Michael Johnson

The Top Windows 10 Features And Devices To Add To Your Holiday Wishlist

Top Your Technophile’s Wish List With These Top Windows 10 Devices And Features

It’s the season for giving and receiving. Be the top of your favorite technophile’s wish list or just treat yourself to some new gadgets or apps with these top new Windows 10 features and devices for the holidays.

holiday tech gadgets

Start your wish list off right with Cortana, Windows’ to-do list making app, which you can use your voice or type to create different varieties of lists for shopping, meal prep, daily tasks and vacation planning. Cortana then allows you the flexibility of pulling up your lists on all your enabled devices, so you never need to worry about leaving anyone off your holiday list.

If you’re looking for an economical, yet smart device to carry out basic computing tasks, then the ASUS Transformer Mini T102 should top your list at under $300 USD. This detachable 2-in-1 PC has a smart hinge kickstand and weighs in at under two pounds to allow your work to go anywhere. It comes ready to operate with Windows 10 and Cortana, along with a built in fingerprint reader and windows Hello log-in, keeping documents safe and secure.

For a sleek new lap-top, the HP Stream provides a speedy and powerful device loaded up with Office 365 Personal and Windows 10, along with DTS Studio Sound for booming sound immersion. The laptop retails for $279 USD.

On the higher end, the Lenovo Yoga 910 is a convertible 2-in-1 device in an ultra thin and sleek package. It can be used as a laptop, tablet or display screen and also features a touch screen, fingerprint reader and password-free log-in, all for $1,049 USD.

The Dell XPS 13 features an InfinityEdge screen display that makes beautiful work of looking at pictures and videos. It features a light body and a hard working battery that lasts up to 22 hours, for a starting price of $999 USD.

The HP Spectre x360 elevates the convertible PC in a super slim body with Full HD touchscreen and Windows 10 for work or personal use. A built-in camera aids in Windows Hello facial recognition sign-in for $1,149 USD.

Windows 10 on any device can help make the holiday season easier with a range of applications that provide both professional and personal solutions. From Windows Ink and Pen that turns your device into digital pen and paper, to OneNote that allows you to turn your scribbled notes into a checklist, to the Microsoft Edge browser that enables webpage mark-ups.

Whoever is on your holiday gift list, chances are they’ll be delighted with a Windows 10 present.

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Microsoft Introduces Outlook Customer Manager for Small and Mid-sized Businesses

Managing your customer interactions will never be the same now that Microsoft has introduced Outlook Customer Manager.

In the business world, Microsoft Office is a huge tool that can be used to run your business effectively. Microsoft has just taken this to the next level by introducing a new Premium plan called Outlook Customer Manager.

CRM Software

This new component of their Office 365 Business Premium plan is designed to help businesses manage and cultivate customer relationships through Outlook. This new service comes at no additional cost to existing customers using the Premium plan but can provide substantial benefit when used the right way. The Outlook Customer Manager Service is designed to organize all customer information together. This includes emails, deadlines, deals, tasks, meetings, and any other interaction in one spot.

This new service is going to be included in the Premium plan for all users to utilize in their businesses. The Office 365 Business Premium plan is designed to be affordable no matter your business size. If paid monthly, it costs $15 per user. if it is paid annually, it only costs $12.50 per user. Each user can put the entire suite of services on up to 5 devices to they can use it in the office or on the go.

There are lots of new services that Microsoft has started adding to the plan as well as some that are in the works. The ultimate goal is to make customer management and business management easier through the use of the plan. If you have any questions about how the plan works or what you can expect in the next year, be sure to contact us at [email protected] or (402) 895--5777. Here at InfiNet Solutions, we want to make sure your business in Omaha is prosperous.

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Best Computer Support Company in Omaha

Your computer networking grid is the backbone of your operations. Without it running up to speed, you suffer setbacks like costly downtime, data loss, and general disruption of your enterprise, which defeats the purpose of why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place. InfiNet computer network support not only brings your IT network up to optimum speed, but maximizes your entire business operations by proxy.

