Why You Need Onboarding Software

So you’ve managed to hire an experienced and skilled new staff member. Are you sure you can keep them around? It all starts with your onboarding…

Employee Retention Stars On Day #1

The onboarding process is an integral part of the employee life cycle. It sets the tone for a successful relationship between employer and employee and directly informs the new hire’s comfort on the job. 

That’s why successful employee onboarding can improve your employee retention rate by as much as 82%.

Onboarding new employees should be a smooth transition that allows them to quickly adjust to their new work environment and become productive members of the team. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible, either due to a lack of resources or inadequate preparation—or both. 

Key Challenges With Employee Onboarding

To make sure your onboarding process is successful, you need to provide comprehensive training materials that are easily accessible to your new hires. 

This includes providing an up-to-date job description, outlining expectations from day one, and ensuring all safety protocols are in place before they start working. Unfortunately, this can be a lot to manage, especially when you consider these common obstacles to the process:

Undefined Roles

Smaller businesses often struggle with key managerial tasks, such as employee onboarding. If the owner is too busy managing the operations of the company and lacks middle managers or an HR department, they may not be able to devote the necessary time to the process. 

Out Of Date Materials

Furthermore, with no specific staff member tasked with managing and optimizing this process, it’s more than likely your training materials are out of date. This only further complicates the new staff member’s first days on the job. 

Unengaging Training

Lastly, if you lack an actionable strategy for the development and improvement of your training materials, they likely aren’t all that engaging. A boring binder of materials, a stale PowerPoint, an outdated video; none of this will excite your new hire about integrating into your company. 

The Secret To Optimizing Your Onboarding

If you’ve been struggling with these challenges, you’re not alone. Business owners across the country know how difficult this can be. After all, 88% of companies do not onboard their new hires effectively. 

Don’t worry, there is a solution, and it doesn’t involve hiring an HR team you can’t afford. You can optimize your onboarding process with the right software.

Onboarding Software Will Change The Way You Grow Your Staff

Onboarding software is designed to streamline and improve the onboarding process for both employers and new hires.

It allows an organization to:

  • Create personalized onboarding plans and guides
  • Automate paperwork processes
  • Provide access to important resources like training materials
  • Create a system for tracking tasks that need to be completed
  • Store all relevant onboarding data in one place. 

These tools make it easy to stay organized throughout the entire onboarding process. Organizations can easily create custom onboarding schedules with associated tasks and deadlines, assign mentors or supervisors to follow up on tasks, review progress at any time by accessing real-time reporting features, and use this data over time to refine their future onboarding strategies. 

As business owners implement new onboarding software, they often find that it helps reduce stress for new hires by providing all of the necessary onboarding information upfront. This increases employee engagement and job satisfaction while making it easy to answer common questions quickly and accurately. 

As a result, companies can create an enjoyable and positive onboarding experience while ensuring their new employees are well-prepared for success in their roles. 

3 Must-Have Features For Your Onboarding Software Of Choice

Like any software, onboarding solutions vary in features, capabilities, and price points. Make sure you find one that offers the following…

Integration With Your Systems

Don’t bother purchasing onboarding software without first ensuring it integrates with your systems. After all, this type of software is supposed to make your life easier, not add more work to get it to cooperate with your other applications. 

Before you make your choice, make sure it can work seamlessly with:

  • HR platforms
  • Recruiting solutions
  • Payroll & benefits systems
  • Reporting solutions

Gamification Options

Engaging your employees during their training can be as simple as adding a few interactive stages. Known as “gamification”, this is the initiative to improve other boring processes by incorporating quizzes, assigning badges, and displaying leaderboards.

Mobile Capability

The more mobile your workforce is, the more beneficial mobile integration is for your onboarding software. It allows new team members to participate in training and for managers to track progress in the manner most convenient to them. This will only serve to boost engagement and effectiveness. 

Don’t Let Your Onboarding Process Cost You Skilled Staff Members

In summary, onboarding software is an invaluable tool for companies wanting to streamline the onboarding process, increase efficiency, provide personalized support for new hires, and create a great first impression with potential staff members. 

By utilizing these tools correctly, employers can ensure that their organization not only recruits but also retains quality personnel in order to achieve long-term success. 

Do you need help selecting, installing, and managing the right onboarding software for your organization? Get in touch with our team today.

Hiring Crisis: 3 Lessons To Learn While Growing Your Staff

Hiring Crisis: 3 Lessons To Learn While Growing Your Staff

Amid a nationwide hiring crisis, it’s never been more difficult to recruit and retain quality team members. Consider the top three lessons we’ve learned over the past three years to better manage the new hires you bring into your company. 

How To Find & Hire The Right Staff Members

Are you having trouble hiring right now? You’re not alone. 

Month after month, new reports hit the headlines showing that companies across the nation are struggling to fill their open positions, keep people on staff, and manage their workload. The past few years have hit the working world hard in many ways, and one of the emergent and long-lasting effects is the ongoing labor shortage. 

3 Lessons You Need To Learn About Hiring New Staff Members

Priorities Have Changed

Far and away, this was the hardest lesson we had to learn while trying to hire new staff members of late. The simple fact is that so many of the people you’ll want to hire may not have the same work/life priorities that they had two or three years ago. 

The mass pivot to remote work demonstrated the possibility of a different work/life balance for millions of people around the world. These people had become accustomed to living a life that often prioritized work over the time they spent with friends and family or in recreation. 

When they switched to remote work, most of them discovered they were able to accomplish the same work without having to commute, pack a lunch, or deal with the other trappings of conventional work. 

The issue is that, while you’d like everything to go back to the way it used to, it’s risky to mandate in-office work. It could lead to a toxic work culture, or a workplace with a high rate of turnover—or, more likely, both. 

To be clear, this doesn’t mean to have to stick with a total remote work model. You can compromise with a hybrid arrangement instead. A hybrid work model is a great way to increase workplace productivity, flexibility, and agility. 

It allows employees to utilize both in-office and remote working environments, which helps them become more productive and engaged with their work. In addition, hybrid remote work helps employers like us better manage costs as it reduces the need for office space. 

Furthermore, it increases employee morale and retention, as employees have more flexibility and control over their work hours. It helps to promote a healthy work-life balance for employees, which can lead to greater job satisfaction. 

