3 Variables You Need to Consider for an Effective Digital Transformation
For decades, technology has been the driving force behind some of the biggest and most radical shifts in business. Therefore, it makes sense to assume that the keys to your organization pushing past its limits and becoming truly exceptional lies in the implementation of new technologies that change operations in a profound way. The process of digital transformation does not have to be difficult, but it is important in a business environment so that you can stay competitive.
Digital transformation is the process of implementing new technologies and rethinking the relationship that your goods, services, and operations have with them. It can be seen as a way to innovate and make advancements in ways that might not otherwise be possible. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced many companies to accelerate their adoption of technology, so digital transformation is a trend that is rapidly increasing in popularity. To help your company make the best decision possible regarding technology, we have put together an easy three-step process you can follow when implementing new technology for your company.
Make Sure Your Objectives Align with Your Business Goals
The technology you implement should align with what you are trying to accomplish as a business. If your goal is to develop products, consider technology solutions that streamline that process. If your goal is to get the word out about services, consider ways that technology can help you get the word out. If your goal is to provide exceptional customer support, think of ways that technology can streamline the process for customers to receive the help they need when they need it. In other words, implementing technology without a clear and defined goal is not going to help your business; if anything, it will make your infrastructure more complicated and bogged down, so we encourage you to think about what your business does well and how technology can help you do it better.
Lean On Your IT Department or IT Resource
When it comes to your business’ implementation of new technology solutions, you want to take as hands-off a position as possible. Too often management and the C-suite get too involved in the decision-making process regarding IT. It is important to remember that you have an IT department or IT resource for a reason; respect their opinions and consult them on the implementation process. Understand that you may have a biased opinion of the technology because you want it to succeed and you think that it can be a great asset, but know that the ones making the cold and calculated decisions are often the IT resources implementing the solution. Just because something works perfectly for one organization does not mean that it will for you, and you should ensure that any solution you choose to implement is right for your organization well before the implementation process begins.
Get Your Staff On Board
Any new tools you implement will surely come with some resistance from your staff. Sometimes those who have been with you for a while are stuck in their ways and might not immediately see the benefits of implementing great new technology solutions. Therefore, it becomes your responsibility to show them just how much they stand to gain from not just learning your new tools, but mastering them as well. Implementing new technology is most beneficial when it’s done in a top-down manner, meaning the boss shows the employees just how confident they are in the solution by actively using it themselves. Employees are more likely to buy in when they know there is some passion behind it, and they will appreciate any training you can offer so they too can learn as much as possible about it.
Get Started with Digital Transformation Today
Point North Networks, Inc., can help your organization adopt new technology solutions and improve operations for the better. Our trusted technicians can be there for every stage of the process, from design to implementation to training and support. To learn more about how we can make a difference with your digital transformation strategy, reach out to us at 651-234-0895.
Considerations That You Need to Make When Adding New Technologies
It’s no secret that new technology can be useful for a business, unfortunately too many businesses struggle with their technology implementations. When adding new tools to your business, you will need to understand that the more deliberate you are, the more success you will find. Rushing any new deployment is sure to have some types of issues. For today’s blog, we take you through some of the best practices of adding new technology to your business.
Your Business’ Needs
When looking to add technology, you should only do so when you recognize a need for some. Too many businesses add technology that, in theory, will enhance productivity only to have problems supplanting the practical usefulness of their current technology. Of course, there will always be some type of transitional period, but the more a business is identifying problems and deploying technologies as a response, the fewer problems they will ultimately run into.
Take a Beat
Another solid practice to adhere to before you go ahead and start putting new technology in place is to take a bit before you make any financial commitments. Can you make do with the technology you have? Could it just be some strategic alterations you can make that won’t necessitate the time and expense that goes along with new technology? Sometimes it’s just about using the tools you have more effectively, not introducing new tools. Take some time to adjust and monitor, but at the end of that time, if you’re convinced the new technology gives you the best chance to be competitive, then go ahead and go for it.
Assign a Competent Project Manager
A large percentage of new technology implementation failures happen because the people running the project are stretched too thin, or aren’t up to the task of carrying out the project. For small business owners, it is tempting to do it yourself, but your influence is more important in other parts of your business. You need to have a project manager to serve as the point of contact, develop the training regimens and schedules, and deal with the inevitable challenges that arise during the new technology deployment.
Stand Behind Your Choice and Get to Training
Once the project begins, one of the most important parts of implementing new technology is to get your people behind it. Typically, there is some type of pushback, even if people have been complaining about the old technology for some time. Workers get comfortable with one thing and are afraid that their jobs will change for the worse if they are forced into using new technology. Some even think that their jobs will be irrelevant. For the business owner to get their people behind the new technology, you need to explain how it will positively affect their jobs and the company as a whole. By getting people to understand the positive aspects of implementing new tools, they will be more engaged in the training process, and ultimately, get up to speed faster.
