security Archives · Page 6 of 8 · AE Technology Group

How to Find Balance Between Productivity vs. Security and Compliance

However, in order for each one of them to work successfully, business owners must find common ground between each of them.

The truth is productivity, security, and compliance are all important to your business. However, in order for each one of them to work successfully, business owners must find common ground between each of them. More importantly, it’s imperative to define how each of them apply to your business needs too. On the one hand, you’re business is always trying to meet the demands of higher productivity and then on the other hand, security and compliance become just as important.

How does your business find a way to balance their goals of productivity, security, and governance?

How To Balance Productivity, Security & Compliance

Your business may define productivity as producing 500 units one week and then 800 the next. It’s obvious your level of productivity has increased. Your business was more productive in the second week than in the first, right? For a service provider, your productivity is defined by the number of customers your business is able to serve. However, today, productivity means giving your employees the flexibility of doing their job which could mean logging into your network from a mobile device, but this opens the door for exploitation by hackers. So, how do you continue to balance productivity, security, and compliance? The experts suggests; “a professional blend of management, resources, and strategy.”

The need for productivity has created a demand for device compatibility, new workforce benefits, new technology, and vendors that have access to your network information. This has created IT obstacles that have never existed before which insights the need for a balance between productivity, security, and compliance. In fact, it may be harder for small business to keep up with the demands of all three, but here’s how your business can find the perfect balance:

Choose To Be Adaptive & Context-Aware

Stop asking users to authentic themselves and take the matter into your own hands. For example, when a user is logging into your network, background authentication checks like: are they using the same device, has their number recently been ported or are they logging on from a geographical location are all safety and compliance measures that can help you form the perfect balance between productivity too when met with the right tools. Your governance rules may be more stringent with a administrator who can change your system configurations or your finance staff who can access sensitive data over employees with less privileges.

Think Technically “Smart”

Why give your employees access to more of your network than what they need to do their job? The best balance between productivity and security is the least-privilege rule. Never give your employees access to more than what they need to avoid a security risk, but with the ability to still remain productive. For instance, any data that users upload to the cloud should be encrypted or blocking any downloads from a bring-your-own device (BYOD).

Utilize Adoption & User Experience

Users absolutely hate things that get in their way. For instance, complex password requirements and hardware tokens feels like it is enabling their work which impacts their productivity. However, there are proven technologies that will streamline and improve the user experience while protecting your security. Use single-on features that don’t require a key fob, adaptive authentication (that remembers their device and log-on pattern), or even go passwordless.

Bottom line: How do you balance productivity, security, and compliance? Identify the most profitable balance between the three along with what works best for your employees and for your business.

You’re invited to contact us at the AE Technology Group for more details on balancing your productivity, security, and compliance. We’re you IT support and managed services professionals. Together, we’ll focus on the productivity of your team while protecting your business security and keeping you fined tuned with the current compliance standards.

Computer Tip of the Day: Passphrase Alternative to Passwords

You hear it constantly. “Use strong passwords.” “Don’t reuse passwords.” “Don’t use common words, be sure to mix characters, etc.” To the average technology user, it’s more than enough to be so overwhelming that the rules can encourage bad security habits.

Traditional passwords, even strong ones, are easier to crack by way of brute force (computer-assisted repeat attempts to try different character combinations) than you might think. Combine this with the need for users to remember complex, unique passwords and often relying upon unsecure practices like writing account information down, and it’s no wonder so many accounts are compromised.

Enter the Passphrase

Rather than using gibberish or some arcane, and easily confused, character swapping setup, you can form a surprisingly secure and easily remembered passphrase by stringing together 3-4-word short sentences.

Example: Orange bananas are weird!

Think about how simple that phrase will be to remember. You can even have some fun with your passphrases, coming up with goofy and entertaining snippets that will give you a little chuckle every time you type them in.

By using spaces (Note: some services will not allow spaces in password fields) to separate the words, you create an incredibly resilient ‘password’ to secure your accounts. Some studies even suggest that it will take millennia (yes, millennia) for a brute force attack to eventually guess the passphrase and crack the account. Remember, a space is considered a special character. When you add in capitalization and normal sentence punctuation, plus passphrases that are 20+ characters long, you’ll meet the complexity requirements of most, if not all, services you need to create passwords for.

Lastly, many of your accounts will likely require you to change passwords every few months, at a minimum. Who hasn’t run into a situation where you struggle to come up with a new, unique password on the fly? Passphrases are easier by far to alter, substituting in new words, while not causing overt confusion when you next go to log in.

There are alternatives to creating passphrases to secure your accounts better than traditional passwords. Password managers come to mind. If you don’t trust, or understand, how to use a password manager, or just prefer the control that comes with making your own passwords, consider changing to the passphrase approach.

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Computer Tip of the Day: Browse Safely

All of us at one point or another have used the internet for work, school, entertainment, etc. We spend countless hours browsing the news, shopping, watching videos, even ordering food all from our computers or smartphones. In fact, in 2015, it was estimated that young ones between the ages of 16 and 24 spent more than 27 hours a week on the internet.

