Technology for Business

Why Cyberdefenses are worth the cost.
all organizations are vulnerable, and yes, you've heard the warnings that it's likely only a matter of time before a data breach happens at your organization. But how do data breaches apply to not-for-profit (NFP) organizations? Why would anyone want to target an NFP?
The primary motivation for today's attacks is to acquire information and money. Every new person a hacker can identify can be a new victim or opportunity, and NFPs possess information about donors that may be very useful to hackers. Some in the health care sector, such as hospitals, have electronic health records (EHR) that may be worth more than $1,000 each (i.e., the EHR for one person) on the black market, according to a 2017 Forbes article.

Technology for Business updated their business hours.

Technology for Business updated their business hours.

Bad Rabbit Ransomware Automatically Mitigated by Capture ATP
On Tuesday, Oct. 24, a new strand of ransomware named Bad Rabbit appeared in Russia and the Ukraine and spread throughout the day.

SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers investigated Bad Rabbit and the proficiency of the SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) sandboxing service against the previously unknown ransomware. Analyzing three different Bad Rabbit samples, the multi-engine Capture ATP successfully stopped all three attacks.

The SonicWall Capture ATP sandboxing service is designed to provide real-time protection against new strains of malware even before signatures are available on firewalls. This real-world example highlights the critical need to leverage multiple engines to defeat both known and unknown cyber threats.

In addition, Capture Labs released signatures to protect customers against Bad Rabbit malware. These signatures are available for any SonicWall customers with a SonicWall firewall and an active Gateway Security subscription (GAV/IPS) and are applied automatically.

“There are dozens of different variants of ransomware.
While prevention may be a tall task, the key to minimizing damage from ransomware attacks is detection and having the ability to combat the threat.
“No single defense solution is guaranteed to prevent a ransomware attack,”. “The most effective means for business protection from ransomware is a backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solution, followed by cybersecurity training."
While every industry is vulnerable to ransomware attacks, health care, construction, manufacturing and finance tend to be hit more than others. Datto also said what hurts businesses most is the downtime associated with a ransomware attack.

Other than a few interesting years in the mid-2000s, Apple’s approach to the enterprise market has been one of benign neglect. The one exception, starting in 2005, has been consistent support for running Windows on Macs.
By now, the practice is well-established. But the issue of management still looms large. How can IT deploy Macs that run Windows without multiplying the complexity (and cost) of deployment, maintenance and security by at least a factor of two? The enterprise question that vendors are now addressing in a variety of interesting ways is, “How can we make Macs running Windows securely maintainable components of the IT infrastructure and ecosystem?”
Windows on Mac works, and can work well. The most relevant question for enterprises is which Windows-on-Mac virtualization options offer:
The best overall integration
The lowest TCO, including maintenance and security
Good usability
End-user satisfaction

Understanding Ransomware:
The IT security industry has spent the last year wrestling with the growing threat of ransomware, in which a cyberattacker encrypts a victim enterprise’s data and then demands payment to decrypt it. But exactly how does ransomware infect your systems in the first place? Is all ransomware the same? How does it encrypt your data, and why is that encryption so hard to crack? Most importantly, what can you do to stop it – or at least prevent it from affecting your most sensitive information?

What is ransomware?

Besides dominating cybersecurity news headlines recently, it's a form of malware that adds insult to the injury. "Upon compromising a computer, ransomware will typically either lock a user's system or encrypt files on the computer and then demand payment before the system or files will be restored," explains this Webopedia entry.
Its impact on small businesses can be crippling, according to the Malwarebytes' Second Annual State of Ransomware Report (registration required) containing the findings of a survey of over 1,000 small and midsized businesses (SMBs with fewer than 1,000 employees) conducted by Osterman Research. Participants hailed from North America, France, U.K., Germany, Australia and Singapore.