Testing
After implementation and training, understanding how best to use the technology is going to be a process. The best way to ascertain this is by testing. Testing the solution, the employees, and the whole workflow is a critical step in understanding what changes need to be made, what policies need to be altered, and how the system works for your business. You’ll want to give your workers advanced notice that there will be training and monitoring as to make them understand that the more committed they are to getting the technology incorporated, the faster things can go back to normal. Additionally, you will want to get feedback from your employees. They are the ones that are using the new technology, after all.
Get It Working
Finally, after all the hand wringing, politicking, testing, and tweaking, your business will have new, and hopefully better technology to use. Adjustments to the tool will be ongoing, of course, but it’s a solid practice to get it as close to finished before you start using it for day-to-day operations.
New technology can be extremely useful for a business, but without the consideration that it is going to change the way you do things, it can be a major problem, too. If you would like to talk to one of our IT experts about how we can help your business implement the technology you need to improve your operations, and do it successfully the first time, give Point North Networks, Inc., a call today at 651-234-0895.
Password Best Practices from the National Institute of Standards and Technology
Passwords are probably the most important part of keeping accounts secure. That’s why it is so important to follow industry best practices when creating them. Today, we’ll take a look at the standards outlined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in creating the best and most secure passwords.
What Is NIST?
For years, NIST has been the predominant organization in the establishment of password creation standards. They continuously change their advised practices to meet with the current cybersecurity demands. They recently updated their guidelines so we thought we would go over what strategies they suggest, to give you an idea of what makes a secure password.
New Guidelines
Many corporations are currently using the NIST guidelines and all Federal agencies are expected to utilize them. Let’s go through their newest password guidelines step by step.
#1 – Longer Passwords are Better than More Complicated Ones
For years, it was preached that the more complicated the password, the more secure the account. Today’s guidelines refute that notion. NIST suggests that the longer the password, the harder it is to decrypt. What’s more, they suggest that organizations that require new passwords meet a certain criteria of complexity (letters, symbols, changes of case) actually make passwords less secure.
The reasoning behind this is two-fold. First, most users, in an attempt to complicate their passwords will either make them too complicated (and forget them) or they will take the cursory step of adding a one or an exclamation point to the end of a password, which doesn’t complicate the password as much, if at all. Secondly, the more complex a user makes a password, the more apt they are to use the same password for multiple accounts, which of course, is not a great idea.
#2 – Get Rid of the Resets
Many organizations like to have their staff reset their password every month or few months. This strategy is designed to give them the peace of mind that if a password were compromised that the replacement password would lock unauthorized users out after a defined set of time. What NIST suggests is that it actually works against your authentication security.
The reason for this is that if people have to set passwords up every few weeks or months, they will take less time and care on creating a password that will work to keep unwanted people out of the business’ network. Moreover, when people do change their password, they typically keep a pattern to help them remember them. If a previous password has been compromised, there is a pretty good chance that the next password will be similar, giving the attacker a solid chance of guessing it quickly.
#3 – Don’t Hurt Security by Eliminating Ease of Use
One fallacy many network administrators have is that if they remove ease of use options like showing a password while a user types it or allowing for copy and pasting in the password box that it is more likely that the password will be compromised. In fact, the opposite is true. Giving people options that make it easier for them to properly authenticate works to keep unauthorized users out of an account.
#4 – Stop Using Password Hints
One popular way systems were set up was to allow them to answer questions to get into an account. This very system is a reason why many organizations have been infiltrated. People share more today than ever before and if all a hacker needs to do is know a little personal information about a person to gain access to an account, they can come across that information online; often for free.
#5 – Limit Password Attempts
If you lock users out after numerous attempts of entering the wrong credentials, you are doing yourself a service. Most times people will remember a password, and if they don’t they typically have it stored somewhere. Locking users out of an account, at least for a short period of time is a good deterrent from hackers that use substitution codes to try and guess a user’s credentials.
#6 – Use Multi-factor Authentication
At Point North Networks, Inc., we urge our clients to use multi-factor or two-factor authentication on every account that allows them to. According to NIST they want users to be able to demonstrate at least two of three authentication measures before a successful login. They are:
- “Something you know” (like a password)
- “Something you have” (like a mobile device)
- “Something you are” (like a face or a fingerprint)
It stands to reason that if you can provide two out of three of those criteria, that you belong accessing the system or data that is password protected.
Security has to be a priority for your business, and password creation has to be right up there with the skills everyone should have. If you would like to talk to one of our IT experts about password management and how we can help your business improve its authentication security, give us a call today at 651-234-0895.
3 Ways to Improve Communication In Your Small Business
When we say “improve communications” you probably are expecting an article about telephone systems or which video conferencing platform works the best. Normally, you’d be right, but today we decided to briefly go over four ways that you can foster better communications between management and their employees inside of your business.
We know that good, effective communication can be tricky, but if you can set up constructive give-and-take, your business is sure to benefit from it. Let’s take a look at four ways your business can create an environment where communication actually helps your business.
Create a Collaborative Company Culture
A collaborative company culture is one where people trust others to pick them up when they need help to produce the best products and services possible. It’s true that every business relies on the efforts of their employees. Why then are there often such efforts taken to keep them out of the loop? Sure, the staff doesn’t need to know everything in order to do their jobs, but in order to build the relationships necessary to create trust, being transparent about how things are going and the goals you have for the business is a solid practice.
