Your organization is running like a fine tuned machine. Every single piece is in place from your employee’s to processes and the critical technology it takes to run your day to day operations. It has taken years to cultivate and get your process down, but it is all still a work in progress. There is always going to be obstacles that come your way that have to be tackled on to keep your business moving forward. The last thing your business needs while trying to grow and move forward is an IT disaster.

Disasters can come in many forms, events like hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes can definitely put a damper on daily activities, but the type of disaster that has been recurring more often and is more of a silent player are IT disasters. Equipment failures, ransomware and other malware can really cut down your businesses productivity and make it hard to focus on your core activities. When IT problems strike, companies are always faced with putting in more time and resources than they need to in order to fix these problems. Downtime is something no organization can afford to have.

According to a report from the IT Disaster Recovery Preparedness (DRP) Council, one hour of downtime can cost small companies as much as $8,000! But what are some of the major causes of this IT downtime? A survey from a disaster recovery service provider Zetta provided some common causes of IT downtime.

1. Power Outage
2. Hardware Error
3. Human Error
4. Malware
5. Natural Disaster
6. Onsite Disaster

IT systems these days are critical to the success of a business, it only makes sense that every business has an IT disaster recovery plan.  Imagine if your business is being held up by some malware, which if the right prevention tactics were put into place would have never even happened. It can be quite frustrating. IT disaster prevention is also a very specialized plan. These plans need to include the following:

1. A Statement and overview of the goals of the plan
2. Contact information for key personnel and disaster recovery team members
3. A Diagram of the entire IT network
4. Identifying the most critical IT assets
5. List of software, licenses keys and systems that will be needed in the recovery effort.

For a small business owner these resources can be scarce and hiring those specialized in IT can be quite expensive. Small business shouldn’t have to worry about their IT, they should stay focused on growing their business and maintaining a safe, productive digital environment for their employees. A managed service provider like ECMSI can be your main partner in IT disaster recovery. An MSP will be proactive about your environment fixing up any issues that could arise before it causes any damage to your network. This leaves you with peace of mind that your business is safe and protected. Contact Shane Nesbitt, IT Consultant, today for additional information: (330) 750-1428.

www.ecmsi.com

Trusting another company to look over your IT infrastructure can be a very difficult thing to do. Today’s business landscape requires organizations to be increasingly dependent on the strength of their cyber security and IT team to hold the fort down and keep the company moving day to day.  But technology and cyber security is an industry that is constantly evolving, and the challenges businesses are facing include how to keep up and finding out what the right questions are to ask when choosing an IT partner. The following guidelines can help lead business owners in the right direction.

1. Can They Prove Themselves?

Many MSP’s (managed service providers) claim that they are the premier, number one or most experienced in your area, but can they prove it? A truly premier MSP should be willing to show you their operations and invite you to their headquarters to see just what resources they have and how they plan to achieve your IT goals. This level of transparency should come with any MSP that wants your business. If you are willing to trust them with your company data, they should be at least able to show you their operations and make you familiar with their staff of IT professionals that will be handling your infrastructure. Successful experts should also reflect a proven track record for dealing with IT issues, so do your research! Look around to find testimonials from other companies that are dealing with this MSP, do they have nice things to say? MSP’s that have open client testimonials and good reviews should be on top of your list for a potential partnership.

2. Don’t Be Another Line Item

Your business is unlike any other, even others in your industry do not have the exact employees with the same exact processes, so why should your technology services be any different? Each organization’s pain points are unique and require customized solutions. If any other MSP is not willing to approach your company’s technology requirements with a tailored technique and a process that focuses on your individual need, then they are not providing the highest level of value.

3. Don’t Think Just Do

Continually identifying incidents, potential threats and risks in a network infrastructure should be a required task for all managed service providers. However, just identifying threats isn’t enough. Working to fix identified holes in an organizations security strategy requires a huge level of focused analysis and evaluation. An MSP should not only be able to fix your problems, but they should be able to do so within a reasonable amount of time. Downtime to an organization is critical, no one can afford for their operations to be put to a screeching halt, especially because of some technical issues. Find that MSP that will guarantee you they will be there when needed and within the time you need them to be.

