It’s 2024 and so there’s no secret that businesses must ensure that their IT infrastructure is not only efficient and reliable but also compliant with industry regulations. For healthcare-related businesses, this includes adhering to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Partnering with a HIPAA-compliant Managed IT Service Provider can offer numerous benefits. Here’s why:
Ensuring Regulatory Compliance
Healthcare providers and businesses handling sensitive patient information must comply with HIPAA regulations. Non-compliance can result in severe penalties, both financially and legally. Managed IT service providers specializing in HIPAA compliance ensure that all systems and processes adhere to these stringent regulations. This compliance helps protect your business from potential fines and legal actions.
Protecting Sensitive Data
HIPAA-compliant IT support services are designed to safeguard Protected Health Information (PHI). These managed services implement robust security measures, such as encryption, secure access controls, and continuous monitoring, to protect against data breaches and unauthorized access. By working with a HIPAA-compliant IT solutions company, you can ensure that patient data remains secure and confidential.
Expertise in Healthcare IT
Managed IT service providers – such as ClickAway – with HIPAA compliance expertise have a deep understanding of the specific challenges and requirements of the healthcare industry. This specialized knowledge allows them to offer tailored IT support services that address the unique needs of healthcare businesses. Whether it’s managing electronic health records (EHR) systems or ensuring secure communication channels, these providers have the skills and experience to deliver optimal IT solutions.
Cost-Effective Solutions
Outsourcing IT services to a HIPAA-compliant managed services provider can be more cost-effective than managing IT in-house. ClickAway offers scalable solutions that can grow with your business, allowing you to pay only for the services you need. Additionally, they can help reduce the risk of costly data breaches and compliance violations, providing a solid return on investment.
Enhancing Operational Efficiency
A reliable IT MSP company ensures that your IT infrastructure runs smoothly and efficiently. By leveraging advanced technologies and proactive monitoring, these providers can prevent potential issues before they disrupt your operations. This proactive approach minimizes downtime, improves productivity, and allows professionals to focus on delivering quality customer service.
Comprehensive IT Support
HIPAA-compliant managed IT services for small businesses provide comprehensive support, including 24/7 monitoring, regular updates, and rapid response to any IT issues. This ensures that your systems are always up-to-date and functioning optimally. With a dedicated IT support company, you have peace of mind knowing that expert help is always available when you need it.
Customized IT Solutions
Every business has unique IT needs, and HIPAA-compliant IT service providers understand this. They offer customized solutions tailored to meet the specific requirements of your business. Whether you need managed IT support for small business or more extensive services for a larger organization, these providers can design and implement solutions that align with your goals and compliance needs.
Local Expertise and Support
For businesses located in specific regions, such as San Jose, Silicon Valley, Campbell, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Los Altos, Sunnyvale, and nearby areas, finding a local HIPAA-compliant managed IT provider is crucial. ClickAway understands the regional market and can offer prompt, on-site support when needed.
Partnering with a HIPAA-compliant Managed IT Service Provider is essential for businesses in the healthcare industry. ClickAway offers expertise in regulatory compliance, data protection, and customized IT solutions, ensuring your business operates efficiently and securely. Whether you need managed IT services for small businesses or comprehensive IT support for a larger organization, choosing a HIPAA-compliant provider can enhance your operational efficiency and protect your sensitive data.
If you’re looking for reliable and compliant IT support, consider working with a local provider in your area. Whether you’re in San Jose, Silicon Valley, or any of the surrounding regions, Click Away is ready and able to meet your needs and ensure your business stays compliant and secure.
Information Source - https://clickaway.com/businesses-should-work-with-hipaa-compliant-it-services/
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Data is one of the most valuable assets for businesses. From critical financial records to sensitive customer information, safeguarding your data is crucial. While cloud backup solutions offer convenience and accessibility, having a physical data backup is equally important. Here’s why combining both strategies is essential for comprehensive data protection.
Comprehensive Data Security
Relying solely on cloud backups can leave your business vulnerable to various risks. Cyberattacks, such as ransomware, can compromise cloud storage, potentially leading to data loss or corruption. Physical data backups provide an additional layer of security, ensuring your data remains intact even if your cloud storage is compromised. ClickAway can help you implement a robust data protection strategy that includes both cloud and physical backups.
Protection Against Cloud Failures
Cloud services, though reliable, are not immune to outages and failures. Events like server downtimes, cyberattacks on cloud providers, or even natural disasters affecting data centers can disrupt access to your data. Having a physical backup ensures that your critical business information is always accessible, regardless of cloud service interruptions. IT support companies specializing in managed IT solutions can set up and maintain physical backup systems tailored to your business needs.
