Stuart Crawford – Page 15 – Ulistic Projects Blog

May 14, 2020

Are You Ready For Pandemic 2.0?

Will We Have Another Wave Of COVID-19?

Dr. Anthony Fauci has made clear that he is almost certain the novel coronavirus will come back in the fall. Even so, a whopping 42% of CFOs don’t have a plan for what to do if the pandemic and accompanying shutdowns hit yet again.

Don’t wait until fall hits to start preparing for a second COVID-19 outbreak and the economic shutdowns that will inevitably follow. Here are some things you can do right now to ensure your business can weather another coronavirus wave and come out victorious.

Assess Your Performance During the First Round

How did your business fare during the shutdown? Was it challenging to transfer to a remote set-up? Were there IT breaches as employees worked from home using networks that are typically far less secure than corporate ones? Was there hardware and/or software glitches as employees found it difficult to manage virtual meetings? Any problems and weak areas need to be addressed now, so you’re prepared to handle the second round of virtual operations. What’s more, you need to look for ways to improve your remote operations to ensure you’re meeting or even exceeding customer expectations. Clients, suppliers, and partners may have been willing to overlook problems on your end the first time around, but they’ll expect you to have your act together if another COVID-19 wave hits.

Adjust to the New Reality

Many companies are discovering that allowing employees to work from home is a win-win situation. Your business can save money on utilities and office space while your workers get the flexibility and convenience that suits their needs. If your business doesn’t have to bring everyone back, you may want to consider not doing so.

If technical difficulties were working from home the first time around, consult an IT service to see if these can be resolved. A managed IT service can help you create a custom cloud storage solution, set up a SaaS platform for your business, install next-generation firewall software on all your business/employee computers, and monitor your systems for signs of a cyberattack.

Train Your Employees to Face Tomorrow’s Needs

Business employees need to have the skills required to handle new jobs and responsibilities. Bank of America, for instance, tasked thousands of its branch employees with answering customer service calls. Other companies found that demand for certain products/services changed, and employees had to be reshuffled to meet current customer needs.

Are your employees prepared to take on new assignments as the need arises? Do they have the technological know-how to use new equipment or programs? If not, use the summer months to provide needed training. Bring new people into business meetings, create co-worker partnerships, and conduct training seminars to ensure your staff members can handle whatever tasks they may need to take on. A managed service can help provide the technological training your staff may need to handle new software programs and IT procedures, freeing you to focus on the overall needs of your business and your core business goals.

Preparing your business for a second COVID-19 wave could be a matter of life and death for your company. Don’t put it off; there are likely a lot of things you’ll need to do to ensure your business doesn’t just survive but thrives if the second set of lockdown orders are issued. Assess your response to the first pandemic wave, invest in improving your current IT set-up and ensure your employees have the tools and training needed to handle any responsibilities they may need to take on in the near future. The benefits of doing so are more than worth the time, hassle, expense, and effort.

May 6, 2020May 6, 2020

Microsoft Outlook: FindTime With Colleagues

Everything You Need to Know About Operating and Using FindTime

Scheduling meetings seems like it should be an easy task. However, anyone who does business knows with everyone’s busy schedules how difficult it can be to find a time that works for everyone who needs to attend. FindTime is an Outlook add-in that can help companies manage the task of organizing meetings that fits into everyone’s schedule. The following is everything you should know about FindTime.

1. What is FindTime?

FindTime is an add-in from Microsoft’s Outlook that is used to simplify the process of scheduling meetings. FindTime was first introduced in 2015. A few years later it was changed and renamed Find a Time. In 2017 FindTime was back again. With FindTime a business can eliminate wasted time playing email tag just to schedule a meeting. Microsoft made sure FindTime was as secure as possible by encrypting personal information such as email addresses. In fact, everything including email subject, the email body, and the attendees the information is sent to is encrypted.

