by Felicien | May 17, 2019 | Education
If you’re running a small to medium business (SMB), you’ve probably come across the term “managed IT” or “managed IT service.” What is managed IT, and what can it do for your small to medium business? Today we’ll answer these questions and more. Read on to learn about managed IT and how it helps your business win.
What Is Managed IT?
Managed IT is a specific type of managed service. To explain managed IT, we first need to talk about managed services in general. Managed services are those services that a business outsources completely to another more specialized organization. These exist all over the business world for a wide variety of reasons. Usually, a company invests in managed services in areas that aren’t core competencies. Managed services are a way for companies to focus on their core business, outsourcing peripheral functions to other more specialized businesses.
Some businesses enlist the help of managed services firms to handle their HR needs, while others may outsource elements of their customer service. One of the most common examples of managed services, though, is managed IT.
Managed IT, then, is the intentional outsourcing of a company’s IT needs to another firm that specializes in IT support. The company using managed IT services pays the managed service provider (MSP) to meet their technology needs, reducing or even eliminating the need for in-house IT support.
What’s the Alternative to Managed IT?
The main alternative to managed IT services is to develop a robust in-house IT department. When they reach the end of their abilities, you’ll call in pricey contractors who usually can’t guarantee that quick of turnaround time. (Brutal honesty: they can’t, because they’re prioritizing their managed IT clients over you!) This is sometimes described as the “break-fix” model. Do what you can in-house, and then when something breaks that your team can’t fix, you call in the big guns.
The break-fix model worked when businesses weren’t so dependent on their IT infrastructure, but it doesn’t work well today. Think of a piece of crucial tech in your office. Maybe that’s your online sales platform, or it’s a server or database of some kind. If that one thing suddenly stopped working, how long could you survive waiting for a specialist to show up and start fixing it? You don’t want to wait until a specialist has an opening to come fix it. You need dedicated support.
Why Use Managed IT?
We’ve already alluded to a few benefits to using managed IT, like dedicated support. Here are a few more reasons you should use managed IT to win.
Massively Expand IT Capability
If you’re running an SMB, you have real, concrete limits to the number of IT professionals you can afford to hire in-house. A 50-employee company can’t have a 25-person IT department and stay in business for long. Take a long, hard look at your current IT capability. Can your staff really do everything? Chances are you have a few folks that are specialized in a few areas. Additionally, they’re all adequate in basic IT functions.
When you bring in a managed IT service, you’re hiring a company that specializes in just one thing: managed IT. If they’re a 50-employee company, well over 25 of those people are IT specialists. They bring a wide variety of specializations to the table, too.
You massively expand your company’s IT capability by bringing on a dedicated support team. A managed IT service can typically do far more than you can currently do yourself.
Allow Existing IT Staff to Specialize
Bringing on a managed IT service may allow you to reduce your own IT staff, but another option is to let them specialize. Right now, they’re probably overworked, running from problem to problem. They solve problems outside their expertise, but they do so inefficiently. Bringing on a managed IT firm to handle most functions allows your IT staff to focus and specialize on proprietary or value-added IT processes specific to your company.
Focus on Your Core Business
If you currently run all your IT in house, how much of your time as a leader is spent dealing with your IT team? Every hour you spend on IT is an hour you aren’t spending growing and improving your core business. Offloading 80, 90, or even 100% of your IT needs to a managed service provider frees you up to focus on what you do best.
How Can We Help?
If you’re ready to see what managed IT can do for you, we’re here to answer your questions. Contact us today to start winning with managed IT.
by Felicien | May 17, 2019 | Education
Big Plans For The May 2-4 Weekend?
This year, Victoria Day falls on Monday, May 20th.
Why do we call it the May 24 weekend?
Whether you’re taking the time to kick back and relax, spend time with friends, or plan to get the jump on the workweek ahead, our team hopes you have an awesome long weekend!
And of course, just because Monday is a holiday, that doesn’t mean you’ll have to make do without us. You’ll be able to reach us if any technical issues arise.
by Felicien | May 16, 2019 | Education
A healthy, growing business is almost always a good thing. Still, expansion brings with it certain responsibilities on your part.
