The Best Cyber Security Practices for Business

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The Best Cyber Security Practices for Business

The Best Cyber Security Practices for Business

Do you think your business is flying under the radar of today’s hackers? If you’re in that mindset, then you would be making a big mistake. Small and medium businesses are increasingly being targeted by cybercriminals simply because most don’t take the time to implement these cyber security best practices. The following are just a sampling of proven business technology practices for companies interested in significantly reducing their risk of falling victim to a successful cyberattack:

  1. Understand what’s at risk. Is your data important to your business? If you were to lose all your accounting files or access to your CRM, how long would that affect your business? Taking inventory of your vital data can help you calculate the risk of data loss to your business. This is a traditional practice of any high-quality managed IT services provider but something an internal IT staff may not have time to prioritize due to managing day-to-day demands. When you know exactly what is at risk, you can create a plan that includes the right mitigation elements.

  2. Protect your email. Malware lurks in your email (phishing) or within unknown links on the web. Malware, if it sneaks into your system, can give hackers access to your network and ultimately hurt or devastate your business. Many people believe that Microsoft has enough protection built into the software. This is unequivocally false. To continue “business as usual” without implementing additional layers of email security to monitor and block these threats, is simply asking for trouble. Your business is your livelihood just like your house is your safe haven. You would not leave your door wide open at night and hope no one with criminal intent walks through your neighborhood.

  3. Layers of protection for your email is a basic standard. Check into it, if you have not already implemented this best practice then it’s time to immediately correct.

  4. Encrypt data and control permissions. Encryption helps to ensure that only those who have permissions can access and read your data. If you have Microsoft Office 365, make sure you have a firm grasp on your admin and user privileges. Setting a hierarchy for controls is a best practice that should be implemented and regularly updated. Staying current with this practice is a must, considering the changes of leadership in today’s fast-paced corporate environment. The admin holds the keys to the kingdom after all!

  5. Have a cloud-based backup. Losing data cripples businesses. The Cloud conversation has transitioned from “don’t be afraid” to “let’s talk about your cloud strategy.” Your backup plan is the only thing that will get your business as close to zero-downtime when an unexpected, unplanned disaster occurs.  Don’t forget the most important factor for your backup plan – constant monitoring and testing!

  6. Educate, educate, educate! Your end users can be your weakest link, or they can be your best line of defense. Leaders in the IT industry have spoken repeatedly about this through the years. IT professionals at every level understand that the holes in your system are not solely found in your technology. Human error from lack of training is one of the biggest factors in a successful cyberattack.  Initiate this conversation, if you have not already, on current cyber threats and your end user’s role in creating a digitally savvy workforce.

Every organization – regardless of size or industry – needs a cyber security strategy. The above sampling of proven business technology practices will strengthen your defense against hackers. Regardless, continue to check for cyber security resources so you can stay informed and one step ahead of the hackers.

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The 3 Elements of a Harmonious Organization

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The 3 Elements of a Harmonious Organization

Happy workers are more productive workers. So, treating them with care and respect will bring tangible benefits to your business.

Here are three things to consider when building a harmonious organization (and a couple of quotes we pulled from Glassdoor):

  1. You have the right team in place. Your people are the foundation of your business. You put the time and energy into hiring not only the best, most talented individuals, but those who also align with your organization’s core values and company culture. You incorporate the resources to train them well and keep them engaged. And all that creates a happy team!

“The leadership is loyal. It’s a great mix of the employee-loyalty businesses showed in the past and innovative progress of the current business world. NexusTek is also growing, so it makes working here exciting. NexusTek is also focused on being the best IT Support provider in the Denver area, so the focus on the customer is outstanding.”

  1. You’re driven by a sense of purpose. We all need purpose to not only thrive but also to be happy. When your team knows what they’re working toward, understands the value of their work, and are rewarded for their dedication, that gives them purpose. Managing expectations by clearly laying out objectives, will keep everyone on the same page. When your employees know why they do what they do, they’re invested in the vision, more productive and happier.

“There are opportunities to grow everywhere. The executive team are showing real culture level commitment to being a high growth – high opportunity – highly positive and fulfilling place to work. There is real efforts, commitments, and tangible decisions to point at every day including changes and recalculations based on employee feedback.”

  1. You’re in business for the right reasons. As a business owner, you don’t just have a vision for your company’s growth, you have passion for what you do and dedication to the people who are a part of your team. You value the teammates you work with and it shows in how your business delivers value to your customers. Whether you’re B2C or B2B, when you love what you do, it’s infectious. Passion inspires people. And when your team is inspired, they’ll go the extra mile.