2. How Does it Operate?

Invitations to vote on meeting times can be sent to a variety of email addresses. These include Yahoo, Gmail, and other providers. With the data provided by users, FindTime can quickly figure which days and times will work best. The program can find openings in each person’s schedule that will work for meetings. The individual sending out invitations can then propose several selected times for the meeting. The attendees that have received invitations will all vote on the time they want. After a meeting time is chosen, FindTime sends out a notice to each attendee.

3. Who Can Use It?

To use FindTime, it’s necessary for the individual or business organizing the meeting to have Microsoft 365 Apps for Business. It can also be used with an Enterprise account that has Exchange Online. It’s important to know that the recipients of meetings scheduled using FindTime do not need to have the add-in installed. If a person is sent a request by someone that has FindTime, this person can still vote on meeting times without actually having the app. In fact, they don’t even need Office 365. It’s only necessary to have an email to be a recipient.

4. How Does Installation Work?

Installation is incredibly easy. All a person needs is Microsoft 365 Apps for Business. It can also be installed on Exchange Online through an Enterprise account. According to Microsoft support, it’s necessary to take the following steps to install FindTime from Outlook for the web.

Open Outlook
Select New Message
Select the Ellipses Button
Select Get Add-ins
Select FindTime

It’s also possible to install FindTime in Outlook Desktop and from the FindTime site.

5. Why Does Your Company Need FindTime?

FindTime is easy to implement and can be used by any type of employee. Saving time and squeezing more productivity into the same 24 hours is something every organization is striving for. TechRepublic states several good reasons why a company would want to use FindTime.

FindTime is easy to use.
FindTime is necessary only for the individual scheduling the meeting.
FindTime ends the hassle of back-and-forth between those trying to schedule a meeting.
FindTime sets up the meeting and informs each person who is invited.
FindTime is part of Microsoft 365, which many people already have.

FindTime is an add-in that nearly any type of business, large or small, will find useful. Spending more time trying to schedule a meeting instead of actually attending the meeting will be a thing of the past with FindTime.

April 29, 2020April 29, 2020

How to Use Microsoft Teams

How to Use Microsoft Teams Technology

Microsoft Teams has quickly become one of the most popular tools businesses are using as employees have migrated to working from home.

How can your business best use Teams and its features to keep employees connected and productive during the COVID-19 pandemic?

What Is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based tool that combines multiple features in one cohesive platform. It can be used by businesses and organizations of all sizes, allowing for collaboration and communication among internal employees, freelancers, clients, customers and partners.

The application includes versions of familiar Microsoft programs and integrates easily with Office 365, the cloud version of the company’s popular productivity suite. Within Teams, employees can create, post, share and collaborate on Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. In addition, the platform includes voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phone services, videoconferencing and instant message capabilities.

Here are some of the main capabilities:

Chat. The function allows for private or group messages, and file attachments via OneDrive for Business
Calendar. The platform syncs with participants’ Outlook calendars to simplify meeting and appointment scheduling
Calls. Using the Skype framework, users can launch voice or video calls
Teams. When a new team is created, an Office 365 Group is created in the background, allowing integration with the cloud-based apps

Teams allows businesses to work across operating systems (desktop versions are available on Windows, Mac and Linux), a web-based app and a mobile app (for Android and iOS devices).

Teams also supports virtual meetings, presentations and webinars, accessible by internal and external participants.

How Does Microsoft Teams Work?

Teams groups users into channels based on work function, special project, responsibility areas or meeting group. Each channel contains a virtual workspace with threaded chats, shared digital files, and space for real-time collaborating tools.

Teams lets you store files within the Microsoft solutions or other file sharing sites like Dropbox or Google Drive. Ample third-party integrations allow you to connect Teams to other popular tools.