Overall, hybrid remote work is an excellent way to increase workplace productivity and employee morale while reducing costs.

Don’t Rely On Employment Apps

On the more direct and practical side of our advice, we want to ensure you don’t make the same mistake we did by relying on employment apps. You know the ones we’re talking about: Indeed, ZipRecruiter, etc. 

At first, these seem like wonderful tools for a manager trying to hire new staff members. You simply post a job description, and applications start flooding your inbox. However, as soon as your start reviewing the applications and reaching out to applicants, you’ll start noticing the issues:

Application Volume

Getting hundreds of applications for your job really isn’t a good thing. First of all, it’s a lot of work for you and your team to review these applications. The small portion of strong applicants will be hidden in a mountain of bad ones. 

The core issue is that these apps allow applicants to automate the process of applying to a job posting. They can upload their resume, and tell the app to send it to any open jobs that meet specific criteria. They never even need to review the job they’re applying for; the first they may hear about it is when you offer them an interview slot. While this automation may be convenient for the applicant, it makes your job that much more difficult. 

Applicant Interest & Investment

The other downside to the automated nature of these apps is that they do not engender any personal investment from the applicant. Instead of scouring job postings boards and seeking potential employment about which they can be passionate and excited, applicants are completely removed from the process. 

This results in a total lack of investment from the applicant. In practical terms, this means you won’t necessarily get a response when you reach out to them. 

If you do get a response and schedule a time to meet with them for an interview, they may not actually show up. In my experience, more than half of the applicants to which we offered interviews (and who confirmed the appointment), did not show up. 

Overall, this resulted in hours and hours of wasted time for the management team. This is why we don’t post jobs on these sites anymore. We post through our social media, we rely on our staff for word of mouth, and we utilize industry-specific job boards. 

Be Patient

This may seem obvious, but we think it’s a valuable reminder. If you want to find a talented new team member with the attitude and work ethos that fits your company culture, it’s not going to happen overnight. 

It’s important to understand that building an effective team that has real longevity is no small thing. It will take months, if not years. You need to be prepared to sift through the many applications you receive, to interview potential applicants multiple times, and to provide structured training once you’ve made your selection. 

Is it a lot of work? Yes, of course—but it is an investment. 

Over the course of a year or two of intentional and careful development of your team, you’ll start to see the fruits of your labor. In fact, it will get easier over time, as your currently established team and the culture they embody will actively cultivate itself in new additions to your staff. 

Don’t Get Discouraged

To whatever degree you may find these lessons helpful, we know they don’t solve anything for you immediately. There is no magic solution to this problem. 

More than anything else, we want to make sure you don’t get discouraged. Don’t just hire anyone because you need a body to fill a position; that’s a band-aid solution, and it won’t last. 

Lastly, while we can’t help with the recruitment or training processes, our team can assist with your onboarding process. Setting up new computers, configuring secure accounts and remote access, you name it—we’re here to provide technical expertise if you need it. 

Book a meeting with us to get started.

The Top 3 Considerations For Managing Your Remote Employees

Are you considering making remote work a part of your business’ operations long-term? Then make sure you keep these important considerations in mind going forward. 

3 Best Practices For Managing Remote Workers

Is remote work a permanent part of your business model?

This approach can take many forms. Maybe your staff follows a hybrid work arrangement, where they’re in the office some days and at home for others. On the other hand, maybe you have staff members that work full-time in the office, and a team of remote workers that operate on the other side of the world. 

To whatever degree you manage remote team members, one thing is clear—you have to do so carefully. 

The Pitfalls Of Remote Work

Plenty of managers and business owners have made big mistakes with remote workers. The process of giving up in-person managerial control of the workplace can be daunting if you’re used to it being that way. 

This often leads to remote team leaders micromanaging their staff members, scheduling too many check-in meetings, and tracking time down to the minute. We’ll make this clear: there’s no faster way to disengage a remote employee than by wasting their time with your managerial insecurities. 

However, with the right approach to your management strategy, you can fully activate your staff members while they work remotely…

4 Tips For Managing Remote Workers

Over Support & Under-Manage

The core issue at play with remote workers is obvious: when staff members are not in your office, how can you effectively manage them? The key is to make no assumptions about what they have, and make every assumption about what they will produce (until proven otherwise, of course). 

In other words, you should be committed to equipping your remote workers with each and every resource they need to succeed, and then trust them to deliver the services or goods they have agreed to. You should only micromanage the quality of their work experience; not their performance on the job. 

For example, ask about their home “workplace”. The space one works in is an important part of productivity. Make sure your remote worker is in a comfortable, distraction-free space that is as similar as possible to your normal workplace.

This may require investing in an office chair or a second monitor. Not everyone will have the necessary tools at home, and so, it’s recommended that you have a number of remote work bundles ready to go to maintain continuity and security:

  • Laptop
  • Monitor(s)
  • Keyboard and mouse
  • Phone system and headset
  • Business-class firewall 
  • AV Software

Promote Balance

Encouraging a balanced workday is important for the productivity and morale of your staff. Make sure that they are taking breaks to stay hydrated, relax, and stretch.

This will help them to be more focused and productive when they are working. Additionally, it is important to set a good example for your staff by maintaining a balanced workday yourself.

Keep in mind that this does not have to be part of a staff-wide social initiative. You do not need to schedule a group “desk yoga” break after lunch every day, as these types of activities will more often than not wear down the goodwill among remote staff. 

Instead, make sure you provide space for your remote team members to decompress. This may be a matter of encouraging them to take a walk after lunch or providing an employee-only social Slack channel (no management allowed!)

Make Sure Everyone Knows The Plan

You need to be sure that everyone is on the same page with respect to communication. Some staff members may update you multiple times per day, while others may not communicate at all unless there is an emergency. 

Establish a policy for when and how communication should take place, and make sure that everyone follows it. This will help to ensure that everyone is kept up to date with what is happening.

Our advice is to develop a culture of communication that is both ubiquitous and brief. This has the two-pronged benefit of ensuring regular communication is encouraged, without wasting anyone’s time in the process of drafting long emails or sitting through long meetings. 

Consider the following benchmarks:

  • Direct messages should be as short as possible (one-word responses aren’t rude—they’re efficient).
  • Emails should be 2-3 sentences.
  • Phone calls should be <5 minutes.
  • Meetings should be <30 minutes.

