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The Three Scariest Threats To Small Business Networks

October 27, 2015

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

While spam, pop-ups, and hackers are a real threat to any small business network, there are three security measures that you should be focusing on first before you do anything else.

Worry About E-mail Attachments, Not Spam
Sure, spam is annoying and wastes your time, but the real danger with spam is in the attachments.

Viruses and worms are malicious programs that are spread primarily through cleverly disguised attachments to messages that trick you (or your employees) into opening them.

Another huge threat is phishing e-mails that trick the user by appearing to be legitimate e-mails from your bank, eBay, or other financial accounts.

Here are three things you must have in place to avoid this nightmare: [Read more…] about The Three Scariest Threats To Small Business Networks

Avoid These Five Email Annoyances

September 23, 2015

Email is a primary form of communication in the business world because it allows people to work within their own schedules and time-management styles.

With its ease of use, however, we may be sending more messages than necessary, contributing to a general email overload that can mask which items are most important.

Here are some common pet peeves in regards to this lightning-fast communication that may help you refine your email practices:

Sending/Responding to All
Before you send a mass email to all of your contacts or reply to all on an email, ask yourself if each of those people really have a need to know the information within your message.

While this may cover all bases, it is disrespectful to the recipients of your message that aren’t an essential part of the conversation by wasting their time and clogging their inbox. [Read more…] about Avoid These Five Email Annoyances

Wire Fraud: How An Email Password Can Cost You $100,000

August 31, 2015

Wire fraud is one of the most financially damaging threats to people and businesses today. Victims can lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in the blink of an eye.

What is wire fraud? Let’s start with the basics:

A wire transfer is an electronic transfer of funds between entities, usually a bank and someone else.Wire fraud utilizes this system to steal money. Typically, this is done by fooling a financial institution into wiring money to a fraudulent account.

The process often begins with the theft of personal data or email credentials, which means data security is paramount to preventing this threat.

Here’s an overview of wire fraud so you can better protect your business and clients. [Read more…] about Wire Fraud: How An Email Password Can Cost You $100,000

How Can Small Businesses Amplify Employee Communication?

August 31, 2015

Michael Menor is Vice President of Support Services for Tech Experts.

Using email to conduct important business always starts with the best intentions, like saving everyone time. Just think back to the last time you used email to solve a significant business issue or answer detailed questions from an important customer.

But, sometimes, email creates a disaster of miscommunication. Tone, intonation, and emotion get lost in translation. Messages and ideas are misunderstood. Nothing really gets accomplished.

So, what’s your next step when email isn’t working?

Usually, it’s a meeting in person or a quick conference call. Un-fortunately, those communication methods can create a whole new problem. In an increasingly mobile business world where teams, employees, and customers are spread out over multiple remote offices, work-from-home setups, or field operations, it can be nearly impossible to get everyone into the same place at the same time.

Tethering to the mothership: The lasting value of a virtual phone system
Web conferencing has helped mitigate the above problem. However, the fact that many businesses lack the communication and collaborative tools their team’s need — regardless of where they work — is the bigger issue. For example, even with web conferencing, many remote or work-from-home employees still rely on personal cell phones that aren’t connected to the company’s main phone system.

That’s problematic for a couple of key reasons:

• With personal landlines and cell phones, it’s significantly more difficult for remote employees to access antiquated company systems for voicemail, call forwarding, and conferencing.

• Without a true company-owned connection between the corporate office and the employee, the relationship between the two feels more like a contract gig than a full-time job — hurting employee engagement and retention.

Thankfully, there’s a relatively simple way to solve that problem: implementing a new, company-owned communication system that’s flexible, mobile, and collaborative.

One common solution is a VOIP (Voice Over IP) service, which can be based in the cloud or on-site.

The reality is that voice communication is still a far superior — and much more immediate — way for team members to connect with each other. It typically leads to richer, more sincere, and more empathetic communication, which in turn amplifies productivity.

These tools are like a tether to the corporate mothership. They’re a lifeline that allows everyone to feel connected to their colleagues and customers, but in a way that aligns with the mobility and functionality that today’s remote workers need.

Why many businesses are moving to the cloud
Of course, the image of a desktop phone doesn’t exactly convey a sense of mobility. And it certainly doesn’t solve the problem of being able to connect from any location.

