Anthony R. had never considered a job in IT until he had a conversation with a coworker who was studying to become an IT professional at the hospital where they worked. This coworker was working towards his CompTIA A+ certification and it stirred up Anthony’s curiosity.  ..read more

I was recently asked by a new prospect what I thought were some of the most important things to keep in mind when dealing with technology for a small business. Immediately, my mind went into a flurry of thoughts - from backup to security to over extending life-cycles to under-funding to over-simplifying requirements. I was a whirling dervish before I sat down and documented all of my concerns. So far I've come up with a list of 5 "mistakes" negatively impact technology that we see over and over again when we take on a new client.  ..read more

Access to your information from anywhere is becoming more and more of the de-facto standard these days. And accessing information in the cloud can be provided in a number of different ways. One of the most prevalent ways for accessing basic files (ie: Word, Excel, PDFs, etc.) is via a file-sharing system. However, the type of file-sharing system that you’ll want to use to do this will not only depend on the applications you work with (ie: Microsoft or Google), but also your risk tolerance when it comes to cybersecurity compliance. In a nutshell, most file-sharing systems out there are really ..read more

The best business decisions are often made based on senior leadership’s confidence in facts, figures and calculations made by appropriate parties within the organization. Relying on gut instinct - or worse, potentially false or incomplete information - is a dangerous road to travel, especially when it comes to cybersecurity. Whereas gut instinct may have a place in marketing, sales, or other facet of the business, the planning, implementation, and verification of security operations require facts to be complete and accurate. You need to have all the answers to every possible question at any ..read more

The old maxim “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” can apply to so many areas of life. However, it seems to be particularly fitting for many of the work situations and challenges network system administrators face on a daily basis While you try to do the best job possible, sometimes you may find yourself dealing with many challenges that seem to have no good solution. However, as someone with more than 25 years of experience in IT security, I’ve found that many of these challenges can be avoided or mitigated by following some best practices for network security. Here are the top ..read more

As a certified public accountant (CPA), you’re entrusted to protect the sensitive and valuable information of your clients. You can implement an intrusion detection system (IDS), use a firewall, and anti-malware and antivirus software — all of which steps are highly recommended as part of a layered approach to cybersecurity. However, you also need to establish a backup & disaster recovery (BDR) solution for your business as well.  Place yourself in the shoes of one of our clients: VC3, in combination with their backup & disaster recovery (BDR) solution, came to the rescue of the ..read more

At its core, cybersecurity is a risk management issue for all modern businesses and organizations. As cyber attacks continue to increase, both in terms of their complexity and their frequency, it’s important for employees at every business to ensure that they’re prepared for the cyber battles that are to come in the future. And, take my word for it — they will come. No matter what technology your organization uses, there is no way to prevent 100% of all cyber attacks. Even the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) recently admitted to falling prey to a phishing ..read more

I am often approached by accounting professionals who share their questions and concerns about how to protect their accounting technology and computer systems from malware and other cyber crime threats. This is an understandable worry considering that cyber crime has been reaching record numbers each year, with 2017 experiencing the highest number of cyber attacks. Malware (short for malicious software), in particular, is a cybersecurity issue that has been increasing in terms of both the number of occurrences and the breadth of attacks over the past several years. In addition to stealing yo ..read more

m sure you’re probably familiar with Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong — and at the worst possible time. While the concept can apply to any number of situations, it absolutely applies to those situations that many companies can find themselves in. Imagine that you’ve gone home after a long day of work, only to receive a phone call in the middle of the night, notifying you that there was a fire at your company. Your office has been destroyed, along with all on-site servers, computers, and other storage devices containing your invaluable data. Now, replace this horrifying ..read more

Businesses want to protect their sensitive data, especially when it comes to data stored "in the cloud". But some treat backup and archiving as an afterthought. Why? One key reason is that we're awash in misinformation. These myths need to be busted so that businesses can fully protect themselves.  ..read more