Ulistic Projects Blog

May 31, 2020

Alleviate Customers’ Booking Frustrations with Microsoft Bookings

Microsoft Bookings: Part Of Your Microsoft 365 Subscription

For service-based businesses, a significant paint point in the customer experience is the simple process of scheduling an appointment.

A traditional appointment-booking system requires the customer to call (or email now) and ask about an available timeslot. There’s then a back-and-forth of suggesting and checking different times that takes place until a mutually suitable time is found and booked.

This process requires customers to call during business hours when it’s done over the phone, and it requires customers to wait for an email response if done via the web. Neither of these is ideal, and the negative impact can be especially substantial because scheduling an appointment is often the first interaction a customer has with a business.

Microsoft Bookings modernizes the appointment-scheduling process so that it’s efficient and — most importantly — easy for customers to book timeslots through.

The Benefits of Using Microsoft Bookings

Some of the most important benefits that Microsoft Bookings provides improved customer experience.

Customers and clients can easily schedule appointments through the web-based platform, so they can book timeslots at their convenience rather than a business’ convenience. If a customer has a few spare minutes during the day, they can quickly log onto a business’ website and find and available time. Alternatively, they also can schedule appointments late at night, early in the morning, and on the weekend regardless of whether a business is open. The appointment software operates 24/7 for them.

Also, customers don’t have to go through the back-and-forth of suggesting times and seeing whether they’re available. When a customer logs onto a business’ website, the customer can instantly see what timeslots are available for certain services. Form the available choices, they can immediately schedule the opening that they prefer.

Businesses also benefit on the back end, where the Microsoft Bookings platform keeps everyone current on what timeslots and services have been booked. Each time a customer makes a booking, every connected device is instantly updated to reflect the schedule change. This ensures customers don’t double-book appointments, and it also makes sure employees know which of their timeslots are taken.

The Ease of Booking Appointments with Microsoft Bookings

The actual process of finding and scheduling an appointment with Microsoft Bookings is straightforward.

After the software platform is installed, a business can publish its appointment availability, and details such as services offered, employees involved, and other items can be included.

Customers then log onto the business’ website and see what appointments are available. They select the timeslot and service they want and schedule the appointment. An email confirmation is sent to the customer as a notification is pushed to the business as well. Shortly before the scheduled appointment, a reminder email is sent to the customer to decrease no-shows.

The Types of Businesses That Benefit From Microsoft Bookings

Almost any business that offers scheduled services can benefit from the scheduling ease that Microsoft Bookings provides. Law firms, dental offices, consultants, financial advisors, salons, and many other businesses can use this software — and many may find that it’s already included in their Microsoft 365 subscription.

Get Assistance with Microsoft Bookings

If your business would like to benefit from the ease and simplicity of Microsoft Bookings, contact us for assistance setting up the platform. Offering a full range of help Microsoft 365 programs, we’re well-acquainted with this particular application. Our team can quickly get it set up for you and show you just how easy it is to use the platform.

May 19, 2020

Microsoft Office Lens Lets You Scan Virtually Anything

How Microsoft Office Lens Lets You Scan Virtually Anything

As businesses move online, more of their documents become virtual. Even with the mass migration to the digital world, however, there’s still plenty of work done on paper and other real-world canvases. From sticky notes to whiteboards, important information can be crafted and presented in a physical format only to be erased or thrown out moments later. To prevent the loss of data, one would normally have to manually input it into a digital format. That is, unless they make use of Microsoft Office Lens. Learn how Microsoft Office Lens lets you scan virtually anything.

How It Works

Think of Microsoft Office Lens as a portable scanner. It’s an app for your mobile device that lets you scan a variety of different documents. Once these documents are scanned, they are saved in a digital format as an image. While its basic functionality makes it sound no different from a camera function, its extra features take the app to the next level.

With this app, any document you scan will automatically be enhanced, cleaned up, and cropped as needed to make its information easily readable and accessible. Shadows will be eliminated and images will be rotated as needed to get rid of any potential warping of the information due to odd angles. The app can even go so far as to transform images that were drawn by hand into isolated and movable objects. Every object that the app makes from any scanned information can be edited completely as well.

The Four Operational Modes

Microsoft Office Lens features four distinct modes that apply to different scenarios. Each has its own unique function, but they all work to digitize documents and images. The four modes are:

Photo: The standard photo mode accomplishes what you might expect from any kind of camera app. You can take pictures of people or any kind of scenery, and the app will automatically remove glares and shadows as well as crop the image to be easy to see.
Business card: With this mode, the app will automatically extract important information from any business card and then populate your phone’s contact information with the relevant text. This works with a variety of languages as well, which is useful if you’re dealing with non-English-speaking businesses or clients.
Document: The document mode is best used to clear up any text that’s difficult to read. One primary example of this would be scanning a restaurant menu. Each of the options would then be digitized and able to be edited individually.
Whiteboard: One of the most popular settings is the whiteboard mode. When you’re in a brainstorming session with your team and you have a whiteboard full of ideas, this mode can put all that information into a convenient digital format. Any glares from the whiteboard are also automatically removed. Keep in mind that this works for blackboards as well.

Where Do the Scans End Up?

Once you scan any kind of image using Microsoft Office Lens, where it ends up is largely up to you, as there are several options available. As you might expect, you can save the images as JPEG files, which can then be exported to OneDrive or OneNote. You can also save an image as a PDF document, as part of a PowerPoint, or as a Word document. Once the file type is established, the images can then be treated as any file would be.

