Blog

Major Internet Outage Cripples the United States

We are issuing a warning to businesses that there is a major internet outage being reported across the United States today. The issue is being reported by several major outlets including Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T. Comcast is calling it an “external network issue”.

Comcast Internet Down

This comes shortly after the one-year anniversary of a major DDOS attack on Dyn last year that crippled the internet for an entire day back in October 2016. There are no firm reports of a cause as of yet. According to DownDetector, a site that tracks outages, Comcast customers are experiencing problems in “Mountain View, Denver, Portland, Chicago, Seattle, New York, San Francisco, Houston, Minneapolis, and Boston.”

The story remains ongoing.

It is vital that we properly educate our clients on how to handle outages and provide the right tools to minimize the serious risk at hand.

While antivirus and firewalls are incredibly effective in reducing risk from ransomware and hackers, but you need a more robust security solution in place to defend against the increasingly dangerous threat landscape. To be fully protected, companies will need a proper, reliable backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solution with online and offline backup solutions as the ultimate failsafe against successful attacks.

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Business Phone Installation

Who Can Do a Business Phone Installation Near Me?

We’re happy to be able to answer this question for business owners in greater Omaha who want more advanced and reliable IP phone technology connecting them to the outside world. You should learn all about how InfiNet can answer the oft-asked question, “Who can do a business phone installation near me?” and how we guarantee our customers reliable VoIP and hosted cloud phone service designed for consistently-available clear voice and data replication.

From VoIP phone systems to PBX systems and more kinds of IT-networked business phone systems – InfiNet has all you’ll need for installation, set-up, and support for your company phone systems!

Get the Best Business Phone Installation Near Metro Omaha Possible

With one easy phone call to InfiNet, we can set your office up with the most advanced business phone technology on the planet! Our hosted cloud and VoIP business phone arrays are designed and built to perfectly suit the specific requirements of our clients.

Our ability to solve virtually any IT challenge with problem-solving skills that look to saving you and us both time and money are why our business phone installations are sought after in Omaha.

Though our business phone installations near metro Omaha are just one way to take advantage of our cost-effective IT services, let’s examine further this area of our affordable, all-inclusive IT support services, shall we?

Why Should I Invest in VoIP or Cloud Phone Systems?

There are many reasons to use VoIP business phone systems (a.k.a. cloud phone systems) or virtual phone systems. Our clients love the savings associated with VoIP (Voice-Over Internet Protocol) phone set-ups that simply use your IP address to send a voice line out over your internet connection.

They also love the ease-of-use and security associated with using VoIP phone systems and hosted PBX business phone networks.

Key advantages you get with our VoIP business telephone services include:

  • Convenience – Your VoIP phone network is accessible from anywhere with an Internet connection.
  • Cost-effectiveness – We provide your VoIP phone network for a flat-rate monthly fee.
  • Adaptability – Your VoIP solutions are totally scalable to your business needs.
  • Security – Our hosted cloud VoIP service, doesn’t confine your network to an office-based system.
  • Reliability – 24/7 monitoring makes sure you always get a line through.
  • User-friendliness – We ensure all your voice interfaces are optimally accessible and user-friendly!

What Are Some of The Advanced Features of Using VoIP Business Phones?

For one, they let you access business-class features normally unavailable on traditional (a.k.a. analog, or legacy) phone networks for smaller businesses, such as:

  • PBX (Private branch exchange) capabilities
  • Conference calling
  • Automated phone attendants
  • Desk-to-desk calling
  • Music-on-hold, and more.

What Are Some Other Advantages of Using an IP Phone System?

And, if that isn’t enough to convince you to go with a virtual or IP phone system, here are 7 Advantages of Using a VoIP Phone System:

  1. VoIP is easier to install, configure, and maintain than analog phones.
  2. VoIP is scalable – scales up or down very easily.
  3. Employees’ phone numbers follow them wherever they go.
  4. A range of call features are supported.
  5. Older technology like fax is supported.
  6. Hosted VoIP saves businesses money (Like e-mail saves on stamps!).
  7. VoIP integrates easily with other business systems.

Benefits of a Virtual Business Phone Installation Near Metro Omaha

  1. Substantial Cost Savings

Call charges with virtual phone systems are generally much cheaper than traditionally carriers on local, mobile and international calls, making it more cost-effective to maintain a reliable business phone system.

Wherever you have an internet connection, you have access to the rates you have agreed to so expensive roaming charges overseas won’t apply if you decide to use cloud-hosted VoIP abroad.

Why?

Your phone number is hosted in the cloud, eliminating the need for expensive line rentals, tedious system maintenance, or expensive setup costs. It’s all handled by InfiNet!

  1. On-The-Go Connectivity.

A virtual phone system can work anywhere, not only at your desk. Calls can be instantly routed to your mobile phone or to your smartphone app, wherever in the world you have a mobile phone or internet signal!

Voicemails and faxes can be forwarded to your email account as Mp3 and Wav attachments. This means work continues even when you are not in the office.

  1. A More Professional Appearance.

Virtual phone numbers move with you, regardless of how often you move, and landline numbers (which can be diverted to mobile) rather than a mobile number can give the impression the company is more stable and larger than it is in reality.

  1. A Feature-Rich Environment.

You can easily set up your system and make changes through the service providers’ online portals. These features include adding or reducing numbers, customizable voicemail, call forwarding and call logs. All these will be directly accessible on your InfiNet business phone account.

  1. Smartphone Access.

Virtual phone systems allow you to make and receive calls from your smartphone. Calls will show up as your virtual office phone number and not your mobile number.

  1. Quick Set-Up.

A dedicated VoIP system on your premise may require multiple visits by our installation crew and training sessions to learn a complex system. A hosted cloud phone system is much closer to ‘plug and play’. In fact, virtual phone numbers can be set up and working in under five minutes from many web-based companies.

  1. Versatility (Never Miss a Call).

You can even choose to have your calls diverted to your desk phone, mobile phone, PC or a tablet device as when required. You can set it up to hunt for you on the other lines and devices if you do not pick up on the first. Even have them all ringing at the same time if you want to be sure not to miss an important sales call.