If your business is growing quite quickly, it’s important to understand that large changes or adjustments may need to be made. This could mean hiring more employees, starting to provide employee health insurance, advertising more and spending more on marketing services, or obtaining more physical office space.
One area that you certainly won’t want to ignore as your business expands is your company’s information technology provider.
Many businesses who start small assume they can keep their IT provider as they grow. However, it’s important to realize that some providers aren’t equipped to handle larger businesses — those who often necessitate sprawling networks and extensive security needs.
To determine whether your company will soon require new IT services, consider the following questions about your current IT provider.
How familiar are they with your specific industry?
Often, when you’re just starting out, you’ll hire an IT provider who handles information technology services for a broad range of industries. Without a doubt, working with these types of providers will help your growing business by cutting costs. At the same time, you’ll still have your IT taken care of.
But as your business grows, you’ll want an IT provider with unique expertise in your industry. Niche IT providers who specialize in IT for hospitals, transportation services, or optometry offices, for example, are much more likely to provide you with better-quality service and improved security.
They are knowledgeable about and regularly brush-up on industry standards. They keep up with new and cutting edge technologies in your industry. And most of all, they are constantly aware of common security threats (and solutions) to businesses like yours.
Do they service other companies of similar size?
Take a look at who else your IT company serves. Are there any clients who match your company’s size? If so, do you believe those companies would also necessitate the same amount of attention and security as your company?
Even if your current provider services a company comparable to your size, if that company is a greeting card business and you own a chain of dental offices, you may have more to think about than just size. Namely, you’d have personal medical information within your network and a unique and crucial need to avoid breaches, scams, and possible liability catastrophes.
How often do you require troubleshooting services?
Are you already in near-constant communication with your IT provider for recurrent outages, network errors, slow-downs, and other problems?
Certainly, troubleshooting is one of the reasons you have an IT provider in the first place. However, the best providers should be able to set-up a network that requires infrequent service.
Moreover, preventable errors that happen once should not happen again. The downtime that results from problems in your network will inevitably hinder your business’s success. Moreover, as a company that’s growing, things will only get worse if you do not improve your service now.
How have they handled network problems to date?
When you have needed to make a service request in the past, what’s been your current provider’s track record?
Consider how easy they are to get in touch with. Are you able to speak with your own account manager or at least a representative who’s knowledgeable about your business?
How fast is your request handled? If it’s an emergency, such as a security breach or a system failure, how fast do they respond? If it’s a routine question or small system error, how fast do they respond?
Larger businesses need IT providers who know their business and are at-the-ready when a problem occurs. In fact, you should have a direct line to call when problems arise — one that answers to a live person.
Furthermore, as a growing business, you’ll want to anticipate that future problems will inevitably be more calamitous, especially when left unhandled for even a day or two. As your business expands, your IT provider must be immediately responsive, fully capable of handling any problem, and prompt in their service calls.
Have they presented a plan for accommodating your company’s growth?
First of all, have they taken notice of your company’s growth? A quality IT company will come to you first, noting that your company has been expanding and ideally, presenting a plan for your extended IT needs.
However, even if it’s you who needs to take the knowledge of your company’s expansion to your IT company, you’ll want to look for signs that they have a plan in mind to accommodate your anticipated needs.
They may, for example, suggest that you move from an as-needed payment plan to a monthly or yearly management plan. Many of the best IT providers who handle a range of company sizes will have at least these two options for their clients. When moving to a managed plan, you’ll be able to request assistance whenever necessary, paying a flat rate for their on-call care.
Find an IT Company Who Will Help Your Business Flourish
If, by evaluating the questions above, you’ve determined that it may be time to hire a new IT company, this certainly doesn’t mean that your current provider is entirely insufficient. It simply means that you’ve outgrown them, which in turn means that it’s time to move on to a more capable provider.
