Pagoda Blog

It’s that time of year when we fill our virtual shopping carts, take advantage of amazing limited-time deals, and enter our payment details on multiple websites across the internet. Online shopping is undoubtedly a convenient way to buy gifts for friends and family but if we’re not careful, it can put our bank accounts and other sensitive information at risk. 
 
Here are 7 ways to play it safe with your online holiday shopping this season so you can check everyone off your ...

If your business experiences a data breach or other network security incident, you need to have an Incident Response Plan (IRP) in place. An IRP is a step-by-step guide outlining what should happen before, during, and after a network security incident. It is intended for your IT team so that they have a set of instructions to follow when a cyber attack or service outage takes place. 
 
A data breach, malware attack, or even a run-of-the-mill network outage can cause significant financial ...

Many customers now expect to be able to pay for services online, and since the pandemic, online shopping has become a fierce competitor with brick and mortar shops. In fact, 76 percent of adults in the U.S. identify themselves as online shoppers. 
 
It’s clear that customers conduct a lot of transactions online, and as an SMB, offering online payment processing on your website can help your business keep pace with the competition. Whether you’re considering adding online payments ...

SMS is one of the most common forms of multi-factor authentication. Unfortunately, it’s also the most vulnerable to interception. It’s understandable why SMS is so popular — it’s undeniably convenient to receive a one-time use code via text to verify your identity. And the ubiquity of SMS as a form of MFA (even banks use it!) has duped users into believing it’s more secure than it actually is. 
 
Let’s look at the facts, and see why SMS should not be ...

A data breach or malware attack can result in huge financial losses, damage to your brand’s reputation, and legal repercussions if you deal with personally identifiable information protected by HIPAA. While prevention through a multi-layered cybersecurity strategy should be your top priority, cyber liability insurance can protect your business against some of these costs. 
 
Both small businesses with fewer than 100 employees and large corporations can benefit from cyber liability ...

We store so much of our lives on our smartphones. Think back to the last action you took on your phone … Was it to Slack an important file to a colleague? Send a personal text message to a friend? Order a product online? 
 
We conduct personal, financial, and business transactions on our smartphones but too often overlook just how vulnerable these palm-size devices are without the proper security precautions in place. Before you check your email or enter your credit card online ...

Crowdfunding has become one of the most popular ways to raise money for a cause, from funding an individual’s healthcare costs to helping a nonprofit launch a new community program. In 2022 alone, there were 6,455,080 worldwide crowdfunding campaigns and in North America, crowdfunding sites raise an average of $17.2 billion every year. Crowdfunding is especially popular during times of crises, like in the aftermath of a natural disaster. 
 
While the percentage of fraudulent crowdfunding ...

For small-to-medium sized businesses, hiring a Managed Service Provider or MSP is often the only way to afford reliable, around-the-clock comprehensive IT services. In today’s rapidly evolving cybersecurity and tech landscape, businesses simply can’t afford to neglect IT, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to fit quality services into the budget. 
 
So what exactly is an MSP and how can it benefit small-to-medium sized businesses who can’t afford an in-house ...

Have you ever wondered how cybercriminals identify their next target? Hint: It’s not just a company’s size, profits, or prestige they’re after. 
 
Often a cybercriminal is simply looking for vulnerabilities. They’re searching for an easy way into your network so that they can gain unauthorized access to sensitive data. Sensitive data, such as your employee’s or customer’s full names, email addresses, and credit card information can be held for ransom, ...

If you have a hybrid workplace or simply conduct much of your business's work in the cloud, there’s a good chance you’re using Google Workspace. Even if you’re familiar with the popular cloud-based platform, you can probably further leverage it to boost productivity and efficiency across your team. From simplifying and securing hybrid work to providing access to all your documents and files across devices, Google Workspace can give your business a much-needed productivity boost. 
 
Below ...

If your business is the victim of a data breach, you want to have a response plan in place so that you can swiftly alert your customers. How you alert your customers, and how you communicate with them throughout the investigation, can either save or doom your business. 
 
There’s no way around it. A data breach severely damages the relationship you’ve built with your customers. They trusted you with their data and now it’s been compromised while in your care. There will ...

Email is quickly becoming a tool of the past when it comes to internal communications within an organization. Thank goodness because we all know how easy it is to lose an important message in the black hole of your inbox. 
 
Chat-based collaboration software like Slack and Teams is a much better choice for communicating with your team. These tools have a more robust and customizable system for organizing, storing, and finding conversations and are more chat-based than email, allowing for ...

As AI both advances and becomes more accessible, an increasing number of businesses are finding ways to leverage the technology in their day-to-day operations. Especially with more companies embracing the hybrid or fully remote workplace, AI is claiming the large corner office with a view. 
 
While AI’s prominent role in many organizations comes with certain risks, it also provides exciting opportunities for businesses to save money, speed up time-consuming tasks, and improve accuracy ...

Humans make mistakes, especially where emotion is involved. ‘We’re only human after all!’ We use this adage to cut ourselves some slack when we slip up. Unfortunately, these very human slip-ups are what makes our systems highly vulnerable to social engineering attacks. 
 
A social engineering attack is one that takes advantage of our human vulnerabilities, such as fear, trust, and curiosity, to psychologically manipulate the target into revealing confidential information. ...

We’ve grown accustomed to entering any question that comes to mind into online search. The traditional online search tools like Google and Bing then provide us with pages of links directing us to content written by a wide variety of content creators. These creators vary from topic experts and established organizations to passionate (and often biased) individuals. 
 
With this type of search, you can see who created the content, allowing you to verify their professional background ...

When natural disasters strike, cybercriminals follow close behind. Cybercriminals are adept at spotting vulnerabilities in a system (why you should always download the latest software updates) and also in people. 
 
Social engineering tactics, such as phishing scams, are a perfect example of how bad actors take advantage of an individual’s weakness. And what is that weakness you might ask? As social creatures, we tend to blindly trust and follow the directives of people and organizations ...

In 2011, a Youngstown State University student named Ismail Juden Jadun wanted to break through the noise and promote his small business that made websites for local companies.
 
He tried a lot of different things to attract attention and get customers. Then, he had an idea.
He had been thinking too small all along. It was time to strategize on a global scale. 
 
What if there was a day to remind people to back up their data every year?
 
And so, without asking permission of ...

LinkedIn is valued as a safe space for professionals to connect with others in their business community and stay up to date on the latest industry trends and opportunities. 
 
According to the 2022 Insider Intelligence Report, LinkedIn is the second most trustworthy site in the U.S. (Pinterest is the first.) The fact that we put so much trust in LinkedIn, however, makes users vulnerable to a rising number of scams. The ways in which we intuitively use LinkedIn, often with blind trust in ...

ChatGPT has caused a big stir across the internet, with mixed reactions and heated debates around the technology’s potential for good versus evil. Some praise its possibilities for revolutionizing the way we conduct business and interact with customers. Others are sounding the alarm bells, warning of the AI’s potential threat to people’s jobs and concerning cybersecurity risks. 
 
So what exactly is ChatGPT and should businesses and individuals embrace it or fear it? ...

LastPass is one of the largest password managers on the market, serving more than 30 million users. On December 22, 2022, LastPass disclosed that their users’ password vaults had been accessed by an unknown threat actor. Fortunately, some of the data is encrypted but that doesn’t mean it can’t be decrypted by a motivated threat actor.  
 
If you are a LastPass user, there are immediate steps you should take to help secure your account which we’ll cover below. ...

Organizing your digital life can improve productivity, peace of mind, and cybersecurity. It requires a bit of a time investment, but if you regularly attend to clearing out and organizing your desktop, email inbox, and cloud-based storage, it won’t be so daunting. 
 
Start with your desktop 
Your desktop is the most visibly cluttered part of your digital life so let’s start there. Go through all those files, images, and screenshots blocking that idyllic background photo ...

If you’ve adopted a remote or hybrid workplace, odds are your employees will sometimes take their work with them when they travel. This flexibility is both the beauty and the danger of remote work, especially with so much of our data now residing in the cloud. You can access what you need for the job from anywhere with an internet connection, allowing employees to tap into the company network from an airport, cafes, vacation rentals, or mom’s house. 
 
While we don’t ...

Microsoft Power Automate (previously Microsoft Flow) allows users to automate repetitive manual tasks by creating custom workflows without any required knowledge of code. It features a drag-and-drop workflow interface and allows you to sync data across 500+ native and third-party applications. This means that you can automate tasks, create notifications, collect data and more from most any application you use for business. You can create automations from scratch or choose from ready-made templates ...

Your business’s success relies in part on innovation and motivated employees taking the initiative to improve productivity, automate monotonous tasks, and streamline their work. Sometimes, however, in an effort to achieve more and optimize workflow, cybersecurity can end up taking a backseat. Third-party apps can certainly help you achieve your business goals, but it’s important to stay aware of potential cybersecurity threats. 
 
What is a third-party app? 
A third-party ...

Microsoft Teams is an online collaboration tool that includes messaging, file sharing, and virtual meetings. Teams has a suite of helpful features to make it easier and more enjoyable to hold virtual meetings with your team members. You might even find that a remote meeting held through Teams encourages more engagement and collaboration than traditional in-person meetings. Experiment with these 11 features to make your virtual meetings a highly effective way for team members to generate and share ...

Every year IBM puts out an annual Cost of Data Breach report. This report does a deep dive into the impact of data breaches on businesses worldwide, analyzing “root causes, short-term and long-term consequences of data breaches, and the mitigating factors and technologies that allowed companies to limit losses.” The report also includes compelling statistics based on the studies of 500 organizations impacted by data breaches that occurred between March 2021 and March 2022, across 17 ...

Google’s rebrand from G Suite to Google Workspace has come with several key changes and updates, including the transition from Google Hangouts to Chats. Google Hangouts was a communication app designed to give teams the ability to send direct messages, hold video and audio conferencing, and share images. Google Chats retains all these key features while adding some new ones and improving the app’s ability to allow teams to collaborate online. 
 
Google began automatically migrating ...

A password management service allows you to securely organize and store the login credentials to all your personal and company accounts. Setting one up for your entire team is one of the cornerstones of a multi-layered cybersecurity strategy and will greatly improve the security of your company data and network. When first setting up a password management service, it’s important to check all the right boxes for optimal security and ease of use. We’ll be walking you through the basic ...

After an employee leaves, their Google Workspace account can open your business up to lost data, unreturned email messages, and the threat of a data breach, if certain steps aren’t swiftly taken. It’s important to ensure your past employees don’t have access to their accounts while also ensuring a smooth transfer of data. The very first step all employers should take is to instill a culture of cybersecurity in their workplace. In the end, however, you will still need to protect ...

 
Two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) are both ways to add a layer of security to your account access. Rather than just relying on a password to log in, MFA requires one or more extra steps. Typically MFA requires a combination of the following: 
 
- Something you know (password)
- Something you have (authenticator token, smartphone or other device)
- Something you are (facial or fingerprint recognition) 
 
There are multiple forms of MFA ...

You’ve probably heard the warning, “Never share your passwords” a million times, but how many people actually follow this rule? We’re willing to bet, regardless of the data, close to zero. This outdated advice ignores the fact that we have to share some passwords both professionally for collaboration and sometimes personally because we’re either being generous (how many users are on your Netflix account?) or, again, we need to collaborate. The problem is, sharing passwords ...

Google Analytics 4 was created to help businesses better measure increasingly complicated data coming from multiple sources. In today’s world, we don’t just access the internet from our desktop computer. We access it throughout the day, often from different devices, including our smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, work computers, and perhaps a home desktop. We also interact with companies via their website and associated apps and social media channels. 
 
The old Google Analytics, ...

“The password you entered is incorrect. Try again.” 
 
“Error. Your username or password is incorrect.”
 
