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Clare Computer Solutions
2400 Camino Ramon, Suite 195San Ramon, CA 94583
(925)277-0690
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Blogs
One Hat Too Many
As a business leader, you’ve built your success by wearing many hats: management, sales, human resources, etc. This do-it-all attitude is likely a key element of your success, especially in the early days when money was tight. As your business has grown, you’ve been...
Dangerous “trial balloons”
Back in February, it was hard to miss news stories about the mysterious balloon floating across North America. While the public still doesn’t have definitive answers, it did raise a lot of questions. Who launched it? For what purpose? Was it detected soon enough? Once...
7 Sound Reasons You Need Managed IT Services
As much as companies want to keep business processes in-house, if you want to reach the summit of your industry, you’re going to need some help. Think of your organization as a solo climber summiting Mount Everest. Are you really going it alone? The simple answer is...
Is Ransomware Becoming Uninsurable in 2023?
2022 was the year that changes in the cybersecurity insurance market started to pop up on business leaders’ radars. Unfortunately, it was usually in the form of a significant increase in the cost to renew a cybersecurity insurance policy or an increase in minimum...
Start 2023 Right!
Welcome to 2023! Whether it’s in our personal lives with New Year resolutions, or in our professional lives with new budgets and annual plans, January is a time of change. We may have been planning this change for several months, but the turning of the calendar flips...
Reflecting on 2022
With Thanksgiving behind us and New Years ahead of us, it is only natural to look back on the year. While our inner nerds could geek out for hours about the modern technologies introduced in 2022, there is one thing that Clare Computer Solutions is even more...
Planning for Success in 2023
November has arrived. For most people, this is marked by the air being a little crisper, the days a lot shorter, and pumpkin spice everywhere. For businesses, it also means planning and budgeting for the upcoming year. The strategic decisions made now will have a...
Don’t Click and Be Tricked
Do you remember the SolarWinds cyberattack back in March 2020? There was a lot going on in the world back then, so you’ll be forgiven if this one slipped under your radar. SolarWinds software is used by over 30,000 public and private organizations, including several...
Even Auditors Get Audited
Every month we write a new blog post that discusses the security threats your business faces and recommends the steps you can take to protect your business against these threats. In addition to these threats to data security and business continuity, we’ve also talked...
Why Wi-Fi 6E?
With all the other changes you’ve had to deal with over the past few years, you could be forgiven for not being aware of the changes happening with wireless networking. Most people don’t really think about their wireless network until it’s not working. If yours has...
Evolution of IT Services Management
If you’ve been reading our blog posts for a while, you’ll have noticed that we like to talk about concepts such as using IT to transform your business or evolving your business via new technology. Stagnation is not a good business strategy, and we’ve seen firsthand...
Do You Know Your Cybersecurity Framework?
Imagine you are going to build your dream house. You have an architect who will design the house to merge your wishes with building requirements. The general contractor will orchestrate and manage the various craftsmen that will implement the design and ensure...
Controlling Costs and Security Threats at the Same Time
Sadly, rising costs are a universal story in 2022. We see the signs of inflation everywhere. As a business, you must decide how much of the cost increases you absorb and how much you pass on to your customers. While many of the cost increases are unavoidable in this...
New Year, New Challenges
January is named for Janus, the ancient Roman god with one face looking backward and the other face looking forward. For the ancient Romans, Janus was linked with gates and doors. There were ceremonial doors dedicated to Janus that were opened when the army left to...
Preparing to Recover from Disaster
Imagine this scenario: one holiday weekend you receive a phone call informing you that your office building is on fire. You arrive to see several fire trucks spraying water onto the roof of the building. Their quick action prevents the building from being completely...
Hundreds of CA Companies Report Data Breaches in 2021
Current California law requires businesses that have experienced a data breach to notify any CA resident whose personal information may have been stolen. After experiencing a data breach, organizations must send a formal breach notice to affected parties. If more than...
Making Cybersecurity Less Spooky
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Now in its 18th year, it is a collaborative effort between government and industry to educate and encourage individuals and organizations on their role in protecting themselves against cyber threats. Reflecting the need for...
Building a Security Culture
Have you ever been in a manufacturing setting? In those settings, employees are surrounded by dangers: chemicals, machines, and loud noise are just a few. Governments have established safety laws to help protect employees, and companies are required to adopt those...
Those Who Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail
Most businesses know that success requires planning. Whether it’s a 5-year growth strategy or the next product launch, success isn’t random. Disaster, on the other hand, is often quite random. We’ve talked about security threats such as ransomware. The news reports...
Ransomware Has Gone Mainstream in 2021
What was once an arcane security threat that only IT professionals worried about is now a lead story in the news. With the recent attack on Colonial Pipeline, regular citizens are learning about the dangers of ransomware, and those living on the East Coast were...
Nobody Gets Fired For Investing in Security
In the early days of business computing, the industry catchphrase was “Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.” During a time of rapid innovation and before there were industry standards to ensure interoperability, even if IBM didn’t have the best technological...
