When your workplace manages sensitive data – either your own, or that of your clients – it’s important to ensure you develop and implement an effective information security program.
Whether you’re providing company laptops and mobile devices or implementing a BYOD policy to improve flexibility and mobility, it’s important that you consider how to protect your data and IT infrastructure when the devices accessing your network are not entirely in your control.
In January 2019, the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation reported losing $375,000 in a “targeted fraudulent financial transaction.” And in 2017, MacEwan University was tricked into transferring $11.8 million to a targeted scam.
What did these two scams have in common? They used phishing techniques to trick employees into handing over substantial amounts of cash to what they thought was a legitimate recipient.
But there are almost always warning signs – and we thought it would be helpful to share some tips to reduce the chance that your business finds itself “on the hook.”
When choosing a Managed Service Provider (MSP), it’s often beneficial to approach it less like finding a third-party vendor, and more like finding a business partner. When entrusting the management if your IT experts to an MSP, you need a company that offers the right resources, expertise, and strategic vision. Most of all, they need to understand your business and how they can help you leverage technology to reach your goals.
If you’re shopping around for an IT service provider, you can learn a lot by asking the right questions. Here are seven we think any reputable service provider should have no trouble answering.
Many growing businesses rely on Wi-Fi for a number of reasons – flexible network coverage, the ease of adding new users and devices, and the ability to quickly get a signal live when moving to a new location.
As today’s workplace increasingly moves to mobile devices (chiefly laptops, phones, and tablets), many workers no longer access the internet through a workstation connected to the network with an ethernet cable.
So with Wi-Fi becoming the primary business network, it’s important that your solution is scalable, secure, and simple to deploy. A hodge-podge system of Wi-Fi routers might work for very small businesses, but you’ll soon realize the limitations when you start to take on more staff and more technology.
And this is where Cisco Meraki can help.
Most businesses have the goal of generating profitable revenue growth, and dedicate much of their time and focus to this endeavour. However, it is equally important to focus on controlling costs – without constant vigilance, companies will find themselves struggling to compete under the weight of unnecessary overhead.
And when you consider how central technology is to today’s business operations, IT becomes a much bigger expense than initially anticipated. So why would a business want to take on a new expense by hiring a Managed Service Provider? Because it’s one of the business decisions that can actually save you more than you spend.
Cloud computing, and the cloud SaaS platform has matured enough to the point where most businesses can see the appeal and potential – as most owners and employees alike have probably used consumer cloud services such as Dropbox and Google Drive in their personal life.
However, when a business is deciding to deploy to the cloud, there is a choice that often comes up: whether to choose a public or private cloud service. Each option has benefits and drawbacks and it’s important to understand these before you commit.
With more workers using mobile hardware such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones, Wi-Fi is becoming the default network connection in many workplaces. While it can’t match a wired network for speed and security, the ease of access and flexibility are often worth the trade-off.
But slow connections, unwanted traffic, weak signals, and old technology can all contribute to a frustrating network experience – and start impacting the flow of information and employee performance.
We’ve compiled six tips that can help your business speed up your Wi-Fi network and increase security to boot:
The amount of personal and business data being uploaded into the digital universe continues to expand at a staggering rate; a recent study by IDC estimated that the total amount of digital data will reach 40 ZB by 2020.
What is a zettabyte? If a kilobyte (kB) is nominally 1000 bytes, a zettabyte is 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 bytes. Or 10007 bytes. Or 1021 bytes. You get the idea. Either way you look at it, that’s a lot of cat pictures on Instagram, and a lot of critical data that will needs protection.
With new privacy regulations, increasingly complex cyberattacks, and the adoption of cloud-based disaster recover strategies, we can expect to see some big changes in how we approach data protection in 2019.
In many organizations, the IT department is invisible until something goes wrong. Calls are made, tickets are logged, and the question “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” is thrown around like episode of The IT Crowd.
But fixing computer-related problems and updating software is just the tip of the iceberg. In today’s world, the IT department must juggle several important responsibilities that provide both the security and the level of functionality required by modern businesses.
Read on to learn more about the behind-the-scenes responsibilities IT is expected to deal with on a daily basis. The next time you’re tempted to vent in the group chat about yet another network outage, you might want to ask yourself if it’s because they could use a bit more help.