“Sign in failed. Bad username/password combo.” 
 
“Sorry we can’t find an account with that email address. Please try again or create a new account.” 
 
Do you want to throw something at your laptop screen yet? It’s maddening when you forget your password which is why so many users simply use the same, ...

Investing in company culture improves morale, productivity, collaboration, work performance, and job satisfaction. It also reduces stress and turnover. In fact, studies conducted by John Kotter, a Harvard Business School professor, revealed that companies with a strong workplace culture saw their revenues increase four times faster, profits climbed 750% higher, and customer satisfaction doubled. Let that sink in for a minute.
 
So, why does investing in a strong company culture have such a ...

When you think of someone leaving their job, it’s likely the first image that comes to mind is an outdated one. You may picture a disgruntled employee hastily packing the contents of their office into a cardboard box. They start with the sentimental items, carefully placing the family photo, employee of the month plaque, and the gifted paperweight at the bottom of the box before unceremoniously dumping the remaining pens, papers, and sticky notes on top. Lastly, they pick up the potted plant ...

If you thought incognito or private mode kept your online activity anonymous and untraceable, well, think again. Google has most notably been called out for this disturbing fact, perhaps because Chrome’s incognito mode looks so convincingly, well,  incognito. That secretive black background and reassuring icon of the little private detective tricks many users into believing that they're wrapped in a secure shroud of secrecy. Read the fine print, however, and you’ll see big tech ...

When you first visit a website, it’s now commonplace for a popup to appear asking you to accept cookies. The language often goes something like this: 
 
“This website uses cookies to enhance user experience, provide basic website functionality, and analyze our traffic. To find out more, see our Privacy Policy.” 
 
After the notification is either an “Ok” button to acknowledge you understand and agree with this policy, or you may have the option to ...

Wi-Fi is readily available almost everywhere, from public parks and gas stations to coffee shops and co-working spaces. We’re accustomed to staying connected wherever we go, especially with the rise in remote work, but this doesn’t mean that all internet connections are safe to use. Especially when conducting business online, it’s important to use an encrypted internet connection. This layer of security helps ensure that both your data and your customers’ is protected. But ...

Your home office can be your productivity haven – a quiet, comfortable, organized space that allows you to fall easily into a flow state, fully focused on your work for long stretches at a time. It can be inspiring and inviting, with the decor of your choosing and ergonomic office furniture that promotes productivity and focus. Or your home office can be a side thought  – a cramped corner in your bedroom with one of the dining room chairs pulled up to that wobbly desk you bought ...

For so many of us these days our laptop is where we conduct a significant portion of our lives. If we work remote, we probably use a laptop at least part of the time to access work files and email. We use it to check our bank accounts, shop online, connect with friends and family, store photos, read the news, stream our favorite TV shows — the list goes on and on. It’s probably worth it then to take a few steps to keep this important device running smoothly for as long as possible, right? 
 
Here ...

Your web browser determines much of your experience on the internet, from load times to the number of pop-up ads you see. What browser you choose depends on the type of work you’re conducting online, your operating system, personal preferences, and the level of security you deem necessary for your work. We lay out 6 of the top browsers and review their security features and overall functionality so you can be both protected and productive.
 
What makes a browser secure? 
Before we ...

For most of us, when we think of cybersecurity we automatically think of passwords. A password is how we protect most, if not all, of our accounts and yet, we’re still not very good at creating strong passwords or storing them securely. According to a 2021 survey conducted by security.org, more than 2 in 3 people reuse passwords across multiple accounts, less than half feel their passwords are secure, and only 37% use a secure password manager to store their passwords. (Fun fact: 42% of survey ...

When you think of cybersecurity, you typically don’t think of it as a revenue-generator. It’s thought of like insurance — a necessary cost that you budget for in order to ensure you’re not entirely liable for damages in the event of a cyberattack or data breach. But comprehensive cybersecurity and IT services offer so much more than your typical insurance model. To fully understand the value of cybersecurity, and budget accordingly, it’s helpful to measure its ROI.    
...

During the pandemic, with the fast growth of the remote workforce, people have been flocking to online collaboration platforms, particularly Discord and Slack. These platforms give team members, families, and friends a convenient and private space to connect personally and collaborate professionally. Unfortunately, hackers are taking advantage of both the number of users (e.g. targets) and the high level of trust placed in these spaces. 
 
How cybercriminals are infiltrating Discord and ...

The ability to access our email, the weather, online shopping, social media, and work documents via a device that can fit in our back pocket is nothing short of a miracle. Of course, this incredible convenience comes with a catch. The more information you store and access on your smartphone, the greater the risk is that your device and all of its sensitive information will be hacked. If you use your smartphone for remote work, this risk becomes especially concerning. Fortunately, you can keep your ...

We have a really fun cybersecurity exercise for you and your team: Imagine a cybercriminal has just hacked your website or your CRM or email server … you get the idea. Now imagine the position this puts you in. What customer data is compromised? What parts of your day-to-day operations would be forced to grind to a halt? How would this impact your reputation and your bottom-line?
 
If your hands are sweating by this point and you feel a major headache coming on, then you recognize just ...

Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve all spent a lot of time at home. Many of us have taken this opportunity to create our dream spaces, setting up home offices and re-landscaping backyards. Another steadily growing trend is upping the IQ of our homes. From saving energy to automating daily tasks, smart homes have many benefits as long as you take steps to mitigate the cybersecurity risk. For those who are fully embracing this futuristic lifestyle trend, we have 10 holiday gifts to deck ...

 
The digital divide existed long before the pandemic, but COVID-19 brought to light how lack of access to reliable internet and technology at home outside of work or school can exacerbate economic disparity and leave entire communities behind. A group of Computer Science students at Stanford provide a succinct definition of the digital divide: The digital divide refers to the “growing gap between the underprivileged members of society, especially the poor, rural, elderly, and handicapped ...

Social media is an extremely powerful tool that, when wielded strategically, can increase brand awareness, drive customers to your site, and grow your audience. It can also do great damage if you don’t take the steps to take control of your brand across social media channels. Social media brand security refers to both the actual cybersecurity of your social media accounts as well as the integrity of your actual brand. This means that when people search for your business online, the social ...

Facebook was entirely offline for six hours on October 4, 2021, causing many business owners to panic as their primary outlet for marketing and communicating with customers completely disappeared. The outage affected all of Facebook's apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp. Billions of users globally were effectively shut out of what for many is their primary form of communication with friends, family, and in the case of businesses, customers. The outage not only impacted users but essentially ground ...

Email is still the primary channel for business communication and marketing, making it especially important to keep your inbox secure and clear of spam. With the rise of the remote workforce, more and more companies are also moving their email to the cloud, improving access but potentially increasing the risk of a breach if proper security protocols aren’t in place. 
 
For any business utilizing the convenience and efficiency of the cloud, a multi-layered security strategy that includes ...

Windows 11 is almost here and there’s much to be excited about. With new features, improved security, and a fresh new design, this new operating system has been highly anticipated for months. Here’s what you need to know to take advantage as soon as it’s available in October (or sooner). 
 
How is Windows 11 different from Windows 10? 
The updates in the Windows 11 operating system are primarily geared towards supporting a hybrid workforce and hybrid learning experiences. ...

Smart home devices can make us more energy efficient, help us reach our health goals, automate daily tasks, and simply make our lives a little more convenient. They can also pose a serious cybersecurity risk if you’re not careful. Understanding these risks and how to mitigate them can allow you to safely enjoy a smart home and all the perks that come with it. 
 
What are smart home devices and how do they work? 
Smart home devices connect to the internet and can be remotely ...

Have you evaluated your businesses’ BYOD (bring your own device) policy since the start of the pandemic? There may be things you need to revise to account for the unique needs of a hybrid workplace. Many businesses now have a mix of employees working from home and at the office, with some employees even doing a bit of both. Reviewing (or creating) your BYOD policy is an essential part of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. Here’s what you should include to ensure your remote workers ...

Every time a global company falls victim to a cyberattack, it’s important to understand what went wrong, how the company reacted, and what we can learn from their experience. The Kaseya breach is especially relevant to our readers because although Pagoda doesn’t contract with Kaseya, many of their customers are Managed Service Providers, just like us. This attack is a sobering reminder that even the most trustworthy companies that deploy comprehensive, multi-layered security strategies ...

For some time now, the labor market has been candidate-driven, forcing employers to actively recruit talent rather than waiting for a qualified applicant to come to them. Especially now, with COVID-19 restrictions lifting and the world reopening, employers are desperately seeking to fill job openings as business again picks up. Attracting qualified applicants in today’s world, however, requires more than a job posting on Craigslist or spreading the word amongst friends and colleagues. It requires ...

They say the best way to learn is to make mistakes, but as a small business owner, you can’t always afford to learn through trial and error. Learning from others’ missteps is an equally (if not more) effective strategy, especially when it comes to cybersecurity and technology. Here are 8 common mistakes made by small business owners that you can learn from without personally suffering the consequences.   
 
1. Trying to manage IT by yourself 
Small business owners ...

How many times has an important email gone unanswered because it slipped to the second or third page of your inbox? If your answer is something along the lines of, “So many times I’ve lost count,” you’re far from alone. The “out of sight, out of mind” problem plagues most of us when it comes to managing our email. With the constant, steady stream of new messages flooding our inbox on a daily, even hourly, basis, it’s no wonder some fall through the cracks. ...

A Managed Service Provider (MSP) acts as your IT service partner, providing ongoing IT monitoring and maintenance for a flat monthly fee. They value a proactive approach, crafting a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy aimed to prevent a data breach, network outages, or other disruptions to your operations. Services may include an IT help desk, regular remote backups, firewalls, software updates, and team training. They’re also there for you in the case of an unexpected IT emergency. Not all ...

Over the course of the last year, the pandemic led to a rapid rise in remote work, increasing the vulnerability of many business networks. As the workforce scrambled to transition to the home office, many cybersecurity measures were overlooked and cybercriminals took advantage of these new weak points in the system. During uncertain, stressful times, people are also more susceptible to scams that prey on their fear and vulnerability. Fortunately, we can take measures to safeguard our businesses ...

When new software or the latest version of an existing software system is released, the work of the developers is hardly done. Because of the near constant evolution of technology, and human error, vulnerabilities always emerge. This is where security patches come in. 
 
Security patches work to protect you from software vulnerabilities before cybercriminals use them to gain access to your device(s) or those of your entire company network. The catch? The patches only work if you download ...

Firewalls are some of the original cybersecurity appliances. They were first used in the early 1990s as a software tool to control incoming traffic to computers, filtering out potential threats in the form of un-validated data packets (more on data packets later). As cyber threats have evolved and become more targeted and sophisticated, so has the firewall, allowing it to remain a central part of any multi-layered security strategy.  
 
Today’s firewall can be either a physical ...

Launched commercially in early 2019, the 5G network is well on its way to becoming the standard for all homes and businesses. 5G refers to the fifth generation technology of public wireless networks and is leagues better than its 4G predecessor in terms of capacity, latency, and download speeds. 
 
In addition to building large radio towers, companies like Verizon, AT&T, Verizon, and China Telecom Corporation Limited are deploying small-cell antennas (installed on buildings, streetlights, ...

A data breach can cause your business significant long-term damage, from a loss in revenue to a loss of credibility as a brand. While it’s important to do everything you can to prevent a data breach in the first place, preparing for the worst is equally important. Cyber liability insurance can ensure that should a data breach occur, you can react and rebound quickly while minimizing your financial loss, damage to your reputation, and disruption to operations. 
 
Who should invest ...

It’s no secret that a data breach will negatively impact your business, but understanding the potential extent of the damage can help you to react quickly and keep that damage to a minimum. As remote work is on the rise, your ability to handle a data breach becomes increasingly important. Remote workers have the potential to both increase the time it takes to identify and respond to an attack and increase the cost of the breach, according to IBM.  
 
