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    02.14.2017

    Time to clean you storage – free e-waste recycling

    Free up your precious space, storage, phone closet or server utility room. If you have old equipment collecting dust and taking up room, contact us to schedule a free e-waste pickup.  Example items accepted are computers, laptops, monitors, fax machines, printers, scanners, battery backup, cables, etc.  If you need help determining what network equipment is or is not in use, call us. 714-660-1811  

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    02.10.2017

    Why a Firewall is Important

    Few business would choose to operate without a series of locks to protect their premises and inventory from intrusions and theft. Protecting your computer systems is equally important to prevent malicious users from disrupting your operations, or even worse, stealing your private data or intellectual property.  One key device used for IT security is a firewall, and few companies can afford to operate without one. Any network or standalone computer that is connected to the internet is potentially at risk for an attack.  Small business have specifically been a target recently. No single product, service or device will provide complete security, but a firewall is one of the cornerstones of network security.  Think of it as an electronic gatekeeper. It inspects all the data passing in or out of the network , ensuring that the traffic is legitimate. When properly configured, a firewall allows users access to needed resources while keeping out any malicious users or programs. Contact us for reasons why your business should use a managed Firewall.  

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    01.24.2017

    Thinking about doing it yourself? Save the data loss and hire a pro

    Had coffee with a colleague today, had some great conversations about the IT industry and even shared some war stories.  Here's an example of how doing something yourself can turn into a major data loss.  Even though we think something is simple, you should hire an IT Pro to complete the task.  In this painful example the client's server kept powering off.  The IT consultant quickly reminded the business owner they really need a battery backup unit for their server.  The client took it upon themselves and bought a UPS or better know as Battery Backup.  They plugged it in, connected the server and 'thought' they were protected.  Fast forward 2 months and the power went out again.  The IT pro was called to the scene to find the server off, even though the battery backup was plugged in.  He tested the UPS unit, and as soon as it was unplugged it shut off again, no battery backup.  Depending on the UPS manufacture the battery is usually installed backwards (disconnected!) for shipping.  When they first setup the unit not only did they fail to read the instructions, they also never tested to see if the battery back up worked.  Unfortunately this was a hard lesson for this small business, as they were not on any type of managed backup either.  The newest working backup was 2 months old, they lost 2 months of company work and files!  2 full months, could you imagine?   Can you afford to loose 2 months of data? Please contact your IT provider even if it seems like a simple task.  We will even spec out the correct sized backup unit for your equipment.

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    01.16.2017

    How to Protect Your Business from Dangerous Spam and Phishing Emails

    There are not many ways to break into a bank; however, gaining access to personal bank accounts is becoming a very common way for criminals to get in.  One way this is achieved is by clicking on a link within an email.  Spam is very cost effective for cyber criminals, as emailing is a near free service to send tens of thousands of messages in very little time.  And the fake emails are often disguised to look like a message sent from the bank. Email is an open door into your network; data passes through it every day. If you are like most small businesses, each email address receives a ton of messages.  If criminals want to break in, some will be  

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    12.29.2016

    Is your business environment ready for VoIP

    Considering VoIP? There are many factors.

    Depending on your calling behavior, if your sales reps are on the phone 8 hours a day, chances are they will hear an occasional hiccup from being on the phone all day.  Where as offices where employees take a few dozen calls a day, may not even notice if the internet connection dropped off for a minute.
    Depending on the voip provider, once calls go out to the internet, there's a lot of variables.
    You need  a local wired connection (not wifi).  Service could work great as is,  however there is additional factors:
    1. Internet provider.  Most cable service does not have a SLA (Service Level Agreement), it is like cable TV at home, when it goes out, they will do their best to fix it, they don't care that your business depends on 100% uptime.  A provider with an SLA guarantees up-time, and will credit your bill for downtime.  These are fiber connections that cost over $1k a month.
    1a. Most small/medium businesses can not afford a fiber connection, nor can then afford downtime.  A compromise is a redundant internet connection. This can be as simple as your wifi traffic goes over a 2nd internet connection, or with the proper equipment you can have an automatic failover.  Which means when ISP #1 (your main/fast internet connection) fails, the 2nd ISP, such as a DSL line will kick in and
    2. When the call leaves your office, the voip server could be anywhere in the US or world. Imagine the travel it takes for data to be sent to the east coast. Yes it generally reaches the destination in seconds, but you can see there is a lot in-between here and the east coast.
    3. The voip provider could have a server outage. Not common but it does happen.
    4.  Internal network, around the 10 to 20 user mark consumer grade routers bottleneck. Even with plenty of bandwidth all it takes is 3 or 4 people with backups and update running, streaming can bring affect the call quality.  A business class router is required.
    These are a few considerations to know while planning your Voice over Internet environment.  Contact us for internet quotes, voip service and installation.

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    12.15.2016

    Yahoo Says 1 Billion User Accounts Were Hacked

    The two attacks are the largest known security breaches of one company’s computer network.

    We recommend changing your passwords, if you are using Yahoo biz mail for your organization please contact our office for a more business centric email service.

    The newly disclosed 2013 attack involved sensitive user information, including names, telephone numbers, dates of birth, encrypted passwords and unencrypted security questions that could be used to reset a password. Yahoo said it is forcing all of the affected users to change their passwords and it is invalidating unencrypted security questions — steps that it declined to take in September.

    further details found here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/technology/yahoo-hack.html

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    12.09.2016

    Reusing Passwords Will Kill Your Business

    Do you reuse passwords?  If so, it's just a matter of time before the bad guys break into your network, your laptop, your bank account, and your business. Since computers were invented, we have had to balance use-ability with security. And business owners have always hated passwords. I can't tell you how many times I've been told that I should make a password easy to remember.

    I'm sorry to tell you: Those days are long gone. There are now literally millions of bad guys hacking and cracking into everything they can find.  

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    12.01.2016

    The 3-2-1 backup plan

    Diversification is the key to success for many things in life. In addition to having a diversified investment plan, diversification should also play a central role when it comes to devising a backup plan for the data on your computer systems. The digital world we live in today makes many consumers and companies targets if they are not careful with their information. According to a Verizon 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report, there were 642 security mishaps in the financial services industry in 2014. Among the 642 cases, 242 were confirmed data losses. This report doesn’t  

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    11.28.2016

    4 Ways to Increase Your Laptop Battery Life and Charge

    1. Keep the Vents Clear
    Never ever sit your laptop on a couch cushion, or on a mattress, or anything soft that hinders airflow through the little slot on the bottom and sides of your machine. Those vents can suck up dust and debris, clogging up the fans and causing your laptop to work harder. And, the harder the machine works, the more battery power it is going to require. If you hear a loud buzzing (like a fan spinning really fast), or your laptop base is so hot you could cook an egg on it, chances are you should consider moving to a tabletop or hard surface to work on. If this buzzing is consistent, the laptop doesn’t cool down or you need assistance cleaning the dust out of the vents, contact your IT provider.  
    1. Keep the Screen Brightness Down
     

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    11.23.2016

    Hacker in network of 80 computers

    A fellow member of The ASCII Group shared a week long horror story of recovering an 80 workstation, 4 server environment for a large general contractor client.  If you don't read the entire story remember this, all it takes is 1 click to encrypt (lock) the entire network.  This was a form of Ransomware that was stealthy enough to bypass all of the layers and lock/shut everything down within 5 minutes.  The virus bypassed 2 firewalls, anti-virus, and spam filtering.  The main thing the client did not fully cooperate with was Security Awareness training.  This a service that sends "fake" spam messages, and alerts the employee that they have clicked on the  

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