FireLogic

Interested in cyber hygiene and security best practices for your digital lifestyle? FireLogic is putting its teaching hat back on! Come the evening of Tues Oct 3, our President Derrick Wlodarz and a few colleagues are putting on a live in-person class at the Park Ridge Public Library covering this very topic! Lecture to be followed by a full Q&A with the audience.
Space is limited (and filling up) and you have to pre register to attend! Link to sign up is below:

https://parkridgelibrary.libcal.com/event/10798661

Change is the only constant in the universe.

That, and no one ever plugs in USB devices the right way the first time. Make that two universal constants.

FireLogic is witnessing a big change. Our VP of Operations, Jacob Balson is moving on to another organization. The greatest asset of any organization is its people. After 8 years on this team, we are losing one of our best people.

Best wishes from the team on your future endeavors, JB!

We live in some challenging times. We help our clients avoiding cybercrime, and organizations like Self-Help Closet & Pantry of Des Plaines help people who have fallen on hard times. We were thrilled to help with collecting non-perishable food and baby wipes at an annual stop of a bus tour put on by some of the best IT vendors. We have been honored by the The MSP Initiative a few times now to help secure a venue for the tour's Chicago location. Thanks to all parties involved, including a special shout out to Henry L Timm and Technology Solutions for his whole team walking up with armfuls of contributions. Thanks George Bardissi, Sade Mendez, Kenneth Patterson from the excellent Pax8 , the Carbon Systems team, and everyone involved with !

FireLogic updated their information in their About section.

Missed our "Cyber Security & Safety 101" Virtual Class from last Thurs night? No problem - we've got the full recording available on our YouTube Channel for your viewing pleasure. The class was presented live on 1/13/2022 for patrons of the Park Ridge Public Library community and we had a stellar showing of almost 40 attendees. Topics covered real world best practices from online banking, to safe P2P shopping & payments, all the way to ransomware and how to keep yourself protected, and much more! Many thanks for everyone who attended live via Zoom and we're looking forward to seeing you all on future live classes!

CLASS: Cyber Security & Safety 101 - LIVE Virtually for Park Ridge Library (01/13/2022) FireLogic team members Derrick Wlodarz and Michael Schultz presented a 1.5 hour virtual lecture for the patrons of the Park Ridge Library on the evening of J...

The first in a new series of FireLogic testimonial videos is live on our YouTube Channel! This entry focuses on a very special client we support, that handles curation and archiving of all things related to the city where our company HQ is located - the Des Plaines History Center. Have a watch as Executive Director Philip Mohr discusses how Managed IT Support from FireLogic has enabled the DPHC to focus less on technology issues, and more on the critical task of preserving Des Plaines history.

FireLogic Client Testimonial: Des Plaines History Center Executive Director of the Des Plaines History Center, Philip Mohr, took a few moments out of his busy day to speak to the strong, ongoing relationship with F...

Big thanks to the entire extended family of Team FireLogic for coming out to our 2021 holiday party this past Sat night! Always an amazing time enjoying some good socializing outside of the office. And special kudos to our official "2nd Half of 2021 MVP" .... Richard K 😁😁 He swept the vote like a real champ and he deserved the recognition! Special shout out to Replay Lincoln Park and their amazing Squid Game theme 👌thanks for making our evening one to remember!

Kudos to the Park Ridge Library for promoting our upcoming free class for residents! Our company has always loved giving back to the community and this is just another extension of the relationship we enjoy with the PRPL that continues onward now a decade strong. If you wish to attend, registration IS required and you can learn more on the library website: https://www.parkridgelibrary.org/

Update your iPhones now!

From cnet:

"Apple released security updates for its iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and Mac computers earlier this week that close a vulnerability reportedly exploited by invasive spyware built by NSO Group, an Israeli security company.

The fix, earlier reported by The New York Times, stems from research done by a public interest cybersecurity group called Citizen Lab that found a Saudi activist's phone had been infected with Pegasus, NSO's best-known product. According to Citizen Lab, the zero-day, zero-click exploit against iMessage, which it nicknamed ForcedEntry, targets Apple's image rendering library and was effective against the company's iPhones, laptops and Apple Watches. "

Got questions on how to update your Apple gear? Call Mike at 312-445-0702 and set up an appointment with one of FireLogic's technicians.

