Data is valuable to business, so it’s bizarre that some companies don’t have a proper data backup strategy in place. Organizations of all sizes — including yours — need to be proactive when backing up their data. Here are four of the best backup solutions in the market for your consideration.

USB flash drives

USB flash drives are data storage devices that include flash memory with an integrated USB interface. They are not just inexpensive and portable, but they can also be used to back up data from several computers.

However, USB flash drives are easy to misplace, which is why they’re not suitable for long-term data storage. They are better used as intermediate backups.

External hard drives

External hard drives are portable hard drives that can be connected to a computer through a USB port. These devices have the lowest cost per gigabyte compared to other backup devices and boast quick transfer rates, allowing users to back up a large amount of data within seconds.

One of the drawbacks of using external hard drives is that you’ll need to update your backups regularly to include new files. There’s also the risk of the device being misused or stolen. For example, an employee might use the drive for storing personal files or take it with them when they quit.

Network-attached storage (NAS)

NAS is a dedicated server for storing data, and it can also be used as an email server. It has its own IP address and can operate either wired or wirelessly. NAS also offers data redundancyㅡ it generates a backup of your backups, ensuring that your files are fully protected.

On the downside, NAS can’t be scaled beyond system limits. This means that you have to purchase additional hard drive bays if you need more capacity. NAS is also vulnerable to malware, and you have to configure it a certain way to keep it protected.

Cloud storage

Cloud storage is becoming increasingly popular among businesses because of its many benefits. For one, it allows users to access their data from anywhere using any internet-connected device. It also enables businesses to pay for only the resources they use. Lastly, cloud service providers (CSPs) handle the installation, management, and maintenance processes themselves, allowing you to focus on more important business matters.

However, some CSPs don’t implement sufficient security measures on their systems, potentially exposing data to cyberthreats. This makes cloud storage an unsuitable solution for medical practices, law firms, and other organizations that handle sensitive data. To use the cloud, businesses in these sectors must find a service provider that implements top-of-the-line cybersecurity protocols and specializes in data regulations compliance.

Choosing the best backup solution has far-reaching impacts on your business. Each method or device has trade-offs, which is why you need to select the one best suited to your business’s needs. Enlist the help of our experts to ensure you make the right choice.

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Most of us don’t normally associate Business Intelligence (BI) with small- or medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The huge investment required to hire data-delving specialists makes us think BI is only for larger organizations. But this is no longer the case. Not only does a growing selection of self-service tools make BI more affordable for SMBs, but it also makes data management more efficient, given that your business probably creates and holds more data than you realize, making it easier for you to get going. It’s time you start harnessing data that will help you to make more strategic business decisions.

You’ve already got the data you need

It’s easy to underestimate the amount of data your SMB already has at its disposal. In every area of your business, from finance and sales to customer relations and website management, the software packages you use to simplify your everyday operations are packed with reams of information that most of us don’t even think twice about. By talking to key stakeholders in your organization’s various departments, you can get an idea of the kind of data you already have, how it’s generated, and where it’s stored. You can then start to think about using BI tools to transform that information into meaningful business insights that will inform your decision-making. No need for you to invest in time-consuming data generation from scratch!

Self-service BI tools are plentiful — and affordable

The emergence of self-service BI puts useful business analytics within reach of smaller business owners who lack the fancy-pants budgets of larger corporations. In fact, there are numerous self-service BI tools that you can use to get started in this area without even spending a dime. Microsoft Power BI is a powerful application that’s pleasingly user-friendly, and most businesses will find the functions they need in the free version. Zoho Analytics has a low entry-level cost, too, and the slightly pricier yet still affordable Tableau is another option that’s worth exploring.

It’s easy to get started

BI is an intimidating term, especially for the average business owner. But by taking small steps, it’s easy for anyone to get started — and before you know it, you’ll be enjoying the benefits of having data-driven, intelligence-based insights that will enable you to make better business decisions.

Most self-service BI tools come with built-in suggestions for reports that businesses commonly run and find useful. Other worthwhile statistics to explore include the percentage of your clients who cancel within a set period, website landing pages that generate the longest visits, your most profitable individual products or services, the days or months in which you generate your highest revenues, and which of your clients bring in the most revenue and profit.

Truly harnessing data is the future of the business world — it’s how companies like yours can make smarter decisions that increase efficiency and profitability. And having self-service tools available means SMBs no longer need a crazy budget to be able to afford the benefits of BI. To find out more about putting in place the tools that can help you do smarter business, just give us a call.

