Author: Stuart Crawford

No matter your profession, reusing passwords is a horrible idea. It’s dangerous and insecure. Reusing passwords is especially problematic for those working in fields like law, ones that require confidentiality in one form or another.

Many people already know that reusing passwords is unsafe, but they do it anyway. One recent survey conducted by Lastline revealed that nearly half (around 45%) of information security professionals polled admit to reusing passwords. These people get paid to work in information security, and yet they don’t follow some of the most basic protocols for keeping information safe.

If anyone should understand the dangers here, it would be information security professionals. You’re likely not an information security pro, though, so let’s look in greater detail at why reusing passwords is so bad.

A Broken System

First, cut yourself a little slack. The internet password system is inherently broken. Most people have well over a hundred digital accounts. These range from the seemingly trivial (paying a utility bill, “store insider” loyalty programs, and the like) to the vitally important (banking, proprietary business accounts, and so on). Each one requires a username and a password. To make things worse, many sites require a mix of characters (capital and lowercase letters, at least one number, and at least one symbol). Some sites won’t accept all the special characters, and various sites won’t even agree about which special characters are acceptable!

Cheating Ensues

Most people can’t easily memorize one hundred or so unique sets of site plus username plus password, so they cheat. Either they write all their passwords down in a notebook or they reuse the same password across multiple sites. Even worse, they may do both!

The Frequency of Reusing Passwords

How widespread is reusing passwords, really? A massive study from researchers at Virginia Tech found that the problem is quite severe. They analyzed 61.5 million passwords spread out over 28.8 million users and found that over half (52%) reused passwords wholesale. That doesn’t even account for people reusing the same basic word or phrase and just switching out a few characters or adding a new one to the end.

The Problem with Password Reuse

Here’s the problem with password reuse: credentials have a habit of being stolen. Companies frequently experience hacks where customer data is exposed. You may not consider it such a big deal if hackers got ahold of your username and password for Bargains ’R’ Us. You don’t shop there often and you don’t have any credit card info stored on their website. Is it really a big deal?

On its own, it’s likely not a very big deal. But if you reused the same username and password for, say, your bank or your credit card, it’s suddenly a very big deal!

The same goes for the sticky-note users out there. If you’ve ever written down your “go-to” password on a sticky note or in a notebook, consider who all has had access to that information. Family? Friends? Coworkers? The cleaning crew or service technicians? How easy would it be for someone to snag a quick picture of your password list? If you reuse your passwords, this problem escalates quickly.

One more problem worth noting is messaging or emailing passwords. Many of us have had the experience of texting, emailing, or messaging a password to a spouse or significant other. Those communications aren’t always secure, though, and often they stick around for a while. If someone gained access to your email, would they also gain access to sensitive passwords?

The Ubiquity of Data Breaches

Data breaches are happening all over the place, and some of them are huge. Yahoo had every single one of its 3 billion accounts breached. If you had a Yahoo account at the time of the breach, even an old dead one you never check, hackers may now have your sign-in info. If you used your go-to password on that account, then every other account you’re using that password for is now at risk. This is a big deal.

Solutions to the Password Problem

Passwords are a mess, and not reusing passwords is difficult. Here are some solutions that can help you clean up the mess and reduce frustration.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication Wherever Possible

Many websites offer two-factor authentication (2FA), which is much more secure. With 2FA, a one-time code is sent in a text message or email after logging in with username and password. Enable 2FA wherever possible.

Use a Password Manager

Password managers solve the problem of memorizing hundreds of unique passwords. They store all your passwords in an encrypted vault that you secure with one strong master password. We recommend using a good password manager. Doing so makes strong password security easy.

Conclusion

Understanding the danger behind reusing passwords is an important first step in securing your digital life. For help securing your workplace against digital threats, enlist the help of professionals like us. Contact us today to learn how we can help keep your systems secure.

Businesses owners need to know important dates for personal and corporate tax filings with protection plans from any tax-related identity theft. Knowing how income is produced is smart for business leaders and the generation of income also goes with a reporting process. The income produced may be posted to personal tax returns and the best planning of generated income will go smartly with the protection of personal credit and finances. In 2016, $21 billion in tax refunds was stolen from the American population as a result of identity theft. Protection of assets, profits, employee records, and income are smart areas of focus for business leaders. What are the best ways to avoid tax-related identity theft? A priority for management is to protect company profits and personal data such as Social Security Numbers. Implementing the best procedures for employees and tax reporting is helpful with worker compensation reporting and considerations for any independent contractors. Correct planning throughout all of this can help you avoid any tax identify theft as another part of effective leadership.

High-Level Reviews for Companies and Business Leaders

Organizing your corporate books and reporting throughout the year can help you float easier through tax season with filing dates and proactive planning for the reporting process. A review of the business structure may be part of an evaluation for a company and business leaders. The business structure may determine the type of tax returns being filed. Working with an attorney or a CPA is a smart way of being prepared to discuss the appropriate business structure that works best for a company. Growth plans, employee numbers, income allocations, and tax reporting are considerations for some business leaders. Profit projections with possible international growth plans are additional considerations for some businesses and the structure should support the best ways to operate a business with protection and risk mitigation. Technology solutions should support the best corporate structure with management reporting and accounting procedures. Tax identity theft is avoided throughout the payroll process and the costs to reduce all risks can be simplified with smart planning and policies.

