiple accounts. Some actions could be as simple as clicking a link in an email from a seemingly safe sender. Hackers will even go so far as to drop a USB drive containing malware into the parking lot or hallway of your business; do you feel confident that none of your employees would pick that up and plug it in?
These are just five, in a list of many, common mistakes made by SMBs that leave them open to cyber security attacks.
Click here to learn more.
Tips on Computer Health
There are preventative measures you can take to prolong the life of your machine.
Here are a few of the highlights:
PremierePC handles this. Windows updates are pushed from us to make sure security updates are always current.
We also handle this. Webroot anti-virus is pushed to all service plan computers, running regular scans.
This can be useful. Make sure that computers don’t sit in places that accumulate dust or dirt, as an abundance of dust inside a computer and prevent it from cooling itself effectively. Computers also have built in fail-safes to slow down if they get too hot so the machine doesn’t completely break.
Saving files to the desktop is convenient and useful, but the operating system has to load additional resources when there are more files visible on the desktop. Additionally, files piling up in the recycling bin generally won’t have an adverse effect on computer speeds, but it doesn’t hurt to clean it out every once in a while.
This is two-fold. One, it allows other programs on the computer to use more resources, and generally, run faster. Two, without getting overly technical, when a program is open for a long time, resources in memory can get “lost.” Closing or restarting a program can help flush out the system.
It can be beneficial to turn off, and/or restart computers from time to time. Not necessarily every day, but once a week is a good time frame. This, similar to the previous tip, helps to clean things out that are stuck or wasting space in the background of the computers resources.
VPN? What’s that?
And the bad guys are always lurking.
So how can we protect ourselves and our data from unwanted third parties?
VPN to the rescue!
A VPN, or virtual private network, gives online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network from a public internet connection. Fancy, huh?
The VPN masks your IP address so online actions are virtually untraceable.
It also creates a secure and encrypted tunnel for all data to pass through, providing more privacy than a secured Wi-Fi hotspot.
Think: checking emails, looking at your bank account balance, shopping online, paying bills, etc. How often are you doing these things without a secured connection?
A few things to examine when it comes to VPN selection:
Do they respect your privacy? Do they run the most current protocol? Do they set data limits? Where are the servers located? Will you be able to set up VPN access on multiple devices? How much will it cost?
When you partner with PremierePC, you get forward-thinking, intelligent consulting every step of the way. Click here to learn more.
Our Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts
Let’s face it. We are all extremely busy all the time; or so it seems.
So we LOVE shortcuts. Anything that can maximize efficiency and multi-tasking gets my vote.
Here’s a review some of the most commonly used Windows keyboard shortcuts. This can increase productivity and offer a smoother workflow in day to day computing.
Note: ‘Win’ refers to the Windows Logo Key pictured below
Looking for one you don’t see?
Windows lists many more shortcuts on this page.
Stay tuned for more fun and helpful info from the PremierePC team.