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If you haven't upgraded to Microsoft Office 365 yet, here are 8 good reasons why you should. Technology for Business offers convenient, turnkey solutions for installation, migration, and implementation of the Office 365.
1- Seamless Coordination with the tools you already know
2- Anytime, anywhere access
3- Collaboration inside and outside your company
4- On line collaboration and meeting solutions
5- Safety and security
6- 99.9% financially backed uptime guaranteed
7- Pay as you go pricing
8- Professional face for your business

VIRTUALIZATION
Increase your IT agility and support the development of your business through virtualization. Technology for Business can move from a physical to a virtual environment, you’ll not only be able to scale your IT on-demand but also improve availability and lower costs. In addition, because virtualized environments are easier to manage, you’ll be able to deliver more IT services to staff without increasing your management costs. Reduce IT Complexity

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A disaster can be anything that puts an organization's operations at risk, from a cyberattack to equipment failures to natural disasters. The goal with DR is for a business to continue operating as close to normal as possible. The disaster recovery process includes planning and testing, and may involve a separate physical site for restoring operations.
As businesses have become more reliant on high availability, the tolerance for downtime has decreased. A disaster can have a devastating effect on a business. Studies have shown that many businesses fail after experiencing a significant data loss, but DR can help.

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Now it's easier to contact Technology for Business.

Now it's easier to contact Technology for Business.

Do you need 2.5 and 5GB Ethernet?

Considering how long it usually takes the IEEE to ratify critical networking standards, its rapid standardization of the NBASE-T Alliance's development of 2.5 and 5 Gigabit Ethernet over Cat 5e and 6 copper cabling was surprising.
the answer really depends on your specific situation. Many are quick to point out that 10 Gigabit Ethernet over copper will likely be the prevailing Ethernet technology as soon as hardware pricing comes down. Yet price drops are not the biggest obstacle for 10GBASE-T. Instead, the real problem resides with the type of copper cabling commonly deployed in enterprise networks today.

The majority of installed cabling is either Cat 5e or Cat 6. Up to 100 meters, both cabling standards can handle 1GbE. However, making a leap from 1 gigabit to 10 gigabit speeds with the same distance rating is impossible. The minimum cable type recommended for 10GBASE-T is Category 6A. Given the fact that Category 6A cabling must be able to operate at 500 MHz, those cables are rated twice as fast as Category 6 and five times as fast as Cat 5e cabling.

Small Business Marketers Prioritize Social Media

It's a cutthroat business landscape out there. To get the word out and put their small businesses on the map, marketers are increasingly turning to Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.

Social media's immediacy, reach and tracking capabilities make it an ideal promotional platform. This year, 58 percent of the 350 small businesses surveyed by Clutch said they planned to increase their social media marketing budgets.

"Small businesses preparing to invest more in their marketing and advertising need to dedicate a portion of their marketing budgets to promoting posts on various social platforms, even if it means producing more focused posts less frequently,", marketer and content developer at Clutch, in her report.

Plus, small business owners don't have to spend a fortune advertising on social media.

"Luckily for small businesses, putting money behind a social media advertising campaign doesn't have to break your budget, "In an explanation of how a Facebook campaign functions, Facebook suggested $15 as a reasonable budget for a single ad."

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A while ago, I worked with a client who set up a temporary WiFi network in order to provide attendees with WiFi access at an event the client was hosting. Employees at the company also wanted to use the attendee WiFi network to get the real end-user experience, but had some security concerns.

They knew that some of the applications they use can be easily deciphered if the packets are captured. For example, some use clear text, Telnet, and non HTTP while others use very weak hash algorithms. Usually this isn’t a concern since the employees typically use a cabled connection at their desks and the systems they access have filters to block unauthorized access.

This company allowed attendees WiFi subnet access to its systems, but wanted to know if there was anything it could do to prevent users from capturing their data. Since this event network was going to be taken down after a few days, the client didn't want to make it any more complicated than necessary or incur any extra expenses. Things like extra VLANs, SSIDs or additional access points fell into that category.

I explained that there is nothing you can do to stop people from capturing your data, but you can make it difficult for them to read it.
The IT team was told that a VPN server is about $10K, which is out of the question for their budget. I suggested the company simply take a Windows 7 computer and set it up as a VPN server in order to encrypt the data. You can create a VPN server without purchasing any additional hardware or software in just five steps.
1.Click "Start" or the windows Orb, and then type ncpa.cpl into the "Search" box and press Enter.
2.In the "Network Connections" window, click the "File" menu and choose "New Incoming Connection." The "Allow Connections to This Computer" window will display.
3.Click the check box next to each user account displayed that you wish to grant access to connect and use the VPN connection. Click the "Next" button. You can also create a new account here such as VPN.
4.Select the "Through the internet" box and then click the "Next" button. Choose the default settings list of protocols displayed by clicking the "Allow Access" button.
5.Click the "Allow callers to access my local area network" box, click the "Assign IP addresses automatically using DHCP" radio button and then click the "OK" button. Click the "Close" button.