No matter how small or large ...

Microsoft Teams and SharePoint are both part of the suite of services offered through Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365). Both Teams and SharePoint help you and your team to work collaboratively on projects, whether in the same space or working remote,  through easy and secure document storage, sharing, editing, and conversations. There’s a bit of overlap between the two services which can lead to some confusion over which one to use. Depending on your needs, you may choose to work in ...

Creating a cybersecurity strategy for your business that significantly mitigates the risk of a data breach requires multiple levels of defense. We call this a multi-layered security strategy. This holistic approach to cybersecurity includes a combination of defenses, from investing in reputable endpoint protection to training your entire team in cybersecurity best practices. Establishing this strategy involves 5 key components: Policy, Prevention, Detection, Response, and Recovery. 
 
1. ...

Google My Business (GMB) offers an effective way for small businesses to market themselves online for free or at very low cost. GMB is not available to online-only stores, so it is a great way for local product or service-based businesses to improve their online visibility, especially during the pandemic. 
 
According to multiple Google surveys and search data, searches for “available near me” have grown globally by more than 100% in 2020 compared to 2019. This means that contrary ...

The new California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), spearheaded by real estate developer Alastair Mactaggart, goes into effect January 1, 2023. The CPRA will replace the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) which was put into effect in January, 2020. So why is California enacting a second set of rules and regulations when we’ve barely begun implementing the first? According to those in favor of the CPRA, the CCPA doesn’t do enough to empower users to protect their data. Opponents, however, ...

Working from home can seem like a dream the first few weeks, but for many of us, that honeymoon period has long worn off. It turns out that working remotely is hard. Creating an environment at home that keeps us productive, stimulated, and happy requires investing in some key pieces of equipment, as well as carving out time for decompression and recharging. 
 
This gift list includes 11 ideas to improve the remote work experience and to help cultivate a new year of productivity, balance, ...

If you have a computer, server, or other digital resources at your place of work that you need access to from home (or elsewhere), there are three primary ways to gain this access. First, you need to establish that you have a secure internet connection and then you can determine how to most efficiently and securely achieve remote access. Below are 3 options, each with an explanation of how they work and their level of security.  
 
VPN (Virtual Private Network) 
What is it?
A ...

Network security, especially when working from home, is paramount to protecting your data and keeping your online activity private. Network security refers to your Wi-Fi network or internet connection and how well it’s protected against unauthorized users and hackers. There are a few simple steps you can take to secure your internet connection, whether you’re working in your spare bedroom or back at the office. 
 
What defines a safe network?  
A safe network or internet ...

The ever expanding world of cybersecurity practically has its own language there are so many terms unique to the field. While it’s tempting to glaze over when you come across this technical jargon, gaining at least a basic understanding of cybersecurity terms can help ensure you establish the most effective security system for your business. It also helps to keep your eyes and ears open to any emerging threats in the landscape, allowing you to take preventive action early before your data ...

Microsoft's Office 365 is a great way to store and access company data and files in the cloud. It allows you and your team to effectively work remotely, providing both ease of access and virtual collaboration. It can also save money and eliminate the need to manage multiple application servers. 
 
Storing your data in the cloud has countless benefits and can help prevent data loss in the face of device failure or theft, but it is not on its own a backup solution. It’s important to ...

Many companies are embracing the remote workforce, allowing most if not all of their employees to telecommute to the office five days a week. This opens up the possibility of both working from home and on the road. After all, if you don’t have to physically clock-in everyday, why not take this as an opportunity for a family road trip or solo adventure? (Taking all Covid-19 safety precautions, of course.) Even if you’re just planning to work from your home office and bring your laptop ...

As telecommuting increasingly becomes the norm, securing your internet connection, and that of your employees, should be a top priority. While your home Wi-Fi is most likely private, we often connect to free public Wi-Fi when on the go without thinking about the consequences. For example, how many times have you checked your email through an open, public Wi-Fi connection while standing in line at the grocery store or waiting to be seen at the doctor’s office? For most of us, it’s almost ...

When natural disaster strikes, you want your business to be prepared to weather the storm. Here in Santa Cruz County as we’ve battled the CZU Lightning Complex Fire over the past couple weeks, and as dozens of other counties battle their own fires across the state, we’ve been jarringly reminded of how quickly conditions can change and get out of our control. These fires have reminded us that natural disasters rarely give you a fair warning. You may have barely enough time to pack a few ...

We’ve all encountered HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) at the doctor’s office, pharmacy, or when conducting a transaction with your insurance company. HIPAA works to safeguard and place limits on the uses and disclosures of PHI (personal health information) and violations of HIPAA result in financial or criminal penalties. At first glance, it may seem that only businesses and organizations in the healthcare sector would need to ensure HIPAA compliance, ...

The mastermind behind Twitter’s largest ever security breach was a 17-year old from Tampa, Florida. Graham Clark gained access to high-profile Twitter accounts, including those of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Gates, and used those accounts to scam unsuspecting users out of thousands of dollars. So how did a high school student get behind the scenes of one of the world’s largest tech giants? A simple social engineering scam. 
 
Social engineering, an incredibly simple yet ...

It only takes one person clicking one malicious link to expose your private company data to a cybercriminal. Employee naivete is the primary vulnerability that cybercriminals target because it’s often the most prevalent and lowest hanging fruit. What’s more, phishing emails that target this vulnerability are only becoming more ubiquitous and tougher to spot. 
 
So what exactly is a phishing email? A phishing email is designed to mimic a trusted company like your bank, phone ...

Calling in to work meetings removes the harried commute, the need to dress professionally on both the top and bottom half, and the obligatory small talk with coworkers. So, these virtual meetings should be less stressful, right? As it turns out, video calls come with their own set of stressors and they’re taking a real mental toll on the workforce.     
 
It’s important to note that video conferencing software has been a critical tool in keeping teams connected ...

Running a business in 2020 is no small feat. Over the past few months, the entire world has been through some of the most frightening and challenging experiences as we face a global pandemic and growing civil unrest. Everything is in flux and while nothing is ever truly a sure deal, things feel even more uncertain right now.  And this makes it that much harder to make decisions that will benefit your business long-term. 
 
There is one decision, however, that is sure to positively ...

The way you run your business has most likely changed significantly over the last three months. You may have shifted to a distributed workforce, requiring you to set up a home office and embrace the video conference call for both internal sync ups and client meetings. If you run an essential business, you’ve taken extra lengths to protect your team and your customers. 
 
Although shelter in place orders are relaxing and many businesses across the country are reopening, the future ...

There’s a lot of misinformation circulating online around cybersecurity that can put your business at risk. These cybersecurity myths can often placate us into thinking that our business is safe when more often than not, the castle gate is likely to splinter at the first battering ram or will open wide to even the most poorly disguised Trojan horse. Remember, bad actors are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities, or, you might say, for chinks in your cybersecurity armor, that they can exploit. ...

As we continue to shelter in place, many of us are learning to conduct more of our business online. For some, this means shifting the sale of products/goods online, for others it means translating in-person services onto a digital platform like Zoom, Facebook Live, or some other audio/visual application. Still for others it may mean simply staying engaged with customers through an email newsletter or social media until it’s safe again to reopen for business. 
 
Even if we weren’t ...

Implementing password security best practices across your team does more than just keep your accounts safe. It also improves efficiency by avoiding those incidents where you get locked out of a mission-critical account because you can’t remember the password. Again. There’s a better way to access your accounts than by regularly resetting your password until you’ve run out of creative combinations of letters, numbers, and symbols. (Not to mention that research shows the more often ...

If you’re in a situation where you’re teleworking, whether by choice or requirement due to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s important to set some work rules for yourself to ensure you stay professional and productive. This is especially true for video conference calls. When you’re not physically in the same room as your colleagues or clients, it can be easy to forget your manners. It can also be easy to overlook security, putting the content of your calls at risk of a data ...

Whether or not we wanted to test out teleworking, the current outbreak of COVID-19 has forced many of us to shut down our offices and begin working from home. Across the world, governments are asking their citizens to help slow the spread of the coronavirus through social distancing, practicing good hygiene, and staying home as much as possible. This means that those businesses that can operate remotely should definitely do so, resulting in impromptu home office setups worldwide. 
 
While ...

PayPal is widely accepted as a secure way to conduct online transactions. 36 percent of North American retailers accepted PayPal as of December 2018, and in the fourth quarter of 2019, there were 305 million active PayPal accounts worldwide. A recent login hack, however, has put the company’s security in question. CyberNews analysts discovered vulnerabilities that would allow someone to access a user’s PayPal account by phishing their credentials or using stolen credentials ...

Passwords protect the vast majority of a business’s sensitive information, from your CRM system to your email account. This means that without proper password requirements in place, you’re unnecessarily opening yourself up to a data breach. The Nation Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) has released new guidelines for 2020 based on the tactics used by cybercriminals. It’s important that everyone on your team understands and adheres to these current password guidelines. If ...

If your business is outside the tech sector, you may think your cybersecurity practices are best left running in the background, reliable yet unseen. After all, your customers care primarily about the product or service you have to offer, not about the type of security procedures you follow to prevent a data breach. Right? This may have been the case in the past, but today, if given the choice between a company who openly shares their cybersecurity practices and one that assumes security is implied, ...

The use of location tracking by private companies is becoming more ubiquitous, whether or not they need the information to effectively provide their service. Instead this highly personal data is often shared or sold without our knowledge to third parties. The most benign use for this data is to create highly targeted ads, but companies could also use individual and collective location data to affect health care, political campaigns, and employment. Storing this data also opens up the risk of it ...

When you download a new app on your phone, you’re often pinged with a request to share your location. Many of us allow this form of data sharing without much thought. Hitting ‘Accept’ has almost become an involuntary reflex. But what are these companies doing with your location data, how much does this information reveal about our personal lives, and who else may have access to it? These are all questions that are important to consider as location tracking becomes increasingly ...

When you pack your bags for your next flight, do you know how and where to stow devices that contain lithium batteries? The rules on this have recently changed so it’s important to understand the new safety requirements before you arrive at the airport. 
 
Does your device use lithium batteries? 
 
Most portable electronic devices use lithium batteries because they can hold a charge longer than alkaline or nickel-cadmium batteries. These devices include cell phones, laptops, ...

Need to drop some not-so-subtle gift hints to friends and family this year? As a small business owner, there are certain gifts that can greatly benefit you both personally and professionally, leading to a happier, healthier and more successful year. So, don’t be shy, let your loved ones know what you really need this holiday season. Here are 6 ideas to inspire your list:  
 
1. Portable Charger or Power Bank 
A portable charger isn’t just a handy device for traveling, ...

Updated March 14, 2024
 
When a potential customer wants to find information about your business, where do they turn? The overwhelming majority will turn to Google to search for business hours, contact information, location and any other details they need to utilize your services. While it’s important to invest in strategies to improve your Google ranking, such as content marketing and SEO, you shouldn’t overlook the simple task of claiming or creating your Google Business Profile ...

Approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population—25 million Americans—have some sort of disability. While not all of these disabilities may affect how someone interacts with your website, many do, and it’s your responsibility to ensure these individuals can effectively navigate the information that you’re providing. The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) now applies not only to brick and mortar establishments but to websites as well. In 2018, there were 1,000 lawsuits related ...

In the age of the internet, we’ve grown accustomed to running a business with the support of information technology (IT). We might not think about it on a day-to-day basis but IT has become a critical element, and in many cases is the foundation, of most modern businesses. Even though we rely on it for everything from customer service to project management, it’s hard for most business owners to provide a clear definition of what IT actually is because it covers so much. Here’s ...

