How to Prepare For a Disaster: Three Key Tips You Should Try

how to prepare for a disaster three key tips you should try

Learn how to prepare for a disaster. All businesses are vulnerable to costly IT disasters. For example, CSO Online reports that by 2021, cyber crime will result in $6 trillion losses every year. And cyber crimes aren’t the only kind if IT disaster businesses suffer through. Equipment failures, flooding and fires, and employee errors (such as accidental file deletion) are all alarming possibilities.

How to Prepare For a Disaster

You don’t want to get caught off-guard by an IT disaster. If you’re better prepared, it means you’re less likely to suffer permanent data loss and lengthy downtime. You’re more likely to recover quickly, saving money and preserving your business’s reputation.

The following are three key tips on how to prepare for a disaster:

  1. Comprehensive data backups. Make sure your data is backed up in a reliable way. This is critical for your most important files and programs: the ones you need for operating your business and the ones that contain sensitive information. With comprehensive, timely, and well-protected backups, you can easily retrieve and restore the latest versions of your most important data. In this way, you’ll quickly get your business up and running again and spare yourself from staggering financial costs.
  2. Don’t keep everything in one place. If you keep all of your data and other important assets in one location, a single concentrated disaster can inflict serious, lasting damage on your company. One helpful strategy is to rely more on the cloud and its off-premises solutions for software usage, data storage, and other IT functions.
  3. Invest in prevention. Preventative measures are cost-effective because they can often detect and address problems at earlier stages, sparing you from many kinds of full-blown disasters. For example, round-the-clock network monitoring can pick up on signs of impending equipment failure or evidence of suspicious activity that might be a cyber attack. IT professionals who take a proactive approach to IT support will help your business stay vigilant, plan for potential future threats, and catch problems early on.

Please contact us for additional information on how we can effectively prepare your business for an IT disaster.

Protect Yourself From Ransomware With These 5 Tips

protect yourself from ransomware with these 5 tips

You can protect yourself from ransomware. Ransomware encrypts your files and holds them hostage so that they cannot be accessed. There is usually a demand for money, often in the form of Bitcoins, in order to decrypt the files for use. A new strand of ransomware has been found recently that even asks the victim to help the scammers infect at least 2 other devices in order to free up their files for use. Ransomware is a nasty form of malware that is growing in popularity. Here are 5 ways to protect yourself from ransomware.

Protect Yourself From Ransomware With These 5 Tips

  1.  Make sure your anti-virus software is up to date. Installing anti-virus and anti-malware software and keeping it up to date is important to protect your devices. New versions of malware are released often. If your software is properly updated and can detect new versions of malware as soon as they are released, then you stand a better chance of avoiding an attack.
  2. Back up your files. Backing up your files is important because malware encrypts and restricts access to your files. If your files are backed up on your PC, you may be able to restore them if you are attacked. It is a good idea to back up files to the cloud as well in case you have files that are backed up on your computer that are also encrypted by the ransomware.
  3. Do not click on links in emails from unknown sources. If you get emails from companies that look real but something seems off, do not open them or click on the links. Delete it or contact the company directly and ask for more information. For example, you may get an email saying that your social media account is suspended and you need to click a link and provide your details to unlock the account. This is probably a phishing scam. The link could contain malware.
  4. Don’t download software from third-party sites. Beware of third-party sites offering free or deeply discounted versions of popular software. These apps often contain malware and viruses. Always download software from the official site of the vendor, ex: Apple App Store, Google Play Store, etc.
  5. Contact the police if you become the victim of a ransomware attack. If you become the victim of a ransomware attack be sure to contact the police and make a report. They will be able to advise you of what to do regarding paying the ransom. They will be able to collect information from the demand and investigate to track the criminals. Paying the ransom could lead to further attacks and depending on how you pay, it could compromise your other accounts. Your files may not even be decrypted after you make payment. It is not always the best idea to pay without consulting the authorities.

Make sure that anyone who uses your business computers and other devices knows how to avoid ransomware attacks. Protect all of your devices including smartphones and tablets. For more information on ransomware protection, contact us.

