The Challenge

Over a decade ago, before Habitat for Humanity was working with DynaSis, they were having issues with their previous managed service provider. They were not receiving the response time that was needed for their IT issues. The communication and reporting that they expected was not happening. It was time for them to find a managed service provider who could hold up to their expectations and help run their IT environment smoothly. Habitat for Humanity reached out to multiple providers to figure out who would be the best fit for what they were looking for.

The Solution

The DynaSis team visited Habitat on site and ran a network and security assessment. Once this was reviewed and analyzed, Chas Arnold, DynaSis's VP of Managed IT Services, met with the CEO of Habitat for Humanity and explained the processes that DynaSis could put in place for them to help things flow more smoothly and efficiently. Habitat for Humanity was pleased with what DynaSis could offer in terms of IT support, partnership and communication.

“Habitat for Humanity has been a great customer since day one. We enjoy working with their staff. We want our customers to be able to focus on running their business while we manage their IT. We make sure to go the extra mile to ensure that,” said Arnold.

The Result

DynaSis has been working with Habitat for Humanity since 2005. Aaron Sibley, Site Design and IT Project Manager, has enjoyed working with DynaSis and feels that DynaSis acts in a proactive manner to bring issues to his attention before they become problems. "Because of this we almost always have a solution in place long before it is needed. Everything that I have ever used DynaSis for, both collaborations and big projects, have run very smooth and on time,” said Sibley.

 

When you open your email inbox in the morning you no doubt experience a tidal wave of emails. You are not alone. Radicati¹  looked at the world of emails and found that by the end of 2019 there will be 2.9 billion email users in the world. They also found that email use is only getting stronger every year. By the end of 2019, there will be 246 billion emails sent and received every day.

Email is an amazing way to communicate. Even with the advent of messaging tools and mobile messaging apps, email is still a major tool of business. But is this trust also its downfall?

In this article, we will look at three ways that email trust can and is broken, and how personal vigilance and the use of managed IT support can help you to fix it.

Email Scams

One of the most worrying scams of recent years is the Business Email Compromise (BEC) scam.

BEC scams are big business for cybercriminals. The FBI released a report on BEC scams² showing losses of over $12 billion. And it is only getting worse, with BEC scam rates up by 136% since 2016.

BEC scams are all about tricking companies into releasing money. The cybercriminal behind the scam uses a number of techniques to achieve this. An example is the case of Walter Stephan³, the CEO of Austrian company FACC Operations GmbH. This BEC attack started with surveillance of Mr. Stephan. The thief was able to then send an email to the finance department that looked like it was from the CEO. This email contained an urgent message to transfer money to a new project (the recipient bank account being controlled by the scammer). In the end, FACC Operations lost around $47 million to the fraudsters.

How to Avoid Becoming the Victim of a BEC Scam

1. Use a specialist service such as DynaSis Unified Email Management (UEM) which can help to stop spoof emails entering your inbox.
2. Buy any domain names similar to your company domain - BEC scammers may create an email address that looks like your company email address to trick users.
3. Use a training program to ensure staff are aware of the issue and know how to spot the signs.
4. Use a double-check system when transferring large sums of money.

BEC scams rely on surveillance of key members of staff and tricking other staff members by masquerading as a key employee. The scam may or may not involve email account takeovers. It also may or may not, involve phishing emails, so let’s look at phishing.

Phishing

Phishing is all about stealing information such as personal data and/or login credentials, e.g. username and password. According to Wombat Security, 76 percent of businesses were victims of a phishing attack⁴ in 2017.

Phishing takes a number of forms:

Email phishing: An email which looks like it is from a legitimate company but is, in fact, a spoof. The email will either have a link to click on or contain an attachment that is infected with malware. The link will, typically, take you to a website, which looks like a real brand. It will ask you to enter personal data or login credentials. If you do, they will be passed immediately to the cybercriminal behind the phish. Links sometimes go to an infected website which will infect your computer with malware. Email attachments in phishing emails are infected with malware. If you open the attachment it installs malware on your machine.

Spear Phishing: This is a targeted form of email phishing. Many major data breaches have started with a spear phishing email, targeted at a system administrator. The cybercriminal stealing login credentials to privileged areas of a company's IT network.

SMiShing: Text messages and mobile app messages are being increasingly used as phishing conduits. Kaspersky⁵ saw a 300% increase in SMiShing (the text equivalent of email phishing) in 2017.