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Employees are one of your biggest security holes. There is no foolproof prevention method for human error, which is why employee mistakes are one of the most common causes of a security breach. To reduce potential risks, we’ve suggested a few IT policies you should implement to protect your business.

Internet

In today’s business world, employees spend a lot of time on the internet. To ensure they’re not putting your business at risk, you need a clear set of web policies. This must limit internet use for business purposes only, prohibit unauthorized downloads, and restrict access to personal emails on company devices. You can also include recommended browsing practices and policies for using business devices on public wifi.

Email

Just like the Internet policy mentioned above, company email accounts should only be utilized for business use. That means your employees should never use it to send personal files, forward links, or perform any type of business-related activities outside their specific job role. Additionally, consider implementing a standard email signature for all employees. This not only creates brand cohesion on all outgoing emails, but also makes it easy to identify messages from other employees, thus preventing spear phishing.

Passwords

We’ve all heard the importance of a strong password time and time again. And this same principle should also apply to your employees. The reason is rather simple. Many employees will create the easiest to crack passwords for their business accounts. After all, if your organization gets hacked, it’s not their money or business at stake. So to encourage employees to create strong passwords, your policy should instruct them to include special characters, uppercase and lowercase letters, and numbers in their passwords.

Data

Whether or not you allow your employees to conduct work on their own devices, such as a smartphone or tablet, it is important to have a bring your own device (BYOD) policy. If your employees aren’t aware of your stance on BYOD, some are sure to assume they can conduct work-related tasks on their personal laptop or tablet. So have a BYOD policy and put it in the employee handbook. In addition to this, make sure to explain that data on any workstation is business property. This means employees aren’t allowed to remove or copy it without your authorization.

We hope these four policies shed some light on the industry’s best security practices. If you’d like more tips or are interested in a security audit of your business, give us a call.

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Thanks to social media, businesses can stay in close contact with their customers and while also attracting new ones. But what happens when one of these platforms doesn’t guard the information you’ve given it? How does this affect its users?

Last month, news broke that a firm known as Cambridge Analytica collected private data from over 50 million Facebook users. The British company supposedly used this information in 2016 to influence voter behavior during the US presidential election and UK’s Brexit campaign.

How did they harvest the data?
In 2015, a Facebook personality quiz app called “This is Your Digital Life” was created by Cambridge psychology professor Aleksandr Kogan. Around 270,000 Facebook users signed up and gave information about themselves in exchange for humorous results.

What users didn’t know was that Kogan’s firm, Global Science Research, struck a deal with Cambridge Analytica to share the information that was gathered. Aside from collecting information about the Facebook users, the app also mined some data about the users’ friends.

Information collected was based on:

• Data from other platforms that are also owned by Facebook, including Instagram and WhatsApp
• Advertisers and other third-party partners
• Apps and websites which use Facebook services
• Your location
• The devices you use for Facebook access
• Payments handled by Facebook
• Your Facebook connections and networks
• Messages, photos and other content that other users send to you
• The information you disclose to Facebook
• Your activities on Facebook

What happened to the sourced information?
Cambridge Analytica analyzed the collected data to create psychological profiles and invent better political drives to influence whom people would vote for. Although there is still a huge debate about how effective this plans were, there’s no doubt that tens of thousands of users were manipulated into signing away their data without knowing it.

What can I do to keep my information safe?
Remove third-party apps that use your Facebook account. Visit your “Settings” menu and go to “Apps”. You should see the list of all the services that are using information about your Facebook profile. Check on each app, and if you don’t need it or use it anymore, delete it to revoke its access.

If you need more information on how to keep your data secure, feel free to give us a call today!

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As tax season looms, so do phishing scams. For cybercriminals, this is the ideal time of year to deceive unsuspecting individuals into releasing sensitive private or company information. Businesses must therefore take extra precautions between now and April 17th to avoid hackers from selling your confidential data in the dark web.

Phishing baits to watch out for

Phishing attacks often consist of fabricated or compromised emails sent to finance/payroll or human resources employees that are made to look like they’re from an executive in your company. The message might contain a request to forward employee records, including their W-2 forms, but that’s not all…

Another common scheme, which doesn’t only happen during tax season, involves getting a call from a person declaring to be an IRS employee. And no, caller IDs won’t save you because they can forge that, too. The phisher will inform you that you owe them cash from back taxes and they will threaten legal action if you don’t pay via credit card at that instant.

Always remember, the IRS will never contact you on the phone to let you know that you owe them money. And they certainly won’t threaten you or demand payment over the phone. If they really need to notify you of such matters, they’ll use the postal service and will give you a chance to discuss payment terms.