If everyone that works toward a singular goal understands where the organization stands, they will not only be open to being helpful toward others inside the business, they are more likely to provide feedback that is a key resource to better business processes.
Listen to Learn
Business is often fast-paced and doesn’t offer a lot of time for reflection. This is why when employees talk, managers have to listen. The truth is that people aren’t adept at listening. Everyone has their own responsibilities and sometimes the thought of taking more on is impossible. For decision makers, it can be difficult to listen to superfluous information that doesn’t have anything to do with getting the job done.
Well, it’s your job to listen.
If you want to have the kind of business where communication is a major part of what you do, you better listen. Most of those superfluous gripes are not actionable, sure, but if you just don’t listen to what your staff is saying and go about dictating what needs to be done without taking any of their suggestions or comments or complaints seriously, you are going to be in for a tough time. You can’t make everyone happy, but what you can do is listen to the people you depend on if only to ascertain their perspective.
Don’t Rely on Meetings
If you are going to make an announcement to the staff, a staff meeting is the best way to do so. You can gather everyone there either in the conference room or via video conference and make announcements. If you are looking to enhance communications, however, meetings are some of the worst settings for communication between people. Firstly, people never say what they are thinking as to not rock the boat or cause arguments, so they are much more conservative in a meeting setting.
If you want more effective communications, choose settings that will keep people from putting their defenses up. That means smaller meetings or one-on-ones. You’ll get more out of many smaller chats than you ever will out of a large-scale meeting. Managers should always encourage feedback and accept it with grace, and check in on those they manage from time to time. Your managers should also expect to be checked in on by those above them too.
Solid communications can boost productivity and the morale of your entire organization. What do you think? Do you have any other tips that can help knock down barriers and create a better flow of information within your business? Leave your comments below and reach out to us at 651-234-0895 to talk with us about finding the technology to improve your business’ communications.
Counting the Reasons for the 3-2-1 Data Backup Rule
I hope I don’t have to tell you how important your business’ data is to its continued survival, just as I hope I don’t need to explain why this makes this data a priority to protect, regardless of your business’ size. What I do want to explain is the concept of the 3-2-1 Rule and how it pertains to your data backup, and why we would recommend that one for your business’ purposes.
What Makes a Data Backup Such an Important Asset?
In a word: insurance.
Data is, as we’ve well established, a crucial component to your business’ continued operations and survival. Tons of it is generated, collected, stored, and updated each day to support our daily lives. If a business were to lose the data that it had accumulated, it would suddenly find itself in a very bad spot.
This is what makes the idea of a data backup such a good one—in many cases, it is this backup that keeps a business from going under. Of course, this requires that the data backup be properly maintained as well.
To put themselves in the position that offers the most success, we generally recommend that businesses prepare their data backups in accordance with the 3-2-1 Rule.
What is the 3-2-1 Rule of Data Backup?
Simple: keep at least three copies of your data, in two mediums or formats, at least one copy of which kept off site and separate from the others.
Why multiple copies? Multiple copies ensure that—should one of your backups become corrupted or infected or otherwise infiltrated, you have a spare or two to fall back on. While we say three, three should really be considered the bare minimum.
Why multiple formats or mediums? Well, consider what would happen if you made yourself two lunches in case it rained, but packed both into a paper bag. With both in a paper bag, the backup lunch would end up equally soggy as the original lunch. Keeping your backup in a different format or storage medium helps prevent it from being impacted by the same thing that damages the original.
Why the offsite version? Keeping a backup offsite helps to ensure that—even if a disaster were to completely annihilate your business’ physical location—the data you rely on would still be accessible to you by virtue of the data backup. This gives us something else that is important to consider: the concept of an “air gap” in terms of data security.
What is an “Air Gap?”
Let’s go back to our “backup lunch” example, for a moment. While having an extra lunch was a good idea—our example made it clear why—keeping it so close to the original removed its benefits. However, if we were to take the same concept of having a backup lunch and add in an air gap (keeping an extra lunch in the break room at work, or stashing a few bucks to order something out, perhaps), we removed the threat of a single disaster preventing us from eating.
In terms of the data on your network, an air gap is just that—physical distance and separation helping to isolate resources and protect them from many threats.
Point North Networks, Inc., is here to help businesses like yours manage all the complexities of their technology so that you have more room to succeed. Give us a call at 651-234-0895 today to find out more.
Why Phishing Attacks Such a Huge Risk for Your Business
As one of the biggest cybersecurity considerations the modern business has to make, how to combat phishing attacks has to be at the top of any business’ cybersecurity strategy. The effects of phishing attacks on a business can be far-reaching and long-lasting. Phishing attacks
Let’s take a look at phishing and why it’s such a big problem for today’s business.
Why are Phishing Attacks Such a Huge Risk for Your Business
The effects of phishing attacks on a business can be far-reaching and long-lasting. One of the most significant impacts of phishing attacks is data breach. When a data breach happens through a phishing attack, it can cause severe business disruption and you must remain at your vigilant best to secure your business from a phishing attack.
