Cybercrime and Security have continuously been hot topics of discussion. We live in a world where technology is king and have become a smart phone society, where most people use their phone to access their personal information. How many employees surf the web and download viruses or harmful information because of lack of knowledge?

The WannaCry cyber-attack has been in the forefront of the news headlines worldwide. WannaCry has infected over 200,000 machines to date. Over 150 Countries and organizations such as FedEX, Nissan and Renault were infected.

Cyber security is critical for keeping your business safe. Most Small businesses believe that they are not a target and sometimes prioritize other IT projects over security, but a majority of small businesses are likely to be less secure and more vulnerable for cyber attacks. Last year 43% of cyber-attacks worldwide were against Small businesses.

As a small business owner, no one understands or cares more about the success of your company than you. That’s why having a backup and business continuity plan in place should be a priority, not just because it’s best practice but because it’s good for your bottom line as well. In a recent blog titled Data Backups: The Cost of Doing Business, we discuss the importance of data security and the financial burden of not having data backups in place.

Here at Beringer Associates, data security is of the utmost importance.  Ask any member of our team and you’ll find everyone is constantly backing up their data and creating effective redundancy throughout the day.  Any expert in the field will tell you that keeping current data backups is important, but have you ever sat down and wondered why?

There’s no one size fits all for the definition of the word HACKER.  Everyone hacks for a different reason.  In the case of LinkedIn the professional  social network company is finding out a breach of the network that happened in 2012 has fueled Hackers to sell 117 million login passwords on the black market.  But wait, why would this have any real big consequence?

Most companies make sure they backup their data and computer systems but they overlook the potential to have a good disaster recovery plan in case their phone system goes down.  When phone lines go down how will it impact your business?  With backup SIP Trunks you can also make sure your business communication is safe using redundancy.

Nothing makes doctors cringe more than someone blurting the acronym HIPPA.  What is HIPPA and why should I care, after all I am a doctor for heaven’s sake!  While that statement is often tossed around in casual conversations among peers, the underlying majority sentiment among the medical community is that it scares all healthcare principals to the bone.  The cost of a single HIPPA violation is astronomical and can literally put a small healthcare practice out of business.

So you’ve heard of Viruses and Phishing attacks, but have you heard of Ransomware? Ransomware is basically a combination of a virus and phishing attack that employs an application to encrypt your data to hold it for ransom. The phishing part of the attack is centered on an email with some type of attachment. An example would be “My Resume for your consideration” with a word document attached. The Word document has macros that will go out to the Internet, download and run an application that will search for and encrypt all of your data files (PDF, Office App files, photos, etc).