 

 

 

 

Purchasing a New Device: What to Consider

purchasing a new device what to consider

Thinking of purchasing a new device? In the workplace, computers are one of the most important tools that anyone could use. They help you to access your important documents, respond to customer questions, and even collaborate with others via Skype. Not to mention some prefer to bring in their own laptops to the workplace. These devices don’t last forever, however, and it’ll eventually be time for you to purchase a new one. What are some signs that it’s time for you to buy a new laptop? Is it only when your computer starts showing signs of age? Here are a few things to consider.

purchasing a new device

What to consider when purchasing a new device

Expired Warranty

When your warranty expires, it’s not always a sign that your laptop will start experiencing problems. However, it’s still something you should always be cautious of. Nowadays, many developers build computers with cheap hardware. These laptops are made to last only a few years, and some will even start showing signs of age shortly after the warranty expires. Once you no longer have warranty, start making plans for buying a new device.

Slowdown on Your Computer

Another sign that it’s time to purchase a new device, is when your computer starts lagging. If you’ve had your computer for a few years, pages may start taking longer to load than usual, and there might be a lot of slowdown involved. This isn’t always the case, but many times, it’s due to problems with the hard drive and motherboard. After all, the more applications you download and run over the years, the harder your computer has to work. Think of it as someone running on a treadmill.

For more helpful computer tips, feel free to contact us today at AE Technology Group. We look forward to hearing from you, and assisting you in the best way possible.

Email Solutions: Change Your Yahoo Password

email solutions change your yahoo password

It’s happened yet again. A giant hack of confidential information that may affect you: over 500 million accounts taken from Yahoo that include email addresses, birth dates, security question answers, and passwords. The information just came to light recently, even though the theft of information took place in 2014, most likely by a state-sponsored agent. Email solutions, like changing your Yahoo password, can prevent this.

You may not have an active Yahoo account, but if you blog on Tumblr, store pictures on Flckr, subscribe to Yahoo Groups, or play fantasy sports on Yahoo Sports, you are also affected. So it’s imperative that you change the passwords on your Yahoo and any related accounts. You should also disable your security questions, or hackers can use them to get the password you recently changed.

email solutions

Email Solutions: Change Your Yahoo Password

If you’re in the habit of using the same usercode and password in non-Yahoo accounts, you need to change the passwords, and disable or change the security questions for those accounts as well. For example, if your accounts include [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected], you must make changes on all of them. Hackers are clever enough to try your usercode and password across popular sites. And they do so programmatically with dozens or hundreds of sites almost instantly. So they will uncover your password on a non-Yahoo site.

While this type of hack is not something you can easily guard against, there are plenty of security steps you can take to protect yourself online. To find out how, or if you want another computer tip of the day, please contact us.

 

HIPAA Compliance Is Vital For Your Business

hipaa compliance is vital for your business

Protecting confidential information is always important. Letting unauthorized parties see personal data is bad for customer relations, and it can lead to lawsuits and loss of business. Some failures are worse than others, though, at least from a legal standpoint. HIPAA compliance is vital.

HIPPA compliance

A business that stores individually identifiable medical information may be subject to the requirements of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, and HITECH, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009. Since HITECH basically expanded and updated the scope of HIPAA, it’s common to talk about both of them together as HIPAA requirements.

HIPAA compliance originally applied only to organizations directly involved in health care, but HITECH expanded security and privacy requirements to their business associates. Any business with a substantial quantity of ePHI records needs to check whether it’s required to comply.

A breach of the security and privacy rules can result in heavy fines. In 2014 the Office of Civil Rights investigated over 15,000 complaints of alleged violations. The annual number is still rising.

Compliance requires physical, technological, and administrative safeguards to make sure there are proper limits on access to electronic personal health information (ePHI).

The business needs to control physical access to information. It has to keep unauthorized people away from places where they might see it. Workstations near public areas should never be left unattended with confidential information on them.

Technological protection includes access control and encryption. It’s mandatory to encrypt all ePHI that’s stored on a system. Contingency plans need to be maintained in case of a data breach.

On the administrative side, a business needs to control who has access to information and log its use. Training in proper handling of confidential information is necessary. It’s mandatory to report any breach promptly.

The Advocate Health Care Network recently agreed to a $5.5 million settlement after being cited for several HIPAA violations. At the same time, the Office of Civil Rights is paying increased attention to small breaches.

The effort of making sure there are no HIPAA violations may require investing some time and money, but it’s well worth it considering the potential cost of a violation. AE Technology Group’s HIPAA consulting can help to make sure you’re doing what’s required. Contact us to learn more.