There are many SEO strategies you can implement to help your website rank higher on search engines. These include everything from publishing new content regularly and including the right keywords in your website copy to creating a friendly user experience that encourages visitors to return to your site. One of the more technical SEO strategies is adding markup to your site that leads to the creation of rich snippets.   
 
What are rich snippets? 
Search engines like Google ...

The days of traditional phone lines for businesses are coming to an end and in its place are VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol services. In layman’s terms, this just means a phone service run over the internet instead of through your local phone company. You can use VoIP through your computer or phone and use it not just for traditional voice calls but also for email, fax, and conference calls. If you’re still running your business through a traditional phone line, it may be time ...

In many companies, cyber security is the focus of the IT department or contracted managed service provider. HR, sales, admin, and all the other team members who work on the company network and handle company data and sensitive customer information rely on “the experts” to prevent a cyber security attack. This traditional approach, however, is deeply flawed and dangerous. Unless someone from IT were to monitor every employee’s online activity every second of the day and could take ...

Microsoft’s Office 365 Business combines the familiarity and reliability of cornerstone applications like Word with newer tools like OneNote and Teams to help you collaborate effectively with your team and clients and stay on top of all your projects. We recommend starting with the Office 365 Business Premium which comes with a business email and additional applications like Teams (the updated version of Skype). If you’re not a fan of Microsoft, check out Google’s suite of productivity ...

Google Docs functions as your word processor within the G Suite productivity software. The live collaboration features make it easy for multiple team members to work on the same document simultaneously or to update documents with information that regularly changes and evolves. To take full advantage of Google Docs, however, it’s helpful to understand the different available collaboration features and how to leverage each. 
 
How to collaborate online with Google Docs      &...

G Suite is our productivity software of choice here at Pagoda. It keeps our team synced across projects, lets us remotely collaborate on content, and allows us to video chat with clients and team members over the hill or across the globe. Let’s look at the different products and features G Suite has to offer and how you can use it to streamline your workflow and improve productivity. 
 
What is G Suite?   
G Suite is a comprehensive tool box of software applications ...

Whether you’re a company of 5 or 500, protecting your customer data should be a top priority. Data breaches and ransomware attacks are growing in frequency and there seems to be no target too small for hackers. If you gather any information on your website or store customer data in an online database, you need to be implementing data privacy laws and best practices. People are increasingly wary of submitting personal data online so it’s important to take the necessary steps to ensure ...

As a small business, actively monitoring and managing your online presence often gets forgotten, but should be an important part of your marketing strategy and long-term business plan. Your customers and clients now turn to Google to learn about your reputation and to decide whether or not to give you their business. If you turn a blind eye to conversations happening on social media, review platforms like Yelp, and mentions of your business on other websites, you’re missing a huge opportunity ...

The city of Baltimore was recently the target of a ransomware attack that paralyzed government services and is costing the city thousands of dollars. You’ve probably read about this attack in the news and perhaps even fretted a bit that a similar attack could be carried out on your own city government. After all, city governments notoriously have outdated computer networks and limited funding for cybersecurity, putting them at risk. But what about your business? The software used to launch ...

As a small business owner, you’ve likely struggled to decide how to manage your IT needs. Should you hire someone in-house or contract the work out to an IT service provider? If you decide to work with an outside agency, you have further decisions to make. IT companies offer different types of services and each company’s focus can differ as well. It’s important to understand these differences as you choose who to trust with your data and evolving technology needs. You will primarily ...

Most of us don’t think twice about which website browser we use to navigate the internet. We use the default that comes with our computer or we opt for the browser we’ve always used. (And who knows how we chose that one in the first place.) When it comes to security and privacy, however, not all browsers are made equal. Below, we review the security and usability of four major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.    
 
Google Chrome
Chrome is the most versatile ...

If you’re still using Internet Explorer as your default web browser, it’s time to get with the times and switch to a modern browser. Internet Explorer, or IE, was installed by default on every Windows computer starting back in 1995. It had a good run, holding approximately 95% of the market share in the early 2000s. Today, however, that number is down to less than 10% because of performance and security issues. In fact, Microsoft has been trying to move users off IE now for four years, ...

In a time of escalating cybersecurity threats, we’re quick to label all hackers as criminals with malicious intent. After all, hackers are the ones who steal our passwords, compromise our data, and drain the savings from our bank accounts. Right? It’s true, some are guilty of all these crimes, but there are other hackers with noble intentions who are actually protecting society rather than trying to destroy it. So, who exactly are these well intentioned hackers and what is their role ...

When it comes to security, a strong password is a good first step. But if that’s the only step you have to take to gain access to your accounts, you have a gaping hole in your defenses. Two-factor or multi-factor authentication fills in this hole with an additional barrier to entry in the form of identifying information. You may already use two-factor authentication (also referred to as two-factor verification) for some of your social media accounts or for an account that contains highly sensitive ...

Blackmail emails aren’t new but there’s been an uptick in the number sent since the start of 2019. The most recent batch have tried to blackmail their targets into paying a ransom by claiming they have evidence of them watching pornography online. They threaten to reveal this evidence, purportedly hacked from your computer’s webcam and screen-capturing function, to all of your email and social media contacts unless you pay the ransom.
 
This is a scary email to receive and ...

You can’t have a WordPress site without plugins but the sheer number of options from countless developers is a small business owner’s nightmare. While there are plenty of articles out there recommending the top plugins for WordPress websites and the best plugins of the year, if you stray from these popular recommendations, the waters get murky fast. How can you tell the trustworthy ones from those with shoddy code and potential threats to your website? While many plugins are safe, you ...

As a small business it’s common for IT to fall by the wayside. After all, you have a million other things to manage from payroll to nurturing customer relationships. The thing is, IT includes services that are crucial to sustainable growth and the security of your online systems. These services include backup management, cloud solutions, virus protection, website performance, and more. Stay competitive and protect yourself against cyber security threats and natural disasters by avoiding these ...

You finally have a new website and you’re excited to share it with your current customers and ideal prospects. Or maybe you recently invested in a content marketing strategy and are publishing new content to your site on a regular basis. The next question always is, ‘How long will it take for my site to rank on the first page of Google?’ This is a very valid question, especially when you’ve invested time and money into improving your site. The answer, unfortunately, is not ...

A highly collaborative workplace can foster creativity, boost morale, and improve productivity. The wrong approach, however, can slow down or even derail an important project rather than speed up the process. Creating a highly collaborative workforce requires patience, experimentation, and investment in the right tools for your unique team dynamics and the needs of your industry. Fortunately, new technologies offer flexible ways to connect your team members whether they’re working in the same ...

WordPress is the most popular content management system, but popularity comes with a price. With 30 percent of all websites built on WordPress, hackers have had a lot of practice finding and exploiting the software’s weak points. The average website is attacked 44 times per day(!) and open source platforms like WordPress are especially at risk. Even with its vulnerabilities, WordPress is often the best choice for small businesses because of its ease of use and compatibility with a large variety ...

The holidays are supposed to be about giving to others but we think you deserve to treat yourself to a couple of gifts this year (or drop some not-so-subtle hints to your loved ones). After you buy everyone in your family a truly unique gift, invest in something for yourself that will help improve the security, productivity, and overall success of your business. These gifts for business owners will help you get a jumpstart on 2019 while your competitors are still polishing off the last of the eggnog.
 
CRM ...

The new features in Windows 10 are designed to optimize your workflow and make your life a little easier. Fully leveraging these features, however, requires the uncomfortable practice of compromising your privacy. While we would like to believe that Microsoft has only the best intentions at heart, we also know that if a nefarious player gains access to the company’s data, your information is at risk. With any operating system it’s up to you to decide what level of compromise you’re ...

Windows 10 has many new features that can improve your productivity and generally make your life easier but you have to know about them and how to take advantage. (Haven’t yet upgraded to Windows 10? You may still be able to get the upgrade for free. Find out how here.) We’ve compiled a list of 14 tips and tricks for Windows 10 to improve and streamline your daily digital experience.
 
Let’s get started:
 
1. Share files wirelessly with Near Share
Like Apple’s Airdrop, ...

Getting a computer virus is a nightmare. Your system slows down, pop-ups may start bombarding your screen, and worst of all, your data is at risk. A computer virus, as defined by Comodo Security Solutions, “is a malicious program that self-replicates by copying itself to another program.” This means that even if it originates in your email software, for example, it will spread on its own to other documents and programs within your computer. As the virus spreads more of your data is at ...

Bad habits are hard to break but when those habits are shortening the lifespan of your laptop or other electronic devices, it’s time to muster your resolve and change your ways. Fortunately, adopting healthy device-care habits doesn’t require any huge lifestyle shifts. We’ve put together a list of six bad habits that could be harming your laptop, desktop, or smartphone and what to do instead.
 
Neglecting to install software updates
Keeping your devices up to date with the ...

Once you’ve determined what it will entail for your business to move to the cloud, it’s time to put together a cloud migration strategy. (If you haven’t yet read Part 1 of this post, or need a refresher, take a moment to read it here.) Laying out a plan for moving forward with this big shift for your business helps minimize the disruption to your day-to-day workflow and allows you to start enjoying the benefits sooner.
 
Here’s how to go about creating a cloud migration ...

Migrating your business to the cloud means more flexibility for you and your team, automated data backup, secure storage even when the power goes down, and peace of mind whether you’re at the office or at home with the family. But what does migrating to the cloud really entail and does it make sense for your business? Let’s start with the basics:
What do you mean by cloud migration?
Cloud migration is the process of moving data, applications, and IT infrastructure (like email services) ...

Updated August 29, 2023
 
Making payments online has become the norm, from paying your energy bill to shopping for the holidays. We’ve adopted it across nearly every form of financial transaction and are accustomed to companies requesting personal information like our name, mailing address, phone number, email, and credit card number upon checkout.
 
With this level of ubiquity, however, comes the danger of complacency. Many of us have become enamored with the convenience of online ...

The Dark Web is a murky concept to most, known primarily for hosting an underground matrix of criminal activity. While it’s true that the Dark Web is, in effect, a cyber criminal safe house, the secretive network also hosts investigative news websites, free speech forums, and even chess clubs. Even if you never plan to explore its deep, mysterious depths, it’s important to have a basic understanding and awareness of the Dark Web because when your data is compromised, that’s where ...

Updated Dec 15, 2023
 
Social media is a necessary marketing tool for any business but as with any online platform, it comes with risks. After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, many individuals and businesses opted out of Facebook to protect their data. In May, 2018 Twitter (now X) accidentally revealed its users’ passwords in plain text, further chipping away the trust between users and social media platforms. This crumbling of trust led the EU to establish the GDPR (General Data Protection ...

Online access to company data makes it easy to get work done on the road, but if devices fall into the wrong hands, sensitive company data (and personal information) is at risk. When traveling for business or pleasure, completing a cyber security checklist can mean the difference between a seamless trip and complete disaster. After you book the hotel and reserve a rental car, make sure you’ve gone through the following 7 cyber security tips for business travel.
 
Bon voyage!   
 
1. ...

Updated June 23, 2022
 
To keep all your online information secure, you should have a unique password for every account, but who can remember that many phrases or random combinations of letters, numbers, and special characters? No one, which is why people either reuse the same two passwords (increasing the odds of getting hacked) or they use their browser or a stand-alone password manager. Of these two options, your browser may be the most convenient, but is it safe to store passwords in Chrome ...

Many of us check our work emails, handle work-related documents, and sometimes even access our company network from home. While we’ve discussed the growing importance of establishing a BYOD policy at the workplace, it’s equally important to set up a secure Wi-Fi connection at home to protect personal and company data.  
 
While most of us set it and forget it, your internet router is one of the most important devices in your home and requires periodic updates to maintain optimal ...