No long waits at the Apple store with us!

Since the virus canned our 2020 holiday party, what better way to celebrate the FireLogic anniversary than... an Xmas in July party?! Team members past and present made it out for a night of fun & catching up this past weekend at the always-stellar Main Event. And a BIG BIG congrats to the team member voted MVP of the year, Seth E! Thanks to all who came out for our delayed holiday party, and we hope to see you for the 2021 party (that should be back on schedule finally -- hopefully) 🙃

FireLogic's good friend and frequent collaborator Lori Tisinai is hosting the ITO Compass Security Soirée, August 3rd. https://itocompass.com/

"I hope that you will be able to join me and other community members as we discuss security, how to stay cyber resilient and keep our clients cyber secure.

The ticket price is $39 and the first 39 people that sign up will get entered to win some pretty amazing give away items. If you cannot attend in person and still want to get all the benefits of attending (trust me, you want to attend ) the price is $39. This event will be live, streamed and recorded."

Join Lori, the FireLogic team, and many of our midwest-area peers for an informative and fun day!

IT Owner’s Compass – Chicago, 2020 LEARN. GROW. SUCCEED. Get Help Navigating your IT Business in Chicago, April 23-25, 2020

"What Is a TPM, and Why Do I Need One for Windows 11?" https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-a-tpm-and-why-do-i-need-one-for-windows-11
This a great primer for preparing for Windows 11.

*We recommend waiting to test drive the new OS until it is further along in it's evolution.

What Is a TPM, and Why Do I Need One for Windows 11? Microsoft says its upcoming Windows 11 operating system will require the presence of a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which has raised a storm of doubt and uncertainty. What exactly is TPM, and does your PC already have it? Here's what you need to know.

Thankfully, James Chapman was incorrect.

Where else would we look at cat pictures and memes all day?

FireLogic will help your internet work better, for your business or home. Or your business AND home.

Whether it be by finding you a better internet service provider, eliminating a modem rental fee from your bill, or shoring up your security on your home network, call Mike at 312-445-0702.

Success can be measured by a variety of metrics.

We're very proud of one of our key metrics, customer ratings.

Our customers over the last 2 years have rated our technician's service with an average of 4.92/5. While we have room to improve, it is not selling ourselves short to say we have very satisfied customers.

If you're not one already, and need IT services for your home or business, give us a call at 312-445-0702.

Cyber-attacks are increasing, yet 68% of US small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have reduced spending.

Your business being disrupted from ransomware can be avoided.

Not only can we handle running low voltage wiring for your office's wired network, set up a secure wireless network, and procure your hardware. We can support you 24/7 with remote management and monitoring, and antivirus. We will devise a customized, economical, and effective approach to backup that will keep you safe from someone attacking your business.

If you need help, call Mike at FireLogic anytime at (312) 445-0702.

It's in the news every day.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/cyberattack-hits-world-s-largest-meat-supplier-n1269191

What can you do to avoid being another company throwing money away?

FireLogic has a proactive solution that will save your business from being critically disrupted by ransomware. We'll set up a backup plan, test your vulnerability for phishing campaigns, and manage your overall security.

Call Mike at FireLogic (312)445-0702, to make an appointment to discuss your company's security preparedness.

"All organizations must recognize that no company is safe from being targeted by ransomware, regardless of size or location."

Is your business protected?

FireLogic will assess your company's risk exposure. Don't let a lack of preparedness, or brushing off the daily news reports as only happening to "other companies" disrupt your business. 7 figure ransoms, and having your business disrupted for untold lengths of time are what you have to lose.

Call Michael Schultz at 312-445-0702, or email [email protected] to make an appointment.

White House pushes for companies to take ransomware more seriously after high-profile cyberattacks The White House has issued a rare open letter to companies calling on them to treat the threat of ransomware attacks with greater urgency, following back-to-back attacks by Russian hackers on key oil and food processing companies.