Faster Data Recovery
In the event of data loss, the speed of recovery is crucial. While cloud backups can offer quick recovery options, restoring large volumes of data from the cloud can be time-consuming, especially if you have limited internet bandwidth. Physical backups, on the other hand, allow for faster data recovery, minimizing downtime and ensuring your business operations continue smoothly. Managed IT support services can provide solutions that integrate both cloud and physical backups for efficient data recovery.
Enhanced Control and Ownership
With physical backups, you have complete control over your data storage. You can manage how and where your data is stored, ensuring it meets your specific security and compliance requirements. This is particularly important for businesses that need to comply with regulations like HIPAA. A managed IT services provider can help you establish and maintain physical backup systems that align with regulatory standards and your business objectives.
Cost-Effective Solutions
While cloud storage can be cost-effective for storing large amounts of data, ongoing costs can add up over time. Physical backups can be a cost-effective alternative, especially for archiving older, less frequently accessed data. By combining cloud and physical backups, businesses can optimize their data storage costs while ensuring robust protection. IT MSP companies can assist in developing a balanced approach that leverages both types of storage to maximize cost efficiency.
Redundancy and Reliability
Redundancy is a key principle in data protection. Having both cloud and physical backups ensures that your data is stored in multiple locations, reducing the risk of total data loss. This redundancy enhances the reliability of your data protection strategy, providing peace of mind that your information is safe and recoverable. Managed IT services for small businesses can help implement redundant backup systems tailored to your specific needs.
Customized Backup Solutions
Every business has unique data storage and protection needs. A one-size-fits-all approach does not work when it comes to data backups. ClickAway can offer customized solutions that incorporate both cloud and physical backups, ensuring your data is protected according to your specific requirements. Whether you need managed IT services for small businesses or comprehensive IT support for a larger organization, tailored solutions provide the best protection for your data.
Local Expertise and Support
For businesses in specific regions, such as San Jose, Silicon Valley, Campbell, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Los Altos, Sunnyvale, and nearby areas, partnering with a local IT service provider can offer significant advantages. ClickAway understands the regional challenges and can offer prompt, on-site support when needed.
Protecting your business information is paramount. White cloud backups offer many benefits, having a physical data backup is essential for comprehensive protection. Combining both strategies ensures robust security, faster recovery, and enhanced control over your data. ClickAway can help you implement a balanced approach that leverages the strengths of both cloud and physical backups.
If you’re looking for reliable and comprehensive IT support, consider partnering with a managed IT service provider in your area. Whether you’re in San Jose, Silicon Valley, or any of the surrounding regions, ClickAway is ready to meet your backup and data protection needs, ensuring your business stays secure and resilient.
Information Source: - https://clickaway.com/physical-data-backups-are-great-additions-to-your-cloud-backup/
Introduction:
So, you want a custom desktop computer. There is a lot to consider.
The objective for building a custom computer is to select a set of components that when assembled produces a system for your particular use with your personal best tradeoffs among performance, quality, physical size, aesthetics, power consumption, ability to adapt to the future, and of course, cost.
Customs are built from the following components:
1. CPU
2. Graphics Card
3. Motherboard
4. RAM
5. Storage
6. CPU Cooler
7. Power Supply Unit
8. Case and Fans
9. Operating System
To select a set of components, start with the custom’s primary task. Custom computers are usually built for gaming, trading, 3D modeling, video editing, or AI. The first step is to determine the performance requirements for your platform. If you are a gamer, what games do you want to play and at what level? What are the recommended requirements for those games at the level you want to play? If you want a custom computer for trading, 3D modeling, video editing, or AI, what software platforms will you be using? What are the recommended requirements for those platforms? The second step is to determine the most demanding requirements, and those will be the requirements for your custom computer.
The components listed above are numbered because the decisions on the higher numbered components are dependent on the lower numbered component decisions. Components 1 through 8 should be selected in that order. Select each component to meet or exceed the platform requirements for that component and compatibility with the components that have already been selected.
In this post, we will focus on selecting components for gaming custom computers because they constitute the vast majority. The principles and methods for other custom computers are very similar. We will not address the assembly process in this post.
Gaming Custom Computer
CPU
While we could get into a mind-numbing discussion of CPU core counts and clock speeds, there are really only two decisions about CPUs for gaming:
Intel versus AMD, and
Performance level
Intel and AMD compete in the CPU market, and the lead switches back and forth fairly often. As this post is being written, AMD CPUs provide slightly better price/performance for high-end gaming, but the situation could change quickly. For Intel, current generation i5 CPUs are the minimum we would recommend for gaming. If the games you want to play recommend i7 or i9 CPUs, then that is the requirement. For AMD, current generation Ryzen 5 CPUs are the minimum we would recommend for gaming. If the games you want to play recommend a Ryzen 7 or 9, then that is your requirement. If you are on the fence, consider future-proofing by choosing the higher performance option.