We optimize your computer network performance through strategies that include a combination of advanced technology, collaborative planning with client objectives, and long-term, threat-preventative measures that ensure less frequency of disruption or failure of any aspect of your IT network. Our support team works closely with your in-house IT department or executives to design and develop exactly the right IT framework to fit your operations.

Computer Networking is the Heart of Your Operations

Because your computer network is the heart of your operations (in the communications and connectivity sense), it needs special care. This includes continuous monitoring and adjustment of performance through state-of-the-art tools and technology, highly responsive help desk technical support, and up-to-date security measures that cover everything from end to end, leaving no stone unturned. That is to say, any potential threat, whether employee mobile device, access authorization, server security, wireless network security and more, is thoroughly analyzed, monitored, and managed as part of the InfiNet Business Solution philosophy.

Better IT Strategies, Better Productivity 

For us, IT strategy involves incorporating your overall vision of where you want your enterprise to be, in relation to productivity and profitability. We all want our ventures to be more profitable, and our proprietary IT strategy takes in all elements of what feeds into that, partnering with you, in effect, to build the most efficient, streamlined, performance-ready network possible. In fact, we don’t rest until your computer networking infrastructure is as resilient, threat-proof, and robust as it can be – guaranteed.

Your Omaha Computer Networking Support Experts

InfiNet is a trusted Omaha computer networking support team, and we always look forward to our next IT challenge. If you have one for us, please give us a call at 402.895.5777 or email us at [email protected] and tell us your IT story!

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Backups: Don’t Wait Until It Breaks

Accidents happen. Eventually, something will go wrong within your IT infrastructure and when it does, you are going to want to be data-protected. Having effective backup means more than just having an extra file on hand. It means being able to rest easy knowing that, if the worst should happen, it would not spell the end of your business. It means that in the event of a total collapse of your network systems, you have a fallback plan. It means knowing that you have already taken care of the largest problem in the event of a crash: recovering files and getting back up to date.

Data Backups

The most common way data is lost is due to a workstation failure due to user error (like unwitting file deletion or the occasional spilled drink). If your workstation is not backed up, your files may be lost entirely. An increasingly common way to lose data is due to viruses and infections that spread throughout the computer and delete, steal, or corrupt the data.

What (and When) Should I Back-Up?

The question people become puzzled with is, “What can/should I back-up?” The easy answer is: everything. With technology being what it is today, space is cheap. You can sometimes backup an entire business for a few hundred dollars. On the other hand, you can wait for everything to go wrong, replace a dozen devices then try to start recovering all the data lost in the mishap. If space does become tight, consider things your business cannot function without, such as client information (phone numbers, email addresses, notes about the client), sales and product receipts, Internet bookmarks, anything that cannot be replaced, and anything that takes significant time to replace.

Backing up your data can be as simple as storing a copy of your important files on an external hard drive that you update every week. If the worst should happen after a backup is kept, you need only plug in the backup drive to the repaired or replacement computer, copy the contents over, and continue on with your work. Instead of losing years of data, you only lose a few days.

Data Backup Technology and Solutions

What should you use to back-up your data? In the example above (using a small flash drive or external hard drive), they can usually be damaged or lost quite easily. If the memory device is lost, it poses a problem in that it is unsecured data and can be accessed by anyone that plugs it into their computer. While these devices can be a cheap solution to backing up data, they are far from perfect.

One of the most popular solutions for any business – smaller businesses especially – is online backup. The perk of online backup is there is no hardware or software on site that can be damaged, lost, or stolen. A monthly fee based on how much storage you require is all it takes. Choose the data you want to backup and it will be securely sent to a data center where it is stored. Generally, this can be done automatically which can remove accidental user error from the equation.

In a perfect world, we would all have a backup for our data and a backup for our backup, but even having one backup can sometimes be enough to keep a problematic crash or error from becoming a monumental crisis. If you do not already have a backup in place, you have to ask yourself one thing: if all your systems crashed tomorrow, would you be able to recover?

