We know that keeping our accounts clean is important, but how should you go about spring-cleaning your technology passwords and accounts?
You should perform a security audit to identify potential vulnerabilities in your accounts and technology. This can include reviewing access logs, checking security settings, and updating software and firmware to the latest versions.
Use strong, unique passwords. It's essential to use strong passwords that are difficult to guess. This means using a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
Additionally, each account should have a unique password to prevent a breach of one account leading to access to all accounts.
Two-factor authentication provides an extra layer of security to accounts by requiring a second form of verification before allowing access. This can include a code sent to a mobile device or biometric authentication like fingerprint or facial recognition.
Update passwords regularly. It's a good practice to update passwords every few months to ensure their effectiveness.
This can prevent unauthorized access by someone who may have gained access to an old password.
A password manager is a tool that can help to manage and secure passwords. These tools can create and store complex passwords, so users don't have to remember them.
Some password managers even offer features like alerts when a password has been breached, so you can update the password immediately.
You should spring cleaning your technology passwords and accounts to ensure the safety of your business’s sensitive information. If you’re a client already, let’s get this on the calendar today!
If you’d like to learn more get a free dark web scan, so we can help you identify any breaches you may have been victim to.
Spring is the perfect time to clean out your business, get rid of clutter and start fresh.
One important aspect of this is to make sure your Cyber assets (technology, passwords, and accounts) are secure.
Business owners may overlook this step in their spring cleaning, but it's essential to ensure the safety of their sensitive information.
Here are some key reasons why small business owners should prioritize spring cleaning their cyber assets:
As technology becomes more advanced, so do the methods used by hackers to breach security systems. Small businesses are at risk of cyber-attacks.
Weak passwords and outdated security measures can make them vulnerable.
Updating passwords and securing accounts can help protect against potential security breaches.
Your business has a lot of confidential information, such as customer data and financial records.
If this information falls into the wrong hands, it can be damaging to the business, and to its reputation.
By ensuring that passwords and accounts are secure, small business owners can prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information.
Outdated and forgotten passwords can cause significant delays and reduce productivity if access is difficult to obtain.
Employees may spend hours trying to reset passwords or access accounts.
By ensuring that passwords are up-to-date and easily accessible, small business owners can improve their team's productivity.
If you’re a client of QWERTY Concepts, let’s make a plan today to address your cyber spring cleaning!
If you’re interested in becoming a client, let’s talk today! Contact us at 732-926-0112 or get a free dark web scan so that one of our cybersecurity experts can help you understand the cyber risks you may be exposed to and how to fix them.
As a small or medium-sized business (SMB) owner, you may not have the same level of resources as large corporations. However, that doesn't mean you should overlook the importance of protecting your business from cyber threats.
Identifying the most critical aspects of your business that need protection and focusing your resources on those areas is a star.
There’s also another component that can protect the business as a whole: your team.
The "MVP" or Most Valuable Player mindset puts your employees at the forefront of defense.
We can help you to make your entire team a roster of MVPs.
We’ll perform a cyber security risk assessment to identify gaps on your current defenses or any potential risks.
This cyber security risk assessment will review the following in your business:
We will identify which of these assets are critical to your business's success and could cause the most damage if they were compromised.
Next, we’ll implement measures to protect those critical assets.
These cybersecurity measures include:
We will also implement our ongoing cybersecurity training program.
This will help your employees recognize and avoid potential threats like phishing emails or malware.
Then we’ll create a plan in place for responding to a cyber-attack.
This will include clear protocols for reporting and responding to security incidents, and make sure all employees are aware of the steps they should take in the event of an attack.
We’ll reinforce your business cyber-defenses by regularly review and update your cybersecurity measures as new threats emerge.
By taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity and focusing your resources on protecting your most valuable assets, you can help reduce the risk of a damaging cyber-attack on your SMB.
You will also contribute to reducing the costs of insurance and cyber insurance for your business.
If you don’t currently have any proactive cybersecurity plan ongoing or if you want to strengthen the one you currently have, we can help!
Give us a call to 732-926-0112 or leave us a message here, and one of our cyber security experts will get in touch with you.
If you’ve turned on the news sometime during the past few years, you must have heard of more than one instance where a business closed due to a cyber attack.
You may think your business is small enough and hackers won’t target you, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Every business is at risk of experiencing a cyber attack and should be well-prepared to defend against these threats.