Some other ways in which phishing attacks can impact your business are by damaging your reputation, loss of money and customer data, identity theft, loss of financial information, loss of company value, and intellectual property, and disruption of other operational activities. Put together, all these effects can create irreplaceable repercussions.
While any security threat can hurt a business, a phishing attack is of grave consequence because of its nature types. So, before we get to the deeper end of why phishing attacks are so serious for businesses, let’s learn about the common types of phishing attacks. It will give you a better understanding of how to avoid them and take corrective measures.
What is a phishing attack?
A phishing attack is a cyber-criminal activity that is aimed at getting sensitive business information like logins, certifications, and other important business data. Gordon Lawson, a member of the Forbes Council describes a phishing attack as a combination of two major components. He says, “A successful phishing campaign originates from two key factors: people and process. When a threat actor is able to successfully manipulate a user to engage with malicious content while simultaneously running the tactical details of the campaign and infiltrating the system, traditional security defenses are evaded.”
A phishing attack can come in the shape of phishing emails, phishing websites, phishing messages or instant messages. When users open any of this malicious content, they can fall prey to phishing attacks.
Some of the most common signs of such attacks include dangers or urgency from the sender, a message style or tone that is unusual or out of context, making peculiar requests to complete tasks that are totally unrelated to you, having strange web addresses and demands of payments or to disclose personal information or sensitive data. These are definite red flags and users must avoid clicking on emails that have these characteristics.
A successful phishing attack forces or lures users to click on the messages sent and divulge in providing sensitive information. Once the malicious links are clicked, the attackers gain access to your systems and get what they want.
Types of phishing attacks
Phishing attacks are a deceptive way of getting access to sensitive information without the user knowing it. Phishing attacks can also come in the form of a request to install malware, phishing scam or ransomware. Phishing attacks must be taken seriously because they can come in different avatars like Spear Phishing, email phishing, CEO Fraud, Whaling, etc. Here are some common types of phishing attacks.
Email phishing
This is the most common type of phishing attack. In this scenario, suspected phishing emails are sent to the users in the garb of an authentic organization. Such phishing emails get scammers access to a huge number of users registered on a website. That’s why phishing emails are often sent to a mass of users for en masse data breaches.
Clone phishing
Clone phishing is all about attackers cloning an actual email that a user might have received. By cloning the original email, the scammers replace attachments or links with malicious ones and once the user clicks on them, they become the target.
Phishing emails that come through clone phishing have a sense of urgency. They will often request you take immediate action to make use of an existing offer or threaten the closure of your account if you don’t change the username or password, resulting in a data breach These are quite tempting and users often fall prey to them.
Domain spoofing
This is the third kind of email phishing and it comes in the form of domain spoofing. In this form of a phishing attack, scammers spook an established organization’s domain name, making it look like you have received an authentic email.
The scammers can only mimic the organization’s address and the email would contain a unique email address. These phishing attacks can also create a fraudulent website that looks very close to the real one. The original website designs are replicated, and even though the domain is similar, they are not identical.
Spear phishing
Spear phishing is a form of phishing attack where phishers target a specific group of users rather than attack generic ones. Spear phishing, a form of social engineering, works because they are so personalized, making the users think that they are genuine.
These phishing emails are personalized using the recipient’s name, phone number, company, or other similar information. Such personalizations make them more believable. Since such phishing attacks require acquiring precise data and personal information, Spear phishing usually happens on various social media sites like LinkedIn. These can also be seen as a form of social engineering attack.
Whaling
This kind of phishing attack is another form of spear phishing that targets wealthy and high-profile individuals like CEOs. Targeting such high-profile people is not easy and so scammers use techniques like sending phishing emails about filing tax returns, upgrading login credentials for login, etc. Such phishing emails also contain personalized information about the recipient, making them more believable.
A successful whaling attack usually is the first step towards Advanced Persistent Threats (APT), resulting in CEO Fraud. Spear phishing must be taken very seriously as it can cause severe business disruption.
CEO Fraud
In this form of phishing attack, scammers impersonate a CEO by using information through compromised emails sent during whaling. Through this, scammers can do third-party transfers or file fake IT returns on behalf of the organization.
Such phishing emails target the lower-level employees of the organization, who spring to action seeing an email from their CEO, falling easy prey to the phishing attack. These are extremely sophisticated forms of social engineering and are believed to cost billions of dollars to companies in the US alone, causing business disruption across industries.
Evil Twin
Can there be something more dangerous than a malicious Wifi network? Frequented by several users to access free wifi, such hotspots are ver targets for a cyber attack. As users connect to this fake wifi, the scammers steal the usernames and passwords of their social media and bank accounts.
The phishers can gain access to a host of information while the users browse or surf on the compromised wifi networks.
Effects of phishing attacks on Business
Phishing attacks can be a nightmare for businesses amounting to a loss of sensitive information, financial information, customer data, identity theft, trade secrets, data loss, and even access to bank details. It can result in direct monetary losses as well.
Let’s look at the impact of phishing attacks on businesses in detail.
