5 Quick New Year’s Tech Resolutions You Can Keep!

1. Maintenance Plan: Implement a maintenance plan for your computers to ensure they are updated regularly and receive security patches
2. Backup/Disaster Recovery: Make sure you have a good backup system in place that makes sense for your business.  Whatever solution you choose should create off site backups as well as imaged based backups to provide you with faster restore times.
3. Hardware Upgrade Plan: Create an upgrade plan for your older machines.  It’s much better to replace technology on your terms rather than when a disaster strikes due to hardware failure.  Planning your technology upgrades not only helps you reduce downtime and lost productivity, but you can also stagger the upgrades which makes it easier to budget.
4. Antivirus Software: Get a good antivirus program and install it on all of the computers and servers on your network.  Protecting your client and corporate data is not something that you should skimp on.
5. Enterprise Firewall:  Don’t have a good firewall? Get one.  Have an old firewall? Replace it. Just bought a firewall last year, make sure you have purchased any advanced security licenses for the firewall to ensure you are the best protection it can provide. 

What Are IT Managed Services?

There are 2 main ways you can receive IT support from an IT service provider. The first model is called the Break/Fix Model. When you use this type of model your only costs are when your technology breaks you pay a technician to come fix it.  The second model is the Managed Services Model. With this model you pay a technician a fixed monthly price to provide you with the services you need.  Most companies are moving to the Managed Services Model because the benefits are much greater than those with the Break/Fix Model.

 

When you select the Break/Fix Model the only benefit is that your initial costs are lower.  With this model the only services you receive are repairs on your systems when they break.  This can leave you and your technology very vulnerable as no one is watching over your systems to make sure they are secure and running at optimal performance.  While your initial technology spending might be less with this model, your costs are unpredictable and if a disaster strikes it will not only be extremely expensive to fix, but the lost productivity and revenue to your firm can be crippling.

With the Managed Services Model you not only get repairs to your equipment, should something happen, but you also have someone monitoring your infrastructure 24x7x365 ensuring things are running properly. In addition, you are protected from cyber threats and problems can be eliminated before they cause significant down time.  Just like you need to perform maintenance on your car, there are many preventive maintenance items that need to be done on your systems to maintain proper operation, including: 

• Installing Windows updates, security patches, and third party software updates
• Updating and monitoring AV software to ensure you are constantly protected
• Reviewing backups daily to confirm data has been backed up successfully and is available for restoration if needed
• Monitoring your network and firewall for any threats and updating firmware to ensure you have the best protection.  

Technology plays such a critical role in running your business that it’s best to think of it as an investment rather than an expense.  Make sure you select the Managed Services Model for your technology support and make that investment in your technology.  Not only will you be better protected from the myriad of threats out there, but you will also be able to leverage your technology more completely which will increase your productivity and help drive business growth.

Contact Us Today to learn more about the Managed Services Model and how it can help your business.

New Malware Attack on Outlook and Outlook Express

SC Magazine recently reported on a new malware attack masquerading as a critical update for Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.

The malware delivers a trojan called “ZBot,” which is a program that steals your login information (user name and password).

SC Magazine says the message a user will receive is: “This update is critical and provides you with the latest version of Microsoft Outlook/Outlook Express and offers the highest levels of stability and security.” The user will be directed to go to the Microsoft Update Center -- BUT the link provided doesn’t take you there!!

If the link in the email is used, a trojan named “ZBot” or “Zeus” will be downloaded. Within the instructions of the malware is a list of websites for the trojan to monitor, such as Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Bank of America, and Wachovia. If a user visits one of these sites, the trojan will log a user’s keystrokes to obtain login credentials (user name and password), along with credit card or other sensitive information. It saves the information and then sends the file back to the attacker's server.