Have you ever gotten an email that was suspicious, or received an email that seemed like it was from a legitimate source but weren’t 100% sure? Of course, we all have. So how do you decipher the secure emails from the fakes? There are certain ways that I determine if an email was sent to me from a trusted person or if it goes in the trash.

Attackers use these emails to steal your personal information, or other malicious tactics like infecting your computer and possibly your network with a virus.

Three Ways to Determine if I Have Received a Secure Email

First, I look at who it’s from, believe it or not your contacts could have received a malicious link or attachment and are now using their email account to send out the same malicious emails.

The questions you should be asking yourself now is, had we spoke recently and was I expecting something from them? Are they just reaching out to touch base? If your contact is just reaching out it shouldn’t contain any links or attachments besides their signature image.

Once I’ve cleared the first section and the email is not from anyone that is currently in my email list, I’ll scan the email to check if it’s something I need to read or is informative in any way to me. If it has webpage links, those are the next pieces of the email I check. Usually you can hover your mouse over the link to determine if the site is the same in the bubble as what is typed in the email.

See here: CNN.com

Attackers use any method to get you to click a link. it’s a simple way for them to get information from your personal or company email account

Say the link looks legitimate but you are still uncertain, or there are no links but attachments? Now what do you do. You’ve read the email but it just doesn’t seem like you should be receiving this email.

I simply delete it.

If it’s important the sender will send the email again, and the email should be a little more personalized. As attachments go, you should never and I repeat never open a .ZIP file. This is the most common way that companies and personal computers are infected. If you see a .ZIP file, just delete the file.

The number one rule to email security is not to respond.

This goes for your personal or work email. If you respond you are telling the person on the other end that they found an email address that it is attached to a person. Not only are you giving them notice that you received the email but you will respond.

In the end, when in doubt, delete the email. You’d rather be safe and keep your accounts secure.

Have you ever had a complete network outage?

It’s 2pm. You and your team are in the middle of a huge project for one of your biggest clients, when suddenly, your entire network goes down.

If you’ve experienced a complete network outage, you know the sinking feeling that follows. If you’re on the flip side of the coin and haven’t experienced a complete network outage, consider yourselves among the few.

Did you know that the average downtime cost is around $5,600 per minute, according to a recent study by the Gartner Network?

To put that in perspective, let’s say your network goes out at 2pm and doesn’t come back up until 5pm, you are looking at roughly $330,000/hour in operating losses.

Of course, this varies widely on the industry, the amount of employees, and type of business you are running. But in the end, when your network is down, your business is down.

Let’s look at 4 ways of planning for a network outage.

Scheduled Outages

It will be nearly impossible to conduct day-to-day business without updating or replacing software. With this comes planned network outages. However, by scheduling these over the weekend or late into the night, with a carefully thought out plan, you will eliminate the risks associated with a complete network outage.

Battery Backup System

A battery Backup system or UPS is a system that has a bank of batteries that provides electricity in case of a power outage for a limited time for your infrastructure. If your equipment is on you can still work. Sure this is a limited source, but it can make all of the difference if you are given an extra 1-2 hours of ability to use your equipment. That’s also 2hrs that you are not down.

Log Monitoring

Most network outages occur from poor monitoring of the systems in place. Reading the logs of each server every day or night can make all the difference between complete network failure and a smooth operation. Server and Switch logs should be the main focus, if you can see an issue coming you can plan a maintenance window to take care of the problem before it becomes a major issue for your business.

Knowing your Network

Knowing you network seems a little rhetorical, but it’s just as important as reading your infrastructure’s logs or planning a large project. If you know how your network will react before a major update, and equipment change, you will be better prepared to handle a situation when it arises. Planning network outages or as we like to call them in the tech window, maintenance windows, are a big part of how to get to know your network. Overnight you can see how your network reacts to updates, changes in configurations, policy updates and you can get a sense of how to react if something unexpected happens.

