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How Buying Bargain Technology Will Hurt Your Company in the Long Run

How Buying Bargain Technology Will Hurt Your Company in the Long Run
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A responsible business owner looks at the repercussions of their actions, however, it’s not always easy to determine what the right action is. Something to keep in mind is that, if it benefits the long-term mission of your organization, chances are that it’s the right thing to do--especially with technology solutions.


For an example, let’s take a look at the procurement process for new technology acquisitions. Some laptops will run a price tag of $200, while more advanced models could extend up into the thousand-dollar mark. It’s important to remember that when buying new technology, a higher price tag generally means that you’ll be purchasing something that’s more reliable, more powerful, and more functional. However, those that are too focused on short-term decision making will wind up staring at that price tag and questioning their decisions. They might choose to go for the less expensive model in order to save some cash in the short-term, but this could be a big mistake.

Administrators and managers who go all-in on new hardware don’t just do so for bragging rights--they do so because it’s certainly worth the cost in the long run. Reliable technology is invaluable, especially if workers can’t do their jobs because their technology solutions don’t work properly, you’ll feel it in your budget. Investing in quality hardware can help you avoid this issue entirely.

You can apply this train of thought to how technology can affect employee productivity, along with their morale. If they are using inexpensive hardware in an attempt to save some money in the budget, chances are that they will know--especially when the hardware breaks down frequently and they have to deal with frustrating downtime.

A short-term thinker might not see this as a problem, as they believe their workers can suffer through it and appreciate what has been given to them to do the job they are paid to do. However, a long-term thinker will see this for what it really is: a problem. Only by equipping your organization with quality technology solutions can you expect them to get the most work done. InformationWeek explains: “better devices lead to higher productivity and morale. According to a UK survey, more than two-thirds of workers felt negatively about their workplace, in part due to outdated technology and practices, with the average worker being frustrated with office tech around three times per day.”

Now, think about how much more productive each of your employees will be if they use technology that actually works the way that it should. Their morale might even improve as well, and with it, the quality of their work. This keeps you from suffering due to the cost of employee turnover, which is more than enough reason to purchase quality technology.

These words of wisdom can also be applied to how you take care of your technology after you’ve acquired it. Viewing your organization’s technology as a short-term expense will inevitably lead to you spending more money than necessary on IT maintenance. If you take a proactive, long-term approach to it, however, you’ll wind up saving money in the long run by preventing issues from escalating into major problems in the first place. This saves you both time and money, which is hard to argue with.

If your business wants to take full advantage of its technology solutions and IT infrastructure, reach out to us at 800.394.2301.

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3 Reasons Why BDR is the Best Way to Backup Your Company’s Data

3 Reasons Why BDR is the Best Way to Backup Your Company’s Data

If we asked you how you back up your data, would you be able to respond with enough knowledge to seriously talk about the topic? Many small organizations are under the impression that data backup is only necessary if your business suffers from a data breach or data loss incident. However, the truth is that if you want to ensure the future of your business, data backup is absolutely crucial.


However, tape backup can only do so much. While tape backup is certainly better than no backup at all, it takes much more than tape to properly secure your data infrastructure from harm. If you want a truly dynamic solution, Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) is the ideal choice. All it takes is a stroke of bad luck to cause even a hint of data loss, so you should do all that you can to preserve your organization through any means necessary.

BDR Provides an Ideal Recovery Point Objective
Your recovery point objective should be one that allows for the minimal amount of data loss. In other words, how recent your last backup was, has a lot to do with meeting this objective. The last thing that you want to ask yourself is how much data you’re willing to part with in the event of a data loss incident. The bottom line is that no amount of loss is acceptable, but tape backup doesn’t allow for this. You could potentially lose out on an entire day’s worth of progress due to the fact that tape backup must be performed after hours. Instead of suffering this loss, cloud-based BDR can take backups as often as every fifteen minutes. These snapshots only capture what has changed on your network since the last one was taken, so operations are no longer interrupted just to back up a file.

BDR Offers a Faster Recovery Speed
Tape backups can take anywhere from a couple of hours to an entire day to completely deploy, which means that you’ll experience more downtime than you might initially think. If you take this amount of time and multiply it by the number of employees you have, the costs can add up pretty quickly, breaking your budget and making it more difficult to recover. Cloud-based BDR can help your organization get back in business following a data disaster with minimal downtime. You won’t have to worry about finding a device to get back online, as the BDR device itself can be used in place of a server as a temporary replacement while you get your act together.