Discuss Data Backup Methods with an IT Expert

If you need help with establishing better data backup and recovery methods, contact a qualified IT specialist with InfiNet Solutions, which is a leader in IT consulting and services. Call (402) 895--5777 or send us an email at [email protected], and we will be happy to help you.

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Windows 10 Defending Against Ransomware in New Update

Cyber attacks happen every day. Now, Microsoft is helping you protect yourself from ransomware with their most recent update.

Cyber threats are becoming more and more of an issue as technology increases its prominence in our lives. The latest form of cyber threats is ransomware. Many people who are using this are cyber criminals looking to make some quick money. Ransomware is used to infect a device and then deny access from that device to any files unless the user pays a ransom. While the method of cyber attacks is becoming more and more popular, the way it is implemented is becoming more complex and costly for the cyber criminal.

Windows 10 Updates

What is Microsoft Doing to Stop Ransomware?

In the most recent Windows 10 Anniversary update, many changes were made to make systems more secure against ransomware. The company has taken some major steps to better protect their customers as well as fight back against ransomware attackers. For the update they did four major things which include:

  1. Increased the detection and blocking capability in their email services by blocking more attachments that may contain ransomware.
  2. Made it more difficult for malware cyber criminals to use Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge to their advantage.
  3. Enhanced Windows Defender with new technology that will increase the ability to respond to an infection before it happens by reducing detection time to only a few seconds.
  4. Introduced Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection. When this is combined with the Advanced Threat Protection of Office 365, it is easier for an investigation to occur so cyber attackers can be stopped.

Better Prevention, Detection, and Response

Overall, Microsoft is dedicated to preventing, detection, and responding to ransomware so we can learn more about it and stop it in its tracks. They have added more email protection to prevent it as well as made browser usage more safe. With Windows Defender, which is on by default, responding to potential threats happens faster than ever before through faster detection. If you are attacked with ransomware, Windows has added their Advanced Threat Protection so that you are not alone in the process. Companies can help you respond and investigate these attacks so you can feel more safe and protected.

How You Can Protect Against Ransomware?

To have access to the new update, you will need to accept the default security settings in Windows 10. This new update is currently the best way you can protect your device. You should always make sure that you have the latest updates on Windows 10. Additionally, you should research a backup strategy and implement it within your system for better protection. Every layer of defense helps and if you can have both this update and a backup layer of protection, you can rest easy while using your computer.

Cyber attacks will not stop or slow down. They will only continue to get better at what they do. In order to best protect yourself in Omaha, contact us to explore your options via (402) 895--5777 or [email protected]. At InfiNet Solutions, we want you to stay protected.

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7 Quick Tips to Help You Maximize Employee Productivity

There are only so many hours in a day, and figuring out how to get the most out of each one is a trick we all wish we could master. Or perhaps more importantly, it’s a trick you wish your employees could master. Getting them on the right track is easier than you might expect. As with any skill, the key is to start small.

Business IT Services and Support

Here are 7 simple things you can do starting right now that can help to boost productivity for your entire team:

