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7 Steps To Protect Your Business From A Data Breach

After numerous data breaches over the last couple of years, security focus is at an all-time high. Now is the time to clarify your plan to stop cyber threats and protect your business and customer data. Please enjoy this article from Forbes.com, and as always let us know how we can help.

Source: Forbes.com | Re-Post Arete Technology Systems 11/29/2018 –

This year is a year of security focus, as companies look at ways to protect themselves from falling victim to cyberattacks and start to take action to secure their business from these threats. By having a plan in place that thwarts cyberthreats, you can protect your business from a data breach, keeping your customer data secure with the technological protocols of your company.

From ensuring proper employee training to having a restrictive permission policy in place or hiring a cybersecurity expert to help you out, here are some of the most important steps businesses should take to protect against a major data breach, according to seven members of Forbes Finance Council.

1. Bring in a cybersecurity specialist.

Educate your firm on past data breaches by bringing in a cybersecurity specialist to speak about best practices and how to keep security top of mind.

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5 Ways To Help Protect Your Company’s Data

There are many ways someone can use to try and steal a companies data. One of those ways is to try and access information through your employees. This article from Travelers discusses 5 things you and your employees can do to help safeguard your company information. Enjoy the article and give us a call with any questions you have or help with any of your IT needs.

Source: travelers.com | Re-Post Arete Technology Systems 11/8/2018 –

A data breach could turn into a catastrophic event for any company, especially for small businesses that may not be prepared for this emerging threat. The 2015 Symantec Internet Security Threat Report found that 60% of all targeted attacks struck small- to mid-sized companies. As a business owner or an employee, there are a number of preventive steps you can take to help keep your company’s data secure. The most important place to start is to know the common causes of data breaches and how to avoid them before the damage is done.

You may think data breaches are mainly caused by outsiders hacking into the system. While that scenario is the one that makes headlines in the media, the fact is that employee error, such as a lost or stolen computer or mobile device, or downloading malicious software, can also lead to data loss or a data breach incident. Train your employees to better understand these risks to help protect your company’s data.

Following are some safety steps, including how to help protect your workspace, stay safer when receiving email and create strong passwords.

1. Protect Data at Your Work Space

If you step away from your desk while you are in the middle of a project that includes sensitive business information, take some precautions to protect company data from visitors or others who are not authorized to see that information. Remember these simple tips for keeping your workspaces secure:

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6 Benefits Of Outsourced IT Support

There are many reasons to outsource your IT work. This article from business.com discusses 6 benefits that you and your business would experience. After reading the article, give us a call with any questions or IT needs that you have.

Source: business.com | Re-Post Arete Technology Systems 10/25/2018 – 

In-house IT helpdesks, while generally more familiar with the ins-and-outs of the company’s IT set-up and systems, usually require a hefty sum to start and maintain.

This would mean added costs due to hiring and training IT experts, which is a rather heavy load for small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs).

For people with small to mid-sized businesses, outsourced IT support is generally more cost-effective due to having staff trained to handle a wide variety of IT problems.

This helps businesses focus on their niche instead of trying to fiddle with things outside their field of expertise. That being said, if you’re considering switching to an outsourced IT support company, here are a number of benefits you can expect from making that decision:

1. Better Cost Management

With start-ups and SMEs attempting to cut back costs, a more consistent budget allotted for an outsourced IT support team becomes more favorable compared to the volatility of expenses incurred from an in-house IT support team. An in-house IT support team incurs quite a lot of expenses, from training to equipment purchases, upgrades, and maintenance.

This makes it hard for companies to track and manage their finances, as expenditures would keep popping out of nowhere, from a server that suddenly conks out, to IT employees who quit. Surges in terms of expenses can paralyze a small company and bog down operations, especially if the in-house IT team fails to keep the company’s operations up and running.

An outsourced IT support team, on the other hand, apart from being able to solve IT-related problems quicker, can also give you a more consistent and controlled monthly expense that only increases as your company grows.

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When Should You Outsource Your Business’ IT Operations

Outsourcing your IT work can really help a company in cutting their cost. But there are many other good reasons to outsource your IT work besides the bottom line. This article from Forbes discusses 14 reasons when it would be a good time to outsource. Enjoy the article and give us a call with any IT needs that you have.

Source: Forbes.com | Re-Post Arete Technology Systems 10/11/2018 –

For every business there comes a time when it needs to consider the benefit of outsourcing. Outsourcing your IT operations has many advantages, from the integration of the latest technology to overall cost savings for your company, according to a report by Corporate Computer Services.

While the same report also outlined the risks, they pale in comparison to the rewards that your business could reap.

Knowing when to outsource your IT operations can be a challenge, which is why 14 members of Forbes Technology Council weighed in on when it’s a good time for your business to do so.

1. When You Understand The Economics Of Your Business

The decision to outsource IT goes beyond the costs of doing so versus the costs of keeping it internal. You have to understand your business and how it generates value. The cost of internal IT goes beyond the budget of the organization. Unless you are Amazon, Dropbox, Google or some other company that generates value because of its IT operations, you should consider outsourcing it.

