Phishing attacks are on the rise

While many Forth Worth businesses struggle to weather everything that 2020 has brought, hackers have been busy taking advantage of the uncertainty and fears of things like COVID-19 and the political climate with phishing scams that exploit the disruption in our normal routines.

7 Lessons Learned: Keeping Employees Productive at Home 

Whether your business is looking to embrace remote work for the long haul or you’re bringing your employees back into the office full-time until a second wave happens, it’s clear that a new normal means there will be some amount of working from home required well into the future. 

Use our 7 IT lessons from the COVID-19 shutdown as you figure out the new normal and prepare for potential shutdowns in the future. 

During good times, businesses usually operate IT on the just enough and just in time standard. Often, this includes putting off upgrades and license renewals until the last moment in favor of cash-on-hand or other investments. However, much like a hospital that routinely operates at 98% of their bed capacity, when a downturn hits – like a global pandemic – there’s no surge capacity on hand.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) spends more than $316 billion on contracts each year. Notwithstanding the multibillion-dollar contracts that go to the likes of Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Raytheon, many smaller organizations manufacture and offer products and services to the Defense Department as contractors. VersaTrust is the proud managed security services provider for one such company.

Data Privacy Day commemorates the anniversary of the signing of the first international treaty focused on data protection. Here’s how you can get involved.  

Overt military hostilities between Iran and the United States appear to have subsided after the Trump Administration’s killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani brought tensions to a near boil. While the probability of a hot war has thankfully subsided, the likelihood of increased cyberthreats from Iran has never been higher or carried the potential for such considerable economic damage.

Cybersecurity education is essential in order to keep businesses one step ahead of this evolving space. Learn about types of attacks and preventative actions.

Small Town Reeling After BEC Scammers Get Employee to Wire $1M

Would you fall for this scam that cost a small town $1M? Find out what a BEC scam is, how it works, and what you can do to keep your company from falling victim.

Learn about juice jacking and how to prevent you or employees from becoming a victim. 

Here’s a new cyber threat to worry about: Juice Jacking. Read on to learn what about juice jacking and how to prevent yourself or employees from becoming a victim.

Threat actors are targeting companies to obtain personal information about employees to use for tax fraud and filing false returns.  

Not so long ago, a bank was considered high tech if it had a Mosler safe and a Pinkerton security guard. These days, we expect a burglar should have to rappel down from the ceiling through a web of laser beams and sonic sensors. Likewise, many managed service providers (MSPs) rely on out-of-date tools to protect their clients and even their own systems.

25+ Microsoft Excel Shortcuts to Boost Your Productivity

Are you getting your money’s worth out of this productivity tool? Find out how to save insane amounts of time and frustration with these 25 Microsoft Excel Tips  

When it comes to processing data, Microsoft Excel is everything to everyone. But because it’s a vast tool, many people never take the time to discover the Excel shortcuts relevant to them.

Quick Tips to Save Your Computer from Ransomware. 

Are you struggling to remove vicious ransomware from your computer? These quick tips will help you (safely!) access information on your computer and get back online in no time.  

You’ve heard about ransomware attacks, but never thought it could happen to you. That’s the beginning of the story that IT professionals around the world are hearing from users — business users, individuals, schools — there are no “safe spaces” when it comes to the ability of cybercriminals to wreak havoc on your technology. There’s always the option of paying the ransom, but this path is fraught with dangers. If the attacker doesn’t issue you the unlock code for your files, there’s no Better Business Bureau to report them, you lose the money you paid and will still need to work with professionals for ransomware removal. Understanding the three key variants of ransomware is the first step to potentially rescue your computer.

If you use Windows 7, you need to be aware that Microsoft will end support for your operating system in January 2020. Now is the time to upgrade to Windows 10.  

Windows 7 is an operating system that still has plenty of serious fans – in fact, it was only earlier last year that the market share for Windows 10 moved past Windows 7. Considering that Windows 10 was released in 2015, that is saying something. All good things must come to an end, though, and Windows 7 is no exception. Microsoft is ending support for Windows 7 in January of 2020, which means that it will become much more difficult to keep the OS up and running moving forward. And a recent announcement from Microsoft has let Windows 7 users know that they are going to be seeing bigger, full-screen pop-ups to warn them of the upcoming end of life of the operating system.