4. Find a Business Partner

The role of a good MSP is to work cooperatively with a company’s top executives to create a strategy that is relevant and comprehensible throughout the business.  They should form a partnership with you and your team in order to help the business grow. A top expert should be able to take confusing topics and make them clear.  They should understand that one size does not fit all and a cookie cutter approach to IT does not work anymore. Finally, a good MSP should be able to narrow down the issues to create a cost-effective solution for your organization.

If you have any questions regarding MSP’s and how one can help your business, please feel free to give us a call at 330-750-1428 ECMSI is here to make IT easy!

Cyber Crime. It’s extremely expensive to those companies who become victim. Cyber crime not only has an upfront cost to fix, but many times cyber crime can affect the end consumer of a business. A cyber crime can ruin a companies credibility and relationship with their end consumers. When this happens, the business is not just faced with the cost of fixing the issue but also how this can effect their future endeavors. So how much are these malicious attacks costing the various businesses and corporations around the planet?

According to the business consultant firm Accenture, cyber crime has increased over 23% over the past year and shows absolutely no sign in slowing down. The company decided to get the information from a poll conducted to over 2,100 global organizations. The report shows that if the cost of cyber crime would spread out it would average to about $11.7 million per business

The study then separated the cost by industry and country, it found that the most hard hit firms were in the financial and energy industry. Financial services suffered a loss of $18 million while energy followed closely at $17 million. When the study looked at various numbers for different countries. It found that US firms incurred the highest average cost of any other country at a whopping $21 million with the lowest being Australia at $5 million. The statistics also showed that on average each firm suffered about 130 breaches/network or system infiltration’s each year.

The most interesting find in the article is how long it took for these firms to recover from various attacks. The study stated that attacks by malicious insiders took an average of 50 days to resolve while ransomware attacks took over 23 days. The time being spent to fix these issues has caused a huge ramp up in prevention for cyber attacks. Companies are now adopting a more dynamic security strategy that builds resilience from the inside out instead of only focusing on a border wall that will not let anything in.

It is becoming increasingly important for business of all sizes and industries to prepare and be pro-active about their business and IT network. A cyber security problem is one that no company can afford to have when there are many other important and critical business tasks that need to be done. The director of Accenture Security stated that security investments in the right areas can make a difference in reducing costs and preventing potential hazards.

If you’re reading this, there is a pretty good chance you’re concerned about your businesses IT network.

We wish we could assure you that your network is fine, but we talk to business owners every day who are dealing with network issues. Sometime these issues are minor, but other times they bring business to a dead stop.

Either way, these network issues cause some downtime, which can put a huge hole in business productivity.

The truth about downtime.

Downtime causes a whole slue of problems in an organization. When your technology is offline, your staff can’t work. Your customers can’t get the support or service they need. You may not even have phone or email service. The end conclusion? Downtime is bad.

In an article by CNN, they reported that the average cost for IT network downtime for small businesses dealing with ransomware attacks exceeds $100,000. This form of cyber attacks is also just one of the ways a network can go down.

Basic hardware and software maintenance is extremely critical. For the most part, technology gives you ample warning that your IT network is in trouble. The trick is knowing what warning signs to look for and understand how important it is to heed those warnings.

6 IT Network Warning Signs

The trick to understanding network signs is knowing what to look for.  Once you know what to look for, IT network warning signs are not hard to identify. In fact, they tend to stand out.

If you’re dealing with any of the following red flags, its probably time to take a closer look at your IT network- or call on the help of a reliable IT consultant to get your network back up to speed.

1. Things Are Moving Slower Than Normal

Let’s say the employees at your office use a shared drive for big files—something like image files. Normally, you can access the shared drive in a matter of a few seconds. Downloading even a large file rarely takes much longer.

And then one day, it takes four times as long.

Changes in IT network speed are often indications of some kind of problem. The server may have an issue, or you may need to tend to your network cabling. It could even be your Wi-Fi connectivity. The one thing you shouldn’t do is just suffer through it. Slow network speeds are typically a symptom of some other issue.