There are multiple plans available:

Free Version. You can create a Teams organization of up to 300 people (or unlimited if part of an accredited educational institution) with 10 GB of storage, plus 2 GB per person. Your organization can be divided into teams or channels and allows for group audio and video calling
Office 365 Business Essentials. This plan costs $5 per user per month. It includes Microsoft support, more features and storage, and integration with Microsoft SharePoint, Yammer and Planner. It also integrates with Stream apps
Office 365 Business Premium. This version, for $12.50 per user per month, gives access to desktop Office apps like Outlook and Word, plus higher data capacity

How Secure Is Microsoft Teams?

With the rapid deployment of new tools, many of which employees don’t know very well, cyberattacks have increased. Hackers are taking advantage of vulnerabilities and user fears to launch malware that can attack systems and websites, steal data and disrupt sessions. Here are some tips for keeping your Zoom meetings protected:

Create Global Teams Management. Any user with an Exchange Online account can create and own teams by default. To better manage the number of team managers, consider creating a group that have permissions to make new groups and teams
Restrict Guest Access. Leave guest access disabled or restrict privileges as default settings, especially for screen sharing and phone calls
Use Audit Features. The analytics section provides useful data on logins, team membership and changes, data permissions and changes, data manipulations and app installations
Configure Apps. Teams supports built-in apps from Microsoft, third-party apps and apps built internally. Managing which apps are allowed based on source or data handling is prudent

Microsoft Teams is a powerful tool to help your organization connect, collaborate and communicate.

April 25, 2020April 25, 2020

Microsoft Teams Options Improve Remote Presentations

Until the recent rollout of Microsoft Teams background customization feature, videoconferencing was a sometimes less-then-enviable communication vehicle. Users would have to tidy up the workspace, scrunch the camera to only capture their face or suffer that “lived-in” looking home office or kitchen table in the background. Aside from having the capability to see someone while talking, background distractions and disheveled spaces were significant negatives.

Now comes Microsoft Teams’ background customization feature that opens the door to a wealth of possibilities. Work-from-home professionals can now erase coffee mugs and laundry baskets from the video feed that didn’t necessarily convey the right message. The new feature allows Microsoft Teams users to not only improve presentations but also make them your own.

How To Customize Your Microsoft Teams Video Background

Before diving into the technical steps users will need to follow, it’s important to keep in mind that personalized background customization may only be available for scheduled meetings. The relatively new Microsoft Teams’ personal image feature could evolve to impromptu video chats down the road. For now, users should plan ahead if they want to employ anything other than the curated images. These are the necessary steps to customize your background.

Open or Join a Teams meeting
Click on the three dots at the screens’ bottom
Continue to Meetings controls
Click through More to Show Background Effects
You now have the option of selecting None, Blur, or selecting a standard Microsoft Curated Image.
Preview your custom background and click Apply if satisfied

Business and educational Microsoft Teams licenses with video conferencing up to 250 users reportedly enjoyed early rollouts. And while this background customization option certainly stands head and shoulders above real-life living spaces, there are other features and possibilities that can take remote presentations to the next level.

Maximize the Potential of Microsoft Teams Rooms

What may prove to be the game-changer for remote presenters is the wide-ranging customization tools beyond background cleanup. The rollout adds features that transcend ordinary talk to expansive visuals and futuristic information collaboration. Microsoft clearly aims to stay ahead of other applications that offer real-time video chat by delivering a few eye-catching bells and whistles. These include the following.

Whiteboards: Microsoft provides a feature that allows multiple users to collaborate on thought development by inserting notes and visuals on a virtual whiteboard.
Closed Captions: Microsoft video conferencing includes a feature that will enable hearing-impaired users to follow the real-time text.
Privacy: Groups can now create a specific channel that contains files and essential elements for unique purposes. This eliminates the need to start from scratch when leveraging digital meeting spaces.
DLP: Administrators gain Data Loss Prevention tools to secure sensitive information and prevent leaks.
Events: Microsoft 365 allows real-time events with up to 10,000 participants. This can be utilized for anything from live streaming entertainment to virtual industry conferences.