Juice Jacking is another creative way that cyber attackers are accessing your data. Learn more about the concept and how to prevent it.  

The public must be on guard for any cyberattack that comes their way; however, attackers are creative and are constantly innovating towards the next type of cyber-attack to catch unsuspecting people. Most recently, the concept of “Juice Jacking” has made its way into public attention.

Prevent Hackers from Stealing Your VoiP and Costing You Money Best ways to prevent your business from losing money because of hackers stealing your VoIP service. In 2017, telecom fraud amounted to $29.2 billion in losses to organizations and carriers, according to No Jitter. One form of telecom fraud is theft of service, which is obtaining service

BEC Scam Helps Hackers Steal Over $46M from Company How fast could your company lose $46M? BEC Scams do it in minutes. Find out how criminals hack CEO emails to earn themselves a huge payday at your expense. Sometimes criminals hide in the shadows and sometimes they hide behind technology, waiting, ready to strike

Tips to Protect Your Mac Computer from Cyber Threats Mac computers have an excellent reputation when it comes to cybersecurity, but they can still be targeted. Find out about protecting your Mac from threats. Malware, ransomware, phishing—the cyber threats on the internet abound, and these threats are generating an astounding cost to the people who

Thanksgiving wouldn’t be complete without sending a thank you to all of the local businesses in our community and a special thank you to those who put their trust in us to manage their technology. As we spend the day reflecting on what we’re thankful for, we hope you’re doing the same (and enjoying

Tips to Protect Your Mac Computer from Cyber Threats

Mac computers have an excellent reputation when it comes to cybersecurity, but they can still be targeted. Find out about protecting your Mac from threats.

Malware, ransomware, phishing—the cyber threats on the internet abound, and these threats are generating an astounding cost to the people who rely on computer systems to do business. To date, the cost of cyber infections has racked up billions of dollars in costs to unwitting business owners, some of which thought they were protected. Even though Macintosh (Mac) computer systems are highly regarded for their security, they are still at risk. Here are a few tips you should know.

1. Keep your Mac properly updated.

Without a doubt, one of the biggest reasons Mac computers fall victim to a cyber-attack is because they are not updated as they are meant to be. The developers of the Mac operating systems, whether it is one of the older Mac OS versions or something more modern like Mojave, send out frequent security patches as new updates. If you have automatic updates turned off or do not take the time to update your computer manually, you could easily miss an important line of defense.

2. Use good security programs on your business Mac.

Just because you have a Mac that has a stellar reputation for protecting itself against cyber threats, it does not mean that you should not go a step further and install a good security program. These software programs are designed to catch all those things that get past the existing Mac firewalls and security defenses.

3. Keep your Mac free of unnecessary programs.

Every user has them—those unnecessary programs that are really not used often enough to be counted as valuable or useful. These unnecessary filler programs take up valuable space on your Mac computer and slow it down. If the system is already slow, it can make it harder to recognize when something is awry and something fishy is going on. Plus, the more unnecessary programs you have that you never use, the easier it is for malicious software to latch onto something and set up shop on your computer because you will never see it.

4. Get educated about the biggest threats to security on your Mac.

Knowledge is a powerful defense tactic no matter what type of computer or OS it is that you rely on as a business professional. You should take the time to familiarize yourself with the biggest MAC cyber threats and the types of cyberattacks most often occurring today. You should familiarize yourself with things like:

• Phishing and how phishing attacks are carried out as well as how to avoid them
• Ransomware and how it gets latched onto your Mac system
• How to avoid things like malware that get attached to legitimate software

Whether you use your Mac for everyday tasks and projects at work or you have a system of Mac computers utilized by multiple employees and users within your organization, it is critical to protect your business Mac computers properly. Work with a managed IT service company to implement the best security measures and negate Mac cyber threats.