  1. Utilize Keyboard Shortcuts ­- A keyboard shortcut is simply a sequence or combination of keystrokes that will allow you to perform certain functions, or prompt certain commands in software. There are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts. Some are universal, others are specific to a program or operating system. Having an arsenal of shortcuts for the programs and applications you use every day can be a big time-saver. Think about how often you use something like ALT + Tab to switch between windows, and how annoying it would be to have to go back to using your mouse instead. It may only take a few seconds, but when it’s an action you repeat constantly, those few seconds start to add up.
  2. Take Advantage of Outlook Integrations – There are a ton of handy apps and programs that can integrate with your Outlook account. You’re already using your email constantly throughout the day, so making it a tool to help you complete other tasks and stay organized almost feels like common sense. For example, connecting your Outlook account to your Skype account lets you send instant messages and place calls right from your inbox.
  3. Utilize the Right Software Platform for Every Need – Whatever you’re trying to manage, create, or complete, chances are there are a dozen different programs or applications that can help you do it. Finding the software that works best for the task at hand and integrates well with the rest of your system might take a bit of research, but it’s well worth the effort. Relying on generic software just because it’s there can be a huge waste of time and energy, and make something simple take twice as long to accomplish.
  4. Allow Your MSP to Deal with Vendors on Your Behalf – When your Internet connection goes down, your team is going to have their hands full trying to work around the obvious issues this will create for your business. Asking an employee to step back from an already hectic situation to sit on the phone with your provider to get back up and running is not ideal. By leaving problems like this in the capable hands of your MSP, your staff is free to focus on managing your business while the problem is dealt with by professionals who not only will have a better grasp of what the problem is, but also know your IT infrastructure inside and out. Make your MSP your main point of contact for all things tech-related, and you can spare yourself a lot of frustration when something goes wrong.
  5. Have Backup Hardware Available – Computer troubles are never ideal, but having a spare on hand that can be put into use quickly can make a huge difference with regards to offsetting downtime. Consider investing in a backup computer for each of your departments. A system that already has all required software installed and ready to go makes it possible for your employee to get back to work in minutes, instead of losing hours or even days of productivity while the faulty PC is repaired or replaced.
  6. Use Dual Monitors – Adding an extra screen to your workstations can save a heap of time by allowing employees to multitask by referencing one screen while working on the other, or comparing documents to make finding necessary information easier. Typing up a report will go much faster when the spreadsheet it’s based off is open and sitting right next to your Word document, offering up data at a glance.
  7. Eliminate Social Media Distractions – The urge to check Facebook or Twitter periodically throughout the day can be tough to ignore. Consider using an app like Freedom to block social media sites and allow you to work distraction-free, or set your firewall permissions to prevent access to social media sites from within your office altogether. If you want your workplace to be a work-only environment, there are tools available to make that possible.

Want to learn more about the ways InfiNet Solutions can help your business maximize productivity? Contact us at [email protected] or (402) 895--5777. We’re the productivity experts local businesses trust.

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10 Best New Features in Windows Server 2016

Windows Server 2016 is now available for general use. Its release coincides with contemporary information technology trends concerning containerization and hybrid connectivity related to cloud services. The list of new features in Windows Server 2016 is staggering, but 10 of its features in particular stand out, as listed below.

  1. Containers
Microsoft Server 2016

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft has worked closely with the Docker development team to make Docker-based containers a part of Windows Server. Containers have, before Windows Server, existed almost entirely in the Linux/UNIX open-source world. They allow you to isolate applications and services in a nimble, easy-to-manage fashion. Windows’ new server platform offers two different types of “containerized” Windows Server instances, those being:

Windows Server Container. This container type is intended for low-trust workloads where you don’t mind that container instances running on the same server may share some common resources.

Hyper-V Container. This isn’t a Hyper-V host or VM. Instead, it’s a “super-isolated” and containerized Windows Server instance that is completely isolated from other containers and potentially from the host server. Select Hyper-V containers for high-trust workloads.

  1. Nano Server

nano

Nano Server sports a 92% smaller installation footprint than the Windows Server graphical user interface (GUI) installation option. Beyond that, these remarkable facts and features may make you start running Nano for at least some of your Windows Server workloads:

  • Bare-metal OS means far fewer updates and reboots are necessary.
  • Nano Server has a much-reduced attack surface when compared to a GUI Windows Server, because you must administratively inject any server roles from outside.
  • Nano is so small that it can be ported easily across servers, data centers and physical sites.
  • Nano hosts the most common Windows Server workloads, including Hyper-V host.
  • Nano is intended to be managed completely remotely. However, Nano does include a minimal local management UI called “Nano Server Recovery Console,” shown in the previous screenshot, that allows you to perform initial configuration tasks.
  1. Storage Spaces Direct

Storage Spaces is a noteworthy Windows Server feature that makes it more affordable for administrators to create redundant and flexible disk storage. Storage Spaces Direct in Windows Server 2016 extends Storage Spaces to allow failover cluster nodes to use their local storage inside this cluster, avoiding the previous necessity of a shared storage fabric.

