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Microsoft

Microsoft Teams Plan Comparison: Free vs M365 Business vs Teams Essentials

The shift to remote work over the last two years has caused companies to realign their digital tools. Now, many meetings default to being via video conference rather than in person, and working from home has become commonplace.Seventy-seven percent of remote workers say they’re more productive working from home (a big reason is fewer distractions). Plus 85% of surveyed managers expect that having teams with remote workers will be the new normal.But for remote working to work without employees feeling disconnected and customers feeling you’re hard to reach, you need to use cloud communication tools. One of the most popular, which has skyrocketed in popularity, is Microsoft Teams.Between April 2020 and April 2021, the Microsoft Teams daily active users count rose from 75 million to 145 million. Teams is an all-in-one communication platform, providing more than just video conferencing or chat. It combines several capabilities into an online work hub for collaboration and communication. Some of the key features of MS Teams include:Video and audio callsWebinar registration…
Nicholas Salem
June 20, 2022
Cyber Security, Technology, Network, Internet
Cybersecurity

How to Protect Your Online Accounts from Being Breached

Stolen login credentials are a hot commodity on the Dark Web. There’s a price for every type of account from online banking to social media. For example, hacked social media accounts will go for between $30 to $80 each.The rise in reliance on cloud services has caused a big increase in breached cloud accounts. Compromised login credentials are now the #1 cause of data breaches globally, according to IBM Security’s latest Cost of a Data Breach Report.Having either a personal or business cloud account compromised can be very costly. It can lead to a ransomware infection, compliance breach, identity theft, and more.To make matters more challenging, users are still adopting bad password habits that make it all too easy for criminals. For example:34% of people admit to sharing passwords with colleagues44% of people reuse passwords across work and personal accounts49% of people store passwords in unprotected plain text documentsCloud accounts are more at risk of a breach than ever, but there are several things you…
Nicholas Salem
June 15, 2022
Phishing, Credentials, Data, Login, Password, Internet
Cybersecurity

6 Ways to Combat Social Phishing Attacks

Phishing is the number one method of attack delivery for everything from ransomware to credential theft. We are very aware of it coming by email, but other types of phishing have been growing rapidly.In recent years, phishing over social media has skyrocketed by 500%. There has also been a 100% increase in fraudulent social media accounts.Phishing over social media often tricks the victims because people tend to let their guard down when on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. They’re socializing and not looking for phishing scams.However, phishing scammers are out there looking for you and will reach out via friend requests and direct messages. Learn several ways you can secure your social media use to avoid these types of covert attacks.Make Your Profile Private on Social PlatformsPhishing scammers love public profiles on social media because not only can they gather intel on you to strike up a conversation, but they can also clone your profile and put up a fake page for…
Nicholas Salem
June 10, 2022
Upload, Online, Internet, Files, Cloud, Technology
Business ContinuityCloud

4 Interesting Cloud Storage Trends to Watch for in 2022

One area of cloud computing that is used widely, but often isn’t as flashy as the software side is cloud storage. Storing files in the cloud to make them easily accessible and shareable from anywhere was one of the very first uses of the cloud that was adopted widely by many users.As advances like automation and AI come to other types of cloud services, like team communications and business apps, cloud storage is not being left behind. The industry also continues to evolve to make storing data in the cloudless complex, more reliable, and better secured.It’s estimated that in 2021, 50% of all company data was stored in the cloud. This is an increase of 15% from just five years earlier. With today’s hybrid teams that may be working from home and be hundreds or thousands of miles away from co-workers, it’s important to centrally locate files in cloud systems that can be accessed by everyone.What can you expect to see in the cloud storage…
Nicholas Salem
June 5, 2022
person using laptop
Cybersecurity

5 Things You Should Never Do on a Work Computer

Whether you work remotely or in an office, the line between personal and work tasks can become blurred when working on your company computer. If you’re in front of a computer for most of your time during work, then it’s not unusual to get attached to your desktop PC.Over time, this can lead to doing personal things on a work computer. At first, it might just be checking personal email while on a lunch break. But as the line continues to get crossed, it can end up with someone using their work computer just as much for personal reasons as work tasks.In a survey of over 900 employees, it was found that only 30% said they never used their work PC for personal activities. The other 70% admitted to using their work computer for various personal reasons.Some of the non-work-related things that people do on a work computer include:Reading and sending personal emailScanning news headlinesShopping onlineOnline bankingChecking social mediaStreaming musicStreaming videos/moviesIt’s a bad idea to…
Nicholas Salem
May 31, 2022
Hacking, Data Theft, Online Fraud, Cyber Crime, Hacker
Cybersecurity

