Several recent security reports have shown us that the CryptoLocker Virus is on the rise (a virus that functions as a ransom, your information is encrypted until you pay a fee). Although our company is an expert in preventing and deactivating viruses such as the CryptoLocker Virus, the best strategy is to avoid them altogether. Here are some of the ways you can be proactive with your cybersecurity needs:

Severely infected computers send viruses to other users across the network by using the contact list of your email software and shared resources within your office. Having an IT force at your side can help, but the best prevention is education. So before you download that attachment, make sure you read these guidelines to keep your network safe.

When receiving an email attachment:

• Do NOT open an attachment if you don’t know what it is.
• Use caution when opening attachments that you weren’t expecting or that you don’t know the content. Computer viruses are sent via e-mail attachments and can compromise your computer, data, financial and personal information.
• When an email attachment has a file extension that ends with .zip, .exe, .com, or vbs, 99.9% of the time contains viruses, Trojans, Malware, or Spyware.

Zip files are compressed files. The purpose of sending/receiving Zip files is to make attachment size smaller or send multiple files into 1 compressed file. Hackers use zip files to bypasses the virus/spam protection.

These attachments may look like they are from someone you know. If you’re not sure what it is or were not expecting the email, chances are that these attachments could be infected since their computers are infected. If you open these attachments the l your computer will get infected. Now all your contacts will receive an email (from you) with the infected file as an attachment. If you see an email like the ones below, you can notify the sender that their computer is infected and then delete the email.

Email Scams:

• Your bank institution won’t send you an email requesting information or attachments (unless it is a banker from your branch or something you were expecting), statements, requesting to re-enter your personal information, or a wire transfer via email, unless you have alerts set up. The purpose of those emails is to obtain account information from the users.
• Whenever you open a link on these emails, they copy the design of the website making it look legit and the user enters information about their account, next day you will find out the account has been compromised.
• IRS/Equifax/Transunion/ won’t request any information via email, if they do most likely will be via regular mail. Dismiss these emails and don’t open these links.
• Whenever you win or got something for free over an email, the only thing that you can win is a big problem. Delete these emails immediately.
• DO NOT post your email on websites, forums, or chat rooms. Otherwise, you run the risk of inviting spam into your inbox.
• If you have to use an email to subscribe to a newsletter or website and receive a confirmation email, consider using an address that is not linked to any of your personal information. For example: sample@gmail.com.
• Make an email Backup. Having a hard copy of important documents is essential, especially if your email client crashes and loses data.

Virus Scams:

• If the FBI, NSA, Department of Homeland Security, or CIA has blocked your computer with a pop-up, these are signs of infections. These pop-ups are to cheat users to gain financial information.
• Fake Antivirus protections and optimizers can pop up during an infection not allowing you to work peacefully.
• These viruses request users to enter credit card information or do a transfer to an account to release their computers, please report these issues immediately.

How to avoid these issues:

• Understand email attachments.
• Have an updated operating system.
• Have an updated Antivirus protection.
• Have an up-to-date network firewall and gateway security to prevent future attacks.
• Scan your attachments on this website: www.virustotal.com (this will scan your attachment with 60 different antiviruses in seconds). To do so, save the attachment without opening it and upload the file to the website.

Call Telx if you have any questions regarding an email attachment 1.800.MY TELX 4 (698.3594)

Related articles

• FBI/DHS: ‘ Issue warning over the ” Internet of All Things ” security risks of hacking ‘
• Office of Personnel Mgmt: 5.6M estimated to have fingerprints stolen in breach
• The OPM Hack Was A Lot Worse Than Previously Disclosed
• FBI confident Clinton emails being recovered: source

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You can stay ahead with these safety tips:

1. Share your e-mail address with trusted sources only.
Only those to whom you know personally should have your personal e-mail address. DO NOT post your email on web sites, forums, or in chat rooms. Otherwise, you run the risk of inviting spam into your inbox. If you have to use an email to subscribe to a newsletter or website and receive a confirmation email, consider using an address that is not linked to any of your personal information. For example: sample@gmail.com

2. Watch out for phishing scams.
Phishing scams use fraudulent e-mails and fake websites that pose as legitimate businesses in an attempt to retrieve your login and personal information. To be safe, if you receive an email prompting you to login to a site, first check and see if that website is legitimate. You can always call the business just to make sure that the email is coming from them.