Necessity is the Mother of Innovation
This phrase first appeared in English in the 1600s, and versions exist in French, Italian, German, and many other languages – so the concept is not new. In fact, the ancient Greeks had a similar saying. Innovation is part of human nature: when we see a problem, we...
Laboratory or Museum?
Laboratories are dynamic. New instruments are added regularly to enable new tests. Space is reconfigured to adapt to new ways of doing things. Once something is no longer useful, it is removed and replaced with something better. Museums are static. Their purpose is to...
How Could You Let This Happen?
Those are words we never want to hear, no matter what the situation. Something undesirable has happened, we were expected to have prevented it, but it happened. By the time the question is being asked, there isn't much to do except damage control. When it comes to...
Make vs. Buy
If you've taken a class or read a book on business strategy, you've likely come across the "outsourcing decision." In this decision, a business compares the costs and benefits of producing a part or service internally versus the costs and benefits of paying someone...
Halt 70% of Known Network Cyberattacks and Phishing Campaigns
As the shelter-in-place (SIP) rages on within California, the Bay Area and its workers are forced to continue working remotely. At times, it feels like our world has drastically changed. Despite how mixed up everything may seem, it appears to be business as usual for...
3 Major Reasons Your Business Should Move to Office 2019
Microsoft Office 2010 support is now reaching the final leg of its lifecycle. Extended support for Office 2010 will end on October 13th, 2020 and that means no more tech support, bug fixes, or security patches coming from Microsoft. Accompanying applications Microsoft...
Seamless Cybersecurity & Two Emerging Threats
For most businesses, the pandemic has been a rush of implementing new policies and procedures while, at the same time, trying to keep end-user Cybersecurity fortifications intact. Organizations that acted early following the shelter-in-place safety procedures are...
Four Risks to Consider with VPN Deployments
With the sudden and rushed deployment of Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to further support new remote workers, many companies are discovering firsthand the struggles of implementing a VPN into their network. Without the needed experience, the configuration can...
Keeping Your IT Infrastructure Fresh, Reliable and Aligned with Business Needs
As the network evolves with a company, over time (configuration changes are made, new devices are added, some are completely forgotten) older devices become unstable and unsupported. This is a natural consequence due to competing priorities, staff turnover, and daily...
New to Working From Anywhere: Tips to Keep You Productive and Efficient
So many businesses are now encouraging or even mandating employees to begin working from home amid the heath concerns of Coronavirus. Millions have already changed their daily routines, in turn changing the way many of us work today. Not everyone has been made...
Can You Spot a Scam When You See One?
Can You Spot a Scam When You See One? - Learn How to Recognize Suspicious Texts and Emails! As we are all getting used to the new normal, people continuing to work from home or staff returning to work, there continues to be a lot of change and unrest. Users are...
6 Important OS Hardening Steps to Protect Your Data and End Users
Are your systems protected? Is your IT Team overwhelmed or is your current IT Partner leaving your business vulnerable? According to the Duo Trusted Access Report, only 53% of Mac OS users are running either the fully patched, latest version of OS X or the previous...
Returning to the Office: A Checklist for Your Businesses
As many counties ease lockdown restrictions, businesses around the Bay Area will slowly begin to reopen their doors. As some look forward to getting back into the office, others will continue to feel wary. One thing is for certain: the workplace is going to look very...
Generating Your Security Mindset During These Times
Here we are months later, still dealing with the changes this pandemic has created. Most changes haven't been fun, but it's made for very interesting times. Many businesses are focused on figuring out how to maintain staff, motivate existing staff remotely, and keep...
Insider Threats, What’s the True Cost to Your Organization
Insider threats cost companies millions. According to the Ponemon Institute's recently released study 2020 Cost of Internal Threats, in the last two years, we have seen a 31% increase in threats emerging from inside an organization. Costs range from $756K to $871K per...
Average Ransomware Payment Rises Again
COVID-19 continues to create opportunities for the bad actors to wreak havoc. In this week's blog, we discuss the latest security concerns created by the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically around Ransomware. This quarter saw a 33% increase in ransom from Q1 2020, with an...
COVID-19 Relief Aid Phishing attempts have increased by 6000% – Is your Business vulnerable?
Uncertainty about the availability and allocation of financial relief funds for the COVID 19 pandemic has confused small business owners while simultaneously creating new opportunities for cyber attackers to prey on unsuspecting victims. Per a recent article published...
Practical Tips for Video Meetings
As coronavirus (COVID-19) forces more employees to work from home, businesses are adapting to a new remote-work business model as quickly and effectively as possible. Although technology has made this process easier, our professional identity is temporarily confined...
[EXPOSED:] Coronavirus Elicits Phishing Attacks
Growing interest in up-to-date news on the COVID-19 (Corona Virus) is making many vulnerable to online cyber-attacks. Hackers are exploiting the public's need to feel safe and in control through phishing attacks. Did you know Cybercriminals have ramped up phishing...