Standard protection protocols

Don’t worry, the usual security measures against these phishing scams are pretty easy to integrate into your business. Begin by developing a policy that bans the request of private details through email. If an employee ever requires such info, they should get in touch with the person directly, follow your established protocols for the transfer of sensitive information, and minimize the number of people involved in the transaction.

Taking security a step further

Data loss prevention (DLP) systems are also valuable weapons against these types of phishing attacks. They evaluate traffic going in and out of your company, such as web usage, emails and instant messages, and virtually anything sent on your network. DLP systems can filter out private details, including Social Security numbers, and stop them from being sent out.

But beware, DLP systems come with a minor drawback, as they can also block legitimate traffic, like when your accounting department sends tax info to your CPA. Fortunately, an MSP like us can properly segregate the good and the bad traffic to avoid confusing and/or frustrating your employees.

Phishing schemes may be a normal occurrence during tax season, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it. Don’t let the vulnerabilities in your business, particularly the human element, fall prey to cybercriminals. Send us a message right away and we’ll conduct an assessment of the security of your business, as well as design a risk management plan to help counter future complications.

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It’s hard to deny how quickly the different types of ransomware multiply — they do so faster than rabbits during mating season. Ransomware vary in appearance, subtlety, and targets. The latest addition to the extensive list of ransomware varieties is Fantom. This cybersecurity nightmare adopts a facade that many would have no qualms trusting. Like many other things, these technologically menacing forces are like “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” — impending danger lurks beneath the most seemingly innocent guises.

AVG security researcher Jakub Kroustek recently spotted Fantom coded atop an EDA2, a ransomware-building kit that was open-sourced but eventually taken down. EDA2 contained certain flaws that allowed researchers to obtain decryption keys from its C&C server, yet these flaws have since disappeared, indicating that Fantom coders might have found and fixed them before anyone else had a chance to.

Very little is known as to how Fantom is distributed. As for the method of deployment, cybercriminals plant the file onto the target’s computer via spam email or exploit kits. Fantom-infected files are named criticalupdate01.exe; they utilize a “Windows Security Update” to prompt targets into running the file.

After activation, the ransomware starts by locking the user’s screen while displaying fake Windows Update graphics, complete with a fully-functioning percentage-based loading timer that mirrors the original Windows Update screen. However, beneath this pleasant facade, Fantom is encrypting your files right before your eyes. Luckily, the temporary lock screen is removable before it reaches 100% — simply press CTRL+F4. Unfortunately, the encryption process remains intact.

The MalwareHunterTeam states, “The ransomware uses classic ransomware encryption by locking files using an AES-128 key and then encrypting this key with a dual RSA key, with the private key stored on the crook’s server, and a public key left on the user’s PC.”

In order to retrieve the private key to unlock your files, you must contact the perpetrators by email. The email address is listed in the ransom note that appears after the process of encryption is complete. Fantom displays ransom notes in the form of HTML and TXT files, while changing the user’s desktop with a custom screenshot that lists the contact details. Lastly, after completing all its operations, Fantom cleans after itself by running two batch scripts wiping all the installation files clean.

Ransomware isn’t new, but the ways that cybercriminals utilize them are. Who would’ve thought that the ever so familiar Windows Update window has fallen prey to malicious intent? Pretend that you’re the Little Red Riding Hood and that the wolf is the ransomware that cybercriminals have disguised as your grandmother. They no longer wait to trap you, instead, they wait for you to walk straight into one instead.

The issue of ransomware is as extensive as it is meticulous. If you have any questions about Fantom or would like to request more information, feel free to get in touch with us! Give us a call or send us an email. Our dedicated staff are more than happy to help.

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Big data is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot these days, but rarely in conjunction with SMBs. VoIP has often been touted as a way for small businesses to access enterprise-level functionalities, and better access to customer data is one of the many ways to do exactly that. Keep reading for coverage of the best ways to leverage your VoIP data to increase conversions and provide better service to your clients.

Time/Date Data

One source of information that nearly any VoIP system should be able to easily access is time, date and duration of calls. As a small or medium-sized business, you probably work on a tight budget. Properly analyzing this data can be invaluable when deciding how many staff you need on the phones and on what schedule.

For example, you may notice that on Mondays you get a rush of calls in the morning, but by Tuesday afternoon the lines are dead. Just asking your employees when the phones are dead may work, but consider looking for more specific trends to better assign call responsibilities to your staff. You may find that there is a particular combination of time and day that simply doesn’t generate a need for anyone to work the phones.

