NexusTek Recognized on CRN’s 2023 MSP 500 List

Honored as a leading solution provider for the seventh consecutive year
Honored as a leading solution provider for the seventh consecutive year

NexusTek Recognized on CRN’s 2023 MSP 500 List

Honored as a leading solution provider for the seventh consecutive year

Denver, CO, February 15, 2023 — NexusTek, a top national cloud, managed IT services, and cybersecurity provider, announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named NexusTek to its Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the Elite 150 category for 2023. CRN’s annual MSP 500 list identifies the industry-leading service providers in North America who are driving a new wave of growth and innovation for the channel through forward-thinking approaches to managed services, helping end users increase efficiency and simplify IT solutions, while maximizing their return on investment.

MSPs have become a vital part of the success of businesses worldwide. MSPs not only empower organizations to leverage intricate technologies but also help them keep a strict focus on their core business goals without straining their budgets.

The annual MSP 500 list is divided into three sections: the MSP Pioneer 250, recognizing companies with business models weighted toward managed services and largely focused on the SMB market; the MSP Elite 150, recognizing large, data center-focused MSPs with a strong mix of on- and off-premises services; and the Managed Security 100, recognizing MSPs focused primarily on off-premises and cloud-based security services.

“We at NexusTek are thrilled to be recognized for the seventh consecutive year on CRN’s MSP 500 list, and to be included among the Elite 150 is truly an honor,” said Mike Hamuka, Chief Revenue Officer at NexusTek. “As a managed services provider, we face an ever-changing technology landscape that challenges us to stretch and adapt continuously. But there is one constant that drives us: our customers’ satisfaction. Our solutions are shaped around our customers’ needs and preferences, and it is gratifying to be recognized by CRN for these efforts.”

“Managed services offer a path for businesses of all sizes to remain efficient and flexible as they grow,” said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. “The solution providers on our 2023 MSP 500 list are bringing innovative managed services portfolios to market, helping their customers win by doing more with the IT budgets they have and freeing up resources to focus on mission-critical activities to drive future success.”

The MSP 500 list will be featured in the February 2023 issue of CRN and online at www.crn.com/msp500.

About NexusTek

Trusted by thousands of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), NexusTek is a national managed IT services provider with a comprehensive portfolio comprised of end-user services, cloud, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and IT consulting. We design holistic solutions for customers that deliver a superior end-user experience, backed by a 24/7/365 domestically staffed support team. NexusTek Managed Service Plans offer end-to-end IT management with fixed-monthly, per-user pricing through which SMBs can leverage help desk, backup, disaster recovery, dedicated engineers, security, 24×7 remote support, and network monitoring services while creating predictable IT budgets.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com

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7 Reasons Businesses Love Having a Dedicated Engineer

7 Reasons Businesses Love Having a Dedicated Engineer

READ TIME: 4 MIN

7 Reasons Businesses Love Having a Dedicated Engineer

7 Reasons Businesses Love Having a Dedicated Engineer

It’s Valentine’s Day, and love is in the air. And in the world of IT management, few are so roundly adored as dedicated engineers. This may prompt the question: What is a dedicated engineer? A dedicated engineer is a highly skilled IT professional who is assigned to a specific business, and who provides routine and as-needed technical support to keep the business’ infrastructure running smoothly.

Why do businesses love dedicated engineers so much? Following are 7 key reasons:

1. They know you and your business.

When you work with a dedicated engineer, they get to know your business and develop a deep familiarity with your infrastructure and how it relates to your business needs. In other words, they understand how you use IT to get important jobs done throughout your company. This familiarity engenders a sense of shared purpose, of partnership between your business and your dedicated engineer, and it also saves you time because you’re not having to continually explain your IT to new techs who don’t know your business well.

2. They can save you money.

We all know that preventing problems is cheaper than reacting to them later when the damage is done. Whether it’s downtime, cyber incidents, or data loss, proactive IT management to prevent such problems can save you untold amounts. In addition, dedicated engineers can also be a more cost-effective choice than hiring your own IT engineer, and you never have to worry about turnover costs related to recruiting and training.

3. They prevent unpleasant surprises.

Dedicated engineers don’t just react to IT issues; they take a proactive approach to maintaining your infrastructure, using their expertise to identify and resolve issues before they become a problem for your business. Their proactive attention to IT management keeps your infrastructure tuned up and running reliably, preventing costly issues like downtime and data loss.

4. They strengthen your in-house IT team.

Having a dedicated engineer working alongside your own internal IT team can help to improve communication and coordination regarding infrastructure management. Most businesses struggle with high turnover among tech support staff and are continually dealing with the loss of IT knowledge and experience such turnover causes. Having an experienced, dedicated engineer can help to stem those effects, making sure that key knowledge about your infrastructure is retained within the support team.

5. They empower your IT decision making.

Dedicated engineers can provide you with regular technology reviews, providing you with key metrics to help you understand the current state of your IT from top to bottom. This equips you with the information you need to make smart decisions about your IT both in the present and future.

6. They keep you current on tech changes.

You have undoubtedly noticed that technology changes…constantly. Most leaders of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) don’t have the time or inclination to stay current on the multitude of tech advancements that can and do impact business IT. But a dedicated engineer does. Dedicated engineers stay up to date on the latest business technology changes and can help you understand the pros and cons of adopting new technologies.