Replace Your Outdated Analog System with New Phone Service in Omaha

If you’re having less than desirable results with your search for a “business phone installation near me,” InfiNet presents a new type of business phone system you can connect with. Our VoIP and virtual phone services in Omaha will go a long way to optimizing your business’ voice connectivity, and we can get you optimum results in a relatively short time-frame.

Easy Installation & Management

Are you looking to replace your company’s outdated PBX – but only want to replace it with something that’s at least as easy to manage? With virtual phones, there’s no need to worry about management and installation issues, because our business phone installations are backed by the best service guarantees for companies today.

InfiNet has you covered support, technology configurations, ease-of-use, and rapid restoration in case of a power disruption. And, we make our business phone service scalable, cost-efficient, and personalized as well.

Installation & Configuration

Our Omaha 3CX VoIP phone service makes installation and configuration simple, allowing you to:

  • Connect with prominent SIP trunks within minutes with pre-configured templates.
  • Plug-in an IP Phone or Gateway to your network for automatic configuration.
  • Avoid interop Issues with 3CX tested IP Phones.

Get the Business Phones Your Company Deserves

InfiNet is leading the way in Omaha by working primarily for small business enterprises who want to optimize their computer-networking productivity and enjoy enterprise-level benefits at small business-sized service fees.

Contact us today at 402.547.4300 or by email at [email protected] for more info on how your search for a business phone installation near me can end here – we routinely deliver the best results for Omaha businesses on all types of virtual and VoIP business phones, and in fast time-frames!

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Which MS Office 365 Plan is Best for Your Business?  

Which Version of Microsoft Office 365 for Businesses or Enterprises is Best for You?

Office 365 Plans

It’s easy for most businesses to justify a switch to MS Office 365.  Microsoft keeps their apps updated and has a good reputation for providing robust, industry-standard software.  Many companies rely upon Microsoft products because they provide them with the right features and help them remain compatible with their outside business partners and customers.

What do you get with MS Office 365 plans?  Besides core software like Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Excel, some plans also bundle in apps for productivity, communication, business intelligence, security, and more.  Plans also come with generous allotments for cloud storage.  In addition, Microsoft has kept their monthly and yearly pricing fairly modest, and they offer various plans that can suit the needs of everybody from home business owners to global enterprises.

Choosing the Best MS Office 365 Plan for Your Needs

You can drill down to all of the prices and features for every MS Office 365 plan on the official website.  While you won’t lack for choices when you view all of the different plans, the variety may seem overwhelming at first.  These summaries of popular MS Office plans should help you narrow down your choices.

Small- to-Medium-Sized Businesses

Microsoft tailored these three plans for SMBs:

  • Business Essentials: This low-priced plan only costs $5 a month per user with an annual subscription.  You can also pay $6 a month if you don’t want to pay upfront for an entire year.  You get online access to core software like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote.  Microsoft also gives you cloud storage for email and documents, but you don’t get Outlook.  In addition, you can use productivity and communication software like Flow, SharePoint, Sway, Skype for Business, and more.  While some of the software may function fine on mobile devices, you don’t have access to the mobile versions.
  • Business: This plan costs slightly more, but it isn’t exactly an upgrade over Business Essentials. Instead of only getting online access to the core software, you can download the software to your PC.  This plan does include Outlook, and Business Essentials does not.  You also get OneDrive storage and mobile applications, but you can only access two of the extra productivity apps.  You will pay $8.25 a month for each user with an annual commitment.
  • Business Premium: This plan offers you a combination of the features you get with Business and Business Essentials.  You get all of the productivity, communication, and mobile software.  You get Outlook for email management, and you can also download the core software to your PC.  The annual prepaid price is $12.50 for each user.

Enterprise MS Office 360 Plans

If you have a larger company or more sophisticated requirements, you may find that one of the MS Office 360 plans satisfies you the most.  These plans may cost slightly more than their comparable plans in the section for smaller companies.

This is a quick overview of the Enterprise plans:

  • Office 365 ProPlus: ProPlus closely resembles Business Premium.  It also comes with more sophisticated business intelligence tools that you can use with MS Excel.  It should cost approximately $12.50 per user per month.
  • Enteprise E1: You can think of this plan as an upgraded version of Business Essentials.  It offers online-only access to core programs.  However, you also get a portal for corporate videos and the ability to broadcast meetings to large groups.  You pay $8.00 a month for each user for Enterprise E1.
  • Enterprise E3:This plan offers you a combination of features from ProPlus and E1.  In other words, you get the downloadable software and access to the video and meeting software.  Expect to pay about $20 a month for each user.
  • Enterprise E5:  This high-end version of MS Office 365 will offer you the features of Enterprise E3. Plus, you can use Office PBX, a cloud solution for managing your phone calls. Your estimated cost should run about $35 a month per user.

Education and Home

If you just want a version of core software and cloud storage for home use, you might consider Microsoft Office 365 Home.  For instance, your kids can use Word for homework.  You can use Outlook for emails or Excel to manage your budget.  You can install this version on up to five devices, and you will pay $99.95 a year if you prepay.  If you pay monthly, it costs $9.99 a month.

Microsoft also offers a few different plans to students, educators, and educational staff.  They even provide the most basic version of their educational plan for free.  They charge for plans that also include features like advanced analytics and security.

How to Pick the Best Microsoft Office 365 Plan for Your Company

Microsoft certainly provides their customers with plenty of choices.  Besides the types of plans listed above, the company also has plans for nonprofits, government agencies, and first line workers.  You should be able to choose an option that offers you what you need the most for a budget-friendly price.

At the same time, Microsoft won’t let you substitute one feature for another on any plan.  If you require a feature that doesn’t appear on your plan, you may have to upgrade to get it.  For example, you might want Access to manage databases, and you can’t get Access with the Business Essentials plan.  If you want downloadable software, Outlook, and Sharepoint, you need to choose the Business Premium plan over the Business plan.  This means that you could find yourself paying for some features you won’t use in order to get everything that you want.

