ATECH MSP Blog

When considering your business’ security, it is only too easy to overlook how information of any kind might be compromised. Take, for example, the case study that is provided by the fitness application Strava, the jogging app that shares more data than many, including the United States military, would prefer.

Your business relies on technology to function as intended, and beyond that technology are the minds that maintain it and keep it operating efficiently. In a way, you put a great burden on them to ensure that your operations can continue unhindered; and yet, there are a variety of ways that you can make it easier for both IT and non-IT staff to do what you hired them to do.

In recent years, how-to guides and YouTube videos have brought renewed enthusiasm for the phrase ‘Do It Yourself’. From services that will ship all the ingredients needed for a home-cooked meal right to your front door to a kit that contains all of the building materials one needs to make a fully functioning ‘tiny house’, DIY kits have made it easier for someone who is less than an expert to successfully complete a project or learn a skill. The Dark Web has taken this infatuation with ‘DIY’ to a whole new level with a rising increase in the sale of Ransomware kits.

2017 was chock-full of security threats, attacks, and breaches. Therefore, 2017 was also chock-full of lessons to be learned regarding business cybersecurity. For this week’s tip, we’ll review a few lessons that hopefully weren’t missed.

Business intelligence is the act of processing and using data that your company has acquired. It doesn’t matter how many employees you have, how many sites you have, or how many clients you have--your company can stand to benefit from implementing business intelligence in some way. Here are some of the finer details that can help you better understand the unique benefits provided by business intelligence.

A report by Gartner has provided evidence that security considerations are anticipated to see investments in 2018. So, if you were planning on focusing on your business’ information security this year, you certainly aren’t the only one.

Chances are, if given the choice, you would choose Google Chrome over Microsoft Edge for your web browsing needs. Knowing this, Microsoft has enabled users to customize their Edge browsers to suit their needs a little more. For today’s tip, we’ll go over how to set up these features and settings.

When it comes to efficiency and ergonomics, there is no doubt that digital records are more amenable than paper ones. Digital records are easy to search, store, secure and backup to say the least. When you decide to look into going paperless, a quick Internet search will probably leave you with thousands of pages that detail a variety of ways your business can make the jump. Considering how important your documents are to your business’ well-being, it’s important to look before you leap.

It is our hope that you are aware of how much of a risk spyware can pose to your business. Your business generates, collects, and leverages truly considerable amounts of data each day that is intended for your business only. While spyware that is introduced by a hacker is clearly a bad thing, what if the manufacturer of the device installed a program that pulled data from your machine?

More businesses are moving to mobile technology than ever before, and one of the most popular solutions to this phenomenon comes in the form of Android smartphones. Android devices actually have quite a lot of hidden features that you’ll want to consider so that you can get the most out of your technology. Here are some efficient tips to help you get more productivity out of your Android device.

Intel has had publicity problems in the past, but now things are getting critical. An issue was reported that could potentially cause the processing power of their chips to diminish. What are being known as the Meltdown or Spectre vulnerabilities, have businesses scrambling around looking for ways to protect their data and infrastructure from what is seemingly an oversight that affects most of today’s CPU architectures; namely those that rely on virtual memory.

No technology lasts forever. Your business will need to replace server hardware or workstations eventually, no matter how well you take care of it. However, what do you do with the hard drive of any device that you have to replace? If you don’t take action to destroy your old hard drive (after moving any data off of it as needed), you could be in violation of various compliance guidelines issued by HIPAA.

If you think about it, password security is an interesting phenomenon. The odds are that a user knows the importance of using a strong password, as well as the potential consequences of using weak ones. Yet, time after time, people would rather go with passwords that are easy to type and remember, as opposed to adding a few simple security measures.

According to the homeland security adviser to the White House, Tom Bossert, international blame for the global WannaCry attack is being directed toward North Korea. Responsibility for the attack that spanned from May 12th to the 15th of 2017 has been firmly placed on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which Bossert says is in agreement with the conclusions of Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand.

Cortana is becoming more of a utility with every feature that is added to its capabilities. Fans of Google’s applications will be happy to hear that Cortana can now play nice with the likes of Gmail, Google Contact, and Google Calendar. We’ll take you through the steps to set up an integration between these programs and Cortana.

Business cards have long been part of business etiquette. In the late Renaissance period, visitors were announced with special cards that signified the arrival of the guest and reminding the recipient of their social obligations. The Industrial Revolution transformed these into trade cards, and the professional business card as we know it got its start. Today, the business card is a useful networking tool, even though transferring the information into a phone can be a hassle.

“The elephant in the room” has long been used as an analogy for a blatantly obvious problem that everyone is hesitant, if not unwilling, to acknowledge. Many companies find that they have elephants like these in their server rooms. Today, we’ll discuss some of these metaphorical elephants and how your company can get rid of them.

Mobility is a key to business today, as evidenced by essentially every business utilizing some sort of mobile device in their operations. However, one major consideration that has kept mobile devices from being truly mobile is the battery life of these devices, and the fact that the limited nature of battery life keeps these devices from ever migrating too far from their wired power source. This is an issue that many anticipate that wireless charging technology can resolve.

Downloading an app is a fairly straightforward process on an Android device. Access the Google Play store, find the app, and press install. However, when you first try to use the app, things can sometimes become more complicated as your phone starts asking you for vague permissions. For today’s tip, we’ll explore what these permission requests are actually asking for.

Uh oh. It’s the big day, and you’ve just realized that you’ve forgotten to purchase a gift for a special someone (or twelve). Thank goodness for online shopping, right? However, you still need to keep your digital security in mind as you try to save the holiday--cybercriminals aren’t the type to take a break during one of the most potentially lucrative times of year.