by Felicien | Jan 2, 2019 | Education
As small business owners rely on IT more than ever before, a growing number are turning to managed service providers to obtain the high-tech IT infrastructure, software and assistance they need to be successful. At the same time, there are many entrepreneurs and small business owners who don’t fully understand how managed IT services work and how they can propel a business forward. Following are five extremely important facts about managed IT services that will enable one to make wise decisions regarding when and how to use them.
Managed IT Services Save Time
Most small businesses can’t afford to hire a full-time IT technician. This means that, more often than not, regular employees must deal with IT problems. Because the average employee is most likely not an expert IT technician, it could take hours or even days to resolve serious IT issues. What is more, it is all too easy for an employee to make a mistake that results in downtime, a security breach or some other serious issue.
Working with a managed service provider saves time because MSP companies can prevent many IT issues in the first place. Companies offering managed IT services use only the best equipment and this equipment is monitored by experts to ensure that everything is working as it should at all times. In fact, most managed service providers offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee. If something does go wrong, a small business owner can count on immediate, expert assistance to get things running again. This frees staff members to handle other essential jobs such as sales, advertising and customer service, enabling your business to grow as it should.
Managed IT Services Save Money
Can working with a third-party IT service provider actually save money? A lot depends on which IT service provider is used and what services are purchased; however, for the most part, companies that use an MSP save a considerable amount of money. In fact, recent statistics indicate that small business owners can reduce IT costs by up to 40% by working with a managed service provider.
There are several reasons why managed IT service providers are so cost-efficient:
Small businesses that use an MSP don’t need to invest in their own equipment and then update the equipment periodically as the IT service provider handles this expense.
Small business owners who work with an MSP don’t have to take on one or more extra employees; this saves money that would have otherwise been spent on salaries and benefits.
IT service providers offer scaled services, making it possible for business owners to adjust IT spending by the company’s needs and budget.
Managed IT Services Boost a Business’ Security
Many small business owners have discovered that, contrary to popular misconception, they are prime targets for cybercriminals. Because small businesses are less likely to have strong security, hackers go after them regularly to obtain valuable customer and business data or to hold files hostage in exchange for a ransom.
Thankfully, small businesses can now obtain top of the line security at a very reasonable price by working with a third-party IT service provider. IT service providers use up to date security programs and procedures to protect company files from unauthorized intrusion. Furthermore, many offer employee training that can prevent common cyber crimes such as phishing and malware attacks.
Getting Help from the Experts
IT technology is continually improving. Hardware and software that was up to snuff a few years ago are now outdated. Naturally, most small business owners don’t have the time to keep up with technology changes that affect their industry. However, IT service providers do have the time and ability to not only stay abreast of recent developments but also invest in the newest equipment to provide the best possible service to their clients.
Additionally, IT service providers know how to handle any IT-related challenge you may face. If you experience downtime, are having trouble accessing your files or need help creating a secure internal communications plan, your IT service provider is available to provide immediate assistance. Many MSPs even offer 24/7 assistance to ensure that you get the help you need, when you need it.
Taking Advantage of Customized Service
There are many IT service providers for small business owners to pick from, making it possible for just about anyone to find the company that best suits his or her business’ needs and budget. In fact, there are even managed service providers that specialize in offering IT services to niche industries such as healthcare.
Managed service providers also offer flexible service options. A business owner can:
Use a managed service provider on a one-time basis
Hire a managed service provider to handle periodic tasks such as providing online customer service during holiday seasons and/or training employees in IT security and management
Delegate certain IT jobs to an IT service provider while managing others in-house
Have an IT service provider handle all IT-related work for the company
Managed service providers are well worth the cost. They have much to offer any company and small business owners who work with MSPs often find that they can save money, increase efficiency levels and serve customers better than ever before. Any small business owner who wants to boost his or her business may want to seriously consider the benefits of teaming up with an IT service provider and then do some research to see which exact managed service provider is the best fit for the business.
by Felicien | Jan 2, 2019 | Education
Technology is changing the face of almost every industry, and anyone who can’t keep up will be left behind. The United States has far more STEM jobs than qualified applicants to fill them, with the need growing steadily. Just in 2016, there were about 3 million jobs which couldn’t be filled because there weren’t enough people with the right education and skills. Businesses and schools are working hard to find ways to meet the technology gap, with programs encouraging students from a young age and scholarships for STEM majors.
When workers can’t adapt to the new environment, they won’t just be denied new and better opportunities. They will be stuck in whatever menial, low paying jobs are left, and there may not be enough of those if those when so many are automated.