3. Be careful opening attachments
Attachments coming from unknown sources are the most likely sources of computer viruses. If you do choose to download attachments, make sure that your security software is enabled and pay attention to any warning messages you receive.

4. Do not Reply to Spam Messages
If you do not recognize the sender, do not reply to messages. Even responding to unsubscribe could set you up for more spam.

5. Create Strong Passwords
Having your pet dog’s name as your password is no longer the security standard for protecting your personal information. Great passphrases are long alphanumeric chains with special characters.

6. Security Software
It is vitally important to have the most up-to-date security software to protect from viruses, worms, Trojans, Cryptolocker and other malicious software. Your security software should also include firewalls, which monitor your internet connection and keep unwanted traffic outside.

7. Backup Your Email.
Depending on your industry, your email may contain legally-binding contracts, major financial decisions, and professional communication. Just as you would have a hardcopy of important business documents, it’s also important to regularly back up your email and have records if your email client crashes and loses data.

8. You haven’t won the lottery
Scammers will use any subject line to get your attention so that you open an email. If it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is. If it helps, you most likely do not have an unclaimed inheritance, there is no Nigerian Monarch, or other person promising you loads of cash, that requires your bank information immediately, and you haven’t won a free Ipad.

9. Encrypt your Wi-Fi network and email when possible
It is important to encrypt your wireless connection between your computer and the wireless router. This is one of the most vulnerable information sources and it is best to use the WPA2 encryption standard. This encryption will make it very difficult for any hacker to break. However, if your connection is compromised and a hacker does have access to your information, the next step is to encrypt your email. Email encryption ranges from the very expensive to PGP, the most common email encryption standard. Regardless, by using encryption, the hacker will not be able to understand what your emails say.

These email best practices are the first step in protecting your data. However, with cyber security threats growing daily, it is important to take as many safeguards as possible. Even the best security can be circumvented by a determined hacker. Our comprehensive suite of security software and remote monitoring ensure constant vigilance against cybercrime and theft. Take a look at how our security options can provide the next generation solutions for your business.

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Nearly every business is on the cloud these days.

Only a decade ago, most companies relied entirely on IT systems running on servers and software that lived on-site. Today, it is much harder to find a business that does not use the cloud for at least part of their IT.

By definition, cloud mean an IT system or application that lives in a remote datacenter managed by a third party provider, as opposed to residing on a server in the customer’s location.

When it’s done correctly, a cloud works wonders for a business. Cloud systems are reliable, secure and efficient. They easily scale with growing companies. Most companies we surveyed are using a cloud email service, such as Office 365 or Google Apps, both of which are great systems. However, there is so much more than email that small businesses can and should be doing in the cloud.

Cloud-Based CRM Software

Customer Relationships Management (CRM) software is used by companies large to manage their customers and prospect databases. There are numerous CRM systems that now exist in the cloud. While some of these systems are very simple and entry-level, others are more complex and require expertise for implementation. Cloud-based CRM software programs are accessible from any computer or smartphone without requiring remote viewing access or VPN software, which is valuable as many companies have distributed workforces.

Cloud-Based File Sharing

In the past, in order for a group of people to access a shared directory of files, you needed a file server. Today, there are dozens of cloud-based file sharing systems which not only replace many of the functions of a traditional file server), but also give you the ability to access your files on your mobile device, and share certain files or folders with groups outside of your company.

Cloud-Based Backup & Data Recovery

Backup and disaster recovery is often overlooked by companies – they spend time and money on the systems that solve a problem, but they often wait until it is too late to backup those very same systems. Cloud services now exist automatically back up your server and desktop data to a secure remote datacenter, and restore it to anywhere. Some of the higher-end services not only back up your files, they maintain business continuity by allowing your workforce remote working capability (in the event of an emergency).

Cloud-Based IT Security

All of our devices (computers and smartphones) are constantly connected to the Internet. We use them more and more, storing sensitive and critical data on them, and the unfortunate reality of this is that is makes them all the more appealing for hackers. IT security is more important now than it ever was, and there are great cloud options to protect your business on many levels, including securing your email, your internet connection, and your desktop and servers.