For gaming computers, your CPU does not need to include onboard graphics. CPUs with onboard graphics typically cost more, and your graphics card will handle the graphics work.
Graphics Card
Graphics cards are responsible for generating the images for your monitors. Different games are capable of different resolutions, image detail levels, and frame rates. However, you can decide how much of that capability is important to you. Do you want 2k or 4K resolution? Do you want 60 or 200 Frames Per Second (FPS). Do you want good or ultra-realistic image detail and smoothness? It’s not only about your monitor’s capabilities. Higher FPS can also reduce image latency.
There are four graphic card decisions:
Nvidia versus AMD Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) chip,
Graphics Card Brand,
Performance level, and
Monitor connector types.
Graphics card performance is a function of the number of cores, core functionality and clock speed of the chip, and the amount and type (DDR_) of Video Random Access Memory (VRAM). Higher specs require more cooling heat exchangers and fans and larger size. The length of your graphics card will probably dictate the length of your case.
Recently, Nvidia has been leading in chip technology and performance, while AMD has been lower priced. To future-proof your custom computer, we strongly recommend that you make sure your graphics card supports ray tracing (Nvidia RTX series or AMD RX series).
Currently, we think that Gigabyte, XFX, MSI, and ASUS make the quality Nvidia-based graphics cards. AMD manufactures its own cards.
The graphics card performance decision is a trade-off between image quality/reality versus cost.
Newer gaming monitors support HDMI and DisplayPort connections, so your graphics card should too.
Some graphics cards sport RGB lighting and some don’t. If RGB is important to you, select a card that provides it.
Using Scalable Link Interface (SLI), two graphics cards can be connected to provide significantly better performance. Obviously, the motherboard must have two PCIe slots to use SLI. Clearly, this option add significant cost.
Motherboard
Of all the components required to build a custom computer, the motherboard has the most specifications to consider.
Form Factor
A motherboard’s form factor indicates its size and shape. While there are a number of motherboard form factor standards, ATX and Micro-ATX are the only two that are practical for gaming custom computers. ATX is bigger, and we recommend it for maximum flexibility. ATX motherboards typically support four RAM slots, two graphics cards, and multiple M.2 NVME drives, while Micro-ATX motherboards do not.
CPU Socket and Compatibility
You have already selected a CPU, so be sure the motherboard you select has the correct socket and is compatible.
Chipset
The chipset provides critical functionality that is not provided by the CPU. If the motherboard says it supports your CPU, then clearly the chipset on the motherboard does too. In some cases, there may be multiple chip set generations capable of supporting a given CPU. We recommend that you select a motherboard with the most current generation chip set that supports your CPU.
RAM Slots
Virtually all ATX motherboards have four RAM slots, while Micro-ATX cards typically have two. Be sure that you select a motherboard that support the RAM type (DDR_) and speed your CPU can handle.
PCIe Slots
ATX motherboards typically have two PCIe slots that are usually used for graphics cards, while micro-ATX motherboards have one.
M.2 NVME Drive Slots
Some motherboards provide more than one slot for M.2 NVME drives. If you plan to have more than one M.2 NVME in your system, be sure you select a motherboard that has enough slots.
Ports
All motherboards have SATA, USB, and audio ports. There are many USB types. Be sure the motherboard you select has enough of the right types of ports for your intended use.
Networking
Your custom computer should have networking capability. We recommend that you select a motherboard that supports both Ethernet and WiFi. To future-proof, be sure the motherboard’s Ethernet port will support 1Gb/s and its WiFi supports WiFi 6.
Other Features:
Motherboards must also regulate power, dissipate heat, and power and control fans, cooling, and RGB. Voltage Regulator Module (VRM) numbers and quality are major factors in supporting overclocking. Higher quality motherboards have more and better VRMs and, as a result, cost more. Those VRMs generate significant heat, and the motherboard must have sufficient heat exchangers to dissipate it. All customs need a CPU cooler and fans to exhaust the generated heat. Be sure the motherboard you select has the required headers to power and control the cooler and fans.
Some gamers like RGB, and some don’t. If you want your custom to have RGB, be sure your motherboard has the appropriate headers and functionality.
Windows 11 requires that the motherboard have a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip. Since Windows 10 only has a limited lifetime, be sure the motherboard you select has a TPM chip.
RAM
Compatibility:
RAM must be compatible with your CPU and motherboard. The motherboard will specify the RAM type, typically DDR4 or DDR5, the speed in Millions of Transfers per Second (MT/s) and will have a list of qualified RAM by manufacturer and model. For future-proofing, DDR5 is preferable to DDR4. If you select RAM with a higher MT/s rating than your motherboard supports, the motherboard will adjust. Be sure you select RAM that is listed as qualified for your motherboard.