Taking maximum advantage of these tools delivers exponential creative presentation enhancements. Between the background customization and other tools, remote presenters will have plenty of outside-the-box ideas.

But the ability to upload personalized images may be the defining item. That’s primarily because niche industries sometimes have radically different ideas about what constitutes professionalism, enhancement, or is just plain cool. Now that Teams allows users to upload unique and specialized backgrounds, remote presenters can genuinely make it their own.

April 14, 2020

Cybercrime & Coronavirus: What You Need to Do to Protect Business, Employees, and Profits

Cybercrime Spikes During Coronavirus: Tips to Protect Your Business

Learn why cybercrime tends to spike during times of global crisis. Get tips on how to protect your tech environment from cyber criminals during the coronavirus.

Right now, people are hanging onto every news story about the coronavirus. They’re checking social media more than usual. They’re setting up home offices, learning how to use new collaboration tools with their colleagues, or trying to figure out what to do in the absence of income.

They’re also dealing with their kids being at home all day and wading into homeschool. On top of all this, they’re worried about the spread of the virus and its effect on the economy. While everyone is stressed, busy, and distracted, cybercriminals are focused and ready to go.

Cybercrime Spikes During Coronavirus

Cyberattacks almost always spike during times of global crisis, and right now, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that the coronavirus is no exception. Scammers are hacking into databases, sending out phishing emails, and leveraging the pandemic to convince victims to make donations to fake organizations or buy counterfeit personal protection equipment.

Analysts speculate that cybercriminals will cause $6 trillion in damages in 2021, and in 2020, damages are mounting as criminals take advantage of this situation. Research indicates that phishing emails have increased by 667% since February — that’s a seven fold increase in just a few weeks.

How to Protect Yourself From Cybercrime During the Coronavirus

Being aware of the risk of cybercrime is the first step. While many people think they are immune, no one is free of this risk — in fact, cybercriminals spend a lot of time targeting small businesses and organizations. To protect your business, practice these security essentials.

1. Be hyper-vigilant of incoming emails

As indicated above, phishing emails are on the rise. Cybercriminals are relying on people to have their guard down, and you and your employees need to be vigilant.

A lot of these emails contain dangerous attachments, while others include links to malicious websites. Never open an attachment or click a link from an unknown sender. If the sender looks familiar, take a few extra minutes to verify their identity. Scam artists often make their emails look like they’re coming from someone you know or from an organization like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

2. Secure all work-from-home computers

Another reason cybercrime is exploding right now is due to the unprecedented number of people who are working from home. If your employees are working from home, you need to take extra steps to secure your network.

Ideally, you should have your employees work on computers issued by your business. Home computers tend to be full of potentially dangerous videos, photos, or downloads.

Make sure all the computers your employees are using have a firewall that is turned on and configured correctly. Firewall misconfigurations can create extensive vulnerabilities in your network.

Finally, have your employees access everything through a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN encrypts all the data transmitted from their computers, creating an additional layer of security. Ideally, you should use a dual-factor VPN that requires your employees to enter their password plus an additional piece of verification such as a code texted to their phone.

3. Beef up your password strategy

Weak passwords threaten the security of your tech environment. Make sure your employees understand the importance of never using easy-to-guess passwords such as 12345, Password, their own names, or details visible on their social media pages.

Additionally, they shouldn’t let their browsers store passwords. Instead, you may want to look into a password manager such as LastPass or 1Password. These applications store passwords, but they can’t be accessed as easily as most browsers.

Cybercrime can cost you money, reduce your productivity, harm your reputation, and cause other types of damage to yourself, your employees, and your business. To reduce your vulnerability, contact a cybersecurity professional. They can help you identify the processes, products, and practices you need to stay as safe as possible, especially during a global crisis.

April 11, 2020

What You Need to Do to Protect Your Team From Coronavirus Phishing

How to Protect Your Business From the Surge in Phishing Websites

Look at the spike in phishing websites during the coronavirus. Learn how cybercriminals are leveraging the pandemic. Find out how to protect your business.