The New Jersey Institute of Technology
NJIT has been working to provide the educational credentials with the necessary experience so graduates will be prepared to step into high paying tech positions. Students are well versed in aspects of various industries while learning necessary technology skills, such as maintenance, processing control and manufacturing. NJIT students get offers before graduation and earn 20% more than many of their peers.
The Growth of Automation
The increasing use of technology in every aspect of business is paralleled by the astronomical growth in automation. NJSpotlight.com predicts that as many as half of all jobs will be automated as soon as two short decades from now. Governor Murphy has made a promise to help support workers during this time of upheaval, and has set up a task force to evaluate possible upcoming changes.
By making a proactive plan, Governor Murphy hopes to protect the interests and livelihoods of the New Jersey workforce. He also wants to help prepare for the upcoming changes in the various industries which will be impacted.
Changes to the Economy
The automation task force is part of Governor Murphy’s economic plan. As the leader of the state, he wants to avoid unemployment and underemployment for New Jersey residents. Instead, he wants to find creative ways to help residents succeed in the new economy. One idea is lifelong learning accounts, which would allow residents to achieve new credentials and skills so they could become qualified for every changing STEM jobs.
One way Governor Murphy is trying to help New Jersey residents is by raising the minimum wage significantly. One of his top campaign promises was to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2021, and the change is being enacted incrementally. Although those changes aren’t happening as fast as he wanted, a higher minimum wage will help ensure that residents will continue to be able to earn their living even with a lower technology job.
Changes in Job Types
Studies predict that there will be more computer jobs, automation, robots and other technologies which will replace or enhance many current jobs. It is simply more cost effective to have a machine perform many tasks, and the newer technologies have other advantages like accuracy and safety. A job which might be dangerous for a human may be safely done by a robot.
Many jobs have already disappeared, or at least declined significantly. It is easy to see, even though the changes seem gradual. Cashier jobs and gas station attendant positions were replaced by automatic checkout and “pay at the pump,” leading to open worry and discussion by residents who were worried about losing their own jobs to technological changes.
Retail salespeople and cashiers are the most in danger of losing their livelihoods, and the United Way predicts that there is a 90% chance of those positions disappearing. Other jobs which could be on the chopping block include sales representatives, movers, janitors and health aides.
Preparing for the Future
Many people are anxious, even if they personally have the training necessary to get one of the best new tech jobs. When there is so much change, and it seems to be happening so fast, people can feel uncertain about how the changes will affect them and their own position.
Governor Murphy’s task force is predicting huge changes by the year 2025, and his focus is on innovation and change. When one door closes, another opens; the loss of some jobs means merely that other jobs will be created to help with the new way things are done. If everyone works together and focuses on the end goal, the end result will be a steady rise in employment and residents in good-paying technology jobs.
by Felicien | Jan 2, 2019 | Education
Companies today are increasingly relying on freelancers to support one-time or ongoing projects. The growing need for freelance support can create complex challenges for companies.
How, for example, can companies manage projects across time zones? How can freelance and in-house staff access the same information and collaborate in real time? How can companies provide access to necessary information quickly when needed but keep systems and access secure when projects are done?
Answering these questions led to the development of Microsoft 365 freelance toolkit. The service leverages tools already in use by many businesses via common Microsoft applications.
The toolkit provides functionality explicitly designed to address freelance management and simplify the complexities of working with teams comprising internal and external employees. It includes a curated set of templates, tools and best practices designed to help organizations launch, manage and execute projects that rely on freelance talent.
How Is the Microsoft 365 Freelance Toolkit Organized?
The toolkit uses four functional areas that Microsoft calls “workloads.” Each is designed to work with existing tools to address core needs:
Communication
Collaboration
Analytics
Workflow
How Does the Product Manage Communication?
SharePoint has long been a powerful tool allowing teams to access critical information and understand complex projects. Leveraging your existing SharePoint investment, toolkit users can learn about a project or program, access necessary training materials and see best practices. These spaces allow for key stakeholders and adopters to understand projects, including goals, metrics and desired outcomes.
Users can post use cases, guidelines for using freelancers for the project, FAQs or Microsoft-provided research reports on the gig economy, alternative work arrangements, and the future of work.
As with all the workloads included in the toolkit, the communications space is customizable.
How Do Freelancers and Staff Work Together?
The collaboration space uses Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Planner as a way to get cross-functional and distantly located teams moving in the right direction.
With these tools, your organization can provide a shared space for teams to hold discussions and to track project progress in one place. Team member assignments can be managed and updated online, and files can be shared using intelligent search tools.