Capacity:
How many gigabytes (GB) of RAM do you need for the games you want to play? We recommend a minimum of 16GB for gaming computers, but you may need more for certain games that depend less on graphics card performance.
Other Features:
Motherboard RAM slots are usually placed right next to the CPU. If you are considering an air cooler, be sure the physical height of the RAM stick will not interfere with the cooler’s heat exchanger fins. Some RAM has cooling fins on top; some also sports RGB; both of those features increase the RAM’s physical height.
Not all RAM brands and models are built with the same quality, and relative quality changes through time. You can check out your possibilities on the internet or ask ClickAway for our opinion.
Storage
All modern gaming motherboards support M.2 NVMe SSDs, and they are significantly faster than 2.5” SSDs. NVMe SSDs are available from 256GB up to 4TB. For performance and durability reasons, SSDs should never get anywhere close to full. We recommend NVMe capacity of at least 3 or 4 times your current storage needs. Most users find it easier to manage their storage on a single drive.
Not all NVMe SSD brands and models are built with the same quality, and relative quality changes through time. You can check out your possibilities on the internet or ask ClickAway for our opinion.
CPU Cooler
Compatibility:
A CPU cooler is mounted on top of the CPU installed on the motherboard. There must be a layer of thermal paste between the CPU and cooler. The cooler’s baseplate must cover the CPU’s Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS), and the mounting bracket must be designed for the motherboard. Be sure you select a CPU cooler that is compatible with your CPU and motherboard.
Type:
There are two types of CPU coolers: air and liquid. An air cooler conducts heat away from its baseplate, through heat pipes, to heat exchanger fins; then one or two fans exhaust the heat. A liquid cooler conducts heat away from its baseplate, to a liquid pump, through liquid in hoses or plastic pipes, to a radiator; then one to three fans exhaust the heat. Liquid coolers can be all-in-one (AIO) where the pump, hoses, and radiator are a single unit, or can be assembled from kits. To avoid leaks and keep assembly simpler for liquid coolers, we strongly recommend AIOs.
Considerations:
Surprisingly, benchmarks show that the best air coolers are actually more efficient than the best liquid coolers. While modern all-in-one liquid coolers rarely leak, if they do, serious damage can result; electricity and liquids do not mix well. Liquid coolers also lose liquid over time to absorption and evaporation and, therefore, have limited service lives. Air coolers do not have those problems, but they occupy more space and can create RAM clearance problems. Liquid coolers can support RGB, while air coolers do not.
We think Noctua makes the best air coolers, and Lian Li, Cooler Master, and Corsair make the best liquid coolers.
The height of an air cooler will dictate the depth of the case. The length of the radiator may dictate the height or length of the case depending on where it is mounted.
Cooling Capacity:
Each CPU has a specified maximum temperature measured in degrees Celsius (C) – typically around 90. The CPU cooler must be capable of maintaining the CPU temperature comfortably below that maximum under the most strenuous loads. Higher capacity air coolers have more and better heat pipes and fins and better and possibly more fans. Higher capacity liquid coolers have bigger pumps and radiators and more fans.
Be sure to select a CPU cooler that can maintain the temperature below the maximum. Once the custom is built, we strongly recommend installing temperature monitoring software and being sure CPU idle temperatures are in the high 20s or low 30s, and maximum temperatures do not exceed 85. You do not want to burn up your brand new CPU.
Power Supply Unit (PSU)
Your custom computer will need an ATX power supply that has sufficient capacity measured in watts (w) to power all the system components. CPUs and graphics cards consume the most power, but the other components’ requirements must be satisfied too. Look up the power requirements for your components and then plug them into at least one of the online power supply calculators to determine the required capacity. We recommend adding about 200w as a safety margin and to future-proof.
We strongly recommend fully modular power supplies to minimize bulk and cable routing work.
Power supplies come with various efficiency ratings: 80 Plus bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Over a power supply’s lifetime, the number of wasted kilowatt hours can add up. To avoid wasting electricity we recommend at least 80 Plus Gold.
Not all power supplies are built to the same quality and durability standards, and their warranties vary. We think Seasonic is a great choice.
Case and Fans
The case decision is about size, air flow, and features.
Size:
The case must be capable of mounting and have room for all of the components. It must have mounts for the motherboard: ATX or micro-ATX.
The case must be long enough from front to back to mount the graphics card.
If you selected a liquid cooler and want to mount the radiator on the top, the top must be long and wide enough and have mounts for the radiator. If you selected a liquid cooler and want to mount the radiator on the front, the front must be tall and wide enough and have mounts for the radiator.
If you selected an air cooler, the case must be wide enough from side to side for the cooler to fit between the motherboard and the left side as you face the case.
Be sure there is enough room on the right side of the case (behind the motherboard) for neat cable routing.
