Outsourced I.T. for Your Business
Are you using your Apple to its fullest? Take a look at our tips and tricks!
Taking a step back from the ongoing debate about what computer is better—Mac or PC—let’s focus on your Mac computer. Your Mac computer can do a lot more than you think, and to use it to its full potential take a few minutes to learn more with these computer tips. [Read more…]
Your business needs systems setup, cyber security, back ups, managed services, and networks to work in the digital age. Why get them all from separate sources when you can get a custom IT solution from an experienced IT company? A custom IT solution is a considerable investment but gets you everything you need without the things you don’t, gets you real hands on support, and improved efficiency over prepackaged systems.
The first benefit of custom IT solutions for your business is that with custom it solutions you get everything you need and nothing you don’t. By getting custom IT assistance provided by experienced and qualified individuals, you can pick the features you want, the ones most relevant to your business. This way you can get them all from one source, rather then getting multiple prepackaged or proprietary IT solutions to address the things your company needs most you can get them all in one. And with custom IT solutions you don’t get anything you don’t need, no extra clutter on your systems, no distracting programs, and no unnecessary extra costs. So with custom IT solutions you get everything your business needs and nothing it doesn’t, where as with prepackaged IT solutions you might have to buy multiple products to precisely fit your companies IT needs and you’ll get material superfluous to your business. [Read more…]
It was recently brought to light that the computer company Lenovo built and sold laptops with an adware program preinstalled between October and December 2014. The program, called Superfish, was designed to inject ads onto secure HTTPS web pages. This sounds bad enough on its own, but it gets worse. To do this Superfish uses a code library, from an Israeli company called Komodia, that installs a self-signing root HTTPS certificate that falsely represents itself as the website’s official certificate.
The problem with Superfish, and its komodia code, is that it poorly circumvents HTTPS site certificates are how your browser judges whether the site is legitimate. For example, under normal conditions a fishing site set up to look like a Bank of America site would be flagged by your browser for having a false certificate and a warning would pop up in your browser that the site you were attempting to access had an invalid certificate. [Read more…]
Last week we helped you make the data backup plan for your company. However, while you’ve come up with a plan of what needs to be backed up monthly, daily, weekly, and ever single time it’s edited, you haven’t figured out how best to back it up. When it comes to the different types of data backups, it can get really confusing. That’s why, this week, Working Nets has a guide to the different types of data backups available, and brief overviews of their advantages and disadvantages.
Magnetic tape is an older solution and is rapidly losing relevancy in today’s technology. It can backup more, faster, then secondary hard drives, for cheaper, but it’s rapidly losing it’s slight edge in this department. Also, to backup and retrieve data from backup you have to run the tap sequentially. Which means you don’t pick and choose the data you retrieve, it has to all be retrieved, and then you sort through the data. However, for the time being, magnetic tape is the best for backing up large amounts of data quickly, and retrieving them quickly. [Read more…]
The Sony Pictures Entertainment hack, a recent and large scale information security breaches, was given an estimated price tag as of February 4th 2015. The chaos resulting from the hack has caused Sony to file for an extension to report on its third quarter earnings, but was still required to present what information they had as an estimate to investors. In a company press conference, Sony announced that the hack, the investigation, and remediation cost the company an estimated $15 Million. This is a drop in the bucket compared to the forecast loss of 1.4 billion for the whole of the fiscal year.
Let us be clear, the cost of approximately $15 million is just the estimate made and reported to investors for the purposes of the third quarter earnings release. As the investigation is not complete, the cost is only related to the costs in the third quarter of the fiscal year, and does not include potential future costs incurred relating to the hack. It will likely be more when the full accounting has been completed.
With the hack, and release of company e-mails to the public, there came a subsequent shake up in company leadership. Amy Pascal, cochairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, stepped down from her role after a career with the company of twenty years. Under her leadership Sony Pictures helmed commercial and critical hits like “The Social Network”, “Skyfall”, and “American Hustle” that boosted Sony Pictures Entertainment’s profile as a quality movie production company. Her departure leaves a gap in their senior management, and an uncertain future for the company
At Working Nets, we know that handling the cybersecurity for a business while actually keeping that business running can seem impossible, especially in the daunting face of cyber-attacks against much larger businesses. Outsourcing your IT can give you peace of mind and allow you to take care of the things that are important for your company. Working Nets is a Maryland based IT Service and Security company that services small businesses nationwide. We’re always on top of emerging cybersecurity trends and threats so you don’t have to be.
To talk to someone about managed IT for your business, give us a call at (443) 992-7394. We’d be happy to assist you with your professional business networking needs.
You can also visit WorkingNets.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+
As business is increasingly done online, and more important information stored digitally, the risk and potential damage of cyber attack increase. Your website might be taken down, e-mail, client, employee, and credit card information all might be stolen, or erased. Any of the above can damage your business serious damage. Rather then seeking to repair such damage after the fact, it’s best to do all that you can to prevent it. That’s why Working Nets, Inc. Is here with a guide to help you improve your businesses cyber security.
Make sure you and your employees know safe practices to protect your companies equipment, digital assets, and information. Require strong passwords consisting of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and symbols over nine characters long. Institute strict rules for employees defining what acceptable internet use is, and what is not. Establish and adhere to penalties for practices that violate your cyber security rules. Ensure that your employees also know how to keep customer information safe. Without the proper cyber security training, your employees represent the greatest risk to your business, with it, they are its greatest defense.