As the entire world is worrying about the coronavirus, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the global crisis to line their pockets. Google reports that there has been a 350% increase in phishing websites in the last two months alone. This threat is genuine, and you need to take steps to protect yourself, your business, and your data.

What Is a Phishing Website?

Phishing websites are designed to steal your information, but they can work in a variety of different ways. For instance, a cybercriminal may make a website that looks like your bank site. You think the site is real so you enter your username and password, and then, the criminals have everything they need to access your account.

Similarly, a phishing website may look like it’s for a charity helping people with the coronavirus. Still, in fact, it’s just a scam designed to steal money and credit card information. In some cases, phishing websites download malicious files to your computer when you visit them — once executed, these files may encrypt your data until you pay a ransom, copy all your keystrokes, or steal information from your computer in other ways.

Rise in Phishing Websites During the Coronavirus

In January, Google reported that it knew of 149,000 active phishing websites. By February, the number almost doubled to 293,000. As the virus began to take hold in the United States in March, the number increased to 522,000. That’s a 350% increase since January.

During the coronavirus, the most significant increases in phishing sites have happened during the most stressful times. The most significant day-over-day increase occurred on March 21st, the day after New York, Illinois, and Connecticut told their residents to shelter in place. The second-biggest increase? March 11th, the day the World Health Organization declared the virus as a pandemic. Both of these days saw about a threefold increase.

Unfortunately, no one is immune — one survey indicates that 22% of Americans say they have been targeted by cybercrime related to COVID-19.

Critical Strategies for Protecting Yourself From Phishing Websites

To protect yourself and your business from phishing websites, you need to take a multi-pronged approach. Keep these essential practices in mind:

Educate your employees about the risks of phishing websites. Send out a newsletter, set up a training session over videoconferencing, or find another way to talk with your employees about how to protect your business from phishing attacks.
Don’t click on links in emails from unknown senders. A lot of cybercriminals use phishing emails to direct users to their sites. If the email appears to be from someone you know, double-check the sender, and consider reaching out to them directly before clicking on any links.
Invest in quality cybersecurity tools that block malicious websites, prevent your computers from executing approved applications, or protect your network in other ways.
Be aware of the signs of a phishing website. These may include misspelled names of companies or charity organizations or forms that ask for information you usually don’t provide. For instance, a phishing website trying to steal your bank details may ask for your username, password, and PIN, while your bank’s actual website only requests your username and password.
Advise your team to be selective about the websites they visit. Ideally, if they are searching for information on the virus or trying to donate, they should go to sites that they know and trust, rather than going to unknown websites.
Work with a cybersecurity specialist. They can help you safeguard your network, which ultimately protects your money, your data, your business, and your reputation.

To stay as safe as possible from cybercrime during the coronavirus, you need to be aware of the heightened risks. If your team is working remotely, your network is likely to be even more vulnerable than usual.

To get help, reach out to a cybersecurity expert. In essence, they can guide you toward the right products, scan your network for vulnerabilities, and take other measures to ensure you are as protected as possible.

April 8, 2020

COVID-19: Safety How to Clean Your Phone Effectively

How to Protect Your Phone From the Coronavirus

Find out how long the coronavirus can live on your phone. Learn how the coronavirus gets onto phones. Get tips on how to clean your phone or other devices.

Around the world, people are taking unprecedented measures to protect themselves from the coronavirus. Schools and businesses have closed, and many people are sheltering in place, only leaving their homes for essentials.

While you may already be taking many of these precautions, you also need to be aware that your phone could be harboring the virus. Keep reading to learn how to protect yourself.

Can the Coronavirus Live on Your Phone?

Research indicates that the coronavirus can live on inanimate surfaces such as the metal or glass of a phone for up to nine days. If you’ve handed your phone to a friend to watch a video, had your phone in the vicinity of coworkers or other people, or even just held your phone after touching potentially infected surfaces, you need to clean your phone.