Vishing: This is a voice form of phishing. The phisher will call, pretending to be from a well-known organization such as a government tax office or bank. They will then attempt to extract personal information from you.

How to Avoid Becoming the Victim of a Phishing Campaign

1. Use a managed IT service company like DynaSis to apply Unified Email Management (UEM) to prevent phishing and other email-borne threats
2. Ensure your IT resources are patched and up to date
3. Use second-factor login credentials wherever possible
4. Security awareness training offers phishing simulation exercises to teach your staff how to spot a phishing email

Mis-sent emails

Data breaches aren’t just about cybercriminals stealing credentials and using them to access databases. Data leaks and accidental disclosure is a major issue for companies too. Data compiled by Gemalto shows that in 2017, 1.9 billion data records were accidentally leaked. Mis-sent emails are one area where sensitive information and personal data can be exposed. An example was seen during the 2014, G20 Summit. The Australian immigration department accidentally sent an email⁶ to the wrong person, revealing personal details of world leaders like Obama and Merkel. Sending sensitive or personal data to the wrong person can cause financial losses, reputation damage, and non-adherence with regulations.

How to Avoid Mis-Sent Emails Leaking Your Data

Preventing complex human-centered email threats, like mis-sent emails, requires a layered approach to security. DynaSis managed IT services in Atlanta can look at your normal working patterns and apply the right tools and training to ensure email is not your weakest link.

DynaSis: The Right Choice for Your IT Support

Sources:

1. Radicati
2. FBI released a report on BEC scams
3. Walter Stephan
4. 76 percent of businesses were victims of a phishing attack
5. Kaspersky
6. Australian immigration department accidentally sent an email

Compliance with data protection regulations can be a complicated, heavy load to manage, especially for small to mid-sized businesses. For example, Verizon’s 2018 Payment Security Report, shows that, although improving, only 52% of companies meet full compliance with PCI-DSS.

In the last few years, we have seen regulations updated to reflect new technologies and ways of working. Issues like data privacy are now placed center stage by regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with legal nuances and exacting requirements. Meeting compliance requirements is a full-time and ongoing job. Often, companies have to meet a mosaic of regulations too, including state, sector, and global, complicating the landscape even more. Using managed IT services that specialize in helping your company meet data protection compliance is a vital tool in the compliance armory of the SMB.

To steer you down the path of compliance, DynaSis has pulled together five ways that data protection compliance impacts your organization.

Money: Fines for non-compliance with data protection regulations can be hefty. Under the GDPR, the largest fine is up to 4% of global revenue or $23 million, whichever is largest. Other data breach and non-compliance fines may not reach these figures, but they are still often tens of thousands of dollars. The World Economic Forum has stated that what was previously considered a large data breach a few years ago is now normal. The risks of a data breach cuts across companies of all sizes, and if you are breached you could end up with a large fine.

Data Handling: Data protection laws require you to look carefully at your cybersecurity, general security, and privacy when utilizing personal data and Protected Health Information (PHI). This can be complicated and involve various legal overtures. Your firm will need to have an understanding of data classification, audit, data privacy, and data security. This requires specialist skills. Managed IT service and support companies with compliance expertise help you meet regulatory requirements letting you focus on your core business.

Competition:  In a report by an analyst firm, 85 percent of U.S. companies believe that the data protection law, GDPR, will make it harder for them to compete with European companies. The Ovum report also pointed out that data privacy regulations are not uniform across the world. The U.S., for example, has “unclear, varying laws” across different industries and states. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is one such U.S., state-centric law which came into effect in 2018. How this law impacts organizations outside of California can be a complicating factor in a company’s choice of where to do business.

Using a managed IT service firm, like DynaSis, with expertise in data protection compliance, including GDPR, CCPA, and industry-specific laws can ensure you are at your competitive best.

Skill costs: The changing technology landscape means that data protection compliance is also changing. Keeping up with new regulations and new laws is something that requires a high level of skill in the legal and technical aspects of compliance. Skills in the area of compliance cost money. The average salary of a compliance officer in the U.S. is $63,746 and can be as much as $155,000. Using an outsourced IT services company helps to bridge this cost.