How does a business protect personal credit and finances?

Appropriate planning to calculate taxes, file returns, and make payments if necessary can help you avoid penalties and interest costs. Plans should include smart procedures for protecting personal data. Protection may consist of a thorough review to make sure there are no unauthorized loans, credit cards or other amounts using a false identity. Eliminating risks includes protection to ensure there is no need to freeze credit when tax-related identity theft occurs. Closely monitoring credit card charges, user accounts, and personal information is a smart choice for reducing any risks of tax-identity theft involved with a business. Two areas of focus will help reduce risks:

• Employee record keeping and protection of personal data
• Tax Reporting and protecting personal data from tax-identity fraud

Preparations include plans to know how technology is an answer to feeling confident about filing during tax season and steps to take for employee data protection. Business executives understand planning and organizing for operations, sales, and technology implementations. Technology reviews are important for data protection and security planning is smart business.

Protection Planning and Important Tax Dates

When is protection planning important for personal data such as Social Security Numbers? Business leaders that are preparing smartly for tax season also know to have policies and procedures to support protection of personal data for all employees. Technology systems, such as accounting and payroll software, should be checked often to eliminate any security breaches or digital data hacks. Also, the process of employee withholdings and reporting payments made to independent contractors are considerations with protection and tax dates. The following are some dates to consider for tax reasons.

• January 31, 2019 is a deadline for sending out W-2 for your employees and filing with the IRS.
• February 15^th, 2019 is the deadline for issuing 1099s to independent contractors that received payments in 2018.
• February 28, 2019 is important for businesses filing reports on 1099s for 2018.
• April 1, 2019 is a date to know for filing 1099s electronically. If you are not filing electronically, the deadline is February 28^th.

Knowing the 2019 tax dates can help you plan ahead and minimize the risk of any fraud or tax-identity issues. Data protection makes sure no thieves are filing fraudulent returns before the real taxpayers file their legitimate ones. Business executives can be applauded and look prepared when communication of risk prevention strategies are confirmed as optimized. The tax planning process may include work with a CPA or accounting firm. Confirming the due dates for the year is smart planning and having enough lead-time to file the tax documents should also include proactive procedures to protect credit and finances.

Payroll, Systems, and Processes

Payroll can be part of the reporting and tax planning. A planned out system to process payroll efficiently can help with tax reporting. Tax tables and employee records are part of the planning process with considerations, such as salaries, hourly rates, benefit payments, and tax withholdings. Companies with employees in multiple states may have different withholdings for taxes. Also, income withholdings for city and local taxes may be part of calculating gross and net pay. For many reasons, some companies choose to save costs and time by outsourcing payroll functions to a third party firm. The benefits of proper planning can be to develop better processes for making estimated quarterly tax payments. Important considerations include hiring and paying full-time employees and independent contractors. Organizing the best way can save money and time for busy company executives and managers. Correct planning may help with payroll processing, tax reporting, and determining the best technology solutions for business. Protection of your employee personal data should be a priority with communication to any involved third-party firms.

Eliminate expenses and time wasters of being forced into working with creditors and credit reporting agencies to clear any fraudulent activity and tax-related identity theft. Employee personal data should also be protected with a smart focus and strength as an employer. Victims of tax-identity theft may need to report it to both the IRS and the Federal Trade Commission. Other suggestions outlined in this guide https://www.thesimpledollar.com/protect-yourself-from-tax-identity-theft/ include applying for an identity protection PIN, a six-digit IRS number that will be used to confirm identity on all filings and tax returns. Employers should consider important policies for the protection of employee data. Business executives should understand the protection of credit and finances, and know how this applies to best practices throughout the organization. Tax-related identity theft should never trace back to a business that has smartly focused on data security plans.

Communication is essential for any business today. Being able to connect with colleagues and customers is critical for getting work done.

That means having a reliable, features-packed phone system that lets you communicate effectively while in and out of the office. Without a powerful business phone solution, you’re at a competitive disadvantage.

Below is a closer look at some of the advantages of having a reliable phone system for your business.

How Can A New Business Phone System Save Us Money?

Most older private branch exchange (PBX) phone systems are simply not built for today’s business needs. With PBX phones, you’re sending signals via older telephone lines and paying for each incoming and outgoing call. These per-call costs add up. Instead, a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) solution provides you with predictable monthly rates and unlimited call volume. You’ll also no longer have to pay to maintain and manage your phone equipment stored on location. Instead, users connect via an internet connection with cloud-based reliability and call clarity. PBX phone users typically pay for each line and any carrier costs or contractual change orders. If your power goes out, you also lose your phone system until the power is restored.

What Is Different About VoIP Systems?