That’s where cloud-based phone systems come in.

Cloud-based phone systems allow team members to receive company calls, access corporate voicemail, and set up virtual conferences from a basic Internet connection.

When employees step out of the office, calls can be forwarded and certain features can be accessed from their cell phone.

Traditional phone systems, on the other hand, often hinder remote workers’ communication effectiveness because of their limited mobile capabilities. This often results in lost money, lost productivity, and big headaches. Even worse, businesses often pay more for traditional phone systems in the form of equipment maintenance and outages.

Virtual communication systems create an overall experience that makes people feel like an effective part of the team, wherever they are. No more emotionless email exchanges and no more awkward, disjointed conference calls. At the end of the day, that’s good for your team, your company, and, most importantly, your customers.

HIPAA Email Encryption Requirements

April 30, 2015

Question: does the Security Rule allow for sending electronic patient health information (e-PHI) in an email or over the Internet?

Answer: the Security Rule allows for e-PHI to be sent over an electronic open network as long as it is adequately protected. The HIPAA Security Rule does not expressly prohibit the use of email for sending e-PHI.

However, the standards for access control, integrity, and transmission security require covered entities, such as insurance providers or healthcare providers, to implement policies and procedures.

These policies and procedures restrict access to, protect the integrity of, and guard against unauthorized access to e-PHI.

The standard for transmission security also includes addressable specifications for integrity controls and encryption.

By default, whenever you send or receive email, you must connect through the Internet to an email service provider or email server.

The reality is that most email service providers do not use any security at all. This means everything you send to or receive from your email service provider is unsecure, including your user name, password, email message, attachments, who you are sending to, and who you are receiving from.

It gets worse! Most email service providers connect to other email service providers without any encryption.
If the other party is not using a secure email service, their emails can also be compromised. So the email you send and receive through the Internet is wide open, unsecure, and can be intercepted and stolen by thieves.

This is one of the main causes for identity theft, spam, and PHI breaches.

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), “…a covered entity must implement an addressable implementation specification if it is reasonable and appropriate to do so, and must implement an equivalent alternative if the addressable implementation specification is unreasonable and inappropriate, and there is a reasonable and appropriate alternative.”

This basically states that encryption is required. If you choose not to encrypt your data, you must document, in writing, a reasonable explanation why you chose not to do so.

In the event of an audit, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will review your documentation and determine whether or not they agree with you. You’re required to encrypt PHI in motion and at rest whenever it is “reasonable and appropriate” to do so.

I’ll bet that if you do a proper risk analysis, you’ll find very few scenarios where it’s not. Even if you think you’ve found one, and then you’re beached, you have to convince the OCR, who think encryption is both necessary and easy, that you’re correct.

I have convinced myself and others that encryption is required by HIPAA.

Better safe than sorry, after all.

Most Employees Use Work Computers For Outside Activities

December 12, 2014

GFI Software, a leading software tool provider for companies like Tech Experts, recently released a report that found the personal use of company computers and other devices is leading to major downtime and loss of confidential data in many businesses.

The study of about 1,000 small business employees who used a company-provided desktop or laptop computer found that 39 percent of them said their businesses have suffered a major IT disruption caused by staff members visiting non-work related websites with work-issued hardware, resulting in malware infections and other related issues.

Even more alarming, the study showed nearly 36 percent of staff members said they would not hesitate to take company property, including email archives, confidential documents and other valuable intellectual materials, from their work-owned computer before they returned the device if they were to leave their company.

Tips To Protect Your Business PC From Malware

October 31, 2014

In today’s online world, technology users are essentially in a state of near-constant attack. Almost every day, there’s a new data breach in the news involving a well-known company and, quite often, fresh rules for protecting personal information are circulated.

Because of malware in email, phishing messages, and malicious websites with URLs that are one letter different from popular sites, employees need to maintain a high level of awareness and diligence to protect themselves and their organizations.

Phishing activities are especially pervasive, including attempts to steal users’ credentials or get them to install malicious software on their system. The astonishing success rate of phishing attacks makes them a favorite.

Why? More than 70% of people will follow the link to a phony website and, of those that followed the link, 30%-50% will routinely give up their usernames and passwords.

Many like to think of the network perimeter with all its firewalls and other fancy technologies as the front line in the cyber war, but the truth is there’s a whole other front.