Reputation damage: The 2017/18 Kroll Annual Global Fraud & Risk Report found that three-quarters of companies experienced damaged reputation due to fraud and cybersecurity incidents. Data protection regulations are designed to prevent data loss, which would otherwise result in company profile damage. Managed IT services and IT support help to get your compliance measures into a compliant state to help prevent data breaches.

Fixing the Compliance Headache Using Managed IT Services

Data protection compliance is not something to take lightly. It requires expertise and diligence to meet the exacting requirements of modern data protection regulations and laws. Getting compliance right when you are a small to midsize company is a challenge. However, experts like DynaSis, who have a deep knowledge about data protection regulations, can take the weight of compliance from your shoulders. Outsourcing compliance makes sense when the needs of these regulations are complex and nuanced. Using DynaSis will help your company achieve compliance and let you get on with your core business.

DynaSis: The Right Choice for Your IT Support

In 2016, a business was attacked by ransomware every 40 seconds. In 2017, we saw a massive global ransomware attack, known as WannaCry, hit businesses of all sizes and across all sectors. Attacks of ransomware also rose by 350% in the same year, according to Dimension Data. And, Kaspersky said that a single ransomware attack can cost a small to midsize business up to $99,000.

Ransomware is a sinister and costly form of malware that has taken the cybersecurity world and our businesses by storm. Using managed cybersecurity services can help prevent ransomware infection or can help manage a ransomware incident if the worst does happen.

But what is ransomware and how can managed IT services and IT support help to prevent it?

 

What Happens When Ransomware Hits?

Ransomware encrypts files and documents on your network. Once they are encrypted you will not be able to open them. The malware can encrypt files right across your network, even those in Cloud repositories. If your business becomes infected by ransomware you can expect the following to happen:

1. You will likely see a pop-up message on the screen of the infected computer;
2. This message will say something like “Oops your files have been encrypted”. The message will tell you to pay an amount of money (usually several hundred, often thousands of dollars) in bitcoin or similar crypto-currency, to receive a code that will decrypt the files; and,
3. The message will threaten to delete the encrypted files if you do not pay within a given time span.

Infection by ransomware is costly, not just because of the extortion price, but because of the disruption to your business.

 

How Do You Become Infected by Ransomware?

Infection usually happens in the following ways:

1. Email attachment: Ransomware can be delivered via a phishing email which contains an infected attachment, such as a PDF or Word document. If a user opens the attachment it can automatically run a small software program embedded in the document which then installs the ransomware. A report by Symantec found that 88 percent of malicious emails used attachments to infect computers.
2. Email links: Malicious emails sometimes contain links to websites which themselves contain malware. If you click on the link you can be automatically infected by ransomware without even being aware of it.
3. Infected websites: If a website is infected with malware, just navigating to it could result in your computer becoming infected with ransomware.

 

How Can You Prevent Infection by Ransomware?

The world of cybercrime is continuously updating the methods used to attack your organization. Keeping ahead of cybersecurity threats requires vigilance and expertise. Using managed IT services, like DynaSis in Atlanta, that offer experts in cybersecurity, gives you the best possible defense against ransomware.

DynaSis provides a managed cybersecurity service that protects across all of the target areas used by cybercriminals. Our managed cybersecurity uses a layered-approach to prevent ransomware, which includes:

• Patch management: Ransomware makes use of flaws in software to automatically install via infected email attachments and websites. A managed IT service will ensure your entire IT network is up-to-date and security patches installed promptly.
• Email management: Phishing is the number-one way that ransomware is delivered. Managed IT services provide management of your email system to prevent phishing.
• Anti-malware tools: We protect your company using state-of-the-art products that prevent the installation of malware.
• Backup and disaster recovery: If the worst does happen and you become infected with ransomware, managed IT services by DynaSis ensure you have a backup in place to recover encrypted files.

2018 has seen continued ransomware campaigns. Malwarebytes has found a 55 percent increase in cyber-attacks, including ransomware, during Q3 of 2018. Keeping on top of cybercrime is a time-consuming and costly exercise. Managed IT support and IT services can do this job for you, keeping your IT resources free of malware and allowing you to get on with the job at hand - making your business successful.

 

DynaSis: The Right Choice for Your IT Support

The Challenge

Before working with DynaSis, the Center for the Visually Impaired was having issues with their Managed Service Provider. Their previous provider was reactive and not proactive. The Center for the Visually impaired felt that they were constantly putting out fires and patching things. They had no real idea about the condition of their infrastructure and there was not a long-term plan in place to address current and future needs. This was causing too many issues and it was time for a change.