In the end, your business depends on the technology that drives it. Keeping your network up-to-date and secure will help your company stay up and running during the most critical times. The most important item to remember is not if you will have a complete network outage but when.

Do you have your outage plans in place to mitigate that downtime?

What is The Cloud?

The cloud is a term used in the technology industry to describe a data center (large bank of computers stored somewhere around the world). In today’s market, the cloud is more important than ever for businesses. It allows for easy collaboration, file storage, disaster recovery and a host of other solutions for your business.

Simply put, the cloud allows businesses to save money, implement efficient technology infrastructure throughout their business, and offers a safe place to manage backup storage.

Below are 3 ways that businesses utilize the cloud throughout their organization.

SaaS (Software as a Service)

When you login to your Office 365 account, or use a piece of software like ArcGIS online, Productioneer or Salesforce you are using the cloud. If you are not familiar with those, perhaps you use Facebook, Spotify, or LinkedIn? Again, you have entered “the cloud.”  These are all pieces of software that run in the cloud and allow instant access from anywhere with an internet connection.

Collaboration

Collaboration and telecommuting are growing trends across all business sectors. Using email to collaborate is ineffective and unrealistic due to the large amounts of data that would be sent. Many companies look at cloud solutions when it comes to collaboration in the workplace. These can range from a virtual office or a storage location that you can manage. Companies like Sharefile and Files Anywhere, offer collaboration tools for a very reasonable price.

The entire reason companies are looking to the cloud to collaborate with remote employees or clients is that they do not have to invest in infrastructure to get the job done. The cloud makes it easy to implement collaboration tools without the hassle and expenses tied to a server room project.

BDR (Backup Disaster Recovery)

Ever since I started in the technology field, it was tapes, tapes and more tapes. Before long we had Iron Mountain showing up twice a week to pick up and drop off the 30-50 tapes we had any particular week for them.

Not only is that a pain in the you know what, but it’s inefficient and costly for your business. In today’s technology world, we look to the cloud for backup disaster recovery solutions like Quorum, Unitrends, Datto and StorageCraft.

These companies have completely removed the tape option from the table and give you instant recovery by taking images of your infrastructure and replicating that to the cloud.

What this means is…

If a server fails or an emergency happens during the day, you can start the image of the affected server from the last backup and no one will know the difference. Same IP, same network shares, same server name. Once you fix the affected server, you can shut the cloud server down, and start the repaired server, all the while your customers never knew anything happened.

What’s in it for Your Business?

The bottom line?

The cloud is a more cost effective solution for several of your infrastructure needs. If your infrastructure is based in house, every 3 years, you would need to reinvest to upgrade that equipment. In the cloud, you don’t have these expenses.

Altogether, the cloud offers low cost, offsite storage, recovery and peace of mind for your business.

Do you ever think, “I’d be so much more productive if I invested in a typewriter?”

Surely, you’re laughing, but I can remember visiting my grandparent’s office as a child and the only things on their desk were:

• A desk calendar.
• One of those really cool calculators that made receipts.
• AND a really dusty typewriter.

There were no computers and the term Wi-Fi hadn’t been coined. However, because their customers, vendors and competitors didn’t have computers and cellphones, they weren’t missing out on anything.

It’s impressive how far businesses have come in the past 30 years because of the ever-changing technology. Imagine going to work and not having a computer, or email, or internet. It would be a verylong day.

Today, an average household has 5 connected devices. Because your customers and competitors use technology throughout the entire day, your business has to stay up to speed.

Technology is the driving force behind every business and without it, it’s nearly impossible to conduct your day to day operations. But what’s worse, is when the technology in your business is holding you back from your business goals.

Technology in your business should make you more efficient, save you time and in the end, impact your bottom line in a positive way. Without a secure infrastructure in place, your employees aren’t able to do their job to the best of their ability.

If you find yourself getting frustrated with dealing with your network or find that you are losing precious time during your day waiting on an application to load, it might be time to look into your current IT infrastructure. It’s essential to take the time to invest in your technology to ensure that the technology in your company is working for you and not against you.