Reputational damage
Once the news of a data breach comes out, the reputation of a company takes a major hit. Several headlines like “British Airways data breach: Russian hackers sell 245,000 credit card details” and “EasyJet admits data of nine million hacked” were widely distributed and consumed across the internet.
The reputational damage caused by such headlines can take years to be forgotten from popular memory, amounting to incremental loss to the companies.
Customer loss
If you thought that reputational loss was a huge adversary, it is only the beginning. Incidences of data breaches make customers quite nervous, especially if it’s a bank. Data from a recent report revealed that 44% of users of a UK-based firm stopped doing business with them for months after the news of the data breach broke. 41% of consumers said that they will never want to do business with the company again.
This kind of loss of customers can make it really difficult for businesses to win back and the trust is lost. Winning that trust back is a huge uphill task.
Loss of company value
Apart from impacting customer confidence, data breaches also affect investors’ confidence. Data shows that every data breach results in a fall of 7.27% of fall in a company’s share value. When Facebook’s user data was leaked in 2018, it lost close to $36 billion. Similarly, the British Airways data breach saw a 4% drop in its share in the same year.
Financial Penalties
Data breaches or mishandling of consumer data attract several regulatory and financial penalties as well. In 2020, the British Airways data breach also attracted a fine of 20 million UK pounds by the IOC following the 2018 data breach where the data of more than 400,000 consumers was compromised.
Similar to the British Airways data breach, a phishing incident with Marriott Hotels attracted heavy fines. They had to shell out 18.4 million UK pounds post the 2014 data breach.
Business disruption
Every data breach amounts to business disruption, irrespective of its scale. Phishing attacks paralyze businesses as staff is unable to work post a data breach and there is no data available. Even consumers find it difficult to interact with businesses in such a scenario.
Even though businesses are able to bounce back within 24 hours, any loss of time and productivity can have a long-lasting impact on the commercials.
How to prevent a phishing attack
Now that we know how a phishing attack can cause severe damage to a business, let’s get to know how you can prevent such incidents from happening. Here are the best ways of doing so:
Understand how a phishing scam looks like
Being vigilant and aware of the latest phishing scams is the best way of safeguarding yourself from a phishing incident. There are websites that list the latest phishing attack trends. Keep an eye on them.
Don’t click on anything, well, fishy
One of the most common ways of falling prey to a phishing attack is by clicking on a malicious link. It is better to visit the website directly rather than clicking on an unknown link, no matter how irresistible it looks.
Anti-phishing add-on to the rescue
Most web browsers provide free anti-phishing add-ons that alert you of a malicious link or a phishing attack. Install these to be safe.
Don’t share sensitive information on unknown site
Be careful of which site you feed your sensitive information on. Any website without “http” or a padlock icon should be avoided. The same goes for websites without security certificates.
Change your passwords regularly
You might not even know if the login credentials of your online bank account or social media accounts have been compromised and scammers will continue to have unlimited access to it. Changing your password regularly is a good habit to inculcate.
Be alert to be safe
Some of the other things you can do to be safe are installing firewalls, not clicking on any pop-ups, regularly updating your browsers, not giving information on a website unless absolutely necessary, and having a Data Security Platform to spot signs of a phishing attack.
Why Phishing Attacks are Such a Threat to Businesses
Phishing scams are more common than you think. In many cases, businesses don’t even realize that they have been scammed, which is the worst case possible.
You’ve Probably Been Phished
When trying to explain what phishing scams are to someone who has no idea about it, we typically start with the namesake. Phishing is the same as fishing. A hacker will bait a hook and users will bite on it. It’s that simple. Instead of worms or minnows, a cyber attack like a phishing attempt needs some bait that will fool an unsuspecting computer user into providing sensitive information that will allow a hacker to access secured networks and steal or corrupt data.
To say that this method is effective would be an understatement. First of all, the massive breadth of attacks—there are literally millions of these attacks per day—results in high levels (and low percentages) of successful attacks. In fact, 88% of organizations that were polled claimed to experience at least one phishing attack in 2019. In 2020, phishing emails were one of every 4,200 emails sent or about 73 million. The pace has actually quickened in 2021.
Successful phishing attacks result in:
- Stolen credentials
- Compromised networks
- Installing malware
- Loss of sensitive information
- Creation of a fake login page
- Loss of financial information
- Compromised credentials
- Loss of consumer confidence as well as investor confidence
- Compromised company’s reputation
- Increased fraudulent activity
Phishing is More Prevalent Than Ever
Phishing has been an issue for quite a while, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding jump in remote work provided the perfect opportunity for these scammers to operate. In 2020, 75% of worldwide organizations were targeted by cyber attacks, while 74% of US businesses fell prey to cyber attacks in some way. Increased use of social media has also made users easy prey to cyber criminals.
This often led to massive losses, some $3.92 million on average. That’s an average and takes into account loss of productivity from downtime, data breach, deterioration of consumer confidence, and other factors.
It is therefore important that you do what you can to train your staff about how to recognize and thwart phishing attempts before they have a chance to have a negative effect on your business.