The computer is now configured to receive VPN connections from Windows and Android clients. Now employees can VPN into the Windows 7 computer and all their data will be encrypted regardless of what application or server they access.

In 2013, Code.orgOpens a New Window. started the grassroots Hour of Code movement. Since then, it’s gone global, pushing over 300 million participants in over 180 counties and 45 languages to share in an introductory computer science activity in the classroom.

“It’s an opportunity for students, teachers, parents, anyone to try one hour of computer science and see what it’s all about,” Alice Steinglass, Code.org VP of Product and Marketing,

The smartphone has become one of the most important tools in millions of Americans’ lives. It tracks your movements, displays emails and text messages, and notifies you of every birthday and appointment. Every second, information floods your smartphone. Unless you switch them off, your apps work round-the-clock, obeying your every setting and preference.
Your phone churns private data through its circuitry all day long, and if criminals can break into it, they can steal all kinds of things, from banking details to compromising photos and videos. And they don’t actually have to steal your phone. They may not even be located in your country.

ALLOW US TO MANAGE YOUR IT INFRASTRUCTURE
As your business grows, so will your technology needs. This doesn’t mean you should spend more time managing your IT infrastructure. Forget about having to jump from computer to computer installing updates and solving problems, Technology for Business have more efficient solutions to keep pace with the speed of your business. Technology for Business offers several IT management solutions to manage everything from a central location, reduce or even eliminate your in-house server needs, and prevent data loss and unwanted access. What can SBS 2011 do for my business?

TECHNOLOGY FOR BUSINESS MICROSOFT OFFICE 365
Let Technology for Business migrate your present infrastructure to MS Office 365, Microsoft latest venture into cloud computing, bringing together tried-and-true programs that make communicating and collaborating natural on-line. Office 365 makes using Office in the cloud a simple, secure and affordable way to make the most of services you and your staff are already familiar with, in ways that easily extend the technology you are probably already using. Office 365 creates a cloud office that you could use on any device desktop, laptop, tablet and smart phones, anywhere, anytime, accessing your latest document to collaborate in real time. A great advantage of MS Office 365 is that the cloud service is provided by Microsoft and thus elliminates a company's IT maintenance task, such as patching and infrastructure support costs. no server rooms, no daily backups, no storage limitations!

When it comes to protecting against today's hacks and malware, the cards are decidely stacked against small business.
There are more cyber-threats out there in the world than ever before, ransomware encrypts a victim's files, locking them upp until a small business owner pays the attacker to decryt them. Physhing schemes have gone from laughably bad spam to convincing emails that appear to be to come from bosses, colleagues, and other trusted sources.

SMALL BUSINESS NETWORK MAINTENANCE $559

Computer problems can bring your work to a stand still and is nothing short of frustrating.
One Windows Server and Up To Ten Desktops
* Change Order Boot * Minimize Startup Tasks
* Remove Bloatware * Inspect and Act on Error Logs
* Virus-Spyware Updates * Hard Drive(s) Optimization
* System Patch Management
* Create Restore Point fro Disaster Recovery

Securing Your Users’ Favorite Apps

It is important to recognize that not all documents within a file sharing application are owned and managed by your organization. Third parties with their own file sharing accounts can also share content with your organization, introducing other avenues for potential risk exposures and data exfiltration.

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Malware Acts as a Hacker's Cloak

Today’s hackers employ several complex techniques to avoid detection as they sneak quietly into corporate networks to steal intellectual property. Their threats are often encoded using complicated algorithms to evade detection by intrusion prevention systems. There are four types of cyber attacks you must learn or hire someone to help you protect your network against them.

Why Proper Network Monitoring Maintenance should be an Integral Part of IT Support

Whether you’re running a small to medium business or a large corporation, you will definitely have some form of IT network set up that you and your workforce use to handle daily business operations. Whatever set up you have, your partner IT support firm should have all the basics covered to help boost efficiency and prevent unnecessary breakdowns.