BDR Uses Off-Site Storage
If you use tape backup, where do you store the tapes? Some organizations like to keep them on-site, but this places them at risk of being destroyed by a natural disaster, like a flood or a fire. Furthermore, if you keep backups stored on your local network, they could be subject to data theft in the event of a data breach. This means that off-site storage is your best bet. BDR stores your backups in an off-site data center and in the cloud for quick recovery, making it the ideal solution to this dilemma.

Does your business need a revamped data backup solution? To learn more about what BDR can do for your business, reach out to Infradapt at 800.394.2301.

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Five Good Reasons Your Business Should Use a VPN

Five Good Reasons Your Business Should Use a VPN

b2ap3_thumbnail_virtual_private_network_400.jpgWhether you're on the move or at the workplace, your WiFi connection isn't the most secure method of browsing the Internet. Hacking techniques are growing more sophisticated, and you never know who could be observing your connection and Internet activity. Thankfully, there are ways to remediate this issue, like using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).


A VPN provides many benefits for your business needs, and brings about two main goals: The VPN hides your network signal with encryption, shielding it from unauthorized viewing, and it hides your IP address by making it appear to be something that it is not, such as a machine in a foreign country or location. There are obvious benefits to this, but let's go over five of the best reasons to use a VPN.

Public WiFi Will No Longer Be a Threat
Unfortunately, this might be news to some people - public WiFi, like your local McDonald's or hotel is not safe, especially for confidential business emails and such. Public WiFi signals are not encrypted, and that can lead to your actions being observed by unwanted eyes. With a VPN, you can connect to public WiFi networks without fear, as the VPN will encrypt your browsing experience and keep you safe from eavesdroppers.

Concealing Your VoIP Calls
Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) can also be taken advantage of if you don't take the proper security measures against hackers. By using a VPN, you'll be able to protect yourself from these eavesdroppers. If you frequently use Skype or any voice-chatting software, it is a good idea to implement a VPN connection.

Avoid Prying Eyes That Could Come Back to Bite You
A hacker that's out to dig up dirt on your business is able to take advantage of the Internet to uncover all kinds of dirt on you and the way you do business. In order to prevent your company from turning into the next Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber, use a VPN. This prevents your results from being traceable to you - particularly if you cover sensitive topics that could come back to haunt you and your company.

Keep Questionable Content Out of your Network
You don't need to worry about what your employees do on their personal devices with a VPN. No matter what kind of questionable content an employee might look up or access on their computer, it isn't connected to your network when they use their device personally, and use the VPN for business-related activity.

Privacy Is Your Right, Take Advantage of It
As a human being, you have a right to privacy (though the NSA might disagree), and you shouldn't have to broadcast what you're doing on the Internet 24/7 on a normal WiFi connection. You shouldn't need to be monitored constantly. Your business should be able to function properly without anyone stepping on your toes, and your clients would appreciate it if their information was safe from prying eyes, as well!

If a VPN sounds like something you want to install for your business, give Infradapt a call at 800.394.2301. We'll be able to hook you up with a solution to suit your business needs, and you'll be able to rest assured that the only people monitoring your system are us - keeping threats out, and your company safe.

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Here are Your Options for Managing Mobile Devices in the Workplace

Here are Your Options for Managing Mobile Devices in the Workplace

Did you know that, according to Gartner, a whole 80 percent of all employees bring their personal mobile devices to the office? It’s a rather troubling development for business owners who want to secure their data and keep their employees productive. However, this Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend has proved extremely beneficial for prepared organizations. This must prompt the question of how your business manages mobile devices in the workplace.


The usual response to mobile devices appearing in offices is either the employer supplying company devices, or preventing their use altogether. Unfortunately, neither of these are all positive, so it’s best to approach the situation with an informed and open mind. What follows are the circumstances that come with each approach.

Company-Provided Mobile Devices
Depending on the kind of work your organization does, providing company devices might be beneficial for employees. However, you’ll need to consider all of the finer details, including which platform the devices run on (iOS, Android, Windows), contract terms, and how your organization plans on controlling and protecting data located on the devices. Creating a policy that clearly outlines how work and personal information is separated on the device, the privileges that the employee has with the device, a plan if the device is ever misplaced, and what happens when the employee quits, is the key to guaranteeing data security.