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a new requirement going into effect May 25, 2018 that aims to protect the personal data and privacy of all people in the EU (both citizens and visitors). It applies to any company that collects data on citizens or people currently residing in the EU. This data includes basic information such as a first name and email address collected in a newsletter sign-up form as well as cookies and IP addresses.
 
While the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal ...

It’s no wonder data security is at the forefront of everyone’s mind, whether you’re a high-profile CEO, entry-level employee, or small business owner. From Facebook’s data privacy scandal and 2017’s record-breaking security breaches to the looming threat of a large-scale Russia cyber attack, there are plenty of reasons to feel a bit anxious when it  comes to our online privacy.
 
If you own a business or are responsible for a company website, it’s more ...

In last week’s Senate committee hearing, Mark Zuckerberg said he would feel uncomfortable sharing the contents of his private messages sent through the Facebook messenger app. Yet, this is exactly the type of information that was shared with Cambridge Analytica by users of an app called “This is Your Digital Life.” Users did give the app consent to collect their data (and the data of their friends) but the breach occurred when the owner of the app sold that data to Cambridge Analytica ...

Updated April 21, 2022
 
How many smartphones have you owned in your lifetime? Can you remember what you did with each of them once you upgraded to a newer model? With planned obsolescence the new norm, most of us are discarding our smartphones, TVs, laptops, and other devices more frequently than ever. Where a US family once kept the same television for over a decade, it’s now rare for us to keep any device for longer than two years.
 
In 2019, we discarded 53.6 million tons of ...

Once upon a time there was no other choice but to print every form and file it alphabetically in a maze of cabinets, requiring an entire room to accommodate their unwieldy girth. A primarily paper-based business requires meticulous filing methods, additional off-site storage with duplicate copies (or the risk of losing everything in a natural disaster), and an inflexible workforce that’s tied to the office.
 
Fortunately, that time is over and it’s now easier than ever to convert ...

How often do you find yourself pulling your hair out because your laptop is loading a file or web page at the speed of a geriatric sloth? If the answer is ‘too often’ we have 5 tips that will speed up your MacBook or PC without requiring you to spend a dime. Learn how to clear up space, only run programs you actually use, and adopt new habits that will improve your laptop’s performance, for free.  
 
1. Remove duplicate files
With extended use, your laptop’s hard ...

Just like an individual can be targeted for identity theft, your business is also at risk. While the number of individuals reporting identity theft actually decreased in 2017 compared to the previous two years, business identity theft is on the rise.
 
With sensitive company data such as EINs stored online (and sometimes even posted publicly on a company website), criminals are able to open corporate credit cards and file tax returns under your business’s name. Cloud-based software, messaging ...

Do you find yourself wishing there were more hours in the day? Our professional and personal to-do lists are never-ending and sometimes it feels nearly impossible to stay on top of our deadlines and also make time for the things in life that matter most.
 
While technology is often to blame for increased stress levels (before the internet threats like Meltdown & Spectre didn’t even exist!), it also has the ability to increase our productivity and reduce feelings of overwhelm. It allows ...

Researchers have discovered two hardware flaws in the most protected part of a device’s operating system. The first flaw was found in Intel’s chips which drive more than 80% of the world’s PCs. The second flaw affects just about every other chip--smartphones, laptops, your smartwatch, and other IoT devices.
 
Named Meltdown and Spectre, these flaws have actually been around for years, but tech researchers only discovered them in the last few months. The flaws affect a foundational ...

Many of us have set our new year’s resolutions and are heading into 2018 with lofty goals and hopefully a few attainable aspirations. Improving the tech security of your business may not sound particularly visionary, but it can save you from a world of headache. Over the past year, we’ve shared numerous tips to help prevent these tech-induced headaches by showing you how to protect your business (and yourself) from a data breach. From these tips, we’ve pulled out our top five tech ...

All it takes is one. One employee to open one fraudulent email and click one infected link to put your entire business at risk. The best-trained IT team in the world can’t prevent someone else in the company from making this potentially fatal mistake. Uninformed employees are the weakest link in your company’s cybersecurity, but fortunately, there’s a simple solution. This solution is forehead-slapping simple and incredibly effective, yet most companies aren’t utilizing it. ...

There are already plenty of tech gift guides floating around the internet that include the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Beats wireless headphones--all great gifts but we figure you’ve probably already heard of those gadgets. The items on this list are equally high-tech but they’re either newer to the market or made by companies with less marketing power than Apple, so they may not yet be on your radar.
 
We should also mention that they’re all made or founded right here in ...

Online shopping is so fast and convenient it’s hard to justify braving the holiday traffic and fighting your way through the crowds at the mall. Checking off your Christmas list from the comfort of your couch, however, comes with its own risks. Go ahead and stay in your pajamas while you shop, but protect yourself from malicious online attacks by taking a few extra precautions this holiday season.
 
Let’s start by identifying a couple common online shopping scams and then we’ll ...

Allowing employees to work on their own laptop or mobile phone can boost morale and productivity but is it worth the security risk? A BYOD (bring your own device) policy is a cost effective way to give employees more autonomy and control over their work experience. It allows employees to have a more flexible schedule, work more efficiently (Mac users don’t have to make the awkward, time consuming transition to a PC and vice versa), and work remotely, opening up the job pool to a wider range ...

Most of us with an email address have been the target of either phishing or spear phishing. These two types of cyberattacks use the same approach to access personal data: via an email from a trusted contact. If you haven’t received one, you’ve probably heard of emails sent from a friend or colleague that turn out to contain malicious links or attachments. In order to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of one of these attacks, it’s important to understand how they work and ...

Keeping your technology up to date isn’t just for the Silicon Valley startups and tech giants like Amazon and Google. Whether you run a dog-walking franchise or a local coffee shop, the success of your business can hinge on how well (or how poorly) you use tech to run your day-to-day operations.
 
Here are four ways you’re putting your business at risk if you don’t evolve with the world of tech:
 
Weakened Security
If you’re one of those people that avoids software ...

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, their official guidelines for creating secure passwords were, in a word, wrong. All those random numbers, letters, and characters are not so hard to crack after all. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, former National Institute of Standards and Technology manager Bill Burr admitted, “Much of what I did I now regret.”
 
When Burr wrote the complicated guidelines that should have resulted in the creation of ...

Today, our online banking, text messages, and ecommerce sites all use encryption to ensure our personal information is secure and stays out of the hands of those with malicious intent. Computers power this encryption, scrambling data using complex mathematical formulas in a matter of minutes, but that wasn’t always the case.
 
In World War II German armed forces had a different method of encryption. They used a device called the Enigma machine to send encrypted messages between Berlin ...

Everyone with a smartphone uses messaging apps to communicate with friends, family, and coworkers. iMessage, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Wechat, WhatsApp, Facetime, Google Hangouts, and Skype are just some of the apps dominating this over-saturated market. Amazon also plans to throw its hat into the arena with a messaging app called Anytime for smartphones, tablets, PCs, and smart watches. The app will have text and video, the ability to send photos with filters, play games, and engage ...

Both your web browser and Internet Service Provider (ISP) are actively gathering data when you go online. They’re tracking information like the websites you visit, how long you stay on each page, where you’re logging in from, and what type of device you’re using. Even if you’re an upstanding citizen with a clean record and nothing to hide, the extent to which companies like Google and Comcast are monitoring our online activity warrants some healthy skepticism around their ...

Bitcoin has been credited with revolutionizing and democratizing money production and has been accused of abetting illegal sales on the Black Market. In March 2017, the online currency’s value ($2,637.82 at the time of writing) even surpassed the value of an ounce of gold ($1,237).
 
For such a young currency, Bitcoin has made an inescapable splash across the world and it seems that influence is only increasing. As more people choose to use Bitcoin and as more companies choose to accept ...

Amazon’s recent acquisition of Whole Foods has many people wondering, have tech giants like Amazon gotten too big? Already the dominant player in online sales, could Amazon’s entry into brick and mortar threaten our country’s competitive open-market system? And what does all this mean for small businesses?
 
Amazon began as an online book reseller, expanding into cloud computing services through AWS (Amazon Web Services), and now AWS (just one arm of the giant corporation) ...

Updated Nov 22, 2022
 
If you think your business is too small to warrant a CRM (customer relationship management) system, you may want to ask yourself a very important question: Does customer service matter to you and do you want to scale and grow your business? If the answer is yes (and we hope it is), then a CRM system is integral to the success of your business.
 
Here at Pagoda Technologies, we use a variety of online tools to help us manage client work and internal tasks. Our CRM ...

Most Mac users are confident in their computer’s ability to ward off cyberattacks, but should Apple fans be a little more wary? While it’s true that Macs do experience fewer attacks than PCs, this doesn’t mean that they’re entirely secure.
 
Here’s what you need to know about macOS security, its vulnerability to cyberattacks and viruses, and how it compares to Windows.
 
Smaller Market Share Means Lower Risk. Or Does It?  
 
For years, Mac users ...

 
 
When was the last time you updated your operating system? What if ransomware attacked your computer and encrypted your files--would you have a recent backup so that you could easily recover all that you’d lost?
 
The WannaCry ransomware that first emerged in the UK healthcare system on Friday, May 12, has people across the world asking themselves these very questions. As of Monday, May 15, WannaCry has infiltrated over 300,000 computers across 150 countries by targeting ...

Updated May 7, 2022
 
Technology can both reduce and increase our environmental impact. It just depends on how we use it. Monitors, backup systems, cell phones, SMART boards, and all the other technology required to run your business can result in sky-high energy bills and unnecessary energy waste. On the other hand, this very same technology allows us to reduce waste in other ways that can greatly reduce the environmental impact of a business.
 
Here are 5 ways to harness the power of ...

Most of us sabotage our productivity on a daily basis without even realizing it. While technology can improve your efficiency, it can just as easily eat up time and energy if you’re not careful to have some limitations and organizational systems in place.
 
Check out these 8 life hacks that will instantly improve your productivity when working on a computer.
 
1.  Create a virtual to-do list
Who doesn’t like the feeling of crossing items off your to-do list? Besides making ...

Have you ever thought about how much of your personal data is stored online? Once you start making a mental list of all the apps, accounts, and email servers that store everything from your birth date to your credit card number, you may start feeling a little queasy. Is all that data actually secure? Who has access to this personal information and what are they doing with it?
 
Before we dive into the risks of storing your personal data online, keep in mind that we are not advocating for you ...

Jeff Bezos named Amazon after the world’s largest river because he hoped it would become the world’s largest bookstore. Fast forward a couple decades later, and Amazon has expanded far beyond an online book reseller, now dominating the market in products ranging from refrigerators to dog food. Perhaps the most surprising market, however, that Amazon now dominates, is cloud computing services (storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer's hard drive).
 
AWS ...

Far too many small businesses put themselves at risk because they don’t understand the real threats of cyber security. There are quite a few cyber security risks that are accepted as fact, opening up IT networks to hackers and large-scale data loss. We put 7 of these common cyber security myths to bed so that you can decrease the chances of an attack and mitigate the damage.
 
1.  Hackers only target large corporations
You may think that as a small business your data isn’t ...

No matter what type of business you run, it’s probably safe to guess that you have an online presence and manage most or all of your business through a computer network. It’s probably also safe to guess that if your network crashed or your website went down, you would be losing money (or potential clients) until the issue was resolved.
 
There is no doubt about the importance of protecting your business from a security breach or network malfunction, but it’s also crucial to ...

As a small business, tasks like invoicing, scheduling meetings, and prioritizing projects can take valuable time and energy away from your core offerings and the needs of your customers.
 
At Pagoda Technologies, we’ve tried and tested many business apps to help with everything from financing to internal and external communication. Here are some of our favorite apps that have helped us streamline administrative tasks, stay organized, and remain focused on the work we really care about.
 
