We have all seen a LOT of change over the past couple of years. You’ve changed the way your business operates, including how we interact with others.

How has your business changed? What change do you need to make in the years ahead? And how does your technology help to power that?

We’ve written a new guide about something called Digital IT transformation. It’s how you use current technology to bring on a revolution within your business.

It’s what Netflix and Lego did… and Kodak famously didn’t. Download our case study about this, and learn how digital IT transformation affects businesses of every size, in our new guide.

A new report has discovered that 67% of remote workers are using faulty tech when they are working remotely. Often that’s because they’ve accidentally damaged the tech themselves they don’t want to admit it to their boss in case they get into trouble.

A survey of 2,500 remote workers found that laptops were most likely to be broken, followed by keyboards, monitors, and PCs.
Most of the time the damage was done by spilled food and drink. Other causes of damage included other people in the house such as a partner or housemates – and of course, pets.

We’ve all watched in horror as a cat brushes up against a full glass of water next to a laptop. While more than half of people try to fix the damage, and 81% of people continue to use their faulty devices with limited features, a third of workers switch to their personal devices instead.
As well as this causing a loss of productivity, it could also be a huge data security risk for your business. It’s possible, even likely, their personal laptop doesn’t have proactively monitored security protection as their work laptop does, including:

• • • Security software
    • Data encryption
    • Multi-factor authentication

When an attacker gains access to an unmanaged device, if it’s connected to your network, it also can give them unmonitored access to your infrastructure and all of your business’s data.

This can result in your data being stolen and sold. Or worse, your data is encrypted and held for ransom. However, you already have a plan for that … right? No? Ransomware is the most common cyber security threat to your business right now.
It’s not just access to your data that’s the problem. After a ransomware attack, there is a huge time and financial cost involved in making sure your network is clean, protected and secured … if you aren’t prepared.

Shring’s recommendation is to start with evaluating your employee’s Security Awareness. This includes helping them understand the risks associated with using personal devices, whether they work remotely or not. Some will say “Just block any non-business managed device from accessing your infrastructure”. And honestly, that would be ideal however this is not practical with many organizations.

We can help evaluate your current exposures and assist you in choosing the right security approach for your organization, or implementing new policies to help your staff protect your critical business data, give us a call.

Phishing (pronounced: fishing) is an attack that attempts to steal your money, or your identity, by getting you to reveal personal information — such as credit card numbers, bank information, or passwords — on websites that pretend to be legitimate. Cybercriminals typically pretend to be reputable companies, friends, or acquaintances in a fake message, which contains a link to a phishing website.

You’ve all heard of the “big name” phishing/ransomware attacks that have had a widespread effect on us all. Know that all of the organizations had high-dollar, cutting-edge technology in front of their networks to help mitigate these attacks however these events prove that technology alone, cannot prevent your organization from being a victim of a phishing attacks. And unfortunately they are becoming the norm.

One person accidentally clicking on a malformed url/link in an email is all it takes. So it is important to educate yourself, your peers, and your family on how to identify and protect yourself from these vicious attacks.

We encourage you to take about 10 minutes to review this highly informational article/video by Microsoft focusing on how to protect yourself and your organization from phishing and ransomware. We are confident you will learn something.

Link to Microsoft article

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ALERT FROM THE SHRING SUPPORT SERVICES TEAM

We have seen a huge uptick in spear-phishing attack attempts globally. Some group(s) are mounting large-volume attacks utilizing phishing emails in an attempt to catch folks working from home off guard. They are banking you not having the typical protection you would in the office.

Shring has a very robust email protection platform that utilizes multiple technologies to determine the legitimacy of inbound emails. You … as the recipient are the last line of defense for your organization. Whether we host your email or not .. it is imperative that you up your skepticism on inbound emails you may receive. This not only applies to work email but your personal email as well. There seems to be a focus on GMail, Hotmail and Microsoft hosted email domains.

With that being said, it is super important that you be diligent in reviewing emails before taking any type of action if they include links. DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINKS OR ATTACHMENTS in an external email body unless you are 1000% sure that it is legit.  Yup … you’ve been hearing this from us for years but it is another reminder of the potentially severe consequences that can result from just a single click.

If you receive an email and are unsure about its legitimacy, please do not hesitate to forward us for review. We will get back to you within a few minutes during normal business hours of 8AM to 8PM EST. However please do not forward any emails that may contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such a Social #s, Account numbers, TaxIDs, etc. Call us and we can work with you on these without compromising data security.

It is unfortunate, with everything else we are having to deal with in our world right now, this being a concern but it is. Remember all the malware protection tech in the world will not work if you overrule it. Should you be working remotely and get a popup message from a threat prevention tool .. don’t ignore it! Read it so that you understand what it just did and why?

As always our sole focus is protecting your organization’s mission-critical data and your privacy.

Shring Support Services