Essentially, whatever you or an employee needs to communicate should fit into this hierarchy. If you can’t address the topic in a DM, then fit it into an email. If it doesn’t fit into an email, then have a quick phone call. All of this should funnel up to your weekly or monthly staff meeting, which is likely the longest staff-wide event on the regular calendar. 

Activate Your Team While They Work Remotely

The bottom line is that managing a remote staff is largely a matter of surrendering the control you got used to in the conventional, in-person workplace. You cannot micromanage your remote staff, and so, it’s up to you to build an environment of trust, support, and productivity. 

We know that one big challenge for business owners when it comes to remote work environments is technology. What tech does your remote staff member need? How do you ensure they have secure access to company files? Is their home network secure enough to trust?

If you need expert assistance, allow us to help. Book a meeting with us to talk further.

Remote, On-Site, Or Hybrid—Which Work Model Is Right For You?

Are you looking into establishing a new work model for your business? Executed correctly, the right work model can come with a lot of advantages.

What’s your business’ current work model? 

Over the past two years, you’ve likely engaged in some degree of remote work for your staff. Going forward, however, you may assume you’re stuck with one of two potential scenarios:

  1. Your entire staff returns to work in the office
  2. All of your staff continue to work remotely

We want you to know there’s a compromise between the two: hybrid work. It’s a middle ground between the two options and offers you the best of both worlds. 

Striking A Balance Between Remote Work & The Office

The core aspect of the hybrid work model is that it lets you enjoy the benefits offered by remote work without sacrificing your in-office community. 

Employee by employee, one person may prefer remote work, and the other may instead prefer to work in the office. Instead of having everyone fit into one model, you can cater to both sides. 

After all, these two opposing models offer competing advantages. Remote workers have seen a number of key benefits:

However, for all the ways remote work is beneficial to both the organization and end-users, it’s not without its challenges. A study found that remote workers across the country encountered a series of challenges in their daily work life:

  • 19% experience loneliness
  • 17% have difficulty communicating and collaborating
  • 8% have trouble staying motivated

So how do you reconcile these many pros and cons that come with either option? Compromise with a hybrid work model. Doing so harnesses all the advantages and none of the disadvantages of both choices:

  • Employees spend a portion of their work time at home, focusing on key tasks and projects
  • The remainder of their hours are in the office, where they are available for meetings and can contribute to a social company culture

That said, it’s not as though hybrid work presents absolutely no obstacles to managers and business owners…

Key Challenges Associated With Hybrid Work

The most important consideration is your technology. Security is a complicated undertaking for work models that include remote work. In fact, 36% of organizations have dealt with a security incident due to an unsecured remote worker.

Continuing with a remote work model, whether entirely or in part, will require:

  • Enhancing security measures
  • Providing the right hardware for users working permanently from home
  • Implementing more permanent file-sharing, collaboration, and communication tools

How To Protect Your Hybrid Business

In optimizing your hybrid working model, make sure to consider the following best practices for your cybersecurity:

Identify Risks

In order to confirm your security capabilities, you need to conduct a cyber risk assessment along with a vulnerability scan of your systems. This will help you identify potential vulnerabilities, and develop the starting blocks to a secure long-term hybrid management plan.

Train Your Staff

As some of your staff will be working from home, it’s more important than ever to ensure they receive proper awareness training. Without proper supervision, they are at greater risk of compromising the security of your business data or falling for phishing scams. Make sure they understand how to maintain business cybersecurity from their home office. 

Deploy Security Measures

Your hybrid environment will require a combination of threat monitoring, firewalls, and antivirus solutions. These defenses will form a comprehensive cybersecurity posture to protect your office network as well as your employees while they work remotely.

Need Expert Assistance Managing Your Hybrid IT Environment?

If you plan to continue with remote work in one way or another, you may need to change your model of IT support. As you and the other C-level executives at your business have likely discovered since the start of the pandemic, your ability to work remotely depends directly on your IT support. 

We can help—we’ve developed extensive experience in helping our partners to launch, optimize and secure remote work capabilities. Now that the mad rush to go remote is over, it’s time to perfect your processes, and you don’t have to do so alone. 

Get in touch with our team today to get started.

Protect Your Employees and Your Business Against Vishing

Vishing

Protect Your Employees and Your Business Against Vishing

Key Points

  • The increase in remote and hybrid workforces has created new opportunities for bad actors.
  • Vishing is a type of fraud where criminals attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a reputable entity.
  • Bad actors typically do this by making voice calls or leaving voicemails that appear to be from a legitimate organization.
  • Vishing can have serious consequences for businesses, including compromised company data, financial losses, ransomware infections, and reputational damage.

Cybercriminals are always searching for new ways to prey on businesses and their employees, and the increase in remote and hybrid workforces has created new opportunities for bad actors to exploit. Businesses of all sizes are at risk, and employees are often the weak link in the security chain. One type of attack that is becoming more common is “vishing,” where attackers use social engineering techniques to trick victims into revealing sensitive information. As a business leader, it’s essential to be aware of this threat and take steps to protect your employees.

Vishing

What Is Vishing and How Does It Work?

Vishing is a type of fraud where criminals attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a reputable entity. They typically do this by making voice calls or leaving voicemails that appear to be from a legitimate organization, such as a bank or government agency.

Vishing can be very difficult to detect, as the caller may have spoofed their caller ID to make it appear as if they are calling from a legitimate number. This can fool even the most tech-savvy employees.

Once the bad actor has made contact, they will try to obtain personal information from the victim by using high-pressure tactics or threats. For example, they may claim that the victim’s bank account has been compromised and demand that they provide their login credentials to “verify” their identity. Or, they may pose as a government official, say that the victim’s taxes are overdue, and threaten legal action if they do not provide their Social Security number.

In some cases, vishing attacks can be very sophisticated. Criminals may do their research in advance and have detailed information about their targets, such as their name, job title, and company. This can make the victim feel like they are speaking to a legitimate person, and more likely to comply with their demands.

Is Vishing the Same as Phishing?

Vishing is similar to phishing, but there are some key differences. Both vishing and phishing are attempts to gain information by tricking the victim. However, with vishing, the attacker will use the phone instead of email to try to gain access to information.

