Defend yourself against IT terrors

Halloween can be a scary time, and every year there seems to be new and inventive ways to scare the living daylights out of fully-grown adult business owners!

But even though it can seem daunting with the sheer weight of security software out there to choose from, cybersecurity software for your business need not be scary. Whether you are looking for protection for just one device, or an entire Enterprise datacentre, modern security suites deliver complete security without significantly impacting machine performance.

We’ve been protecting business machines and networks for many years, so we know how business owners feel when they hear about the latest virus or ransomware threat doing the rounds. We’ve gathered up a ghostly list of desirable security features, so you’re not left in the dark as to how to choose a software solution that can help you, your team and your systems.

Get the Skeletons out of your boot cupboard

Most AV and security software has a feature known as a start-up optimisation, which forces certain applications to stop opening on start-up, improving PC boot speeds and generally meaning that you can get your team into full productivity faster, with the minimum amount of application bloat.

If your PC is shuffling like a zombie from a George Romero movie, then you can view programs that automatically load on start-up in most Security software consoles, and can then tailor your start-up options and delay -or disable completely- the loading of any applications you don’t need on boot, enabling your PC to start up faster than an evolved and mutated Zombie intent on devouring some brains!

Payment Protection

Payment Protection features are a good idea if you use business finance services or even if you just buy thing online with the company credit card. Your payment details and online purchases are safe. Most payment protection features work by disabling any screen recording processes running at the time, and your payment data is heavily encrypted in transit (between you and the vendor). In short, the only way your details are getting stolen is if there’s a ghost peering over your shoulder (but they can’t make online purchases anyway, they’ve got no-body to buy for).

File Shredder

With the right knowledge and skills, it is all too easy to recover deleted data from a computer. What File Shredder features do, however, is allow you to securely dispose of, and permanently delete, your sensitive information, and banish it to the next world; a far realm of nothingness… NOTHINGNESS!

VPN – Virtual Private Network

Using a VPN masks your IP address from others while online, and there can be benefits to hiding your PC’s location. Hackers are a lot like vampires; allowing them access to your personal information is a lot like inviting them into your home, and once they’re in they can do untold damage. With a VPN it makes it extremely difficult for unwanted parties to get hold of your IP address, meaning they can’t access your personal data. Unfortunately, VPNs do not protect against actual vampire intrusions… for that you’ll need a Vampire Protection Network.

Password and Recommendation Features

Many suites now incorporate a feature that automatically makes recommendations when it ‘thinks’ a password you’ve selected is too weak. We’re not saying that your password needs to be made up of unpronounceable, ancient elder runes that’ll summon Cthulhu if read aloud, but let’s be honest, your birthday isn’t really secure. This feature will suggest you make changes to passwords that aren’t ‘strong’.

A good modern security suite should have its functionality password protected, which will stop any viruses that manage to break through your defences from disabling your antivirus software, which is one of the first things that they are programmed to do. It is like protecting the antidote to the zombie outbreak so that if one of the horde breaks into your bunker, it can’t reach and destroy it!

Automatic Updates

Security tends to fail when your operating system or your security software isn’t fully up to date. Setting time aside to ensure updates are installed properly is essential to keeping your system protected. Keeping an up to date operating system is like keeping your ‘Scooby Doo’ inspired traps fully operational, to capture those gruesome monsters. Most AV and security software now keeps itself fully up to date with very fast response to Zero Day threats, by checking into a central database for definitions, rule sets, and suspicious system behaviours as soon as the system comes online, to absolutely minimise your systems’ vulnerability window.

Not all websites with malware on look sketchy; many are designed to seem completely legitimate so that you let your guard down and start exploring. So, make sure your anti-malware software is up to date and fully operational. It’s like letting a new, lone apocalypse survivor into your base without checking them for zombie bites first!

So which software to choose?

We’ve worked with and supplied many security software solutions to our clients in the past, but at the moment, there’s a clear front runner in terms of having all of the above features and more, and that is currently Bitdefender.

Bitdefender has some of the most comprehensive anti-malware and anti-virus protections on the market, and what’s more, you can also get a free version if you only require basic protection! It’s perfect for business use, as there are many features geared toward rolling out updates, rules and profiles across whole organisations-worth of machines, and each installation can be managed from a central cloud portal, giving real time threat data and the ability to issue remote scans and updates.

If you’d like to discuss any of the features listed above, or you want a comprehensive system check carried out to ensure you are fully protected, then get in touch with Pearce IT today!

We’re off to have a lie down now, all this Halloween stuff seems to have gone to our heads.

