4 Ways That Hackers are Targeting Your Employees

Office IT, Security,
01
Aug 2017

hacking-apple-idHackers are now turning to employees of organizations to help breach their defenses and this can be knowingly or unknowingly, but how are they doing it?

As this hacking technique doesn’t rely purely on digital attacks, it’s a unique problem in the world of cyber-security. Sure, the end result is the same in that the hackers want to access digital information, but this method of getting a head start makes their attacks more covert than ever.

To help you understand how these exploits can be initiated and unfold, I’m going to show you 4 ways that hackers are hacking your employees.

  1. USB Stick Hacks

USB sticks can cause huge issues for your PCs due to the amount of automated hacking software which can easily be loaded onto them; in some extreme cases, USB sticks can also be used to completely destroy a PC. More often than not, these attacks can be initiated by old fashioned human curiosity. A recent study showed that of 297 flash drives left in a college parking lot, over half of these drives ended up being plugged into a PC. Therefore, staff need to be made aware that unauthorized devices should never be plugged into their workstations.

  1. Website Information

Many organizations display details of their employees on their website in order to show the people behind the business. Whilst this is a great method for engaging customers and clients, it also allows hackers to begin building a portfolio of information on targeted individuals e.g. with access to photos and email addresses, it’s possible to not only target these email addresses, but actually track them down in real life. This opens up your employees to direct approaches and is a good reason why information about employees should be minimized on the public internet.

  1. Phishing

The oldest, and perhaps simplest, method of hacking employees is by phishing. Deceptively convincing, phishing attacks often take the form of genuine looking emails requesting personal information. The most common technique is for the hacker to fake a company email in order to obtain sensitive data e.g. emails are often dispatched which appear to originate from the organization’s IT department and request login details, but actually originate from outside the business. Employees need to receive regular training on how to spot phishing emails.

  1. Vishing and SmishingsmishingSTILL

A relatively new approach to hacking employees is via vishing (obtaining information via phone calls) and smishing (mining for data through SMS messaging). Vishing often takes the form of a phonecall from a potential customer, but it’s actually a hacker trying to learn information about the organization’s structure and security through careful questioning. Smishing tends to target employees with links that they’re encouraged to click and then forwards them to a phishing website to extract data. Again, good training is crucial to ensure your staff can recognize these threats.

These four methods of hacking your employees use a number of highly sophisticated methods that prey on human curiosity and misplaced trust. They’re also remarkably easy to execute, so the key is to remember that regular training to increase awareness is the best defense against such attacks.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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5 Tips to Keep Your Printer Working at its Best

Office IT,
11
Apr 2017

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Although paper usage has fallen in the past decade, printers remain crucial for all businesses, so you have to know how to keep them working at their best.

After all, paper and toner can be very expensive, so you want to make sure you’re not wasting any of these materials. Additionally, there’s nothing more frustrating than a printer which isn’t working, so, instead of chucking it out the window, wouldn’t it be great if you could quickly fix it?

Well, now you can and it’s all thanks to our 5 tips to keep your printer working at its best.

  1. Shake that Toner!shake_toner_cartridge

If you’re running a laser printer then you’ll be familiar with the high costs of toner. However, it’s possible to get more mileage out of your toner and print more pages. Once your printer alerts you that it’s time to change your toner, just take the toner in question out and give it a shake. This will loosen up any solid toner and provide you with a printer which carries on printing.

  1. Inkjets Require Quality Paper

Inkjet printers provide a cheaper option than laser printers and can produce stunning results, but you have to make sure you’re using high quality paper. With low quality paper you’ll find that the ink spreads and bleeds too much, this results in a low quality print which may leave you thinking you need a new printer. However, by upgrading your paper you’ll notice a huge difference in your print quality.

  1. Print Double Sidedaid167187-728px-Print-Double-Sided-Step-4-Version-2

If your printer has a ‘duplex’ option then it means that it’s capable of printing double sided. And the benefit of this is that it means your paper will go a lot further. All you need to do is enter your printer’s settings and select the ‘print duplex/double sided’ option.