With Microsoft Office Lens, you can enjoy all the benefits of having a portable scanner in your pocket. Save your notes with confidence!

May 16, 2020

Did You Really “Reply All” On That Last Email?

Office Workers Rejoice: Microsoft is Finally Subduing the Dreaded’ Reply All’

Do never-ending reply-all threads emails put a damper on your business chewing up precious time and resources? The good news is, Microsoft rolled out Reply-All-Storm Protection to all Microsoft Office 365 users, an update announced in 2019 that seeks to ease the email disruption to business continuity. Microsoft is finally subduing the dreaded Reply-All function. Your office workers can now rejoice! Last year, at the Microsoft Ignite conference, Microsoft announced it would work on a feature that would help prevent Reply-All email storms on Microsoft 365 Exchange email servers. Microsoft says the “Reply-All-Storm Protection” feature will block all email threads with more than 5,000 recipients that have generated more than 10 Reply-All sequences within the last 60 minutes.

The Flow On Effect of Reply-All Email Storms

When a Reply-All mail storm happens in your organization, it can easily disrupt business continuity. In worst-case scenarios, it can throttle the rest of your organization’s email for a significant period. Emails already drain 5 hours of worker’s time every day without having email servers slowing down or crashing. What happens if the number of recipients in an email chain is large when multiple employees hit the Reply-All button, then the ensuing event generates massive amounts of traffic that will either slow down or crash email servers. Events like this happen almost all the time sometimes because a few employees participating and amplifying Reply-All storms are using this as a prank. Microsoft itself has also fallen victim to Reply-All email storms on at least two occasions, the first in January 2019, and a second in March 2020. The Microsoft Reply-All email storms included more than 52,000 employees, who ended up clogging the company’s internal communications for hours.

How Reply-All Storm Protection Works

Reply-All Storm Protection in some ways sounds pretty simple, but there’s some pretty cool stuff going on in the cloud, that makes this possible: When Microsoft detects what looks like it might become a Reply-All storm, anyone who subsequently attempts to reply to everyone will get a Non-Delivery-Receipt (NDR) message back instead. This basically tells them to stop trying to Reply-All to the thread. Once the feature gets triggered, Exchange Online will block all replies in the email thread for the next four hours, preventing email servers from crashing or slowing down. This feature allows servers to prioritize actual emails and shut down the Reply-All storm.

Further Updates Expected

Over time, as Microsoft gathers usage telemetry and customer feedback, they expect to tweak, fine-tune, and enhance the Reply-All Storm Protection feature to make it even more valuable to a broader range of Microsoft 365 customers. Microsoft said future updates are expected as they will continue working on the functionality going forward, promising to add controls for Exchange admins so they can set their own storm detection limits. Other planned features also include Reply-All storm reports and real-time notifications to alert administrators of an ongoing email storm so that they can keep an eye on the email server’s status for possible slowdowns or crashes. “Humans still behave like humans no matter which company they work for,” the Exchange team said. “We’re already seeing the first version of the feature successfully reduce the impact of reply all storms within Microsoft.”

May 14, 2020

Are You Ready For Pandemic 2.0?

Will We Have Another Wave Of COVID-19?

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

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

Assess Your Performance During the First Round

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

Adjust to the New Reality

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

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

Train Your Employees to Face Tomorrow’s Needs

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

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

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

May 6, 2020May 6, 2020

Microsoft Outlook: FindTime With Colleagues

Everything You Need to Know About Operating and Using FindTime

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

1. What is FindTime?

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

2. How Does it Operate?

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

3. Who Can Use It?

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

4. How Does Installation Work?

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

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

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

5. Why Does Your Company Need FindTime?

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

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

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

April 29, 2020April 29, 2020

How to Use Microsoft Teams

How to Use Microsoft Teams Technology

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

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

What Is Microsoft Teams?

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

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

Here are some of the main capabilities:

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

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

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

How Does Microsoft Teams Work?

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

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

There are multiple plans available:

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

How Secure Is Microsoft Teams?

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

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

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

April 25, 2020April 25, 2020

Microsoft Teams Options Improve Remote Presentations

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

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

How To Customize Your Microsoft Teams Video Background

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

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

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

Maximize the Potential of Microsoft Teams Rooms

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

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

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

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

April 14, 2020

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

Cybercrime Spikes During Coronavirus: Tips to Protect Your Business

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

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

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

Cybercrime Spikes During Coronavirus

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

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

How to Protect Yourself From Cybercrime During the Coronavirus

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

1. Be hyper-vigilant of incoming emails

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

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

2. Secure all work-from-home computers

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

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

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

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

3. Beef up your password strategy

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

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

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

April 11, 2020

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

How to Protect Your Business From the Surge in Phishing Websites

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

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

What Is a Phishing Website?

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

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

Rise in Phishing Websites During the Coronavirus

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

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

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

Critical Strategies for Protecting Yourself From Phishing Websites

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

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

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

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

April 8, 2020

COVID-19: Safety How to Clean Your Phone Effectively

How to Protect Your Phone From the Coronavirus

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

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

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

Can the Coronavirus Live on Your Phone?

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

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

How the Coronavirus May Get on Your Phone

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

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

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

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

Why You Shouldn’t Touch Other People’s Phones

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

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

How to Clean Your Phone

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

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

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