Should I lease my IT equipment rather than purchase outright?

Investing and ongoing costs

No matter the size of a business; investing in the right IT equipment that will not only do the job it needs to do efficiently but will also provide the computing power your business needs for an acceptable length of time can become costly.

On average, IT equipment equates to around 20% of new businesses start-up costs, which is a hefty chunk of the budget needed to get a business off the ground.

Even after the initial investment in your IT infrastructure you may then need to make further investments, periodically, for upgrades to keep up with the rapid pace of IT development; replacements for failing or obsolete hardware, for the cost of servicing and repairing the equipment, your organisation may need a platform that your existing hardware does not support… the list goes on!

With computing being pretty much ubiquitous within modern business, it can be much more cost-effective to lease the equipment rather than purchasing outright. There are many advantages to doing this, and indeed, it’s not always best to own a thing; certainly not if it will be behind the curve or obsolete in a matter of years or even months.

So what’s the cost?

The initial investment required to lease IT equipment, such as laptops, PC’s, servers, printers and even keyboards and mice, can be minimal or even non-existent, with the cost being spread over the course of the contract.

Not only is the initial investment minimised but, more often than not, the cost to repair or replace broken, damaged or obsolete equipment as well as regular servicing of the equipment to ensure it is still performing optimally is absorbed within the monthly, quarterly or annual contract costs.

So, you have no added or unexpected charges relating to the maintenance of your servers or IT infrastructure and computers because they form part of the lease agreement between you and your IT leasing company.

And, once the lease agreement comes to an end you have the option to swap the existing equipment for newer, which most often means improved, equipment!

But how long should I lease for?

Hire or lease contracts can vary in length and, whatever your needs, you can likely find a lease agreement to suit.

You may have a short-term project coming up that requires the use of multiple high-powered desktop workstations, or laptops, but the cost to purchase them outright may not be justifiable for the short space of time they’ll be needed. In this scenario, it would be much more cost-effective to hire the extra required items on a short-term hire contract and merely return them once the project has completed, after erasing all the data on them first, of course! 

In other cases, as in the start-up of a new business, you may require a full hardware stack, Local Area Network cabling, Wireless Access Point’s, Routers, Firewalls, multiple desktop PC’s, monitors, keyboard and mouse set-ups, along with large standing office multifunction printer installations, which, to purchase outright, could cost tens of thousands of pounds, depending on the required number of units, size of the server or storage, specification of the hardware and the space in which the networking requires installation. That’s not even taking into account racking units for storage and safe operation of large equipment, for larger enterprises.

In this situation, it could be much more beneficial and cost-effective to obtain a long-term lease agreement for the equipment, that would include a service, and repair or replace package on an annual renewal basis.

This way, the cost of your IT infrastructure is spread out over a much longer period. A maintenance plan is taken care of, and you have that extra peace-of-mind knowing that, should anything go wrong, you won’t be caught out by a large repair bill or the cost of replacement for expensive equipment; the lease company will provide all of this as part of their agreement with you.

What’s more, if you like the equipment you’ve been leasing and want to add it to your company’s assets, most lease agreements offer end of rental/lease purchase options.

And, even better, you know what to pay and when, making it much easier to include and account for in your company budgets.

Working from home

Let’s get real for a minute.

In the current climate it makes much better business sense to enable your workers (those that can, at least) to work from home.

However, this can turn into an extremely costly exercise if you plan on purchasing the equipment they need.

You’ll need to raise the funds to purchase laptop computers, keyboards, mice, any ergonomic arrangements they require as part of their workplace rights, access to the company network via a VPN, possibly phone lines linked to their IT equipment along with the possibility of having to provide them with desks or sit-stand units, the list goes on!

And, in these uncertain times, who knows how long this arrangement may be required to continue?

Would it not make more sense to lease the equipment required by your staff to enable them to work from home as effectively as if they were in the office?

Especially if the hope is to get everyone back into the office when the argument for this becomes much more tenable?

Why spend thousands in one hit to get everyone set-up remotely and then worry about added costs if someone spills tea on their laptop at home, when you can pay a set monthly fee for the duration of working from home, and then return the equipment at the end of this period?

Additionally, many leasing companies will set up all of your equipment to the specification and software requirements needed to enable your staff to carry out their work, so you don’t need to worry about that part of it too.

You could also opt for a rolling contract, if applicable, meaning that once we are all out the other side of the current climate on back on safe, level ground again, you can give notice to terminate your lease agreement to cut your ongoing IT costs.