The Solution

When it was time for Chris Hester, Vice President of Finance and Operations, to start researching new managed service providers, he knew just the person to contact. Chris had worked with Chas Arnold, DynaSis's VP of Managed IT Services, in the past and was hopeful that DynaSis could provide the level of service that they were looking for. Chris and Chas reconnected and the DynaSis team met with the Center for the Visually Impaired to discuss their infrastructure and design a detailed, proactive IT plan.

The Result

The Center for the Visually Impaired has seen vast improvement in their IT environment since switching to DynaSis. They are still working on making their IT infrastructure the best that it can be and will be getting new equipment in their server room in the near future. This new equipment will make their systems quicker and more efficient, and also reduce their monthly expenses.

“Our entire staff has seen the results and improvements in our IT environment. It feels like we are already light years ahead of where we were and it should only get better as we complete the new server project,” said Chris Hester, Vice President of Finance and Operations.

Hester stated that the DynaSis approach to customer service is fantastic and that there is always a DynaSis employee available to help them when in need. The help desk engineers assist with any technical tickets that are submitted for the Center for the Visually Impaired employees. A Technical Account Manager (TAM) is assigned to the account and is the main day to day contact. The TAM develops a proactive plan to make sure that their systems and processes are always up to date.

“I would not hesitate to recommend any business to hire DynaSis for their IT Managed Service needs. They will make sure that you have the best possible IT infrastructure and systems that fit within your budget,” said Hester.

Running a company is more than a full-time job, and it takes diligence, focus, and great management to make a business work well. But running a modern business means using modern methods of work. Small businesses need to be innovative to compete. This means using best-of-the-best technology solutions. Fortunately, with the advent of Cloud and mobile computing, the small to midsize business (SMB) can have the same type of technology as their enterprise cousins. But with this technology comes increased and often complex management issues.

Finding skilled staff to manage your IT resources is not easy and IT skills are hard to come by. Research into the skills gap shows growing concern in finding skilled staff. A study by Career Builder has shown that 60 percent of U.S. companies have vacancies that remain open after 12 weeks. The study also found that 67 percent of companies are concerned about a skills gap.

IT skills, and cybersecurity skills, in particular, are much sought after. The skills gap in cybersecurity is expected to see a shortfall of around 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs by 2021.

Let’s explore the benefits of engaging an IT support expert to make sure your technology use goes smoothly.

IT Support Benefits That Keep Your Operation Running Smoothly

Our businesses are embracing the digital revolution, just as our chances of finding a skilled person to maintain the technology is decreasing. Outsourcing IT tech support is the alternative that can give us the benefits of technology without the headache. Here are 5 reasons why you should hire an IT support expert:

Benefit 1: Reduced cost of staffing

The average salary for an in-house IT support person who has reached expert qualified level, is around $52K and can be up to $90K, without work benefits included. You are paying for expertise and using a fixed cost. In addition, in a SMB environment, the IT support person might not always be needed. Using managed IT support services allows you to use a variable cost model for your IT support and budget accordingly.

Benefit 2: Maintain core business focus

IT staff need to be trained in your company ethos, ways of working, and other areas. They require phones and other supplies. This takes time, money, and effort. Using a managed IT expert will allow you to focus on your core business. DynaSis operates a close business relationship by taking the time to understand your business. The result is a seamless extension to your in-house staff.

Benefit 3: Access to top people

Managed IT services employ the best in their field. There may be a limited pool of skilled people, but they will gravitate to companies where they can showcase their strengths. DynaSis managed services only employ domain experts with vast experience - we give you the best possible IT people for a fraction of the cost of recruiting and employing someone of that caliber directly.

Benefit 4: Access to better technology

Technology changes quickly. Having expert IT people who understand your business can ensure that the decisions you make around technology choices are the best for your organization. Having the most relevant technology in place, and working seamlessly during an upgrade, will keep your company competitive.

Benefit 5: Improved security

IT support is a vital cog in a wider technology machine. This includes working with you to improve your cybersecurity. Choosing a managed services company, like DynaSis, who are experts in cybersecurity and compliance, gives you access to experienced staff. Hiring a managed services IT expert will mean your IT security is monitored. It also ensures that company day-to-day security issues, including everything from forgotten passwords to software patches to phishing emails, are taken care of promptly.