Even if your phone hasn’t been anywhere in a while, you should still clean it. This can be especially important if you are a senior or are immunocompromised or if you let your children use your phone.

How the Coronavirus May Get on Your Phone

Because people use their phones so much, they’re likely to touch their phones without even thinking about it. To illustrate, imagine you’re in a store grabbing groceries. You are very careful not to get within six feet of other shoppers and of course, you sanitize the shopping cart before use.

However, you end up touching items on the shelves or the credit card machine while you are paying. If someone with the coronavirus has touched these surfaces or coughed near them, these surfaces may harbor the virus.

After touching these surfaces, you are aware that you may have picked up some germs on your hands so you avoid touching your face until you can sanitize your hands, but you still reach for your phone to use mobile pay, check your bank balance, or to look at a text. While doing those routine tasks, you potentially put germs onto your phone.

In other cases, the spread of germs to your phone can be much simpler. For instance, you walk into a store, touch the door handle, and then pull out your phone. People are so used to checking their phones frequently that they are often overlooking these risks.

Why You Shouldn’t Touch Other People’s Phones

Additionally, a lot of people bring their phones into the bathroom, and the coronavirus can be transmitted by fecal matter just as easily as it spreads with droplets from your mouth.

To protect yourself, avoid touching other people’s phones. If you work in an industry where you have to touch people’s phones — for instance, if you work in phone repair or handle tech support for a business — you should wipe off phones or devices before touching them.

How to Clean Your Phone

Now that you see how easily these germs may get onto your phone, check out these tips for properly sanitizing your device.

Find a sanitizing product. If you don’t have hand sanitizer, you can make a solution with 0.1% bleach or 62% to 71% ethanol and water. You can use Clorox disinfecting wipes or similar products safely on most phones, but you should not use aerosol sprays, pure bleach, or abrasive cleaners.
Put the cleaner on a soft cloth. Don’t apply it directly to the phone.
Wipe off the phone with the sanitizing wipe or a microfiber rag moistened with cleaner. Throw sanitizing wipes away after use, and put rags directly into the wash. Keep in mind those items may harbor germs so you want to avoid reusing them or putting them somewhere they could spread more germs.

The coronavirus is more contagious and significantly more deadly than the flu. People are also contagious for quite a while before they show symptoms. As a result, you need to take protective precautions very seriously, and you should make sure your phones or other devices are as clean as possible.

April 6, 2020

What Is Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and Why Does it Matter?

What is two-factor authentication (2FA) and why does it matter? If you are unfamiliar with this extra layer of protection for all of your logins, keep reading.

It’s no secret that we live in a time where access to laptops and smartphones is so prevalent. Almost everything we do in our daily lives has some sort of connection to these devices, leaving us vulnerable to hackers and scammers who want access to our personal information.

Thankfully, there is a way to help protect yourself. Two-factor authentication (2FA) provides an extra layer of security over what a traditional password offer. Here is what you need to know about two-factor authentication and why it matters to businesses.

Why is Digital Security as a Whole So Important?

Before we can discuss 2FA, we really need to talk about a few of the basics as to why digital security is so important. As individuals, the main reason to practice good digital security habits is to protect your personal information. But for businesses, the benefits of taking extra steps to ensure information is secure is two-fold. Not only does this keep private information of your employees and companies safe, taking additional security steps to protect your customer’s digital data builds trust. That’s why it is important to take measures like implementing 2FA.

What is Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)?

That said, let’s discuss what two-factor authentication (2FA) actually is. This is an extra layer of protection that requires users to prove that they are who they say they are by providing a second set of identification credentials.

How it works is that the user puts in their basic login and password. Then they are immediately required to provide an additional piece of information. This information generally falls into one of three categories:

Something you know, such as a PIN or a second code;
Something you have in your possession, like a credit card you can type in a number to or a smartphone that you can receive a text message on;
Something you are, which includes a fingerprint or use of a biometric device.