Peace of mind

Not only does leasing your IT equipment mean less of an initial outlay for your business but it can also offer you and your stakeholders much needed peace-of-mind in this climate, with the knowledge that remote working, equipment maintenance, repair and replacement, and set-up and installation can all be taken care of for you under one, affordable contract cost that you can plan and budget for accordingly.

Sounds like good business advice, right?

Obviously, making this kind of decision is solely dependent on your business and your unique requirements.

If you’re unsure of whether you would benefit from leasing your IT equipment or if purchasing it would be the best route to take, don’t worry.

Get in touch with PearceIT and we can talk you through your requirements, the benefits to each avenue along with the costs and work out which route would be best for you and your business.

When did you last review your business IT?

When did you last review your business IT? 

The continuing events surrounding COVID-19 and the responses worldwide have been numerous and varied, but one thing has been evident everywhere; there was a large scale lack of preparation for this situation, and much of it was in the realm of business IT. 

Many businesses simply shut down overnight, as there was no way for people to do their jobs from home. Many workers simply had no equipment, or (even worse in the eyes of many IT professionals) used personal equipment, to perform vital work tasks. This left a great many businesses non-compliant on GDPR regulations, as well as facing operational and financial difficulties. Some could not deliver their services to customers until they had delivered a physical fleet of machines or set up methods to bring their internal systems to the cloud, or allow them to be shared remotely. 

But it’s all sorted now, right? 

 There are a great many businesses across the UK, and the world, that have been playing catch-up since the outbreak of COVID-19, and many are still struggling. This rather poignantly demonstrates just how important it is to regularly review your IT strategy, and ask whether it continues to accurately reflect the strategy of your business. Recent legislation and guidelines around device sharing and hot-desking in light of the UK response to coronavirus has meant that many businesses have had to radically change the way they distribute hardware and working areas to their staff, with entire offices simply out of action if they are unable to meet new health and safety guidelines brought in after the pandemic. 

Currently it’s vital to make sure that if there is any way you can keep employees distanced, then you should. Ideally, if they can undertake all their work from home, then this is the best action to take. If your staff members access shared resources on a server that is ‘On-Premises’ then access to these files and resources can be pushed over the internet. If you’re closing offices or no longer sharing a central workspace, then you can also migrate a server from a physical machine to a ‘VM’ or Virtual Machine in the Microsoft Azure platform, removing the need for a machine entirely.  

If your server runs your domain, and you use Microsoft Office 365, Windows 10 Pro and Office 365 can be configured to run your domain user accounts anywhere through Azure Active Directory, giving you an easy to administer, centralised control point for all of your machines and user accounts. Server files can be migrated to SharePoint, for ease of access and control, and anywhere-availability. 

What about supporting my workers?  

Azure Active Directory works with Office 365 to ensure that you just need a single sign-on for  your Office apps, as well as to log into your Windows 10 Pro machine, so a single password reset via your IT department or Managed Service Provider ensures you have access to everything, or that access to everything can be denied, at the click of a mouse. 

Microsoft Teams is another revolutionary part of Office 365, and can be used as a central hub not only for your chat and file-sharing functions, but also all your favourite project management and productivity apps. It can also integrate with certain VoIP services, meaning that you can have all of your chat, files, phone-calls and meetings in Teams, and you don’t need any hardware other than the machine that it’s installed on. No phones, no hot desks, no need for the office = no COVID risk. 

All this functionality is great, but it still needs to be secured, and if you still aren’t using a modern business antivirus suite like Bitdefender, then it really is time to get licenced and get everything protected to the same standard. That’s only the first stage of protecting yourself of course, there’s email filtering to keep the attachment-nasties at bay, and now you can even backup all of your Office 365 data to ensure that you have protection against ransomware, as well as have the ability to restore and fix potentially expensive mistakes, like losing files or deleting documents. 

Crikey. Is that all? 

This all sounds like a lot to take in, but in reality, these services represent the minimum investments for running a business that takes protecting its productivity seriously. If you aren’t looking into migrating to some or all of the types of service mentioned here, then you should be. Fortunately, many Managed Service Providers now have a very mature approach to migration and wholesale change of services, and can consult on building a better strategy to support workers remotely, and optimise your business to take advantage of the best parts of the ‘new normal’.  

If you need an experienced team to assess your IT strategy, or you’re looking for a service provider that is able to supply all the above services and more, then get in touch with Pearce IT today. 

Why you need extra protection on Office 365 emails.

Why you need extra protection on Office 365 emails.

Between 2016 and 2017 the number of emails sent globally containing ransomware increased by 6000%.