Unfortunately, this is often seen as a quick fix. You are spending money and forcing your employees to comply with the rules, but this doesn’t fix the problem of controlling data on its own. Statistics also show that employees aren’t particularly unhappy about company-owned devices, but that the solution can feel like a slap in the face to employees who work well using their own personal devices. On the other hand, some staff might feel excited about a brand new smartphone on the company’s budget, so it’s up to you to determine what the best approach to this situation is.

Banning Personal Devices Altogether
Some employers will just fully ban access to personal devices, which means that any employee using them for any reason will be written up or face similar consequences. While this can protect your data, this will likely create a rift between your employees and management. You might only be trying to protect your data, but they’ll only see this as management making their jobs more difficult. While this doesn’t necessarily happen all the time, it’s still often enough to cause concern. It’s also problematic for your organization, as mobility is likely something that your competitors have considered implementing themselves.

Thankfully, There Are Options
If you can meet your employees in the middle ground of this sensitive topic, they’ll be thankful for it. By this, we mean taking the time to discuss data security with your employees while allowing them to use their own personal devices, so long as they abide by your protocol. Employers have the opportunity to push policies such as including some type of authentication on their devices (passwords, pins, patterns, etc), alongside secondary measures such as two-factor authentication on accounts located on the device. Providing the employer with the rights to revoke access to email and the ability to wipe data in the event of a stolen device must also be a point of discussion.

Laptops brought from home should be outfitted with company antivirus protection and remote monitoring, along with the ability to set up a VPN or hosted desktop solution so that there's no need to worry about what sorry state the device is in. This can also make it easier to solve troubles with software licensing and accessing company data while on a public Wi-Fi connection.

The best way to approach personal mobile devices in the office is by implementing a BYOD strategy. This should be capable of responding to any and all security discrepancies that may arise from mobile devices being used for work purposes. If you’re having trouble putting together such a policy, it’s in your best interest to reach out to professional technicians for consultation. Infradapt can help your organization put together a solid BYOD policy that keeps your data secure. To learn more, reach out to us at 800.394.2301.

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Alert: Homeland Security Finds U.S. Power Grid Vulnerable to CrashOverride Malware

Alert: Homeland Security Finds U.S. Power Grid Vulnerable to CrashOverride Malware

On June 12th, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a warning to power grid operators and electric utilities concerning a newly surfaced malware called CrashOverride (aka Industroyer). Only, it’s not entirely new. The world has seen this before and the fallout from it is concerning.


The warning comes from the Computer Emergency Readiness Team’s (CERT’s) National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC). In it, public reports from ESET and Dragos reported “a new highly capable Industrial Controls Systems (ICS) attack platform that was reportedly used in 2016 against critical infrastructure in Ukraine.”

You may recall a similar incident hitting the news not too long ago when workers at a Ukrainian power distribution center watched helplessly as hackers took control of their computers, and used them to shut down heat and power for over 230,000 citizens. Though the power wasn’t out for very long (somewhere between one-to-six hours, depending on location), the control centers are still suffering from the attacks several months later. In addition to turning off the power, hackers also overwrote crucial firmware, which left 16 substations unresponsive to remote commands. This is the first confirmed instance of hackers successfully taking down a power grid, and it’s thought that these hackers were very meticulous and sophisticated in the execution of this attack.

Last year, the FBI began a campaign to raise awareness of the potential issue by briefing electrical power companies of the risk. Although, the possibility of such an attack hitting the United States was deemed improbable. Thankfully, there is currently no evidence to suggest that this malware has affected critical infrastructure in the U.S., but the recent CERT warning suggests that such an attack has grown more probable. This risk is due to CrashOverride having the potential to be modified to target vulnerabilities in U.S. critical information network and systems via the malware’s tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). 

To give you an idea of how dangerous the malware is, the Dragos report links the malware to the group responsible for Sandworm, a wicked zero-day vulnerability that executed code within affected systems by opening a backdoor for later access. This threat utilizes phishing attacks and has the ability to spread between networks with the goal of disrupting systems and stealing sensitive information.

In the CERT warning, the recommended way to handle CrashOverride is for utility companies to take a proactive stance when it comes to cybersecurity. This includes implementing techniques for providing and identifying malware. In truth, this is the same approach to cybersecurity that we recommend for all businesses, regardless of industry, size or location. As the sophistication of cybercrime continues to develop, properly monitored and maintained networks are a company's first line of defense. Contact us today to learn more about network security and best practices.

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