2. Temperamental Wi-Fi

Speaking of Wi-Fi, if you find your connection dropping on a regular basis, there is likely an issue behind it. Wi-Fi technology is well past the testing phase. Once your wireless IT network is set up and configured, it should be reasonably stable.

If you’re in doubt, ask around. When others in your office are experiencing the same kind of wireless drops, that’s not a coincidence. It means something’s wrong.

 3. Reboot. . .Then Reboot Again..

One of the most common troubleshooting techniques is pretty simple, and we have all done it before, the reboot.

But rebooting a computer (or server) can fix a lot of problems. Similarly, if you’re having issues with a specific application, closing it and reopening it often clears things up. When you restart (your computer, server or an application) the code can start from square one and hopefully it won’t encounter the same problem again.

But you shouldn’t have to restart constantly. If you do, that’s a sign of an ongoing problem, not a one-time issue.

 4. Bringing on the Heat

A common hardware failure warning sign has to do with the temperature.

Most IT network hardware produces heat. That’s why computers have fans—to help disperse that heat and keep the delicate inner workings at a comfortable temperature. If there’s too much heat, it can damage hardware.

Here’s what to look (and listen) for. If your computer’s fan is running on high all day, that’s a bad sign. If your laptop or desktop is physically hot to the touch, that, too, is not a good sign. And if any piece of hardware shuts down due to heat, pay attention.

It’s much more convenient to replace hardware before it fails than to scramble for a replacement after it had a meltdown.

5. Too Many Workarounds

Something about the IT network isn’t working properly. Maybe there’s an ongoing error message or the printer fails every other time someone tries to print something or one of the applications everyone relies on is clearly outdated.

But instead of addressing the issue, the staff just work around it.

If your office has some kind of elaborate plan B to deal with an IT network issue, it’s time to stop accommodating the inconvenience. Rather than changing how you do your job, take care of the underlying issue with your IT network—whether that’s a needed upgrade, routine maintenance or some other fix.

6. The Warning Sign You Do NOT Want to See

If you’ve already experienced data loss, hardware failure or a cybersecurity breach, then it’s well past time to assess the health of your IT network.

Any of these three issues means you’ve already suffered through real impact to your business. You’ve likely incurred downtime, lost opportunity, and maybe even a hit to your reputation. Don’t assume lightning won’t strike twice. You’re not in the clear until the underlying problem has been addressed.

Reevaluate the state of your hardware, ramp up your cyber security, and be sure your business is protected and prepared for the future.

Prepare, prepare, prepare!

There are times when IT network trouble happens out of the clear blue. But the vast majority of the time you can see it coming—if you know where to look.

One of the best ways to proactively maintain your IT network is to keep an eye out for these warning signs. If there’s a potential issue, address it before it has the chance to slow your business down.

For information on how to protect your IT environment, contact Shane Nesbitt, IT Consultant, at 330-750-1428.  Our goal at ECMSI is to focus on your IT, so you can stay focused on growing your business.

As a business owner, you may not understand all that much about network security. You know it’s important, and you know that a breach can be bad for business, but do you understand why network security should be one of your main priorities? Network security is about more than just safeguarding corporate data, it’s about helping your business to thrive — and you can only do that with the right security in place and the right measures to stay protected.

Your network secures your business

Modern businesses keep and share all of their most important documents, records and data on interconnected workstations and servers both inside and outside your company. If you don’t sufficiently protect your network, it’s as good as sending an invitation to hackers to come and help themselves to that critical information. ECMSI knows how today’s hackers are constantly probing the network security of companies, looking for weaknesses they can exploit to gain access. With our help, you can safeguard confidential data such as customers’ personal details, corporate secrets and more, ensuring that hackers can never compromise it.

Regulatory requirements

Depending on your industry, you may also be subject to regulatory requirements that specify how your network security must be protected and maintained. These policies designed for the safety and security of trusted organizations are compulsory for any company that stores customer data electronically. ECMSI will help ensure to your organization is always one step ahead in meeting these requirements, meaning you avoid any crippling fines that might derail your business progress.