Think about that for a moment... not 100% or even 600%.

6000%.  

That’s a pandemic increase in email-based threats, and unfortunately, due to its practically ubiquitous nature in the world of business, Office 365 has become a profitable area for hackers to exploit. As more and more organisations onboard to Office 365, so the need to “hack-proof” the O365 environment becomes more essential. We’ve seen this manifest itself in the availability of cloud backup products, and our offering by way of example that now offer backups of entire Office 365 tenancies, with version control, redundancy, and granular restores to mitigate the damage caused by ransomware attacks.

Hang on, don’t I have a filter?

Office 365 has a built-in spam filter, and has kept many an inbox clear for a long time, but despite recent updates and dedicated efforts to improve its performance against malware and phishing, it can be a rather basic solution when ranged against the mind-boggling array of cyber-threats which now use email as a preferred attack vector. Right now, it’s more important than ever in business to ensure that your data is safe, not just to avoid embarrassing breaches or expensive thefts, but with a continuously growing focus on the security and the privacy of the individual online, anyone who

handles data and deals in certain geographies is bound by law to safeguard that data, or risk working outside of compliance, resulting in the possibility of big fines. Very big.

Office 365 offers two levels of security, Exchange Online Protection, or EOP, and Advanced Threat Protection, which uses some heuristics to look at email behaviour, can block filetypes and attachments and monitors mail accounts for SPAM-related markers. this level of protection is in the low-middle of the market. But new malware can often get through tried and tested email protection technologies. While Microsoft’s EOP can detect 100% of all known viruses, and updates every 15 minutes, it is not as effective at protecting against new or unknown malware threats, and of course, zero-day exploits.

Zero-day? Sounds scary…

A zero-day exploit is a type of cyber-attack that occurs on the same day that a weakness is discovered in a certain piece of software. At this point, the software weakness can be exploited before a fix or patch is made available from the software author. It is so called because zero days have passed since the weakness was discovered. If an email is infected with malware which then takes advantage of this newly discovered security hole, then obviously there will be no way of a spam or email filter that depends on a library of known threats to stop the attack.

So, what’s the answer?

The way to offset this is to anticipate the attacks by using email filtering systems with predictive techniques. Machine learning and advanced analytical tools such as Bayesian analysis (building an iterative approach to the probability of a threat as more information becomes apparent) and looking at the behaviour of an email; it’s content, links and attachments, addresses, SPF records and a whole list of other features.

Using these techniques, the software ‘learns’ to block new varieties of phishing, and zero-day attacks before they cause damage. There is no longer a requirement to have met the threat already.

Office 365s email security features don’t really measure up to these dedicated tools, as developing these software tools can be expensive and best left to niche security providers.

One such tool that we are using at Pearce IT to great effect, is SpamTitan.

What’s SpamTitan?

Spam titan, in addition to enhancing spam blocking, also adds an additional layer of data loss protection. It also includes powerful data-leak prevention rules to prevent data loss such as social security numbers, bank details, data containing tagged keywords and other pieces of Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

Advanced phishing protection includes whaling and spear phishing by performing real time inbound scanning on emails. Spam titan will search for key indicators in an email’s header, contents, or domain information, that suggests that it may be a phishing attempt. It can also perform reputation checks on links within the email.

When considering email safety and security it may seem counterintuitive to scan outgoing emails. SpamTitan provides outbound scanning, helping to prevent your organisations sender domain from being blacklisted due to circulating SPAM emails or emails containing malware. If your account or domain becomes blacklisted, it can be costly to reverse for your business.

Additionally, Office 365 does not come with full-tenancy protection and backup enabled as standard. Getting changes undone, or restoring data that has been lost to leaks, malware, malicious editors, or even total lockout due to ransomware, can be time-consuming, costly, and sometimes impossible to achieve. When you are thinking about putting locks on the doors, you should also make sure the house doesn’t flood, so fortunately we offer full-tenancy or individual user account Office 365 Cloud Backup solutions.

So, we’re safe?  

Well, it’s certainly advisable to use some sort of dedicated filter software if you’re in the business of staying in business. The more you can protect your data, and that of your customers, the better, and If there’s one thing we’ve learned recently, it’s the importance of not spreading viruses.

If you want to secure your email using the award winning SpamTitan email security, then get in touch with Pearce IT today.

MS Teams; What’s all the fuss about?