Air Flow:
To keep all of the custom computer’s components cool, the case must provide good air flow. The best cases allow air to flow straight in the front, through the case, and out the back with a minimum of obstacles. Typically, they have either fans or a radiator on the front and a fan in the back. The idea is to push the air into the case from the front and pull it out the back. Some cases also have a fan on the bottom pushing air up toward the graphics card to provide extra cooling. We especially like the NZXT Flow H5 and Fractal Design Torrent and Meshify cases.
Other Features:
If you plan on RGB, be sure the case you select has a glass side panel. If you plan to have 2.5” SATA storage drives, be sure the case you select has a good place to mount them. USB and audio ports on the front or on the top near the front of the case are convenient.
Operating System
Your custom computer will need an operating system, and once it is installed, it will be associated with the motherboard. Almost all gamers choose Windows. Technically, you have a choice between Windows 10 and Windows 11. However, Windows 10 is approaching end of life, so we recommend Windows 11.
RGB
While RGB is not a component unto itself, it is a possible feature on several components. If you want RGB and want sophisticated control functionality, you should be aware that motherboard, CPU cooler, graphic card, and RAM manufacturers have not agreed on a standard way to control RGB. Therefore, you may want to consider selecting as many of those components as possible from the same manufacturer.
Conclusion
After reading this post, most readers may be a bit overwhelmed with the number and complexity of dependencies and decisions to be made. Frequently, customers come into ClickAway with a collection of parts that they were trying to assemble into a custom computer, but they hit one or more brick walls because the parts were not compatible or were not well chosen. Clickaway would be happy to consult with you to assure you end up with a custom computer that is best for you.
If you have never built a custom computer, it’s not as simple as it looks. If you don’t know the correct order of assembly and some of the tricks, it can become extremely frustrating. ClickAway also offers assembly services.
Information Source: - https://clickaway.com/custom-computers-how-to-select-components/
Introduction:
Everybody who signs into websites or uses secure applications has passwords – probably a bunch of them. How secure are your passwords? Are you sure? This post may shake your confidence, but it will also guide you on how to create and use secure passwords.
How Easy Is It to Crack Passwords?
Websites and applications do not save your password in text form; they save a cryptographic hash of it. Passwords like “password”, a pet name, or a common word can be cracked almost instantly using a special dictionary of common password components.
It was based on the time to crack a password hash using a desktop computer with a top-of-the-line graphics card and the time using cloud computer resources. At best, these are optimistic estimates.
Bottom Line: your current passwords probably are not strong enough.
Password Security:
Three attributes are critical to creating truly secure passwords:
Length
Randomness
Uniqueness
Typically, websites and application will not accept a password less than eight characters long. As passwords get longer than eight characters, they become exponentially more difficult to guess or crack. In most cases, websites and applications can accept passwords up to 64 characters long.
Truly random sequences of numbers, upper-case letters, lower-case letters, and symbols are much harder to guess or crack than passwords composed of words in a dictionary, or names and numbers that are easily discovered as associated with you. Humans are not good at creating truly random sequences, so that job is better done by a tool designed and tested for the purpose.
If the same password is used for multiple websites and applications, once hackers access it in one place, they can easily use it in other places.
Human Limitations:
Human short-term memory capability is limited. The most relevant memory capability measure when thinking about passwords is span: the number of sequential chucks of information we can hold in our short-term memory. Span varies with the type of information to be remembered and is around seven for digits, around six for letters, and around five for words. As a side note, that’s why phone numbers are seven digits long. Long-term memories are created by transferring them from short-term memory, but only important, frequently used, and/or highly associated information is transferred. Therefore, long-term memory is even more limited than short-term memory. Since passwords are sequences of digits, letters, and symbols, our ability to remember them is quite limited.
Worse yet, we need passwords for many websites and applications, but the uniqueness requirement says each one should be different. Humans are not good at remembering a large number of such associations.
Dilemma:
Cyber security calls for long, random, and unique passwords. We see advice all the time telling us not to write passwords down. However, humans do better remembering a small number of short sequences that make sense (not random) – especially if they are written down. How can we resolve this direct conflict?
Password Managers:
Password managers are software applications that store, fill in, create, and manage passwords for users’ websites, online accounts, and applications. Password managers can create long, truly random, and unique passwords for you and then store them in an encrypted format. After the password manager creates a password, you will need to go to the website, account, or application and update the password to the one created by the manager. You do not need to remember those passwords. Whenever a password is required, the password manager can fill it in for you. You only need to remember one secure master password to access the manager.
There are a number of available password managers with various pros and cons. Some even have good free versions. ClickAway would be happy to discuss your particular password situation and recommend and install an appropriate tool.
