Google Timeline is an innovative and useful feature for Maps users – as long as you’re comfortable with Google tracking your every move.

Without much fanfare, Google recently rolled out a feature called “Your Timeline” for iOS devices. Through this update, Google Maps will now start tracking and saving your previous locations to the application. The good news is you can use the feature to check out where you were on any given date. The bad news is you may feel as if allowing Google to track your day-to-day whereabouts can compromise your privacy.

Google Timeline Basics

Despite Timeline now being available on Apple devices, the feature has actually been working on Android devices since 2015. Under the main menu after launching Google Maps, you’ll see a prompt for “Your Timeline.” You will then be able to track the places you’ve visited over the past days, weeks, or even months. The history will not only show the names of the places you visited but the distance you traveled and how long it took you to arrive from point to point. At the top of each day, you’ll find a summary of the distance traveled by walking, bicycling, driving, etc. Furthermore, at the end of each month, Google can email you a overview of all the places you visited over the course of the last 30 days.

A beneficial feature of Google’s Timeline is the information won’t be locked to your account. All entries are customizable, allowing you to change the name and precise location of the places you visited. You may also delete any history within the Timeline. Deletions can encompass entire days or single entries – the user decides.

Google Timeline and Privacy Concerns

Many individuals are disconcerted with the idea of Google tracking their every move. What if you have secret lunch plans with a headhunter at another agency? What if you called out sick to work, but actually took an extended weekend break to Cancun? However, the feature can easily be deactivated from any device. Under the “Location History” setting on your device, you may choose to disable the service altogether. You can also switch the tracking on and off directly from the application. There is a “pause” option found in the bottom left-hand corner of the Timeline screen.

An important thing to keep in mind is turning off location tracking for the Timeline feature doesn’t stop Google from accessing your location altogether.

Cyber security myths can pose a danger to your business. Debunking the myths can keep your company safe from cyber criminals.

Security is a hot-button issue within the IT world. Despite cyber security firms stressing the importance of keeping confidential data safe, companies seemingly fail to heed warnings. On a regular basis, news agencies are reporting significant data breaches within the network of large corporations. To stay protected, your company needs to stop falling for some of the most common IT security myths.

Antivirus Software Provides Adequate Protection

One of the most antiquated notions is installing antivirus software on your network is enough to keep your data safe. Most of today’s cyber attacks have a level of sophistication that makes it child’s play to circumvent standard security software programs. Security software offers a modest amount of protection, but shouldn’t be your one and only line of defense.

Overloading your IT Manager With IT Security Responsibilities

Another myth is a company can put all security tasks on a single IT manager. An IT manager is typically responsible for installing and updating services to your business network. Inadvertently, these services will introduce your network to potential risks.

An IT security team should have separate duties from traditional IT departments.

IT Security Is All About Protecting Client’s Money

Another myth is the sole purpose of IT security is protecting customer’s payment details. Although credit card fraud is a problem, there are other vulnerabilities cyber criminals can exploit. Additional security risks include stealing personal information from your client base including email addresses and phone numbers. Hackers can also access private company information and offer to sell the data to the highest bidder. Cases of ransomware are also on the rise. In these incidences, your network is hijacked until you agree to pay an undetermined fee to hackers.

Go Offline for Safety

Many companies feel like going back to the old-fashioned way of handling business will put them at a lesser risk for security attacks. However, storing some of your data online and some offline cause gaps in data to pop up. These deficiencies make the job of protecting your network tremendously difficult. If a system isn’t updated often, you may lack the security patches needed to protect existing data.

Go Big or Go Home

Unfortunately, this is not the motto of cyber criminals. Small and medium-sized businesses often wrongly assume they aren’t at risk for cyber attacks. Despite statistics showing that 75 percent of small and medium businesses reported a security breach in 2015, only 7 per cent stated they expected to increase their IT security budgets.

Cyber criminals know small business owners have a lax mindset about network security and will exploit this knowledge for their own personal gain. Hackers don’t go after small businesses for astronomical sums of money, but just enough to put a dent into your budget.

Manufacturers Keep Us Safe

One of the most damaging myths is the idea any software or hardware developer has designed their products with the utmost security in place. For instance, many professionals have the misconception that owning a MacBook means you are never vulnerable to any cyber threats. Many manufacturers are focused on user experience and can’t always foresee vulnerabilities within their systems. Some newer devices have the option to automatically encrypt data, but many times this features needs to be turned on before working. Utilizing a virtual private network or VPN is another method businesses can use to protect data.

The bottom line is IT security must be a priority for your business, no matter the size of your operation. Based on your industry and security needs, you can work with professionals to customize the appropriate level of coverage for your company.

Become a force to be reckoned with this May the Fourth with a strong password that works behind the scenes of your accounts. 

May the fourth is quickly approaching. This exciting day marks a time when the world’s attention turns to celebrating an iconic movie series that has generated a following spanning more than 30 years. On May 4th, the world will celebrate Star Wars Day in a variety of ways. These include dressing up as their favorite character, creating tasty treats that depict iconic scenes, binge watching the series and numerous other creative ways of paying homage to the Star Wars movie franchise. People of all ages, and who live all over the world, will do their best to live up to the Star Wars Day slogan of “May the Fourth Be With You!”

