Avoiding Threats in the Cloud

The cloud’s potential for storage and service options has created countless opportunities for businesses to expand or improve their offerings, without requiring costly changes to local networks. But, the cloud is not perfect, and it poses some security challenges.

Cloud-based applications can be very convenient, especially for accessing or sharing information when working remotely. However, precautions must be taken to protect sensitive information.

Here are a few steps you can take to protect your cloud assets:

Educate the masses. Cloud services are often adopted at the top levels of a business or within specific workgroups, without consulting individual department managers or IT staff. But, it’s critical that end-users understand how to safely use cloud applications before they are adopted to avoid any potential threats. Proper employee training and frequent email reminders regarding secure use of cloud-based applications or files helps to ensure the safety and security of your network and your business.

Know your cloud use. Many companies are unaware of the cloud services their employees are using. According to cloud security firm Netskope, 90 percent of all cloud applications are not sanctioned by IT. This opens the door for data breaches, data loss, and account hijacking—which, are generally regarded as the top three threats to cloud computing. Organizations and employees should be aware that simple Internet registration systems, phishing, and fraud schemes can allow a hacker to take control of your account. Thankfully, keeping firewalls updated and teaching employees about best practices regarding cloud usage can easily prevent most of these threats.

Protect your files, wherever they are. You can lock down access on mobile devices, but this won’t protect your information if it’s synced to the cloud. Instead, focus on protecting the files themselves with consistent security encryption policies to ensure control. You decide who can view, modify, or print your files, whether they are on a laptop, mobile device, or desktop computer.

As hackers continue to experiment with new ways to attack, it's important for all businesses to mitigate the risks associated with cloud computing by educating stakeholders, investing in data protection, and using encryption safeguards when possible. Cloud security is serious business, so make sure you take the time to get it right.

Contact us today at info@momnet.com to learn about cloud-based applications that can help grow your business, and the security solutions that can keep them secure.

Are Your Passwords Strong Enough?

Modern technology has made many aspects of life more

convenient. However, as with anything else, along with the pros there are inevitably cons. With so much of our lives conducted online, hackers are waging a non-stop war in attempt to gain access to your personal information. Strong passwords are your first line of defense against troublemakers, so make sure yours are up to par.

Strong passwords include:

• At least eight characters
• Both uppercase and lowercase letters

• One or more special characters (such as $, *, !)

To create a strong password, be sure to leave out:
• Names of any kind (your name, your pet’s name, your child’s name)
• Accessible personal information like your date of birth, social security number, etc.
• Numerical sequences, such as 12345
• Words that exist in dictionaries
• The word ‘password’

Finally, protect yourself even further by changing your passwords periodically, and by creating strong login names, as well. For more information regarding IT Security visit MOM at www.momnet.com/Managed-Network-Services.

I Got a Boo Berry Up My Nose!

A couple of weeks ago, I was getting ready to leave the house early for SBA Awards in Nashville.  I was excited because I had nominated Angel Carrier, owner of the Tennessee Pour House, for SBA Woman Owned Business of the Year, and she won!

On my way out the door, my three-year-old Lane, kept telling me “Daddy, Daddy, I go a boo berry up my nose!”

He’s three.  He says crazy things like, “I’m Spiderman”, “I washed my hand, weally I did”, and “I like Mommy better than you.”   I just thought this was one of those things.  I finally said, what do you mean little buddy?  He says, “Come here.  I show you.”  He leads me over the board game, Operation, and said, “Dis one, see”, and he points to it.  I notice all of the game pieces are still in there…minus the grapes in his chest. 

Me - “Lane, did you put the grapes up your nose?”
Lane – “Yep.   And it huwts too.  See?”

He leans his head back to show where has stashed them.

So my wife and I are now in a real life version of Operation.  I’m holding his head and she has the tweezers.  She’s crying, he’s screaming, and I’m late.  Needless to say, we didn’t make much progress.

So an hour later, a couple of well-trained nurses pluck the grapes out within a matter of seconds. They were professionals.

Oh, and I missed the SBA Awards.  Sorry Angel.