If you’ve never heard of Microsoft Teams, then you’re obviously from a galaxy far, far away, but Microsoft’s collaboration, communication and file-sharing app has been transforming workplaces all over the world.  At Pearce IT, we’re a big fan of Teams, and we’ve been helping our customers migrate their infrastructure to Teams, as well as provisioning Teams for organisations caught on-the-hop by the Coronavirus outbreak. 

Teams is now Microsoft’s fastest growing app ever, with over 500,000 companies using it globally at the time of writing. Microsoft estimates that 75 million people are using Teams daily, and its list of features just keeps growing. Whereas the number of Teams users assuredly got a boost due to the COVID 19 situation, the ‘stay-at-home revolution’ introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed a great many organisations into operational territory they previously didn’t occupy, and weren’t really ready to. This being said, the number of organisations that have adopted and stayed with Teams is a testament to just how easy it can be to provision and implement, and how effective it can be when deployed in your organisation.  

Getting on the Team 

You can start using Teams with a free version from Microsoft, but full-fat Teams comes bundles with most of the Office 365 business licences, so if you have an Office 365 Business Premium, Standard, or Enterprise licence, then you probably have Teams bundles included with your licencing. If you need assistance with this, then we can help you get the right licencing to kick off your Teams journey. 

Teamwork and collaboration being the cornerstone of modern organisations, it’s natural that these are central tenets within Teams operation. If you have an existing Office 365 security group infrastructure then this will simply translate to Teams, as an individual user groups or ‘Team’ is constructed using the Office 365 security framework. You can add or remove members of a team at any time, transferring ownership or permissions within a team is equally simple. Microsoft have a very simple ‘how-to’ on how to set up Teams and channels for your organisation here. 

Collaboration and teamwork are the cornerstones of modern workflow, and since its launch, users have been finding new ways to use Teams daily. But if you’re not currently using Teams, here are some reasons why we think that you should get involved. 

More than just chat 

You can use the chat window in Teams to have quick conversations with your colleagues, but there’s so much more to it. If you need to share a file, then you can just drag and drop the file to the chat. If you need to discuss the file, then you can make a video or voice call straight from the chat window. Once you have finished discussing the file, you can schedule a review meeting without leaving the chat. Teams’ chat function integrates beautifully with other Microsoft products such as Office and OneNote meaning that switching between apps throughout your conversation is no longer an issue. 

Power up your meetings 

Meetings can be a challenging. Making sure everyone is in attendance, that they all have the agenda and access to any required files (or have had them delivered by email beforehand) can be difficult. If you have set up a meeting in Teams it’s very easy to check attendees, conference everyone via video or voice, share documents and screens and even chat via text with attendees whilst in the meeting. 

The recordings of the meeting are immediately available to you in the same tab, so if you missed the meeting, the recording is right there, plus any notes and documents. 

Reduce email, increase oversight 

One great thing about Teams is that it has replaced a great deal of correspondence sent via email in the workplace. If you have a chat conversation that is on a particular subject, you can search that chat using keywords, which will bring out any relevant chat entries related to your search term. Furthermore, everything you do in Teams is recorded by Microsoft if you specify this as a security preference; great for administrative oversight and Human Resources requirements, but also essential for backing-up and securing your data and workflow.  

Integration, integration, integration  

Teams has very tight integration with Office 365 (as well as a whole suite of 3rd party apps), so you can create Word, Excel or PowerPoint document in Teams, and share these for co-authoring without even leaving the chat. Add comments, discuss, and amend versioning in-app.  

File storage for Teams is created under a Teams folder in SharePoint, so users can also view these files using the SharePoint User Interface if they should wish to. Each team can be configured with its own file-sharing and storage allocation or can be built to share files and folders across the organisation; It’s up to you. 

Anywhere-connectivity 

With the Teams mobile app, you have access to your calls, meetings chat and documents on the move, or at home via a smartphone or tablet device. The Teams mobile app gives you the same functionality as the desktop client or the web app, so you can have the same experience regardless of where you are.  

The most exciting connectivity function in Teams is the ability to integrate VoIP packages, allowing the app to receive calls from and make calls to the Publicly Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Right now, we have the ability to roll out Teams with a dedicated VoIP package, meaning that you can make calls from the app to colleagues without Teams, and even include them in meetings with other users. Call-queuing and hunt-groups can also be implemented, and we have specialist handsets that use the Teams app user interface, making it uniform across your organisation.  

Of course, you don’t have to have ANY hardware to run VoIP using Teams, as the mobile, web or the desktop app will just use the integrated VoIP service over mobile data or fixed Ethernet to make calls to the PSTN, effectively meaning that all your workflow can be geographically fluid; you don’t need an office, and you don’t need specific hardware. A user with a mobile phone and a laptop can answer mail, share files, chat, review documents, make calls, take calls, schedule meetings and tasks, all just as they would if they were sitting in the office. 