“The atmosphere here is very open and management is approachable and open to suggestions. Working with other engineers so far has been great and I regard my peers as very knowledgeable people that I can rely on and try to be an asset to them in return. There are excellent opportunities for advancement because NexusTek is growing rapidly and I’ve already seen promotions happen in my short time here which makes me confident in my future here. Most Importantly, I feel appreciated here and that makes me want to work hard and do my best.”

With a harmonious organization, you’re establishing a foundation for long-term growth and success.

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NexusTek Ranked Fourth on CRN’s 2019 Fast Growth 150 List

NexusTek Ranked Fourth on CRN’s 2019 Fast Growth 150 List

NexusTek Ranked Fourth on CRN’s 2019 Fast Growth 150 List

Highest ranking managed IT services provider recognized as one of the most innovative, fastest growing technology companies

Denver, CO (September 26, 2019) – NexusTek, a top national cloud, managed IT services and cyber security provider (MSP), today announced its rank as the fourth fastest-growing company on CRN’s 2019 Fast Growth 150 list, the highest position of any MSP.

Placement on CRN’s list is a distinction that goes to the fastest-growing — and highest-performing — channel solution providers, technology integrators, IT consultants, and service providers in North America . Companies that make this list have experienced substantial growth and stand out from their competitors.

“This has been an exceptional year for NexusTek, and we are honored to be recognized by CRN as the fastest-growing managed IT services provider on its annual ranking,” said Michael Hamuka, CRO, NexusTek. “Our ever-increasing market share reflects our ability to offer small to mid-sized businesses a single partner for true end-to-end IT services.

“Our ability to scale and provide industry-leading technology, combined with a national workforce of more than 300 IT consultants and engineers, who are dedicated to supporting our customers and their business objectives while maintaining the integrity and performance of their IT environments, is what sets NexusTek apart.”

Today, thousands of businesses across the country entrust NexusTek to manage and optimize their respective IT environments for business continuity, productivity and cost-effectiveness.

Working with NexusTek brings peace of mind to business leaders, who know they’ve partnered with an elite managed IT services provider that has the expertise and breadth of technology to support every operational touchpoint.

This latest recognition comes on the heels of NexusTek’s inclusion on CRN’s MSP 500 list as a member of the Elite 150 for 2019, its #225 placement on CRN’s 2019 Solution Provider List and being named to CRN’s 2019 Tech Elite 250 List.

With over 23 years of experience, NexusTek provides holistic solutions that combine best-in-class technology and an experienced workforce of highly-skilled engineers and IT professionals to design, deliver, on-board and maintain IT operations, whether in the public cloud, hybrid, on-premise or multi-cloud environments.

The Fast Growth 150 list is featured in the August 2019 issue of CRN and online at http://www.CRN.com/FastGrowth150. 

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Five Ways Hackers Can Hurt Your Business with Office 365

READ TIME: 1 MIN

Five Ways Hackers Can Hurt Your Business with Office 365

Five Ways Hackers Can Hurt Your Business with Office 365

Most small business leaders know that they’re vulnerable to hackers, but 47% of companies don’t know the best methods for protecting themselves. If you don’t know how to protect yourself, you’re an easy target.

In Small Biz Daily, NexusTek CTO, Randy Nieves, outlines five ways that hackers can disrupt your business via holes in Microsoft Office 365. From identity theft to phishing, Randy explains the most prevalent tactics cyber attackers use to infiltrate your business and deploy malware and ransomware for exploitation.

Security breaches are an ever-increasing threat to small and medium sized businesses. In his article, Randy provides four steps that businesses can take to protect their Office 365 accounts. These precautions will make it more difficult for hackers to attack your organization through its Office 365 account. Randy also addresses recommended practices for data backup and recovery, should you get hit with ransomware.

Many SMBs engage managed IT services providers like NexusTek whose IT consultants and support professionals are hyper-fluent in cyber security, and which offer comprehensive managed security services for a fixed monthly cost.

Read this insightful content for best practices on protecting your Microsoft Office 365 account, and by extension, your business.

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There is No Excuse for Ignoring Backup and Disaster Recovery

READ TIME: 5 MIN

There is No Excuse for Ignoring Backup and Disaster Recovery

There is No Excuse for Ignoring Backup and Disaster Recovery

Disaster strikes when we least expect it, and for the unprepared business, the consequences are dire.

According to a survey conducted by IDC, 80% of small and medium-sized business (SMB) respondents reported that network downtime costs their organizations at least $20,000 per hour. During the week of August 25-31, when Hurricane Harvey[1] made landfall in Texas, retail sales in Houston dropped 59% compared to the previous week, and total consumer spending fell 42.5%.

Following Hurricane Katrina, about 19,000 New Orleans-area businesses shut down forever (source: Census Bureau).