Finding the best antivirus protection might seem overwhelming with all of the different options available. However, if you are running a business, the last thing you need slowing you down is a virus running rampant throughout your IT infrastructure and putting your assets at risk.

We’ve done some of the leg work for you and given a high level view of our preferred antivirus protection software.

Webroot

Webroot’s SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Protection gives businesses the ability to have instant protection with quick scans without having to worry about patches and signature updates. In other words, it’s easier to deploy and gives you the protection and security your business needs.

Advantages

• Extremely Small and Light on Resources
• Multiple Clients Supported
• Doesn’t Slow your Devices Down
• Remote Management
• Gives you Offline Protection
• Always up to Date

Disadvantages

• Must be connected to the internet for full protection

Cost

$25 per agent with 1 year license. Use their pricing calculator to get the total cost of the virus protection software.

Bitdefender

Bitdefender’s Small Office Security antivirus protects small and medium sized businesses with up to 250 desktops and servers. Their antivirus protection boasts many industry leading awards for their protection.

Advantages

• Small and Light on Resources
• Minimum Time to Install and Manage
• Includes Security Policy Templates for Faster Installs
• Updates Automatically and Users Can’t Interfere with Settings or Deactivate Protection
• Easy to Use Interface
• Rescue Mode for Persistent Malware

Disadvantages

• Underperforms in the Malicious URL Blocking Tests

Cost

$410 for 10 seats with 1 year license. Use their pricing calculator to get the total cost of Bidefender.

Kaspersky

Kaspersky’s Small Office Security is designed specifically for small businesses and delivers their world-class security without the hassle. The best thing about Kaspersky antivirus protection is that it comes with so many extras including: Anti-Phishing, URL Advisor, System Watcher and Rollback.

Advantages

• Quick and Easy to Install
• Virtual Keyboard for Secure Data Entry
• Comes with Cleanup and Optimization Tools
• Ability to Roll Back Malware Actions
• Two-way Firewall – PC
• Local and Online Backups

Disadvantages

• Weak Scores in Hands-on Malware Blocking Test and Malicious URL Blocking Tests

Cost

$290 for 10 users and 1 file server with a 1 year license. Use their pricing calculator to find out the total price for your users.

It depends on your individual needs and specific business when it comes to antivirus protection. The most important aspect is that you have a secure environment. Our custom IT services include antivirus and malware protection for all of our clients free of charge. Visit our services page if you’re interested in learning more about our IT services.

When it comes to your business nothing else matters but being able to provide your products or services to your clients. When I talk to business owners the one key factor that keeps coming up is what happens if your network crashes, your internet goes down or some malicious ransom-ware like Crypto-locker infects your system. Those items are more likely to happen than a natural disaster (flooding, tornado, hurricane, etc.) Most of these companies have backups of their data that’s stored either on their servers or old clunky LTO tapes on site.

Let’s go through a scenario, its 10am on a Wednesday and everything is working fine, your company has a major deal in the works and then the fear hits. Your network has just shut-down for reasons unknown. Everything you had worked on was on the network and now it’s inaccessible. You call your IT Company or IT person to get this resolved as soon as possible. They go through the typical steps to try and mitigate the problem. The IT guys tell you that they need to restore the data and need to get the tapes out of storage. Now, you wait. Could be minutes, could be hours or even days to get the data restored depending on the type and size of data that was lost. This is one of the main reasons Why Tape storage is a dying technology!

In today’s IT world more and more backup admins and IT companies are now pushing their companies to a BDR solution.

But why?

A Backup and Disaster Recovery solution is a game changing aspect for companies in the sense of business continuity. A BDR solution has varying levels of abilities and service. In a simple description, you are able to backup all of your data as you did before with an in-house server. That server can in turn replicate to the cloud, allowing your business to operate from anywhere with an internet connection.

The next problem when I have offered this suggestion to business owners is, WOW that sounds great!

But, it also sounds expensive.