Adapting to a Remote Workforce
At Clare Computer Solutions, we are helping many firms change the way they work as a result of COVID-19, and we are here to support you. Building a remote workforce quickly and securely? We can help you. Turn in-person meetings and conferences into virtual events? We...
We Are Here, Open for Business and Ready to Support You
We at Clare Computer Solutions, first and foremost, hope that wherever you are that you are staying healthy and safe during this unprecedented and challenging time. These are difficult and admittedly uncertain times for all of us. Clare Computer Solutions continues to...
How to Protect Your Business From the Dark Web
With flu season wrapping up, and the coronavirus a real threat to many businesses here in the SF Bay Area, remote work could quickly become the norm. Regardless of policy, this opens many businesses up for credential stealing hackers to strike. With many workers out...
Business Email Compromise: How-To Avoid Joining Those Already Impacted
Business Email Compromise (BEC) now encompasses the largest threat to business. Designed to evade traditional email security, including gateways and spam filters, spear-phishing attacks are often sent from high-reputation domains or compromised email accounts. Attacks...
Reasons Why You Should Have Already Migrated to Office 365
Enterprise IT has remained much the same, although with incredible innovation and invention to improve on what has been made readily available to smaller organizations. Sadly, lots continue using outdated technology, underpinning the platforms and solutions that have...
Stop Dreading the Update: Windows 7 Extended Support Update Relief
On January 14th, 2020, Windows 7 will be reaching its end of supportable life. This means any business using Windows 7 on employee PCs or Windows Server 2008 will no longer receive the security and bug patching needed when computing in today's connected age. Rejoice...
A Look Back in Time: The Cloud in Review
For years you've heard how the cloud is coming to save you and how the landscape is demanding hybrid & private clouds more than ever. It's time we take another look at cloud computing for businesses, and where the landscape is in comparison to when I originally...
3 New Year’s Resolutions for Technology Minded Business
There is something special about flipping the calendar over to the peak of a new year. For many, this means New Year's resolutions. For businesses, it means a fresh opportunity, a chance to complete the things you missed last year. Like many, we've found businesses...
Lessons in Network Lock-down: Focusing on Business Backups First
When you're considering the prevention of modern attacks, it's become pretty obvious that all businesses need a strong lineup of cyber-defense tools, not just a bare-bones firewall and old-fashion anti-virus. You need to protect the business first, and to do this, you...
Don’t Be Left Battling Phishing Alone: Layering Your Security Approach
It's time we admit to ourselves that the bad guys who draft up phishing emails to capture logins are getting much more thrifty. They have become so crafty, in fact, that even I could be fooled by these increasingly clever email attacks, one of them almost got me. The...
Built to Dodge Your Detection: Could This Be the First ‘Smart Malware’
Cybercriminals have done it again: they've developed ransomware that can now be ported to ALL MAJOR operating systems including Windows, Linux, and MacOS. These attacks come targeted against your data servers. The name for this is PureLocker, a snaky nod to the...
10 Scary Tech Support Lessons Sure to Spook This Year
We take pride in continuing to educate our clients on the trials and tribulations seen in business technology today. The following images aren't from our clients, but they are real-world examples of the tech support challenges many businesses face today, some...
Cybersecurity: 99% of Email Attacks Rely on Victims Clicking Links
While a tiny fraction of attacks relies on exploit kits and known software vulnerabilities to compromise systems, the vast majority of campaigns, 99%, require some level of human input to execute. These interactions can also enable macros so malicious code can be run....
FBI Updates Statistics: CEO Fraud Is Now a $26 Billion Dollar Scam and Growing
In 2000, the FBI created the IC3, known as the Internet Crime Complaint Center was first developed to handle singular fraud cases, until 2003 when the expansion of this department became unignorable. As of late, the cyber climate began growing at a rapid pace, so to...
4 Proactive Steps to Prepare Networks for Ultimate Agility
Growing in rapid popularity, networking professionals identified improving network agility as a top business goal for the year. Considered the future of networking and business computing, "Network Agility" itself has become a popular buzzword. With everyone talking...
The 12 Tricks to Succeeding in Managing Office 365
Although it's never recommended, some local businesses have taken their chances at managing and manipulating Office 365 configurations. With so much knowledge needed before making any moves, most of the time we only hear the horror stories from how things went from...
Phishing: Even Without a Click, Your Employees Can Assist the Bad Guys
Employees can still assist the bad guys in compromising the overall safety of your organization. Over the years, we've reinforced these security ideas in our blogs and social media with the idea that clicking or interacting with these criminals only continues to...
Back 2 Basics: Prevent Data Breaches with Stronger Authentication
Identity security is one of the most significant challenges that IT organizations face. An identity compromise can ruin an organization, and it is the number one attack vector for hackers. Your traditional, not-so-secure way to log in, consists of entering your...
Hackers Execute Ransomware Attack & Encryption on SF Asian Art Museum
In the wake of destruction from an ever-growing threat of cybercriminals, many major municipal branches in Baltimore and Atlanta fell victim to encrypted systems and were extorted for millions. Soon after, the major targets became local school districts and colleges,...