Point North Networks, Inc., can help you put together a training strategy, as well as put together tools to help you keep your network and data safe. Call us at 651-234-0895 to learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions About Phishing Attacks
What are some of the most common ways a phishing attack happen?
A phishing attack is a form of cyber-attacks where scammers target users through phishing emails or unsolicited emails, instant messaging, clicking on links to malicious websites, sending malicious emails that look like a legitimate email, voice phishing, phishing messages, targeting social media pages of users, etc.
What are the main aims of phishing attacks?
Scammers aim at unprepared users for various reasons. These include gaining privileged access to sensitive information, financial information, important company information, user credentials, data breach, installing malware and ransomware, and a lot more.
How phishing impacts a company?
A phishing attack and cause a loss of company value, investor confidence and consumer confidence, the company’s reputation, etc. Such attacks can also result in the loss of money. Business disruption is the most common impact a business faces. Data breaches through phishing attacks can result in a substantial decrease in productivity.
Conclusion
Phishing attacks are a real threat to businesses, especially in today’s digital world where more and more information is being shared online. The need to be vigilant and alert has never been more than what it is now. Unless you act smart and understand phishing, you are most likely to fall prey to phishers. Alternately, take professional help from experienced service providers like Point North Networks and stay safe at all times.
Policies that Every BYOD Strategy Needs to Abide By
One of the most effective means for a business to shave a few dollars off its budget (and potentially boost employee engagement, for that matter) is to adopt something called a Bring Your Own Device policy—effectively, an agreement that allows their team members to access business-owned documents and files on devices they personally own to get their work done. While these policies have been shown to be very effective, they also need to be carefully considered so they can be adopted appropriately.
Let’s take a few moments to review some practices that are recommended for a secure BYOD implementation.
Determine Acceptable Parameters
Device and OS Requirements
For your productivity to remain intact and for your organizational security to be preserved, the tools your team brings to use need to meet the baselines that you set—otherwise, there is likely to be a shortcoming that leaves an opening. Certain workflows may require a specific operating system to be used, simply for the processes to be compatible. Keeping track of your team’s chosen hardware will help you determine if their devices are eligible to participate.
Accepted Software
On the topic, your business workflows should have defined software solutions identified for your team to use so that processes can flow smoothly. Make sure your team knows that they are expected to use these titles for their work processes and that they are expected to have certain protections in place on their mobile devices before they can use them to work.
Upkeep Policies
When using a personal device to access your business’ network, there needs to be some supported expectation that the user will ensure that the device remains functional and secure. This could mean that only authorized dealers or professionals are authorized to perform basic maintenance tasks and that these tasks are carried out promptly.
Security Preparations
Encryption Policies
In terms of protecting your data from the prying eyes of hackers, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more effective method than encrypting it. Considering this, it is important that you encourage/require encryption to be put in place as a part of any BYOD policies you implement.
Password Standards
We know, we know… the importance of secure passwords is a topic that has been covered frontways, backways, and every which way for a long time. However, once people start to follow these guidelines, we’ll stop bringing it up. When it comes to strong passwords, make sure your team is using them on all their devices, and that these devices are set to lock if an incorrect password is repeatedly entered.
Data Handling Guidelines
Where your data is concerned, you need to also establish the proper means for it to be stored and accessed while an employee is using a personal device. Ideally, your BYOD plan will have the means to block any data transfers to an insecure device as well as establish the proper procedures for accessing this data.
Necessary Prerequisites
Data Removal Circumstances
When an employee’s device has access to your company’s data via a BYOD strategy, it is critical that you retain the means to rescind that access as needed—like if a device is lost or stolen, or if an employee leaves the company. You may also want to include the right to review an employee’s device for company-owned data so that it can be removed if they were to leave so that your data isn’t brought elsewhere or abused.
Lost or Stolen Device Procedures
On the topic, your team needs to have a reporting process to follow should something happen to their device that will help to ensure that mitigating actions can be appropriately taken. Reinforce that these reports need to be promptly submitted to help minimize the potential impact of such occurrences.
Breach of Policy Consequences
Finally, you need to establish how employees will be reprimanded should these policies go unheeded or disregarded. While the loss of BYOD privileges is a common tactic, you should also seriously consider what is acceptable before an employee should be terminated. Once these distinctions have been made, share that information with your team when they opt into your BYOD implementation, so they are aware of the severity of such indiscretions.
A Bring Your Own Device policy is an essential piece of the modern office’s IT considerations and is something that we can help you out within much more detail. Find out what needs to be done by calling 651-234 0895 today.
An Entire Year Later, Remote Conferencing Still Makes Workers Nervous
For all its benefits, remote conferencing isn’t the easiest means of doing work for many people, as many have found out through experience. With businesses quite literally forced into this approach for some time now, employees are starting to feel the toll. Let’s discuss some of the impacts that long-term remote conferencing has had, and what can be done to minimize them.
Conferencing Can Be Stressful…
…although I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that.
Widespread remote conferencing has been an asset for many businesses for over a year at this point, in many cases allowing them to remain open when they would otherwise have little choice than to close. As a result, many people have remained employed during a time when many simply have not had that luxury.