Every single member of a company’s staff who uses email or the Internet is also on the front line and these people are generally considered a softer target than hardware or software. It’s simple: if the bad guys can get an employee to give up his or her user credentials or download some malware, they can likely waltz right past the technological controls, basically appearing as if they belong there.

When using a computer for personal functions, a user generally has to have the ability to install software and modify the system configurations. Typically, such administrative functions are not available to all users in a corporate environment.

As a result, even if an organization has made an effort to improve a system’s security, a user doing work on a personal computer has the ability to disable and circumvent protections and has the privileges to allow for the installation of malware.

As companies migrate toward a world of bring-your-own-device policies, some companies are developing strategies to help address these risks. But, as a rule, using a work computer for personal reasons or doing work on a personal computer (or tablet or smartphone) can significantly increase the threat level that an employer has to protect itself against.

To help their organization protect systems and data, employees need to implement some smart web browsing habits. Smart web browsing means engaging in the following activities:

Beware of downloads
Malware can be hidden, not just in applications or installation programs, but in what appear to be image and video files also. To limit the likelihood of downloading content that contains malware, only download from reputable sites. With sites that are not a household name, take the time to do a little research and see if other people have had issues.

Additionally, be sure that antivirus software is set up to automatically scan downloads. Or scan downloads manually, even when receiving them from name-brand sites, as it is not unheard of for infected files to make their way onto otherwise legitimate web sites.

This is especially true for file-sharing sites where the site owner cannot control every piece of content a user may place there.

Be wary of deceitful sites
Those running sites already breaking the law by illegally distributing copyrighted materials — like pirated music, movies or software — probably have no qualms about including malicious content in their downloads or stealing information.

Many popular web browsers today have built-in functionality that provides an alert when visiting a website that is known to be dangerous.

And if the browser doesn’t give a notice, the antivirus software may provide that function. Heed the alerts!

Employees need to protect their devices from online and in-person threats. Start by keeping the company’s system patched. Configure it to automatically apply updates or issue notifications when there are updates and then apply them as soon as possible. This doesn’t just apply to the operating system.

Keep all installed applications updated; sometimes this takes a little extra work.

Remember, the challenge of security is that the bad guy needs to find only one hole in a security system to get past it, so fix them all. Think of it as putting dead bolts on doors, but leaving the basement window wide open.

To that end, security professionals like to debate the usefulness of today’s antivirus software. And it’s true that malware continues to become more sophisticated and harder to detect. But it always amazes me how old some of the malware running around is. As a result, use antivirus software and keep it up-to-date.

Also, use a software firewall, either the Windows firewall or one provided in an antivirus package. This is especially true for laptops connected to public wireless access points at hotels or coffee shops, but it also applies to home systems. It just provides that extra layer of defense.

And finally, please, don’t ever give passwords to anyone. Be vigilant and question anything new, especially emails and forms in the web browser that request work credentials, no matter how nicely the request is made.

(Image Source: iCLIPART)

Six Tips For Dealing With Email Overload

May 30, 2014

Most, if not all, small business owners are barraged by the large number of emails they receive on a daily basis. As a consequence, way too much time is spent on email that actually slows down productivity.

Email has become a ‘disruptive’ technology that could take you on a tangent and eat up your time fast. So, it is important to take charge of your inbox and filter unwanted emails. Here are some ways you could do that:

Prioritize incoming emails
As a rule, not every email you receive requires immediate attention. Filtering out the most important messages allows you to prioritize the emails you should answer and saves you valuable time.

Most email software have a few good filters that make this possible.

Set specific times to respond to your emails
Giving in to the temptation of checking and responding to your emails is actually an issue of inefficiently dealing with emails rather than the abundance of emails.

Instead of continuously checking your email from multiple devices, set specific times throughout the day to check your email and refrain from checking email outside these times. It is actually more efficient to respond to your emails in bulk rather in piecemeal.

Use the search function
Organizing your emails in folders are important; however, if you are searching for an old email, use the search function, the advanced search operators, and filters to quickly find what you are looking for.

Unsubscribe from unwanted lists
To eliminate the many emails that are not spam but which are still cluttering your inbox, take some time and unsubscribe from newsletters or services which you no longer read or use. Look into using a mass unsubscribe tool if you don’t want to unsubscribe from each list.

