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What Are Phishing Scams to Recognize and Avoid

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Phishing emails and texts have evolved over time from the basic ploy to get your personal information to very sophisticated schemes that leave you questioning. Passwords, bank account information and other account information are vulnerable to these scams, so it's increasingly important to recognize the tactics and avoid them. How Do I Recognize Phishing? Scammers have the tools and cunning to make their messages seem legitimate. But there are some messages to look out for and question. They may look like a legitimate communication from companies you trust. Whether it's from your bank, Netflix, or even a government agency, scammers are doing their best to make their scams seem as authentic as possible. They may claim that there is a problem with your existing password.It could ask you to click on a link to make a payment.They could say that they’ve seen suspicious activity on your account.They may even include a fake invoice or coupon. The end goal of these scams is for you to click on the link that they’ve attached with their message, which can then give them access to your personal information. How Do I Protect Myself from Phishing Scams? Automatic Software Updates A simple way to ensure...
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3 Tips for Successful Cloud Migration

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The cloud has been instrumental in driving the digital shift in the business world. Cloud computing is a critical enabler for innovation, customer experience, and cost reduction.  While the adoption of the cloud is accelerating, many businesses don’t understand the requirements and limitations of cloud consumption.  Cloud offers many advantages, such as: Mobile and remote access to informationBusiness resiliencyCost savings on hardwareTime savings for your IT departmentScalabilityBuilt-in security and compliance tools   Moving your data and applications onto the cloud is a multi-step process. This means you need to plan effectively and ahead of time for a successful migration. Three ways to ensure successful cloud migration: Hire an Efficient and Capable IT Team   Cloud services are in high demand, which has created a shortage of qualified people to do the work. Cloud projects succeed when you and your cloud provider bring their A team to the grid. If you’re not getting the right people, you risk an inferior outcome. Choose What Belongs on The Cloud   Not all apps are cloud friendly. Some apps may need minor tweaking while others need in-depth code changes. A full analysis of complexity and implementation is easier to do before the migration...
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Tip of the Week: Search Google Better

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How many times a day do you search for something on Google? Your answer likely contributes to the fact that Google Search is the most visited website on the internet. In fact, it is so popular that the company’s name is now a verb. Google it!

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Battery Innovation to Fuel a More Mobile World

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In today's technology dependent world, smartphones play a critical role. How much do you really know about these devices? Sure, the devices haven’t changed a whole lot in the past decade, but what has changed? Today, we take a look at how smartphone batteries have evolved, and what we will see in the future.

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Tip of the Week: Cortana Makes Keeping Track of Your Team Easier

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Cortana is a very useful assistant to have around the office, but did you know how useful Cortana can be in other aspects of your life? With football season underway, we felt it was appropriate to share how Cortana can help you follow your favorite teams. Of course, this will work for any sport, and it is a very easy process.

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WhatsApp Will Now Charge Businesses For Customer Support Use

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Purchased by Facebook in 2014 for $22 billion dollars, WhatsApp is a cross-platform application that uses an Internet connection to unify business communications. It allows users to write messages, share files, set groups, as well as make voice and video calls without using SMS mobile data.

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Tip of the Week: Email Should Be A Tool--Here’s 3 Ways To Keep It Under Control

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Email has been one of the primary correspondence methods for businesses for several years. In addition to communicating with your team, clients, and peers, emails also bring you the latest blog in a subscription, or sales and marketing messages from prospective vendors. With dozens of emails flowing in throughout your day, emails can become a distraction that results in a significant loss of productivity. These three tips can help you cut down on time that you waste when compulsively checking your emails.

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Tip of the Week: How To Keep Twitter From Telling The World Where You Live

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You may have noticed how social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter often share the location of any pictures you post, if they are set up to do so. Well, you’ve probably asked yourself if your device will share this information automatically, or if you have to enable this setting yourself.

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Pokemon Go Brings New IT Threats to Company Networks

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Pokemon Go Brings New IT Threats to Company Networks
Pokemon Go Brings New IT Threats to Company Networks Gaming isn’t exactly a recommend office activity for most businesses, how people spend their private time is generally their business. But because of the new Pokemon Go craze there’s a huge new rash of potential security risks to watch out for in your office, and you better get up to speed fast. Pokemon Go has quickly become the most popular downloaded game in North American history. Just as quickly, it’s attracted organized cybercrime, and with it an unprecedented onslaught of new phishing hazards. It’s not just the range of new traps that is surprising, but also speed in which they are coming on stream. These are the same criminal networks that have almost tripled phishing attacks on corporate employees this year. They're using adaptations and variations of many of those same successful tactics and tools on Pokemon Go players. So far it's been a smorgasbord for them.   If your company or organization has employees who play Pokemon Go who connect to your network with private mobile devices or VPN, your data security may soon be at risk.   Some quick stats about Pokemon Go you should know Consider that Pokemon Go...