Write Down Usernames and Passwords:
The common advice about not writing down credentials is more likely to prevent you from accessing your own information than preventing some bad guy from accessing it. We have to help customers recover forgotten or lost passwords all the time. Recording your credentials on paper (not a computer file) stored in a safe location will ensure that you never have to experience that problem. With a password manager, you will probably only need to write down one set of credentials.
If you decide not to use a password manager, keep a written list of credentials (both usernames and passwords) for every website, account, and application you use; keep it up to date; and store it in a safe place.
Conclusion:
Weak passwords can give bad guys access to your valuable data and accounts. Forgetting your password can deny you access to your valuable data and accounts. Why take those chances? ClickAway recommends that you install and use a password manager and that you have it create random passwords that are at least 16 characters long. Make sure the master password is itself secure. Write down your important website, account, and application credentials on paper, not a computer file, and store the document somewhere safe.
Information Source: - https://clickaway.com/passwords-how-to-make-sure-they-are-secure/
Introduction:
We have grown very dependent on our technology devices, so it’s natural to want to take them with us when we travel. However, traveling with phones, tablets, or laptop computers exposes them to more threats than normal including liquid and physical damage, theft, loss, and cyber attacks. Planes, cars, trains, and hotels are technology-hostile environments. The following recommendations are gleaned from millions of miles of business and personal travel as well as customer experiences.
Liquid Damage:
Don’t put a water bottle in the same backpack or carryon as your phone, tablet, or laptop computer. Seems obvious, but we see the consequences all the time. Water bottles are prone to leaking anyway, but on planes, the pressure changes significantly increase the probabilities.
Don’t have drinks and your devices on airplane seatback trays at the same time. Turbulence or someone accidentally bumping into the seat or tray can cause liquid damage.
Liquid spills cause costly damage to devices or outright kill them almost immediately due to short circuits or, after a time delay, due to corrosion.
If your device was exposed to liquid and was turned off, do not turn it on. If it was on, turn it off immediately, and don’t turn it back on. You can wipe off the exterior, but don’t try to dry it out with rice or a hairdryer. Do not try to test it. Bring it in as soon as possible for a professional to try to save it.
Physical Damage:
Checked luggage is exposed to extreme handling shocks, cold, heat, and rain. Carryon luggage falls out of overhead bins all the time. Devices get cooked in very hot cars or used outside in bright sunlight. When you’re travelling, before you put valuable technology anywhere, think about its safety, and don’t expose it to unnecessary risk.
Theft:
Leaving your valuable devices unattended in airports, cars, or hotel rooms or putting them in checked luggage is an invitation to thieves. Keep them with you at all times, and be vigilant.
Loss:
Travelers absent-mindedly leave valuable devices in airplanes, trains, taxis, rental cars, buses, hotels, and restaurants. Sometimes, with significant effort and/or expense, they get them back, and sometimes they don’t. If you’re travelling for business, your schedule may be hectic and your surroundings unfamiliar. It’s pretty easy to get distracted. If you’re travelling for pleasure, the whole point is to relax in unfamiliar surroundings. It’s pretty easy to lose focus. When you’re travelling, make a special effort to keep track of your technology.
Cyber attacks:
Using unfamiliar networks is an unfortunate fact of life for travelers. Most public networks are not very secure. The probability of exposure to cyber security threats is much higher when travelling. To avoid infections and attacks, your devices should be protected by a defense-in-depth. Check out our posts about security for more guidance.
Unless you are certain that the network that you’re using is secure, avoid doing anything online that would expose your sensitive information, e.g. banking or credit card transactions.
Security Scanners:
Travelers frequently question the safety of security scanners. Security scanners use very low levels of radiation and/or magnetic fields to detect dangerous objects and are not a significant threat.
Conclusion:
We’re all very dependent on our technology devices, so we want them with us when we travel. Travel exposes them to more threats. So, be careful out there. clickaway computer services is always happy to help you keep your devices safe.
Information Source: - https://clickaway.com/how-to-travel-with-your-tech/
Introduction:
If you connect your technology to a network or plug in any type of portable storage device, there are bad guys out there trying to attack you. Without protection, some of those attacks will succeed. You have probably heard of at least some forms of attack: viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, keyloggers, ransomware, adware, and rootkits. The good news is that you don’t need to be a cyber-security expert with detailed knowledge of attacks and protection tools to protect yourself. However, you do need to know a few basics and to take responsibility for getting them in place.
The Basics:
There are five basic components to home and small business security:
Secure wireless network credentials,
A capable and properly configured firewall,
Capable anti-malware software,
Phishing attack awareness and avoidance
Backup.
Together, they provide a layered defense (a defense-in-depth) against cyber-attacks. In this blog post, we’ll introduce the basic defense layers. In other blogs, we will provide enough information about each layer to protect yourself. But first, why should you care?