At the same time, Microsoft keeps their monthly and annual subscription rates fairly modest.  If you tried to buy different kinds of software to handle all of these tasks on your own, you would certainly spend more money.  Most subscribers probably don’t use every feature they have in their plans.  At the same time, many subscribers do rely upon the features that they do need every day.  Microsoft offers their customers free upgrades, state-of-the-art software, cloud storage, and many other features.  No matter which plan you choose, you will probably find that you got a reasonable deal.

Which MS Office 365 Plan is Best for Your Business?   Read More »

5 Types Of Social Engineering Scams You Need To Be Aware Of

Social engineering tactics let hackers take cyber attacks to a whole new level by focusing on a specific target. This kind of special attention and extra detail can often be just enough to fool users into clicking, downloading, or otherwise helping a hacker get exactly what they want.

Here are 5 of these scams you should know how to spot and avoid.

  • Phishing – The most common type of social engineering scam, phishing is typically done through email. By posing as a financial institution or government agency, hackers send out urgent-seeming emails that contain malicious attachments or embedded links that when clicked release malware onto your system.
  • Baiting – Like phishing, these emails often appear to come from a legitimate source. Rather than relying on scare tactics these emails instead offer the target some sort of incentive to open attachments or click on links, like a free gift card or a free mobile phone or tablet.
  • Tailgating – This low-tech tactic is still surprisingly common. By pretending to be a fellow employee who forgot their badge or a delivery person, a scammer will ask you to open a door for them that will allow them access to workstations or restricted areas.
  • Pretexting – Another form of phishing, this has a hacker pose as a C-level employee or a supervisor from another department and send an email asking for sensitive information like passwords. They might also send an attachment that contains a hidden malicious payload.
  • Quid Pro Quo – Much like baiting, this tactic has hackers pose as someone who can help the target with a task in exchange for information. Typically this ruse involves the hacker pretending to be IT support, offering to fix a non-existent problem in exchange for login credentials.

Contact InfiNet Solutions at [email protected] or (402) 895--5777 to learn more about social engineering scams, and the steps you can take to protect your business from this type of cybercrime.

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Strategic Partnerships

Our Strategic Partnerships Are Part of Why InfiNet Can Perform as a Top Omaha IT Support Company

We probably don’t talk enough about our IT partners, who are responsible for a big part in why we’re one of Omaha’s go-to network support companies. The importance of strategic partnerships is of paramount importance to any IT support company in Omaha who wants to be more than a limited-capability break-fix type of IT service provider.

How IT Companies Are Enhanced by Strategic Partnerships

Counting the many ways IT companies are enhanced in their abilities to provide top IT service to our business clients begins with how it boosts vendor management capabilities. With so many technology vendors now populating business IT networks, you need to have experts in how to design technology networks with optimum performance efficiency ratings.

InfiNet has one of the most extensive strategic partnership lists in the IT business. Here’s a rundown of our vendor partnerships and what they do for us and our clients – Omaha businesses just like yours:

Microsoft

From Office 365 productivity suite to Windows and the Microsoft Surface tablet, our Microsoft partnership lends us strength and agility for a variety of different technology offerings.

Lenovo

Lenovo computers and servers are sturdy, reliable and are widely used around the world for the value that they bring to businesses.

Ruckus

WiFi and networking equipment for service provides and enterprises, Ruckus makes smart technology that supports high volumes and excellent security.

Cisco

Cisco Systems is one of the largest manufacturers and sellers of networking equipment in the world. Their technology drives businesses of all sizes to communicate quickly and effectively with their employees, vendors and customers.

Cisco Meraki

Cisco Meraki is a leader in cloud-controlled WiFi, security and routing and can handle distributed networks for your business needs no matter the size.

Hewlett-Packard

Many businesses run on HP equipment such as printers, laptop and desktop computers, accessories and more. This multinational organization provides hardware, software, and storage devices for businesses of all sizes.

WatchGuard Technologies

When you need to secure your network, WatchGuard Technologies provides the firewall and UTM hardware for small- to medium-sized organizations that will keep you safe.

Allworx

Whether you’ve moved to VoIP or are still using analog phones, Allworx phone and network systems platforms offer the technology you need to communicate professionally with your customers.

Ingram Micro

Supply chain services, eCommerce and cloud-computing are all right in Ingram Micro’s wheelhouse. They offer best-in-class fulfillment systems or mobile lifecycle services, too.

Synnex

Publishers, OE manufacturers and resellers get support from Synnex – one of the largest supply chain management and customer relationship platforms available today, and which is practical for small- to medium-sized businesses.

D&H

We work closely with D&H Distributing for business technology, consumer electronics and more to ensure you get the best possible prices for all of your business technology needs.

Convinced we’re the Omaha IT support company to get the job done right? Call us now at 402.547.4300 or email us at [email protected] for more information on how our strategic partnerships can facilitate greater business growth and IT productivity for you!

These innovative technology companies all help us to, among other things, design client networks that can operate in a streamlined way, and transfer data at high-performance rates. Our building of strategic partnerships avails us more of why we’re sought out as a respected Omaha IT company!

How Strategic Partnerships Help Us Deliver on Our Service Guarantees

One of our biggest goals is to provide remediation for those receiving mainly short-term fixes for chronic, systemic IT problems, and instead make sure no redundant IT eventualities occur on your IT network.

Our small business IT support is geared towards growing companies who need all the advantages they can get when it comes to their technology management, and IT consulting services that won’t waste their time or money.

In our eyes, those things are of paramount importance, and further reason why our values are (and must always be) aligned with our clients’ values and goals.

As a diligent and dedicated IT support company in Omaha, we bring more one-on-one, client-specific strategies to the table, that fit each unique customer’s requirements, including:

  • Help migrating to the cloud, and with more resilient cloud services (e.g. Security as a Service).
  • Microsoft support on multiple MS platforms (Exchange, Skype for Business, Office 365, etc.)
  • A built-in strategic partnership as an IT business partner who understands your inherent objectives.
  • Detection and prevention of network security
  • Iron-clad data backup and disaster recovery services, and much more.