It did make me think of small business owners and the problems they solve.  So many times, your customers have grapes up their nose and they don’t know how to extract them.  Heck, they don’t even know they are grapes.  They think they have blueberries up there.  They could try to fix the problem, however, they usually make the problem worse.  That’s where you come in with a unique skill set and a long set of tweezers.

Make sure your clients and potential clients know:

• There is a proven return on investment of using your services.  Show them the money than can save by using you to solve their problem.
•  You can take care of their problem immediately.  They won’t be burdened with their problem and have it hanging over their head.
• You are going to do a much better job than they could ever do.  Ever.  If they want it done right and not have to re-do it, they should hire you.  This is where good referrals come in handy.

 And if necessary, show them the tweezers.

Slack - Team communication for the 21st century.

Companies have been adopting Slack‘s group-messaging app surprisingly quickly in the year or so since it launched. Startup founders often mention Slack when someone asks them which apps their teams love to use. Let's take a look.

Channels

Organize your team conversations in open channels. Make a channel for a project, a topic, a team, or anything—everyone has a transparent view of all that’s going on.

Private Channels

For sensitive information, create private channels and invite a few team members. No one else can see or join your private channels.

Direct Messages

To reach a colleague directly, send them a Direct Message. It's completely private and secure.

Drag, drop, and share your files.

Not just your messages, but all your files, images, PDFs, documents, and spreadsheets can be dropped right into Slack and shared with anyone you want. Add comments, star for later reference, and it’s all completely searchable.

If you use any services like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box, just paste the link and that document is immediately in sync and searchable too.

All your tools in one place.

Connect all the tools you use to Slack and avoid all that constant switching between apps. Set up your integration so that you get all your notifications directly within Slack—from support requests, code check-ins, and error logs to sales leads—all of them searchable in one central archive.

Search your entire archive.

Everything in Slack—messages, notifications, files, and all—is automatically indexed and archived so that you can have it at your fingertips whenever you want. Slack also indexes the content of every file so you can search within PDFs, Word documents, Google docs, and more. With one search box and a set of powerful search operators, you can slice and dice your way to that one message in your communication haystack.

Everywhere you go.

With fully native apps for iOS and Android, whatever you do on one device is reflected everywhere. Everything is in sync. We’ll keep your place so you can always pick up wherever you left off.

Customize your notifications whether you’re on your computer or mobile device. Dial them up to be alerted about everything or dial them down to focus on just a few things.

Reclaim your workday.

Less email. More productive. Our customers see an average 48.6% reduction in internal email, helping them enjoy a simpler, more pleasant, and more productive work life.

See the data

Slack is free to use for as long as you want for teams of all sizes. Create a new team

You can easily upgrade to paid plans, which offer more features and controls.

Final Notes about the SLACK

8,000 customers signed up for the service within 24 hours of its launch in August 2013. In February 2015, the company wrote that around 10,000 new daily active users were signing up each week, and had more than 135,000 paying customers spread across 60,000 teams.By April, those numbers had grown to 200,000 paid subscribers and a total of 750,000 daily active users. In 2015, Slack passed more than a million daily active users.

The Financial Times wrote in March 2015 that Slack was the first business technology to have crossed from business into personal use since Microsoft Office and the BlackBerry.

Tennessee Pour House owner honored by Small Business Adminsitration

Angel Carrier, owner of the Tennessee Pour House, has won the SBA Woman Owned Business of the Year for Tennessee.  She was nominated by the Tennessee Small Business Development Center at Volunteer State Community College.

Located at 880 Greenlea Blvd. in Gallatin, Tennessee Pour House uses fresh, ethically-sourced products for its coffee and other offerings. Angel says her goal is to help improve the local and global community one cup at a time.

Angel came to the TSBDC at Volunteer State Community College in the fall of 2013.  Coming from Colorado, Angel wanted to open a specialty coffee shop in the rural community of Westmoreland. She learned steps to open a business in Tennessee, created a business plan and financial projections to reach her goal.

And in the spring of 2014 Angel opened the Tennessee Pour House. She used the business plan and projections to self-finance and hire employees.

After creating a following and reaching break-even, Angel decided to move the business to Gallatin in 2015, to reach a larger population.

Carrier again used the services of TSBDC and did her own research to find her next location and develop a new marketing strategy.