In most cases, using 2FA on your website or internal desktop will require just the something you know category. Only in extreme cases with especially sensitive data needing protection will companies often utilize the other two options.

What Are the Different Types of 2FA?

Now that we’ve talked about the basics of 2FA, it is a good idea to talk about the types. There are literally hundreds of options for how you can implement this type of security measure, but some are a bit more common than others. The most used types include:

Hardware Tokens: This is usually a small fob or device that produces a code when a user tries to login. The user must then input that number on their screen. This is usually the least preferred option as the fobs are cost prohibitive and easily lost by users.

SMS-Based and Voice-Based: This is where a user receives either a one-time token via a text message or a phone call. With SMS, the user must input the keycode onto the screen to gain access. For voice, the user must verbally say the passcode when prompted during the call. Both methods are extremely common and many companies are opting for their use.

Software Tokens: The most popular 2FA method is a software token. This is where the user must install a special application on their phone and use it to gain access when attempting to login.

Push Notifications: Alternately, you can also opt to use a push notification as part of 2FA. When the user provides their login information on the screen, a special notification is sent to their smartphone. The user must then approve the popup on the phone to continue.

In short, it is always a good idea to take extra precautions to protect systems and data. Two-factor authentication (2FA) ensures information is much more secure than traditional passwords by adding a layer of security. For most businesses, this is a good idea that protects both sensitive data and builds trust with customers.

April 4, 2020

Hackers Target Zoom Meetings for Cyberattacks

Zoom Scrambles to Address Cybersecurity Issues in Meeting Platform

As the usage of Zoom has skyrocketed during the coronavirus outbreak, the company has had to respond quickly to security flaws and potential phishing attacks

As Zoom usage skyrockets around the world, so too do the opportunities to exploit users unfamiliar with the tool.

The Zoom platform has increasingly has been the target of hackers exploiting the vast numbers of users working from home. For context, the company noted that as of December 2019, the most significant amount of daily users was 10 million. In March, that number ballooned to 200 million.

How Are Hackers Exploiting the Zoom Platform?

For many exploits, it starts with a website.

According to Check Point, more than 1,700 domains had been registered using the word zoom in the first three months of 2020. Many of those domains point to an email server, which can indicate the site is part of a phishing scheme.

Remote workers may receive seemingly official meeting notices using the Zoom platform. Hackers ask recipients to head to a login page and enter their corporate credentials.

It’s a perfect storm that’s playing into the hands of hackers. It also means companies need to be vigilant in helping users understand how to access and use the platform and other tools used in this paradigm shift of how work is done.

“Zoom users should be aware that links to our platform will only ever have a zoom.us or zoom.com domain name,” a spokesman noted. “Prior to clicking on a link, they should carefully review the URL, being mindful of lookalike domain names and spelling errors.”

What Is Zoom Doing to Protect Users?

Zoom has had to take several steps recently to address security concerns related to its dramatic usage growth. The company has increased its training sessions and reduced customer service wait times. Here are several of the other issues that Zoom has addressed:

Zoombombing. Multiple incidents of zoombombing have arisen in recent weeks. Uninvited visitors to online sessions have gained access and harassed participants by playing music loudly, displaying pornography and disrupted sessions. That’s led to more explanations of passwords, muting controls and sharing settings
Windows 10. The company has addressed an issue that affected those using Zoom’s Windows 10 client group chat tool. If chatters used the tool to share links, the Windows network credentials of anyone who clicks on a link were exposed
Facebook Interface for Apple Devices. Zoom removed Facebook’s software developer kit from its iOS client to prevent it from collecting users’ device information
Privacy Issues. The company removed features, including the LinkedIn Sales Navigator app and attendee attention tracker, to address privacy concerns. It also issued updates to its privacy policy

The company announced it was freezing all feature enhancements to redeploy software engineers to focus on what it calls “our biggest trust, safety, and privacy issues.”