  1. Keep the Nozzles Clean

It’s always irritating to pick up your printed documents and find that they’re covered in smeared ink. Not only does this waste your time, but it also wastes your paper and ink. Thankfully, there’s a relatively quick fix for this problem on inkjet printers.

This smearing is caused by the print-head nozzles becoming blocked by dried ink. Therefore, you need to clean these nozzles to get printing again. And all you need to do is install a cleaning cartridge in place of your ink cartridge and it will clean out those blocked nozzles.

  1. Print What You Need

You’d be surprised just how much ink is wasted by printing unnecessary data. Take websites, for example, perhaps there’s only one paragraph you need, but when you hit the print button it churns out six pages of wasted ink. What you should be doing here is taking advantage of the ‘print selection’ option offered up in your print settings. All you have to do is highlight the desired text and then tick ‘print selection’ and it will only print out that specific section.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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Speed Up Your PC Boot Time

Office IT,
19
Feb 2017

how-to-increase-computer-speed-3-660x375

The quicker your PC boots up, the quicker you can get started on business. Wouldn’t it be amazing, though, if you could boot Windows up even quicker?

Well, there’s actually a number of ways you can save precious time in getting your PC up and running. The methods involved are a mixture of software and hardware changes that any PC user can instigate, so let’s take a look at how to reduce your Windows boot times.

Install More RAM

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The simplest hardware solution to startup times is to install more RAM. The absolute minimum that any modern PC should be running with is 4GB of RAM, but if you can increase your RAM to 8GB then you’ll notice a significant increase in boot speed. And, with the price of memory getting cheaper and cheaper, this is an easy and attractive fix.

Reduce Your Startup Programs

One of the biggest factors in boot times is the number of programs that load at startup. You only need to load programs at startup which are essential for your PC to run. However, software manufacturers are keen to have their programs at your disposal as soon as possible, regardless of whether they’re needed or not.

To check what’s loading up at startup, you just need to run MSConfig and click on the Startup tab where you’ll be presented with a long list of programs. As a rule of thumb, you only need to have programs enabled which are manufactured by Microsoft and Intel. All other programs can be loaded later on when you need them.

Adjust Your BIOS Settings

You may not be aware of your BIOS, but it’s the piece of software which is responsible for loading your operating system. And, as you can imagine, this is quite a large task, so there’s plenty of potential for reducing your boot time by tinkering with the BIOS.

Not all PCs will allow you to access your BIOS settings, but the most common way is by pressing F2 during the initial stages of startup. And, once in, the most important change to make is to enable the ‘quick boot’ option which skips all the non-essential hardware checks during the startup process.

However, the BIOS is a very important piece of software, so you should only alter its  settings if you know exactly what you’re doing.

Invest in a Solid State Drive

01_ssd_hdd

The most sure fire way of making your boot time faster than ever is to invest in a solid state drive (SSD). A relatively new breakthrough in hard drives, an SSD relies on Flash memory rather than moving parts and, as a result, can shave a significant number of seconds off your boot time.

And buying an SSD has never been more affordable with prices reducing every year whilst their capacity rapidly rises. Not only will it increase your boot speed, it will also speed up your Windows programs, so it’s an option which can’t be ignored.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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4 Tips to Maintain Your Hard Drive and Its Performance

Office IT, ,
07
Feb 2017

hard-drive-failure

The hard drive is one of the most vital parts of your PC as it contains all your valuable data, so maintaining it correctly is crucial for your performance.

By maintaining your hard drive you’re ensuring two things which can make a real difference to your business:

  1. Your data is housed safely and is available when necessary
  2. A well maintained hard drive allows you to access your data quickly

Hard drives, though, can easily fall into a state of disrepair and this can have a real impact on the accessibility on your data. And that’s why I want to show you 4 tips to maintain your hard drive and its performance.

  1. Defragment Your Hard Drive

You may think that files on your hard drive are just one big piece of data, but this is only true in the very early life of the file. Over time, these files fragment into different sections and are spread across your entire hard drive.