Your organization can grant guest access at no additional cost to freelancers. When the project is concluded, you can easily remove team members who no longer need or should have access.
You can also learn from best practices detailed in the space, including whether to use email; how to use, review and comment on documents, slide presentations and spreadsheets at the same time; and capture shared notes.
How Can the Toolkit Measure Success?
With Power BI, you can create connectors and dashboards that measure key performance indicators about the use of freelancers. Analytics help to gauge which internal groups benefit most from using freelancers. By using the business and data analytics tools, your organization can connect multiple data sources, ease data prep and generate easy-to-read reports.
How Can I Manage Repetitive Tasks Associated with Projects?
There are multiple processes associated with using freelancers. Provisioning, budget, compensation, compliance, monitoring and assessment tools all play a role in managing freelance workers.
Using Microsoft Flow, toolkit users can reduce the reliance on manual, repeated tasks with workflow automation tools. Create seamlessly integrated processes among apps and services to send notices, synchronize files, collect data and report on progress and needs. Using Boolean logic strings, you can streamline and simplify many processes.
As your business evolves, it may require a rapid influx of resources that cannot be acquired using traditional hiring practices or budgets. The freelance market offers companies greater flexibility and reliability. Now, with the Microsoft 365 freelance toolkit, you’ll be able to manage freelancers and empower them to solve pressing business needs.
by Felicien | Jan 2, 2019 | Education
Staying safe online is important for everyone, but especially for kids. Kids are the most vulnerable population online right now. They do not have the life experience to understand when someone is trying to use, exploit, or groom them. At the same time, they are going online in huge numbers, often spending a large part of their time online, and their parents often do not know what they are doing or who they are talking to. This is why so many parents do not know what is going on with their children online until something unsettling happens to them.
Naturally, everyone wants to make these unsettling incidents as rare as possible, and ideally eliminate them entirely. This is why the Australian Federal Police have come out with some advice for parents on keeping their kids safe online. This is sound advice that every parent should listen to and follow, because it works.
Here is what you should be doing to keep your child safe and protected online.
Know Who Your Child is Talking to Online
This is important, because so many parents have no idea who their child is talking to online, or even that their child is talking to anyone. Children today use a lot of apps on their devices, such as on cell phones and tablets, and take these apps with them when they leave the house. The apps connect directly to the Internet, but a lot of parents do not know that. Because the apps connect to the Internet, they are able to have in-app chat features that allow kids to talk online to anyone else who may be using that app.
Parents need to ask who their children are talking to, and even ask to see a list of their contacts in each app. If there is someone who is a stranger to the child and the parent that the child is talking to, this is a big red flag. It is the same kind of “stranger danger” of the past, where parents wanted their children to not talk to strangers in person without parents there. This time, the big “no” is for children to talk to strangers online without their parents being aware of the identity of those people.
If your child is talking to someone you do not know, you need to instruct your child to not talk to that person anymore. If the child will not comply, or if the stranger continues to contact your child, you must block that person on the app.
Know How to Block and Report
If you do not know how to block someone on an app, or report suspicious behavior to the owners of the app, now is the time to learn, because your child’s online safety may depend on it. Your child probably knows how to do these things, but you as a parent still need to learn, because it will usually be up to you to do the blocking and reporting. Have your child show you how, use an online tutorial to learn, or learn with your child if your child does not already know how to do these things.
Then, block any strangers with whom your child is communicating, and report any suspicious or inappropriate conversations to the owners of the app. Most of the time, the owners will look into it and remove access to the app from anyone they believe has been using it inappropriately. If they do not, the blocking feature can still keep your child safe. If all else fails, such as your child unblocks the person and continues talking to them on the app, you will have to delete the app from the child’s devices and block them from re-downloading it.
Let Your Child Know They Can Come to You if Something Suspicious is Going on Online
Most children have a very excellent sense of when someone is acting suspiciously or inappropriately with them online. Naturally, there are some children who are not aware of this, but most will know if something online is not as it should be. However, they may not know how to handle it on their own, or they may think that you will be angry with them for letting it happen if they come to you with the information. You must let them know that you will never be angry with them for someone being inappropriate with them online, because it is not their fault.
Let them know, and make sure they understand, that they can always come to you if there is an online situation they do not know how to handle, or if something suspicious is going on with someone they are talking to online. Let them know you will handle it, that you will be understanding and supportive of them, that you will protect them, and that they will not be in trouble. Children will be much more likely to come to you when they need you for these online situations if you make them feel absolutely safe and in the right in doing so. A child who comes to you when they need you is a child who is much more likely to be and remain safe online.