It feels good to help people.
We're looking forward to our next major opportunity.

Ransomware Boom Forces More Companies to Cut Deals With Criminals

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ransomware-boom-forces-more-companies-to-cut-deals-with-criminals-11621503002?st=8rra2pji5clnlvu&reflink=article_copyURL_share

Don't let a ransomware solution hold your business hostage.

Call us to discuss how to prepare for this possibility.

Ransomware Boom Forces More Companies to Cut Deals With Criminals A ransomware surge has created a cottage industry of negotiators who broker payouts.

Our thanks go to Ken Patterson from Pax8 , and our great friend Lori Tisinai for bringing FireLogic into the from the The MSP Initiative visit to last week.

We learned new approaches to fulfilling our customer's needs, met some of our vendors face to face for the first time, and collected a couple of red barrels full of non-perishable food for the Self-Help Closet & Pantry of Des Plaines.

https://mspinitiative.com/channel-strong/

Thanks also to https://www.facebook.com/whichwichdesplaines for the great lunch sandwiches.

bvoip Compliancy Group

We are so glad our friends and neighbors at JSD Professional Services, Inc. brought us a huge contribution to the Self-Help Closet & Pantry of Des Plaines. Today we are meeting with fellow Managed Service Providers at the Chicago stop to bring in some more contributions! The MSP Initiative bvoip Pax8 ThreatLocker, Inc Compliancy Group RocketCyber Zorus Trend Micro Equilibrium Consulting LLC ChannelPro Network

Progress update on our first day of our food drive:
thank you Debbie and Mr. Floor, for getting us started!

In our continued commitment to giving back to the community, we've teamed up with the Self-Help Closet & Pantry of Des Plaines to sponsor a month long food drive for the month of May -- leading all the way up to the Channel Strong event we are co hosting on May 20th with industry partners! The Self-Help Closet is a wonderful organization that provides food and clothing assistance to those in need within Des Plaines and the surrounding areas. If you want to help the cause, we have red collection bins at our office and are offering $10 service discount coupons to any non-commercial-client donors who bring in at least (2) non perishable items! Goods in high demand by the Pantry can be found on their website here: https://www.selfhelppantry.org
Help us help others in need!

Our office address & map can be found on our website here: https://firelogic.net/about-us/contact-us/
PS: Please call before coming (312-445-0702) to ensure we have staff in the office when you arrive!

Just in time for the holiday season.... FireLogic has a brand new 10 Year Anniversary limited edition graphic tee that will be going out to select clients soon! In honor of our decade of award-winning service & support, we had a super cool shirt designed and printed to commemorate this important year for us. It features our slick logo on the front; a smoldering version of our flame on your left side; and a special "10 Years" badge on the right arm.
Watch your mailbox as you may be on Santa's list of receiving one soon 😊😊

It was last week! Kittens crawling all over people & stuff for most of the day at the FireLogic offices..... we are thinking of making this a semi frequent tradition. 😂😂
Cat lovers agree? 🤔

was present at today's ITOCompass socially-distanced networking & lunch event in Park Ridge, sponsored by ID Agent! Derrick Wlodarz and Mike Schultz from our firm made the (short) trek out to a local backyard for some Panera and geek talk 😊😊

Diane Gets Overzealous With COVID-19 Temp Checks On Staff

Starting today, FireLogic officially began enforcement of daily temp checks on all staff working from our Des Plaines HQ. Our Office Manager, Diane Zamecnik, seems to be taking her role as official temp checker a bit too seriously.... as seen in this video, at the sole expense of our technician Jonpaul 😂😇😂

youtube.com Starting 9/4/2020, FireLogic began enforcing daily temp checks on all staff. Our Office Manager, Diane Zamecnik, is seemingly taking liberties with her role ...

Our company got the chance to be featured in a virtual livestream this morning with the always amazing Lori Tisinai from IT Owner's Compass! President Derrick Wlodarz and IT Sales Account Manager, Mike Schultz, co-hosted the livestream alongside Lori where a virtual tour of the entire office was provided in addition to a deep dive into our company's history, year over year growth, and how we deliver a top-notch client experience!