They are right, to get a system like this you will pay a little more on the front end. But when each client takes into account the cost of an outage that include things like salaries, potential deals, potential products sales, services lost, resources lost and recreating all of the lost data, they understand the value of a complete backup and disaster recovery solution.

If you aren’t backing up your data, it could end your business when you experience an outage. With any backup technology whether its tapes, another server, or a Backup and Disaster Recovery solution you are purchasing insurance for your data.

You probably keep hearing that you need to get a better firewall for your business? However, you might not fully grasp what a firewall is or the benefits it has on your company’s infrastructure.

I like to call firewalls the gate keeper of your network – in short, it encompasses all sorts of things like:

• First line of defense against outside attackers.
• Prevents your computers from connecting directly to the internet.
• Stops employees from browsing non-work related websites.

But on a deeper level, it routes traffic from outside sources to computers and servers on your network.

When you travel or work remotely, a firewall that is configured correctly is what allows you to access your data while away at the office (VPN, or external facing sites your company has).

The firewall is, in my opinion, the most important piece of equipment your company will invest in.

A cheap firewall lacks the features to protect your company’s data and devices. However, I don’t usually recommend the most expensive firewall for our clients.

You have to find the middle ground for what you are trying to accomplish vs. cost. A few brands that are always at the top of my list are SonicWALL, Cyberoam, and Cisco.

The biggest key feature for IT professionals in general is the threat management system and how a firewall detects and mitigates those threats.

Did you know that BP fights off 50,000 cyber-attacks a day?

I recently had a conversation with the CEO of an Energy Investment company that stated, “We are small, no one is going to want our data and even if they did what would they do with it.”

While this response is very common amongst small and medium sized businesses – cyber criminals don’t really want your data. They get affirmation from hacking into your network and can then control your computers to help them gain access to other networks.

Even if the data is sensitive, the firewall could be the matter of allowing your customer data to be leaked or not. It’s a small insurance policy for your company to invest in.

In today’s connected world, it’s not if you are going to be attacked by cyber criminals but when.

You’ve decided it is time to start making improvements to your IT infrastructure, but where do you start?  What takes the front of the list and what can wait?

I have found that these questions can be answered by asking this one question: What is important for your business to keep growing and running? Consider what items will increase your productivity and keep your business from being interrupted.

For most companies these are the top things that should always be in place and in good working order.

A well setup Domain and Active Directory infrastructure.

• Provides a quick way to add new users to the network
• Gives you superior control over security permissions for shares, files and devices on the network
• Increases overall network security by requiring administrator passwords to add devices to the domain
• Allows you to apply Global Policies to all machines in a given group (Ex. Screen locks after 10 minutes, turn on remote desktop for all machines, apply printers to all machines)

Group Shares controlled by a file server is one of the best ways to control, manage and monitor data on your network.

• Allows you to control access by user or group to files and folders
• Give you a single place to store files for departments, no hunting files
• Insures that important data is backed up

A Print server may not seem like a big deal but when you start to have 5 or 10 printers it can be a handy thing to have for your business.

• Allows you to put multiple drivers for multiple operating systems
• Print jobs are stored on the server not on the workstations
• Adding a printer to a PC is easy and controlled
• Efficient way of managing and adding printers

A good network backbone (network switches) is always important.

• Weather you have 1 or 10 switches, which ones you have is important. If you are running a switch with a max speed of 10MB then you will experience a slow internal network connection.
• When considering switches, look at max speed per port, if they are dumb switches or managed and if they are POE (power over Ethernet) or not. Most IT professionals will always recommend a 1GB network which means that all ports on your switch are 1G max or 1000MB.
• POE is always a good feature to look into because wireless devices and phones can sometimes run off of power from the Ethernet port.

Firewalls are the MOST important part of your network and can be very basic or extremely advanced.

• Protects from intrusions
• Viruses
• Port scanning
• DDOS attacked
• You can control what your employees can access on the internet
• Some even have reports so you can see users usage of the internet and even sites visited

Email is one of the most used tools in any company, in most years it is even the most chosen tool to manage projects.

