The Datamax Thinking Blog

A Network Risk Assessment can dispel security concerns and propel your team to the ultimate goal for your organization and its network infrastructure – peace of mind.

For me, there’s perhaps no better mind-clearing, stress-relieving pastime then a jaunt along the trails at a nearby state park. The sun poking its way through the towering pine trees, coupled with the low-volume sounds of the early morning surrounding me, provides me peace of mind to empower a productive week ahead.

Isn’t peace of mind – in our homes and our workplace – what we all ultimately crave? Given today’s volatile cyber security climate, fear and uncertainty of everything from downtime to network intrusion can disrupt an organization’s collective contentment.

A Managed Network Services program fine tunes and establishes control over all the moving components of your network.

Your business's network – much like, say, your home’s air conditioning unit - steadily hums along, quietly unnoticed, with what seems like relative ease. But day-to-day maintenance and unexpected downtime can make any IT administrator feel the heat in a hurry.

As companies of every size rely on IT to operate, it’s becoming more difficult to find and hire the IT expertise you need. Is there an alternative?

When it comes to IT, many small and medium businesses struggle to find the right balance of reliability, responsiveness, and cost – not to mention technical expertise. In most cases, IT support is usually one of four ways:

• Your niece, nephew, or first born, who is “really technical” and oversees the details for you
• A company a business friend of yours uses that you call when your computers start freezing
• A dedicated, in-house IT department that you keep on your payroll and “does it all”
• A proactively, managed provider who provides a blend of remote monitoring, preventative maintenance, and help desk support when you need it

Understanding the difference between these types of support is critical to protecting your business. Hackers are everywhere, they want your information, and they are just waiting to take advantage of your small business’s network vulnerabilities.

Employees are a big weakness in any information security plan. These 6 tips will make your security stronger.

The biggest security hole in any business isn't the network or your computer assets or the various programs you operate on.

The biggest security threat to any business is the people that work there.

Because people do stupid things. And when they do stupid things with company information (like leaving a laptop in the backseat of a car with customer information), your company is at risk of a data breach.

That's why when it comes to cybersecurity, paying attention only to the IT side of things isn't good enough (though that's essential, of course).

You need to train your users.

Here are a few tips to help you get started on training employees on information security.

You want to be HIPAA-compliant? You need to perform a risk assessment.

It shouldn't be a surprise to know that security research shows that the healthcare industry is a prime target for hackers and assorted cybercriminals.

From insurance companies to small doctors offices to research facilities to hospitals, all have a treasure-trove of personal information that criminals are itching to get their hands on.

Not involved in the healthcare industry? If you're reading this and are in manufacturing, financial services, government, or transportation; those round out the top five targets.

“Only” a small business and think you're safe?

Data backup is (or should be) a part of every businesses IT strategy. Add in the fact, that data backup is a final line of defense against ransomware, and you're crazy if you don't have an online backup strategy.

Cyber attacks on small businesses is BIG BUSINESS for cybercriminals. That’s because they know that you may not have the money (or the muscle) to secure your small business’s network. Even worse is the fact that there is little or no recourse for the small business owner who falls prey to a ransomware attack. Many simply pony up the money just to get their critical information back.

If a firm with 25 employees who bill at $200 per hour lose one hour of uptime, that’s $60,000 a month on lost opportunity. — Attorney at Law Magazine

As attorneys, you’re committed to providing your clients with the best legal advice and service possible. In order to do so, you recognize that in the world of law, time stops for no one. Court dates are appointed, not chosen. Contracts have deadlines. Client meetings are a must. Any type of power outage, therefore, is a huge threat to law firms. As a lawyer you have a finite amount of time to build your case, gather materials, research, etc. Should an outage strike your firm as a result of a natural (or most likely man made) disaster during your last few days before court, for example, it could be detrimental to the outcome of a case.

IT service partners often fail for one (or all) of these reasons: data loss, poor communication / customer service, downtime, and security breach. How's your partner doing?

Not every service partner will meet your expectations.

I know, I know; not a particularly shocking or unexpected revelation. We've all been disappointed in business services, whether it was the company that built your deck or the one that attempted to manage your network.

Sometimes you choose the wrong company. 

Establishing quantifiable, standardized benchmarks which are then scored will allow senior business executives to begin assessing, and managing, their technology infrastructure as a whole.

Working with small and medium-sized businesses and helping manage their technology is as challenging as it is rewarding. Although every business is different, there are aspects common to all. For example, the business of an architect is different than a CPA, yet each must communicate, each must meet payroll, and each must be able to manage finances.

Managed network services is more challenging than most people think it is. You know that though, don’t you?

Well guess what? You’re fired!

And thank goodness for it! There are a few truisms in life, and I believe one of them is that no matter how easy something may appear on the surface; it’s almost always at least twice as hard to actually do it (and twice as hard is just for starters).