ATECH MSP Blog

Passwords are quite literally everywhere nowadays. With so much of modern life now controlled or held within user accounts, keeping your passwords both secure and straight in your head is crucial. Many web browsers now offer some built-in password management utility to help make this process more convenient for the user, but is this option available at the cost of security?

Many small and medium-sized businesses don’t consider making physical security investments if they already have some type of workable solution in place. The problem is that there have been a lot of innovative moves made that would make those investments strategically smart at the time. So, while a physical security upgrade may not be a priority for your business, we thought we’d go through some of the tools used, and how they have improved. 

Contemporary movies are filled with high-stakes cybercrime, where a lovable criminal syndicate breaks into a company’s systems to help wreak havoc on the true villains of the film, all the while exposing the company’s dirty laundry. Naturally, this idea can be frightening for any business, whether or not they have any dirty laundry to air out—after all, nobody wants a ruined reputation—and is unfortunately less and less of a fantasy all the time.

While you’ll probably hear us recommend that you update as soon as possible at every opportunity, the source of these updates is important to consider. This is especially the case now that mobile security firm Zimperium has discovered a new mobile spyware that pretends to update your mobile device… but actually steals data and monitors the user’s search history and location.

In the course of doing business everyone has their own specific responsibilities. One overarching responsibility that all employees need to have today is awareness. The health of a business depends on it. A staff’s failure to properly shoulder their load of security can have an immensely negative result for both the employee and the company. Today, we’re going to explain that when your organization gets breached by hackers, that fault is largely yours.

Businesses of all kinds depend on the technology that they use, whether it’s their email, a CRM, or just a single PC with a spreadsheet program. Those businesses that keep it real simple, have to know that there is technology out there that can help them bring in more revenue streams or properly manage the ones they already have. Those that look to technology to solve their business’ operational woes, tend to have several options to choose from. One thing is certain, if you have proper counsel when making technology decisions for your business, your chances of spending your capital wisely increase substantially.

As commonly happens with any disaster, COVID-19 has inspired no short supply of scams. While these scams initially focused upon the relief funds that were delivered to people to help sustain the suffering economy, the ongoing vaccine distribution efforts have given those behind these efforts a new means of attack.

Recently, a story broke in Florida that sounds like something out of a terse action film: a hacker managed to access a water treatment facility and subjected the Pinellas County water supply with increased levels of sodium hydroxide. While onsite operators were able to correct the issue right away and keep the public safe from danger, this event is the latest in a line of cyberattacks directed at public utilities. Let’s consider this unpleasant trend.

Google search is synonymous with searching the internet, but that hasn’t stopped them from constantly innovating the service. One of the most recent updates is to give users more context for the content that returns on search results. This works to protect users from potentially clicking on websites that could contain threats. Today, we discuss this innovation and how it will look to the end-user.

You’d think that the healthcare industry would be at the very cutting-edge when it comes to information technology implementation. That isn’t always the case. One technology that developers are really looking to take advantage of in the healthcare space is blockchain. The technology behind cryptocurrency is being used to help patients better control their care. Let’s take a brief look now. 

Businesses that don’t see after their vulnerabilities are just asking to be breached. That’s the consensus view in the IT industry. It’s disconcerting, then, to consider how many businesses don’t actively assess their IT security, especially considering how much these platforms change from year-to-year. Today, we’ll briefly discuss what a security and compliance audit is, and why we think you need one. 

While we would strongly recommend that you update your passwords more than once a year, now is as good a time as any to do so. Reflecting on this, let’s go over how to fully lock down your Microsoft accounts.

If you haven’t taken the time to go through and update your passwords lately, particularly the one protecting your Google account, you should do so… despite it undeniably being a pain. After all, Google serves various purposes and is attached to many accounts for most. Considering the number of data breaches and other cybersecurity issues this potentially contributes to, you will want to ensure your Google account is properly locked down.

GoDaddy—the domain registrar and web-hosting company once famed for its risqué advertisements—is facing some significant backlash for a much different reason. On December 14th, GoDaddy’s employees received an email that appeared to be from the company, promising a holiday bonus. However, while the email was from the company as it appeared to be, it was actually a phishing test that the hosting provider decided to run.

2020 has been filled to the brim with adversity and just as we’ve mercifully arrived to the end, the largest and most brazen cyberespionage attack ever has been carried out. Today, we’ll tell you what we know about the attack, what problems it caused, and what we should learn from it going forward.

Browser extensions are nifty little programs that can be implemented into your web browser itself, adding onto its capabilities and utility… at least, that’s the concept. Unfortunately, these programs also give cybercriminals a means of secretly launching an attack. The security firm Avast recently identified 28 such third-party extensions that have been installed—according to the download numbers, at least—by about three million people on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge combined.

Many small business owners will temper their investments into IT security because they are of the notion that because their businesses are so small, they can’t be affected by hackers. We get it: prioritizing IT security is more expensive than you like and that money can justifiably be used elsewhere for more gain. The problem is that small businesses can and do get targeted by hackers. In fact, over 25 percent of all data breaches happen to small businesses. In today’s cyberthreat climate, your business can’t rely on luck. Let’s take a look at what you can invest in to protect your network and infrastructure.

One of the major shifts we’ve seen in business in 2020 is the establishment of the remote workforce. Stay-at-home orders brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary for businesses to find solutions on how to securely transfer information from what could be unprotected networks. The virtual private network is a solution to this problem. Today, we will describe what a VPN is, what its primary use is, and how secure it really is for secure file transmission. 

With the holidays approaching, and with the global pandemic still underway, online shopping is going to be under even more demand than usual in 2020. With all of these transactions online, it would stand to reason that people would be more keen to follow best security practices than ever before. This week, we take a look at how people are staying secure online and whether or not the need for speed outweighs their security and privacy efforts.

Being told by an IT provider how important it is for you to update your software is probably a bit like your grade school teacher telling you how important it is to do your homework: of course they’re going to say it, it’s their job to do so. However, we’re telling you what the Department of Homeland Security announced when they released a warning to update your Google Chrome web browser.