Vishing can be harder to detect than phishing because the attacker is using a method that feels more personal. They may spoof the caller ID to make it look like they are calling from a legitimate company, or they may use social engineering techniques to try to get the victim to give them the information they want.

The Dangers of Vishing for Businesses

Vishing attacks can have serious consequences for businesses. If an employee falls for a vishing scam, the attacker may gain access to the company’s network and sensitive data. They may also use the employee’s credentials to commit fraud or steal money from the company. In some cases, vishing attacks can lead to ransomware infections, where the attacker encrypts the company’s data and demands a ransom to decrypt it.

Here are some of the most common dangers of vishing attacks:

  • Compromised company data: If an employee’s credentials are compromised in a vishing attack, the attacker may gain access to the company’s network and sensitive data. This can include customer information, financial data, and trade secrets.
  • Financial losses: Vishing attacks can lead to financial losses for businesses. For example, if an attacker obtains an employee’s login credentials, they may be able to transfer money out of the company’s bank account.
  • Ransomware infections: In some cases, vishing attacks can lead to ransomware infections, where the attacker encrypts the company’s data and demands a ransom to decrypt it. This can cause significant disruption to the business and may result in the loss of important data.
  • Reputational damage: Vishing attacks can also damage a company’s reputation. For example, if an attacker obtains customer data, the company may be required to disclose the breach to the affected individuals. This can damage the company’s reputation and result in financial losses.

How to Protect Your Business From Vishing Attacks

Vishing can be difficult to defend against, as attackers are constantly finding new ways to exploit employees. There are several steps that businesses can take to protect themselves from vishing attacks, including:

  • Educating employees about the risks of vishing and reminding them never to give out sensitive information over the phone unless they are sure they know who they are talking to.
  • Implementing a call verification system for high-risk calls, such as those from banks or other financial institutions.
  • Making sure all employees know how to report suspicious calls or voicemails.
  • Keeping anti-virus software up to date and ensuring all employees have access to it.

Tips for Detecting a Vishing Attack

Vishing attacks can devastate businesses of all sizes – but by being aware of the methods scammers use, you can help protect your employees (and your business) from becoming victims.

Some tips for detecting a vishing attack include:

  • Being wary of unsolicited calls from unknown individuals
  • Refusing to give out personal or financial information over the phone
  • Being suspicious of requests for money or gift cards
  • Refusing to click on links or open attachments from unknown senders.

As with any type of cyberattack, the best defense against vishing is awareness and education. By teaching your employees how to spot a vishing attempt, you can help protect your business from this devastating type of attack.

Responding to a Vishing Attack

The way you respond to any attack can mean the difference between a minor setback and a major disaster. If you believe your business has been the victim of a vishing attack, it’s important to take action immediately. Some steps you can take to respond to a vishing attack include:

  • Notifying your employees: If you suspect that your employees have been targeted by a vishing attack, it’s important to let them know as soon as possible. This will help them be on the lookout for suspicious calls and take steps to protect their information.
  • Contacting your bank or financial institution: If you suspect that your login credentials have been compromised, it’s important to contact your bank or financial institution immediately. They may be able to take steps to protect your account and prevent any unauthorized transactions from taking place.
  • Monitoring your accounts: It’s also a good idea to monitor your company’s bank accounts and credit card statements for any suspicious activity. If you see any unusual charges, it’s important to report them to your bank or credit card company immediately.
  • Reporting the incident: If you believe you’ve been the victim of a vishing attack, it’s important to report the incident to the appropriate authorities.

Wrap Up

Vishing is a serious threat to businesses of all sizes – but by taking steps to educate your employees and protect your business, you can help reduce the risk of becoming a victim. If you believe your business has been the target of a vishing attack, it’s important to take action immediately to minimize the damage. Be sure to implement strict security measures to protect your business from future attacks.

Four Steps You Must Take Today to Safeguard Your Business Against Phishing Attacks

Safeguard Your Business

Four Steps You Must Take Today to Safeguard Your Business Against Phishing Attacks

Key Points in This Article:

  • Businesses of sizes and industries must contend with phishing attacks which, if successful, can be devastating.
  • Having a plan in place is crucial to mitigate the risk of phishing.
  • Training employees, managing passwords, updating software, and securing mobile devices are steps you must take to safeguard your business.

No matter the size or industry, businesses face phishing attacks that have escalated in scope and sophistication. Successful phishing attacks can open a backdoor to a business’ corporate network, exposing proprietary, employee, and client information to cybercriminals. Moreover, phishing can give cybercriminals the access needed to deploy ransomware on a network.

Once in place, the software can encrypt files, allowing the cybercriminal to extort a ransom in exchange for restored access. Such ransomware attacks have cost companies anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions in ransoms, repairs, and reputational damage. And depending on the circumstances, businesses have also faced regulatory action for negligence when breaches have occurred.

Suppose you’re a business owner or executive who’s become increasingly aware of and concerned about the threat of phishing attacks (and cybersecurity in general). In that case, you can take some simple steps to mitigate your risk. While you will undoubtedly be targeted in this day and age, here’s what you need to do to safeguard your business.

Safeguard Your Business

Train Employees About Cybersecurity Continuously

Phishing is an attempt to manipulate individuals into revealing confidential or sensitive information. Within a business setting, cybercriminals send employees official-looking emails and texts designed to appear as if they’ve come from the business or one of its leaders. These messages will ask employees to reply with access credentials and, in some cases, their personal financial information.

If you look closely, there are often telltale signs that these messages are fraudulent, and many employees who recognize them will quickly report them to your IT department. But many employees remain unaware of the threat’s magnitude and how to detect phishing messages. When you train your employees to recognize suspicious emails (and other cybersecurity threats), you’ll substantially reduce the risk that one of your employees unintentionally provides cybercriminals access to your network.

However, cybercriminals remain hard at work devising new methods to attack businesses for illicit gain. You must schedule cybersecurity awareness training regularly to keep your employees up-to-date about new threats, reinforce the need for employee vigilance, and ensure new employees are up to speed.

Employ a Robust Password Policy

Sometimes, cybercriminals can compromise a network by guessing a password. Now, they don’t sit down, try to figure out probable passwords, and try them individually. They typically perform what’s known as a brute force attack, using sophisticated applications that automatically try multiple probable passwords. These applications often start with either commonly used credentials or credentials that are in use that a cybercriminal has obtained from a phishing attempt or prior breach.