There are many advantages to installing a VoIP system, including:

• Call Clarity. With VoIP, your calls are transmitted via a high-speed internet connection, resulting in better call clarity and reliability.
• Technical Support. Use a managed IT partner to oversee your cloud-based VoIP phone system, and you’ll have access to remote support, on-site support and maintenance, vendor management and asset tracking.
• Comprehensive Security. With a trusted technology partner helping to implement and maintain your VoIP solution, you’ll know that a comprehensive approach to security is in place. The security measures may include:
  • Automated installation patches and updates
  • Network security
  • Monitoring 24/7 of all routers and switches
  • Traffic control and prioritization based on company-set policies
  • Non-compliant call detection and alerts
  • Toll fraud detection
• Scalability. As your business grows, you need a phone system that can expand accordingly. VoIP systems allow for easy addition or removal of users, extension changes and other administrative changes from an intuitive dashboard interface.
• Simple Set-Up. Transitioning to a new cloud-based phone system is a process with little to no user disruption. An adaptor can convert most existing desktop phones, which can then be plugged directly into your office internet connection. Both desk phone s and smartphones can access new features without the need for additional hardware purchases or installation.

What Are Some of the New Features VoIP Provides?

VoIP systems provide great features that will improve the way your team communications. Here’s a look at some of the most popular:

• Unified Messaging. You’ll be able to access voicemails from any device when the messages are forwarded to your email account. You can retrieve the messages, listen to them and forward to the appropriate party no matter what device you’re using or where you are.
• Find Me, Follow Me. If you want to be accessible no matter where you are, use this feature to have calls “follow” you from device to device. A caller may ring you first at your office and then have the call routed to your smartphone, your home office phone line or your hotel room while on the road. Providing this level of availability lets you serve your customers well with always-available access and connectivity. – your calls can ring at your office, then your cell phone, then your home office or hotel room while traveling – always maintaining the appearance that you are available to your clients.
• Conference calling. Connect multiple parties internally and externally.
• Connectivity. VoIP gives your company the ability to record phone calls and conferences. These files can be emailed to those who were unable to attend the session.
• Automated phone attendants. Staff managing your phones will be able to manage incoming calls, see who is available and route calls as needed.
• Desk-to-desk calling. Connect with colleagues in multiple locations by directly dialing extensions.

How Does VoIP Affect Smartphone Users?

Your phone system capabilities extend to mobile users using different devices and operating systems. You can use mobile applications to leverage many of the capabilities of your VoIP system, giving remote or traveling employees to connect easily to colleagues no matter where they are.

Choosing the right phone system is an essential decision for businesses of all sizes. Cloud-based phone systems give you the best options for today’s business needs.

Close to a million Michiganders are finding that their healthcare information may not be as secure as they thought it was, according to Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel. Unfortunately, the personal health and financial information of these individuals were part of a massive ransomware attack on a third-party subcontractor who prints and mails bills for healthcare organizations in the area. While the attack happened back in September 2018, the far-reaching repercussions are still being identified over six months after the breach occurred. These unlucky individuals are discovering that a vast array of information was impacted, including social security numbers, dates of birth, personal addresses, names, medical information, phone numbers and even information about their insurance contracts. It took nearly three weeks for the contractor, Wolverine Solutions Group, to regain access to their data after the ransomware attack.

Healthcare Organizations Are Often Targeted by Hackers

Due to the high volume of personal, financial and health information available, healthcare practices and associated organizations such as Wolverine Solutions Group are often the targets of cyberterrorists. The information that is stored within the vaults of these companies is extremely attractive, both for the data points and the perception that healthcare organizations will pay handsomely to regain access to their crucial healthcare data in the event of a ransomware attack. Ransomware costs American small businesses more than $75 billion per year according to Datto, a staggering sum when you consider that this downtime can result in costs upwards of $8,500 per hour. Ransomware is increasingly becoming a part of the technology landscape, as cybercriminals perceive it to be a relatively easy and untraceable payday due to the rise of anonymous digital currency such as bitcoin.

Was the Record Encryption Strong Enough?

One of the questions that cybersecurity professionals are attempting to answer is whether or not the encryption that was applied to the records was enough to protect the records from the cybercriminals. In the case of ransomware, Wolverine Solutions lost access to their data for a period of approximately three weeks. During that period, it’s still unclear whether the cybercriminals attempted to break the data encryption — and if they were ultimately successful, where that data might have been shared with others or sold on the dark web. While a security firm brought into investigate initially felt that the attack was strictly focused on gaining ransom money, that has yet to be independently corroborated.

Patient Notification and Next Steps

Patients who were potentially affected are being notified by Wolverine Solutions Group, an expensive and time-consuming process as it requires multiple contact methods and a great deal of support. The organization is also providing complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services for the affected patients, an additional cost that must be considered a part of the loss. These services will all be provided for the period of a year, while patients worry and wait — wondering if their personal health and financial information is in the hands of cybercriminals somewhere in the world. While Wolverine Solutions Group technology leaders note that they are taking steps to ensure that this type of attack doesn’t happen again, this negative publicity has likely affected their business in ways that will continue to be seen for years to come.