 

Focusing on your core business is vital in a competitive world. Hiring a managed IT expert allows you to do that, while at the same time, giving you access to best-of-the-best IT staff without the cost. In a world where IT skills are at a premium, and experienced staff expensive, having a partner like DynaSis gives you access to scarce resources allowing you to focus on what you do best - your business. Call us today at 770.629.9615 to learn more about why DynaSis is the Right Choice for Your IT Support!

Fact: 40% of companies today do not have disaster recovery plans in place. Considering the security risk landscape today, this is pretty scary. You have critical assets to protect but if, like many small to mid-sized businesses, you don’t have in-house resources that can handle a risk assessment, not to mention the follow-up disaster recovery plan the assessment may dictate, it’s time to consider bringing an IT support company like DynaSis on-board.

 

The assessment will accomplish a number of things, in addition to laying the groundwork for a recovery program:

Long-Term Cost Reduction: When companies start thinking about bringing in third parties, they often assume that the end result will be increased costs but this is not necessarily so. By identifying real and potential security flaws in your company’s infrastructure and attacking them proactively, you can be saving your firm from significant future costs that can be associated with both technology failure and compliance infraction fines, aside from the long-term costs of negative public relations and customer/client dissatisfaction.

Improved Future Assessments: Having an assessment completed now can make future assessments more productive. Your IT support provider should be creating a document that can be updated on a regular basis, including ongoing reviews of structure, security, and the ability for corporate self-analysis.

Critical Self-Analysis: An effective IT support and security analysis will guide your employees towards self-analysis and how they are figuring into your organization’s risk and security. Attention will be focused on any risky practices of which your people may be guilty, and will direct them towards the proper way to accomplish their tasks and goals, including strengthening passwords, and the handling of sensitive information.

Cyber Security Risk Avoidance: Your IT support and security assessment will point out security weaknesses within your company. It will also provide recommendations on how to strengthen your security, eliminating potential breaches, thereby saving you from the PR, financial and regulatory disasters mentioned above.

 

What You Will Learn from an IT Support and Security Assessment

Your Assets: This will include hardware such as servers, workstations, and remote devices. It will tell you how secure (or not) your customer/client information is. Are your company’s trade secrets secure or vulnerable? How secure is your financial information?

Disaster Preparedness: This will include preparation for natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and fires. It will also deal with potential man-made disasters, such as building fires, water damage, etc., as well as accidental and/or malicious human actions. The assessment will let you know if your disaster recovery plan will effectively deal with all these situations.

Vulnerabilities: Where do they exist and how do you and your IT support team fix them? Do you have older equipment that is no longer supported and that no longer receives automatic security updates? Is your staff properly trained? Is there evidence of employee carelessness?

Improving Your Overall “Security Posture”: Do you have the in-house personnel to assess this on your own and make suggestions and improvements that are meaningful and effective?

 

Cost is always a consideration but we have found that when we are retained by new clients, our fees are almost always the same as or less than the total annual cost these companies have been incurring anyway. Why? Once we are involved, we take over the financial responsibility for all your hardware and security. By proactively maintaining your IT infrastructure, we significantly cut down on the incidents that one way or another cost you money, plus we put you in a better position to sleep better at night!

 

Here is a basic reality: there is no way a small or mid-sized company can afford the same level of security and IT support that they can achieve by hiring a highly qualified managed IT support provider such as DynaSis. After all, we have been in the business for more than 26 years, serving Atlanta’s small to mid-sized business community. Call us today at 770-629-9615. And remember, we are DynaSis: The Right Choice for Your IT Support!

You have no doubt been hearing about cloud networks over the past few years and understand that many businesses are searching for more and more ways to utilize this technology. As with most everything new that comes along, there are benefits and challenges. That said, you don’t want to be the company that fails to embrace new technology and find yourself being left behind. To do so you may find yourself virtually irrelevant when being considered by potential new customers or clients as they choose to partner with firms similar to yours, but that are more up-to-date in terms of network security, versatility, and speed to market. Here at DynaSis, having provided IT support in Atlanta for more than a quarter century, we can give you proper guidance in determining your best way forward.