July Patch Updates: Correcting the Windows 10 Operating System’s Baseline Security
The Windows 10 operating system improved its security. Microsoft has long stood by its policies that passwords should expire after so many days to prevent compromised credentials but never made it a requirement. In Microsoft's latest release Feature Update #1809,...
Microsoft Patching Addresses 88 Vulnerabilities & Risks Found in Systems Today
Patching can prevent many of the most-used exploits, risks, and vulnerabilities are seen in major applications, software, and even operating systems. These patches typically contain updates to your current software suite. In recent years, Microsoft has transitioned...
Read Between the Lines: What Your Business Could Learn from Flipboard’s Recent Data-Breach
According to Flipboard, hackers were able to tap directly into the databases where the app company housed customer information. The information stolen, including customer names, user names, hashed passwords, emails, and digital tokens or API tokens for your favorite...
Phishing Attacks Begin Leveraging Legal Threats From Local Law Firms
By far, the most convincing email phishing and malware attacks come disguised as your typical nastygram from local businesses. These emails have grown in popularity with cyber-criminals. By making minor customizations to these campaigns, these phishing attacks are now...
What Exactly Is a Security Posture & What Does It Mean to Your Business
Our business ecosystems have begun rapidly changing, and with cybercriminals dominating the IT risk landscape, a new vocabulary is developing. One of the latest additions to the lexicon of many is the concept of "Security Posture," a techy word referring to the...
Windows Server 2008 End-Of-Life Support Begins Looming as Businesses Scramble to Act
It seems like we just went through this with Windows Server 2003, but we'll soon be losing yet another Microsoft flagship product. While Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010 reached their end-of-mainstream support on January 13, 2015, the final blow will come on...
The Scariest New Ransomware Strain Taking Business Networks by Storm
Several security teams have recently discovered the scariest new strain of highly sophisticated ransomware called MegaCortex. Although this new strain sounds like something out of this world, MegaCortex is a purpose-built threat used to seek and destroy corporate...
Begin Making Your Plans to Migrate, as Windows 7 End -Of-Life Is Coming January 14th, 2020
With blazing-fast adoption in computers and systems upon its July 2009 arrival, Windows 7 offered many a new graphical interface, which was met with a lot of concerns. As end-users adapted to the new feel of the operating system, some looked to further productivity....
4 Checkpoints to Make Your Disaster Recovery Plans Bulletproof
If you store larger volumes of files or customer data, your business is always at risk of a data breach or ransomware attack. If you can save your business from being encrypted, the second hurdle comes with meeting the compliance for your industry, as well as the...
Tax Season is Ending, Clean Up Your Sensitive Information Before the Criminals Do
If you're anything like me, you're tired of picking up the phone just to hear someone's terrible recording of a tax collector, IRS agent or CPA demanding some outrageous sum of money. According to the IRS, in their latest security bulletin, they have formulated 2019's...
Cyberattacks Using SSL Encryption Swells the Success Rate of Malware to 400%
Microsoft's latest partner release of the 2019 Security Intelligence Report was put together to inform Microsoft and Office365 Partners of the latest threat analytics to hit the landscape. Of the 470 billion emails analyzed, the year-to-date trend was well over 250%...
7 Cybersecurity Tips That Give Your Business an Unfair Advantage in 2019
Clare Computer Solution's partner and security experts, Webroot, revealed the findings on their 2019 Threat Report, displaying many "tried-and-true" attack vectors or methods are still at the top of the list, with new threats emerging every day. It would appear the...
Domain Name System: DNS Doesn’t Mean “Do Not Secure”
Recently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security(DHS) and Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency(CISA) have begun the tracking of a Domain Name System (DNS) hijacking campaign. With using the following techniques, cybercriminals can redirect user traffic...
The Latest Spear Phishing Scams to Pass-Through Your Email Filter
Unfortunately, everything malicious isn't always caught by your email filtering or anti-virus. Because of the rise in email-born attacks over the last few months, we've begun debunking some of the most well-known spear phishing emails sent to local business owners....
Secure Now, or Pay Later: “Collection #1” Data Breach Reports 773 Million Personal Records
We've been following a developing story regarding one of, if not the largest, data breach dump of all time, deemed "Collection #1" for its collated structure. Collection #1 was a series of data dumps from over 2,000 databases, and this data breach hits close to home....
Ready to Ditch the Protocol? Reasons to End Remote Desktop Protocol
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) has been known to IT professionals for years, added into our arsenal since the original release with Windows NT 4.0. This provided the technical people the ability to treat any system or task as though it were local. Before we go further,...
Uncovering the Gaps: 7 Proactive Cybersecurity Best Practices for Bay Area Businesses
For businesses, the traditional approach towards cyber security is focused on defending against threats and prevention. As criminals become bolder and tactics grow in sophistication, defense and prevention aren't enough. "Over 80% of businesses are looking for...