The more agreeable the person on the other end of the line is, the more likely they are to vote for your company with their dollars. If you’re making outbound calls, pay close attention to when you see the most success. Everyone knows that no one likes to get a call during dinner time, VoIP allows you to take this one step further and find other stress points in your call schedule.

Location Data

Location data is also easy to track and a simple way to make your call strategy more agile. Understanding how purchasing or support habits differ between different locations can improve your marketing, customer service and client retention.

Ask your VoIP service provider about call-routing options so that whoever answers your phones is an expert on the area the caller is from. With the right amount of preparation you can help a client on the other side of the country as if your company was right around the corner, and there are few things as valuable as being helped by a local.

Customer Intelligence

Combining your VoIP services with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software opens up entirely new data points. How many times have you called a support line with an issue and have had to explain all of your history with the company? Even if you somehow did win the customer service lottery and got the same representative every time, the chances of them remembering you and your story are slim to none. With proper CRM integration, your VoIP system can route callers to the same service representative every time they call and provide your staff with a detailed support history.

Customer Habits/Personalities

Analyze client call habits and predict how to contact them and offer assistance before they even realize they need it. Does your data show that one of your clients generally calls once a week, but missed last week’s? Give them a call and check up on them.

If you want to really get in the weeds with your data, you can begin to match clients with your service and sales representatives based on ‘personality’ data. Data points like staff’s age, gender and average call time can potentially be used to route customers to the best possible representative.

Product/Service Trends

Whenever possible, tie data to specific products and services in each call and look for the most consistent patterns that result in a successful contact. If you notice that most of the customers that buy your flagship product come back and buy an accessory to it within three months, stop dumping money into marketing the accessory products during the original sale and trust what your data tells you. Follow up in a month and ask if they’re interested in that ancillary product.

You may be thinking that some of these data points were accessible with your legacy systems by simply logging the information separately. Tracking data that way is prone to user error and requires a pre-meditated plan. VoIP services track all of your data, all the time. Your SMB can easily view and analyze up-to-date data in no time. This agility and efficiency can revolutionize how you design your customer interaction strategies.

Do you feel like you could be getting a better ROI from your VoIP services by taking another look at your calling data? It could be as simple as better organizing your usage statistics, or as intricate as installing specialized analytics software. Regardless of how you want to go about it, we’re the ones to do it — contact us today!

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Most business owners have an employee handbook. But when it comes to the online security of their business, often times this portion is either not adequately addressed, or not addressed at all. However, with cyber crimes an ever increasing threat, and the fact that employee error is one of the most common causes of a security breach, it is incredibly vital that your staff is informed of your policies. Here are four policies that every business owner should share with their employees.

Internet

In today’s business world, employees spend a lot of time on the Internet. To ensure they’re not putting your business at risk, you need a clear set of web policies. Here are three important ones to keep in mind:

1. Employees should be using the Internet for business purposes only. While this is undoubtedly hard to avoid without blocking specific websites, having a policy in place should at least cut back on employees spending time on non-business related sites.
2. Prohibit unauthorized downloads. This includes everything from music to games, and even data or applications.
3. Accessing personal email should not be done on business devices. If employees must access their own email account during the day, they can do so on their smartphone or other personal device.

These are just a few Internet policies to get started, but you should also consider including information on your recommended browsing practices and your policies for using business devices (such as company phones) on public wifi.

Email

Just like with the Internet policy mentioned above, company email accounts should only be utilized for business use. That means your employees should never use it to send personal files, forward links or perform any type of business-related activities outside of their specific job role. Additionally, consider implementing a standard email signature for all employees. This not only creates brand cohesion on all outgoing emails, but also makes it easy to identify messages from other employees, and hence helps prevents spear phishing.

Passwords

We’ve all heard the importance of a strong password time and time again. And this same principle should also apply to your employees. The reason is rather simple. Many employees will create the easiest to crack passwords for their business accounts. After all, if your organization gets hacked, it’s not their money or business at stake. So to encourage employees to create strong passwords, your policy should instruct them to include special characters, uppercase and lowercase letters, and numbers in their passwords.

Data

Whether or not you allow your employees to conduct work on their own device, such as a smartphone or tablet, it is important to have a bring your own device (BYOD) policy. If your employees aren’t aware of your stance on BYOD, some are sure to assume they can conduct work related tasks on their personal laptop or tablet. So have a BYOD policy and put it in the employee handbook. In addition to this, make sure to explain that data on any workstation is business property. That means employees aren’t allowed to remove or copy it without your authorization.

We hope these four policies have shed some light on best security practices. If you’d like more tips or are interested in a security audit of your business, do get in touch.

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