Secure IT Services to Keep Your Client’s Records out of Reach

It seems hackers and their schemes won’t stay out of the headlines, and millions more are at serious risk of identity theft once again. “Currently, the two largest threats come in the form of a Ransomware scheme, and a breach into North America’s second largest health provider, Anthem. What’s different about the Anthem attack from the recent Target and Home Depot attacks is that these hackers went after social security numbers rather than just credit card numbers. Most likely setting themselves up to steal entire identities. 80 million customers and employees’ information in 14 states across the US have been targeted in the Anthem attack. Emails, social security numbers, street addresses, and phone numbers were all stolen,” NBC News.

The Ransomware scheme is a little different, the hackers are looking for money right away. They send out an email asking the owner to download a file, and by as little as one click on the file and they’re in. Once the malware is in they take control of the files, and hold the computer at ransom until they are paid a specified amount in as little as twenty-four hours. NBC News also said, “These hackers have gone after a million people already including businesses, private computers, and even a sheriff’s department in Tennessee.”

Customer security is of the utmost importance now, and many companies are searching for the best ways to handle this part of their business. Computer hackers know they have the upper hand against the average computer user, that’s why security experts say it’s worth it to take this aspect of your business very seriously and invest in using professionals to handle important data and records.

Security experts suggest:

    • Using professional IT Services to handle your company’s information technology and processes can prevent many of the commonly made mistakes that put companies and their data in harm’s way in the first place.
    • Backing data and files up on external hard drives, and being sure to fully disconnect them is an effective way to ensure that if files are stolen they aren’t lost forever.
    • Being very careful when opening emails; they often come in the form of Health Providers, a friend sharing a game or joke, or Government Agencies. They pretend to be a trusted organization or friend in order to get people to open the emails.
    • Keeping Anti-Virus software downloaded and updated at all times. McAfee suggests using, “PC protection from Trojans, hackers, spyware, and more. Like their integrated anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, anti-spam, anti-phishing, and backup technologies work together to combat today’s advanced multi-faceted attacks. It scans disks, email attachments, files downloaded from the web, and documents generated by word processing and spreadsheet programs.”
    • Don’t pay ransoms if your computer is hacked. Paying will only fuel the hackers fire, and keep them in business.
    • Third party storage with cloud computing that stores data in an external server. This ensures that your data is secure and that you can access your data on demand and remotely, provided that you have internet access and login credentials.

Please contact us for any additional information.