The Risk:
Successful cyber-attacks can be extremely expensive and disruptive. If your technology stores financial data, your bank and credit card accounts might be drained, and you may have to shut down all of your existing accounts and open new ones. If your technology stores personal data, your identity might be stolen. If the data stored on your technology is valuable, it might be held for ransom or erased. The technology upon which you depend might be rendered unusable, which could disrupt your life and/or business.
Secure Wireless Network Credentials:
When you first get your network router, it will have a default username and password. If you do not change them, your wireless network is vulnerable to a fairly easy attack. An attacker would only need to park near your home or workplace, and try the most common default credentials to gain access to your network. Your job, here, is simple: if you have not already done so, change your router’s username and password to secure ones and write them down somewhere secure.
Firewalls:
A firewall is a network security component that prevents unauthorized access to a network. It inspects incoming and outgoing messages using a set of security rules to identify and block threats. Firewalls can be implemented as physical network hardware devices, software that runs on network routers, or as software that runs in your computer. Your job, here, is to be sure a firewall is installed and properly configured. That does not mean you have to install and configure it yourself. ClickAway can help you put this layer in place.
Capable Anti-Malware Software:
The word “malware” derives from malicious software. Malware is software designed to gain unauthorized access to systems and then do harm. Its purpose might be theft, extortion, damage, or disruption. Malware infects systems either through networks or plug-in storage devices.
Not surprisingly, anti-malware software is designed to prevent malware infections.
Beware, however, not all antimalware software offerings are equal. Some of the best-known offerings are ineffective, inefficient, and annoying. One is even Russian-owned.
Most offerings have free versions, but the paid versions offer significant advantages. The paid versions automatically and frequently update their threat profiles, do regularly-scheduled and manual scans, facilitate quarantining threats, and in some cases, offer real-time network and plug-in protection. The free versions only do manual scans, and many do no not have quarantining functionality.
ClickAway recommends, sells, and installs best-in-class anti-malware software, and we would be happy to help you get this layer of security in place.
Phishing Attack Awareness and Avoidance:
Phishing is an attack that tries to fool you into giving a hacker with malicious intent access to your technology. It starts when you receive an email, phone call, or text message that appears to come from a company or person you know but is actually from a bad actor trying to get access to your technology for malicious purposes. The idea is to either scare or entice you into calling, clicking on a button or link, or responding to a text message. The majority of phishing attackers impersonate big banks or credit card companies, technology companies like Microsoft and Apple, or online retailers like Amazon.
Some antimalware software may protect you from email-launched malware. However, no antimalware software can protect you from harm if you give a bad actor remote access to your technology.
The only effective protection is your awareness of the risk, being skeptical of calls, emails, and text messages like those described above, and avoiding giving strangers access to your technology. If you have even the slightest doubt, call ClickAway before giving anyone access to your technology.
Backup:
Even if all the protection layers above are in place, there is still a small probability that a new, novel attack might succeed. What happens then? The last layer of protection is a current backup of your valuable data or your entire system. With that backup, ClickAway can quickly restore your system to a pre-attack state and significantly mitigate your risk.
If you are not doing regularly-scheduled backups, ClickAway will be happy to help you set up a backup program.
Conclusion:
The risk associated with cyber-attacks can be huge. Protecting yourself is relatively easy, and the cost is a small fraction of the risk. If you do not have all of these layers in place, please take action now.
You can get more details from other ClickAway security blog posts:
Firewalls – Don’t Get Burned.
Anti-Malware – What You Need to Know.
What Is Phishing and How Not to Get Caught?
Backup – What You Need and How to Do It.
Original Source: - https://clickaway.com/how-to-keep-your-technology-secure-the-big-picture/
Malware:
The word “malware” derives from malicious software. Malware is software designed to gain unauthorized access to systems and then do harm. Its purpose might be theft, extortion, damage, or disruption. Malware infects systems either through networks or plug-in storage devices.
You have probably heard of at least some forms of malware: viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, key loggers, ransom ware, adware, and root kits. The only things that you really need to know about them are that they pose a huge risk and that you need capable anti-malware software installed to prevent them.
The Risk:
Successful malware attacks can be extremely expensive and disruptive. If your technology stores financial data, your bank and credit card accounts might be drained, and you may have to shut down all of your existing accounts and open new ones. If your technology stores personal data, your identity might be stolen. If the data stored on your technology is valuable, it might be held for ransom or erased. The technology upon which you depend might be rendered unusable, which could disrupt your life and/or business.
Anti-Malware Software:
Not surprisingly, anti-malware software is designed to prevent malware infections.
Beware; however, not all antimalware software offerings are equal. Some of the best-known offerings are ineffective, inefficient, and annoying. They are ineffective because they do not detect and remove all threats. They are inefficient because they take too long to do their job, and they slow your device down by consuming way too much of its resources. They are annoying because they continually bombard you with ads and unnecessary messages. One is even offered by a Russian-owned company, and Russia is home to many malware developers.