Our business IT support can handle the optimization of all computers and devices on your network, being IT support providers in Omaha who can deliver quick and long-term fixes (both proactive and reactive).

Because of this – and our dynamic and growth-oriented strategic IT partnerships – we’re winning over more and happier customers – in all kinds of industries – all the time.

What Makes for a More Qualified IT Support Provider?

Maybe it’s our dedication to going above and beyond in delivering the best IT services for Omaha small businesses.

Maybe it’s how we put client needs before our own. Or, at the very least, align them with ours.

Whatever the reasons, if you don’t have quality IT consultants (and for many companies, managed IT services with the right strategic partnerships) in your corner, you’re risking everything from a compliance violation to catastrophic data center downtime to a unrecoverable cyber breach!

Don’t wait until disaster strikes to call upon managed service providers like us for help staying secure, compliant, and cyberattack-free.

Why not save yourself time and money and do it now?

Ready for the IT Support in Omaha Your Company Deserves?

InfiNet is a better IT support company in Omaha for our technology associations and works primarily for small business enterprises who want to optimize their computer-networking productivity and enjoy enterprise-level benefits at small-business service fees.

Contact us today at 402.547.4300 or by email at [email protected] for more info on how our strategic partnerships help our Omaha IT support company deliver the best results for the IT management and business growth needs of Omaha NE companies!

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How To Boost Your Team’s Performance With Office 365  

Learn to run Microsoft Office 365 reports.  Use step-by-step instructions to create reports of data reflecting your company’s network user behavior and more.

How To Boost Your Team's Performance With Office 365  

Joe, tech newbie at the Something, Inc. company, is aware of an intriguing-sounding data-generation and reporting platform called Office 365.  But, it’s mysterious.  Counter-but, Jane, senior tech admin across the hall, insists the platform offers astounding insights into critical company systems usage, reflecting every sort of enlightening information about employees email usage, about licenses employees, are actually using and which are just lying idle, unproductively gathering cyber dust, and triggering fee accruals for no apparent reason, and about potentially emerging network security threats.

What Office 365 Can Do

Microsoft Office 365 supplies reporting to administrators reflecting how, and how much, your business is utilizing Office 365 services.  The reports filter data, identify potential cost, performance, and spend issues, as well as security issues including rule detection, malware, and spam, among others.  Report data is downloadable to Microsoft Excel and, users can create their own reports, with the Office 365 reporting web services.

Updated Office 365

Jane further pushes the point to Joe and other network admin types around the proverbial water cooler that Office 365 has recently undergone a revamp.  She just won’t let it go.  “Office 365 is now much simpler,” yammers Jane, “simpler to navigate, to view reports in, and to download reports from.”

Joe investigates.  He’s a self-starter, and he also recognizes the fascinating and impactful possibilities inherent in employee behavior data-mining?  So do the CEO, CFO, and all of the other C-suite people now buzzing about it.

Competitive Edge

In fact, Jane and all of the other tech wizards around Joe’s cutting-edge company are further yammering about companies who neglect to take advantage of their own available data on internal activity short-changing themselves in terms of opportunities to increase margins by simply being informed on facts that can drive everything from device-buying decisions, to team configurations across departments from R&D, to sales, to fulfillment.

Office 365 Dashboard

People with Office 365 global administrator roles can access Office 365 reports.  (Ideally, these roles are kept to a select few in any company, to minimize security risk.)  Admins for Exchange, Skype, SharePoint, and Skype for Business are authorized for access.  Reports reader-only roles can be afforded limited access to view reports as well.

First, Joe just peeks into the Office 365 portal.  But, he doesn’t want to leave.  Why would he? The dazzling Office 365 reports dashboard really is a rather spectacular sight to behold, with all of its colorful populated graphs and cool real-time gauges.  All very Trekky indeed.

Hmm.  But, which report to select?  There are more than 40 internal licensing and user behavior reports offered in Office 365 Reports, across 11 information categories, including Licensing, Group, Invoice, Lync, Mail Traffic, Mail Size, Mail Boxes, Mobile, Partner, Security, Sharepoint, and Users categories, each with multiple report options in its class.  A tantalizing proposition for a tech-savvy data diver like Joe, with an eye to optimizing systems admin efficiency.

Office 365 Reports

Joe is practical.  He embarks on just a brief overview of several reports, then takes himself on a sample walk-through the process of viewing Office 365 pre-configured reports, and extracting information from the various O365 data report categories.

Not a time-waster, Joe mills around briefly, perusing the many interesting reports featured in the most common report categories available to typical O365 subscriptions—Email activity, Mailbox usage, and Office activations.  Some that catch his eye include:

  • Unused Services Report (under the Licensing Reports subdirectory) — A report of licensed users with unused services.
  • Mailbox Item Count Report (under the Mailbox Size Reports) — A report of mailboxes by the number of items.
  • Mailbox Forwarding Report (under Security Reports) — (A report of all mailboxes that are forwarded outside of your organization.
  • Outgoing Mail Traffic (under Mail Traffic Reports) — (Top Mail Senders)
  • Incoming Mail Traffic (under Mail Traffic Reports) — (Top Mail Receivers)
  • Devices By Mailbox (under the Mobile Reports) — All ActiveSync devices by mailbox
  • Group Reports (under Group Reports) — List and export extended group details.
  • Invoice (under Invoice Reports) — 365 Command Invoice

Office 365 Reports Dashboard

It’s Joe’s moment.  It’s a new day.  He takes a few minutes to now try his hand at running a few reports.  He simply follows the intuitive little process of logging in, selecting reports, executing the few prominently displayed command options, and hitting the big green Generate Report button.  Here’s how it went down.  First, he followed these supremely easy instructions for logging into Office 365 and accessing the collection of O365 Reports:

  1. To access the Office 365 dashboard, log in using your Office 365 administrator’s account at https://portal.office.com/adminportal/home.
  2. In the Office 365 administrative center, select Reports from the horizontal main menu bar along the top of the page, to view the primary categories of reports.
  3. Select Usage.