One of the great things about The IT/MSP community we have in Chicago are our great friends.

Yesterday we attended "Channel Strong, The Positive Vibes Tour" put on by a smorgasboard of great vendors and friends.

Lori Tisinai and the The MSP Initiative hosted the social-distanced network meet at the Chicago Yacht Club.
George from bvoip, Amy from Acronis, Compliancy Group, Liongard, Rev CB, SOCSoter, Inc., and Equilibrium Consulting to discuss how to navigate these tricky times. (We only got close to each other for the last photo, we don't want to even unknowingly spread covid). Another purpose was a food drive, and many cans of non-perishable food items were collected by the group.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored the meetup, and the message of community and good will was much appreciated.

The relationship between the Mr. Floor Companies and FireLogic runs deep.
Mike from our team plays in the American Heartland Ice Arena Rec League in with John from Mr. Floor, continuing the partnership of working together well into the later hours of the night.
Thanks for the partnership, John and Team Mr. Floor.
Go Chiberia Yeti!

Premier League's Return: A Hat Trick of Cyberthreats?

As we advance through the stages of the Covid-19 crisis, sports are starting to make their comeback.

Soccer (football) is making the first appearance, with the German Bundesliga 3 weeks ago, and the Premier League yesterday ( !).

Many users are trying to be thrifty, and not pay for streaming rights. Reddit streams or pirate feeds may seem tempting, but wait!

These kinds of links are assaults on pop-up and ad blockers, and there's a good reason. Not everyone is as careful as I.T. provider employees, so we recommend avoiding these match viewing options. Identity theft, phishing, and unwanted malware are rampant on most of these streams.

For a few dollars, BeIn Sports, and many other streaming services (YouTube TV, SlingTV) offer less-dangerous methods of keeping up with your club.

Having your identity stolen definitely isn't worth saving a few measly dollars every month.

threatpost.com The beautiful game is back on the pitch in the U.K. — and cyberattackers will be looking to take advantage of fans streaming the games.

Suffering from poor WiFi during this extended work from home lockdown? We can help! FireLogic is giving away (1) FREE Meraki Go 802.11ac access point to one lucky winner via raffle through June 15, 2020.

Want to enter? It's super simple:
1) Make sure you've "liked" the FireLogic page.
2) Post a simple, quick photo of your work from home computer setup on the FireLogic page.

FireLogic founder Derrick Wlodarz announced this raffle today in a special video on our YouTube Channel here: https://youtu.be/qt4JYdFL3_s

All legit entries received from May 25 to June 15, 2020 will be entered into the raffle, and one lucky winner will be drawn in late June. Open to USA residents only. We will notify the winner and cover all shipping costs for their Meraki Go to reach them via mail. No purchase necessary & no strings attached! You do NOT have to be a client of ours to enter the raffle.

~ Good luck from ! 😉

Is your server or internet failing with this morning's May showers?
Did a lightning strike make your screen blip, and your heart almost stopped while you tried to remember when you last saved your work?
Our clients can rest easy knowing they are protected with uninterruptible power supplies, and dependable backup setups.
Call Mike at 312-445-0702 if a new battery backup, or looking into failover/backup internet would help keep your business (and your heart) staying working in this weather!

Are you a first responder or healthcare worker in the metro Chicago area in need of computer support? For those working on the front lines during this tough time, FireLogic has our essential workers covered! Through May 31st, we're extending a complimentary (FREE) half hour of remote/phone computer (Windows/MAC) support for anyone working in these sectors. Timeslots are handled by appt only, and can be reserved by contacting us via phone or email: [email protected] OR 312-445-0702 x0 (M-F only, between 8am-5:30pm). Based on limited availability and a first-come, first-served basis.


Our founder, Derrick Wlodarz, posted a special video message to announce this promo: https://youtu.be/jubAbd1madQ

Need computer or IT support for your home or office during the lockdown? FireLogic has you covered! We're an essential service and STILL offering house calls by appt only during this tough time.
Here was our President, Derrick Wlodarz, personally handling a PC dropoff for a satisfied & very grateful customer in Des Plaines yesterday. Give us a call at 312-445-0702 if you need an SOS - we're still open and ready to help!