You can minimize the likelihood of a brute force attack succeeding by requiring employees to create and use unique and complex passwords. Ideally, your password should not be one that can be easily guessed and should contain a list of numbers as well as uppercase, lowercase, and special characters. Passwords containing names, birthdays, and other information that can be guessed or publicly available present a security risk.

Further, you should require that employees change their passwords frequently. Indeed, all employees should be required to change their passwords in a breach. But when you require all passwords to be changed at periodic intervals, you’ll make it harder for cybercriminals to gain access.

Keep Software Up-to-Date

By keeping your security software applications up-to-date, you can be assured you have the latest cybersecurity protections in place. Of course, it’s also essential to ensure you have the right cybersecurity applications in place. You’ll need your IT staff to help you identify the right software applications to keep your network safe. But depending on their cybersecurity experience, you may need to retain the services of a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP). Because they work in the field 24/7, MSSPs have a breadth of experience and access to security planning and assessment tools that most in-house IT departments don’t. And because they work with businesses in your industry and region, they have practical insights into the threats your business may face.

Your security applications are not all you need to keep current. You also must keep your enterprise software current as well. When software companies retire specific applications, they no longer provide security updates. Cybercriminals may be able to exploit vulnerabilities in these programs to compromise your network. So you must upgrade or replace each software application on your network when the developer retires it.

Implement Strong Safeguards on Mobile Devices

With more companies operating in a remote-only or hybrid fashion, businesses have more devices accessing their network than ever. When the pandemic began, many businesses, in their haste to rapidly go remote, allowed employees to use their own devices and were somewhat laissez-faire in their approach to network security. And with new security vulnerabilities proliferating, many businesses paid a heavy price as their networks were breached.

Some businesses have yet to learn the lessons of those early pandemic days. It’s more critical than ever to ensure that offsite employees are accessing your network safely and securely and that when they do, they are doing so with devices with robust security measures. Moreover, your IT personnel must have the training, resources, and directive to monitor activity that may indicate cybercriminals are attempting to penetrate your network.

Employees often relax their guard when working from home or offsite and may inadvertently expose your network to threats if they access it using a personal device. If you employ a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy, make sure you’ve got a clear and comprehensive BYOD security policy in place that should cover how employees connect to your network, security measures to be placed on their devices, what device data will be monitored, and how that information will be used. A phishing attack aimed at obtaining an employee’s personal financial information could also net a cybercriminal access credentials to your network, so pairing your BYOD policy with regular training is crucial.

Even if you provide devices for employees to work remotely or have everyone working onsite, you still need a clear cybersecurity policy (including password protocols) outlining how employees use your devices. You must also provide regular training on the cybersecurity threats they may face. And you need up-to-date security and other software applications on those devices. By taking these steps, you can minimize the risk your business falls victim to a phishing attack. And if you do, these steps will also help mitigate the damage such an attack could cause.

Three Ways Managed Services Providers Can Help Your Business Grow

Business Growth

Three Ways Managed Services Providers Can Help Your Business Grow

Key Points in This Article

  • Working with an MSP can provide businesses with the necessary resources to grow.
  • MSPs can help businesses save time by absorbing time-consuming yet fundamental tasks.
  • They can also help companies save money by leveraging their insights and experience to increase productivity and offer specialized services where there are gaps in-house.

Business executives often think of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in the context of their IT departments. They think that when they followed their CIO or IT director’s advice to hire one, they approved an IT solution to IT problems. But MSPs aren’t just technical resources to be leveraged when the network goes down. Reputable MSPs can offer businesses of all sizes across industries the keys they need to unlock their full growth potential. MSPs can leverage their IT expertise to help businesses save time and money, increase productivity, and earn revenue.

How can MSPs help businesses accelerate their growth? Here are three ways that working with a reputable provider can help you grow your business.

Business Growth

Improving Your Business’ Productivity

Working with an MSP, you can determine the best IT infrastructure to support your unique business. And not only can you design an operating environment that helps you maximize employee productivity while minimizing downtime and reducing the risk of system failures. Your MSP can usually manage your infrastructure, saving you time and ensuring your operations run smoothly.

Moreover, many MSPs offer round-the-clock coverage, while most IT departments cannot. MSPs can resolve an overnight network issue before the first employees arrive in the morning, whereas those employees in businesses without one will face some downtime in the morning. And the longer your systems are down, the more revenue and customers you may lose.

MSPs also work with multiple clients across industries. Accordingly, their staff has developed a wealth of knowledge about technical and business problems requiring IT solutions. Drawing on their experience, MSPs can recommend, help you plan, and deploy practical solutions that help you optimize your business’ productivity.

Further, many MSPs can take helpdesk management and other time-consuming fundamental tasks off your hands. In fact, they usually can do so more effectively and efficiently than you can. You will no longer consume valuable in-house staff time with a daily flood of mundane requests from your organization. Letting your MSP partner take over helpdesk management and other similar tasks allows your staff to work on higher-level activities, like strategic planning, revenue-driving IT activities, cybersecurity, and more.

Helping You Minimize Costs

An MSP can save your company the need to hire additional specialists in in-demand areas like cybersecurity. MSP staff can complement the work of your own in-house staff, filling in critical gaps where you have talent deficits. Further, MSPs typically bill using either a recurring monthly fee or a per-use fee model that allows you to adjust the services you need as necessary. If demand begins to surge, you can rapidly scale up the support and services you need. And if you no longer need a specific service, you can quickly remove it from your service contract.

When working with an MSP, businesses often find substantial cost savings in two additional areas. MSPs can often help businesses obtain the hardware and software they need at lower-than-market rates. That’s because MSPs maintain large supplier networks and are often able to secure preferred pricing. And because they can, they can help you obtain and deploy applications and solutions that you’ve long avoided but can substantially impact your business.

Second, many businesses often find that their MSP partners have identified seemingly simple tweaks to existing IT infrastructure that significantly reduce costs and save time. MSPs not only bring their experience working with other clients to bear but also bring an outsider’s perspective. Fresh eyes on a seemingly intractable problem or bottleneck often yield a solution.

Mitigating Risks and Threats

In today’s world, it’s no longer a matter of whether a cybercriminal will target a business but of when. And cyberattacks can be devastating, with the physical, financial, and reputational costs often high enough to put a company out of business. While preventing an attempt is impossible, you can radically reduce the risk of it being successful by designing and implementing the right cybersecurity plan.