While it’s nearly impossible to create a system that cannot be breached, this instance illustrates the importance of having proactive, advanced backup and data protection processes in place. Cybercrime is rampant throughout the world, and there are no businesses that are truly immune from the effects of a major attack. Wolverine Solutions Group is merely the latest in a string of healthcare organizations that suffered from this type of aggressive ransomware attack and join Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and other large healthcare organizations in the growing list of targets.

 

Technology is continually changing, and keeping up with the updates to your crucial infrastructure and software can feel like an overwhelming task. Many organizations begin to look for an IT managed services provider as they start to scale, but how can you know who to trust? You’re placing your mission-critical systems and devices in the hands of a technology partner. Here are some key questions that you should ask any new IT services provider to determine if they will offer you the impressive level of service that your business deserves.

1. Your IT Services Provider Should Listen

While there are similarities between businesses in the same vertical, no company is exactly the same as any others. Your IT managed services professional should take the time to listen to your concerns instead of immediately offering cookie-cutter responses to the problem that they assume you have in your organization. A true partner will listen to your needs and then slot in their proficiencies to make your organization stronger and more resilient.

2. Have Availability That Meets Your Business Needs

Are all of your problems going to occur during working hours? Probably not — and your IT managed services provider (MSP) should have qualified resources available around the clock so your customers and staff aren’t left waiting in the event of a service outage. Carefully read through any offering contracts or service agreements to be sure that the response times meet the needs of your business before you make your final vendor selection.

3. Provide Recommendations for Key Strategies

Whether that means budgeting or disaster recovery planning, a true technology partner will always be on the lookout for ways that they could save you money or help improve the efficiency of your business. This could come during the budgeting cycle, when they let you know that some of your hardware could be replaced in the coming year. Another time that your IT managed services partner should help your business is by leveraging their knowledge of various industries to share best practices in backup and disaster recovery.

4. Retain Security Experts on Staff

Cybersecurity is a constantly changing realm, and it would be very challenging for a single staff member to keep up-to-date with security advances as they’re made available. Keeping software patched and hardware updated is also a very time-consuming task, making these two ideal ways to leverage your managed services provider. You should be able to feel confident that your MSP is regularly running security tests and actively monitoring for hacks.

5. Proactively Update and Test Your Systems

The time when you could rely on reactive technology management to maintain the security of your systems and data is gone. Instead of waiting for something to break, your services provider should be actively seeking upcoming updates and creating a schedule for an application that is consistent with the needs of your business. This will help your business stay on the right track for reliable growth in the future.

6. Help Appropriately Scale Your Business Infrastructure

Making a single wrong decision early in a technology build-out can have disastrous consequences down the line. Your IT managed services provider should have the experience with businesses similar to yours that allows them to peek into the future and curtail any decisions that might cause your business to be less flexible or scalable in the future. While customizations are nearly inevitable when it comes to technology, a truly remarkable services provider will look for and recommend tools that are an exceptional fit for your business first — before they recommend expensive platform changes.

Finding the best IT managed services provider requires time and trust on both sides, but everything starts with open dialog. Your team must be able to detail your current needs as well as how your business is expected to scale in the future as well as a rough timeline. Your IT services provider should be able to tease these details from your project team so you have a shared understanding of how to move forward in lockstep. From a deep understanding of cybersecurity to a willingness to listen to your needs: an awesome IT managed services provider is not a mythical creature!

Successful businesses require smart leadership. How does a company effectively protect its profits? Planning for profits should also include company-wide management of expenses and security planning is high on the list. If the average ransomware payment has reached close to $15,000, a company’s leaders would want to plan ahead and ensure all security best practices for backups, network systems, cloud storage, and servers. Real profits include all revenues with an understanding of cost allocations for a business. Effective technology solutions can help make sure the right focus is on the products or services with higher profit margins. Security planning fits nicely with successful leadership, along with prevention plans to reduce all risks. Eliminating any unnecessary expenses from ransomware attacks could allow better allocations for salaries, employee satisfaction, company reinvestments, and provide improved planning for sales and profits.

How do you put a cost on employee reassurance for successful security planning? Do not allow a ransomware attack to affect your profits, employee satisfaction or customer confidence. How can you improve customer satisfaction with your plans for security? Employees and customers can benefit from understanding the successful planning for eliminating all security risks. Smart leadership with security planning includes documentation for policies, procedures and adequate communication for employees. Employee training should consist of documentation that clearly outlines security requirements. Employee retention and job satisfaction may not seem completely quantifiable but effective leadership is able to provide the best planning for staff morale.

Security planning

Effective leadership includes communication strengths, simplified technology solutions, employee support, and operational planning for client satisfaction. Marketing, client support, and branding require appropriate security planning and any security issues, such as ransomware attacks, are disallowed. On-demand support is important for employee support and client satisfaction. Security planning should be the focus of any customized IT services and flexible technology solutions. Support plans may include additional hiring and training for technicians. Packaged solutions and IT managed services are easily researched with the correct leadership involved and reviews of the cost-benefit analysis. Effectively managed IT support can help prepare a company for leading-edge technologies, cost savings, and marketing strategies. The improved promotions for profitability are part of the smart leadership of a successful business.