Generating Reports in Office 365

Next, Joe plunges into Office 365 report generating functions.  (Wait till you see how easy this is.)  He shops around in the Mailbox Traffic Reports category and learns how to generate a couple of reports there.

Mailbox Traffic Reports

Reports in this category allow you to analyze your company’s Office 365 mailbox activities. These reports reveal the amount of spam passing in and out of your employees’ mailboxes, which users send or receive the most email, who are receiving a lot of spam or malware, among other information.

Such information can zero in on anomalies in emailing activity across the organization.  For example, it allows easy identification of mailboxes that originate suspicious activity or that are being targeted by it, from external or internal source email accounts before a user’s routine is disrupted.

Anyway, let’s just run a couple of reports along with Joe and see how it goes using these simple instructions.

  1. See the menu of primary report categories along the left margin of the page.
  2. Click Mailbox Traffic Reports accessing the drop-down sub-menu of reports in that category.
  3. See the Mailbox Traffic Reports main menu along the left page margin. Interesting and useful reports in this category include these, among others:
  • Mail Traffic Summary
  • Email Activity by User
  • Top Sender
  • Top Recipient
  • Top Spam Recipients
  • Top Malware Recipients
  • Detailed Mail Traffic
  • Spam Traffic Summary
  • Domain Traffic Summary
  • Malware Detections
  • Spam Detections
  • Mail Traffic Policy Match Summary
  • Email Activity By Group
  • User-to-User Email Activity
  • Mail Activity by Connector

Email Activity by User Report

Joe decides to first run the Email Activity by User Report.

This report is packed with fascinating data on email interactions.  All of your users’ email account addresses appear on the report, along with the number of emails each user has sent internally, received internally, sent externally, and received from external email correspondents.

Continuing the report selection and generation process in progress:

  1. Click the Email Activity by User report.
  2. See the Email Activity report launch page. This page is your command module for setting the report parameters.  In the Email Activity report, you can click the tiny Delete Columns icon to the top right of the data fields section, to delete unwanted columns of data.  The standard data columns included are:
  • Date
  • Mail Address
  • Inbound
  • Outbound
  • Internal Sent
  • External Sent
  • Internal Received
  • External Received
  1. Delete unneeded columns before generating the report.
  2. Select the big green “Generate Now” button to run the report.
  3. Just view the report and leave (or go view other reports as desired), or…
  4. Select the red “Download” button on the toolbar at the top of the page, or select “Export As”, and follow the commands for exporting the report file to your desired target application.

Notice the fascinating data. All of your users’ email addresses appear on the report, along with the number of emails sent and received internally and how many each user sent to and received from their external email correspondents.

Congrats.  You did it.  You’re as good a user as Joe now, and he’s a tech hire.

Top Spam Recipients Report

Let’s say you’re still logged in.  You can move on to generate other reports, like this exciting spam report, by yet another just extremely simple process.  Here’s how this one goes.

  1. At the top of the Office 365 dashboard, select Reports, to view all of the report categories.
  2. See the menu of primary report categories along the left margin of the page.
  3. Click Mailbox Traffic Reports accessing the drop-down sub-menu of reports in that category.
  4. Select the “Top Spam Recipients Report” from the Mailbox Traffic Reports menu along the left margin of the page.
  5. See the Top Spam Recipients Report launch page. (In this Top Spam Recipients report, you can use the date range command box in the middle of the page to access the pop-up calendar.
  6. Click on the pop-up calendar, and select dates to create the date range across which you want to capture spam recipient data. Data columns included are:
  • Date
  • Direction
  • Domain
  • Event Type
  • Message Count

In this report, you can click the tiny icon to the top right of the data fields section to Delete Columns of data.

  1. Delete any unwanted columns before generating the report.
  2. Select the big green “Generate Now” button to run the report.
  3. Just view the report and leave (or move on to view other reports), or…
  4. Select the red “Download” button on the toolbar at the top of the page, or select “Export As”, and follow the commands for exporting the report file to your desired target application.

Sweet.  Another successful report generation for you and Joe.  What a happy 5-out-of-5-stars user experience.  Score Office 365.

VERY COOL NOTE:  You can click the small Schedule icon to the center-right of the launch page for a given report, to access a set of commands for scheduling the report to run at set intervals. You can order the reports to be emailed to administrators, and/or exported to XLS (Microsoft Excel), PDF (Adobe Acrobat), CSV, or HTML formats.

ANOTHER GOOD NOTE:  While you’re creating reports, you can access the Office 365 user Help menu by clicking the “?” icon at the top right corner of the page, at the right end of the toolbar. There are additional functions in the report modules, including commands to access Office 365 settings

Office 365 Features

Joe, now satiated and barely caring that he just cut 12 minutes into happy hour, muses at the abundant yield of information acquired in the pair of remarkable internal reports he’s just generated in those few minutes.

He marvels at the vast newly opened potentialities for company program and project benefits from the immense store of knowledge available from the information found in the elemental data underlying the internal world of his company, and every team, program, and project within it.  He sees…

Office 365 is transformative.  No question about it.  With Office 365:

  • Data metrics updates trigger directly from internal users’ device profiles and real-time activities.
  • The array of reports available in Office365 ideally fills a new business need.
  • It’s a powerful information tool for gleaning from reports, to add value to teams and projects.
  • As Joe has confirmed, first-hand, the freshly updated 365 is now supremely simple to use.
  • The cloud-based reporting system is incredibly bleeping convenient.
  • In fact, the platform offers abundant other premium data collection and user conveniences.
  • And, with the array of access-friendly support services, admins can have greater peace of mind during integration and regular operations.

Such streamlining of a data-based reporting and analytics software platform is enough to leave the data-adoring financial analyst and Office 365 admin like Joe momentarily speechless.  He may tear up a little.