With the right type of attack, a cybercriminal gains valuable information about your business, customers and employees, which can be used to damage your reputation and hurt you financially.
If you’re a business owner or leader and you want to ensure your business is well-protected, check out the most common cyber attacks that are affecting companies today. From there, you can implement cybersecurity plans and tactics to ensure your business is protected from cybercriminals.
Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious software on the victim’s infrastructure.
Phishing scams wreak havoc on your business and personal life.
You may have seen an e-mail from someone claiming to be Amazon or your credit card company asking for specific sensitive information. Often, the e-mail address does not line up with who the person is claiming to be.
When a phishing scam targets your business, they request valuable information from your employees, such as passwords or customer data. If your employees fall for the scam, they could give a cybercriminal access to your network and systems.
This will also allow the cybercriminal to steal private employee and customer information, leaving your employees vulnerable to identity theft.
Phishing scams can be averted by using common sense and providing cyber security training to your employees.
Most companies will not request private information over e-mail. That being said, if an employee receives a suspicious e-mail, they should do their due diligence to ensure the e-mail is genuine before responding in any way.
These are some steps that anyone in your company can take to detect a phishing email:
If your business falls victim to a cyber-attack, it could have lasting consequences for you, your employees, and your clients.
Malware is software installed on a computer without the user’s consent that performs malicious actions, such as stealing passwords or money.
There are many types of malware, including spyware, viruses, ransomware and adware.
You can accidentally download malware onto your computer by clicking on sketchy links within e-mails or websites.
Your computer may be infected with malware right now and you do not even know it. These are a few hints that can help you identify whether you have been infected with malware or not:
Prevention is key in stopping malware from affecting your business.
Hiring and utilizing a managed services provider is the best way to protect your business, as they will continually monitor your network and proactively secure your network.
With malware, it’s always better to play it safe than sorry. If a cybercriminal is able to use ransomware on your network, your business could be stuck at a standstill until you pay the ransom. Even if you can pay the ransom, your reputation will still take a hit, and your business could be greatly affected.
Be careful where you click on your phone, too, since malware attacks on cellphones have become more common over the past few years.
How do your employees access your network or computer systems? They use a password to log in to their computer, access their e-mail and much more.
What would happen if someone with bad intentions gained access to one of your employee’s passwords? Depending on the individual’s access, they could obtain sensitive information about your business, customers, and employees.
Your team should be using long, complex passwords for their accounts, and each password for every account should be different. Encourage your employees to use password managers that will allow them to create the most complex passwords possible and keep track of them more easily. You can also provide a corporate password manager for all your business’ email accounts. Some MSPs include essential tools in their managed service plans. Be sure to utilize these tools.
Incorporate multifactor authentication (MFA) to ensure nobody can steal a password and gain access immediately.
All of these password hygiene best practices have to be included in your business’ Password security training.
If your business falls victim to a cyber-attack, it could have lasting consequences for you, your employees, and your clients. Now that you know the most common types of cyber-attacks, you can start implementing plans to ensure you and your business stay protected.
If you don’t have any cybersecurity training plan in place or if your current training program feels incomplete, we can help you set up a comprehensive annual cyber security training program for everyone in your company. Additionally, we offer a free dark web scan. Simply enter your business email address and receive a free report, instantly.
Being at risk for cyber-attacks is a growing concern among small-business owners.
Cybercriminals often target small businesses because they hold sensitive information and have weaker security infrastructures than larger businesses.
For this reason and more, it should be no surprise that 88% of small-business owners feel vulnerable to a cyber-attack, according to a recent survey conducted by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
To protect your business and your customers, you must implement strong cyber security practices in your business. These are some of the best practices to reduce the risk of falling victim to a cyber threat:
To give your business an extra layer of protection, though, you can get cyber insurance coverage.
Cyber insurance, often called cyber liability insurance, covers the damage your business suffers if you’re the victim of a cyber-attack or data breach.
Here are a few areas where having cyber insurance can help.
Imagine that a cybercriminal gains access to sensitive information, such as your employees’ Social Security numbers or your customers’ credit card numbers. You know the release of this information could cause irreparable harm to your business, and you’re willing to pay whatever it costs to prevent this from happening.
This is the goal of ransomware attacks. Hackers threaten to publish sensitive information or lock you out of vital programs if you don’t pay them.
Cyber insurance will help you pay the ransom.