Financial Losses Make Headlines – Indirect Costs Close Businesses

Small businesses that compete with large corporations are intensely scrutinized by potential and current customers. Their very nature contributes to a perception that they’re less stable than a multinational competitor. As a result, when these organizations suffer an interruption that affects customers, the consequences can be terminal.

Let us also remember that ‘disasters’ are not limited to earthquakes, floods and hurricanes.

Hardware failures cause 45% of total unplanned downtime. Over the last two years, 93% of businesses[2] have experienced a tech-related disruption that directly impacted revenue, either through direct loss of money or through paying for additional recovery expertise (SOURCE: IDC).

For small businesses, business continuity plans and disaster recovery are an animal unto itself. Not only do their lack of IT resources make these companies the most appetizing targets for cyber attackers, but a glaring lack of preparedness means they’re also the least likely to recover from a disaster.

Despite these horrifying statistics, 52% of small business owners acknowledge that it would take at least three months to recover from a disaster, while more than 75% do not even have a disaster plan in place, according to a survey by Ohio-based Nationwide Insurance.[3]

What’s most alarming is that more than one third (38%) of small business owners say it is not important for their business to have a disaster recovery plan.

One major hurdle preventing SMBs from prioritizing disaster recovery and backup services is a surprising lack of understanding as to who owns responsibility for application and data backups. Contrary to popular belief, vendors like Microsoft and Amazon are only responsible for the integrity of their infrastructure and applications; maintaining back-ups of your data and applications is your responsibility.

We live in a world where news breaks 24/7/365, and the seemingly endless stream of headlines about breaches, data leakage, ransomware and other cyber fails affecting companies like Marriott, Equifax, Yahoo and Facebook has de-sensitized us as to the gravity of potential consequences. The disconnect is understandable, and if we’re being honest, most small business owners cannot relate to billionaires like Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Business Continuity in the Face of Crisis Solidifies Brand Trust

Whether you operate a small business or a large corporation, it’s imperative that operations run continuously at peak performance levels – even when an adverse event occurs.

Legacy backup solutions can’t keep up with companies’ exploding data growth and user demand for ubiquitous availability. Downtime and recovery that takes many hours – even days – is simply unacceptable.

Proper business continuity plans help maintain critical business functions when a major disruption occurs, which could be natural disasters, fires, floods, malicious cyber-attacks, or a server crash. Also, as companies increasingly rely on software, platforms and infrastructure services delivered from a variety of resources, the complexity of backup and recovery increases exponentially.

Cloud resilience technology is the key to IT resilience and the continuous availability of data, applications and other critical resources. Yet, while cloud adoption is high and fewer SMBs have concerns about it, many are still have not backing up their software-as-a-service (SaaS) application data. A recent story in Channelnomics reported that only 29% back up such data from SaaS environments like Salesforce, Google’s G Suite or Microsoft Office 365.

If that doesn’t grab your attention, consider the following: according to Nemertes, more than 97% of organizations use SaaS solutions.

Microsoft Office 365, for example, enables your company to work anywhere, anytime, without the need to host your own email, files and content management infrastructure. Even though Microsoft hosts the infrastructure, this doesn’t replace your responsibility of maintaining a backup of your business-critical Office 365 data.

As previously mentioned, there is a surprising lack of understanding as to who owns responsibility for application and data backups. Veeam, a NexusTek partner, notes that the misunderstanding falls between Microsoft’s perceived responsibility and the user’s actual responsibility of protection and long-term retention of their Office 365 data.

Microsoft Office 365 Geo Redundancy is Often Mistaken for Backup

Backup takes place when a historical copy of data is made and then stored in another location. Geo redundancy protects against site or hardware failure, so if there is an infrastructure crash or outage, your users will remain productive and often oblivious to these underlying issues.

For most businesses having direct control over backups is paramount. If data deleted or attacked, you can recover while mitigating performance loss.

As cloud and outsourcing are a consideration for every other IT service decision, so too should they be for managing your company’s business continuity and disaster recovery. NexusTek Cloud Services offer the flexibility, visibility and control businesses need to be agile, and can address customers’ unique cyber security, business continuity, compliance and auditing requirements in cloud, hybrid or on-premise environments.

With NexusTek’s disaster recovery and backup services, your business never misses a beat. Leveraging award-winning tools for Microsoft Office 365 eliminates the risk of losing access and control over your Office 365 data including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business — so that your data is always available and protected.

NexusTek’s comprehensive backup, recovery and business continuity planning services are purpose-built to to ensure data and applications are restored and keep running when problems arise. Data is backed up and immediately retrievable in the event of loss, and eliminates disruptions due to faulty tape drives, disks, or inconsistent backup management.

Data is the currency of digital transformation.