Managed Service Provider Best Practices for Protecting Your Employees
Cybercrimes are reaching all-time highs, with many organizations being hit with at least one of the 230,000 attacks that occurred in 2017. As a Managed Service Provider, it's our job to make security a priory for clients in 2018. By following 3 simple best practices,...
Empowering Executives with Integrations for the Technology You Love
For many CIOs and COOs, the process of technology continues to be a top priority for many come 2019. As a major headache, businesses are increasing their cloud investments to move forward with digital transformation efforts were then faced with the massive undertaking...
Section 179 Makes Most of Our IT Products 100% Tax Deductible
Many of our clients rely on this tax incentive each year to provide them with the ability to purchase or update the technology that runs their business. Utilized by many for licensing, software packages, servers, routers, and switches, many of our clients have...
Applying Our Award-Winning MSP Process to Your Security Framework
Every week, I'm sure your inbox becomes bombarded by the daily news alerts regarding the dangers of hacking attacks, phishing attempts, and data breaches. The rapidly evolving landscape poses major challenges for companies today by establishing or updating their...
8 Must-Ask Questions for Your Next MSP
For most companies, their first experience with IT support and services comes from IT providers who lack the initial experience needed to innovate and optimize a company's technology environment. "Overnight MSPs" make countless promises surrounding service delivery,...
What are Managed IT Services?
Far too many times, companies call us after losing an IT staff member, frazzled and understaffed, with the demand for fire-fighting support becomes mission critical. This causes an imbalance in the technical team, as the work level has increased but the amount of help...
Why Choose Managed IT Services
Far too often, companies ask us to explain why they should choose to use a Managed Service Provider. Although this question is completely fair, we prefer to define the operational concept as delivering IT support and services to a wide variety of organizations, based...
Retention Best Practices: What to Do with All of That Data
Your data retention and customer information are the lifeblood of your business - there's no denying data's importance, especially in day-to-day operations. Today, organizations across all industries are tasked to protect this vital info, retain it, and provides...
3 Considerations When Planning Your Future Information Technology
I'm sure many of you have heard of the age-old adage: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. No business owner should see this as a surprise. Yet, when we chat with new clients and their peers, it seems like they were winging information technology (IT) until now....
Security Awareness Training Takes Business Protection to New-Heights
Security awareness training is seen by many as something "nice to have," while several SF Bay Area business owners have begun implementing our on-site training as a necessity, looking to protect their network and backups from encryption. Your decision to adopt...
How to Devise a Budget that includes your Disaster Recovery Plans
Planning and disaster recovery, more importantly, budgeting, is one of those tasks few business continuity managers look forward to completing every year. After all, it can become a pretty involved and complicated process for anyone, often seen as sobering to tally up...
Educating Partners on Risk Management & Disaster Recovery
According to the data, there were a total of 3 natural disasters in the state of California in 2018, resulting in $180.8 billion in insured losses. That's up from the $23.8 billion last calculated in 2016. With a bad wildfire season just around the corner for the Bay...
8 Warning Signs You’re Using the Wrong IT Service Solution
Dreading your company's technology review because you can't show how your technology is performing? Have a provider suffering from a lack of ideas on how to truly accelerate technology? You're not alone - these are common symptoms for Bay Area businesses having...
8 Modern Essentials for Endpoint Security Solutions in 2018
Managed Service Providers have always strived to deliver the most stringent options in endpoint security to their clients, but a solution that just detects threats ISN'T enough in today's business ecosystem. To be truly effective, security platforms must also be...
Your Internal Teams Greatly Benefit from a Managed IT Service Provider
Having a Managed IT Service Provider (MSP) in your IT mix can free up internal staff for more strategic projects, like that app you've always wanted or those file-sharing tools your employees need. Establishing a strategic partnership with your IT vendor is essential...
Why Documenting Your Infrastructure Is Crucial to Your Next Tech Project
Things move fast in business, but they move even faster in technology. Because of this, many businesses' Information Technology (IT) infrastructures are poorly planned but can be fixed once a user can document technology. Technological tools are often deployed to...
10 Reasons Why SMBs Are Vulnerable to Security Attacks
They say recognizing a problem is the first step in solving it. But when it comes to cybersecurity, many SMBs don't believe they have a real problem on their hands. Many simply believe that hackers will focus their attention exclusively on large and well-heeled...
Your Security Policies Protect More Than a Multi-Generational Workforce
Every generation approaches technology differently. A 55-year-old manager is going to think about data security differently than a 22-year-old just starting their career. Recent studies have shown that different generations have dynamic attitudes and behaviors...
Your Advantages When Outsourcing IT Through an MSP
More security threats emerge every year, leaving many businesses to begin the search for outsourcing their IT tasks to a Managed Service Provider (MSP). An MSP allows businesses to focus on core objectives, instead of resolving IT issues. Without the necessary...
Three Most Common Network Security Failure Points for Businesses
Network security continues to be at the forefront of Bay Area businesses. The threats posed to an Information Technology (IT) network are well known. There's a new story daily of malware or hackers tampering with or destroying data. Most companies make an effort to...