Office 365 Benefits

As Joe, and every other managerial and admin type, quickly discovers upon peeking in Office 365 access portal, there’s a lot going on in there that companies bent on staying out in front of the pack in their consumer and employment markets do need.

Relevant reminiscence:  Back in the day, before Microsoft recently unveiled Office 365 upgrades, users were at the mercy of their own scripting skills to perform cumbersome feats of tech brilliance in the O365 Power Shell—all to accomplish what are now the easy little reporting tasks we’ve just zipped through here in under 10 quick steps each, per the easy instructions above.  It’s a great time to be alive.  That’s why there’s so much excitement among the network admin crowd, around the now completely painless and ultra-user-friendly, enhanced Office 365 functionality.

For More Information

Microsoft Office 365 is a transformative technology, provided to give small businesses and mega-internationals alike the unparalleled benefit of information on internal activities, to optimize roles, maximize engagement and productivity, and minimize wasted spending across their organizations.  For more information on Office 365 functions and integration.

How To Boost Your Team’s Performance With Office 365   Read More »

How The Three Titans Are Addressing Wi-Fi Vulnerability

The three Titans, Google, Microsoft and Apple address security issues with KRACK.  

KRACK Wifi Security

Just when everyone thought Wi-Fi was safe, that illusion was recently shattered.  Security researcher Mathy Vanhoef has discovered a vulnerability that he’s calling “KRACK.”  The flaw is in the WPA2 protocol, and everyone’s Wi-Fi network is at risk of being hacked.  The vulnerabilities include HTTP content injection, packet replay, decryption, TCP connection hijacking and more.  Hackers could gain access to credit card numbers, photos, passwords, and emails. The WPA2 woes will have an impact on both home users and business users.

Apple, Google, and Microsoft

Microsoft was the first Titan to respond to the news. “We have released a security update to address this issue, says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.  Customers who apply the update, or have automatic updates enabled, will be protected.  We continue to encourage customers to turn on automatic updates to help ensure they are protected.  Microsoft says the Windows updates released on October 10th protect customers, and the company withheld disclosure until other vendors could develop and release updates.”  Apple is also on top of its game.  Patches and fixes for tvOS, watchOS, macOS, and iOS are in beta and will be released in a software update shortly.  Google is scrambling to fix the issue and will do patches on any affected devices over the next few weeks.

The new security flaw has been described, innovative and unprecedented, and it’s really up to the Titans to properly address the problem.  Apple, Google, and Microsoft are fully aware that once they fix this vulnerability, another one will be on the horizon.  Cybercriminals will always find and exploit vulnerabilities.  It’s always an endless cycle.

Other smaller tech companies have also responded to the KRACK security bug.  “Cisco also said it had published a security advisory to detail which products are affected, and a blog to help customers better understand the issue.  Fixes are already available for select Cisco products, and we will continue publishing additional software fixes for affected products as they become available,” a spokesperson said.  “Intel confirmed it was working with its customers and equipment manufacturers to implement and validate firmware and software updates that address the vulnerability.  It also released an advisory.”

What Consumers Should Do About the KRACK Security Bug

All Wi-Fi users should take steps to protect themselves and their devices. They must manage their router patches and settings.  In addition, consumers should avoid using public Wi-Fi networks.  Any security updates provided by Apple, Google, and Microsoft should be installed on both routers and devices. Norton offers a Wi-Fi vulnerability alert and privacy.  It will encrypt traffic and protect against identity thieves.  Your information will be invisible to hackers.

Public Wi-Fi is a top target for cybercriminals.  It’s important to note that these Wi-Fi access points aren’t well secured.  Airports, coffee shops, shopping centers, and hotels are prime hunting ground for hackers trying to steal personal information.  KRACK is just another tool in the cybercriminals arsenal.

For consumers whose smartphones, PCs and routers don’t yet have updated solutions, there are still some steps that can be taken to protect online privacy.  VPN software can offer protection since it encrypts all traffic.  Although changing a Wi-Fi password won’t specifically prevent a KRACK attack, it’s still advisable.

How do attackers implement KRACK?  There are several conditions that must be met.  First, the cybercriminal must be within physical proximity of the user. Second, the user’s device must be wirelessly enabled.  Third, the cybercriminal executes a man-in-the-middle to intercept traffic between the user’s device and the wireless access point.

Decades to Uncrack KRACK

It will take decades to uncrack KRACK.  The challenges go way beyond a mere patch and are not limited to just tech devices.  For example, the company Netgear took immediate action after the KRACK attack.  Fixes were available for dozens of router models.  But, the company makes over 1,000 router models.  Each needs to be tested, and the company will need partners to do a full fix.  How long will that take?  These challenges aren’t unique to Netgear either.  It just underscores how ill-prepared the industry is in this type of calamity.  This just covers routers, too.  What about Wi-Fi IoT devices?  The KRACK vulnerability could affect security cameras, garage doors, and even appliances.

Keep in mind that “There is no evidence that the KRACK vulnerability has been exploited maliciously, and Wi-Fi Alliance has taken immediate steps to ensure users can continue to count on Wi-Fi to deliver strong security protections, read a statement published by a Wi-Fi industry trade group.  This issue can be resolved through straightforward software updates, and the Wi-Fi industry, including major platform providers, has already started deploying patches to Wi-Fi users.  Users can expect all their Wi-Fi devices, whether patched or unpatched, to continue working well together.”  That should keep consumers and businesses from panicking.

All around, the key to fighting a cyberattack is in the hands of the top three Titans and other major players in the technology industry.  New defensive strategies must be employed, and the public needs to be educated and updated on current threats when using technology for home or business.  However, with Google, Apple, and Microsoft at the helm, we should all be in good hands.

How The Three Titans Are Addressing Wi-Fi Vulnerability Read More »

hacker

The Anatomy of a Hacker 
An Interview

How did you decide to become a hacker?

