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).
This process can come in handy if you use offline folders. The problem I ran into was that the previous host was removed without all the clients being able to sync. Thus, I was left with orphaned Offline Files that were pointing to the old host. The best way to retrieve these files is to take the following steps.
The Crypto-Locker Virus is making its rounds again. This version, like the last is originally transmitted via an email. The email claims to contain a Resume from a friend or previous acquaintance and asks you to open it. The virus is embedded in a Word document but opening the document alone does not infect the machine. Microsoft Office has built in security measures that prevent this virus code from running but the fake resume asks you to disable those protective measures.
Before getting into the "how" of this topic I have three words that could save you from an enormous digital fiasco... TWO FACTOR AUTHENTICATION.
Most of us likely take online security and privacy too lightly. Think about the types of information in your digital footprint; bank account information, credit card account data, online access to your 401k, Facebook, Twitter the list goes on and on.
According to http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/ there are roughly three billion people on the internet or about 40 percent of the world’s population.
Working with clients who vacillate on choices of backup and disaster recovery is an interesting part of my job. Looking at automated onsite/offsite, manually managed solutions, file-level, image-level, desktop backups and other options.