  1. Linux Secure Boot

Secure Boot is part of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) specification that protects a server’s startup environment against the injection of rootkits or other assorted boot-time malware.

One issue with Windows Server-based Secure Boot is that your server would meltdown (only figuratively, of course) if you tried to create a Linux-based Generation 2 Hyper-V VM because the Linux kernel drivers weren’t part of the trusted device store. Technically, the VM’s UEFI firmware presents a “Failed Secure Boot Verification” error and stops startup.

The Windows Server and Azure engineering teams apparently love Linux nowadays, therefore, we can now deploy Linux VMs under Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V without hassle, or having to disable the otherwise stellar Secure Boot feature.

  1. ReFS

The Resilient File System (ReFS) has been a long time coming in Windows Server. In Windows Server 2016, we finally get a stable version. ReFS is intended as a high-performance, high-resiliency file system intended for use with Storage Spaces Direct and Hyper-V workloads.

  1. ADFS v4

Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) is a Windows Server role that supports claims (token)-based identity. Claims-based identity is crucial, thanks to the need for single-sign on (SSO) between on-premises Active Directory and various cloud-based services.

ADFS v4 in Windows Server 2016 at last offers support for OpenID Connect-based authentication, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and what Microsoft calls “hybrid conditional access.” This latter technology allows ADFS to respond when user or device attributes fall out of compliance with security policies on either end of the trust interface.

  1. Nested Virtualization

Nested virtualization refers to the capability of a virtual machine to itself host virtual machines. This has historically been a “no-go” in Windows Server Hyper-V, but the ability to do that in Windows Server 2016 has arrived.

Nested virtualization makes sense when a given business wants to deploy additional Hyper-V hosts and needs to minimize hardware costs.

  1. Hyper-V Hot-Add Virtual Hardware

The Hyper-V Server has allowed us to add virtual hardware or adjust the allocated RAM to a virtual machine, although historically those changes required that we first power-down the VM. In Windows Server 2016, you can now “hot-add” virtual hardware while VMs are online and running. You can even add an additional virtual network interface card (NIC) to your running Hyper-V virtual machine.

  1. Shielded VMs

The new Host Guardian Service server role, which hosts the shielded VM feature, is much too complex to discuss in this article. For now, suffice it to say that Windows Server 2016 shielded VMs allow for much deeper, fine-grained control over Hyper-V VM access.

Let’s say your Hyper-V host may have VMs from more than one tenant, and you need to ensure that different Hyper-V admin groups can access only their designated VMs. By using BitLocker Drive Encryption to encrypt the VM’s virtual hard disks, shielded VMs can solve that problem.

  1. PowerShell Direct

In Windows Server 2012 R2, Hyper-V administrators ordinarily performed Windows PowerShell-based remote administration of VMs the same way they would with physical hosts. In Windows Server 2016, PowerShell remoting commands now have -VM* parameters that allow you to send PowerShell directly into the Hyper-V host’s VMs:

Invoke-Command -VMName ‘server2’ -ScriptBlock {Stop-Service -Name Spooler} -Credential ‘tomsitprotim’ -Verbose

Here’s an example use of the new -VMName parameter of the Invoke-Command cmdlet to run the Stop-Service cmdlet on the Hyper-V VM named server2.

The Takeaway

To recap the above list, we can conclude that the Windows Server engineering team put massive emphasis on the OS subsystems Compute, Virtualization, and Security. Not surprisingly, those three feature areas also fit hand-in-glove with the Microsoft Azure cloud. If you haven’t already done so, you might want to download Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 and test drive it for yourself a bit.

Need Help Setting Up Windows Server 2016?