Cyber insurance providers like to provide coverage to businesses that are proactive with cyber security practices
If sensitive customer information gets stolen from your business, you have a legal obligation to inform your customers.
The average cost of notifying customers of a breach and other post-breach responses is $1.72 million, according to the Ponemon Institute Cost of Data Breach Study.
That’s a cost most small businesses cannot afford, but cyber insurance will help cover it.
If your business becomes the victim of a data breach, you’re going to want to get that information back.
Your policy can protect you and your employees from identity theft, as your insurance provider may pay for identity recovery services.
These are invaluable services, since data and identity recovery can take years to handle on your own.
Cyber insurance can also help cover the costs of customer and employee lawsuits after a data breach, lost income due to network outages and even regulatory fines.
Most cyber insurance policies come with exclusions to which you need to pay attention. Your policy will probably not cover attacks that happened before your coverage started, future profits affected by a data breach or the loss of valuation after a cyber-attack.
All cyber insurance plans are different. You have to analyze the coverage carefully and get the one that best fit your business.
First of all, you have to meet certain qualifications to get a policy, due to the rise in cyber-attacks and cyber security awareness.
Every cyber insurance provider will look at the strength of your network security before considering your business for coverage. If your network is weak and at a high risk of being targeted, they are not going to take a chance on you.
If your business is within an industry that requires cyber security compliance, make sure you’re compliant. If you’re not, cyber insurance providers won’t even give your business a second thought before rejecting your application for coverage. This shouldn’t be an issue, as most businesses stay compliant, but double-check your requirements with your current IT provider or team to ensure all your bases are covered.
If you’re considering cyber insurance but are worried about the cost, you can do a few things to make it more affordable.
Cyber insurance providers like to provide coverage to businesses that are proactive with cyber security practices.
Implementing an incident response plan will show providers your business has procedures in place to handle emergencies if they arise. Researching all third parties you work with and showing they have strong cyber security practices will also benefit you.
Cyber insurance can be an incredibly beneficial cyber security element to add to your business. As new cyber-attacks and threats continue to develop, it’s essential to get all the protection you possibly can.
If you want to know more about cyber insurance for small businesses, take a look here or contact us at 732-926-0112; one of our cybersecurity experts will be happy to assist you.
Scammers have always taken advantage of people's trust and social media platforms have only made it easier for them to do so.
One of the most well-known examples of this is the Tinder Swindler, who used the dating app to manipulate unsuspecting individuals.
The social media scam works by creating a fake profile and establishing a relationship with the target.
This is done by building trust through friendly conversation, eventually leading to the scammer asking for personal information or money.
This can take the form of a crisis situation or an emotional plea for help.
Unfortunately, social media scams are becoming increasingly common.
According to a report by the Better Business Bureau, social media scams have increased by over 450% in the past three years.
This shows just how effective scammers have become at exploiting people's trust through these platforms.
To protect yourself, your loved ones, and your business, you need to be aware of these scams and take steps to verify the identity of those you meet online.
You can do this by taking these actions:
Social media scams have increased by over 450% in the past three years
In conclusion, scammers like the Tinder Swindler exploit a fundamental aspect of human nature – trust – to manipulate individuals through social media platforms.
With the rise of social media of scams, it is crucial that you are cautious and take steps to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your business.
Remember to share this information with your employees or co-workers.
Usually, social media scammers also aim to steal work information from their victims to either use them themselves or sell it on the dark web.
By being aware and vigilant, you can avoid falling victim to these scams and keep your personal information and money safe.
The year 2022 was a big one for IT, experiencing growth in all areas, especially for IT infrastructure in remote work due to the pandemic.
When businesses fail to have updated IT infrastructure in place, regardless of company size or location, their customers’ and employees’ sensitive information is at risk. By investing in proper IT infrastructure, businesses can improve productivity while saving money. It’s a win-win situation.
Keeping that in mind, business owners need to be aware of changes in the IT industry so they can best protect their businesses and customers.
The IT industry is continuing to grow, so you must make necessary updates.
Here, you’ll find the most important IT news and trends of 2022. Understanding these trends will help foster success into 2023 and beyond.
One of the biggest challenges for many industries was the need for reliable IT services for remote employees.
Businesses had to send their employees home, so they needed to find ways to ensure their information would stay protected.
"When businesses fail to have updated IT infrastructure in place, regardless of company size or location, their customers’ and employees’ sensitive information is at risk."
To fix this issue, many businesses started working with MSPs to help with their IT and cyber security needs.