Make a Contract with Your Child
A Family Online Safety Contract is an excellent way to always be on the same page as your child when it comes to them being online. The contract, which you and your child sign together, clearly lays out the rules of them being online on any device, and what is expected of them while they are online. You can find a pre-printed Family Online Safety Contract, as well as a blank template for one (if you prefer to write your own rules for being online) at ThinkUKnow.org.au. These contracts can be printed off your computer and signed together with your child. There are also plenty of other resources available there for parents for keeping their children safe online, including information about parental controls for online devices and how to use them to control where your child can go (and can’t go) online and what they can (and cannot) do while they are there.
When you know your child is safe online, you will feel much more secure about letting them go there without your supervision. You will be confident that your child knows good internet safety habits, and also knows what to do if they encounter problems with anyone online. The contract gives you the secure knowledge that your child knows what you expect of them while they are online. When these steps are followed, children are much safer and happier, and parents are more secure in knowing their child is a protected and well-informed one when it comes to the world of the Internet.
by Felicien | Dec 31, 2018 | Education
Users around the world have been receiving bitcoin extortion emails for a long time, one of the most notorious being a “sextortion” threat to show a computer-eye view of you watching adult videos to the world. The latest threat is more alarming: the sender claims to have a bomb planted at the recipient’s business. Financial institutions in New York began receiving bomb threat emails demanding payment of $20,000 in Bitcoin in early December.
New York City Police warned via Twitter that they were monitoring multiple bomb threats on December 13 and reports soon came in of threats emailed to Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Huntsville, Alabama, and Columbus, Ohio.
The subject line of most of these bitcoin scam emails is: “I advise you not to call the police.” Some emails received in Canada came with a subject line of “Think Twice.”
One copy of the email, which has been sent to multiple recipients, reads:
“My man carried a bomb (Hexogen) into the building where your company is located. …. I can withdraw my mercenary if you pay. You pay me 20.000 $ in Bitcoin and the bomb will not explode, but don’t try to cheat – I warrant you that I will withdraw my mercenary only after 3 confirmations in blockchain network.”
KrebsOnSecurity describes the emails as extremely disruptive spam. The emails have been received by thousands of governmental organizations, businesses, educational, and health care institutions around the world.
Hexogen is a chemical term for RDX, the explosive component in the military plastic explosive C-4.
What To Do If You Receive A Bitcoin Bomb Threat Email?
The National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) released a bulletin about the emails on December 13. NCCIC recommends that if you receive the email:
Do not respond or try to contact the sender.
Do not pay the ransom.
Report the email to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center or the local FBI Field Office.
What Are The Risks With Bitcoin Bomb Threat Emails?
Bitcoin bomb threat emails are an obvious extortion scam. No bombs have gone off in any location where the threats have been received.
The scammers aren’t completely unsophisticated, although the threats are poorly-worded and no hacking is involved. Each email security experts have examined uses a different Bitcoin address to send the demanded payment. This is not quite as convincing as the “sextortion” emails, which included a real password that targets had used at some point in the past.
Paul Bischoff, a privacy advocate with Comparitech.com, said: “even though bomb threats are scary, this is amateur scamming.”
After multiple evacuations, the FBI and local police have failed to find any explosive devices. Most law enforcement officials termed the threats “not credible.”
The likelihood of a bomb being present in any building receiving the threat is low.
What Are The Real Costs Of The Bitcoin Bomb Threat Emails?
Scams like the “sextortion” emails and the rash of Bitcoin bomb threats threaten to dull awareness to concrete security threats. They also demand attention and safety precautions even though they are nearly 100% certain to be fake.
Multiple threats received in Toronto brought police out around the city and shut down the King subway station. Schools and colleges in New York and several other U.S. cities shut down early after receiving the threats.
The Bitcoin bomb threat extortion likely yielded no cryptocurrency for the scammers. Costs in law enforcement investigative time, lost instructional time at closed schools, and lost business at commercial locations which were forced to shut down add up to far more than what the scammers could hope to obtain from recipients who don’t follow NCCIC’s instructions.
Unlike the “sextortion” scams which were alarming but personal, Bitcoin bomb threat emails to organizations have to be taken seriously enough to confirm that employees and customers — or students, faculty and hospital staff and patients — are safe from harm.
The identical, amateurish emails are sent to thousands of targets, so in one sense, there’s safety in numbers. It’s highly unlikely any email scammer could plant C-4 explosives in thousands of locations around the world.
Bitcoin email bomb threats are very unlikely to be serious, real bomb threats, yet no organization can afford to take a bomb threat lightly. As long as they continue, they will remain a costly and aggravating nuisance.
