Technology Advisor Blog

For those fortunate enough to be able to make the move to work from home during the pandemic, the rapid change has been a lot to handle.  Cybersecurity threats increased sharply while users are adjusting to a new way of work.  Last week we hosted security expert Jay Ryerse, CISSP, of Connectwise to speak to our community about the impact on small business.  Ekaru wants the cybersecurity culture of our community to transcend the office walls to protect you, your family, and your business.

Zoom meetings have become so popular these days that the word has become a verb!  There are many great collaboration tools (GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams, etc), and Zoom has emerged as a crowd favorite with huge growth resulting from their popular free version.  

Cyber criminals are working overtime to take advantage of the disruption and confusion caused by the pandemic.  The FBI reports a four fold increase in cyber threats recently and its more important than ever to stay alert, and talk to your team about cybersecurity.  The most common attack vector these days is eMail, and an unknowing employee may click on the wrong link thinking they're getting important safety information.  Think before you click!

Cybercrime instances appear to have jumped sharply since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the FBI. The bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported last week that it’s now receiving between 3,000 and 4,000 cybersecurity complaints each day, up from the average 1,000 complaints per day the center saw before the pandemic. 

With the current pandemic, so many workplaces have been disrupted.  For those of us fortunate enough to have jobs that we can work from home, the hasty move to a home office has typically resulted in a less than ideal work environment.  For a week or two, we can all manage with working from the kitchen counter, but with longer shutdowns, it's time to pay more attention to a proper work set up.   

Over the past several weeks, Ekaru has helped many businesses in the greater Boston area set up remote offices.  As businesses scrambled to set up a remote workforce, the initial focus was on business continuity - trying to continue operations after leaving the physical office.  Now as employees have settled in, security needs attention.  Major events like the Coronavirus pandemic create new opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit, but smart defense doesn't let them.  These tips can help keep systems and data safer in uncertain times.

Over the past two weeks, Ekaru engineers have closed over 1,000 tickets as we helped local businesses transition to work from home and remain as productive as possible. 

Information Technology is classified as an "essential service" and Ekaru remains fully available to support our community, while following social distancing protocols.  Please refer to the list of Covid 19 Essential Services that are exempted from the Massachusetts emergency order. 

Ekaru is fully configured to work through situations like this.  We have previously established a disaster recovery plan and leveraged technology to maintain full functionality to work remotely.  We are also fully committed to mitigating the risk of exposure to and transmission of the virus.  

Please call for urgent support issues, and email for non-urgent issues.  Most support calls that we would have gone on site for will now be handled remotely, and for urgent issues that require an onsite visit, we'll follow protocols from the CDC.

Here are some of the things our engineers have been working on:

• Helping our clients with transitioning to work at home, including access via LogMeIn, VPN, or access to VoIP phone systems, as well as online tools such as remote meeting / conferencing tools.
• Helping advise our clients on ways to reduce the risk of accessing corporate information from likely very insecure home systems not protected by approved security antivirus, without up to date security patches for operating systems, and possibly infected with malware.
• Educating our clients on, and protecting them from, the new Corona virus scams, fake websites, and phishing emails by malware creators to take advantage of the current situation. So, in addition to human virus issues, there are cyber-virus infections related the COVID-19.  One staffer opening a map of Coronavirus cases from a phishing email or a healthcare worker’s cracked password could give cybercriminals the ability to deploy ransomware to shut down critical systems right when we need them the most.  
• We are also mostly all working at home ourselves and trying to do as much as possible remotely to avoid having to do onsite visits, but still keeping systems up and running.

We're here to help.  If you have any questions, please let us know.   Every situation is unique and we're here to support you. 

Here are some links to additional resources:

Videos:

3/27/2020 - Video - How to Spot a Phishing eMail

3/27/2020 - Video - How to Launch a Video Call

Blogs:

4/3/2020:  VoIP Telephony - e911 and Staying Connected During the COVID-19 Crisis

4/3/2020:  How to Get the IT Management Services You Need During the COVID Outbreak 

4/2/2020:  Three Tips to for Working Remotely to Help Your Team Stay Productive

3/27/2020:  COVID-19 Remote Work Tips

Together we can all work through this crisis.  

VoIP (Voice over IP) telephony ensures effective communication and business continuity in times of crisis, as many of our clients have seen over the past few weeks.  Unlike traditional phone systems that are tied to an office location, VoIP phones can be used anywhere. 

With the large majority of still-open businesses now working remotely, you may be experiencing a sudden need for IT support that you no longer have easy access to. Getting the IT management services and support you need when working in an office is one thing, but getting it when your entire team is spread across any number of locations is a far more complicated matter.