But most in-house generalists don’t have the expertise, time, or resources to handle the most sophisticated threat actors. However, MSPs and Managed Security Service Providers (companies primarily offering managed cybersecurity services) can handle these threats. MSPs and MSSPs not only employ some of the best cybersecurity talents around. But because they work exclusively in the field, they can keep up-to-date with the threat landscape in a manner that in-house professionals cannot.

Moreover, MSPs and MSSPs usually have access to sophisticated security tools most businesses have not invested in. This combination of cybersecurity expertise, resources, and dedicated time is what you need to safeguard your business to the greatest extent possible. But cybercriminals are simply one threat.

All it takes is one accident, weather event, or system malfunction to result in potentially catastrophic data loss. And in the event an incident occurs, you must be able to ensure you restore your operations quickly. But many businesses don’t have a backup and disaster recovery plan. Others fail to check to ensure their data is backed up regularly. Still, others lack business continuity plans that can help them recover rapidly. And of those that do, many are inadequate and untested.

MSPs can help businesses put the plans they need in a crisis. Doing so can also free up staff to work on other projects. Moreover, when you let an MSP manage your infrastructure, you can insulate your business from the inherent risks of managing your own own-prem data center. An MSP can help you quickly return to total operational efficiency, which you need when disaster strikes.

These scenarios may not seem to have much to do with growth. But engaging in this kind of defensive work takes staff time and resources, which, when you work with an MSP, can be freed up to focus on revenue and productivity. Additionally, a crisis can quickly torpedo your growth if not properly managed. So it’s crucial to ensure you have the right plans in place to manage one.

Working with an MSP can help you increase business productivity by saving you time in multiple ways. When your in-house IT staff has more time, they can help you with product development, sales platform optimization, and other revenue-driving activities. They can also help other departments become more productive when they have the time to think through and deploy new technology solutions to longstanding problems. MSPs can also help you save money by reducing the need for large-scale hiring and optimizing existing resources. And they can help you safeguard your business, which faces more threats than ever.

What Your Business Needs to Know About Protecting Customer Data

Protect Data

What Your Business Needs to Know About Protecting Customer Data

Key Points:

  • The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sets standards for safeguarding customer information.
  • The Safeguards Rule took effect in 2003 but was amended in 2021 after public comment to ensure the rule keeps pace with the current technology.
  • The revised rule offers in-depth guidance for businesses — reflecting the core data security principles that all organizations under FTC’s jurisdiction must implement.
  • The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to a specific class of financial institutions, such as mortgage companies, creditors, mortgage brokers, and debt collectors.
  • The safeguard rules don’t apply to banks, federal credit unions, and loans and savings institutions.

Financial institutions under the jurisdiction of the FTC Safeguards Rule must implement new security controls to protect customer’s financial information. The rule took effect in 2003 but was amended in 2021 after public comment to ensure the rule keeps pace with current technology.

After revision, FTC imposed a deadline of December 9, 2022, with a penalty of $45,000 for violating the rule. The regulations may be news for non-banking financial institutions that are first-time subject to the FTC Safeguards Rule.

Protect Data

FTC Safeguards Rule At Its Core

The FTC Safeguards Rule outlines data security guidelines for financial institutions under its jurisdiction to protect customers’ information and ensure organizations keep pace with current technology.

The rule is part of the more significant 1999 Financial Modernization Act, which first required financial institutions to document how they handle sensitive customer information. After almost two decades, it’s safe to say the technology and data security rules have become ancient.

Following public comment, the FTC updated the Safeguard Rule in 2021 to offer better guidance for organizations. The affected financial organizations have to go over the updates of the FTC Safeguards Rule to ensure they remain compliant with the outlined expectation before the December 9, 2022, deadline.

Who Must Comply with The FTC Safeguards Rule

According to FTC, the rule applies to all financial institutions under FTC’s jurisdiction. The official FTC site defines a financial institution as any organization that engages in activities that are financial in nature or are incidental to such financial activities.

Some financial institutions that FTC gives as examples include:

  • Mortgage companies
  • Mortgage brokers
  • Creditors
  • Debt collectors
  • Retailers that issue store credit cards
  • Property appraisers
  • Career counselors who work with clients in the finance industry
  • Automobile dealership
  • Businesses that print and sell checks to customers
  • Organizations that regularly wire money to and from consumers
  • Check cashing businesses
  • Accountants and income tax return preparers
  • Investment advisory company and credit counseling service
  • Colleges and universities accepting Title IV funds

The FTC safeguards rule doesn’t apply to banks, federal credit unions, and savings and loan institutions.

What The FTC Safeguards Rule Require Organization to Do

FTC Safeguards requires organizations under its jurisdiction to comply with several requirements. The regulator outlines three elements for every information security program of financial institutions. Your security program must:

  • Ensure the security and confidentiality of customer data
  • Protect customer data against threats and hazards
  • Prevent unauthorized access

The FTC Safeguards Rule outlines nine requirements for compliant security infrastructure. For an organization to be compliant, it must:

  1. Assign a qualified individual to implement and supervise your organization’s information security program.
  2. Execute a risk assessment to identify any vulnerability that can compromise the security and confidentiality of customer data.
  3. Design and implement security controls to mitigate the risk identified through your risk assessment. The controls include access control, encrypting customer data in transit or at rest, implementing multifactor authentication, and secure data disposal.
  4. Regularly monitor and test the efficacy of your security controls.
  5. Train your staff to eliminate human weaknesses in your security programs.
  6. Monitor your service providers to ensure they’re up to the task and meet your company’s security standards.
  7. Keep your information security program current because the threat landscape is constantly evolving.
  8. Create a written incident response plan.
  9. Your qualified individual to report to your Board of Directors

What’s New With the FTC Safeguards Rule

The new amendments have many new requirements, including:

  • Policies
  • Reports
  • Documentation
  • Technical and training requirements

The technical requirements call for cybersecurity solutions that are FTC-compliant. Your organization needs to implement a security program with the following:

  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA):  The new FTC Safeguards Rule requires your organization to implement multifactor authentication for any individual accessing any information in your system. Your security system should provide users with more than one piece of evidence to verify their identity. MFA makes it harder for unauthorized people to access customers’ sensitive data.
  • Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Assessments: FTC requires your security practices to include continuous monitoring, periodic penetration testing, and vulnerability assessments. The test checks for vulnerabilities in your system before hackers can exploit them. More importantly, the assessments test your cyber-defense capability and responsiveness.
  • Monitor and Log User Activity & Access: Another requirement you must meet is implementing policies, controls, and procedures to monitor and log the activity of authorized users. Your organization should be able to detect unauthorized access to prevent the wrong use or tampering of customers’ data.
  • Encryption: The Amended Rule requires your information security system to encrypt all customer data at rest and in transit. While data encryption is operationally difficult and costly, FTC has noted several low-cost and free encryption solutions for data in transit.