Cloud-Based Phone Systems

Every business needs a phone system, and the cloud-based VoIP system brings large-business communication technology to everyone. These cloud systems offer reliability and sophistication to

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“As a part of the European Union, there is a general directive that all nations abide by a guide,” says Greeman Yip, CEO of cloud consultancy BitTitan. “Now that the UK is not a part of the EU, the previous baseline directive that were adopted will change.”

When the UK is part of the EU it has the same data sovereignty laws as other countries in the EU. Now that it has departed, experts agree that data privacy laws will change. Although it is too early to determine exactly what the impact will be, experts encourage enterprises to examine the situation carefully.

The UK’s central role in U.S. companies’ international operations makes this an important issue. Many large U.S. cloud technology vendors have data center in the UK that act as hubs for Europe, says Dana Simberkoff, compliance and risks officer at SaaS consultancy AvePoint. Depending on how the GDPR rules shake out, it could push companies to expand their data footprint into other EU-member countries. “From a business perspective, Brexit may impact the development of new data centers in the U.K. as cloud providers may choose to pause those plans until the UK plans are clear,” Simberkoff wrote in an email.

According to Doug Loweve, the vice president of international sales for Interzion, a company that offers data center and collocation space across Europe, expanding beyond the UK and into Europe isn’t necessarily a bad thing for companies with international footprints. “Brexit has put a bright spotlight on the need to look at where your data sits, both for data privacy and performance.”

According to research firm Gartner, Brexit will cause some trepidation in the IT market as these data privacy issues are sorted out. “Now many new long-term strategic projects will be put on pause and likely not restarted until 2017,” the research firm noted.

Yip, with BitTitan, is more optimistic. “Bottom line – the UK is the most stable country in EMEA in which to do business,” he says. “This is the UK’s opportunity to blaze their own trail in the cloud, away from the EU and arguably in a manner more favorable to tech companies looking to innovate while operating under its governing umbrella. In a few years, the EU might be reworking their own regulations to abide by the standards established in the UK.”

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Google has expanded the digital loss protection (DLP) features in Gmail for Work, helping prevent confidential information from leaving the company.

The new optical character recognition on attachments, so administrators can ensure that employees aren’t sharing mounds of confidential data in images (whether intentionally or not). That adds to existing features such as the ability to look inside common attachments types, including documents and spreadsheets.

The OCR capabilities integrate with content detectors, so administrators can do things like  prevent members of the accounting department from sending an email with a credit card number  in it to someone outside the organization.

Google added more predefined content detectors with this update, including ones that cover  personally identifiable information in additional countries, and ones that better cover medical  data.

Organizations that want finer control over their DLP policies can take advantage of new  parameters in Gmail for Work’s settings to do things like set up different policies based on whether a message contains a few pieces of personally identifiable information or dozens.

Google first added DLP to Gmail for Work in December. Improving its capabilities is important for Google as it tries to compete with Microsoft and other providers to sell more productivity services to businesses.

Original Article from Computer World.

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The team of professionals at the IT support Miami-based company, Telx Computers, can help provide businesses with the needed security programs that will best protect their valuable business information. Firewalls, antivirus programs, and antispyware software are three essential ways in which businesses can protect their network servers from malicious attacks.

FIREWALLS

One of the first steps that can be taken is to install an effective firewall. An Internet firewall is a security program that is designed to hinder the intrusion of any unwanted programs or data. Firewalls also inspect incoming connections for known attack methods and prevent these attacks from impacting internal network devices. They are designed to shut off access to operating systems or to other computers that are connected to a business’s network. They will automatically refuse and decrypt the unwanted information through the network, helping to save data from the hands of hackers.

Firewalls are highly valued by businesses for their ability to keep private information secure. Identity theft is a growing crime; firewalls are a good defense against online predators. Personal electronic information can also be kept private. Not only is privacy important for a competitive perspective, but also to maintain good business. Businesses have a duty to provide their customers with online business transactions that are as safe and as private as possible.

ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS

Viruses, worms, and Trojans are programs created by hackers that use the Internet to infect vulnerable computers and networks. Viruses and worms can replicate themselves from computer to computer in order to travel through a network, while Trojans enter a computer by hiding inside an otherwise legitimate program, such as a screen saver. Destructive viruses, worms, and Trojans can erase information from a hard disk or completely disable a computer. Others may not cause as much direct damage, but can still worsen a computer’s performance and stability.

Antivirus programs scan e-mails and other files on a computer for these malicious viruses, worms, and Trojans. If one is found, the antivirus program will either isolate it or destroy it entirely before files are damaged or the computer is corrupted. It is important to make sure to keep an antivirus program up to date. When the program is updated, it adds new viruses to its list of things to check for, helping to better protect computers from attacks.

ANTISPYWARE

Spyware is software that can display advertisements, collect information, or change settings on a computer, generally without obtaining consent. Spyware can install unwanted toolbars, links, or favorites in a web browser, change a default homepage, or display pop-up ads frequently. Some spyware software doesn’t do anything visible; instead, it secretly travels through a server system collecting information. Most spyware is installed through free software that is downloaded. Antispyware programs help to protect computers from these unwanted programs.

Using these security programs and the IT services offered by the computer support Miami company Telx Computers is one of the most effective things a business can do to protect its valuable information.

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These proactive measures can drastically reduce the chances of a security breach. Here are areas to keep in mind when developing your own security policy:

1. Internet Security

Employees spend the majority of their business day at their computer, browsing the internet. To make the best of their time, make sure to do the following:

1. Employees should use the Internet solely for business purposes. Consider establishing a website blocker, not only will this safeguard your digital assets, your employee will be more productive and focus their time appropriately.
2. Prohibit unauthorized downloads. Most malware are hidden in downloads – Additionally, downloads take up space on the hard drive and can slow a computer’s processing speed dramatically.
3. Accessing personal email should not be done on business devices. If employees must access their own email account during the day, they can do so on their smartphone or other personal device.

These are just a few of internet policies to get started, but you should also consider including information on your recommended browsing practices and your policies for using business devices (such as company phones) on public wifi.

2. Email

Just like with the Internet policy mentioned above, company email accounts should only be utilized for business use. That means your employee should never send personal files, forward links or perform any type of business-related activities outside of their specific job role.

3. Passwords

We’ve all heard the importance of a strong password. Alphanumeric encryption is now standard practice for most businesses. Most employees will create the easiest passwords for their accounts – which makes these accounts most vulnerable to attack. There are many sites that can generate secure passwords for your employees. Stay away from generic business passwords everyone uses like the company phone number, or a mix of the company name and address.

4. Data

Whether or not you allow your employees to conduct work on their own device, it is important that you have a stringent ‘Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD)’ policy in place. Make sure to explain that any data on your workstation is business property. That means employees aren’t allowed to remove or copy it without your authorization.

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The first thing that one must do to ensure that their computer network is secure is to set up some type of classification system. As I am prior service I like to stick to Top Secret, Secret, Confidential scheme. Users who do not need to know information should not be granted the ability to see the information, this goes for personal logins with your administrators as well. Nobody should ever have absolute power on the account that they login into on a frequent basis, this way if your user account gets compromised all you have to do is get the data from the account and create another one instead of your entire system potentially getting infected.

After you have set up your classification system for data and your user groups to who can access that data, you will want to set up your EAP. The fact is you cannot completely protect your computer from every security threat that there is and still keep up with performance and usability, so with that being said we plan on having a security breach but if you make sure that your network design is well thought out a security breach can be solved sometimes as easy as applying a patch. I definitely recommend contacting Telx IT Miami Services for assistance putting together a good EAP and security policies. Security is definitely the unsung hero of IT, you never know how much you need it until someone compromises your system costing you hours of work or worse uses the information that you have for their own malicious intent.

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Regardless of the size of a business, firewalls are a necessity for guarding against hackers who wish to penetrate a network system in order to steal information. There are several different types of firewalls and different manufacturers that produce them. Being empowered with the knowledge of how to choose the correct firewall for a business network is crucial.

Firewalls are software programs or hardware devices that filter what flows into the business’s networking system through an internet connection. It sorts through the data flow and blocks anything deemed harmful to the network or computer system.