If you’re looking to harness the power of Teams and you need some advice, or you want to power up your existing Teams infrastructure with VoIP, get in touch. 

Feeling secure with your IT?

Staying safe at home is still the order of the day, and as we have become physically isolated, we have become more digitally connected – to our workplaces, our data and each-other. This is undoubtedly a good thing in terms of keeping everything going, from personal relationships through to critical projects and day-to-day business, with some damage avoidance already done for those businesses with strong work-from-home or cloud-based elements to their processes. As we become more physically separate however, the number of security flaws begins to increase. With a physically disparate workforce, or a family where home visits are impossible, it is hard to ensure that everyone’s cyber security is up to a good, or even sufficient standard. 

As we come into the 8th week of lockdown, it’s a fact that there are now more cyber threats than when we entered, and for small businesses or families that don’t have a particularly rigorous approach to IT security this means that the threat of data theft or security breach is very real. As we are a Cyber Essentials accredited body, and we want everyone to be as safe as they can be right now, here are some top tips to getting yourself secured at home, from the team at Pearce IT. 

Protect devices with Antivirus software. 

We’ve all heard that Mac’s don’t get viruses (False) or that Windows Defender is the best AV solution out there (False), but in reality If you don’t run an AV solution, then you’re not really taking your security seriously. AV software now includes features such as real-time scanning for websites, as well as any files that you open or applications you run or download. We recommend ESET Internet Security as it has a fantastic range of features to secure your device from external threats. 

Update everything 

Cyber-criminals work very hard to exploit vulnerabilities in operating systems and software. They realise that people’s willingness to run outdated software is their quickest route into your device. Similarly, application and OS developers work even harder to ensure that the latest versions of programs have these vulnerabilities patched. It’s vital to update the OS and all critical software installed on any device that you use at home, especially if it’s currently being used for work. 

Secure your WiFi 

Protecting your devices will be of little help if an attacker connects to your Wi-Fi or takes up residence inside your router. Anyone who does that can intercept data, passwords, remote-access sessions, or work e-mail. You must lock your network down. 

Make sure that the WiFi access to your router is encrypted. If your Wi-Fi asks for a password, the connection is encrypted, but there is more than one method of encryption, and really you should be using WPA2. You can use the router settings to change the type of encryption — and your WiFi password while you are at it (remember to use a strong password) to make sure nobody that already has your credentials can continue to connect.  

While you’re there, change your default admin login and password to access your router settings. The default passwords for many routers are very weak leading to them being cracked, but many are also published on the web. System administrators and IT support personnel look these up all the time. These are often simply written into malware code — if they work, your router is captured. Intruders can check open devices on your network for files or spy on you. Remember - everything you do online passes through your router. We supply Draytek routers, which have great encryption and security options. 

Use a VPN if connecting to open or strange Wi-Fi networks 

If for some reason you are connected to someone else’s WiFi, or as an essential worker you are unavoidably on the move, then you should use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN. This encrypts the connection between your device and your target network, and between your device and the router you are currently connected to, so anyone else monitoring the connection will not be able to read it. 

Lock your device 

You should have password protection enabled on every device you use. It can still be stolen. Even if you’re working at home and outsiders can’t get to your devices, if you’re about to leave the device or the room, lock the screen. You probably don’t want your child to accidentally send a gibberish text to a customer, or your cat to wander across the keyboard and send half an email to the company directors.  

Make sure you use secure services 

You most likely have a set of IT services that you use for work, such as Microsoft Office 365. If you or your employees are using such a service, make sure that it is THE ONLY service that you or they use for storing or exchanging company data. Personal Google Drives and the like can send anonymised links that can potentially be picked up by search engines, so make sure everyone is set up correctly and using reliable and secure cloud storage and sharing apps. We recommend using Microsoft Office 365 which allows secure cloud storage using OneDrive and SharePoint, and messaging, videoconferencing and sharing via Teams. We can even ensure these services are backed up. 

Be vigilant 

Phishing mails can be highly convincing, and spoofing attacks can send mails which appear to originate from within your organisation, from a customer or a loved one. Sometimes, these can bypass even the most sophisticated SPAM and email filtering services. As the amount of digital communications has increased sharply with teleworking, so you should read all messages carefully and don’t rush to reply. If someone urgently needs an important data or a demand for payment of an invoice, double-check the sender is who they claim to be. Call the other party for clarification if needed. Check links on documents especially; best to check them by hovering your mouse over them first. If it’s a random URL, then best to ignore it. If a link takes you to sign-in page for any service, be VERY suspicious indeed. It is always better to get clarification on links and linked files from someone else or the supposed sender. 