Business growth

A company’s growth can be comfortable for leadership teams and employees. Appropriate planning would be for new hiring, cost management, accounting and administration, and information security. A company’s asset allocations for new hires are a smart focus for scalable business growth. Support for the human resources departments can help simplify the hiring process, training procedures, and employee effectiveness. The technology staff and any partners for technology solutions should be high on the priority list for smart business growth. Technology teams can be some of the best for effective cost management, profitability, operations planning with sales projections, and marketing priorities. Experienced IT consultants can help with planning and success throughout a company.

Expense management

Appropriately allocating expenses with accounting and administration is an effective strategy. Technology teams and business executives are able to better focus on profitability and growth strategies. A thorough understanding of staffing needs is improved with effective expense management reviews. Some of the expenses and cost projections to consider include the following:

• Employee expenses including computers, mobile devices, and salaries
• Administration overhead with product and services support
• Technology costs with security planning, salaries, commissions, and partnership agreements
• Asset allocations and maintenance costs
• Trained technicians and experience with cost cutting are improvements for the business
• Product development expenses and allocated costs with packaging, distribution, and promotions
• Sales and marketing costs are monitored continuously for profitability and growth projections
• Costs for press promotions, media announcements, and public relations
• Social media support with company messages and communication plans

Regular security assessments

Reviews can include usability of information systems and an analysis of graphical user interfaces for all technology implementations with user access. Smart leadership could consist of a review of the regular security assessments for planned improvements, user support, and communication enhancements. Confirmation of success is smart for operations and client reassurance. Sales and marketing teams can use healthy reporting to demonstrate successful planning for security procedures and privacy of client information. Looking organized is also part of effective management with security reviews and regular assessments. Security plans should be a part of expense management and corporate planning.

Network administration

The salary for a network administrator is important to review often for effective leadership and employee planning. “An in-house network administrator can cost your business somewhere around the salary range of $45,000 to $80,000”,  https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Network_Administrator/Salary. Having the right successful leadership in place is a smart way to manage all business expenses and plan for successful growth. Working with the managerial staff, the network administration team can prepare the best documentation for employee training and new hiring processes. As some of the smartest planning for sales and marketing promotions, smart plans for the employees can help improve profitability for a business. Smart priorities can help assure employees are impressed with a company’s plans for success and business growth. Security planning can be improved with communication of the policies for networking, backups, remote access, client information, and employee administration.

Employee training

Training can be helpful for all employees, including new hires. Plans to prepare training can include impressive presentations or documentation to impress potential or current clients. The best type of training for technology and information systems, such as security plans, can easily be prepared to benefit the entire company. Communication with all levels of employees is friendlier with documentation or reports highlighting prevention plans and confirming the correct policies for security. Risk assessments and security reviews can foster better communication with employees or clients. The focus can benefit plans for profits and sales successes.

Successful planning to completely dismiss any risks of ransomware attacks is smart business. Preparing for profits and protecting your business work are good leadership plans. The appropriate planning can be appreciated by business executives, business owners, and managers. Confirmation of the best preparation for salaries and commissions is important for the network administrators and the entire staff for a company. Having the right leadership in place can help reduce all security risks and eliminate unneeded expenses of any cyber attacks or vulnerabilities.

We can’t function without passwords. So much of the internet is built on the concept of a username plus a password that the concept is core to users’ internet experience. It’s a clever but imperfect system that could certainly be improved upon, but until a game-changing replacement comes along, we have to play the game.

There’s a lot that doesn’t work very well about this system, and many people have questions about what password management best practices are. To that end, here’s a Q&A about passwords and password management.

What’s the biggest problem with how people use passwords?

The biggest problem with internet passwords is password management. Users have dozens if not hundreds of username/password combinations that they need for personal and business use. The problem with this is that nearly no one can reliably remember one hundred unique passwords. Many users, then, select overly simple (and easy to guess) passwords, or they reuse passwords across many sites.

What’s wrong with reusing passwords?

We live in a world of data breaches. When (not if) someone hacks favorite retailer or hotel chain, it’s embarrassing for those companies, but probably doesn’t affect your life too much. If the culprits gain access to your username and password for those sites, it’s a nuisance, but the amount of damage they can do is limited.

But when your hotel rewards password is the same as your credit card password and your banking password, you could have a mess on your hands. Scammers know that at least 51% of people reuse passwords, and you can bet they’ll try those stolen passwords on other, more valuable sites.

What makes a strong password?

A strong password is one that neither human nor machine can guess easily. Forbes compiles an annual list of the worst passwords being widely used, and it’s topped with gems like password, 123456, and qwerty. These are terrible because they’re just about the first things a human might guess. Other bad choices on the human front are the names of people, pets, or places that everyone knows are meaningful to you.