What is Monitoring & Activity Logging for FTC Safeguards Rule?

FTC says that you must implement a security solution that monitors when authorized users are accessing customer information on your system and detects any unauthorized or suspicious access to customer data.

One way to implement the requirement is to adopt a solution that collects, centralizes, and automatically analyzes your log data for users’ activities. The solution should detect unauthorized access, alert you in real-time, provide the next steps to respond, and allow easy access to historical log reports of user activity for investigations and audits.

The FTC Safeguards Mean Well For Your Business

Financial institutions under FTC should get into compliance the quickest way possible. While the new FTC Safeguards Rule demands a lot from your organization to be compliant, it’s for a good reason. The spike in security threats is concerning, and for every stakeholder in your organization, you need to do your part in managing risks.

All You Need to Know About Azure AD

Azure AD

All You Need to Know About Azure AD

Key Points

  • What is Azure AD?
  • What are the outstanding features of Azure AD?
  • Who uses Azure AD?
  • How does one set up a backup Azure AD connect server?
  • What are Azure AD licenses?

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a cloud-based identity and access management service that provides a single, centralized access point for managing user identities and permits access to Azure resources. Azure AD also offers a rich set of features that can be used to secure and manage access to on-site and cloud-based resources.

This Azure AD facilitates access to your team’s Microsoft 365, the Azure portal, and thousands of additional SaaS applications. In addition, Azure AD can grant entry to protected internal resources, such as your company’s intranet or its own cloud-hosted apps and services.

Azure AD

The Outstanding Features of Azure AD

Azure Active Directory provides a robust set of features that can be used to secure access to resources, including:

  • Multi-factor authentication: Azure Active Directory supports multi-factor authentication, which adds an additional layer of security by requiring users to provide more than one form of identification when logging in.
  • Conditional access: Conditional access allows administrators to set conditions that must be met before a user can access a resource.
  • Identity protection: Identity protection is a feature of Azure Active Directory that uses machine learning to detect suspicious activity and protect user identities.
  • Azure information protection: This service helps organizations protect their data from unauthorized access.

Azure AD is a valuable tool for organizations of all sizes that want to secure access to their resources. It provides a central point of control for managing access to resources, and its rich set of features helps organizations manage access to both on-premises and cloud-based resources.

Who Uses Azure AD?

Azure AD is used by organizations that want to securely store and manage their user identities in the cloud. This includes organizations that want to use Azure AD to manage on-premises resources, such as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or Azure AD Domain Services. Azure AD can be used by the following categories of individuals:

IT Admins

Microsoft Azure Active Directory allows you to control user access to your apps and the data they need. With Azure Active Directory, an additional form of identification may be necessary before gaining access to any sensitive information resources.

The user provisioning process between your on-premises Windows Server Active Directory and cloud apps like Microsoft 365 can be automated with the help of Azure AD. Furthermore, Azure AD offers powerful automated features to help protect user identities and credentials and meet government requirements.

App Developers

Developers can make their apps work with the user’s existing credentials by integrating Azure Active Directory as a standards-based SSO solution. Azure Active Directory also offers application programming interfaces (APIs) that may be used to build apps with a user experience tailored to an organization’s specific needs.

Microsoft 365, Office 365, Azure, or Dynamics CRM Online subscribers

A paid subscription is all one needs to use Azure AD. Everyone who registers for Microsoft 365, Office 365, Azure, or Dynamics CRM Online is also an Azure AD customer. You can begin managing who has access to your synchronized cloud apps.

How to Set up a Backup Azure AD Connect Server

If you have an on-premises Active Directory environment and want to use Azure AD as your identity provider, you must set up and configure Azure AD Connect.

When you install Azure AD Connect, you specify an Azure AD tenant. This is the Azure AD directory that Azure AD Connect synchronizes with. By default, Azure AD Connect installs a single Azure AD Connect server in the Azure AD tenant you specify. This server is called the primary Azure AD Connect server.

You can configure the standby Azure AD Connect server by using the Azure AD Connect wizard or by editing the Azure AD Connect configuration file.

Here are the steps to follow:

  • To configure a standby Azure AD Connect server, you will need to install Azure AD Connect on the standby server and then configure it to sync with Azure AD.
  • Once Azure AD Connect is installed, you need to configure it to sync with Azure AD. To do this, open the Azure AD Connect tool and click the “Configure” button.
  • On the “Configure Synchronization” page, select the “Customize synchronization options” option and click the “Next” button.
  • On the “Connect to Azure AD” page, enter the credentials for a global administrator account in Azure AD and click the “Next” button.
  • On the “Optional Features” page, select the “Azure AD Connect Health” option and click the “Install” button.
  • On the “Ready to Configure” page, click the “Configure” button.
  • On the “Configure synchronization options” page, select the “Synchronize All Domains” option and click the “Next” button.
  • On the “Outgoing synchronization” page, select the “Start the synchronization process
  • On the “Completion” page, click the “Exit” button.
  • The Azure AD Connect server is now configured as a standby server.

What Are Azure AD Licenses?

It is possible to upgrade your Azure Active Directory deployment by purchasing a Premium P1 or Premium P2 license. The premium licenses for Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory supplement your current open directory service. The licenses you’ve acquired will provide your mobile users with secure access, improved monitoring, and more thorough reporting on security.

Azure Active Directory Free

This license allows for single sign-on for services like Azure, Microsoft 365, and many SaaS alternatives; user and group management, directory synchronization between the cloud and on-premises; standard reporting; password resets for cloud users.