Increased network performance

One symptom of being hacked or otherwise threatened is a slowdown in network traffic that can also hurt your business. With strong network security in place that quickly resolves any disruptions and proactively prevents future intrusions, your network will always be ready to perform. ECMSI can ensure less downtime and reduced lag, leading to better productivity today and bigger profits for you in the long run.

Competitive advantage

At ECMSI we make a point of helping our customers thrive. By creating an effective network security system, we’re providing you with a competitive edge. Consumers place great importance on how companies treat their data – they want to know it’s safe and secure from hackers and other threats. That’s exactly what we do, because we know that when you ensure your customer’s data is always protected, you’ll quickly build a reputation as a trustworthy brand they can rely on.

We didn’t become one of the leading managed services providers of network security by accident. We are leaders because we care about our customers and we know how to protect them. Talk to us today, and we can work together to protect your business and take it to the next level.

Find out if your network is vulnerable to an attack. Get a Free Network Health Assessment from ECMSI today. Call us now! (330) 750-1428

Cybersecurity  is an increasingly trending topic in the news. The most popular stories seem to be with large companies who have had major data breaches with over millions of consumers personal information being compromised. However, what the public sees less often is when small businesses fall victim to hackers because it is not public record. This leads to the misconception that SMB’s aren’t as vulnerable to cyber attacks like other big corporations are.  Small businesses account for over 61% of all malware victims according to a report by Verizon. It is important that every type of business owner knows about cyber attacks and is proactive to ensure their business will not fall victim.

There are a variety of end goals hackers have when deploying a cyber attack. Many times, these attempts are financially driven, leveraging sensitive online data to get some type of monetary gain. The list below are just some of the most popular methods hackers use, but with an ever changing digital landscaping more new methods are emerging at an alarming rate. Here are some of the most recent attacks every business should be aware of:

Inside Attack

This is someone with administrative privileges from within an organization purposefully uses their credentials to access confidential company information. Usually this issue arises with former employees that have left on bad terms. Fixes include updating your users consistently within your organization.

Password Attack

There are three main types of password attacks: a brute-force attack, which involves guessing at passwords until the hacker gets in; a dictionary attack, which uses a program to try different combinations of dictionary words; and keylogging, which tracks a user’s keystrokes, including login IDs and passwords.

Zero-day Attack

Unknown flaws in a software and system discovered by a hacker before the developers and security staff even know of the issue. These loopholes can go undiscovered for months or even years until they are repaired.  Patch management is an extremely important practice to ensure you have the latest software with the latest security updates.

Ransomware

This type of malware infects your machines and locks up your data. The hacker responsible holds your data hostage for some type of ransom. The usual payment is in untraceable digital currencies like bitcoin. Ransomware is the fastest growing cyber attack today.

Phishing

The most commonly deployed form of cyber theft, phishing involves collecting sensitive information like login credentials and credit card information through a legitimate-looking (but ultimately fraudulent) website, often sent to unsuspecting individuals in an email. Spear phishing, an advanced form of this type of attack, requires in-depth knowledge of specific individuals and social engineering to gain their trust and infiltrate the network.

Malware

This is an overall term for “malicious software” that covers any program that intent is to target a computer and intent is to cause damage. Malware can include worms, trojans, ransomware and spyware.

APTs

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) are longer term attacks in which the hacker attacks a system in phases and makes sure to target devices across a network. If a breach is detected and repaired, the attackers have still secured other routes into the system.

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As always, ECMSI offers top-of-the-line layered security to keep their partners and their customers safe. Our security suite provides the skilled IT resources, domain expertise, centralized monitoring and management facilities, and proactive approach to ensuring the protection of your desktops and laptops against the ever-present threat of viruses, spam, and malware attacks. Call today (330) 750-1428 or visit our website at www.ecmsi.com/security!

Stolen or weak passwords are still the most common reasons for data breaches. It’s important to pay close attention to the password management and security polices to create an effective passwords and provide a stronger barrier of protection against unauthorized access.