If you need advice on how to set up and utilize Windows Server 2016, you can talk to a software support specialist at InfiNet Solutions, which is a proven leader in providing IT consulting as well as operating system and software management in Omaha. Contact one of our helpful IT experts at (402) 895--5777 or send us an email at [email protected] today, and we can help you with any of your questions or concerns.

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Omaha Computer Consultants Who Offer End-to-End IT Coverage

No matter what industry you’re in, no matter the scope of your business operations; and, regardless of your IT challenges – InfiNet is there to help you reach your business networking goals. It takes dedicated computer consultants in Omaha like our team of highly-skilled experts to be able to respond to and remedy any challenge or issue that arises. We should know – we’ve met those challenges many times that help us be the IT company we are, with more expertise, more client loyalty, and more confidence to be the kinds of computer consultants Omaha businesses look to for diligent, responsive IT management solutions.

Toward Better Computer Consulting in Omaha

It’s a question we’ve often asked ourselves: “What does better computer consulting consist of?” Because we always want to make sure we’re hitting right on all points, and that we’re up on the latest trends and developments in information technology. Keeping to high computer consulting standards has helped our IT support enterprise grow with each satisfied client and job well done. Each InfiNet team member’s know-how reinforces our collective standards of excellence and quality, and helps us implement IT strategies with greater alacrity.

Trusted Computer Consultants

For us, each client is an opportunity to roll up our sleeves and bring out our best tools in terms of IT consulting, management, and solution-oriented services. Anything less than our best simply won’t do in today’s competitive IT arena, so we have to bring our A-game each time we answer the call for experienced, knowledgeable IT professionals who understand cyber threat and data breach prevention, multi-layered security, server monitoring and optimization, IT infrastructure development, compliance readiness, and much more.

Call Expert Omaha Computer Consultants Today

The bottom line is, we understand what it takes to get to be among the go-to IT consultants and computer support specialists in the Omaha NE area. We understand every aspect of computing and computer networking as well, and which customized solutions will be best for your enterprise. InfiNet offers among the best IT consulting services for businesses in Omaha, so why not give us a try?

Contact one of our friendly IT consultants today at 402.547.4300 or by email at [email protected] for more info on how you can benefit from computer consulting services in Omaha that seek to bring the best results and remedies to your IT networking table.

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Protecting Your Firm From a Cyber Attack

Law firms have become an increasingly popular target for cybercriminals. As most client data is now collected and stored in a digital format, firms have had to step up their cyber security measures accordingly.

Despite this heightened vigilance, many law firms are still convinced that they are either too small, or too unknown to catch the attention of hackers. But the rate at which small and mid-sized businesses of all types have been targeted in recent years has prompted the FBI to issue a warning about the dangers cyber crime poses to this demographic.

Law Firm Cyber Crime

A likely explanation for this trend might be that in general, hackers are always on the lookout for an easy score, and smaller firms tend to be less work for them to gain access to. A hacker may only be interested in stealing personal data from employees, or they could be searching for an access point to infect a firm’s network with malware.

Firms that have ties to corporate clients might be facing a higher level of risk. Other corporations with dubious morals, or even foreign intelligence agencies are suspected to be using hired hackers to steal corporate secrets and other pieces of valuable and sensitive information for their own gain. Whether these criminals are targeting firms on their own, or on behalf of another entity, it’s important to remember that hackers are always in search of data that can be leveraged for a financial payout.

Exact information on how frequently these attacks are happening is hard to come by. Most firms avoid announcing publicly that they’ve been hacked out of their own self interest; news of a data breach can do irreparable damage to a firm’s reputation, which is a firm’s greatest asset. But most are willing to admit that information security is a top priority, and a top area of investment when it comes to their overall IT infrastructure.

It’s become common practice for mid-sized US firms to require employees to sign off on in-depth privacy and compliancy policies, and certify that they are following these safeguards to the letter. The single greatest IT security weakness for any type of business is that business’ staff.

