Hackers are employing increasingly sophisticated techniques to scam users into downloading malicious software. For instance, today’s hackers and malware authors have begun using so-called “doorway pages” – web pages optimized to rank highly in results for common search engine queries.
These pages often feature trending or hot topics to show up favorably in search results, and [...]
Entries from May 31st, 2010
Hackers Employing Sophisticated Techniques to Trick Users
May 31st, 2010 · No Comments · Business Continuity, Managed Services, Security
Tags: Business Continuity·Doorway Pages·Hackers·Malicious Software·Malware·Managed Services·Search Engine Queries·Security·Trick Users
Personal IT in the Workplace: Bad for Your Business?
May 28th, 2010 · No Comments · Business Continuity, Managed Services
Consider this: according to research by technology analyst group Gartner, beyond 2010 end users, not the IT department, will be responsible for 50 percent of business IT procurement decisions—ultimately bringing and running their own systems on company networks. Meanwhile, according to management consultants Accenture, around one-third of today’s new generation of workers (a group they call [...]
Tags: Business Continuity·Consumerization·Consumerization of IT·Gartner·IT Procurement Decisions·Managed IT Services·Managed Services·Management Consultants·Millenials·Security Vulnerabilities
Why You Can’t Survive Without a Disaster Recovery Plan
May 26th, 2010 · No Comments · Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Managed Services, Security
It’s simple: Businesses that suffer data losses usually fail as a result.
That’s according to a study by the Department for Trade and Industry, which found that 70 percent of small businesses suffering a major data loss are out of business within 18 months.
What this means is businesses have failed to protect themselves from a plethora [...]
Tags: Business Contunuity·Computer Virus·Data Losses·Department for Trade and Industry·Disaster Recovery·Disaster Recovery Plan·Hardware Malfunction·Managed Services·Ontrack·Security·Site Disaster·Software Malfunction·System Malfunction
Why Investing in Technology Can Actually Save You Money
May 24th, 2010 · No Comments · Business Continuity, Managed Services, Virtualization
Money is tight and hard to come by, and a lot of companies are looking to cut costs and sacrifice the non-essentials. For many, taking off a chunk out of the IT budget is one of the ways to try to save money.
However, when it comes to IT services, chances are a bit more investment [...]
Tags: Business Continuity·Cut Cost·IT Budget·IT Services·Managed Services·Save Money·Technology·Virtual Private Networks·Virtualization·Virtualization Software·VPNs·Web Conferencing
Thinking About Security in the Cloud?
May 21st, 2010 · No Comments · Cloud, Cloud Computing, Managed Hosting, Microsoft, Security
As we begin to store more and more of our data on the Internet and in the “Cloud,” the threat of that data being accessed and used by someone or something outside of our knowledge or control becomes very real. Data such as credit card information, banking transactions, work history, private addresses and numbers, email [...]
Tags: Cloud·Cloud Computing·Data·Facebook·Gartner·Google·IT Service Providers·Managed Hosting·Microsoft·Privacy Policy·Security·Security Risks of Cloud Computing·Twitter
Beware New Facebook Scam
May 19th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Managed Services, Security
McAfee posted on its blog recently news about e-mail purportedly coming from Facebook urging recipients to open an attachment to get their new password on the site. Unfortunately the email is a scam to get not only users’ password of the popular social networking website, but potentially any accounts they use while using their computer [...]
Tags: Facebook·Google·Malware·Managed Security Services·Managed Services·McAfee·Phishing·Phishing Scams·Scam·Security·Social Networking Website
Tornados and Floods…are you prepared?
May 18th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Backup, Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Managed Services
Ever wonder what it would look like if your business were destroyed by a flood? See firsthand what the Pep Boys location in Nashville caught on their security camera in early May.
What about a tornado? Watch this clip to see what impact a tornado can have on your business.
Both of these film clips should serve [...]
Tags: Backup·Business Continuity·Disaster Recovery·Managed Services·Nashville Flood·Pep Boys·Tornado
Beware of Ransomware!
May 17th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Managed Services, Security
Users beware of ransomware: malicious software that extorts money from users in exchange for freeing the user’s computer or data. One particularly nasty version was recently discovered by researchers at CA which came bundled with a software download called uFast Download Manager. The malware blocks Internet access for users until they pay the publisher a [...]