In the world of Information Technology, a network is a group of computers systems, terminals and other devices linked together to facilitate exchange of information by means of communication, collaboration and connection. There are different types of network depending on business requirements but no matter the topology, a network requires constant monitoring and that’s why its upkeep, maintenance and running should be an integral part of IT support.

A properly managed network is a delicate balance of software and infrastructure working together in top form, any minor glitch can definitely get worse on a dime if remain unchecked and unattended. A good IT support partner should know that an improperly maintained network would create a lot of havoc in your business operations if the small problems are not checked right away. Without consistent monitoring and management, all important data and business functions will definitely cause more problems not just for your IT support partner but essentially for you as a business owner.

Your IT support partner should oversee the performance of your network by ensuring that it is always up and running and that every incident is addressed promptly and efficiently. They should offer consistent remote monitoring network support with additional technological benefits from their highly skilled IT professionals. Remote monitoring can easily help spot early symptoms of system threat and failure before it becomes serious. It also makes sure that your computer network is in optimal health.

SMALL BUSINESS NETWORK MAINTENANCE $559

Computer problems can bring your work to a stand still and is nothing short of frustrating.
One Windows Server and Up To Ten Desktops
* Change Order Boot * Minimize Startup Tasks
* Remove Bloatware * Inspect and Act on Error Logs
* Virus-Spyware Updates * Hard Drive(s) Optimization
* System Patch Management
* Create Restore Point fro Disaster Recovery

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4 Reasons Small Businesses Should Migrate to the Cloud

Cloud computing can mean big changes for small businesses. Those changes have been realized by many of today’s small-business owners, from tech startups in the heart of Silicon Valley to urban and small-town mom-and-pop shops.

Today, 37 percent of U.S. small businesses have fully adapted to cloud computing, and a 2014 Intuit study predicts that percentage will more than double to 80 percent by 2020. The cloud is redefining the way small businesses do business. Here are four reasons small-business owners should consider migrating to the cloud:

1. Lower costs

One of the most obvious benefits of moving everyday business to the cloud is that it can provide small businesses with significant savings. For starters, cloud computing fully utilizes hardware. Virtualization increases the value of physical server hardware, meaning businesses can do more with less.

As a result, small businesses will see a decrease in rack space, power usage, IT requirements, etc. That means lower installation, maintenance, hardware, upgrade and support costs. For small businesses, especially, those savings are invaluable.

2. Better collaboration

Collaboration is made easy in the cloud. The ability to save and access various files through the cloud enables employees to easily work from the same master document. Cloud collaboration tools, such as Google Drive, allow users to upload, edit and comment on documents, which makes for better workplace collaboration. Additionally, employers can opt to limit what employees can access.

Not to mention, being able to access files through the cloud makes it easy for small-business owners to track and manage individual progress on assignments. How’s that for efficiency?

3. Increased flexibility

One of the most alluring benefits of cloud computing is being able to access work-related files and information from any device in any place at any time. We live in a mobile world. Long gone are the days where files are stuck on a single server on a single computer.

As the workplace begins to cater to more remote workers and flexible working arrangements, being able to access work materials, when not at work, is essential for employees. Not only does cloud computing make it easier for employees to work outside of the office, it makes it easier for small-business owners to manage their business at any time of day, from anywhere.

What’s more, increased mobility and flexibility in the cloud can lead to additional cost savings. For instance, small-business owners can opt to implement BYOD (bring your own device). Employees can work on devices they already own and are comfortable with, such as tablets and laptops -- even their smartphones (to each their own, right?).

4. Greater integration

Adopting a cloud-based business solution creates multiple opportunities for integration -- and simplified integration, at that. Cloud-adapted small businesses have the option of integrating with various cloud-based providers.

Small businesses can take advantage of specialized services that integrate with back-office operations, from human resources to marketing to accounting. These opportunities for integration give small-business owners more time to focus on the more critical areas of business.

Five Ways Technology Will Change Your Business

1. Faster pace of change
Just as the simple act of standardizing components accelerated the industrial revolution, the same thing is happening in technology. What you used to have to build yourself is now standardized. We have the cloud, reusable coding standards, and plug-in modules. This, combined with an increase in the number of people who know how to use technology, is resulting in faster technology cycles across the board.
As a result, entrepreneurs have to stay ahead of changes. To be a great executive, you have to understand technology at a certain level. You can’t just delegate it. The example I use is accounting. You can hire an accountant, but if you don’t have a fundamental understanding of accounting, you have a problem.
Look for innovation outside your traditional competitors. Take the financial services industry. Companies like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn have the potential to obviate the need for the traditional role of banks and credit cards. We’ve developed technology that allows Facebook members to use their online social profile to prove identity and trustworthiness.