Of course, there has been a cost—a cost which, for many, has been deducted from their mental health.
Consider the implications that come with mandated remote conferencing: not only are your team members communicating primarily through a screen for most of the day, but there’s also a good chance that most of their social life has been digitized as well. It should come as no surprise, then, that conferencing can lead to something now commonly referred to as “Zoom anxiety.”
Named for the conferencing app that saw significant gains from this time in isolation, Zoom anxiety is more or less what it sounds like: nervous onsets and tics developing in response to perceived challenges and embarrassments while video conferencing. Whether you’re afraid of what your coworkers might hear through your mic, see through your webcam, or even not see or hear due to technical difficulties, Zoom anxiety can have some unpleasant impacts.
The Various Causes and Effects of Zoom Anxiety
Embarrassing oneself in front of coworkers, managers, and clientele isn’t a new phobia. However, with the tendency that many people have to let their guard down in the home, remote conferencing brings those fears from the conventional workplace into the home.
Consider, for a moment, the advertisements that the coffee brand Folgers has been running—where remote employees compensate for stressful situations caused by remote work with a cup ‘o’ joe. These ads, one featuring a woman smoothly using her mug to obscure her curious son from view and the other playing on the classic working-at-home-without-pants gag with brand-accurate red underwear, put a lighthearted face on very real concerns that people have developed.
Apple has taken a similar tack, showcasing their collaborative solutions by telling the story of a team of “Underdogs” who work through the stresses of remote operations to collaboratively build a better mousetrap (or in their case, pizza box).
Amusing as these ads may be to view as an audience member, many remote workers now understand that the anxiety these scenarios cause isn’t something that can be chuckled off—regardless of how funny it was to see Professor Robert Kelly’s kids crash his 2017 interview with BBC News.
This is particularly the case for quieter and less-extroverted employees, who would prefer to primarily be seen in the office, not so much heard. It can also be challenging for those who feel that the theatre of video collaboration puts the pressure on to perform more than they would in person. Many people have become overly aware of their own body language, distracting them from the substance of what is being said.
Numerous gendered issues have been shown to be exacerbated, with the too-common issues of women being spoken over or judged negatively for speaking too much, happening more frequently than in an in-person setting.
The casual office conversations that once fostered cooperation and even helped pave the way to better business relationships and advancement opportunities are gone—and we haven’t even mentioned the tendency for awkward silences to arise, only to be broken by two people speaking up simultaneously and immediately deferring the floor to the other.
Fortunately, these are ways that one’s anxieties can be quelled, regardless of whether they come from technical issues, miscommunications, or simple discomfort with the situation.
How to Reduce Zoom Anxiety
There are a few ways that you and your team can fight back the nerves that come from an overexposure to video conferencing.
Reconsider the Need for Video at All
Before you access a call, ask yourself how important it is for you to be seen in this meeting—or if video is even necessary. Sometimes, a simple call will do the job just fine, and won’t require your team members to put themselves on display.
Get Rid of the Mirror
One of the most common places for people to look while in a remote meeting is actually at the image of themselves that most platforms will provide… studies have shown as much to be true. As you can imagine, this can lead to employees stressing about their appearance and mannerisms far more than they normally would, adding to their distraction and distress. Encourage your team members to disable the self-preview feature in your chosen collaboration solution to avoid self-inflicted criticism.
Cover Your Camera
For privacy’s sake, make sure your team knows that it is okay for them to cover their physical camera. This way, they can enjoy their privacy until the need arises for them to be visible. A piece of tape or a small sticky note can suffice, but dedicated covers are also available for that very purpose.
Have Someone Take Point
One of the biggest issues that remote collaboration can bring about is the perceived lack of structure that a meeting has. Like we mentioned above with the extended silences and overlapped talking, it can be hard for people to gauge when it is the right time to speak up. Assigning someone to chair the meeting enables that person to direct the attention of the group to the person who is contributing.
Grin and Bear It
Finally, it is perhaps most important that everyone in your organization understands that real life is still a thing, especially when someone is working from home. As such, some background noise or other such interruption is only to be expected. Make sure you are open with your team about understanding the realities of their situation and work with them through it.
We’re Here to Help You with the Technical Aspects of Remote Collaboration
Of course, the most positive outlook in the world isn’t going to make your remote interactions any more productive if the infrastructure isn’t there to support them. Point North Networks, Inc., can help you acquire, introduce, and manage the solutions you need to take your remote collaboration to the next level. Give us a call at 651-234-0895 to find out more about what we can deliver.
The Right IT Can Be a Real Moneymaker for Your Business
All businesses, in some way, shape, or form, exist to generate revenue—whether their profits are retained for their own benefit or dedicated to supporting some other cause. Either way, this balance makes the difference between the investments a business makes and the return these investments see a critical consideration. By using modern technology, today’s organizations can tip this balance to be more in their favor.
Let’s consider three ways that you could leverage technology to ultimately benefit your cash flows.
Improving Operational Efficiency
Let’s jump right into it and acknowledge something: the more you can effectively accomplish with the time, energy, and resources you’ve invested, the better off your company will be. Today’s technology offers a means of doing so through automation.