But as activist Simon Wiesenthal once said, “The combination of hatred and technology is the greatest danger threatening mankind.” This is clearly seen in how technology and the internet are being used to hurt people. According to Cybint, there is a hacker attack every 39 seconds, affecting 1 in 3 Americans each year. With all this being said, it’s clear that precautions must be taken to browse safely and protect data.

Use Strong Passwords

Most, if not all websites today store personal information one way or another, and they keep track of this information using passwords created by the user. When a hacker obtains a password used by a company or individual, they can use it to obtain data such as SSN’s, Card Information, Addresses, etc. When a hacker has the data available to them they can hurt the individual or company by using it for selfish gain. Here are a few tips for better password protection:

Between 8 – 12 Characters
Use Special Symbols (@, !, $, _)
Combine both letters and numbers
Use both uppercase and lowercase letters
Here’s an example (@P3t3rJ_1215)

Avoid Shady Emails

Especially for those in the workplace, email is used for many things such as communicating with clients or subscribing to a newsletter. Due to its use, this is a common tool for hackers to corrupt your computer with malware or viruses via hyperlinks. They can even send false emails to obtain personal information from you and steal crucial data. Here are a few tips to open emails carefully:

Do not open emails from unknown sources
Avoid downloading attachments in emails
Do not give out your email to anyone, only trusted sources
Delete spam mail as quickly as possible

Ensure Data is Encrypted

Due to an increase in online forms and data sharing over the internet, attackers use un-encrypted sites to steal information such as passwords, usernames, card information, etc. When visiting a site to fill out a form such as a bank website, for example, ensure that the website is HTTPS encrypted. An easy way to verify if a website is encrypted is to see if a padlock in the address bar is locked as seen here.

Use Antivirus Software

There are thousands of new malware and viruses being launched every day and it can be hard to keep track of how to protect yourself against such threats that can hurt your computer and yourself. Thankfully, companies have devoted themselves to help protect you against the nastiest of attacks by offering software (both paid and free) to block those attacks. These companies use tools such as encryption and firewalls to protect your computer and your data. Here are a few trusted companies that offer Antivirus software:

While the internet can be a scary and dangerous place, you can protect yourself with the right tools and precautions to enjoy browsing to the fullest. The above tips are just a few of the many things that can be done to browse safely, yet there are many more that can offer added protection. If you would like to know more about these tips and tricks for safe browsing, please contact us to learn more; we’d love to hear from you and help you browse safely!

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3 Things to Know About Why Updates are Vital to Your Company’s Safety

3 things to know about why updates are vital to your company safety

Updates for Company Safety

Most of us have experienced the annoyance of waiting for our computers to update while we anxious drum our fingers wanting to move onto the next task. But rather than be annoyed, it is important to remember why we have these updates in the first place. In this blog post, we will discuss 3 things to know about why updates are vital for your company’s safety.

Hackers Exploit Out-of-Date Systems

Updates and patches are there for one main reason—to fix issues that users or the developers themselves have identified. Some of these errors allow for malicious users to hack into your computer or network and wreak havoc. You can liken a computer without the most recent updates to a business leaving their front door unlocked. It only takes someone with the wrong intent to check that door and find out it is open for them to cause whatever harm they desire.

Updates Can Pile Up

When you aren’t consistent about letting your computer update, the updates pile up and there never seems like a good time for you computer to spend an hour updating. Staying on top of your updates keeps your computer safe from being vulnerable. At AE Technology Group, we suggest planning updates for a time when your network isn’t busy. Perhaps set a weekly reminder on your phone or computer to run any updates on your computer. Make it right before your lunch break or run updates before a meeting when you won’t be needing your device so it can update without causing any inconvenience to you.

AE Technology Group Can Help

At AE Technology Group, we can help manage your updates so they don’t seem overwhelming while still providing all the security you need for your computers and systems. Don’t leave your door unlocked—so to speak—and encourage staff to complete regular updates. To find out more about how AE Technology Group can help, contact us today.

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Computer Tip of the Day: Keeping Your Laptop More Secure

Anyone who owns a laptop knows just how important it is to keep their device secure. For some, they learn the easy way, but others have to learn the hard way. Some may have a laid back attitude about their security, and only consider taking it seriously when their computer becomes infected. With that said, even if you do take your security seriously, there’s always room for improvement. What are some ways to keep your business device more secure? Here are some computer tips to consider.

Don’t Share Your Passwords

This may seem like common knowledge to most, but it’s still easy to be careless. After spending a lot of time around those in the workplace, you may begin to feel comfortable divulging your information to them. After all, the more you get to know people, the more you trust them. With that said, not every incident in the workplace is due to a hacker from cyberspace. Believe it or not, the people you trust the most in your business could be the ones looking to steal your information. With that said, never share your passwords, and update them on a regular basis.

Know What Sites to Avoid

Always be careful about the sites you visit too. Even if you take your security seriously, it’s easy to be the victim on an unsuspecting website. This is especially true if the site appears to be harmless at first glance. Fortunately, depending on the anti-virus software you install, it can alert you on what sites are considered dangerous. McAfee and Kaspersky, for example, both have a safe search. The search results on your web browser give you an indication of what sites in the results are safe, and which ones carry potential risks.

For more information, contact us today at AE Technology Group. We look forward to hearing from you.

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