 
Financin...

The internet of things (IoT) is rapidly weaving itself into the fabric of our daily lives. From smartphones to smart HVAC systems like the Nest Thermostat, our world is increasingly connected through our everyday objects.
 
Although the IoT poses significant security risks, it is also an exciting new frontier that’s paving the way for a future that transcends physical boundaries and allows you to achieve more on the go. We’re getting a glimpse of this future through some of the ...

The competition is neck and neck between Google’s G Suite (previously Google Apps) and Microsoft’s Office 365. Although G Suite led the way as the cloud-based option for online business collaboration, Office 365 has quickly caught up and has its own pack of loyal followers.
 
For many, the debate hinges on subjective opinions - do you identify with Google or Microsoft? - but there are subtle differences between the two cloud-based office application packages that will help you decide ...

Holiday shopping doesn’t have to mean countless hours at the mall, searching in vain for the perfect gift. We’ve done the research for you to find some of the best gifts in tech for everyone on your list. From a smart flowerpot to an affectionate robot, here are our top 11 picks for tech gadget gifts this year:  
 
1. For the Windows fan: Dell XPS 13 $799
This sleek and lightweight Ultrabook laptop offers a high resolution bezel-less display that stretches 13.3 inches ...

We are increasingly connected to the internet through everyday objects, from smartwatches and phones to smart-fridges and heating systems. As of this year, an estimated 6.4 billion things are connected to the internet and this number is expected to increase to a staggering 21 billion as of 2020.
 
Known as the internet of things (IoT), the convenience of a connected world comes with a price. The incredibly fast growth of the IoT has opened us up to more vicious and widespread cyberattacks as ...

According to the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry, 70% of businesses that suffer a major data loss go out of business within a year. With consequences like that, it is crucial for businesses to have a data recovery plan. There are three parts to a well thought out data recovery plan: Planning, Storage and Recovery. Each part is important, and each one should have a plan of its own. Below we go through each stage of a recommended data recovery plan.
 
Step 1: Planning
 
Make ...

Image from digitalrivercontent.net
Only a month after Microsoft launched its new Office 365 Home Premium for individuals and families, the company also launched an update to Office 365 for business users. Office 365 has had both negative and positive feedback, the negative mostly comes from their licensing changes. However, small and large business owners alike should see what Office 365 has to offer. Below are some of the main features.
 
Cloud-based online versions of SharePoint, Skype for ...

Image from:healthcareitnews.com
 
Cybersecurity extends beyond computers.
In past blog posts, we’ve discussed how the human element is the most vulnerable to security breaches. Humans are what allow cyber criminals to take over technology. With technology advances in the last 10 years we have to consider security for not only computers, but cell phones, tablets, video games, car navigation systems and now smart watches and VR devices. If a computer is hacked, all of the data stored locally ...

Image from: dailydot.com
The end of the year is just around the corner. As we make our way into the 3rd quarter it is time to ask yourself how you can save money and finish out the year in a strong financial state. IT is essential to businesses.We’ve written about this at length in our other blog posts, but where is IT not essential? Where can we all save a little money and become more efficient at the same time? We’ve compiled a few steps you can take to do this.
 
Go Remote
Ok. ...

It is time to face the facts: technology is changing faster than ever. Normally presented as a positive, technological improvements can also be a threat to established businesses. The rise of emerging tech businesses may give consumers more choices, but can lead to increased competition for existing businesses and even a complete industry overhaul with new business models empowered by the latest advances in IT.
 
“Enterprises once protected by significant investments and regulations now ...

Image from: www.travelfreak.net
 
The Global Business Travel Association estimates that in 2016 more than $1.3 million business trips will be taken in the US. On these business trips many employees are using company distributed cell phones, lap tops, smart devices and more. The risk of cyber attacks in normal situations at any company is high, when employees are traveling all over the world that risk increases exponentially. Are you sure that all of your employees (or yourself for that matter) ...

Image from: thenextweb.com
It is 2016 and we are developing technology at a faster rate than ever before. The Internet of Things (IoT) is getting larger, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting smarter, and the wealth of technology at our fingertips is staggering. However, this wealth of technological innovations comes with a price. We have compiled a list of things that you may not have considered when it comes to our recent technology advancements.
 
          1. ...

Here at Pagoda Technologies, we are constantly trying to keep our customers updated on security risks and personal data breaches. More often than not, the leading cause of data security breaches is human error, but every once in awhile there is a serious bug somewhere in the system that leads to compromised data. This week, we bring you something that happens to address both issues: Pokemon GO.
Pokemon GO is an Augmented Reality (AR) game that allows players to track, capture, battle and level up ...

Image from http://www.recentfusion.com/
 
On June 13th of this year Microsoft announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire LinkedIn for $196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion, the largest acquisition in the company's history. LinkedIn gets to stay mostly the same, leaving them their logo, their culture, their brand, their code, and even their CEO Jeff Weiner, but they will all be reporting to the head of Microsoft ...

On February 6th of this year, computers at a Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center become infected with the .locky virus that shut down their communication capabilities. After a few days when the hospital had to resort to keeping records with pen and paper, they paid a ransom of 40 bitcoins (approximately $17,000) and regained access to their computer system.
 
This is happening all the time to hundreds of institutions all over the United States. Over 18 million dollars were paid to ransomware ...

 
Images from unsplash.com
 
Many of us, in this technology age, have become very proficient at running our own businesses and managing the IT side of things ourselves. We have Google Drive storage down to a science, LastPass seems to work great and you get a new laptop every few years to stay ahead of the planned obsolescence.
 
However, working as the default company IT person can get frustrating and difficult. There are times when things are changing so rapidly in the IT industry ...

"For a user running a vulnerable version of Android, it's as simple as going to a website, connecting to a rogue AP or being under traffic redirection attack, and you get compromised," said Zuk Avraham, founder and CTO of Zimperium. "It's a (relatively) fast and reliable attack."
 
About 90% of Android users are currently vulnerable to malware attacks. There is even a website dedicated to charting these attacks and showing which manufacturers have secure or insecure devices. It seems that it ...

Image from blog.kaspersky.com 
 
Locky Ransomware is the new way for cyber criminals to take a hostage, and hold them until you send payment. Except instead of holding a person hostage, they just hold all of your important files on your computer, encrypt them and demand money for the key. The tell tale sign of the ‘Locky’ ransomware is that your important files will all have changed the file extension to ‘.locky’.
 
Locky typically infects a user's computer ...

“Moore's law refers to an observation made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965. He noticed that the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits had doubled every year since their invention. Moore's law predicts that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future. Although the pace has slowed, the number of transistors per square inch has since doubled approximately every 18 months.” - Investopedia.com
 
This simple observation made by Gordon Moore in ...

You are probably using Microsoft Office in some capacity in your everyday life as well as at work. Microsoft Office includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. In 2012 Softpedia declared that over 1 billion people are using Microsoft Office, and 4 years later than number has no doubt increased. However, using Microsoft Office across multiple devices can be a huge ordeal. The interface has never been stellar and things are not easily accessible on mobile.
We wanted to introduce our readers to a ...

 
Although we are a few months into 2016, there are three crucial IT trends you should be aware of that we think will make a difference to business owners..
 
 
Wearable Technology is on the Rise. It is likely that in the next year we will see more and more wearable tech. According to McAfee Labs, “780 million: The number of wearable devices by 2019.” This means that business owners won’t just have access to wearable tech, but the sophistication of the technology ...

Windows 10 is the newest version of Windows, check out our last blog post on Windows 10 to see if making the switch is right for you.
Using Windows 10 comes with a lot of benefits, including some new shortcuts you might not have known about. We have compiled a list of shortcuts we think would most benefit the Pagoda Technologies customers.
 
Windows - Pressing the Windows button allows you to open up the Windows 10 Start Menu.
Windows + Tab - Pressing Win+Tab launch Windows 10 Task View. This ...

The average total cost of a data breach in 2015 was $3.8 million, according to the Ponemon Institute's report, "2015 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis". This study also reported a 23 percent increase in data breaching since 2013. Safe to say, this is a serious issue for business owners.
 
Getting rid of an old computer or hard drive can seem like a simple task, however there are a few things you must consider when going out with the old and in with the new.
 
If you are responsible ...

Having a Solid State Drive, or an SSD in your computer comes with some advantages and disadvantages. First, what is an SSD and what does it do for you?
A solid state drive (SSD) is where your data is stored on your computer. This data includes the computer’s operating system and could also include your documents, music collection, pictures of your last vacation or your favorite movies you’ve stored on your desktop. An SSD will save this data on interconnected flash memory chips that ...

 
In September 2014, Microsoft unveiled their new operating system, Windows 10. However it wouldn’t be until 10 months later in July 2015, that Microsoft would unleash Windows 10 on to its consumer base. Following its release, Microsoft wants Windows 10 to be installed in 1 billion devices in the next three years. With that goal in mind, it is important to at least understand what Windows 10 is and if it is right for you.
 
Many users, wary of installing a new operating system, have ...

Running a small business is much like steering a large ship. You spend a lot of time crafting it and getting ready to sail, and once you are out on the water most things run pretty smoothly. However, you can’t always see the obstacles headed your way. Are you going to run into shallow waters? Hit an iceberg? Lose some crewmembers overboard?
Business owners can’t do everything themselves. Having IT support to help you avoid obstacles and throw out a life ring if needed can make a good ...

With the new year upon us, there are a few key things you need to take care of. An important one that must be carefully reviewed, planned and measured is the 2016 IT budget.
If you are working at a business that depends heavily on your IT (and let’s face it, what business doesn’t) and you have goals to grow and expand your company in 2016, then you definitely need to budget for your IT needs. Here are 5 ways you can prepare for the 2016 financial budget.
 
       1. ...

A few weeks ago we wrote a blog about the risks of spear phishing email attacks that can leave your company vulnerable to cyber attacks. A seemingly harmless email from someone you trust shows up in your inbox with an attachment. Unsuspecting employees click the link or download the file and suddenly the whole network is compromised.
Back in the old days email was the most vulnerable part of a company's defense system. However, today we have another culprit: Social Media. Everyone is on social ...

Did you know that since 2000 e-signatures (electronic signatures) have the same legal standing as physical signatures in the US? The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act made it so 15 years ago.
With these e-signatures holding so much legal weight, it’s important they are used correctly.
 
Here are 3 things you need to know about using an e-signature in your business.
 
1. There is a difference between an e-signature and a digital signature
 
An E-Signature ...

Running a business is tough. And as a business owner, you have more than enough to think about when making decisions. There is HR to consider, clients to manage, advertising, employee training and of course the IT department. With today’s advances in technology, we depend on our IT people more than ever in a business setting.
 
So what’s a business owner to do?
 
You can’t do all of these things yourself, that’s for sure.
A lot of these things can be managed in ...

For a long time, Apple has been known as having the most secure OS out there. It’s sleek, it’s secure, the systems are impenetrable right? Right?
 
Well not so much.
 
After a few high profile breaches of security, it has become clear that maybe apple products aren’t quite as safe as they once were.
 
But were they even secure in the old days? A study by Bit9 shows that until recently, Apple products were in fact not relevant enough for hackers to care about, since ...

We all want to keep our computers clean and healthy, they power our jobs, our personal connections, our relationships with faraway relatives. No matter how you use them, computers are a very important part of our lives.
Keeping them running and in good health can be complicated, and advice on how to keep them that way can be well meaning but ineffective or even harmful to your computer.
 
Here are a few myths we dug up that need busting.
Draining your computer battery all the way to zero is ...

Adblock Plus Can Protect You From Annoying Ads, But At What Cost?
 