One of the first decisions we will help you make is to determine the type of network in which you need to invest: public, private, or hybrid. A private cloud network is usually one that is owned by a large company and only serves that company, while public cloud networks are generally owned by major corporations and serve many companies of all sizes. There are also public clouds owned by very small companies, but we advise you to be very careful before engaging with this type of vendor as security may be a concern. Hybrid clouds, as the term implies, combines features of public and private. Which one to use is a determination in which we, as an IT support company in Atlanta, can give you guidance, but for the purpose of this blog, let’s take a quick look at the different deployment models.

 

IT Support for Private Cloud

In a private cloud computing model, a company uses its own proprietary architecture to run its own cloud servers within its own data center. This is what we call “single tenant architecture”. Your own hardware is used within your own premises and your IT team has direct control of the underlying infrastructure.

 

IT Support for Public Cloud

In this cloud computing model, a third party, generally a significantly sized company or major corporation, provides complete computing resources over the internet. Because the vendor is providing a complete service, the customer (your company) does not need on-premises server hardware. This is what we call “multi-tenant” architecture. Costs can be variable with rapid adjustments made as business’s computing requirements change.

 

IT Support for Hybrid Cloud

This, of course, is a mixture of the above, combining some of the benefits of public and private.

Choosing between the different cloud models requires an in-depth look at your current infrastructure. DynaSis provides a complementary IT network and security assessment. During the assessment a highly experienced Solutions Architect and staff will analyze your network for capacity, security, speed, flexibility, and how up-to-date all your equipment is in terms of technical support and expected life.

If you choose, we will then provide you with cost estimates that may include new equipment that can be financed in such a way that your upgraded service and equipment actually costs the same or even less than your current costs. Because we assume the financial risk of the new equipment, we have the incentive to make sure it is always running at peak performance. This is truly a win-win situation.

 

Want to learn more about our IT support in Atlanta? Give us a call today at 770-629-9615 or contact us online. And remember, we are DynaSis: The Right Choice for Your IT Support!

Combining your cat’s name with your street address number does not make a secure password. Whiskers2089 just won’t cut it. In fact, most of the “fool-proof” passwords people use are anything but. Chances are, they have made one or more of the commonly used password mistakes and, unfortunately, almost anything we do to make remembering them easier for us, makes it easier for hackers to crack them. Our brains are filled with so much information these days, it’s very tempting to take the easy path, but as an Atlanta IT services company, we have to let you know that this can open you up to security breaches.

 

What is a Weak Password?

Have you ever created an account on a website and they let you know if the password you are entering is weak or strong? This can be very helpful, but so is knowing the criteria that determines this. Here are things that as an Atlanta IT services company we have found keep passwords from being strong:

• Using only letters (but we are going to show you something that may get around this.)
• Using only numbers
• Not long enough
• Using personal information like your cat’s name, your birthday, or home address
• Generic terms (yes, people still use things like password123)
• Password being the same as the username

Remember, your password is a code and the more complex it is it, the harder it is to decipher.

 

Using One Password

Using the same password very every website is a bad idea. While it might make your life easier, it also makes life easier for those who would try and hack into your accounts. As an Atlanta IT services company, we know how difficult it is to deal with a hacked bank account. Imagine if all your bank accounts, credit cards, and store cards were hacked at the same time! As annoying as it may be, you really need different passwords for each account.

 

Password Storing

We all have seen prompts to store passwords when we open up new accounts or change passwords. It certainly makes life easier…until it doesn’t. It greatly increases the chances of one or more of your accounts being hacked, and, if you are using the same password on multiple accounts, it gets even easier.

 

Creating Strong, Secure Passwords

Here are some basic, generally accepted tips:

• Use at least 12 characters. The longer the better.
• Mix capital letters, numbers, and symbols into the passwords.
• Change your passwords at least quarterly, especially for any online banking accounts.
• Do not write these down in any way that others can gain access, and if they do, make sure they cannot understand your thinking.

There are practical and impractical ways to create safe passwords. We have all created online accounts and been given suggested passwords. Something like: FH78$5dJu#2wQhUjkL. But just try remembering passwords like this for four credit cards, two store cards, and two bank accounts!

That said, here is a new perspective: current thinking indicates that the most secure passwords are actually strings of unconnected words: transformermobiletandem or platterjockeyfences. Then add some capital letters: transFormermobilEtaNdem. We’ll explain this in more detail later.

You’re probably thinking: I have eight financial accounts; how can this possibly be practical? Or, I’m running a business. I can’t expect my employees to do that. Let’s look at some practical solutions.