We’re here to provide a list of best practices to help your business strengthen security against current threats.

Embrace Long Passphrases

By using passphrases, you’re keeping your account more secure and harder to crack due to it’s longer character count. Unlike passwords, passphrases contain spaces between words and function as a string of randomized letters or a sentence.

The longer you make your passphrase, the more difficult it’ll be to crack. Base your passphrase off of your work culture, to help employees remember for easily. Most passphrases should be longer than 10 characters and include punctuation and symbols.

Don’t Repeat Passwords

We all understand that passwords are hard to remember and we’re often having to change or reset them. It’s easy to want to repeat the same passwords for all logins to easily switch between platforms. But do you ever wonder what’ll happen if your password is stolen? A hacker can log into all of your accounts, work and personal, with one single piece of data. This can be avoided by creating different passwords or passphrases for each account.

Implement Two-Factor Authentication

Two-step authentication is a process that requires a user to have a single login, such as a password, as well as an additional similar type of login that is sent directly to the user. For example, you may have a password for your first step and then receive a one-use code on your cell phone or to your email as the second step. A two-step authentication just adds as extra step in verifying your identity and keeping your information more secure. However, this is not to be meant as a means of keeping hackers out.

Avoid Storing Passwords

Whether you’re on your phone, laptop or desktop, you’re almost always prompted to store your password. It might seem too obvious but it’s important to avoid storing passwords digitally (and even on paper!), as such information could be stolen by those with malicious intent.

Be Vigilant About Cyber Safety

No matter how strong your passwords are or how meticulous you are about safety,  your passwords won’t be safe if you don’t have the appropriate security in place.

 

ECMSI offers a state-of-the-art, multi-level security suite to ensure your network and critical data is being protected. We offer a free network health assessment to answer your questions, show you where you’re vulnerable, and what our recommendations are to keep your network healthy and productive. Follow the link below to schedule yours today!

Schedule Your Free Network Health Assessment Today!

If you find that you and your business spend most of your time online, cybersecurity should be your top priority. If you find that your information is vulnerable, you should consider taking a look at your authentication process. Two of the most commonly used authentication options for cybersecurity are two-step and two-factor authentications.

You’re probably finding yourself thinking, “What’s are authentication tools and what is the difference between the two?” Two-step and two-factor authentication are often used interchangeably, however, there are slight differences.

What is two-step authentication?

Two-step authentication is a process that requires a user to have a single login, such as a password, as well as an additional similar type of login that is sent directly to the user. For example, you may have a password for your first step and then receive a one-use code on your cell phone or to your email as the second step. A two-step authentication just adds as extra step in verifying your identity and keeping your information more secure. However, this is not to be meant as a means of keeping hackers out.

What is two-factor authentication?

Two-factor authentication, often referred to as multi-factor authentication is considered significantly more secure than the aforementioned two-step authentication. Two-factor requires the user to have two different types of information to verify the user’s identity.  For example, your authentication could be a combination of a fingerprint as well as a password or code. Since a two-factor authentication requires these types of information, it would require a hacker a great deal of effort to obtain your information.

So, what’s the difference?

Bottomline: Every two-factor authentication is a two-step authentication but the opposite is untrue. It’s important to research the security measures available and make sure you’re using the authentication process that is right for your business.

As always, ECMSI offers top-of-the-line layered security to keep their partners and their customers safe. Our security suite provides the skilled IT resources, domain expertise, centralized monitoring and management facilities, and proactive approach to ensuring the protection of your desktops and laptops against the ever-present threat of viruses, spam, and malware attacks. Call today (330) 750-1428 or visit our website at www.ecmsi.com/security!

Technology empowers businesses to work to their full capacity. They are capable of working remotely, collaborate more efficiency and effectively manage the time of its employees. These are benefits that every business strives to obtain, however, to achieve them requires you to implement technologies that compliment the needs of your employees. Here are some technology tips to boost staff efficiency in your business:

Update Office Communication

We all know effective communication is crucial for team productivity. Often, some businesses find themselves on the fence about investing their time and efforts into the software that improves team communication.