When connected to the internet, even a single computer or network of interconnected computers makes easy targets for malicious software and hackers. A firewall can offer the security to make companies less vulnerable and more protected to guard against data being compromised or computers being taken over.

Firewalls refer to activities done and systems placed that are designed to protect a computer network. It is meant to protect the usability, integrity, reliability, and safety of a network and data. It aims to seek a variety of threats and stop them before they can wreak havoc on and steal data from a network.

Firewalls are setup at every connection to the Internet, causing all data to flow through careful monitoring. Firewalls can also be tuned to follow sets of rules. These rules are simply security restrictions that can be set up by the network administrators to allow traffic to their web servers, giving all computer administrators control over the traffic that flows in and out of the systems and networks.

These rules will decide who can connect to the internet, what kind of connections can be made, and what kind of files can be transmitted in and out. All traffic in and out can be watched and controlled to give the firewall a high level of security and protection.

An Internet firewall is a security program that is designed to hinder the intrusion of any unwanted programs or data. Firewalls also inspect incoming connections for known attack methods and prevent these attacks from impacting internal network devices. They are designed to shut off access to operating systems or to other computers that are connected to a business’s network. They will automatically refuse and decrypt the unwanted information through the network, helping to save data from the hands of hackers.

Firewalls are highly valued by businesses for their ability to keep private information secure. Identity theft is a growing crime; firewalls are a good defense against online predators. Personal electronic information can also be kept private. Not only is privacy important for a competitive perspective, but also to maintain good business. Businesses have a duty to provide their customers with online business transactions that are as safe and as private as possible. Telx Computers offers computer repair services to businesses to help them configure and install secure firewall systems on their networks.

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Microsoft Exchange is specially designed and developed to simplify corporate communications needs. It provides messaging as well as collaborative services to enhance the overall communication experience. Telx Computers is a computer support Miami company that uses a full-featured Hosted Exchange e-mail service that includes additional value-added services to secure and backup e-mail data and enable a business to collaborate Hosted Exchange.

From a strategic aspect, e-mail is a utility on par with having a dedicated phone number. Carrying the burden of deploying and managing this non-revenue generating system takes time and resources away from more strategic objectives. In order to deliver e-mail more efficiently and reliably, businesses should consider using Exchange through a hosted IT service provider. Hosted Exchange delivers big benefits around the organization but is even more beneficial for a business’s IT team.

Along with cost savings comes predictable, per-mailbox pricing that mitigates cost spikes for expanding systems to accommodate business growth, implementing upgrades, or extra measures needed to stay up and running instead of suffering downtime.

On top of savings of about three days of downtime per year, businesses also benefit from avoiding the disruption to companywide productivity that comes with unplanned downtime. The reliability benefit extends to the ability to go through other problems such as power outages without worrying about losing access to e-mail.

At Telx Computers, there is a team of e-mail experts behind a business’s messaging system to handle the admin tasks, spam/virus protection, backups, mobile and remote access, upgrades, and patches. That gives a business’s internal IT team more time to do the strategic work that generates revenue instead of dealing with the constant maintenance of the servers.

A migration to Exchange that could take months on-premises between procuring hardware, obtaining licenses, and setting up user accounts can be completed in a matter of days by an Exchange hosting provider. The e-mail data migration may mean moving from a completely different e-mail system. By guiding business through migration, the risk of data loss or extended downtime is mitigated. The computer IT support team at Telx Computers also has the experience to help proactively identify potential migration problems in advance of the switch to ensure clean, usable data in the new system.

Hosted Exchange is a business-grade e-mail solution. A hosting provider’s reputation is built on keeping e-mails secure and private. As a result, Hosted Exchange keeps a company’s data free from hackers and protects it with enterprise-grade spam and virus protection. Other security measures include data centers with video surveillance capabilities, multi-factor authentication, tracking and monitoring tools, and other capabilities to protect customer data. Hosting providers are able to consistently monitor e-mail to identify issues and react to threats before the business is impacted.

Hosting takes the hassle out of e-mail delivery. In a hosted system, it takes just a few clicks to add or reduce capacity. With the Hosted Exchange services offered by Miami IT services provider Telx Computers, businesses will receive improvements in productivity with powerful e-mail, calendar and online collaboration tools including information sharing among corporate colleagues.

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