 

Password Managers

This is a practical solution for many businesses as they allow you to maintain a large number of passwords as well as in depth information about your accounts. They work in the same manner as the auto-populate features that fill in your online forms by storing your login credentials for your different accounts so that when you go to these accounts, your passwords are automatically entered. An additional benefit of this type of application is that it discourages hacker attacks such as “keystroke logging” where the hacker is able to figure out your passwords by surreptitiously recording your keystrokes. It also means that once your passwords are stored inside the app, you only have to remember a single password.

Many password managers also incorporate multi-factor authentication, something that we as an Atlanta IT services company applaud. The best way to explain this is by example. Did you ever need to reset your password from a bank and they required you to copy a code they sent you and paste it into a blank field on your screen? This is one form of multi-factor. “Multi” means more than one way to identify you. Fingerprints and retinal scans may also be used.

 

Realistic Password Protection for Individuals

While in today’s world, nothing is truly 100% safe, we believe that the average person can develop a system to get almost there. Here is one method that may work for you. Just keep in mind two things: 1 – your passwords still need to be changed every three months, and, 2 – it’s still a bit of work. There is no such thing as simple password protection.

As we stated above, experts currently believe that the most secure passwords are those made of three unrelated words, like carouseltabledrum or relaxsweetfloor. Then change a couple of letters to capitals using a system so you can remember which ones you changed. Let’s say you were born in 1968. Capitalize the 6^th and 8^th letter so you have carouSeLtabledrum or relaxSwEetfloor. That’s the concept. Now, to put it into action, make a list of six totally unrelated words. We already are using: carousel, table, drum, relax, sweet, floor, so we will stick with these. Important: the first letter of each word must be different.

To remember these first two passwords, we are going to remember the first letter of each of the words: ctd and rsf, then for every additional password we need, do the same thing using different combos of these six: fds, tds, dsr, etc. In other words, we are using different combinations of the same six words, and capitalizing two of those letters.

Now, in your smart phone, under a fake name (that you will remember), create a list that starts with the last two numbers each of your financial accounts and ends with the three letters of that password:

56ctd

44rsf

87fds

You can now go to the fake name in your smart phone and you will see that the password for your credit card ending in 56 is carouSeLtabledrum.

 

IT security is becoming more complex by the day. Why? Because really talented cyber criminals are working day and night to figure out new ways to compromise your network and gain access to your most sensitive information, or to lock your files and hold them for ransom. At DynaSis, we have been on the job for more than a quarter century, protecting small to mid-sized businesses across metro Atlanta. Give us a call today at 770-629-9615 so we can discuss how we can protect your business and why DynaSis is the right choice.

The Challenge

Before working with DynaSis, Toland Mizell Molnar was having issues regarding their data backups and equipment. They wanted to have their data backed up on an hourly basis and an equipment replacement schedule in place. They started their search for a Managed Service Provider to help them manage their IT issues.

After speaking with numerous Managed IT Support Providers; Chas Arnold, DynaSis's VP of Managed IT Services, provided the most comprehensive and detailed plan. Chas and the DynaSis team ran a Network and Security Assessment for Toland Mizell Molnar. The findings and recommendations were reviewed, and a plan was put into place. DynaSis provided Toland Mizell Molnar with a structured IT plan that made them feel comfortable and stay within their allocated budget.

The Solution

After choosing to work with DynaSis, Toland Mizell Molnar was assigned a Technical Account Manager who helped them create a strategic IT plan to handle the challenges they were facing.  This was a key component that helped them feel more informed and up to speed on what was going on.

“DynaSis builds great relationships and the project managers take the time to understand your business and how they can positively impact your day.” James Molnar, Managing Partner, Toland Mizell Molnar.

The consistent communication between DynaSis and Toland Mizell Molnar has helped to ensure that their IT processes flow seamlessly. Toland Mizell Molnar is now handling their IT in a proactive manner and experiencing less issues overall.

The Result

“DynaSis is a good Managed Service Provider to work with. With IT services, you don’t know what you need sometimes until it is too late but DynaSis helps avoid this with proactive planning,” said Molnar.  Toland Mizell Molnar appreciates the technical support from the help desk and the strong guidance the engineers provide. James enjoys working with his Technical Account Manager and feels that any problems they have can be taken care of in an effective and timely fashion.