Taking the time to assess and realize your business’s extent of growth and possible outgrowth of an IT provider is an important step in your business’s expansion. Hiring an IT provider with adequate resources and capabilities to handle your expansion will ensure you’re fully prepared when it comes to your information technology — a foundational element that is, today, an invaluable component to businesses of all kinds.
by Felicien | May 16, 2019 | Education
Are you willing to pay the piper when it comes to cyberattacks?
Despite the growing number of cyberattacks on small- and medium-sized businesses, there is still a lack of awareness or proactive defense of the networks, computer systems, applications and devices being used. This inattention means it’s even easier for criminals to attack your business by worming their way into your data, stealing it and threatening to expose it. Other cyberattacks target the business itself, making systems and websites inoperable, costing businesses millions in the process.
Freeing the data or access often means paying a ransom, usually in the form of Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency that’s impossible to trace.
How Much of an Issue is Cybercrime?
When it comes to cyberattacks on small businesses, the reality is, if you haven’t already been attacked, you will be. What matters is that you have the security protocols in place to make sure your business withstands these attacks and is not victimized by intruders looking to do harm.
The scope of cyberattacks, especially on SMBs, is staggering.
According to the 2018 HISCOX Small Business Cyber Risk Report, almost half (47 percent) of small businesses suffered a cyberattack in the previous year. Of those attacked businesses, 44 percent encountered a second, third or fourth attack. Eight percent had five or more attacks.
Yet the report shows a paradox. Business executives surveyed identified cyberattacks as one of their top two concerns, along with fraud. Sixty-six percent said they were concerned or very concerned about cyberattacks.
However, among those executives, the majority haven’t taken even basic steps to protect their businesses.
What Does a Cyberattack Mean to My Business?
If you do not invest in cybersecurity measures, you are a sitting duck. That means you’ll have to pay a ransom when your business is attacked. You will incur costs as well, including steps to identify and eradicate the intrusion, notify customers and regulators and pay for deep web monitoring or credit monitoring.
What is that financial cost? According to HISCOX, it’s $34,600 for small businesses. The 2018 Cost of a Data Breach Study: Global Overview conducted by the Ponemon Institute shows that among SMBs and enterprises, the worldwide average total cost is $3.86 million. The costs are increasing each year, too.
The Ponemon study shows some of the other inherent threats and disruptions a data breach can bring upon your business. Among key factors influencing the cost of a data breach, according to the study, are:
The unanticipated loss of customers after a data breach is reported. Organizations that have established institutional trust and offer identity protection to victims are more successful in retaining customers.
The scope of the breach and the number of records lost or stolen. Ponemon calculates the per-record cost at $148.
Time. The longer it takes to discover the data breach and contain it, the more costly it is to the affected business.
Scope of remediation. When an attack is discovered, your business is going to incur expenses it didn’t plan for, including for independent investigators, forensic analysis, auditing services, crisis PR management and continuing brand and reputation repair initiatives.
Service needs. These included the demands for help desk services, marketing and communication, distribution of new account information or credit cards, legal costs, regulatory investigations and fines, product and service discounts to retain customers and increased insurance premiums.
The costs, both real and impressionistic, can cripple a small business that does not have the resources to recover from a cyberattack.
What Should Our Business Do To Protect Itself?
Protection begins with a thorough assessment of your systems and procedures to determine where there are vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. Working with a qualified managed service provider, you can understand where the exposures are and plan to fix them.
Your managed service provider will want to look at several components, including:
Network security that’s based in next-generation firewalls to identify and contain unwanted activity
Automated solutions to update anti-malware applications and install updates and patches
Policies regarding access, password protocols and authentication
With the proper security in place, you can avoid paying a ransom and putting your business at risk.
by Felicien | May 16, 2019 | Education
Impacted Systems:
Windows Server 2003
Windows XP
Windows7
Windows Server 2008
Nonimpacted Systems:
Windows 10
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2019
If you are still using Windows Server 2003 or XP, Windows 7, Windows 2008 R2, or Windows 2008 you could be in trouble. A wormable virus may be coming your way. The virus is designated as CVE-2019-0708.