Azure Active Directory Premium P1

One of P1’s best features is its ability to provide hybrid users with access to both on-premises and cloud resources, expanding the use of the service beyond its free tier. By utilizing cloud write-back features and advanced administration tools like dynamic groups and self-service group management, in addition to Microsoft Identity Manager, your on-premises users can reset their own passwords.

Azure Active Directory Premium P2

In addition to the features found in the Free and P1 tiers, the P2 tier adds Privileged Identity Management, which allows you to find, restrict, and monitor administrators and their access to resources, and provide just-in-time access when it’s needed, as well as Azure Active Directory Identity Protection, which enables risk-based Conditional Access to your apps and critical company data.

“Pay as You Go” Feature Licenses

Azure Active Directory Business-to-Customer, among other optional features, can be licensed separately (B2C). Using business-to-consumer methods can help you offer identity and access control solutions for apps that end up being used by consumers.

In conclusion, Azure AD is a comprehensive identity and access management solution that provides single sign-on (SSO), role-based access control, and directory integration with on-premises Active Directory and other identity management systems. Azure AD provides a robust foundation for identity management in the cloud and helps organizations securely connect to Azure services and other cloud-based resources.

How Safe is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams

How Safe is Microsoft Teams? Understanding the New Vulnerability Vectra Uncovered

Key Points in This Article

  • Cybersecurity researchers at Vectra recently unearthed a new vulnerability in Microsoft Teams that may allow cyber criminals the means to cause considerable harm.
  • The vulnerability requires cybercriminals to already have a certain level of access to your network or device.
  • Rather than asking what you should do about Teams in light of this vulnerability, you should take every possible precaution and measure to keep your access credentials secure.

It’s a foregone conclusion these days that no matter what software application significant players like Microsoft roll out or security updates they provide, a new vulnerability will invariably be discovered. After all, a veritable army of hackers, cybercriminals, and even nation-state actors work continuously to identify these vulnerabilities for their own purposes. And these threat actors often think in creative ways that corporations are designed to, allowing them to find weaknesses that even experienced cybersecurity professionals overlook.

Microsoft Teams

Understanding Software Application Vulnerabilities

When a software vulnerability is found in an application at a company like Microsoft, Apple, or Google, it quickly makes headlines in not just industry publications but also mainstream media. However, those working in cybersecurity know that such vulnerabilities are pretty common and that not all vulnerabilities pose the same level of risk. Nevertheless, those outside the field often quickly question whether widely used software is safe or whether it should be quickly discarded in favor of a new, unidentified, yet presumed safer measure.

Microsoft Teams recently made some headlines when cybersecurity researchers at Vectra unearthed a new vulnerability in the application. And because of the headlines, it’s likely some business leaders may have found themselves asking their CIOs and IT directors whether Teams was still safe to use.

When such headlines occur, influential IT professionals likely have taken the time to understand the nature of this vulnerability and assess the risks it may pose before making recommendations or taking action. Doing so can help save them from acting precipitously by spending time and money moving to a competing software without determining if a simple patch or other safety measures might eliminate the risk.

So what is the nature of the vulnerability? How much of a risk does it pose? And is Microsoft Teams still safe for businesses like yours to use?

The Microsoft Teams’ Vulnerability Vectra Uncovered

Vectra researchers realized that the Teams holds user authentication tokens in plain text on their desktop devices. When you install and use the Microsoft Teams client on Windows, Mac, or Linux, those credentials can be found on your device even when Teams is closed. A hacker or cybercriminal who has access to your system could use these credentials to access Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint, among other applications, modify files, steal data, and compromise your security.

Moreover, these credentials allow a hacker to take any action you might through the Team interface, bypassing the need for multi-factor authentication. For example, a cybercriminal who accesses the account of a C-suite leader through this Teams’ vulnerability could hijack their Outlook account and steal proprietary information from the business leader’s email account or SharePoint document library.

Cybercriminals could also use their newfound access credentials to send phishing emails to employees throughout the organization. These phishing efforts, coming from the email account of a company leader, could be designed to encourage employees to take actions that further compromise network security, such as downloading malware or ransomware. These are just two possibilities. An enterprising cybercriminal could easily cripple a business or organization in many other ways.

Vectra initially discovered this vulnerability after one of its customers noted that Teams users cannot remove deactivated accounts through the Teams UT when their user account is disabled. Vectra began investigating and learned that Teams’ storage of user credentials was not secure. The company shared its discovery of the vulnerability with Microsoft in August 2022. Perhaps surprising to some, Microsoft did not immediately set about patching this exploit. They confirmed that it could pose a threat and indicated they would address it in a future Teams update.

What Relative Risk Does This Vulnerability Pose?

This response may seem to downplay the possible risk and strike some as cavalier. But while this vulnerability allows cybercriminals with only read access to your system to gain your Teams credentials, the truth is if a cybercriminal gains access to an employee’s account, there are many other ways they can leverage that access at the expense of the business or organization. And it remains incumbent on employees in every department (not just IT) to ensure that authentication credentials don’t fall into the wrong hands.

Businesses and organizations must provide their employees with regular, practical, and current cybersecurity awareness training to ensure that all employees do their part to protect their employers. Employees must understand how to identify and report suspicious activity they encounter, take steps to secure their devices, and avoid downloading applications that could house malware and viruses. They must understand and follow their employer’s cyber security policies without fail to keep their account credentials out of the hands of third parties.

CIOs and IT professionals must develop, maintain, and refine strong cybersecurity policies that cover the entirety of the organization. And they must ensure that all areas comply and that no shortcuts are taken. That means eliminating legacy practices like granting certain users local admin privileges to cut down on help desk requests. It also means continuously testing existing measures to pinpoint vulnerabilities before third parties. A single exploit left unidentified and unaddressed can prove catastrophic. One recent study holds that the average cyberattack costs a company $200,000, which can be enough to put a small business out of business.

So, while Microsoft’s response may seem to downplay the risk, businesses and organizations most at risk from this vulnerability are those with poor fundamental cybersecurity measures in place already. And while business and IT leaders should be aware of this vulnerability, it does not make Microsoft Teams more unsafe to use. Those who are concerned about it should take every available measure to protect their network and device access credentials from falling into the wrong hands before giving any thought to switching platforms. Because no matter which platform you select, if a cybercriminal obtains usernames and passwords, everything is vulnerable.