MSPs can install, support and maintain all the users’ devices and PCs connected to the network. Since they manage devices remotely, they’re available to help employees with their concerns as soon as they arise.
MSPs are also incredibly beneficial when it comes to protecting information from hackers and other significant problems. They’ll be there to assist with issues such as lost devices, hardware failures, natural disasters and many other situations.
Between rising costs due to inflation and staffing issues, many small-business owners are doing more of the repetitive but necessary tasks that don’t bring much value to the business. However, many things can be automated, including email marketing and data entry.
Business owners don’t have to do everything on their own, especially when they can automate many of these essential daily tasks. Implementing automation leaves business owners and employees less stressed while freeing up time for higher-valued tasks.
Cybercriminals are getting smarter and bolder. In 2022, we saw cyber-attacks against the Israeli and Polish governments; the school system in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and large businesses such as Uber and Crypto.com.
No business is exempt from cyber-attacks.
Many small businesses don’t prioritize cyber security, and cybercriminals know this. They will try to target and compromise businesses that they think are an easy target.
Proper cyber security training for employees, as well as hiring an MSP, can reduce the risk of hackers gaining access to critical information.
If your business didn’t pay much attention cybersecurity this year, some of your business information like employee credentials, network passwords or client’s personal information could be for sale on the dark web already. Take an assertive approach to protecting your business by starting with a dark web scan to find out if your business has been a victim of a data breach recently.
If you’re a small-business owner, it’s essential to include your business’s IT needs in your plans for 2023. Doing so will allow you to stay ahead of your competition while ensuring your employees and customers are well protected.
Over the last few years, we have seen plenty of uncertainty. The pandemic, politics, wars overseas, inflation and a looming recession have done nothing but make these uncertain feelings grow. It’s left many business owners wondering how they can stay resilient. Here are three ways to stay resilient during these uncertain times.
In order for your business to see success, you must embrace change and work with it. It doesn’t matter if the changes are coming from inside or outside of your business – if you’re well-prepared to embrace them and adapt, you will continue to see success.
Your team should be able to make changes without waiting for approval. As the business owner, you must clearly communicate goals so your team can make decisions the same way you would.
You will not face a situation in your business that is completely new. Someone somewhere has already faced the same obstacles and found a way to overcome them. Find a mentor with vast experience who can offer advice and guidance when you’re unsure about what to do next.
Everyone wants to learn new skills as quickly as possible, but each individual has different learning strategies. Some people try to push themselves out of their comfort zone, which a Yale study confirmed does work – but pushing yourself too far can have adverse consequences. Instead, we should try to find our sweet spot.
A recent study conducted by the University of Arizona found that we maximize our learning efficiency when we fail 15% of the time. This means that we learn at our best when we’re succeeding at a given task 85% of the time. It’s okay to fail sometimes, and failing 15% of the time may even be the best way to learn.
There are certain businesses you walk into that just feel different. Everywhere you look, the employees are engaged, which is reflected in the way business is conducted. And their quarterly profits usually show just how much business is booming.
These businesses stumbled upon the secret that one great employee is often worth three average employees, and it’s cheaper to pay these superstars 150% or more of the average industry wage to keep them around. These employees are flexible problem-solvers who can weather any storm.
However, you may have employees who quit because they weren’t happy or adding value in their roles.
How do you keep your other employees from following in their footsteps?
One way is to set up an open exit where your employees give you a six- to eight-week warning that they are looking for another job. You can use that time to fill their role and train the new hire so there is no lapse in the transition period.
You can also pay your employees a better wage and offer benefits to keep them happy and engaged. When you work with these employees to make their lives easier, their flexibility becomes a gift rather than a burden.
Unhappy employees can spell doom for your business, so do everything in your power to keep your team happy.
It can be difficult growing older and realizing that your memory isn’t as strong as it once was. You may try to eat supplements or do brain exercises on your tablet, but there are strategies you can implement to enhance your memory.
Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have found that mastery‑approach goals (i.e., developing your own competence) enhance memory of newly learned material, whereas performance approach goals (i.e., comparing yourself to others) can create “tenuous connections” in memory. The authors concluded the study by saying, “Motivation factors can influence inhibition and forgetting.”
A 2016 study from the European Journal of Social Psychology found that thinking more abstractly can actually reduce memory issues. The study examined how levels of “construal” (examination and interpretation) can affect memory, and their results suggested that “abstract thinking can eliminate retrieval-induced forgetting because of relational processing, demonstrating the roles of the levels of construal on memory inhibition.”