7. They work where you need them.

Another great thing about dedicated engineers is that they work where and how you prefer. Some businesses want IT management onsite, and some want remote support. With a dedicated engineer, you can choose the arrangement that works best for your business.

With the wealth of knowledge and skill they offer, it is easy to see why dedicated engineers quickly become invaluable members of the SMB teams they join.

NexusTek offers dedicated engineer support along with a comprehensive portfolio of IT management services that keep SMBs productive and on the cutting edge.

Interested in exploring dedicated engineer support for your business?

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3 Real-Life Cybersecurity Incidents… and What They Can Teach You

3 Real-Life Cybersecurity Incidents... and What They Can Teach You

READ TIME: 4 MIN

3 Real-Life Cybersecurity Incidents... and What They Can Teach You

3 Real-Life Cybersecurity Incidents… and What They Can Teach You

Before getting into the gritty details, let us first acknowledge that no one—be it an individual or a business—likes being “made an example of” in front of an audience. Being the victim of a cyberattack is painful in a number of ways, not the least of which is the public embarrassment or stigma associated with data breach. Our aim in this article is not to place blame, but to highlight the valuable lessons that other businesses can learn from these real-life incidents.

Incident 1: Malicious Web Browser Update

A large insurance company with a nationwide presence was the victim of a ransomware attack that began with a social engineering scheme. The threat actors created a fake web browser update that was delivered through a legitimate website, and after successfully tricking a single employee into clicking on the fake update, they were able to breach that employee’s workstation.

From there, the threat actors moved through the company’s systems, disabling security monitoring tools, deleting backups, and encrypting data throughout. In compliance with ransom demands by the attackers, the company reportedly paid $40 million to obtain a decryption key and to prevent public release of employees’ sensitive data, which threat actors claimed to have stolen.

What Can Be Learned:

  • As with many cyberattacks, this one highlights the importance of employee security awareness training, as a simple employee error opened the door to an extensively damaging attack and data breach.
  • Another key point is that before launching the ransomware attack in full, the threat actors located and destroyed backups. This illustrates the importance of business continuity and disaster recovery strategies that include offsite backups that attackers cannot access from inside the company’s network.

Incident 2: Ransomware Attack

The next cybersecurity incident involved a regional hospitality business with about 2,700 employees, that operates a collection of music venues, restaurants, and hotels in the Pacific Northwest. In late 2021, the company’s employees found that they could not access digital files as usual—the result of a malware infection. As soon as the company identified the problem, they shut down key systems to prevent the attack from progressing. The immediate effect of the attack was that they were unable to use any point-of-sale machines, and online access to functions like room reservations was immobilized.

The long-term issues have cut deeper, however, as the ensuing investigation revealed that the threat actors accessed sensitive employee information (e.g., social security numbers), which could be used in identity theft, from thousands of employee records that spanned decades. On top of this, employees have filed a class action lawsuit against the company, alleging that insufficient cybersecurity measures allowed the ransomware attack to happen.

What Can Be Learned:

  • The downtime the company experienced is a common side effect of cyberattacks, which demonstrates the importance of planning ahead with business continuity strategies to ensure that critical infrastructure remains operational in a crisis situation.
  • Although reports to date have not explained the root cause of this ransomware attack, what this case makes clear is that post-attack lawsuits are a reality. In such cases, being able to show due diligence to protect sensitive data before an attack occurs is important. Conducting cybersecurity risk assessments and using a multi-layered cybersecurity strategy that addresses threats from a variety of angles are helpful strategies toward this end.
  • Cybersecurity risk management assessments may also be useful in qualifying for cyber insurance, which can help with business and legal costs associated with cyberattacks.

Incident 3: Spear Phishing/Business Email Compromise

In a world of ever more sophisticated, technology-based cyberattack vectors, it is easy to forget about the more basic cyber scams. But they’re still in use and still a threat. As an example, consider the business email compromise (BEC) attack that befell a small construction company in Texas.

The company received an email from what they thought was one of their contractors. The email said that they were having problems receiving payments, and it asked that payment instead be mailed to a different address. What the company didn’t notice was that the sender’s email address had been spoofed, meaning that it looked very similar to an actual email address from the contractor, with only slight differences. Unfortunately, the construction company dutifully sent a check for $210,312 to the BEC attackers before learning that the request was not legitimate.

What Can Be Learned:

  • Employee security awareness training on a routine basis is paramount. Spoofed email addresses use subtle substitutions to make them easy to miss, and employees need to be sensitized to this threat to make sure it doesn’t slip through.
  • When in doubt about an email’s authenticity, reach out directly (don’t reply to the email) to the ostensible sender to verify.

These are just a few real-life examples of cyber incidents that in their different ways have been very costly to the businesses victimized. Taken together, these stories illustrate the importance of protecting access to your systems through strategies ranging from employee awareness training to strong password policy to multi-factor authentication.

Should threat actors navigate past these barriers, solutions that can detect malicious activity and limit access within your network (e.g., SIEM, IAM) are important in slowing threat actors down. Finally, resilience strategies are important for ensuring that critical systems keep running and that backups are maintained where threat actors cannot reach them, keeping them safe from loss or destruction.

Is your business doing all it can to manage cyber risk? Our cybersecurity experts can help.

CONTACT US

The descriptions of cyber incidents in this blog post are based on actual events, but identifying information has been omitted out of respect for the businesses affected.

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