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Is Email Phishing Unstoppable? Just don’t rely too much on your office antivirus software.

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Is Email Phishing Unstoppable? Just don’t rely too much on your office antivirus software.
Photocredit: Stephen Coles; https://www.flickr.com/photos/stewf/ Is Email Phishing Unstoppable? Just don’t rely too much on your office antivirus software. Your antivirus software ~might~ be good at stopping viruses, but they’re becoming more irrelevant every day at protecting your data and devices. Some experts are pointing to a recent warning by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT), where they issued a warning about global security product Symantec and Norton Security products containing dangerous vulnerabilities. This doesn’t mean they’re completely useless and they don’t perform an important function. There’s a more important reason to not blindly trust your antivirus software to keep your data safe.  People tend to rely too much on them, giving them a false sense of security.  Evolving Threat Tactics Just a few short years ago, antivirus software protected against 80 to 90 percent of online threats. Today, it’s more like 10 to 20 percent because of constantly evolving threat tactics. While some company executives feel smugly confident about their level of antivirus security, cyber criminals are getting in through the company’s weakest links—the users.  An alarming trend is the aggressive growth of phishing techniques used by attackers in 2016. Hackers are spending less effort...

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The 18 Highest Paying IT Industry Certifications in 2016 – Canadian Edition

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The 18 Highest Paying IT Industry Certifications in 2016 – Canadian Edition
The 18 Highest Paying IT Industry Certifications in 2016 – Canadian Edition   Introduction: Canadian IT Industry Facts Before we get to the IT certifications and salary ranges, we want to highlight the growing demand for more professionals in this this industry. There is a real pressing shortage of IT professionals in Canada, and the world (we reported on the world-wide shortage of IT professionals here earlier this year). Salaries in this industry are very generous, and rising faster than almost every other industry. According to Robert Half Technology, IT salaries in Canada are rising at an average of 5.1% annually. Accordingly, job qualifications are also increasing, creating more demand for certification programs and higher skilled professionals. If there was ever any doubt about the importance of the IT Industry in Canada today, the facts show just how important it really is. There were about 811,000 information communication and technology professionals employed in Canada at the end of 2015, according to the IT Labour Market Outlook 2015-2019 produced by the Information Communication Technology Council (ICTC).  While these numbers ~seem~ high, it also calculates that Canada will require an additional 182,000 qualified IT professionals by 2019—to fill positions for information systems analysts...

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How to Find Out if an Account Has Been Hacked

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How to Find Out if an Account Has Been Hacked
How to Find Out if an Account Has Been Hacked The recent disclosure that Mark Zuckerberg’s own Facebook account password was hacked this week should set alarm bells off for anyone who’s ever created an online account. You have to wonder, if the Facebook founder’s email and password accounts aren’t safe, then what is? In case you haven’t heard, last weekend Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were briefly hacked by a group calling itself OurMine. They demonstrated by announcing his lame password on his Facebook timeline. No, Facebook wasn’t hacked. Zuckerberg’s email and passwords were part of a LinkedIn database that was actually hacked back in 2012, (along with up to 167 million others), and just posted online in May this year. Since then, hackers have been having a heyday with them. So if Zuckerberg’s LinkedIn account was hacked, why did it affect his Facebook and Pinterest account? It’s because he used the same lame password for all of those accounts. And he never changed it after LinkedIn announced they were hacked....Since 2012. Apparently Zuckerberg is guilty of password laziness - using the same lame passwords on multiple accounts. He’s not alone. Along with millions of others who are getting...

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Is Your Business Network a Hardened Vault or a Cardboard Door?

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Is Your Business Network a Hardened Vault or a Cardboard Door?
Is Your Business Network a Hardened Vault or a Cardboard Door?         Whether a desktop, laptop or mobile device, almost every computer we use is connected to some type of network. More than simply internet access and email, our corporate networks let us work more efficiently, be more productive and save money doing it. They are integral components for functions like purchasing, selling, collaboration and customer service. The advancement of modern networking technology means we have greater access to more data available than ever before. And we’re continuously adding more business applications and databases year after year. This increases the complexity of our operations and our access to them. “The nastiest growing threats for businesses today are hardware-centric cyberattacks, ransomware, zombie botnets and identity theft.” Unfortunately, this advancement and complexity is also adding to our security concerns due to the growing number of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks on small and medium sized organizations. It’s no longer just data hijacking or DDS attacks that are growing, the nastiest growing threats for businesses today are hardware-centric cyberattacks, ransomware, zombie botnets and identity theft. Still, we seldom think of our physical networks unless they’re broken. We simply rely on them to work. In reality, the security...
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