• Make sure that the email is reliable and fast
• Consider implementing a cloud based email solution for less administrative management and more cost effective.

Altogether, your IT infrastructure plays an important part of your business. Always set your goals and then begin making changes in order to meet those business goals.

So you have decided it’s time to hire an IT Managed Service Provider, but you have no idea where to start? We’ve outlined 15 questions to ask to make sure you’re making the best decision for your company.

What do you do?

This sounds simple, but many companies call themselves a Managed Service Provider so having a clear understanding of the exact services they can provide for you and more importantly if they meet your needs should be first and foremost.

Where are you located?

Finding out where the company is based can give you ease of mind. They have an office in your city? That’s great and hopefully means they will respond quicker when those emergencies come up. Likewise, you’ll be able to build a relationship with this MSP and your IT consultant can learn about your business in order to better serve your technology needs.

Who are some of your other clients?

References are everything. Working with an MSP who doesn’t work with companies your size or perhaps doesn’t have a client base at all should be a red flag. For us, our clients would be more than happy to hop on a call to give us a reference for potential clients and this is something that is common across many service based companies.

What experience do you have and what is your background?

Perhaps you don’t have an in office IT employee and the MSP will manage all IT Helpdesk and IT projects, therefore knowing their technical background is extremely important. Think of it this way, it’s better to ask these questions prior to having your network go out at 2AM and not being able to get the issue solved due to the lack of technical ability from your MSP.

What’s the cost?

This sounds simple, but many IT Managed Services Companies charge very differently. Do they charge based on every time you pick up the phone? Put in a helpdesk ticket? Drive to your location? More than likely the answer to that is yes, and these fees add up quickly. (Interested in not paying those fees? Check out our custom IT Services for more info)

How do you implement?

Almost all MSPs will need to install software onto your company devices in order to manage them remotely. Find out how they do this. After hours when it won’t disrupt your working hours or in phases over the course of several days? The main thing is that it shouldn’t be a headache for you or your business.

What is your IT project process?

MSPs don’t just manage your computers and handle desktop support, they also can recommend IT solutions and manage the entire process of these projects. Find out what this looks like, as it will vary from each provider.

How long does it take before we are up and running under your service?

It’s always important to know when your service begins. Is there a waiting period or can you start making calls the moment you sign the dotted line? Sometimes there’s a lead time to get your company set up on their side of things.

Setup fees?

Just like knowing the monthly costs or monthly surcharges, it’s important to know if there are set up fees. It’s also good to ask about these costs as some MSPs will waive this fee for you. If you happen to work with us, you’re in good hands as we don’t charge set up fees.

Is there a contract?

We live in a day and time where you can sign up for Netflix for one month and cancel with no added fees. Contracts are becoming this way in the MSP world. Make sure you aren’t signing a 3 year contract or a contract that doesn’t make sense for your business. Or even better, find an MSP that doesn’t require a contract that way you are in complete control of your IT services.

Vendor management?

Ever had problems with software and had to sit on hold trying to resolve them? This is something that your MSP should handle for you. Although several IT companies don’t handle vendor management, this is a HUGE benefit for you, as it’s one less thing you have to worry about. A good MSP will agree to work with the vendors, a great MSP will tell you that they will work with any vendor to resolve any issues before you ask.

Equipment/software markup?

It’s more common for MSPs to charge mark ups on the software and hardware that you purchase therefore it’s extremely important to find out what that mark up will be. $100? $200?

Our clients who have a custom IT solution pay no markup – that’s right, we pass along all of our savings directly to you.

Willing to work around your budget?

The IT services that you pay for need to work for you and that includes within your budget.

Sure, you might lose some services or pay a little more when you need added services but finding an MSP who is willing to find a solution within your budget is something to look for.

Trip/labor charges?

