Technology Advisor Blog

This week an astonishing 773,000,000 records were released in a monster breach.  Security researcher Troy Hunt first reported the data set which includes 772,904,991 unique email addresses and over 21 million unique passwords, all recently posted to a hacking forum.

• Before leaving work each day create a To-Do list of your priorities for the next working day.  Don’t forget to do this on Fridays.  It will help you become more organized.
• As you begin your To-Do list never spend more than 30 minutes being confused. Stop ask for help or - you are wasting time.  These are the boundaries you need to set for yourself.
• One benefit of time management is that if you follow your daily list, it will reduce your stress level.
• Set up deadlines on your projects. Put a time limit on your tasks.
• Follow your prioritized list by completing the most critical and demanding tasks first thing in the morning if possible.
• Schedule a break if needed every 90 minutes for a quick glass of water or a cup of coffee. This will help you maintain high productivity throughout the day.
• Exercise and regulating your sleep patterns also helps with time management. Any form of relaxation is important.   Exercise is also considered a great stress reliever.  Going to bed the same time every night and waking up the same time every day helps with your overall wellbeing.  Many presenters have brought this up during the Hubspot Inbound conference.
• Never procrastinate. You know the famous saying ‘Why put off tomorrow what you can do today? Procrastination wastes your time and your company’s time. I recently saw 'Mary Poppins Returns', and Emily Blunt said "Today or Never" - a great motto to live by!
• This one is tricky: Learn how to multitask!  When working in a fast paced environment it’s the only way to survive some days.  This is not easy and may take lots of practice!
• Start each day by being on time at work. Everyone has traffic to deal with and family morning rituals, but always give yourself extra time to get to work. If you start your day late everyday then you should stay later to make up your time so why start off late everyday…It’s a waste of your time!

Cyber threats are real and they're local.  Major corporations like Marriott make the big headlines, but too many smaller businesses and institutions think they're "under the radar".  Attacks are widespread and they're automated.  The average firewall is getting hundreds of thousands of intrusion attempts per month, over 50 ransomware attempts, and twelve phishing attempts.   All it takes is ONE user clicking on ONE wrong link and a lot of damage can be done.

Microsoft Windows 7 has long been a favorite operating system for business, but now the end of life for support is just one year away.  Although we're still seeing some line of business applications with problems running on Windows 10, it would be ill-advised to roll out any new systems with this operating system.  The official end date for extended support is January 14, 2020.  After this time, there will be no more security updates, and any system would be at risk for security problems, and out of compliance for a long list of industry security requirements.  

It's the holiday season and people are busy, and it's also a season to beware of scams.  There are many different scams related to gift cards, and here's a new one we just saw locally. 

The Cybersecurity landscape is constantly changing, and there's a new threat to watch out for:  Extortion emails that contain either a past or current password.   We saw a big wave of these emails over the summer and shared a blog post with our community,: A Creepy Twist on Ransomware: Using your Hacked Passwords and we're seeing another wave now, with some more variations.

Identity theft is an unfortunate occurrence that is all too familiar with most business owners, but do those individuals know where the compromised data will end up? Often, these business owners are unaware of the virtual marketplace where stolen data is purchased and sold by cybercriminals; a place known as the “Dark Web”.

The "tech support" scam is a common threat on the Internet.  While working on your computer, a pop up will appear that says your computer has a problem and help is just a phone call or click away.  Many of these scams pretend to be from Microsoft.  The graphics may look very professional, and the tech jargon sounds convincing enough that may people fall for these scams.  After the "repair" is done, then you'll be asked for a credit card to pay.  Most people assume they won't fall for a scam, but if you're very busy, and the support price is low enough, it could seem like the fastest and most efficient way to get support and get back to work.  

Disaster recovery is a basic element of good business continuity planning. You've probably heard the phrase and like many businesses, it's something you'll get around to "later".