On the machine side, the shorter and simpler the password, the easier to hack. Make your password harder to brute-force by adding length, capital letters, numbers, and symbols. A password of 12 to 16 characters that mixes all these character types is generally considered a strong password.

I just keep my passwords on a sticky note. What’s wrong with that?

In short, everything. A sticky note hidden under your keyboard isn’t exactly a state secret. Think about who might have momentary access to see that sticky note. Clients? The cleaning crew? Maintenance personnel? Who else? This is especially disconcerting In the legal world, where those passwords could give a bad actor access to confidential materials that are under attorney/client privilege.

How can I remember passwords like j#%3M82*mRz!+?

Truthfully, you probably can’t. While that’s a tough password to crack, it’s not very useful for you. A better approach is to take a phrase that you can remember (perhaps one that relates in some tangential way to the site you’re on), and then make the phrase longer and more complex.

For example, iloveturtles is an easy phrase to remember, but it’s not that challenging to guess or to crack. Mix up the phrase by adding replacement characters, like <3iL0v3TurtleS<3, and neither your office mate nor a computer will easily guess or break your password.

Admittedly, this method has limits. Your own memory can be an obstacle, and sites vary with which characters they’ll allow in passwords.

I can’t remember 100 unique, complex passwords. What are my options?

Passwords need to be complex, and you shouldn’t reuse them from site to site. This creates a problem: Who can remember them all? One option that’s gaining a lot of traction in both the personal and enterprise markets, including in the law and legal tech fields, is using a password management tool. You’ve likely seen these advertised as “the last password you’ll ever need” or “one password to rule them all”; stuff like that. Password management tools are a reliable, secure way to generate and remember unique, complex passwords for all the sites and accounts you have.

How does a password management tool work?

Password management tools vary a little bit in terms of functionality, but at the core the services are similar.

1. First, you input or import all your existing credentials to the password management tool.
2. Next, you turn all your current weak passwords into strong ones. Some password management tools can do this automatically for you on many websites.
3. Last, you create one strong, secure password for your password management tool account.

After you’ve completed these steps, you’ll have just one password to remember—the password to your password management tool. It will store the rest of your credentials in a secure, encrypted vault and use them to log you into whatever account you need.

Are password management tools secure?

Yes. The companies offering these tools would be sued out of existence if not. Don’t believe us? Check out what a panel of experts has to say on the topic.

Conclusion

If you have additional questions about implementing a password management tool in your law office, contact us today. We’re here to help.

You have probably seen managed IT services offered from one or more providers in your area. The option of having your IT needs managed by an outside company has obvious appeal—you do not need to maintain a full-time IT staff, or at least as many IT employees, which should save your business some money. However, as a manager or business owner, you know it is important to read between the lines before jumping on just any opportunity that presents itself. How much does it actually cost to use managed IT services?

Managed IT Services Pricing Depends on Multiple Factors

The cost of having your IT needs managed by an outside provider depends on multiple factors. Each business has specific technologies that may be relatively simple or quite complex. The more complex the technology, the more it costs to maintain. And the level of management you can choose from varies as well. Managed IT services range from basic to comprehensive and are priced accordingly.

So What Does it Cost?

If you are looking for a direct answer to the question of what managed IT costs, you can estimate that your business could pay anywhere between $75 per user to $300 per user. The range is broad and maybe not terribly useful at first glance, which is why we encourage you to read on—and ultimately to speak to a reputable service provider to get a quote based on your specific situation and needs. Now let’s delve deeper into how managed IT services are priced so you can get a better idea of what your costs may be.

What Are Managed IT Services?

The biggest challenge with determining the cost of managed IT services—as we are attempting here—is the fact that there are so many services that fall under the umbrella of “IT”. Your business may have drastically different IT needs than another business. That being said, we can look at the basics of managed IT services to get a clearer picture of where your business may fall on the spectrum of technology service needs.

First, let us define what managed IT services means. At the core, managed IT means your IT needs, whatever those may be, are managed by an outside company. A team of experts offers to manage your IT needs, or at least a portion of those needs, for a fee. There is a huge range of services that fall into the IT category, though, which means managing a company’s IT could mean managing 10, 20, or 1,000 different things.

Managed IT services are presented as a way to save money because outsourcing IT management is typically more efficient for most businesses than employing a team of IT professionals. IT is a deep, complex subject, requiring extensive training in specific technologies and practices. Employing a team with the skillset to manage all your IT needs is costly, which is why only large corporations tend to do it. For small and mid-sized businesses, it often makes more sense to outsource IT management. With outsourcing, you only pay for the services you need, much like you would for legal services or other specialized, potentially high-cost services.

The Two Basic Approaches to Managed IT

Managed IT services fall under two broad categories—fully managed IT and partially managed IT.

Partially Managed IT Services

Some businesses have one or more employees that are tasked with managing IT. You may have specific IT needs that require a dedicated IT team to handle in-house. Even if you do not have an absolute need for an in-house IT person or group, you may just feel more comfortable having someone or a team there, in-person, every day to deal with certain IT tasks.