2. Continued transition of technology from cost-saver to strategic advantage
There are two ways to use technology: to improve the top line or the bottom line. The days of looking at technology solely as a way to incrementally save costs here and there are over. Entrepreneurs have to look at technology as a strategic tool to either radically change their relationship with their customers, or radically change the cost structure of their service.

3. Elimination of the difference between mobile and desktop
Expectations can no longer depend on the assumption that people access technology through their desktops, especially in emerging markets where our customers are. There is an increasing commoditization of the internet through mobile devices. Right now, between 600,000 and 900,000 internet-capable devices are activated world-wide every day.
Before you know it, mobile will be the primary way consumers access the internet. In many parts of the world, it already is.

4. Supernationalization of customers
The middle class is the future of our planet. There are 1.2 billion people moving into the emerging-market middle class in Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Philippines, China, and India. Unless your business is highly local, you most likely need a strategy for how to attract and service this demographic.
If you’re in a consumer business, how do you reach people? How do you tailor your services to them? You’re not going to get on a plane and put up flyers; you have to use technology. You don’t want to be answering questions in Portuguese at 2am; you want technology to handle customer acquisition and support.

5. Increased role of social media in building business
Just as search has reshaped the sales process because the customer is able to be informed and to find you, social is changing how things are being consumed and who people decide to do business with. For example, our customers very seldom call us. They post things to our page and expect us to reply. There’s a generation that’s grown up always having had social networks, and they don’t think twice about using those networks as a means to discover, learn, and communicate, much as their parents’ generation

HMTL5 the future of the web is finally here

The HTML5 language lets developers deliver in-the-browser experiences that previously required standalone apps or additional software like Java, Adobe's (ADBE) Flash or Microsoft's (MSFT, Fortune 500) Silverlight. It supports lightning-fast video and geolocation services, offline tools and touch, among other bells and whistles.
The W3C has been developing the spec for the better part of a decade.

"As of today, businesses know what they can rely on for HTML5 in the coming years," W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe said in a prepared statement. "Likewise, developers will know what skills to cultivate to reach smart phones, cars, televisions, e-books, digital signs, and devices not yet known."
Most of the top browser makers didn't wait for the language to be 100% finished before building support for some elements into their software. The latest versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari are already compatible with most HTML5 elements.
App developers followed suit.

Netflix (NFLX) and Google's YouTube are two of the most prominent HTML5 adopters, but many others have also taken the leap. The Financial Times abandoned its smartphone app last year in favor of an HTML5 mobile website. The site looked and functioned like a native app -- with the advantage that FT didn't have to make changes to multiple versions of its code on multiple smartphone platforms. (Using a mobile website instead of a native app also let FT avoid paying Apple for in-app purchases.)
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), a strong supporter of HTML5, produced a viral interactive video in 2010 with the help of rock band Arcade Fire that showed off the potential of the new Web features. Firefox browser maker Mozilla made a splash in February when it created a smartphone operating system called "Boot to Gecko," which is almost entirely based in HTML 5.

HTML5 grew prevalent enough by 2010 that then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs was able to unleash an epic rant against Flash and get away with it. A year later, Adobe more or less conceded that Jobs was right, abandoning its mobile Flash software in favor of HTML5 support. In November 2011 blog post, Adobe called HTML5 "the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms."
There's still more work to be done. W3C said that about 63% of Web and app developers are actively using HTML5 to make their sites and software, but "browser fragmentation" remains a big reason why many still aren't using it. Though most up-to-date browsers support at least some aspects of HTML5, older versions of some Web browsers like Microsoft's (MSFT, Fortune 500) Internet Explorer don't.
That's why W3C is working on cementing HTML5 as a new Web standard, making it interoperable and fully supported by any modern browser. It will take two years to complete the testing and standardization of HTML5, the consortium said.

What's next? W3C is already working on HTML 5.1, the first parts of which were just submitted in draft form.