“I’m not really sure what it means to become a hacker. Sounds like some guy in a hoodie who types really fast, and stays up all night writing code and cracking passwords.  That’s not me. I just spy on people and see what makes them click.  It’s not a bad job.”

So, you consider this a job?

“I put a lot of work into this. I’m not lazy. It takes research to figure out the key players and learn all about them, their families, their friends, what they care about.  You have to understand the company’s organization. I get a lot of my information from the sales department because they’re always so quick and eager—They’re hungry.  People trust too easily.  They don’t look at the details.  I do.  Details matter.  That’s what I’m good at.  It has to look completely believable. It has to look familiar. This is where research is important. It’s not some generic piece of spam. It’s an email from their boss with their company signature. It’s written in the voice of the boss. It’s what he would say if he was writing this.”

What about the malware itself?  How does it work?

“Somebody out there already wrote all the code that does the actual attack. I’m just using the attachments.  My skills and ability are getting a bunch of people to click on that attachment. I always wonder what it’s like when the whole thing unfolds on their end when the panic sets in.”

Do you feel bad about releasing all the personal information, all the financials, the money that was lost?

“All I did was get the files. I’m not the one who decided to release them. I’m not the one who shorted the stock. Somebody else had their reasons for that. That’s above my pay grade.  I was paid to do a job, and I did it well. And that’s what’s expected of anyone, isn’t it?  Anyway, markets bounce back.”

The FBI says ransomware will be a $1 billion dollar market this year.

Ransomware is the most malicious and frequently used form of malware today.

The best way to protect your organization from ransomware is to prevent it from landing on your computers in the first place.

Don’t Fall Victim to A Ransomware Attack.
We Can Protect Your Data and Business from This Top Security Threat.

Ransomware attacks are on the rise. It’s part of the top 10 threat predictions by security experts around the world. And for businesses that are victimized, the consequences can be paralyzing and destructive.  When ransomware infects your computers or mobile devices, you’ll be denied access to your computer and may even lose your data.

Ransomware blocks access to your data and demand payment through an anonymous system like Bitcoin to restore access. In the past few years many large and small businesses, government agencies and private users have been victims of ransomware. The criminals who distribute and operate these attacks are making millions of dollars. They extort money from you in exchange for a promise to unlock your computer files.

Contact InfiNet Solutions.  We can help your employees recognize ransomware and malicious IT threats. And we have technology solutions to keep your data secure.  For more information call (402) 895--5777 or email us at: [email protected]

The Anatomy of a Hacker 
An Interview
Read More »

Cybersecurity Tips for Non-Profits  

Is Your Charitable Organization at Risk?

If tomorrow’s headlines read your non-profit organization’s data and donor info was breached, what would be the ramifications?  Are you taking enough appropriate steps to stop cybersecurity threats?

Nonprofits

Is Your Charitable Organization at Risk?  Cybersecurity Tips for Non-Profits

Almost weekly, we hear about an internet or computer security breach at a large retailer, bank, or recently, a major credit reporting service.  These breaches create problems for not only the companies involved but for their customers.  Personal information is often exposed, and the carefully crafted reputation a company may have built for years or decades can be destroyed.

As of yet, we haven’t heard of any major breaches at a non-profit organization.  The key words are “as of yet.”  Non-profits often store a significant amount of data about their board members, employees, volunteers, donors, corporate supporters, and more.  A security breach for a non-profit will not only be embarrassing but it could have significant adverse effects on future funding. These are some of the reasons non-profits should be proactive in taking steps to button up computers and online security.  Here are nine cybersecurity tips of which non-profits should take note.

  1. Increase the difficulty of your passwords and change them at least quarterly. If your organization is using simple passwords because it is “easier”, you should keep in mind it also makes it easier for others to gain access.  Many experts agree that the most secure passwords should be a random series of eight letters and numbers with at least two capital letters included in the sequence.  With the frequent turnover in staff members and volunteers, passwords should be changed at least every three months.  Don’t allow staff to write their passwords on Post-It notes attached to their computers.    It happens.
  2. Set security protocols for staff and volunteers in writing.  Don’t assume those around you know about phishing and spear phishing and the dangers lurking behind pop-up ads and downloads. Many non-profit organizations have older volunteers who may not be aware of the latest dangers and tactics being used to gain access to data.  Having staff and volunteers sign off on a one-sheeter acknowledging they understand basic security guidelines can demonstrate they are aware of the potential problems.
  3. Upgrade security software. Of course, non-profit budgets are tight but they will get much tighter if there is a breach in your data and donors feel their information is not secure.  Make it a point to get security software from a major supplier that you can feel comfortable with and keep it updated.  Providing a secure firewall or malware protection after experiencing a cybersecurity attack will do little to build confidence in your organization.
  4. Upgrade computers and hardware.  The older your equipment is, the more likely it is susceptible to a cybersecurity threat. Board of directors may not be willing to invest in new computer systems just because of the bells and whistles they include.  If the security of their sponsor and donor data is at risk, however, it may get their attention and provide support for new equipment.  If your non-profit has not looked into TechSoup for deep discounts on software and hardware, it should.  The application process can be a bit tedious but the savings are significant.
  5. Make sure your online donation processing is impregnable.  It is critical your donors have absolute confidence when making online donations. While services like PayPal are simple and relatively easy to set up, they may not instill the confidence of a more robust payment system.  Giving donors payment options can also help facilitate more and more frequent donations.
  6. Limit access to important files and data. One of the benefits of working for a non-profit is that there is often a team atmosphere, with staff and volunteers working toward a common goal.  Unfortunately, this can lead to sloppy security and over-sharing of files and data.  Computers may be left unlocked when not in use and unnecessary personnel may have access to sensitive files.  Limiting access will not only protect your information in-house but will help in limiting external access.
  7. Back up data on an external drive.  How quickly can your organization restore current data and software if you had a significant hard drive crash? Computers are generally more stable than ever, but this can lead to a false sense of security and even complacency about backing up data.  Make sure data is backed up regularly and frequently and the back up is kept off-site.  This can be done in the cloud, on a CD or on an external hard drive.  If the hard drive on your computer or server were to irretrievably crash today, what would the ramifications be?  If you don’t know or if the word “disaster” comes to mind, create an off-site backup and restoration plan.
  8. Get professional assistance.  If you are not confident in the steps you are taking in keeping your organization’s data secure from threats, get the advice of someone experienced in the field. Discuss cybersecurity with other profit and non-profit organizations you may come in contact with and ask for recommendations.  Cybersecurity doesn’t have to be that complicated when it is made a priority but if you are not comfortable taking it on, get the help of an expert.
  9. Document the steps your organization takes to protect the security of its data. In the event of a cybersecurity attack, it won’t take long for fingers to be pointed and blame to be placed.  This is why it is important to have a security plan in place and document what is being done.  This can demonstrate, even after the fact, that your organization was aware of the possibility and was taking proactive steps to keep its computers and data safe.  This should include how your social media is handled and who is responsible for it.