Fortunately, the market offers a plethora of advanced technological solutions for businesses of all sizes, such as: team messengers. This is not to eliminate the need for face-to-face meetings to discuss the big-ticket projects or issues your company is facing but to decrease the time spent with trivial conversations

Stay Organized With Cloud-Based Project Management Software

Have you ever experienced a project delay while you scramble to search for a needed document? Have you needed some assets sent but your teammate is working offline? Or better yet, has your laptop crashed while holding all of your important files?

No matter the size of your business, using cloud-based project management tools will tremendously enhance your team productivity and streamline collaboration. Having your projects, document assets and project management in sync and easily accessible will not only improve overall team performance but also create a competitive advantage for your business.

Implement ERP Software

Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP, is a business process management software that allows businesses to automate their processes and centralized their data to aide collaboration. ERP software reduces repetition and the number of spreadsheets needed to record business data due to their easy to use centralized database.

Make Time Count with Tracking Tools

You want to improve the time management of your employees, yet you don’t know how to measure it. The best way to increase performance and productivity is to implement a time tracking tool. By using a time tracking tool, you will be able to make the most of your time and become more efficient.

It’s important to partner with a knowledgeable and reliable managed service provider to ensure you’re maximizing the return on your IT investment. ECMSI is the area’s leading managed service provider and ready to speak with you today! Learn how we can implement technology to help your employees become more efficient and productive: (330) 750-1428

If you worked in an office environment before, this situation may seem very familiar to you. You’re sitting at your desk when all the sudden you hear a fellow coworker complain that their internet is down. You then log into your computer and notice that your internet is not functioning either. The initial thought is always, “oh great another problem with this place.” If the people in your office are not the most tech savvy, which seems to be the case in many offices the first call to action is to ask, “your designated IT person” to see what they may know about why the office internet is not working. So, what do you do in a situation like this? Let’s look at some of the things you should consider.

1. Are you getting power?

Most issues can be resolved by checking your modem and router. If you see that no LED lights are being displayed, the next step should be to turn the modem and router off and wait several minutes before restarting the systems. On most routers, this should be green and may be flashing. If your router doesn’t have status indicators, look around back to see if the Ethernet port lights are flashing. If there is no activity, turn the router off. Unplug and reconnect each cable, making sure each cable is seated correctly in the appropriate port. Wait a few minutes before rebooting the router.

 

2. Is everything plugged in?

Checking the cable connection is very important. This could be something as simple as the cable being loose to a cut in half cord. If so, this is something that would need replaced immediately if you want your workplace to get up and running.

 

3. Check to see if your firmware is current. Do you know what that is?

Firmware is embedded software, installed at the factory on a read-only memory (ROM) chip, which allows the router hardware to implement network and security protocols. Many vendors provide downloadable firmware updates that resolve performance issues, add new features, increase performance. Look for the firmware update in the System section of your router’s management system and follow the instructions carefully to make sure that you are installing the correct firmware version. Stay away from firmware from a third-party site.

While these are some of the basic actions you can take, other more serious issues can involve performing a ping test, changing the channel or frequency in which you receive data, and finally contacting your ISP, which is sometimes the last thing you want to do because of the long wait times, and you need your business to keep on moving. NOW!

If your business is lucky enough to have their own internal IT person, they may be able to figure it out, through going down the same checklist that we just mentioned that may take a while to figure it out, all while your business is at a standstill. The best measure would be to have systems in place that do their best to prevent issues like this from ever happening. Making sure your employees have reliable work tools is super important to the vitality of your business and even a small problem such as losing internet connection temporarily can lead to huge losses in productivity. And we wouldn’t want to see that happen. So, let’s discuss some ways that we can prevent this from ever happening… Or from ever happening again.

If you’re an small business owner and you’re serious about getting the IT service desk support you need when you need it, ECMSI is ready to help. Our service desk support is unparalleled. This is one of those business tools that can truly set you apart from the competition. We have a guarentted response time of 19 minutes or less – to keep your productive!

If you’re ready to focus on growing your business and alleviate the stress of IT, contact ECMSI today.