Adblock Plus is an extremely useful tool for anyone surfing the web, no more pesky ads, no more accidentally clicking away from the page you were trying to arrive at. It makes user’s lives infinitely easier and you get a much cleaner internet experience. Ad free browsing is what most of us hope for.
 
 
The benefits of installing Adblock Plus onto your browser are:
Protection from webad poisoning (cyber criminals ...

Even if you know you need to secure your Wi-Fi network (and have already done so), you probably find all the encryption acronyms a little bit puzzling. Read on as we highlight the differences between encryption standards like WEP, WPA, and WPA2–and why it matters which acronym you slap on your home Wi-Fi network.
 
Full Article
 
 
Related Posts: 
 
Your Web Browser and ISP Know You Better Than You Think
Why Your Business Needs a Technology Update 
Should Your ...

Check out the article about Pagoda in Santa Cruz Tech Beat

Cloud Security, How your Employees are Putting your Company at Risk
 
Cloud Security is one of the most important aspects of a company’s overall security, and as it turns out, the most insecure part of a business computer system is not the software you install, or the passwords you use, but the employees themselves.
 
Employees are one of the biggest risks to a company’s cloud security. Specifically when it comes to a type of cyber attack known as spear phishing. Spear phishing ...

CyberheistNews Vol 4, 39  
http://blog.knowbe4.com/
 
Wait for the class-action lawsuits to get unleashed. The lawyers are going to be all over this one like white on rice. Ex-employees from the Home Depot IT technology group are now claiming that management of the retailer had been warned for years that their Point Of Sale systems were open to attack and did not act on these warnings. Several members of the Home Depot IT security team quit their jobs in protest. 
It gets worse. In ...

CyberheistNews Vol 4, 34
Editor's Corner
 
VirusBulletin reported that cyber criminals now spread around Cryptolocker / CryptoWall via YouTube. Malware researchers Vadim Kotov and Rahul Kashyap discovered the cyber criminals purchase advertising space and use exploit kits to infect workstations. 
They ran into this while checking YouTube and website banners for situations where malware writers had in fact bought space to spread their malware on unpatched computers. The researchers wrote: ...

Hundreds of popular applications in the Apple App Store seek location-tracking permissions, access to contacts, email and other sensitive information, according to a study of more than 500 apps. Is granting permission to an app worth the privacy invasion?
Apple's walled-garden approach keeps out many nefarious applications that embed hidden functions designed to steal data. But privacy and security issues still abound for users who are quick to grant permissions to device functionality, according ...

A lot of schools were sold on iPads right after those became available and students probably still prefer them over Chromebooks, but they are relatively expensive compared to Chromebooks and harder to manage. Google also offers admins easy ways to manage large Chromebook deployments from a single console while Apple is still catching up when it comes to this.  
 
Good Shepherd Catholic School, a Pagoda Client in Santa Cruz is happy with their Chromebook deployment and has ...

Here is a heads-up for your users that use mobile devices (and who doesn't). There are two mobile scams sticking up their ugly heads. First is using messages from "trusted" mobile apps to install malware on PCs. Second is the first mobile ransomware for Android. Send this (feel free to edit as much as you like) to your users and give them another heads-up. 
"The bad guys use what we call "social engineering" to make people click on links, and their scams often rely on exploiting trust. If they ...

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2148921/dhs-warns-against-using-internet-explorer-until-bug-is-patched.html?inf_contact_key=918995e2ab5ea4c6edf72a9fc78f6ed2822ba3b0d6970c0167d7bf9ff604e163
A vulnerability discovered in Internet Explorer over the weekend is serious—serious enough that the Department of Homeland Security is advising users to stop using it until it’s been patched.
On Monday, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), part of the U.S. Department ...

From: CyberHeist News http://blog.knowbe4.com/ 
During the first quarter, I have been warning about the coming wave of Windows XP-related scams having to do with the April 8 End Of Life of XP. Here is what you can expect, and many variants will follow. It is important to warn your end-users about this, even if they -are- running more recent versions of Windows, because often they do not know what version they actually are running, and easily get scared into doing something that may damage ...

New BlackBerry CEO, $1 billion cash infusion renew enterprise customer optimism
 
Jake O'Donnell, News Writer
Published: 04 Nov 2013
Industry experts view this week's news that BlackBerry will have a new interim CEO as well as a $1 billion infusion of new cash as a positive for the much-maligned mobile giant.
John Chen, formerly of Sybase, Inc., will take over as interim CEO from Thorsten Heins, who will resign after spending nearly two years at the helm, the company reports.
Fairfax Financial ...

Top Of The Line Tablets
The verdict is in for third-quarter tablet shipment numbers: Shipments are increasing and the brand gap is shrinking.According to IDC Worldwide Tablet Tracker, 47.6 million tablets were shipped in the third quarter, a 36.7 percent year-over-year growth. While the lack of a new iPad launch in both the second and third quarter slowed Apple sales, a variety of Android products rose in popularity. Over 35 percent of total tablet sales fall into the "other" brand category. Following ...

NEW YORK -- Michael Dell's initiative to take Dell private sailed past regulatory obstacles this week while the company attempts to make strides and become a leader in tablets and notebooks PCs.
The company unveiled what analysts believe are attractive bring your own device (BYOD) products and a cloud service that may give corporate IT shops reason to notice Dell in the sea of mobile computing platforms.
"Dell has the innovation to get its mojo back," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies ...

http://crnnetwork.com/portal/wts/cgmceDmejABaeeBf36i7uzEarS4sfua
BlackBerry announced Monday it has agreed to a letter of intent led by Fairfax Financial Holdings that would take the ailing smartphone company private for $4.7 billion.
Toronto-based Fairfax already owns a 10 percent stake in the company. Also involved in the consortium are Merrill Lynch and BMO Capital Markets. The transaction has already been approved by BlackBerry's board of directors and will be completed Nov. 4 if there are no ...

On Wednesday, Twitter unveiled a new two-factor authentication method for Android and iOS that allows you to authorize login requests to your Twitter account with just one tap, banishing the usual method of manually inputting security codes generated via an app or sent via text method. Just open up the Twitter app on your smartphone or tablet, authorize the login with one finger press:

Learn more here

Google Chrome policy exposes user passwords on purpose: Here's how to prevent it
Jared writes for PCWorld and TechHive from his remote outpost in Cincinnati.
More by Jared Newman
Google is taking some serious heat for the way Chrome can reveal all your saved passwords to anyone—anyone!—with access to your computer. Yet Google has defended the move, with Chrome's security tech lead arguing that further password protection measures would only provide a “false sense of security.”
The ...

Gesture controls (finally!) appear in Chrome's bleeding-edge Canary test build.
There's no two ways around it: With Microsoft pushing the modern UI in Windows 8 and Intel requiring touchscreen support in all Haswell-powered Ultrabooks, PCs have officially entered a new era of finger-centricness. Google appears poised to get with the times, as several touch-tastic new gesture controls have been spotted in Canary, the bleeding edge test build for the Chrome desktop browser.
The latest version ...

Android ‘Master Key’ Security Hole Puts 99% Of Devices At Risk Of Exploitation
Mobile security startup Bluebox Securityhas unearthed a vulnerability in Android’s security model which it says means that the nearly 900 million Android phones released in the past four years could be exploited, or some 99% of Android devices. The vulnerability has apparently been around since Android v1.6 (Donut), and was disclosed by the firm to Google back in February. The Samsung Galaxy S4 ...

CyberheistNews Vol 3, 26
"Train Or Feel The Pain"
More users than ever are experiencing phishing attack attempts. Researchers at Kaspersky Lab have documented a drastic increase in the number of web users who have been "subjected" to phishing attacks over the past year, according to a new report. 
The Moscow-headquartered security firm found that 37.3 million people faced the prospect of being phished in 2012 to present day, a whopping 87 percent increase over the same period between 2011 and ...

Published: Monday, 17 Jun 2013 | 7:45 AM ET
By: Cadie Thompson | Technology Editor, CNBC.com
 
Image source: 2045.com
Immortality may not be a reality yet, but rapidly evolving technology is making it more realistic, Google's engineering director told the Global Future 2045 World Congress.
"The life expectancy was 20 1,000 years ago. ... We doubled it in 200 years. This will go into high gear within 10 and 20 years from now, probably less than 15 we will be reaching that tipping ...

A Nexus Between Rivals
Google this week unveiled its latest Nexus device -- the Nexus 4 -- a smartphone in white made by LG that's somewhat akin to Samsung's Nexus S in that it's unladen with vendor-specific baubles that can drive developers batty.
Selling unlocked for GSM networks starting at $299,Nexus 4 specs are fairly impressive. How do they stack up against Apple's iPhone 5? The CRN Test Center takes a look.
 
http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/mobility/240155855/head-to-%20%20%20%20head-goog...

Tablet Mini-War
By Edward J. Correia CRN
With the release last month of the Galaxy Note 8, Samsung once again looks to take a bite out of Apple's tablet market share. When we compared Apple's iPad Mini vs. the Galaxy Note 10.1 last winter, Samsung had not yet invented the 8-inch version. Samsung's smaller Note is just as capable as the larger, and has features unique among tablets to date.
It has also come to light that iPad demand has been waning in recent weeks, ...

10 Ways Samsung Is Making Apple Sweat
Samsung is in the midst of one of the most exciting periods in its history. When the company was founded, it was hoping its consumer electronics would help it establish a foothold in the United States. Now years later, Samsung has not only established a foothold in a number of markets, but the company has found a way to uproot some of the key players in those markets and become a dominant force. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the mobile market, where ...

By Tracy Kitten, April 26, 2013.  Follow Tracy @FraudBlogger
Within the last week, researchers at security vendor RSA stumbled upon a Facebook page called Casper Spy Botnet that hackers and malware developers were using to promote and sell the legacy banking Trojan Zeus.
The page has since been deactivated, says RSA's Limor Kessem, a top cyber-intelligence expert within The Security Division of EMC. But it's likely it was available for several months. And it signifies a concerning trend, she ...

Hackers were using a Facebook page as a how-to site for financial crime and to sell banking Trojans. One RSA security expert says this public promotion signifies
 
Within the last week, researchers at security vendor RSA stumbled upon a Facebook page called Casper Spy Botnet that hackers and malware developers were using to promote and sell the legacy banking Trojan Zeus.
The page has since been deactivated, says RSA's Limor Kessem, a top cyber-intelligence expert within The Security Division ...

By GREG BENSINGER
Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +1.63% is developing a set-top box to stream video content that it may release sometime this year, according to people familiar with the company's development plans.
The device could help build Amazon's brand in the living room, where the e-commerce giant is dependent on other devices to stream its expanding video content available as part of its Prime membership service.
Amazon has been bulking up its streaming video library to compete ...

By Robert Westervelt
April 29, 2013    3:26 PM ET
 
McAfee has detected ongoing attacks targeting an Adobe (NSDQ:ADBE) Reader zero-day vulnerability that could enable attackers to conduct location tracking of a malicious file.
The firm said it detected malicious PDF files that can enable a sender to see when and where a file is opened, wrote Haifei Li, a McAfee threat researcher. While the flaw is not serious -- it doesn't enable remote code execution -- it can be used as part ...

By Ken Presti
A move to the cloud is typically a lengthy and detailed discussion that covers a variety of key areas, including cost analyses, infrastructure decisions, security risks, and a host of other elements. But channel partners tend to agree that one very important aspect tends to slip through the cracks.
"People don't factor the cost of cloud bandwidth into the equation as often as they should," said Daniel Cheng, president of AMA, a Mississauga, Ontario-based channel company. "Salespeople ...

Malicious actors are exploiting the April 15 explosions at the Boston
Marathon in attempts to collect money intended for charities and to
spread malicious code. Fake websites and social networking accounts have
been set up to take advantage of those interested in learning more
details about the explosions or looking to contribute to fundraising
efforts.
For example, the Twitter account @_BostonMarathon was created shortly
after the explosions took place. The account stated it would donate $1
for ...