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4 Easy Ways To Protect Your Company From a Cyber Attack

Being ready for a potential cyber attack is no longer optional. The number of cyber attacks continues to grow as hackers are on a mission to steal data. If you do not have a plan in place then you are at greater risk of being targeted.

This article from Entrepreneur discusses 4 steps you can to protect your companies data. After reading the article, give us a call if you have any questions regarding your network security.

Source: entrepreneur.com | Re-Post Arete Software Systems 9/27/2018 – 

Just within the past year, cyber-attacks have become a scary reality for practically every individual and organization. No matter who the individual victim, or what the size of the business or the organization’s government stature, the looming threat of hackers on a mission to steal information is real.

Instead, businesses must be prepared and responsible when it comes to protecting themselves from hackers. Here’s how:

Know the risks.

Properly protecting your company from a cyber-attack starts with a well-rounded understanding of the internal and external vulnerabilities your business faces when it comes to a hacker. You’ll want to have a finger on the ways in which a hacker can gain entry to your system by identifying points of weakness. The best way to do this is by getting informed about the various cyber fraud schemes and threats — phishing, malware and system hacking — that businesses face.

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Why Migration To The Cloud Can Help Your Business

There are many reasons why business is migrating to the cloud. Things like ease of scalability, increased security and ease of data recovery make sense to any business model. This article from Entrepreneur highlights a number of reasons why migrating to the cloud make sense. Enjoy the article and give us call at Arete Technolgy Systems if you need help with your cloud technology needs.

Source: entrepreneur.com | Re-Post Arete Technology Systems 9/13/2018 –

The business scenario is in constant evolution, empowering customers to access unlimited information at the behest of the omnipotent internet. The digital revolution has ushered in a power from the hands of business heads to the demands of customers as today’s highly competitive environment provides enough impetus of choice. Hence, a requirement is built for diligent insights into consumer behavior, to get an added leverage. This, alongside the need for a comprehensive system that houses and collates the apt information, channelizing it to the optimal avenues, is what has brought innovations like cloud system into the foray.

The cloud has seen an outstanding growth, that can be contributed to its rapid pace of adoption, taking precedence over traditional on-premise hardware. If one follows the growth path of cloud carefully, he/she will be able to easily understand that the adoption of cloud services has seen a rise across all industry type and the size of business. Given its huge potential for different industries, verticals such as manufacturing, railways, banking, retail, education and healthcare all are switching to cloud services for optimized reach and performance as well as for elasticity

Scalability and pay-as-you-go pricing models are the key benefits provided by cloud services to organizations for enhanced effectiveness through technology. Here are some of the key advantages of opting for cloud services:

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This Old Ransomware Is Now Bitcoin-Stealing Malware

Ransomware Comes in many flavors. This one comes after your cryptocurrency. Want to know what a digital pickpocket looks like? Check out this article from ZDNet.

Source: zdnet.com | Re-Post Arete Technology Systems 8/30/2018

An old form of ransomware has been repurposed to steal Bitcoin by altering the addresses of wallets and redirecting payments into accounts owned by the attacker.

Little of the malicious code has been changed so a number of security products will still identify it as the same file-locking malware, despite the version’s new tactic of stealing cryptocurrency.

Detailed by researchers at Fortinet, the Bitcoin-stealing campaign has its origins in Jigsaw — a form of ransomware which appeared in April 2016, which was infamous for displaying the face of horror film protagonist it was named after.

The source code of Jigsaw has been available for a long time and is widely distributed online, so the attack is unlikely to be the work of the original ransomware author, as anyone with knowledge of C# code could theoretically tailor the malware to their own ends.

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Beware Of Ransomware Computer Scams Warns FBI

Ransomware is no joke. This very moment there are people racking their brains to figure out how to steal your data and sell it back to you. And it doesn’t discriminate between home and work. Imagine that. Check out this article from TribLive.com to learn more. Give us a call at Arete Technology Systems if you have more questions or if we can help in any way.

Source: triblive.com | Re-Post Arete Technology Systems 8/16/2018

Ransomware scams may attack a computer near you soon, the FBI warned Monday.

The computer software is malicious. It secretly installs itself and encrypts files only to hold the data hostage in return for payment of a ransom.

Home and business, banking, academic and government computers can be impacted.

In recent cases, victims have paid anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Usually, the computer screen freezes and a pop-up message warns that the user has violated some federal law and the computer will remain locked until money is paid, the FBI warned.

“You may also get a pop-up message saying your personal files have been encrypted and you have to pay to get the key needed to decrypt them. These messages often appear to be from the FBI or another federal agency,” FBI Pittsburgh Public Affairs Specialist Catherine Varnum Policicchio said.

“The FBI doesn’t support paying a ransom,” Acting Special Agent in Charge Greg Nelsen said.

“Even if the victim does pay, there is no guarantee they’ll regain access to the data. The best way to protect yourself and your organization is to have a backup of your data, maintain it, and disconnect it from your computer.”

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