There’s Another Reason to Celebrate That Day, Too

Star Wars Day is not the only important event that is happening on May 4th, though. That day has been designated as World Password Day 2017. It marks the day that you can join thousands of people and organizations across the globe as they take a pledge on social media to make improvements to their password habits. Industry giants like Intel, Dell, Lenovo, TeleSign, BBB and more, are supporting World Password Day and propelling people to embrace its initiatives.

Strong Internet Security Involves More Than Just Passwords

These days, maintaining your security online is vital to protecting everything that is important to you. Whether it’s your social media accounts, email or bank account, ensuring that your information is secure and private is vital to protecting everything from your job and your money to your reputation and your relationships. Unlike in the past, though, a strong password is only the starting point in staying secure online.

Step One: Create a Strong Password

After you create a strong password – or even a passphrase as suggested by the Password Day website – you’ll need to move on to the other three steps in order to fully secure your online existence.

Step Two: Create Different Passwords

It’s important that you create a different password for every site you visit. A useful analogy to help you realize the dangers that exist if you use the same password everywhere you visit online is the damage that can be done to your life if it took only one key to open your front door, your safe, your bank and your car. The criminals who steal passwords use them to get into websites of all types – often with great success because people use the same password in multiple places.

Step Three: Find a Password Manager

In order to facilitate quick access to your sites, you need a good password manager that stores all your passwords safely and securely. A master password is needed in order for you to access your password manager. Because the master password is only recognized from a registered device, it is difficult for someone to log on from an unknown device.

Step Four: Add Multi-Factor Authentication

Chances are, you’ve already been using – or at least been exposed to – multi-factor authentication without knowing its fancy name. Using a fingerprint reader to unlock your phone and having a secret code texted to you before you could access account information for an account whose password you’d forgotten are just a couple of ways that your true identity is verified to protect your information.

When combined, these four steps help you build a more secure online presence. This World Password Day, take steps to put the force of a strong password behind you so you can surf the web knowing that your accounts and their information won’t be compromised.

At {company}, we provide our readers with the latest tech information they need to stay secure. For more tips on security, call us at {phone} or {email} us today.

IT requirements are changing rapidly today. Having a secure, reliable network connection is no longer an option when trying to run a business. Up-to-date hardware, software, and security solutions are now essential in your day-to-day operations.

Without ongoing support and service to keep your IT running smoothly, you’re simply wasting your IT dollars, and setting your business up for serious downtime. You’ll be vulnerable to huge repair costs when you’re forced to call in a tech to fix things. In this scenario, just a small problem can quickly become a very costly one.

Smart organizations have moved away from using break-fix services to Managed IT Services – Why?  Because they want to stay up and running.

Fortune 500 Companies Were the First to Use Managed IT Services.

As IT systems became more complex, large companies realized that they required certified professionals to be on call 24 hours a day, every day.  And, they found that it was more cost effective for them to hire offsite MSPs (Managed Service Providers) to handle their specific IT needs.

In the past, it was prohibitive for smaller companies to use these services.  But today, as the MSP movement has grown, companies, no matter what size, can take advantage of the services they provide. MSPs focus on prevention, and dealing with IT issues before they create real problems.

The Problem with Break Fix Service – It’s Expensive!

The break-fix strategy no longer works for businesses today.  If you still use this method of IT service, you risk downtime that can literally shut your business down.

With Break-Fix Services:

• A tech typically charges by the hour. This encourages him to focus on billable hours. It doesn’t benefit him if your network runs as it should. You could find yourself repeatedly calling them to help with a problem that never quite gets resolved.
• A minor computer problem can quickly turn into a disaster. This is especially so today with the increase in cybercrime like ransomware. What starts out with just one malicious email, can spread throughout your entire network, locking down your data, and your operations.
• It could take days to repair your network. In the meantime, your employees won’t have access to the data they need to continue working. You’re simply “bleeding money” by the minute.
• Your IT service provider starts charging you after you’ve already lost worktime. Time spent on repairs or updates can add up fast.
• It’s impossible to predict how much to budget for IT services. You can’t know what will happen or how expensive it might be.

The Answer – Managed IT Services

The difference between “break-fix” and Managed IT Services?  Break-fix provides on-site repair after a problem is identified, where Managed IT Services provide ongoing maintenance, updates, and support to prevent problems from occurring in the first place. With Managed IT Services, you know that your business technology and data are protected 24/7:

• You can finally focus on running your business and not on IT worries. Your MSP will minimize or eliminate downtime that could hit your bottom line.
• Your IT support can be provided remotely without a tech visiting your office. There will be instances that require in-person care, such as hardware replacement. However, most of what affects your day-to-day operations can be worked on by a remote technician.
• You’ll benefit from a flat-rate payment model, allowing you to budget your IT plan more effectively. You’ll be able to plan for growth far more easily and with greater peace of mind.
• IT maintenance from an MSP is more cost-effective than relying on break-fix solutions, especially when you consider the lost revenue from downtime.

Remote IT support is more cost effective than hiring in-house technicians.

Don’t waste your IT dollars or risk

serious downtime by relying on break-fix services.