North Bay Computer

Who owns the keys to your accounting software, CRM, and file storage?

Hopefully, the answer is your business—not “Steve’s Gmail account from 2019.”

Make sure:
▶️ The main admin account uses a company-owned email
▶️ At least two trusted people have admin access
▶️ Billing and recovery details are current
▶️ You can still get in when an employee leaves

Because critical business accounts should not walk out the door with someone’s personal phone number.

Not sure who owns your important accounts? Ask us to check them with you.

Sending the same email to a group of customers? Please do not turn the To field into a public directory.

Use BCC so each person gets the message without seeing everyone else’s email address, and so one enthusiastic “Reply All” does not become a company-wide event.

For newsletters or larger lists, use an email marketing platform instead. It handles unsubscribes properly and helps protect your customer list from accidental exposure.

Because “whoops, everyone can see everyone” is not the kind of transparency most customers are asking for.

Google Sheets just got a little less “spreadsheet” and a little more “build me something useful.”

With Gemini, you can now describe what you want in plain English and Sheets Canvas can turn your data into a dashboard, project board, or other interactive view. Even better, changes sync both ways, so you are not stuck updating the same information twice like it is 2009.

A couple of catches: it currently works with one spreadsheet tab at a time, and the first release is limited to certain Google AI, Workspace, and Education plans.

Still, this could be a big time-saver for teams that live in spreadsheets but wish those spreadsheets would finally start pulling their own weight.

Article: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/workspace/sheets-canvas-for-google-sheets-spreadsheets/

A short power outage can take down more than the lights. Your router, firewall, switches, phones, and local server may all decide it is quitting time too.

That is where a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) earns its keep. It provides temporary battery power during an outage, helping keep critical network equipment running long enough to ride out a brief interruption—or giving servers time to shut down safely instead of going dark mid-sentence.

The catch? UPS batteries do not last forever.

Ask your IT provider:
▶️ Which critical devices are actually connected to a UPS?
▶️ When were the batteries last tested?
▶️ When were they last replaced?

Because a UPS with a dead battery is basically just a very confident-looking power strip.

If you do not have an IT provider—or just want a second set of eyes on your power protection—reach out. We can help identify what should be protected, choose the right equipment, and make sure it is actually ready when the lights go out.

Open your work calendar and take a look at what someone outside your company can see. You might be sharing more than “busy at 2 PM.”

Meeting titles can reveal client names, projects, interviews, travel plans, and sometimes even the guest list or meeting description. That is a lot of information hiding in plain sight.

For most external users, free or busy is plenty. Detailed titles, attendees, and notes should stay visible only to the people who actually need them.

And do not forget shared calendars. That team calendar created three years ago may still be visible to a former employee, contractor, or anyone holding onto an old link.

Calendar sharing is useful. Accidental business intelligence, less so.

Want a second pair of eyes on your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace sharing settings? Reach out and we will review them with you.

Giving employees administrator access can be convenient… right up until someone installs something that absolutely did not belong there.

Admin rights let users install software, remove programs, and change important settings. They also give malware or a compromised account a much bigger playground.

For most employees, standard access is enough. Admin privileges should be limited, controlled, and only used when they are actually needed.

Because “everyone is an admin” is not really a security strategy. It is more of an open invitation.

Want help reviewing your access controls and reducing unnecessary risk? Schedule a free consultation with us at www.ITImagined.com/schedule

RingCentral says a social engineering campaign led to a breach of its systems, and Have I Been Pwned found data tied to about 1.6 million accounts in the leaked files.

That matters because a scammer pretending to be “RingCentral support” may already know your name, email, phone number, and address. Nothing builds fake credibility quite like showing up with your homework already done.

So if you get an unexpected support call:
▶️ Do not approve a password reset
▶️ Do not change MFA settings
▶️ Do not allow remote access
▶️ Hang up and call RingCentral back using the number on its official website

If something feels off, trust that instinct.

Because “they knew my information” does not mean “they were legitimate.” Sometimes it just means they read the breach data first.

Unsure about a support call or email? Send us the details before responding and we will help you verify it.

Article: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ringcentral-data-breach-exposed-info-of-16-million-accounts/

Your trash bin might be the easiest place to steal customer data from.

No hacking. No malware. No hoodie in a dark room. Just someone pulling an invoice, bank statement, employee file, or printed email out of the trash.

Set one simple rule: if a document contains personal, financial, employee, or customer information, shred it. Do not bin it.

And do not forget the little stuff:
▶️ Sticky notes with passwords
▶️ Printed emails
▶️ Meeting notes with client details
▶️ Shipping labels with names and addresses
▶️ Old archived paperwork

Use a cross-cut shredder, not a strip-cut one. Strip shredders basically turn confidential documents into a very annoying jigsaw puzzle.

For large clean-outs, use a professional shredding service that provides a certificate of destruction. And keep a clean-desk habit so sensitive paperwork is not left sitting out overnight.

Because sometimes the biggest cybersecurity threat is not in the cloud.

It is in the trash can.