Why YOU need a Strong Network Foundation to Support Emerging Tech
To take advantage of any opportunities in Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), you must invest in robust wireless networks and with fast connections to any cloud applications. If you were building a house, you wouldn't start with the windows. You...
How Simple IT Fixes, Could Save Your Business Millions
Opportunity makes the cybercriminal. Online travel giant Orbitz disclosed Monday, March 18th that hackers gained access to one of its "older platforms." Upon gaining access, the hackers now have such data as credit card numbers, street addresses, legal names, and...
The Benefits of Using Assessments like Azure HealthCheck
Assess physical and virtual infrastructure, provide in-depth reporting, make informed decisions on costs, and plan smooth cloud migrations. Expand your efficiency and effectiveness around the fastest-growing cloud platform, Microsoft Azure. It can be hard to know...
What Does a Messy Desk and IT Security Flaws Have in Common?
Many businesses today don't enforce digital, let alone, physical information security. As their Managed Service Provider (MSP), our job is to educate clients on the industry's best practices.It?s time to put your knowledge to the test, can you find the six security...
How Hybrid Cloud Computing Has Taken the Market by Storm
If you're still viewing the hybrid cloud as something outside of your IT strategy or adoption plan, it's time to change your thinking. In a recent study conducted by Cisco and several other partners, of the IT departments surveyed, 65% hope to prioritize the cloud as...
Multi-Factor Authentication: Locking down Your Business Data from Hackers
Known as a common occurrence for most information technology engineers, hacking is logging into systems through remote means. The idea was, only you would know your login and password, and this would keep your information safe. The company data you're protecting is...
File Sharing: 4 Reasons You Don’t Use Consumer Grade
As the digital transformation begins to gain traction in the market for business technology, file sharing continues to lead many to a more efficient work path, starting with file sharing through iCloud and Google cloud, followed by the Dropbox adoption, and now into...
Use Managed Services to Expand IT Support for Your Company
If your business is doing well, then it's growing. Growth is desirable, but it presents some challenges that must be addressed for your company to fully realize the benefits of that growth. One challenge is increasing the IT support to serve the needs of an expanded...
Vulnerability Explained: How Do Hackers View Your Network?
The technology infrastructure used every day is a familiar part of your business. You know where your applications are, your data, and how to access the internet and send email through it. Your view of the network, then, is from the inside out. But how would a...
Hybrid Infrastructure Makes Cloud Migrations More Strategic
Cloud computing holds great promise for the future of information technology (IT). As the technology matures and the install base grows, more businesses are choosing to mix on-premise and cloud environments to create a "hybrid infrastructure." Demystifying Hybrid...
Tech or Treat: How Tech Budgets Will Turn Your Business Around
It only takes one outage to showcase how vulnerable a company could be. Unfortunately for most businesses, this single incident can shake business owners to their core. In just a matter of moments, your business's reputation and public standing are called into...
Stop Avoiding the IT Infrastructure Migration That Transforms Businesses
Most businesses can't afford to be shut down while a major migration takes place, and this can present some challenges. This is no reason to avoid doing it, though. Sometimes, there are valid business reasons to move IT functions from one place to another, whether...
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month
The offices of The Department of Homeland Security released a statement designating October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Known to many in the IT industry, the National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) partners engagement and education through...
When Is it Time to Call an IT Consultant
When is the right time to call an IT consultant? As information technology continues to change, the lines can be blurred as to when your business should bring in an IT Consultant. Any modern business with more than a handful of people has an IT infrastructure, and...
Hybrid Infrastructure Trends Towards “Everything-as-a-Service”
For years, Information Technology (IT) focused on physical platforms and the computers and software that ran on them. IT costs were capital expenditures that purchased these products initially, and as they reached the end of their lifespans, more capital expenditures...
Have You Completed These Malware Survival Tasks?
Ransomware shows no signs of slowing down. Attacks continue to grow, both in sheer numbers and in sophistication, as the IT world struggles to catch up. Despite the frightening statistics and scary stories, there are some things you can do to lessen the likelihood of...
A Cloud Based IT Infrastructure Must Be Managed
Cloud based computing carries a lot of promise for many Bay Area business owners.?However,?it?s still an IT infrastructure, and must be managed to deliver all the desired benefits to your business. Most businesses, so far, are?adopting a hybrid approach to the...
NetCentral Support Center: Much More Than a Helpdesk
For many network users, their primary interaction with IT support is through a user helpdesk. Whether it's in-house support staff or through a third-party provider, a support center is imperative to the relationship between client and support. NetCentral support...
Petya Ransomware: Everything You Need To Know
If you had any doubts about the threat of cybercrime... it appears another global ransomware attack has started. If your company does any international business, you could be next. Spread through email and infecting websites and social media (Twitter, LinkedIn,...
Should IT Support be Outsourced, on Staff, or Both?
Companies need their technology tools to perform their business operations every day. As a result, they have IT infrastructures that must have support. Users need help. Network devices must be managed, and everything has to work together. What's the best way to handle...