Tags: Malicious Software·Managed Services·Ransomware·Security·uFast Download Manager
Common Craft: Complicated Made Easy
May 14th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Business Continuity, Managed Services
For many people, learning begins by understanding the basic principles that drive a certain concept. Whether in technology or science or society, the world is filled with so many complex and complicated subjects that affect our lives, but remain largely misunderstood by the general public.
This is where commoncraft.com comes in. Owned and maintained by husband [...]
Tags: Business Continuity·Commoncraft.com·Compley Subjects·Complicated Subjects·Managed Services·Plain English
Assessing and Documenting Your IT Needs
May 12th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Backup, Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Managed Services, Security
You expect your computer to work when you turn it on. The last thing you want is to waste valuable time trying to get your email running or wrestling with a web browser that won’t load.
These are frustrations you surely have experienced, and chances are you will again. But you don’t have to. Or, at [...]
Tags: Backup·Business Continuity·IT Environment·IT Needs·IT Processes and Functions·Managed Services·Network Functions·Productivity·Recovery·Security
Brad Paisley Sings the Blues…
May 11th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Backup, Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Managed Hosting, Managed Services, Storage
Not even the rich and famous are immune from disasters so don’t think that it can’t happen to you. Just take a look at country singing sensations Brad Paisley and Keith Urban who are two of countless musicians that will most likely lose millions of dollars on performance gear due to the historic floods in [...]
Tags: Ben Jumper·Brad Paisley·Business Continuity·Cumberland River·Disaster Recovery·Flood·Flooding·Keith Urban·Man-made Disaster·Managed Hosting·Managed IT Services·Managed Services·Nashville·Nashville Flooding·Soundcheck Nashville·Tornado·Tweets·Twitter
Are You Regularly Defragmenting Your Disks?
May 10th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Business Continuity, Managed Services, Virtualization
When most people want to purchase a new computer or upgrade their current one, they focus on finding a CPU with the quickest speed, the most computing cores, or the most RAM they can afford. However, they may be overlooking the most likely reason for computing slowdowns: fragmentation in the disks.
Disk drives claim the [...]
Tags: Antivirus·Business Continuity·Computing Slowdowns·CPU·Defragmentation·Disk Drives·Disks·Drive Capacities·Fragmentation·Fragmenting·Hard Drive·Managed Services·RAM·Scattering·Software Utility·Speed·Virtualized
Free Online Solutions Make Your Life Easier
May 7th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Business Continuity, Managed Services, Microsoft
Do you frequently struggle with creating PDF documents, sending large files through email, and converting various file types from one to another? If so, you may have found that some mainstream solutions are complicated and time consuming. But there are some online solutions that can help you with these common tasks without requiring you to [...]
Tags: Adobe·Adobe InDesign·Business Continuity·CutePDF·Free·Free Online Solutions·Large Files·Managed Services·Microsoft·MS Excel·MS Office 2007·MS Word·PDF·PDF Documents·Photoshop·YouConvertIt·YouSendIt
Ports Ahoy!
May 5th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Business Continuity, Dallas Data Center, Data Centers, Managed Hosting, Managed Services, Switches
This past Saturday night Dallas Data Center implemented 5 new Cisco switches, which added a significant amount of new ports (216 to be exact) to our networking infrastructure. The 5 latest switches were joined into a HA mesh with 1 and 2 gigabit redundant port channels to the core. Along with this addition, we increased [...]
Tags: Business Continuity·Cisco·Cisco Switches·Dallas Data Center·Data Centers·DDC·HA Mesh·Managed Hosting·Managed Services·Networking Infrastructure·Ports Ahoy·Redundant Port Channels·Switches·Switching Topography
Are You in Danger When Searching the Internet?
May 5th, 2010 · No Comments · Business Continuity, Managed Services, Security
Research released by antivirus vendors MacAfee and Panda suggest that searching for certain key words on Internet search engines can prove dangerous. Hackers and malware authors have become adept at Search Engine Optimization and are using frequently searched key words to create sites that will rank favorably in search engines, but are a host for [...]
Tags: Antivirus·Antivirus Software Internet Surfing·Business Continuity·Dangerous·Hackers·Internet Search·Internet Search Engines·MacAfee·Malware·Managed Services·Panda·Patched Systems·Phishing·Search Engine·Search Engine Optimization·Security