Although this won’t cause any major damage to the hard drive, it does mean that it has to use up a little more power and performance in locating all these fragments when the file is requested. And this means longer load times for files.

The simple answer is to run a defragmentation tool which pieces all these individual file fragments together and provide quicker load times. This should only be done once your drive hits the 10% fragmentation threshold, most defragmentation tools can advise on the current level of fragmentation.

Uninterruptable power supply

  1. Use Surge Protectors

It’s not just the data on hard drives that can be classed as sensitive, the hard drives themselves are particularly sensitive components and need a steady, constant electricity supply. And, even if there’s a slight surge in electricity for even the briefest of moments, it can fry your hard drive and render it beyond repair.

Surge protectors cost less than $10, so it’s a tiny investment and there’s no excuse for not equipping all your PCs with them. After all, it’s going to cost a lot more in terms of time and labor when it comes to retrieving or even re-entering all the lost data.

  1. Embrace Power Saving Modes

Sure, it can be irritating when your PC slips into sleep mode or hibernation mode as you need to wait a few seconds for it to spring back into life. However, these power saving modes stop your hard drive from running when it’s unnecessary. And by saving even just a minute or two’s running time several times throughout a day, you’re going to significantly increase the lifespan of your hard drive.

  1. Protect Your PC

One of the most sure fire ways to damage a hard drive is through physical trauma, so you need to make sure your PC is well protected.

First off, only ever remove your hard drive if you have to and make sure it’s well packaged and cushioned once it’s out of the case as they’re very fragile. Likewise, ensure that your PCs cases are well out of the way of your employees’ walkways as all it takes is one mistimed kick to a PC to damage the hard drive.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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5 Signs That Your PC Is Due for an Upgrade

Office IT,
31
Jan 2017

Upgrade_Memory_PC

PCs are very important to business and you can’t afford to be without one or using one that isn’t optimized, but how do you know it’s time to upgrade?

The problem with working with an aging PC is that it’s difficult to guarantee its reliability. And if the world of business demands one thing then it’s reliability. Even the very best computers will go into decline or slip behind in terms of technology, so it’s a good idea to upgrade around every four years.

Sometimes, though, an upgrade may be required a little sooner, so let’s go through five signs that your PC is due an upgrade.

dirty PC Fan

  1. Noisy Components

When your PC starts making noises which get louder and more grating as time goes on then it’s an indicator that something isn’t right. In particular, the most common components to start generating such a noise are the various fan drives and hard drives housed within your PC. And when these start to fail – particularly the fans – this puts a huge amount of stress on the rest of your PC, so it makes more sense to upgrade to a new PC.

  1. Out of Date?

New advances in software and technology are so rapid that, depending on the needs of your business, older PCs may struggle to adopt. And, in some cases, older PCs simply won’t be able to run this new technology; this can put your business at a real disadvantage, so sometimes it’s crucial to upgrade your PCs when bringing in new software in order to get the best out of it.

  1. Constant Maintenance is Required

Sometimes you’ll realize that you’re actually spending more time sorting out the various problems with your PC than getting work done on it. And wasted time is wasted money, so it’s a huge drain on your businesses resources and needs addressing. Even if it may seem expensive to upgrade, ultimately it’s going to save you more money in the long term due to increased productivity.

  1. Lack of Support

Once software and hardware providers stop offering support or security patches it means that your PC becomes a liability. After all, what if you have a severe server meltdown and all your data is at risk of being lost? Without any support there’s the risk that you’ll never see that data again. Likewise, without any security updates you run the risk of being hacked. Upgrading to current, supported technology is the only option in these cases.

Slow_Computer

  1. It Slows Down

All PCs reach a point where they simply slow down. Processors have to handle more advanced programs and updates. Their performance can decline whilst the constant demands of a business PC can eventually push them to a point of exhaustion. Therefore, if there’s nothing noticeable which is causing the PC to slow down then it’s time to consider an upgrade.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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