This means that the virus can get into your system without you doing anything like clicking a malicious link. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights without your knowledge.
What Should You Do?
Microsoft has released a critical update for their Remote Desktop Services that impacts multiple Windows versions. The patches are for devices and systems that are both in and out-of-support, which is rare for Microsoft to do. This shows the importance of these patches.
The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Remote Desktop Services handles connection requests. To apply the patches, go to the Microsoft Security Update Guide for in-support systems and KB4500705 for out-of-support systems.
Note: Clients & Customers on a valid managed services agreement are being taken care of and there is no immediate action for any computer, server or other devices under a valid managed services agreement.
Microsoft recommends that customers running one of these operating systems download and install the update as soon as possible.
Does This Mean Even Systems Without Support Can Get The Patch?
Yes, Microsoft is aware that some customers are running versions of Windows that no longer receive mainstream support. This means that you wouldn’t have received any security updates to protect your systems from the CVE-2019-0708 virus.
Given the potential impact on customers and their businesses, Microsoft decided to make security updates available for platforms that are no longer in mainstream support.
All Windows updates are available from the Microsoft Update Catalog.
What Should We Do Before We Apply The Update?
It’s recommended that you back up all of your important data first. If you have a reliable backup, if the patch creates problems you can still access your data. You should do this before you install any patches.
What If We Can’t Apply The Patches?
If you can’t apply the patch for your system there are other things that you can do:
If you don’t need the Remote Desktop Services, you can disable it.
Block the TCP port 3389 (this prevents unauthorized requests from the Internet).
Enable NLA (Network Level Authentication) for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.
Of course, the best thing to do is to contact your local IT services company. They’ll know exactly what to do.
What Is A Wormable Virus?
This means that any future malware that uses this vulnerability could propagate from one vulnerable computer to another. This is how similar malware like WannaCry spread around the world. Experts are worried that this flaw could be used to fuel a fast-moving malware threat like the WannaCry ransomware attacks of 2017.
Here’s what Simon Pope, director of incident response for the Microsoft Security Response Center tells us:
“This vulnerability is pre-authentication and requires no user interaction,” Pope said. “In other words, the vulnerability is ‘wormable,’ meaning that any future malware that exploits this vulnerability could propagate from vulnerable computer to vulnerable computer in a similar way as the WannaCry malware spread across the globe in 2017. It is important that affected systems are patched as quickly as possible to prevent such a scenario from happening.”
Have There Been Any Attacks Yet?
Microsoft said they haven’t found evidence of attacks against this dangerous security flaw. But one could happen at any time. Right now they are trying to prevent a serious, imminent threat with these patches.
Simon Pope goes on to say:
“While we have observed no exploitation of this vulnerability, it is highly likely that malicious actors will write an exploit for this vulnerability and incorporate it into their malware.”
What Does The Microsoft Remote Desktop Do?
You use the Microsoft Remote Desktop application to connect to a remote PC or virtual apps and desktops made available by your admin. You can control your desktop computer and all of its contents from another computer.
The app lets you connect to your desktop from wherever you are. The access to the remote desktop happens over the Internet or via another network. It lets you interact as if you were physically working from your desktop.
The Remote Desktop application also gives the “master” computer access to all of the contents on the remote computer.
What Else Should We Know?
If you had updated from Windows 7 to Windows 10 or from Windows Servers 2008/2008 R2 to Windows Server 2016 or 2019, you wouldn’t need to worry. This is why it’s essential to keep your systems up to date.
Soon, on January 14, 2020, support will come to an end for all Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2 equipment and the Windows 7 operating system.
If you’re still using these servers or operating system, it’s crucial to replace them now so that there’s no disruption to your daily operations or loss of data.
Any hardware or software product that reaches its end of life is a potential gateway for hackers to enter through. In addition to the security hazard, there are other reasons why it isn’t a good idea to keep using old equipment such as unresolvable outages.
Where Can We Get Help?
Contact us to ensure your Microsoft desktops and servers are secure and protected from unauthorized intrusions.