These types of charges will make your monthly fee sky rocket. Find out these fees ahead of time, or find an MSP that doesn’t charge for trips or labor. The fact is, if you are being charged $70 to roll a truck to your site and then $110/hr for a tech to fix an issue on site, you have just spent $180 for him to just show up. The way I look at clients from an MSP’s point of view, is if you are paying me a monthly fee to manage and maintain your systems, and something breaks, why do you have to pay me again to fix something that was covered under that monthly contract?

List the services covered under a typical contract?

Of course you will ask this, and the MSP should provide you with a scope of work. If they do not, do not sign any paper work until that is provided. The scope of work is what the MSP is responsible for under the contract or agreement. Make sure the items that were quoted are in the SOW.

Without these questions you could find yourself quite unhappy with services provided by an MSP. Most of these are common sense, but just treat the MSP like you are interviewing a new candidate for a position. You are the one in control of your IT services and asking the right questions before signing the dotted line can save you a lot of time, effort and headaches.

When it comes to finding the right equipment for your employees or new hires, where do you start? There are so many different options when it comes to IT hardware that it can seem overwhelming. We’ve outlined some helpful steps so that you can find the right fit for your employees.

First, you want to look at the form factors and find out which of the below 3 works best for your business.

Laptop or Microsoft Surface Machines

The mobile form factor can be used for several different types of employees. If they are an employee that will be at their desk all day but require a workstation when they go home, a larger laptop with a docking station at the desk might be a better option than a smaller laptop or surface.

The larger size will normally be cheaper and provide a larger screen when working at home. If they are a sales rep or always on the go then the surface might be a better option because if it’s light weight and battery life.

Desktops

Desktop computers are going to be your cheapest option so I always recommend to really asses the employees role and see if having a stationary machine will work for them. You can get the same or better specs as a laptop at half the cost. These workstations work well for customer service reps, general office employees and most administrative positions.

If you’re looking to keep your costs lower, these will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

Thin Clients

Thin Clients are not typically something you would see in a small business but they do have a role within some organizations.

So what is a thin client? A thin client is a client designed to be especially small so that the bulk of the data processing occurs on the server. Due to its size, there isn’t a hard drive disk on the client and very minimal specifications. There are benefits to having thin clients in your organization like reduced energy bills, simplified management for your IT department, enhanced security, and increased productivity.

However, these types of networks take quite a bit to setup and maintain. You will find that you will require a full IT staff to correctly maintain the hardware which will be added costs in salaries and benefits.

The server becomes the single point of failure and terminal servers are required to be replaced every 3 to 5 years.

From a user perspective, there is a learning curve with administering thin clients and terminal servers, and will require more training for the employees who will be using these.

Some business owners believe that thin clients are more cost effective than standard desktops, however, this isn’t the case anymore.

After deciding the best form factors for your employees, you want to take a look at what is inside the machine.

Do you require a CD/DVD drive?

In today’s time you can probably get by without a CD/DVD drive, but if you still have some legacy programs that require a CD it is still very inexpensive to have this feature.

How much memory will you need?

Memory or RAM is what allows your computer to do multiple things at once quickly, it holds programs in a temporary memory for quick access. If you plan to be doing a lot of things at once then the more the better. Rule of thumb is to get 8GB of RAM at the minimum.

How much hard drive space?

Today the typical size is 500GB, if you have a server and require people to store information there then this should be plenty. In most cases 500GB will be enough unless you are working with very large data. If that’s the case, look at a solution with more than 500GB of hard drive space.

How big of a CPU do your employees need?

In today’s market you really have to choose between I5 and I7 processors. The I7 of course is better but may not always be for you, i5 will be more in laptops, if you are using any software that is very process heavy the i5 is enough.

Do you require dual monitors?

For me this is a must and once you have 2 monitors it will be for you too. Some employees who work simultaneously in programs will most likely need dual monitors, while those employees in admin roles might only require one.

Altogether, choosing the right hardware for your employees is essential in order for your staff to be the more productive and efficient during their work day.