In other words, if you know the “how” and “why” behind things you intend to remember, you’ll be more likely to remember them.
It’s back-to-school season! Soon, our kids will return to the classroom, where they will relearn the information from the prior school year to ensure that they were able to retain that knowledge.
There’s nothing wrong with needing a refresher, and this is true for both students and your employees.
If your staff has not had a refresher course on your company’s cyber security practices sometime in the last year, now is the perfect time to get them up to speed. After all, they can’t defend themselves from cyberthreats if they don’t know how.
That’s why it’s so important that your team has bought into a cyber-secure culture and is aware of potential threats that could impact your business.
Cyberthreats come in all shapes and sizes, but an overwhelming majority of successful cyber-attacks can be attributed to human error, which is the main reason your employees need cyber security refresher training at least once a year.
Establishing strong cyber security practices and ensuring your team is aware of them through training is the best way to protect your business from cyberthreats...
A lack of training can open your business up to hackers and other cyber-attacks by way of phishing e-mails, weak passwords, unsafe browsing and more – which jeopardizes your entire company.
In many cases, insurance won’t cover your claims if your employees have not undergone regular training.
Finally, customers usually don’t want to do business with a company that isn’t keeping their information protected.
It doesn’t matter how big or small your business is – you must make an effort to ensure that all of your employees have gone through cyber security training.
If you’ve never trained your team on cyber security and are unsure of which topics to cover, don’t worry because we’ve put together a list of the most important cyber security topics to train your employees.
Nearly every employee at every company has their own login to access the company’s systems, data or Internet.
When selecting the passwords for this login, employees need to use strong, unique passwords that utilize:
You should also ensure that your employees regularly change their passwords.
Your IT/technology team can set up so that every 3 or 6 months all employees have to change passwords.
For an extra layer of security, you can utilize multifactor authentication so you’ll know that those logging into an account are who they claim to be.
Your employees should be cautious of any e-mails that come from addresses outside of the company.
When your employees go through their e-mail, they should not open e-mails from people they don’t know or have not communicated with in the past.
Unless they know exactly where the e-mail has come from, they should not open any links or attachments within it.
An employee’s personal accounts should never be set up through a company e-mail address.
When posting on social media, your employees should be cautious about what they post in regard to work.
They shouldn’t disclose private information about your company or your clients on social media.
If they did, it could be devastating to your company’s reputation as well as your cyber security.
At the end of the day, your cyber security practices are in place to protect company and client data, and your employees have a legal and regulatory duty to protect sensitive information.
A reckless disregard for protecting company information can quickly cause your company to go under and has the potential to bring forth lawsuits.
Establishing strong cyber security practices and ensuring your team is aware of them through training is the best way to protect your business from cyberthreats.
By implementing training on these four topics, you’ll be on your way to developing a cyber-secure culture.
If you need help establishing a proper cyber security training plan for your employees, we can help!
Our approach starts with running an employee vulnerability assessment (EVA) for each employee to establish a foothold which we use to tailor a custom-made training plan for each of them.
Click here to learn more about our cyber security training programs and approach for businesses.
We know that keeping our accounts clean is important, but how should you go about spring-cleaning your technology passwords and accounts?
You should perform a security audit to identify potential vulnerabilities in your accounts and technology. This can include reviewing access logs, checking security settings, and updating software and firmware to the latest versions.
Use strong, unique passwords. It's essential to use strong passwords that are difficult to guess. This means using a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
Additionally, each account should have a unique password to prevent a breach of one account leading to access to all accounts.
Two-factor authentication provides an extra layer of security to accounts by requiring a second form of verification before allowing access. This can include a code sent to a mobile device or biometric authentication like fingerprint or facial recognition.
Update passwords regularly. It's a good practice to update passwords every few months to ensure their effectiveness.
This can prevent unauthorized access by someone who may have gained access to an old password.
A password manager is a tool that can help to manage and secure passwords. These tools can create and store complex passwords, so users don't have to remember them.
Some password managers even offer features like alerts when a password has been breached, so you can update the password immediately.
You should spring cleaning your technology passwords and accounts to ensure the safety of your business’s sensitive information. If you’re a client already, let’s get this on the calendar today!
If you’d like to learn more get a free dark web scan, so we can help you identify any breaches you may have been victim to.