For businesses with existing IT personnel, IT service providers offer partially managed IT services. You can choose what they manage and when. Partial management can range from providing support for tasks that are exceptionally complex—possibly beyond the skill or workload of the in-house IT team—to providing support for routine tasks like security or backup administration.

Fully Managed IT Services

For many small to mid-sized businesses, the most economical and efficient option is to outsource all IT management. Instead of trying to determine what kind of IT employees you need, how many, etc., you can consult with a service provider who can give you expert insight, advice and the service necessary to keep your business technology running smoothly 24/7. A reputable managed IT services provider will be capable of collaborating with you and other leaders in your organization and deliver industry-leading services that an in-house team may struggle to match.

How Managed IT Service Pricing Works

The price for managed IT services varies by region, provider and customer. That being said, there are a few basic concepts that can help you understand how pricing works. These include:

Per User Pricing

Many service plans will be based on the number of users that are being monitored and cared for. You can calculate your users fairly easily—whoever is using the technology in your company can be considered a user. In today’s technology-driven workplaces, you can usually expect every employee to be a “user.” Anyone in your business that uses a PC, Mac, laptop, mobile device, tablet or anything else that requires IT support is someone you should count towards your total users.

Per Device Pricing

While per-user pricing is probably the most common, per device pricing is also a possibility. Instead of pricing services based on how many people are using the technology, the provider may offer to charge based on how many devices your business uses. You would include all the devices you want to be covered—which really should be every device that sees any use in your company—including PCs, Macs, laptops, tablets, mobile devices, etc.

Pricing Should Be Clear and Easy to Understand

Any reputable IT services company will be very clear about what your services will cost and what will be covered by the fees you pay. It will all be documented in your contract, so you can verify what you agree to before you sign anything or hand over any money. Clarity is beneficial for both you as a customer and for the IT company as they can justify their actions—or inaction—based on the contract that you both agreed to.

The Managed IT Service Options Available

IT management services are further broken down into service levels. The names that different providers use may vary, but you can expect services to fall into three general tiers:

1. Basic IT Services—Lowest Price Initially, But Variable Costs Are High

The entry-level IT management services are offered at the lowest recurring price. They involve basic monitoring of your systems and can cost around $70-150 a month. The services you get at this level are akin to having a security team keep track of your server. The organization pays close attention to what is going on and lets you know if anything seems off.

There are obvious benefits to having this kind of security and oversight, but the benefits are limited and the cost can go up quickly if you need any additional assistance. This is especially true if you do not have an IT team to address things when they do go wrong. If you need the IT service provider to do anything beyond monitor and notify, you can expect to pay between $50 and $300 per hour for assistance—depending on the complexity of the problem that needs to be solved.

It may be possible to purchase a block of time from the service provider at a discounted rate. If you can negotiate a contract for a block of time, you can have the IT provider work on issues until that block of time is used up. Of course, you will need to decide which issues are worth using the block for, and which may need to wait until next month when you have another block of time—or pay for a full-priced solution right now when you need it.

2. Mid-Range IT Services—Considered the Best Value for Most Businesses

As with so many things, the lowest priced option is often more expensive in the long run. IT services are no different. A mid-range managed IT service is more expensive up front, but can often save money over time as your service provider is able to help you avoid issues before they become major—and read to address issues immediately when they are easiest to solve.

Once you get into mid-range services, you are hiring more than just a monitoring service. You are hiring a team to serve as your IT provider in most if not all ways. The team will definitely keep track of your systems and notify you when something of concern pops up. But they will also take the initiative to solve those problems without the need for you to make unnecessary decisions—like whether you want to pay extra for the help. You have already hired the team at a rate that allows them to go into action now instead of later.

The services you can get, for a flat fee, may include:

• IT planning
• IT strategy
• IT design
• System backups
• 24/7 IT support (possibly unlimited)
• On-site support
• Remote support
• Disaster recovery

Mid-range IT management services are usually priced based on the number of users you have, or the number of devices you need support for.

Typical charges per user range from $50-$200 per user.

For per device services, pricing will be based on the type of device. For servers, you could pay between $120-500 per server. Workstations may cost between $30-120 per station. Firewalls can cost between $25-100, while switches may cost between $10-50 per switch.

3. High-End IT Services—Only Necessary in Certain Circumstances

The high-end of managed IT services is only necessary for certain types of businesses—specifically those that need full hosted or cloud systems. If the IT service provider needs to provide your business with the majority, or your entire infrastructure, then your fee will include the cost of providing that infrastructure. You get the full scope of services for the increased cost of the high-end pricing, including the use of the system and the support services you need with that system—as well as all the services offered in mid-range plans. A fully hosted service may cost $300 or more per user, per month, depending on the complexity of what is provided.

Some Factors to Consider With Pricing Managed IT Services

IT service providers are in business, just like you, so they need to price their services in a way that keeps them in business. As with most, if not all, businesses, IT service providers base their pricing on how much time and resources they will need to devote to the customer to get the job done. The harder the job, the more they need to charge. And the more unpredictable the job, the more pricing needs to account for possible spikes in time and resources required for the customer.