How Can You Protect Zoom Users from Cyberattacks?

Here are some tips to ensure that Zoom users are protected:

Use password features to require meeting attendees to log in before being allowed access
Update the software. Users should be alerted that upon finishing a meeting, the software will check to see if an update is necessary
Encourage managers to use the Manage Participants section features, which can control the use of users’ microphones and cameras. Sharing restrictions are also a good practice
Be careful about recording meetings. The recording sits in a file, either online or the host’s computer and could be stolen

Cybersecurity is a sad reality in these turbulent times. However, a focus on prevention and detection are important deterrents to cybercriminals and can reduce the risks to your business.

March 31, 2020March 31, 2020

Coronavirus Forcing Your Workers to Stay Home? Quickly Shift to an At-Home Team in the Midst of Crisis

How to Create a Work-From-Home Team Quickly As Your Business Deals With the Coronavirus

Stay productive and secure your tech network as you deal with the coronavirus. Get support for at-home employees. Learn how to switch from an in-office to a remote team.

In the midst of the coronavirus, business owners are facing a host of new challenges. To slow the spread of the virus, you may have been asked to suspend services or allow your employees to work from home. At the same time, however, you also need to continue to bring in revenue, stay productive, and focus on growth as much as possible.

Making the shift from an in-office to a remote team quickly, especially at a time when everyone is dealing with untold stresses, can be difficult, and the right approach is essential. Check out these tips.

1. Decide What You Need to Stay Productive

Creating a remote team isn’t as easy as handing your workers a laptop and telling them to check in once in a while. If you don’t have a current work-at-home policy, you need to create one from scratch, and you may need to adjust workflows, find new tools, and create new security policies. As you try to facilitate this shift, keep these types of questions in mind:

What can my employees accomplish from home?
Can they handle core business activities from home?
Even if my business is deemed essential, can I send some employees home?
What types of projects do I want to prioritize during this time?
What applications do I need to facilitate workflows and keep everyone connected?
How can my employees work from home without compromising the security of our network?
What can I do to make this new arrangement as productive and comfortable as possible for myself and my team?

2. Consider Providing Employee With Devices

Don’t necessarily encourage your employees to use their own devices when working from home. Their home computers and tablets have all kinds of music, videos, images, and other downloads that may be infected with malware, and their devices are usually not equipped with the same level of antivirus or malware software you use in your office.

To reduce the threat of cyberattacks, consider providing your team with company-approved and secured devices. However, if you already have a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy for your office, you may want to continue having employees use their own devices because in this situation, you’ve already taken steps to secure those devices.

3. Help Your Workers Secure Their WiFi Access Points

As a general rule of thumb, your employees home WiFi networks are probably less secure than the WiFi you use in your office. To secure these access points, instruct your team to do the following:

Use stronger encryption
Create more complex passwords
Hide your network names
Use firewalls

To help your employees with these steps, you may want to create detailed tutorials or contact an IT managed services provider to help you.

4. Route Traffic Through a Two-Factor Authentication VPN

To secure your tech environment as much as possible, consider having your employees access your network through a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN encrypts all the information passing from your employees’ computers to your network. Even if a hacker gets onto your employee’s WiFi network, they cannot see keystrokes or any of the data being transmitted.

If you don’t already have a VPN, look into services such as GoToMyPC or Zoho. Also, try to choose a VPN that supports dual-factor authentication. Then, your employees have to enter a username and a password, but they also have to use a second authenticator such as a code texted to their phone number or email address. This layer of security provides extra defense against cyber criminals.

5. Consult With an IT Managed Services Provider

Returning to business as normal may not be possible for a while, and a managed IT services provider can help identify the tools and processes you need to support your new working environment, while also taking steps to ensure your network is as secure as possible.

In difficult times, you want your business to survive, but if possible, you should try to thrive. Our managed IT services can help you adapt to this quickly changing environment. We can help you choose the tools, the processes, and the resources you need to stay as productive as possible.