Be comfortable 

Finally, don’t neglect your wellbeing. Lounging around on the sofa might seem like a great idea whilst working on the laptop, but you’ll end up being uncomfortable in the long run, Find yourself a desk and a comfortable chair, preferably in a well-lit room to your productivity and concentration levels high, don’t forget to periodically stretch  your legs, drink water, and don’t skip meals. When our concentration levels are low, that is when we are most vulnerable. 

Keep remote workers secure

Forward thinking is part of what we do. This is because we know that the landscape that we work in is constantly changing and as a result of this, new threats and challenges are constantly emerging. We deal with these as they appear, and as they evolve, our solutions evolve with them. It is a dance, a war of attrition, an unspoken agreement that the job is never really done as long as technology keeps marching forward.

Now we know all this already- it’s a baked-in feature of working in the tech sector, but how do we explain these truths to a potential client, or an existing one for that matter? After all, if a client has just bought a bunch of brand-new laptops from you, they’re not going to want to buy NEW laptops in three years’ time, are they? Do they think their staff should be able to work anywhere? Why should they; they’ve just shelled out on an office refurb and three new parking spaces! Cloud storage? But they bought a NAS only two years ago, and there’s loads of space left!

It’s easy to see how customers can look at forward thinking IT strategies and dismiss them as unnecessary expenditure at best, and frivolous or a ‘Hard-Sell’ at worst, but it’s become very evident with the recent responses to lockdown and requirements to furlough staff or take appropriate steps to allow them to work from home that many businesses were a long way behind the curve in terms of their readiness for unforeseen events, and those with well-planned policies encompassing ‘Business Resilience’ have seen minimal disruption to workflow.

It's become almost a meme that, when it comes to provisioning effective IT Business Resilience strategy, clients have to suffer a disaster before they will invest in resilience tech and disaster recovery; Implementing a backup solution after that server array broke, finally putting a password policy in place after that data breach, and putting in Work From Home solutions after the office toaster fire got out of hand… not having this stuff provisioned in the first place means down-time, or as time is money; down-money.

The sad truth is that whilst many of the remote working technologies and protocols we rely on for business resilience, or allowing our employees to access vital resources on our business networks from home have been reliable in the past, they are now creaking and showing vulnerabilities. Direct RDP intercepts and hacks are becoming more and more prevalent, and even VPN’s, such as those based on L2TP protocols, have been getting attention of late for all the wrong reasons.

Any good IT strategy should incorporate a good degree of the three R’s – Redundancy, Resilience and Responsiveness; this is to say, systems in everyday use should have a backup portal or interface, not be easily taken offline, and should be able to be brought to bear in the event of a business critical issue with minimal downtime and fuss. In this age of hugely powerful mobile devices, fantastic cellular data service coverage, Cloud productivity suites and VOIP, and with many of these coming from the same suppliers or MSP’s, it’s difficult to see how some companies are still behind the curve.

If there is one thing that this current situation has taught us, it’s that not planning for a disaster is a disaster in itself.

If you haven’t already invested in a Business Resilience strategy, give us a call. We’ll help you make the right decisions about your IT, giving you piece of mind and the ability to weather any storm. Get in contact to talk about our VOIP and cloud productivity solutions.

Helping you keep your business open

With all the concerns over service disruption due to recent events, rest assured that the we at Pearce IT have redundancy and resilience at the forefront of our minds. We support you using the latest in cloud-based infrastructure and Software As A Service, so if you should experience disruption in your business, it won't be down to your IT. 

Read our day in the life of a home worker 

I start the journey to the office. It’s a short walk to the kitchen table where I start up my laptop PC, my headset, notepad and a coffee, then open my organisations VOIP application on my mobile, connect the headset and (in less than 5 minutes) I’m ready to go. 

The emails come flooding in, the first one I open needs me to check their file, I open our cloud storage and quickly get to work. File checked and customer answered I'm onto the next, this one needs a phone call; The call quality of my headset is excellent, so talking to my customers is just like doing so from the office, except I can do it in more comfortable clothing (pyjamas). I help the client navigate our online portal and resolve their issue. 

11am is our daily meeting, everyone is working from home so we hold a video call where everyone can chip in. (I put a jumper on over my pj’s) 

And breathe, I’ve got a full hour to put the washing on, make myself some lunch, walk the dog and unload the washing machine! 