Employees trained in cyber security reduce the risk of your business being the victim of cyber attacks. However, even if you reduce the risk, there’s still a chance that a cyber attack can happen. That’s why it’s important to make sure all the devices in your office have security software, your network has firewall protection, and that it’s all up to date.
Install anti-malware and anti-virus programs on your company computers. Make sure mobile devices, such as smart phones, have cyber security apps and that your employees know safe practices for using their devices. Have two wireless networks, one for employees and one for customers, and make sure all of your networks are firewall protected.
No cyber security program, operating system, or firewall is perfect. Hackers are constantly looking for exploits in these systems so that they can break into cyber systems. As hackers look for exploits, cyber security specialists are doing their best to find them and fix them first. That’s why it’s essential that all of your machines and their security programs stay up to date.
Contact Working Nets. We know that handling the cyber security for a business while actually keeping that business running can seem impossible. Outsourcing your IT can give you peace of mind and allow you to take care of the things that are important for your company. Working Nets is a Maryland based IT Service and Security company that services small businesses nationwide. We’re always on top of emerging cyber security trends and threats so you don’t have to be.
To talk to someone about managed IT for your business, give us a call at (443) 992-7394. We’d be happy to assist you with your professional business networking needs.
You can also visit WorkingNets.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+
EBay has now fallen victim to a cyber-attack, which was disclosed by the company Wednesday. The hackers were able to gain access to the database of 145 million EBay users and their records. Hackers were able to steal information like mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, and passwords; however the company assures its users that no PayPal or financial data was compromised during the attack.
EBay has given a small insight as to how the hackers were able to gain access to the information. They claim that the attack took place between the end of February and the beginning of March and that hackers used credentials they obtained from employees. Using this information, they were then able to access the company’s database holding millions of users’ records.
The attack has left many experts questioning how the company missed the attack that took place nearly three months ago. Experts are left wondering if the employee’s whose credentials were stolen were really authorized to have access to such information. EBay is working with FBI to investigate the attack and has hired a forensic division from Mandiant, a company through FireEye Inc. to help with the investigation. Internet security expert Dan Kaminsky wants to know how the information was compromised and why it took so long for EBay to detect the attack. The attack comes in second to the October 2013 attack on Adobe Systems Inc. that left 152 million user accounts compromised, but surpasses the December 2013 attack on Target Corp that compromised 40 million credit card accounts and 70 million customer records.
If you are concerned that your business could be in jeopardy of a hacker attack, contact Working Nets Inc. today. At Working Nets, we provide services like security and disaster preparedness as well as virus and spyware protection. Working Nets strives to provide small businesses with the protection they need to help their information stay secure. To inquire about protection against security breaches, call us today at (443)-992-7394 or fill out our online form.
Find Working Nets online at Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
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Scammers are always coming up with new ways to trick you out of your money. Their latest plan involves the missed call function on your cell phone. In short, a scammer will call your phone and then hang up immediately. On your phone, you will see a missed call and because you are curious you will call back. Then the scammer charges you for the call for every minute you’re on the line. This scam is called the “One Ring Scam.”
The trick here is when the scammer calls you, your phone only rings once. So you still have the missed call notification but they don’t have to pay for long distance charges.
When you call the number back, you get charged once to connect to the call, and then additional charges incur for every minute you’re still on the phone.
This one is fairly easy to avoid getting sucked into, but below are a list of tips so you can avoid getting scammed
Welcome to Working Nets – your virtual IT Department!
At Working Nets, we support your business by providing top-notch Information Technology (I.T.) services to companies like yours: Companies that don’t need full-time I.T. services, but do need someone to turn to, when they are having a problem. We provide services like Network Design, Monitoring and Maintenance. We troubleshoot technical issues when they arise, and give you options for solving them. We help you use your technology investment to achieve your business goals.
At Working Nets, our focus is on your needs!
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.
Source:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/02/missed-call-scam/?ncid=tcdaily
Unfortunately, credit card fraud has become increasingly more common recently. Target was hacked and so are countless other websites and apps. Last week, the Better Business Bureau issued a fraud alert for people to check their bank statement for unexplained charges of $9.84. When scammers steal your credit card information, they test your account by charging a relatively small amount and see if you detect it. If the charge goes undetected by you, the scammers now have access to your card and will begin racking up other charges as time goes on.
So How Do I Fix This?
Fortunately for you, if you noticed this charge then you are in good shape. Simply call your bank and report the fraud. If your bank does not offer you a new card, simply request one to prevent this from happening to you again.
It is important to be diligent in checking over your bank statements and make sure that all charges that appear are ones you have personally authorized. Unfortunately, scammers are not a thing of the past and your credit card information will always be at risk but as long as you know how to search your bank statements, you should be in good shape from a potentially disastrous financial scam.
Welcome to Working Nets – your virtual IT Department!
At Working Nets, we support your business by providing top-notch Information Technology (I.T.) services to companies like yours: Companies that don’t need full-time I.T. services, but do need someone to turn to, when they are having a problem. We provide services like Network Design, Monitoring and Maintenance. We troubleshoot technical issues when they arise, and give you options for solving them. We help you use your technology investment to achieve your business goals.
At Working Nets, our focus is on your needs!
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/27/984-charge-credit-debit-card-fraud_n_4675054.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