Rather than having an employee commit time to certain tasks, modern IT can easily carry out these tasks with minimal oversight or interaction. With predetermined triggers to instigate key processes, you and your team can spend less time on busy work and more on tasks that will help to increase your business’ dealings.
Whether you need to track and organize data, send out repetitive communications, or generate insights and reports, there are some means of carrying these out properly.
Subscribe to Business Services
Business technology is, in a word, expensive. Whether you need a specific software suite to support your operations, or improved infrastructure hardware, or more storage space for your team to use, the associated costs are typically substantial if you plan to support it yourself.
Now, today’s technology opens a new option: cloud-based services. These services can be tailored to better fit the situation of the business using them, in terms of the number of users and specific services rendered. That way, you can optimize your budgetary spend to suit your precise needs, eliminating waste and freeing up more of your budget than otherwise possible. Furthermore, these services give you more flexibility overall, as your delivered services can be trimmed to match your precise needs more closely.
Reconsidering IT Expenses
On the topic of cloud-hosted services, the pricing structure these offer can also assist you in optimizing your budgetary spend. Rather than a single, lump-sum price to be paid up front, the cost of cloud-hosted software services is billed per month as a subscription. This helps to make your expenditures far more predictable, assisting you in managing your available budget, while also offering flexibility as your needs change over time.
Furthermore, not all cloud providers and vendors are created equal, and the market is volatile enough that one service might not always be the best option for you at a given time. Therefore, you should regularly go over your available options to ensure that you are investing as much as you can in the ideal choices.
Managed IT services offer many of these qualities, enabling you to squeeze every bit of value out of the technology you rely on. Find out more about what Point North Networks, Inc., can do for you by calling 651-234-0895.
Does Your Organization Have Enough Bandwidth?
A lot of business is being conducted over the Internet right now, in terms of communication and transactions alike, which makes a business’ capability to remain connected to its clientele even more important. Now is not the time to wonder if your business is as connected as it should be, which means that you need to know how much bandwidth you have available—and that what you do have is sufficient.
Does Your Business Have Enough Bandwidth?
Obviously, if your business is experiencing bottlenecks, the answer to this question is no. Unfortunately, many organizations will simply adjust and adapt to these inefficiencies and “make it work” (to a point, at least). Despite this, you need to be sure that you at least know how much bandwidth your business should have to meet its needs.
In addition to this, it is important to be sure that your Internet service can support your needs. With so many options—including Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Cable Modem, Fiber, Wireless, Satellite, or Broadband over Powerlines (BPL), and more—you need to know if your capacity is sized to match your consumption, and that you’re getting all you can for your investment.
Point North Networks, Inc., can help you figure this out by evaluating your broadband needs and work with your ISP to ensure you’re getting everything they should be delivering.
When it comes to your broadband, here are some important things to keep in mind:
Run a Speed Test
A speed test is a great way to establish your current access to bandwidth and whether it is sufficient for your productivity. An internet consultant will have plenty of testing tools to use, but you should also take a moment to visit speedtest.net or another speed testing utility to help inform your conversation with them.
Here are some measurements to examine:
- Ping, or latency, is how you measure the reaction time of your connection. For instance, how quickly a webpage can recognize that another tab has been opened. Issues here could come from your Internet service provider (ISP), an improperly configured firewall, router, or modem, and your overall bandwidth. A ping of about 20ms is good, as a lower ping indicates a better-performing connection.
- Upload and download speed are another important consideration, as the speed of the data that you push out of and pull into your computer will help you evaluate your bandwidth. As downloads are typically more common than uploads in the business setting, it is normal for bandwidth to be more focused on downloads.
How Wi-Fi Will Factor In
Wi-Fi is a significant utility in any office, especially with the mobility that so many offices rely on nowadays—particularly when personal space is as large of a concern as it is now. This makes the prospect of losing connection in the office such an issue.
Unoptimized wireless can seriously hinder business productivity, and these issues are only worsened by insufficient bandwidth. Productivity issues are often the inciting factor behind the use of shadow IT, where these obstacles lead employees to install and utilize unapproved software without your knowledge.
Does Your Business Need More Than You Have?
If its bandwidth is insufficient for its needs, your business simply won’t have the capability to support its services sufficiently for your customers. In this way, your bottom line could be seriously impacted by any holdbacks—especially with so many of your customer-focused services being based online.
Your broadband is what also allows your team to work productively. Today’s popular conferencing solutions require a large amount of bandwidth to work effectively, and while VoIP isn’t all that resource intensive, it does require some reliable bandwidth availability. Without the resources to support your processes, they are guaranteed to become a problem sooner or later.
Lean on Us for Help with Your Connectivity
It isn’t a secret that the Internet plays a mammoth role in modern business, in such a way that a prepackaged, one-size-fits-all strategy just won’t sufficiently fill. With Point North Networks, Inc., in your corner, you’ll have a resource to turn to so that you are sure to get the connectivity you need to compete and grow.
For any assistance with your company’s use of technology, give us a call at 651-234-0895 today.