Make cybersecurity a priority, get everyone involved, and document your plan and processes. Greater awareness can go a long way in protecting the data of your non-profit organization.

Cybersecurity Tips for Non-Profits   Read More »

Office 365 Archiving

Have You Utilized All the Advantages of Office 365 Email Archiving?

Office 365 gives you benefits of email archiving that deliver users a variety of impressive features that make it the perfect solution for companies of all sizes. For example, you can benefit from an in-place email archive, in-place hold and litigation hold, an integrated management interface, unlimited storage, as well as deleted item recovery and deleted mailbox recovery. Office 365 email archiving truly is one of the businessman or woman’s best friends.

You can even set retention policies, and users can access archive email from within their inbox, from Outlook and the Outlook Web App. There will also be encryption between clients and Exchange Online Archiving, as well as between on-premises servers and Exchange Online Archiving.

There are many companies that are regulated by government compliance guidelines and have some form of retention requirements. Moreover, these companies may get into civil litigation or they may be asked for some 5- or 6-year old emails by the audit structures. With all these requirements it’s obvious that it is better to perform Office 365 email archiving with some third-party tools like the ones InfiNet provides.

If you use Office 365 in your daily business life you are probably aware of its archiving tools and of their limitations. Here’s a list of some benefits of Office 365 email archiving and backup tools that provide you with:

Flexible storage

You can use any public storage to keep your archived or backed up emails. You are not limited by your subscription plan. The only thing you need to pay for is the storage used.

Customizable retention

You can set up your own retention requirements when you archive your back up your Office 365 emails. Whether it would be 7 days or 7 years, you can set it up in your own way.

Advanced search option

Depending on the tool you choose to back up your emails or send them to the archive you will be provided with different ways of finding the granular emails that you need.

Granular legal holds

This is a legal hold that is applied at the message level and minimizes risk and cost during the audit process.

Different export formats

In some cases, you’ll need to perform some other export format than PST. The third-party archiving and backup tools that allow you to export files in different formats can save your time and money.

Outlook’s new feature allows you to hold onto deleted emails longer than ever. By setting a later purge date, you can hold onto important communications without cluttering your email folders.

More Office 365 Archiving Advantages

Most people have likely suffered the heartache of deleting an important email. You search and search again through your inbox and the communication is nowhere to be found. Although some providers archive emails automatically instead of deleting them forever, the emails are eventually purged from the server. With Outlook’s new feature you can hold onto emails longer and not worry about those emails disappearing for good a short month later.

Already convinced we’re the Omaha IT service providers to help you with sensible email archiving? Call us now at 402.547.4300 or email us at [email protected] for more information on how to get started right away facilitating greater business growth and IT productivity with safer, more secure Office 365 email archiving!

Why Save Deleted Emails?

In today’s business world, for each opened email you must make a critical decision: Do I archive or delete the email communication?

In some cases, like if you receive any spam, deleting the offending email is a no-brainer. However, emails from contacts are often different. For instance, if a colleague sends a link to a website you need, you may decide to delete the email after locating the URL.

However, a couple months down the road you may wish to bring up the email. If the email has yet to be purged, this saves you the headache of having to get in touch with your co-worker to ask for him or her to resend the information. Another case for not prematurely deleting emails is to retrieve contact information. If you accidentally delete an email without copying contact details, you may have a hard time tracking down the sender to get back in touch.

Office 365 Presets

In most cases, deleted Outlook emails are automatically set to purge from the system after 30 days. For onsite Outlook inboxes run on an Exchange server, an administrator is responsible for setting the length of time for emails to stay in the Deleted folder. This timeframe is managed through the system’s Messaging Records Management feature.

The default setting is for emails older than 30 days to get moved to a recoverable subfolder. The subfolder holds onto the emails for 15 days before completely removing them from the system. Onsite Exchange users were able to change this default setting in the past, but Office 365 administrators were stuck with losing emails permanently after 30 days.

Luckily, the retention policy is now changed for Office 365 and administrators have the option of allowing the purge to take place a maximum of 24,855 days (or 68 years) in the future! The date used by the system is the timestamp of the email or the last time the message was edited.

Don’t worry about any of these settings getting rid of your archived items. Once you save an email to a particular folder, the email can only be manually deleted from the server. Keep in mind there is a setting to delete expired items in Outlook within your Office settings. For instance, emails in your inbox have a default aging period of six months while outbox emails age after three months.

If you don’t have any system recovery options in place, prematurely purging Outlook emails can be disastrous. Make adjustments to your purge settings to have a holding place for emails you’re unsure if you should permanently delete or not.

We Cover Secure Office 365 Email Archiving and Much More

InfiNet is leading IT service providers in Omaha by focusing our expertise primarily on small business enterprises who want to optimize their computer-networking productivity and enjoy enterprise-level benefits for small-business service fees.

Contact us today at 402.547.4300 or by email at [email protected] for more info on how our Office 365 email archiving consulting will deliver the best results for your data management and business growth!

Have You Utilized All the Advantages of Office 365 Email Archiving? Read More »