“The TSBDC has been a great resource in helping us start and grow our business,” Carrier said.

"Working with Angel has been awesome," said Charles Alexander, director of the TSBDC. "She is a bundle of energy and has worked very hard to create a niche here in Gallatin.  She has a loyal following and brings something new to our area.”

Since moving the business to Gallatin, Tennessee Pour House has expanded into a breakfast and lunch menu that provides a multitude of organic and vegan options.

Tennessee Pour House coffee is also sold at 40 Kroger locations throughout Middle Tennessee, including the Kroger Marketplace on Nashville Pike near Cages Bend Road.

Are You Protected Against Hackers?

With so much of our personal data out there thanks to ecommerce and social networking, it’s no wonder hackers and cyber criminals are able to help themselves to our information, which can have catastrophic results. Hacking can lead to such quagmires as identity theft, scams, theft, and file destruction. Is your personal and business data safe?

What can you do to protect your personal and company data against hackers and cyber crime?

Make it Strong – The first step to protect your data is having strong passwords. Use as many characters as possible, both capital and lowercase letters, and at least one number and one symbol. Leave out obvious details such as your name or date of birth. Avoid easy-to-answer security questions, ones to which the answer can be easily found online (your high school, pet’s name, favorite team, etc.). Also, don’t use the same password for all of your accounts. Having unique passwords will limit the potential damage if one of your accounts is compromised.

Back it Up – Regularly back up your files locally, making multiple copies of them to prevent against hard drive failure. This is especially important for your business, because lost business data usually adds up to lost time and money. So, make sure your backup system is fail-proof. Or, get even more backup protection by utilizing Managed IT Services, offered by many business solution providers, which will securely backup and store your data to protect against hackers and other disasters.

Secure Your Network Devices - An often overlooked area that’s vulnerable to hacking is your printing and imaging hardware. Threats aren’t just limited to outside attacks from cyberspace. People both inside and outside your organization can actually hack your devices and steal information from document images that are saved on the hard drives of your imaging devices. Your office equipment provider can help you take measures to secure these devices.

Browse Facebook Securely – Facebook accounts are frequent targets of hackers, so if you use Facebook, take advantage of the security measures provided to you. In your account settings enable ‘secure browsing’ to use an encrypted connection (https://) instead of a standard connection (http://).

Watch Where You Click – Never, ever click on a link in an e-mail from someone you don’t know. Phishing creates bogus e-mails attempting to lure you to a phony website and have you enter your username and password.

In the information age your personal data is out there; however, employing these methods will make it more difficult for hackers to get their hands on it.

How Secure is Your Data?

Your Confidential Data Could be at Risk

Think confidential information and documents are protected by your company’s IT security policies? Think again.

A recent survey by Harris Interactive revealed that 51 percent of survey respondents said they process confidential information through printers, copiers, and multi-function devices.

Additionally, 39 percent of employees who print, scan, or copy confidential information at work are concerned whether the information on their printing and imaging devices will remain secure.

These are valid concerns considering there is a very close link between the security of your business and your printing environments. Copiers, printers, fax machines, scanners, and multi-function devices pose a serious risk to your business’ overall security. These devices retain latent document images and text, leaving sensitive information and proprietary data extremely vulnerable to a security breach.

But, securing your print environment is easy with a Managed Print Services (MPS) Program that’s designed to assess all of your devices, provide a detailed security report, and develop a highly secure strategy for your future. Your customized plan can also include usage controls that ensure private information is only accessed by authorized users, and will also help you achieve regulatory compliance. Shrewd business owners know that security breaches damage your brand and can result in heavy fines, so this is protection that pays dividends in the long run. 

Here’s the bottom line:

An MPS solution will not only optimize your output fleet to cut costs and increase efficiency, but will also provide you with the peace of mind that your entire printing and imaging environment is safe and secure.

Contact us today, and you’ll understand why we place the highest priority on your company’s data and are committed to helping you protect your valuable information. 

To learn more about how MOM can help you with your managed print services needs, visit our website at http://www.momnet.com/Managed-Print-Services1 or click here try out our FREE PRINT SAVINGS CALCULATOR.