Use filters
Most email systems allow filtering, which you can assign to any type of email that you get regularly. For instance, a filter makes it possible to forward emails which contain particular keywords to your assistant or have a particular automated response to certain emails. This significantly reduces the amount of time you spend on email.

Turn off notifications from social media sites
You really don’t need to get an email each time someone responds to your Facebook comment or tweet. Since you’ll eventually see such updates once you actually visit those sites, they shouldn’t be allowed to clutter your inbox. In fact, such notifications are just distractions that could cut on your productivity.

(Image Source: iCLIPART)

Outlook.com Tips And Tricks

September 25, 2013

Ever since Microsoft switched Hotmail to Outlook some users have had difficulty adjusting to the changes even though it is essentially still the same, and attaching photos and files is more simple than ever before.

There is however some simple tips for those who have found the changeover confusing.

The important thing to remember is that your email address has not changed and continues to end with hotmail.com. You can even add an alias account via http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/outlook/add-alias-account.

The alias makes use of the same contact list, settings and inbox as your primary email address.

Those who don’t like the default blue color scheme can also change it to suit simply by selecting the small ‘cog’ icon that can be found in the right hand corner of the Outlook window and selecting from the 18 available color schemes.

If you are writing an email that has turned out to be almost novel size but don’t have time to finish, just tap the button marked “Save Draft” on the colored Outlook menu bar.

This will save a copy to your Drafts folder and allow you to go back, finish and send it at a later time.

Improve Your Business With Tech Expert’s Email

July 25, 2013

By Tech Experts Staff
With the many different types of email offerings out there what type of email should you be using for your business and why?

At Tech Experts we offer several different email plans for your business needs that are reliable, secure, and offer many features you don’t find just anywhere.

Many people today make the mistake of trying to use free email services for their business. The main problem with free email services is that they are a huge security risk.

For example, say you use a free email provider such as Yahoo for your business email, anyone else can create email accounts in the same fashion as your company.

An example of this is that if your employees use email accounts like TJ.mycompanyname@yahoo.com for their email address, anyone that uses Yahoo for email could make a similar email address and act as if they are an employee of your company.

So what are the other kinds of email that Tech Experts hosts if you should not use free email services for your business?

We offer three main plans and another type of email called Hosted Exchange.

The first “Basic Plan” we offer allows you to have your own domain name which will increase your company’s security by not allowing hackers to use email addresses on your company’s domain.

This plan also offers the option of enhanced spam filtering, unlimited mail aliases, a basic website, and a maximum of 5 mailboxes.

This is our best “starter” plan allowing companies to get into email that’s secure without costing an arm and a leg.

Our second plan, the “Plus Plan”, offers all of the features of the basic plan but allows users to have 5 email accounts with enhanced spam filtering, still unlimited aliases, an enhanced website, unlimited mailing lists, and a maximum of 25 included mailboxes.

This plan is designed more for medium sized businesses that are already fairly well established but still haven’t taken the step to have their own domain or email services.

Our third plan, the “Advanced Plan”, offers an enhanced website still but with much more storage space, 10 email accounts with enhanced spam filtering services included, again unlimited aliases, unlimited mailing lists, and an unlimited number of mailboxes (up to 10 GB of storage space included).

This is our package for larger companies that have over 25 employees. Increased storage space can always be added as well as needed.

The final service we offer is called Hosted Exchange email. Hosted Exchange email takes security up a notch and improves on features and performance greatly.

Hosted Exchange email requires usernames and passwords just as the previous email offerings do but they can have other features enabled such as encrypted emails and archiving if your business is the type of business where you really need to be able to access other employees emails or if you need to keep them for a period of time for compliance reasons.

One major benefit to Hosted Exchange email is that it syncs across all of your devices. For example, if you send an email from your phone, that same email will show up in the sent items on your computer and on the Online Web Access.

Just the same, if an email is sent to you and you get it on one of your devices it will also show up on the other devices you have email setup on.

What’s really nice is that not only do the emails show up across all of your devices the statuses update as well. So if you read an email on your phone it shows as read on your PC as well.

So with all the email choices out there what works best for your company?

If you’re not sure the answer to that question, give us a call and we can work with you to determine this.

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