Happy May the Fourth! There are more reasons to not accept an invite from the Dark Lord than avoiding the force choke for having alerted the Rebels by coming out of lightspeed too close to the system.

FireLogic is sensitive to the security impact of what software our clients use. We are very conscious of the recent shift to the home workplace affecting the security of your network.

Is your home network security up to the task? If you have questions, as over a hundred local FireLogic customers know, we have answers. Call Mike at 312-445-0702 if you'd like us to discuss your home or business's online security.

Proactively addressing gaps may protect you from "choking" later.

Zoom privacy and security issues: Here's everything that's wrong (so far)

We talked about last week, and the problem we addressed blew up last weekend.

Zoom was originally intended for use in mostly larger businesses, ones with in-house IT departments that would have set up strong security measures. “Zoom-bombing” (as we discussed) made the news over the weekend on an NHL Zoom conference, where they experienced some unprompted bad behavior.

With some of the recent high-profile cases of Zoom security concerns, i.e. as outlined in this article from Toms Guide https://www.tomsguide.com/news/zoom-security-privacy-woes, the New York City Department of Education recently stated that they would no longer allow schools to use Zoom over security concerns.

If the NYC DoE decided to stop using Zoom, should you? Zoom is relatively secure now, but with the rapid scale increase not meeting the necessary security measures to match the explosive jump in scale, we recommend switching to other, tried and tested video conferencing platforms.

uses . We have adopted it as an organization, leaving behind services like Zoom and .

Staying safe inside also means keeping your digital information protected as well. The experts at FireLogic are here to help you with any questions you may have for yourself, your business, or your family when it comes to video conferencing tools. Interested in Teams, or keeping your Zoom conferences locked down? Call Mike at 312-445-0702, or email him at [email protected].

Stay safe!

tomsguide.com More than a dozen security and privacy problems have been found in Zoom recently. Here's an updated list.

During the current crisis, many people are working from home, and less likely to be protected by the more robust security used by most work networks.

What is the computer equivalent to having a mask to protect from virus infections? Frequently-updated antivirus, along with a good firewall/security appliance setup are the basics. Engaging a Managed IT Service Provider like FireLogic, with remote monitoring and management tools supervising your computers and network is even better.

If you need a partner to keep tabs on your IT infrastructure, including servers, desktops, applications and mobile devices by supplying performance data, and monitoring your network security, call Mike at 312-445-0702, or email him at [email protected].

Be safe!

Finishing up how to be more "cyber-secure", we have a last couple of suggestions.

1. Encrypt your devices. If you are in a field with HIPAA guidelines, you likely already do, If you have client information on your work-from-home computer, don't forget this step!

2.Choose loooooong passwords. Use unique passwords that are unrelated to your interests, family member's names/birthdays/pet's names. Also, use a password manager. FireLogic uses IT Glue. If we can help you, or your business stay secure with a service like they provide, contact us.

3. Use antivirus software. Update it as frequently as it will allow. Don't stop scans! You need annual checkups, your computer needs much more frequent ones.

4. Be careful. Paying attention to, and staying informed about major phishing attacks and viruses people are running into can be valuable.

Thanks for checking out FireLogic's Facebook, and if we can help with any of these tips for you or your business, call Mike at 312-445-0702.

Be safe!

Earlier today we posted 3 suggestions on how to be more "cyber-secure" at home. Here are a few more:

1. BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP! We use Datto's excellent, and highly rated Cloud Continuity and Office 365 backups to make sure our files and work are constantly backed up. If you need a suggestion from experts on what tool might fit your needs, give us a call.

2. Watch out for unsecure websites. Check the address you are clicking on. It may look the site you're looking for, but misspellings can mean someone steals your account login!

3. If you don't trust it, don't download it without asking FireLogic's technicians, or your trusted IT Security professional.

Later tonight we'll finish our suggestion on how to be more "cyber-secure" at home. Until then, please be safe!