Alarming Phishing Attack Trends to Beware of in 2022

In 2020, 75% of companies around the world experienced a phishing attack. Phishing remains one of the biggest dangers to your business's health and wellbeing because it’s the main delivery method for all types of cyberattacks.One phishing email can be responsible for a company succumbing to ransomware and having to face costly downtime. It can also lead a user to unknowingly hand over the credentials to a company email account that the hacker then uses to send targeted attacks to customers.Phishing takes advantage of human error, and some phishing emails use sophisticated tactics to fool the recipient into divulging information or infecting a network with malware.Mobile phishing threats skyrocketed by 161% in 2021.Your best safeguards against the continuous onslaught of phishing include:Email filteringDNS filteringNext-gen antivirus/anti-malwareOngoing employee cybersecurity awareness trainingTo properly train your employees and ensure your IT security is being upgraded to meet the newest threats you need to know what new phishing dangers are headed your way.Here are some of the latest phishing trends…
Nicholas Salem
May 25, 2022
From above view of faceless person holding mobile phone with white screen and green recycle logo above marble surface
Cybersecurity

Important Steps to Take Before You Recycle a Mobile Phone Number 

It’s not unusual to change a mobile number from time to time. For example, when you move, you may want a number that is local to the area you just moved to. Companies also may end up recycling mobile numbers throughout their staff as people come and go.If you don’t properly detach your mobile phone number from all the accounts it’s used with, you can leave yourself open to identity theft, credit card fraud, and other crimes.In a 2021 Princeton University study, it was found that 66% of mobile numbers listed as available by major mobile service providers were still connected to accounts on popular sites (Amazon, PayPal, etc.).  So, after the former owners had turned in the number, it was available for someone else to use when signing up for mobile service. And that number was still being used on the former owner’s cloud accounts, allowing those accounts to easily be breached.Princeton University study on the risk of recycling mobile numbers.Because our mobile numbers are…
Nicholas Salem
May 20, 2022
IT SupportMicrosoft

May 2022 Windows updates cause AD authentication failures

By Sergiu Gatlan - Microsoft: May Windows updates cause AD authentication failures (bleepingcomputer.com) Microsoft is investigating a known issue causing authentication failures for some Windows services after installing updates released during the May 2022 Patch Tuesday. This comes after Windows admins started sharing reports of some policies failing after installing this month's security updates with "Authentication failed due to a user credentials mismatch. Either the user name provided does not map to an existing account or the password was incorrect." errors. The issue impacts client and server Windows platforms and systems running all Windows versions, including the latest available releases (Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022). Microsoft says the known issue is only triggered after installing the updates on servers used as domain controllers. The updates will not negatively impact when deployed on client Windows devices and non-domain controller Windows Servers. "After installing updates released May 10, 2022 on your domain controllers, you might see authentication failures on the server or client for services such as Network Policy Server…
Nicholas Salem
May 12, 2022
Computer, Circuit Board, Cpu, Security, Digital
Cybersecurity

Top 5 Cybersecurity Mistakes That Leave Your Data at Risk

The global damage of cybercrime has risen to an average of $11 million USD per minute, which is a cost of $190,000 each second.60% of small and mid-sized companies that have a data breach end up closing their doors within six months because they can’t afford the costs. The costs of falling victim to a cyberattack can include loss of business, downtime/productivity losses, reparation costs for customers that have had data stolen, and more.You may think that this means investing more in cybersecurity, and it is true that you need to have appropriate IT security safeguards in place (anti-malware, firewall, etc.). However, many of the most damaging breaches are due to common cybersecurity mistakes that companies and their employees make.The 2021 Sophos Threat Report, which looked at thousands of global data breaches, found that what it termed “everyday threats” were some of the most dangerous. The report stated, “A lack of attention to one or more aspects of basic security hygiene has been found to…
Nicholas Salem
May 10, 2022