Report: Apple, Android Apps Riddled With Coding Flaws
Mobile applications on Google Android and Apple iOS devices are riddled with vulnerabilities and weaknesses, according to application security vendor Veracode Inc.
Poorly implemented encryption and a bevy of Web application vulnerabilities in Google (NSDQ:GOOG) Android and Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) iOS apps open them up to determined attackers, according to an analysis of mobile application security conducted by Veracode.
The Burlington, Mass.-based ...

National Cyber Awareness System
Adobe Releases Security Updates for Adobe Flash Player
Original release date: April 10, 2013
Adobe has released security updates for Adobe Flash Player. These
vulnerabilities could potentially allow an attacker to take control of
an affected system or cause a denial-of-service condition.
Adobe has released updates to the following products:
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.6.602.180 and earlier versions for Windows and
Macintosh
 * Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.275 ...

BlackBerry Ships 1 Million Z10s But Subscriber Base Declines
By Rob Wright
March 28, 2013    3:32 PM ET
There was good news and bad news for BlackBerry fourth-quarter financial results.
The bad news first: BlackBerry lost another 3 million subscribers in the first three months of this year, with its customer base falling to 76 million subscribers.
But the good news is, BlackBerry shipped approximately 1 million Z10 devices since the new smartphone was launched in recent weeks, with ...

By Robert Westervelt
Facebook users are being warned to avoid a quickly spreading scam on the social network called "Experience Facebook Black," which ends up being a series of surveys designed to collect data on victims. The speed at which the scam is spreading has forced Google (NSDQ:GOOG) to take action to protect users.
The attack is using Amazon (NSDQ:AMZN)'s S3 cloud storage service to host the campaign, according to Symantec (NSDQ:SYMC), which warned about the attack Wednesday. Users are ...

Verizon has announced that the Android 4.2.2 update for the Galaxy Nexus will start rolling out in phases today, March 19. No, this is not some sort of sick joke.
We’re assuming it’s the same build that leaked a couple of weeks ago as Android 4.2.2 build JDQ39. We’re still waiting for the support docs to arrive, so we won’t know for sure until that happens. But since JDQ39 is the most current version of Android, I’d assume it’ll be the one.
You ...

Adobe has identified critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2013-0640, CVE-2013-0641) in Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI (11.0.01 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh, X (10.1.5 and earlier) for Windows and Macintosh, 9.5.3 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh, and Adobe Reader 9.5.3 and earlier 9.x versions for Linux.  These vulnerabilities could cause the application to crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. 
Adobe is aware of reports that ...

Release date: February 12, 2013
Vulnerability identifier: APSB13-06
Priority: See table below
CVE number: CVE-2013-0635, CVE-2013-0636
Platform: Windows and Macintosh
SUMMARY
Adobe has released a security update for Adobe Shockwave Player 11.6.8.638 and earlier versions on the Windows and Macintosh operating systems.  This update addresses vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker, who successfully exploits these vulnerabilities, to run malicious code on the affected ...

Analysis: What BlackBerry Got Right And Wrong With BB10
BlackBerry launched its new BlackBerry 10 OS this week, and CRN looks at what the company got right, like BlackBerry Q10 smartphone and the BlackBerry World Store, and what it got wrong.
For the company formerly known as Research In Motion (NSDQ:RIMM), the BlackBerry 10 launch this week is the first step of an ambitious comeback plan.
But, the groundwork for this plan was laid long before Wednesday's event and even before Thorsten Heins took ...

BY ROBERT MCMILLAN  01.18.13
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California — Want an easier way to log into your Gmail account? How about a quick tap on your computer with the ring on your finger?
This may be closer than you think. Google’s security team outlines this sort of ring-finger authentication in a new research paper, set to be published late this month in the engineering journal IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine. In it, Google Vice President of Security Eric Grosse and Engineer ...

By Scott Campbell
Could Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) be in talks to invest up to $3 billion in PC partner Dell (NSDQ:Dell)?
According to a report by CNBC, Microsoft is a possible "mezzanine" -- or preferred financing partner -- for between $1 billion and $3 billion in Dell's reported interest in a leveraged buyout.
Dell has had discussions with several financing organizations about going private, a move that could require up to $20 billion, according to reports.
[Related: Ex-Microsoft SVP's New Book: Ballmer ...

Google Releases Google Chrome 23.0.1271.97
Original release date: December 13, 2012 Last revised: --
Google has released Google Chrome 23.0.1271.97 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and ChromeFrame to address multiple vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the Google Chrome Release blog entry and update to Chrome 23.0.1271.97.
Stable Channel Update
The Stable channel has been ...

Orange Android devices will come pre-installed with the Lookout Mobile Security applicationto prevent mobile devices being affected by malware and spyware.
The application will run in the background of the device, scanning applications and offering warnings to the user if a security threat is found.
Most of Orange’s catalogue of Android devices, including Sony, HTC and Samsung, will begin to be protected by Lookout in France, Slovakia, Spain, and the UK from early ...

Surface sales not great, but is it a management issue? Are you thinking of buying a tablet? Check out our Facebook page for this story and other technology related news and reviews.

http://www.facebook.com/PagodaTechnologies

Holiday Season Phishing Scams and Malware Campaigns
Since the winter holiday is quickly approaching, Pagoda is republishing this entry to increase awareness about phishing scams and malware campaigns.
In the past, security tracking agencies have received reports of an increased number of phishing scams and malware campaigns that take advantage of the winter holidays and holiday shopping season. Users who are new to making seasonal online purchases are encouraged to take care and use safe online ...

Hacker Exposes MSP Platform Vulnerability
A security researcher demonstrated zero-day vulnerabilities in MSP platforms of Kaseya and ManageEngine, according to a report.
The researcher, whose name was withheld, presented the findings at the Kiwicon security conference in Wellington, New Zealand, according to SC Magazine in Australia.
In the demonstration, the researcher created an administrator account on Kaseya by injecting malicious script into a registry key used by the Kaseya user agent, according ...

Microsoft Partners Weigh Sinofsky's Departure, Windows 8 Direction
 
Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) is staying mum about the details behindthe sudden departure of Steven Sinofsky, the company's top Windows executive. Speculation among channel partners and industry analysts centers on reported friction between Sinofsky and other Microsoft executives and questions about the demand for Windows 8 and the availability of applications for the new operating system.
"The timing of Sinofsky's departure ...

A 'Little' Friendly Competition
Don't let the "mini" name fool you.
Apple's iPad mini packs a punch despite its scaled-down size, touting a number of robust features and specs that even the most fanatic Apple followers didn't see coming. But, how does it shape up against the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD, the two tablets that have traditionally set the standard in the 7-inch space?
Take a look.
http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/mobility/240009714/head-to-head-ipad-mini-vs-amazon-kindle-fire-hd-vs-google-ne...

 End users no longer have to rely on corporate networks for Internet access. As such, the antiquated, draconian IT controls around Internet access need updating.
It's a scene being replayed at businesses all over the world: Employees have seemingly infinite access to a vast array of technology that allows for uncontrolled access to the Internet. Millennials entering the workforce have never been in an environment that doesn't allow access to social media, and users are finding ...

If you ask IT pros what they care about most when they choose a tablet (other than the iPad) for the enterprise, you might guess they will say pricing.

You'd guess wrong.

In fact, Microsoft recently disclosed pricing for its ARM-based Surface tablets that puts it on par with Apple's iPad. For many IT pros, it's not enough . . .

Smartphones: Computer Weekly Buyer's Guide
by ComputerWeekly.com
The smartphone has transformed communication between mobile workers and their offices but at a cost.

Snap is a great Windows 7 feature that allows you to quickly open two windows side by side, each using half the screen, by dragging each Window to opposite edges of the screen. If you have multiple monitors it’s hard to take full advantage of this feature because dragging windows to the edge can end up just moving them to the next monitor.
So how can you take full advantage of this great feature when using multiple monitors? You can use keyboard shortcuts instead. Here’s how:
 
To ...

Even if you’re not trading up for the iPhone 5, you can still make your old iPhone (or iPad, for that matter) new again by installing Apple’s iOS 6 software update onto your handset.

Why bother with the upgrade? Well, I can tick off at leastseven nifty new features right here

http://heresthethingblog.com/2012/09/19/4-installing-ios-6-iphone-ipad/#disqus_thread

More Secure, Or Maybe Not
According to conventional wisdom, malware and similar types of exploits are reserved for the Windows community -- not for their slightly more hip cousins who, through the years, have remained committed to the Mac. While some people claim that Macs are more secure, others maintain that they merely present a lower profile, given that most businesses for a long time standardized almost exclusively on the PC -- except, of course, for a smattering of artsy folks who were allowed ...

Oracle Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.7 contains a vulnerability that may allow an applet to call setSecurityManager in a way that allows setting of arbitrary permissions.
 
Overview
Oracle Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.7 contains a vulnerability that may allow an applet to call setSecurityManager in a way that allows setting of arbitrary permissions.
Description
The Oracle Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.7 allows users to run Java applications in a browser or as standalone programs. ...

How to Outrank Your Competition in Google - Forbes
In order to learn about the secrets behind ranking high in Google, I turned to Lee Odden, who is the author of Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing. For over fourteen years, he has consulted with companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies on how to attract and engage customers with a holistic approach to marketing online. He writes for ClickZ and ...

Does smaller mean better?
That's the question for the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, the second generation of Samsung's 7-inch tablet. The Android tablet gets some improvements, such as an SD card slot and expanded storage capability of 32 GB, as well as a 1,024-x-600 display for full HD video playback.
 
Arguably, the best new feature for the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2 is an infrared emitter than can take the place of pretty much any remote control; the device also comes with a Smart Remote app to help users ...

In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. And worst of all,
my AppleID account was broken into, and my hackers used it to remotely erase all of the data on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook.
 
In many ways, this was all my fault. My accounts were daisy-chained together. Getting into Amazon let my hackers get into ...

Office 2013:  This release features an intuitive design that works beautifully with touch, stylus, mouse or keyboard across new Windows devices, including tablets. The new Office is social and unlocks modern scenarios in reading, note-taking, meetings and communications and will be delivered to subscribers through a cloud service that is always up to date.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2012/Jul12/07-16OfficePR.aspx

IT pros have reason for concern because many people use the same logins and passwords for both work and personal services, industry watchers said. A security breach at Dropbox could potentially lead to a hacker finding access to corporate systems.

http://searchconsumerization.techtarget.com/news/2240159979/Potential-Dropbox-security-breach-underscores-cloud-app-insecurity

The Mozilla Foundation has released updates for the following products to address multiple vulnerabilities: 
 * Firefox 14 
These vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, cause a denial-of-service condition, disclose sensitive information, operate with elevated privileges, bypass security restrictions, or perform a cross-site scripting attack.  Original release date: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at 12:21 pm .
http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox.html ...

Yes, Android tablets are nothing new. But Google's hardware partners like Samsung, Toshiba, and HTC haven't been able to come up with a true hit yet. So Google took things into its own hands with the Nexus 7, partnering closely with Asus to come up with what it hopes to be the best Android tablet experience possible.

It worked.

Google Now is exactly what I want in a virtual assistant. I don't need cutesy jokes and quips about which smartphone is the best. I need answers. And Google Now provides me with the answers I want. The end. (Sometimes I don't even have to ask. Google Now just knows what I need. Incredible.) 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-now-better-than-siri-2012-7#ixzz1zh8o1plv

It’s not the iPad Google is trying to kill with the Nexus 7, it’s the Kindle Fire.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/06/google-nexus-7-tablet-move-over-kindle-fire/