When an IT company is deciding how much to charge you, they will consider the following factors:

How Complex is Your Technology Matrix?

Your technology matrix includes all of your technological devices and the ways that they need to interact with one another. The more devices, the more variety, the more connectivity that must be maintained, the higher the workload the service provider will expect. Your system or systems may include:

• Laptops
• Smartphones
• Tablets
• Desktops
• PCs
• Macs
• Servers
• Workstations
• Antivirus software
• Wi-Fi for internal use
• Wi-Fi for guests
• Web filtering
• Personal devices
• Cloud applications
• Unique connectivity issues—like warehouse use or outdoor use
• Business software

This is a very small list of potential devices, software and circumstances. You can see how the complexity of a system can increase rapidly, even if you are not what is considered a technology-oriented company.

Do You Have an Existing IT Team?

At first glance, it is easy to assume that having your own IT team would make the job of the outsourced team easier—but this is not always true. Integrating with an existing team presents its own challenges. If you are just hiring the outside team for a specialized task it may be economical, but the price of individualized services is not necessarily the best deal. The more control the outsourced team has the better they can predict their workload, which can make for a better deal with pricing.

Do You Need Individual Services or Comprehensive Services?

When an IT management company is monitoring your system and tells you of a problem, you have the option of hiring that company to address the issue. The actual monitoring work is relatively low demand, which is why it is inexpensive. But actually addressing the issue requires bringing in an IT professional to examine the problem, identify a solution and implement that solution. The IT company only has so many employees, which means taking care of your problem may mean pulling a team member off of a current project to deal with the problem.

The cost of having your service provider address issues on a per case basis reflects the challenge of dealing with problems as they arise. But when you pay for comprehensive services, like with a mid-range plan, you are compensating the company to keep an employee on-hand for your issues. There may still be some juggling of resources to meet unexpected needs, but much of the workload of handling your systems has been accounted for.

What Will My Managed IT Services Cost?

You cannot get an accurate quote for your specific situation from an article, but you can use the information provided here to identify where your needs lie on the spectrum of potential services. Take a close look at your business and IT needs and consider the following:

• Do you have your own IT staff, or do you want to have one or more staff members devoted to IT?
• What is the complexity of your technology? (Answering this question with real accuracy may be difficult to do without the assistance of an IT professional. Even so, it is worth considering to get a ballpark idea of what you will be asking the IT service provider to do for your business.)
• Will you be satisfied with remote services, or do you want to have someone on-site at least part of the time?
• Do you need a full network provided for you, or do you have a network on-site?
• Are you interested in a low initial price point for basic monitoring services—with the potentially high cost of individual services as needed? Or do you that a flat fee for everything would be more appropriate for your needs?

Things to Consider if you Do Have Internal IT Staff

When you have your own IT staff, there is an additional layer of questions you need to ask yourself. Having an “IT” team can mean a lot of different things. You could have one or more serious IT professionals on staff that have the credentials and training to handle a wide variety of tasks. Or, you could have an employee that does basic technology support—that may or may not even specialize in IT. Maybe you have something in between these two scenarios? As you can see, your situation may be entirely different than that of another business.

If you have a serious IT team, you can decide if maintaining that team makes sense for your business. If it does, you can consult with that team to determine what kind of outsourced services you need. If it does not make sense to keep the team, you could consult with different IT providers about how they might take over the role of your team.

If you do not have a serious IT team, it may make more sense to outsource and move your existing IT people—if you have any—to roles that they are better suited for.

Are There Other Options Besides Managed IT Services?

While managed IT services are the recommended choice for most businesses based on cost and efficiency, there are other options available. These include:

On-Demand IT Services

There are a lot of different names for this kind of service, including pay-as-you-go, break-fix, hourly and time & materials. They all refer to the concept of paying for IT services only when you need them. The term break-fix sums the idea up perfectly. If your team breaks something, the IT provider will fix it. Given the unpredictability involved, the cost for these services tends to be high. It may cost anywhere between $50-300 an hour depending on the job, along with the cost of any materials needed.

Block Time

This is a lot like on-demand, as you still get the help you need on demand, but because you pay early you get a discount. You can arrange a deal where you pay for a block of time. When something breaks, you contact the IT provider and let them know you need help. They work for as long as the amount of time you have paid for. If you need more time, they will generally charge you at the hourly rate.

Support from Your Software Vendor

Some software vendors will provide support for their specific products. The support may be included in the price of the software. Usually, you will need to pay extra for support, which may cost thousands or tens of thousands depending on the software.

Get an Accurate Quote—Contact Your Preferred IT Services Provider

As you know, technology can be confusing and frustrating when things start to go wrong. The idea behind managed IT services is that you can keep confusion and frustration to a minimum by outsourcing the management of your technology systems.

If you would like to know precisely what managed IT services will cost for your business, please contact us. We are standing by to give you a quote based on your unique needs.