With disaster recovery and backup services from the world’s foremost vendors, like Veeam, NexusTek provides customers with the most complete data management solutions to support better business outcomes.

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[1] https://www.thebalance.com/hurricane-harvey-facts-damage-costs-4150087

[2] https://www.cio.com/article/3404202/requirements-for-it-resilience-three-strategies-to-keep-your-business-online-in-a-multi-cloud-world.html

[3] https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2015/09/01/265508.htm

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The Great IT Debate: Insourcing vs. Outsourcing with a Managed Services Provider

READ TIME: 4 MIN

Insourcing vs. Outsourcing with a Managed Services Provider

The Great IT Debate: Insourcing vs. Outsourcing with a Managed Services Provider

Cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning, mobility, the Internet of Things—the list goes on. Each of these technologies, once considered “nice to have,” are now requirements for businesses and the responsibility of supporting these expanding suites of technologies requires a team of experienced IT professionals.

In recent years, traditional IT teams have been pushed to do more with fewer resources. As a result, there are inherent expectations to transform business models with the same, if not fewer resources.

For business leaders, the decision to insource (hire in-house) or outsource new IT functions requires careful consideration. Unfortunately, there is not a one-size-fits-all answer. Every organization is unique and as such has to decide on what’s best for their business.

In-House Staff for New IT Functions

Often a company will make the decision to devote resources and budget to hire a dedicated professional because they believe the full control of an FTE will produce better results. Unfortunately, better results are infrequent.

For those businesses that are considering internal IT staffing, consider the following topics:

Maintain Total Control

When IT operations are in-house, employees maintain all data, devices, line-of-business applications, hardware, and security. With this control comes the responsibility of responding to breaches and system failures, troubleshooting performance bottlenecks, and addressing requests from senior leadership. Note: While not beholden to third-parties, in-house teams that do not partner with outside resources have no external safety nets to help maintain uptime.

In-House Data Management

Especially in highly-regulated industries, total control of data can be a possible benefit for in-house IT operations. If your in-house IT is robust enough to handle storage, security, monitoring and reporting, then you may be “okay.” While total control of data is adopted by some, it does have its drawbacks. A select few (sometimes one person) are now responsible in controlling the safety of your data.

Why Outsource IT Services and Management

Outsourcing IT operations isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. There are plenty of organizations with in-house IT teams that leverage a Managed Services Provider (MSP) to fill in gaps. A reputable managed IT services provider (MSP) can handle anything from cyber security to implementation projects, end-user troubleshooting support, and business continuity.

When it comes time to decide between hiring in-house, outsourcing to an MSP or finding an MSP to work with your in-house team, look for a partner who can deliver everything an internal IT team offers – and more.

Take Advantage of Specialized IT

It’s not always easy to find the perfect internal IT resource that will deliver the expertise necessary to capitalize on the latest technologies, as well as meet the current and future IT needs as your business evolves. With the right MSP, businesses large and small can take advantage of IT expertise that spans all technologies, applications, and systems. Rather than being limited to the skills of an in-house team, MSPs let you address issues faster and identify creative solutions to changing business challenges.

Maximize Productivity

Domestically outsourcing certain IT functions isn’t always an indictment of internal capabilities. Since IT teams are stretched so thin, outsourcing can be a great way to free up some time for internal teams. Rather than spending so much time keeping the lights on with lower-level tasks, an MSP can take on those functions so that in-house professionals can spend time making sure new projects succeed.

Leverage the Latest Solutions

Upgrading IT infrastructure is hard enough to do once, but when technology changes it’s almost impossible to force aging systems and solutions to keep pace with ever-growing demands. Outsourcing to a Managed Services Provider means taking advantage of an IT stack that is always evolving. MSPs have the ability to upgrade infrastructure to help your business take advantage of the latest technologies.

Access IT Consulting Services

Outsourcing IT functions doesn’t mean offloading in-house tasks. You also get the benefit of working with an MSP that can consult with you on the best approaches to business challenges. Maybe you’ve been approaching a certain business need in a way that costs more money than necessary. An MSP can spot inefficiencies and work with you to put more effective systems and processes in place.

Lastly, Consider Cost

After reading through this article, you’ll notice one glaring omission—costs. Most often, you’ll see reduced costs as a benefit of working with an MSP. While that might be the case in many instances, it’s hard to make that kind of sweeping generalization.

There needs to be much more evidence to support the claim that outsourcing IT with an MSP will cut costs in addition to the support you’ll receive. That’s why we’re hosting our latest webinar where you can see a live 5-year analysis of the costs associated with hiring in-house versus outsourcing to an MSP.

WEBINAR
Your IT Costs Are Going Up: Here’s What You Can Do About It

GET THE ON-DEMAND WEBINAR NOW!

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