3 Reasons to Automate Computer Security

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Protecting your network and business data is usually a constant struggle between convenience and security, especially when it comes to manual behaviors. The best tool you have against that is automation, and a managed IT support services can provide precisely that. Here are three ways automation can keep your systems more secure:

  • You can automate requirements for employees to change their passwords every 90 days. Even the best passwords occasionally need to be changed. Even though we all know this, it’s far too easy to just keep using the same passwords, even across multiple portals. Request your IT representative automates password changes every so often and see if they can add a feature that prevents the recycling of old passwords.
  • Get malware prevention software that protects all aspects of your system. Free and inexpensive security software is missing key areas of protection in order to persuade customers to use a premium version. But a managed IT service can use programs that automatically screen everything from websites to network connections. Even internal and external email attachments.
  • Automatically track your licenses. Most programs are becoming subscription-based, which means each of your employees gets an individual door into the protected sites. Ask your IT company about the best ways to automate tracking for licenses (or ask if they handle user accounts). So don’t leave former employees with access and don’t pay for inactive licenses you may have forgotten about.

Automation is the key to progressing faster and faster. The less time you have to devote to tracking the details of administration and IT, the more time you can spend on your business goals. 

Contact Bluwater Technologies to get started.

Best Security Practices for Good Password Protection

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Best security practices: Computer security is crucial. Depending on your business, you may have security measures that are required by law for the protection of personally identifiable information, but you need to ensure your information’s protection regardless of the surrounding statutes. Get antivirus programs, secure your building physically, and have good password management. Here’s how to securely take care of the latter:

Train your employees on good password strategies. 

Most people know not to use Password123, but after that, there’s not a lot of education about best practices. Require a full range of alphanumerical and special characters, and make sure the characters are randomized instead of individual words. A general strategy is to pick three random words from a book or article that have no significant meaning: the words are linked together in the user’s mind to make them easier to remember but make no sense to potential hackers. Even then, it can be difficult to remember these passwords, so have your employees combine them with two-step logins or a secure keylogger.

Set a mandated schedule for updated passwords. 

Even employees with the best of intentions won’t stay up-to-date on a self-regulated schedule for replacing passwords. Instead, link the profiles together and require password changes every 30-90 days. This works even better if you add a setting to prevent recycled passwords.

If your network has mobile access or a two-step sign-on involves using a phone, use software that makes employees password-protect their phones. 

Most people already have passwords on their phones, especially since they have credit card information. But make it a requirement so no one can steal an employee’s phone and get access to your system.

Passwords are the most universal form of security in business but they can also be the weakest. Make sure your employees use strong passwords and choose new ones regularly. For more computer tips and IT support, go to Bluwater Technologies here.

How to Start Building Your Disaster Recovery Plan

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Whether you’re a small business or a growing public company, your investors are most concerned about two things: profitability, and risk management. While businesses predominantly focus on the first, a disaster recovery plan is the best long-term strategy for keeping your brand in place and your company growing.

And as companies rely more and more on technology and stored data to operate, most of that risk is centered around data recovery and electronic failure. Mitigate those risks by forming a plan in advance. Here’s how:

Disaster Recovery Plan
  • Find both the most likely and the most critical risks. A power outage that knocks out local data storage for the day might be relatively unlikely. Additionally, a small enough risk to your overall business. But a storm that floods your office space and ruins your local servers is improbable as it is devastating to your business. Find, document, and assess these risks so you can effectively answer them.
  • Create backup procedures for your data. Most of your critical information might already be online through SaaS like Salesforce or Oracle. However, make sure all of your information is backed up securely in the cloud. Then, your employees can access it during any potential disasters in your physical office space. Thus, so no data is lost. Each department should have a dedicated online portal for their information and critical categories. These include financial records and your company’s tax history, employee information, legal documents specifying entity ownership, and copies of procedures such as your disaster recovery plan.

Not only can disaster strike at any time, investors need to know that you’re reliable and planning for the future. Start to build and implement your long-term disaster recovery plan by dedicating a team to assessing risks. Then, start to store business-critical information with Bluwater Technologies.

IT Tips For Your Fort Lauderdale Business

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Everyone loves technology, right? This is especially true when it is working the way it is supposed to. It does not matter how advanced your company’s equipment is, there will still be a chance that your equipment can be breached. Computers are constantly being hacked, someone can steal a cell phone, and data can be changed. As the technological equipment gets smarter, the thieves also get smarter. Here are some IT tips for your Fort Lauderdale business.

Fort Lauderdale Business

Data thieves are not the only issues you need to think about when you are using computers. You can lose critical information during unexpected events, including the following:

  • Computer failure
  • Corruption of hard drives
  • Accidentally unplugging a device
  • Forgetting to save an important file

As the owner of a business, you will be held responsible for customer data and employee data. You cannot afford to lose any of this data. Fortunately, there are ways for you to always keep that information safe and secure.

  • Always remember to back up your data
  • Invest your money in equipment that will allow you to improve the overall operations of your business, while protecting employee and customer data
  • Utilize the services of an IT support company, even if you do have an incredible IT support employee on your payroll
  • Before you make any big upgrades to your equipment, you should weigh all your options so you can determine what computer systems and other equipment will be a perfect fit for your company.
  • Introduce a policy that includes internet safety tips that your employees should know

You want to make sure your data is safe at all times. If you can keep customer and employee data safe, they will have a significant amount of trust in your business. If you would like more information on small business safety tips, or if you would like more information on our services, contact us today.

Computer Tip of the Day: How to Remove Adware from Your Computer

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Are you experiencing annoying pop-up ads on your computer? These ads, which appear on your desktop home or on your internet browsers, are caused by adware. Adware will show you unwanted ads when you browse the internet, sometimes even modifying web pages to display their ads and links. Learn how to remove adware.

remove adware

Adware is extremely annoying and usually gets installed on your computer when you unknowingly download it together with a legit program. This is known as bundled downloads (where unwanted programs are bundled together with good programs).

To remove the adware, you first need to check for any unknown programs on your computer. Go to your control panel and look at your list of installed programs. Check your recently installed programs and see if any of them seem to be the cause of the problem. Uninstall the programs that you don’t want.

You may not recognize which programs are causing the damage, so your next step should be to scan your computer for adware. Malwarebytes has software called AdwCleaner, which will scan your files for adware and remove it if found.

Next, you want to make sure that you don’t have any other malicious programs or malware on your PC. Install an anti-malware program and scan your computer for malware. Anti-malware programs are different than anti-virus programs, and you should have both of them installed on your PC. Malwarebytes and Hitman Pro are two of the most popular anti-malware programs out there. You can also use the Zemana Anti-Malware Portable to scan for browser hijackers and automatically remove them.

Lastly, you can reset your browser settings if you’re still experiencing problems.

For help with adware removal and for all of your PC needs, just contact us.