How Well Do You Know Your IT Infrastructure?
Businesses today rely on technological tools to operate. These tools handle sales processes, payroll, accounting, manufacturing, planning, communication, customer relations, and more. It's likely your company absolutely depends on its IT infrastructure to conduct...
Phishing Scams Continue Their Rapid Evolution From Bad to Worse
Social engineering is at the heart of two main cyber scams plaguing businesses and individuals alike. Many of these scams stem from Ransomware and phishing. Ransomware is malware that encrypts files and demands a ransom to provide a decryption key. Phishing is using...
Network Security Fundamentals for Any Business
The use of these network security fundamentals can be a launchpad for companies looking to beef up security due to the recent ransomware attacks. The term "Network Security" is very broad in the context of modern technologies. Networks can be hard-wired or wireless....
Which Backup and Disaster Recovery Option Fits Your Business Needs?
The notion of backing up important data should be familiar to anyone. Accidents happen, and if a computer that has your data fails, it's lost unless it was backed up somehow. But the process is more complicated now. Technology and its threats have evolved, and the...
Can Your Business Afford Having Network Downtime?
There's an old adage: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We know it's true, and yet many businesses don't apply this commonsense approach to their IT infrastructure. The most common reason is, the owners are too busy with the day-to-day running of the...
Time to Migrate: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Has Retired
Did you know that Windows Server 2003 extended support ended on July 14, 2015? What does that mean for businesses like yours? SQL Server 2005 "extended support" has officially ended on April 12, 2017. Utilizing "out-of-support" versions of server software could lead...
IT Projects That Will Transform Business
With so many options to improve your IT infrastructure, do you know which may have the biggest impact on your business? Have you been putting off IT projects because they are too complex or you don't know where to begin? There are some projects that can have such a...
When Is The Right Time for Cloud Services?
Cloud computing has been around for several years, and the adoption of cloud services for business continues to ramp up. How will you know when it's time for your business to consider the cloud for your IT workloads? Here are some circumstances that might make you...
Benefits from Business Continuity Planning You Might Not Expect
It's hard to dispute the value of a good business continuity plan. Given the high rate of business failure after a major disaster and the reasonable cost for modern technologies, a good business continuity plan is something every company should consider. Having a...
Sorting Through Common Cloud Options: SaaS, IaaS or PaaS?
Have you ever asked yourself, 'What cloud option would be best for my business"? Cloud-based computing has become a large part of today's modern office. As a result, it looks like the adoption of cloud-based technologies will continue to grow. Yet, cloud services...
Be Proactive: Avoid Potential Network Failures
For small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), a network failure could become devastating due to the loss of active resources. Preparation against such disasters is the only course of action to avoid failure or receive minimal damage. Companies must become proactive in...
Three Things Your Business Continuity Plan Needs
Very few business owners would dispute the wisdom behind having a business continuity plan. This doesn't stop many (if not most) businesses from having an outdated, ineffective, incomplete or untested plan. Similar to insurance, this provides the "peace of mind" in...
Tax Season Means Big-Game Phishing for Cybercriminals
With tax season upon us, cyber-criminals have begun focusing new tax-related scams towards employers and employees using social engineering techniques. Social engineering is at the heart of the two most common cyber-scams plaguing businesses and individuals today:...
How Managed Cloud Technology Adds Agility to Your Business
One of the more interesting promises of cloud technology is the agility added to business operations. In today's fast-paced world, a company that can make changes quickly, as needed, carries a competitive advantage. How does managed cloud technology enable that?...
What Can Businesses Do For Resiliency Against Cyber Threats in 2017
Looking at the cyber threat landscape for 2017, it doesn't appear businesses will receive any relief from hackers, malware, or ransomware anytime soon. In fact, all these threats continue to grow in sophistication. What can you do to help your business gain resilience...
Choosing a Managed Service Provider Whose Goals Match Your Own
Picking the right managed service provider (MSP) to manage your business technology can quickly become an overwhelming task for anybody. Rather than having repairs as needed, you're partnering with a company to assist you in assessing your current technology, building...
Harden Your Operating System To Prevent Cyber Attacks
Whenever cybercriminals look to compromise a device or network, by the time your employees realize it, it's far too late. Many small and medium-sized businesses aren't aware that operating system vulnerabilities provide easy access. 5 Operating System Hardening Tips...
3 Internal Threats to Your Network You Should Know About
The media always seems to have some reports of hackers gaining access to sensitive company data, and those threats are very real. The nature of our connected networks means attacks can come from anywhere in the world. Most prudent companies make a concerted effort to...
Web Content Management: Big Brother or Smart Business?
Web content management has become more important for business than ever before. There can be little doubt on the liberating effect on workers and businesses of widespread internet access. Having ready access (from a variety of devices) to a wealth of information and...
5 Tips for Safer Online Holiday Shopping
There's no doubt that online shopping is convenient. Shoppers have access to an incredible selection of products and can easily comparison shop for the best quality and lowest prices. The online shopping experience is here to stay. The consumers have spoken! With the...
