IT Support Business Models by Macro Systems

The United States Federal Trade Commission’s mandate is to prevent fraud and promote consumer protection in today's interconnected world, where the digital landscape continues to evolve at a frenzied pace. The FTC recognizes the importance of safeguarding consumer information and has implemented their Safeguards Rule as a means to ensure that businesses protect sensitive data from unauthorized access and misuse. Listed below is a look at the Safeguards Rule and what you need to know about it in regard to your organization. 

In 2004, a service called VirusTotal was launched and quickly became a popular antivirus and malware scanner to help detect threats in various files and URLs. It became popular enough that it was officially acquired by Google in 2012 and ultimately assimilated into Chronicle, a cloud-based security operations suite for enterprise businesses. However, despite this impressive pedigree, we find ourselves able to look to VirusTotal as a sobering reminder of how fickle cybersecurity can be, with the service being the source of some limited data exposure.

Data backup may sound like a simple process, but if you truly want to rely on your backup, it needs to be absolutely infallible. That is the objective behind an IT appliance known as the BDR, which stands for Backup and Disaster Recovery.

Back in 1995, the Association of Records Managers and Administrators were in the midst of campaigning for the renewal of the Paperwork Reduction Act. As a part of their efforts, they created National Records and Information Management Day. It has since expanded into a week, and then into an entire month, for businesses around the world to consider their record-keeping practices.

Did you know that World Backup Day is in just a few short weeks? While it is an imperative occasion for businesses to recognize, data backup should really be something you think about all the time; your backup is an integral part of the backup and disaster recovery portion of your overall business continuity.

Today's spreadsheet programs, like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, provide a plethora of functions under the surface that—if used correctly—can take their utility to another level. For example, the cells in your spreadsheets can be turned into dropdown menus. How to do so in both Excel and Sheets is listed below.

We aren’t going to pretend that the investments required to preserve your business’ data security are small ones. Especially at first glance, you may very well start to question if such an investment is truly necessary.

The fact of the matter is that, compared to the costs that a breach of privacy will incur, the investment you put into your security measures will suddenly seem like a real bargain.

If Edgar Allan Poe worked in an office, here’s what one of his works would sound like:

True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I have been and am, but why will you say that I am mad? The office had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was my sense of hearing. I heard all things in heaven and on earth and many things in…the other place. So, how then am I mad, especially when I can so healthily and calmly tell you this story?

As Miguel de Cervantes wrote in Don Quixote, “...is the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not venture all his eggs in one basket.” It was wise advice then, and it’s wise advice today, especially when it comes to your business’ network and your data security.

Below we explore the concept of network segmentation, and how it can help to protect your organization.

“It won’t happen to me.” This is a common excuse amongst business owners who refuse to equip their network with a comprehensive data backup and recovery solution. They may feel like they’re careful enough to avoid a major data loss-causing disaster. Yet, the inconvenient fact remains that a disaster can happen to any business, no matter how prepared they may be.

No matter how well you protect your network, chances are you’ll suffer eventually from some vulnerability or another. However, you can take considerable measures toward protecting your business so you don’t have to worry so much about it. Listed below is how your efforts today can protect your business now and in the future.

Mobile devices have become a vital part of our daily lives, to the point that many of us openly feel undressed without our phones. As a result, our phones go everywhere with us. On the other hand, it’s imperative to remember that some applications have requested access to our location information. Do all of these apps need to know precisely where we are?

Chances are, you’ve gone through some old files, deleting what is no longer required. This is especially critical when you are upgrading your storage and getting rid of your existing storage media or an old computer. Let’s talk about what really happens when you’re doing so—chances are, you may be overlooking a serious security problem.

Macro System has been known to take a bit of an extreme approach to cybersecurity—your business is at constant threat of being attacked by all manners of threats and all that. While we stand by this approach as an effective way to enhance awareness and adherence to cybersecurity needs, there are certain attacks that are more likely to target you. This is where risk management comes into play.

It’s almost summer, which means baseball is in full swing. The sport that many of us grew up on has recently gone through a major shift, one which small business owners can replicate to help their organizations. It came about via the use of data and today we’ll discuss how the national pastime has changed and how you can use the same strategies to help make your business better. 

While the focus of our attention is usually preventing and avoiding cybersecurity breaches, it is critical that we address how your business responds to a successful breach attempt. Listed below are tips on how to create a successful data breach response plan.

Data breaches—any event where an organization's confidential data is viewed, copied, or stolen by an unauthorized person or party—are a serious problem. Alas, they are also a serious problem that can be caused by no shortage of situations. Listed below are some of the causes of business data breaches so you’ll know what to keep an eye out for.

March 31st is the official World Backup Day, a day intended to remind us all of the importance of having backups for the sake of data continuity. While this kind of day can be a valuable reminder of an imperative best practice, we contend that your awareness of your backup, as well as the maintenance that goes with it, should not be limited to a single day.

The cloud is one of the most beneficial technologies that today's business has at its disposal. Alas, the same can be said for today's cybercriminals. The cloud has provided cybercriminals new opportunities that are imperative to acknowledge and, of course, to protect your business against.

Cybersecurity is an important subject for a business’ entire team to appreciate, particularly when it comes to the minute differences between different terms. For instance, a layperson might hear “breach” and automatically think “security incident.” While this technically isn’t incorrect, per se, the two terms aren’t really synonymous.

Let’s take a few moments to dive into the minutiae and define these two terms more clearly.