A common tactic is phishing scams, wherein a cybercriminal compromises employee credentials by waiting for a distracted or oblivious employee to click on or open an infected link or attachment sent to their inbox, granting the hacker access to the firm’s network. Once inside, the hacker can use this compromised email address to reach out to other attorneys higher up the chain to gain further access to sensitive data, or as a stepping stone to a larger firm, or even the client themselves.

Once a cybercriminal is inside your network, they tend to stay there for a period of time, quiet and out of sight. The longer they can remain undetected, the more information and intelligence they can steal. A hacker can lurk inside a compromised network for months before being discovered.

Firms that rely primarily on technology for communication between staff and associates have started hiring White Hats – security experts who hack exclusively to test security measures – to purposely infiltrate their network. The best way to find out where your firm’s security weak points are is to have someone breach them, and it’s preferable that the individual doing the breaching has your best interests in mind. This type of security testing is often offered as part of an IT service package from a Managed Service Provider (MSP).

These tests have shown that along with phishing scams, the most common entry points for hackers are phone scams that involve cybercriminals posing as IT staff to coax passwords out of unsuspecting marks, theft of laptops or mobile devices, or simply walking in to the office and helping themselves to paperwork containing information they can use to their advantage.

This also speaks to a greater issue with the way data is shared between your employees. The use of portable storage devices such as USB sticks or personal portable hard drives should be limited, if not eliminated completely. Employees working remotely – either from home, or while travelling – should be accessing data from a virtual desktop, rather than directly from any type of storage or mobile device, including laptops. This will prevent a misplaced or stolen device from becoming a security risk.

These hacks have become so problematic that operating under the assumption that you have already been compromised and working from there is the best approach to IT security. There are six basic steps a firm can take to step up defenses from this point:

  1. Ensure staff in leadership roles are aware of threats, and the importance of staying vigilant. Having one or more senior partners responsible for IT security activities allows for more communication between IT personnel and upper management, and keeps security concerns from going unaddressed or falling to the wayside.
  2. Have antivirus and antimalware software installed that protect against known viruses. It’s vital that these programs are updated regularly, and are centrally managed.
  3. Update email spam filters continuously. As phishing scams remain a go-to for hackers, filters need to be kept current in order to effectively screen for and intercept suspicious emails.
  4. Run an analysis program that monitors systems and networks for unusual behaviors, activities, or programs. Also known as host-intrusion protection (HIP), these programs are designed to detect specially-developed malware that fools conventional antivirus and antimalware software.
  5. Develop a Disaster Recovery Plan. This plan should include who needs to be notified if a breach occurs, and what actions need to be taken to minimize damage and disruption to the firm while still protecting your data and determining the source of the attack.
  6. Implement ongoing cyber threat awareness training. Each member of your staff, regardless of their position, needs to be properly and continuously educated on the latest threats. A level of awareness right across the firm achieved through training programs and best practices is crucial. This will keep your security’s weak link from becoming its Achilles Heel.

InfiNet Solutions can help with implementing and maintaining each of these steps as part of a complete and comprehensive overall IT security program. Just as your area of expertise is the law, ours is protecting firms just like yours from the threat of a cyber attack. Just this once, let someone else do the defending for you.

Want more information regarding the IT security solutions InfiNet Solutions offers? Contact us at [email protected] or (402) 895--5777. We’re the trusted IT experts for firms in Omaha.

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Meet Your Omaha IT Expert – Laura

Omaha IT ServicesLaura Herbolsheimer is an Assistant Account Manager and Service Manager with InfiNet Solutions Inc. She has been part of the team since April 2005. Her hobbies include gardening, traveling and taking road trips, and spending time with family and friends. Her favorite vacation spot is Jackson, Wyoming. Laura met her husband John in high school, but they waited until they were a state apart to start dating after their sophomore year of college. They have two rescue pups and a pair of rescue cats. Laura’s favorite part of working with the InfiNet team is the people, and the clients.

 

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