Back to it this afternoon, and we are all planning the next team social on our instant messaging platform. 

The afternoon went quickly, my inbox is almost clear, now for the long journey home... and to get out of the work clothes. 

Here’s how:

Hosted Desktop:

With this service you can have your desktop wherever you are on any device you own.  Yes that’s right everything everywhere all looking the same.  Your data looking exactly the same on any device.  The latest version of Microsoft Office, your e-mail on every device.  Fully backed up to the cloud and accessible on almost any device. All this for less than a cup of coffee a day.

E-mail:

It’s all very well having your e-mail available on your phone but can you see your sent items, contacts and Calendar?  E-mail is like a jigsaw there are many pieces of information that can be scattered around.  It’s not until you put the pieces all in the same place that the picture appears.  By using Online Exchange (Office 365) you can have your cake and eat it.

E-mail is one of the most important tools that businesses use.  Don’t run the risk of missing that important e-mail just because you’re out of the office or onsite with another customer.

Online File Access:

Using Pearce IT cloud we not only make sure your PC’s and Servers are backed up but also that you have access to them in a web browser being able to view them and edit them on almost any device. With our Briefcase option you too can have you files on all devices and synchronised locally on PC’s and Macs to give you offline access to essential documentation you need whilst out and about.

VOIP:

Voice over IP.  In this modern era although we can converse via the internet using e-mail and text. It is always nice to hear the other person, have a discussion and get business done.  VOIP telephony has come a long way over the last few years.  With the latest technology we can make and receive calls just by taking our phone wherever we go and plugging it into an internet connection. By doing this you can call your clients displaying your office number and using your free call allowance you have already paid for.  There are many packages for phones to include unlimited calls and cheap overseas calls.

Remote Access:

Sometimes the cloud can be a daunting thought you may just need access a bespoke application or service running only on your Desktop in the office.  Here we can create a VPN.  A VPN is a Virtual Private Network.  Joining your remote device to your corporate network enabling you to connect to your office resources.

These are just a few ways that Pearce IT can help your business run as usual.  Give us a ring today to find out what your options are.

Is your business walking an IT tightrope without a support safety net?

If you’ve built it up piece by piece over many years, or are using old IT equipment without vital software updates and reliable backups, there’s a good chance that you are!

But have you thought about how you’d cope if disaster struck - of whatever kind - and your systems suddenly couldn’t be used?

If the thought strikes you with dread, you need managed IT support.  And when you choose Pearce IT of Gloucester, you can get it without paying over the odds.

Business owner Liam Pearce set up his business after working with a number of leading companies across many sectors including insurance, finance, port authorities and IT security companies.

“I found that I really enjoyed the nitty-gritty of pinpointing the source of a problem and using the expertise and products available to me to come up with a permanent solution to them” Liam says.

 “For example, I recently took a call from a business whose system was originally installed by someone who had since sadly died - and there was no one else in the business who’d assumed the responsibility for managing the technology they used, and relied on”.

That’s a typical scenario - all the experience of installing systems and keeping them up-to-date is in the hands of just one person, and especially in the light of the obligations placed on them by GDPR to keep track of their data, at some stage, most businesses are going to have to ask themselves “how do we start to properly manage our IT?”.

The easy and cost-effective answer is with a managed service package from Pearce IT.

Why use a manged IT service?

 There are several compelling reasons:

 - You get comprehensive help, with 24-hour support access, from a team of knowledgeable, helpful experts.

 - You can think of a managed IT service package as being an insurance policy which you can call on to keep the systems at the heart of your business running.

 - Most problems can be solved without a site visit, which means that Pearce IT can protect your business, no matter where in the UK you’re based, or your work takes you to.

 - You and your business get IT solutions which have been fully tested and proven.

 - And with Pearce IT, you’re dealing with a business which understands what it means to rely totally on your computer - you won’t be just another ‘support ticket’.

Pearce IT is a Microsoft Silver Partner, and an accredited member of the Government-backed Cyber Essentials scheme.  This is a key part of the government’s IT security strategy, involving bringing together a network of businesses and individuals with the expertise to ensure that their clients’ systems are properly protected from hacking and other forms of attack.

“We’re also undergoing constant refresher training to keep abreast of the latest IT security issues and threats,” added Liam.

 “The main benefit of this is that you get a solution for your IT requirement or problem which will last, because we stake our reputation on being able to get, and keep, our systems running smoothly – it’s in our own interest to get it right, first time,” concluded Liam.