Three IT Tips for a Successful Office Move
To move offices can be exciting a chance to settle into new quarters and really get organized. But there?s a lot of anxiety, too. You don't want to lose anything, and you certainly want to keep disruptions to the business to an absolute minimum. In the ideal moving...
The Ugly Truth About Cycling-Out Aging Technology
The rate of change in technology has always been rapid, but now changes come faster than ever.? This can pose some challenges for companies. Technology goes from being brand new to being outdated in the wink of an eye! Sometimes, it seems the ink has barely dried on...
Budget Tips to Prepare Your Business for Success in 2017
We all know the final two months of the year go by fast. Part of this is due to the hectic pace of modern business, especially when building a budget. But November and December, due to the holidays, have fewer actual work days than any other two-month span. So, early...
Ransomware Evolves Towards a Targeted Approach
Ransomware evolves, attacking continues to be on the rise, and companies are scrambling to add technical safeguards, policy-level protection and employee education to fight the threat. Like most cyber-threats, ransomware is evolving in sophistication, and one of the...
Cloud-Based Email vs. On-Premises Email
Cloud-based email is one of the fastest-growing segments of cloud computing, and it's easy to understand why. Email is such a ubiquitous part of modern communication (how long has it been since someone in business told you they don't have an email address?) that a new...
Don’t Think Disaster Recovery, Think Business Continuity
When we hear the word "disaster," we think of the events that make the news: floods, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes. But for a business, a disaster is anything that disrupts the ability to do business. The newsworthy disasters mentioned above qualify, but so do events...
Avoiding Scope Creep on IT Projects
Many businesses dread taking on an IT project because their experience with them in the past involved problems, delays, and cost overruns. The common culprit in failed projects is often referred to as scope creep when the original focus of the project is thrown off...
CCS Delivers Value Through Education as Well as Tech
The whole premise of managed services is to get ahead of problems to prevent them before they occur. This is accomplished with proper monitoring and management of IT assets, but since some problems are caused inadvertently by user actions, it's important to address...
Network Security Starts With Your Corporate Culture
With the explosive speed technology is changing, it can become tough to stay ahead of the latest cyber threats. There is a temptation to deal with cyber-threats as a one-off cure. Are hackers trying to get into your network? Buy a firewall. Are viruses causing...
Fast and Reliable Internet Access Vital for Cloud Services
Cloud Computing is increasing in adoption and has become a big part of the technology landscape. Not that it's a good fit for every company, or that it's delivered on all the anticipated benefits, but increasingly, the cloud is a viable solution for a variety of...
Don’t Ignore Your Desktops In Disaster Recovery Plan
Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. An event that renders your office unusable qualifies as a major disaster, and dealing with that should be a major focus of your disaster recovery (DR) plan. Having a server fail would have a widespread adverse effect on your...
Insist on Transparency From IT Service Providers
One of the things companies struggle with if they choose to outsource part or all of their IT service is the fear of losing control. Having a third party managing a company's IT should not mean relinquishing control of, or visibility into, the IT infrastructure,...
Cloud Computing Continues to Trend Upward
Cloud Computing is no longer the "next big thing" - it's here and it's going to stay. The futurists weren't right about everything, though. What we're seeing is an increase in cloud adoption. But rather than wholesale migrations, companies are choosing the aspects of...
Offices Without Walls – The Mobile Workplace Revolution
Advances in cloud and mobile computing technology have made it possible to have an office without walls, something that would not have seemed possible just a few years ago. Local Area Networks (LANs) revolutionized work within offices because they enabled everyone on...
4 Tips to Control IT Costs at Your Business
One of the keys to success for any business is to control costs. Technology can help reduce costs through added efficiency and agility, but sometimes companies find it a challenge to control the costs of their IT department itself. Here are some tips on controlling...
Ransomware: How to Reduce Risk and Protect Your Business
The malware is known as " Ransomware " has many variants which utilize an array of methods to find a series of entry points (usually an attachment to an email) to infect and encrypt a company's servers and data. Once the virus finds an entry point, it will begin to...
Server Virtualization: Doing More With Less
Sooner or later, your old reliable server will no longer do its job, and it will be time to replace it. If you have several servers, this technology refresh cycle may be the right time to consider consolidating several servers into one, using server virtualization....
IT Support: Managed Services Suite of Services
As an IT support method for business, managed services is the best choice for most companies searching for IT Support. But managed services is a general term, and it's important to understand the spectrum of services that could (and should) be available under that...
Managed Services Can Help With Compliance
There are a number of industries that require businesses to have certifications or proof of compliance to operate within the industry. They vary from industry to industry, and some certifications are harder to achieve than others. Healthcare firms are subject to the...
Strategic IT Planning Allows Patching & Updates
A network consisting of components purchased over the course of several years? With strategic IT planning, your company is able to maximize the value it gets from its technology. Strategic IT Planning The downside of the speed at which technology changes is how...