All anti-malware software offerings scan your system to detect and report threats. The best ones scan your system’s memory; startup items, the registry, and files system. Most offerings have free versions, but the paid versions offer significant advantages. The paid versions automatically and frequently update their threat profiles, do regularly-scheduled and manual scans, facilitate quarantining threats, and in some cases, offer real-time network and plug-in protection. The free versions only do manual scans, and many do no not have quarantining functionality. Given the risks outlined above, click away computer services strongly recommends paid offerings.
Click Away recommends, sells, and installs best-in-class anti-malware software, and we would be happy to help you get this layer of security in place.
Original Source: - https://clickaway.com/anti-malware-software-what-you-need-to-know/
First, the bad news: if your computer has access to the internet, bad guys on the internet could have access to your computer to carry out a cyber attack. Now, the good news: a properly configured, capable firewall will provide an important layer of protection.
What is a firewall?
A firewall is a security component that blocks unauthorized message traffic from entering and/or leaving a network. Network messages are sent in packets, and firewalls inspect those packets against a set of rules to identify and block threats. Those rules can be based on message source, destination, and/or content. For example, you could configure rules that block messages from specific countries or websites. Firewalls can be implemented as physical network hardware devices, software that runs on network routers, or as software that runs in your computer.
What is the best firewall for you?
Most of our customers’ networks serve homes or small businesses. For those applications, separate physical hardware devices are usually overkill.
To access the internet, your network needs a router and it is typically integrated with a modem in a device called a gateway. The router/gateway may be provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), or you may provide your own. These days, almost all routers/gateways have integrated firewalls, and they should be turned on.
Windows, Apple IOS, and Linux operating systems all have built-in software firewalls. The Windows firewall is usually enabled by default, but it is possible that is disabled; you should check to be sure it is enabled. The IOS firewall cannot be disabled. The Linux firewall is disabled by default, so it should be enabled. You can also buy add-on software firewalls.
For the typical home or small office, the combination of the router and operating system firewalls is probably a good choice.
Configuration
In most cases, the default firewall configuration is a good starting point but may not protect you against all of the threats you are experiencing. Most of our customers are probably uncomfortable configuring their firewalls. Call or visit a Click Away store to get help.
Warning
While a firewall is a necessary protection layer for your network, it is not sufficient. You also need high quality antimalware software by Click Away best computer services near me. Please see our blog post on antimalware software for more information.
Resource URL: - https://clickawaytech.blogspot.com/2023/12/firewalls-dont-get-burned.html
Protecting your technology from cyber attacks is very important, but even if you have good antimalware software and properly configured firewalls on your devices, hackers may still attack your devices by phishing. No, that’s not a misspelling.
Phishing is an attack that tries to fool you into giving a hacker with malicious intent access to your technology.
The Risk:
Successful phishing attacks can be extremely expensive and disruptive. If your technology stores financial data, your accounts might be drained, and you may have to shut down all of your existing accounts and open new ones. If your technology stores personal data, your identity might be stolen. If the data stored on your technology is valuable, it might be held for ransom.
How Phishing Attacks Work:
A phishing attack starts when you receive an email, phone call, or text message that appears to come from a company or person you know but is actually from a bad actor trying to get access to your technology for malicious purposes. The idea is to either scare or entice you into calling, clicking on a button or link, or responding to a text message.
The majority of phishing attackers impersonate big banks or credit card companies, technology companies like Microsoft and Apple, or online retailers like Amazon.
The call, email, or text message may say that there is some problem with your device and the caller/ sender can help you get that resolved. Or it may describe an enticing offer. If the bad actor gets you to call, he will try to get you to install some remote access software and give him permission to use it. If the bad actor gets you to click on a button or link in an email or respond to a text message, that will launch a program that gives the bad actor access. Once the bad actor has access to your technology, he will install some form of malware which he plans to use later to extract data, corrupt your device, and/or set up a ransom situation.
If you are an Apple user, be especially warry of giving anyone you don’t personally know your Apple ID It can be used to cause all kinds of harm. The same goes for Microsoft Account credentials.
Protection:
Some antimalware software may protect you from email-launched malware. No antimalware software can protect you from harm if you give a bad actor remote access to your technology.
The only effective protection is your awareness of the risk, being skeptical of calls, emails, and text messages like those described above, and avoiding giving strangers access to your technology. Don’t go for the bait.
Recommendations:
No reputable manufacturer or software company will call you about issues on your device or ask for payment to help. If an email seems too good to be true, it probably is bogus. Click Away recommends:
Never give anyone you don’t personally know permission to install or use a remote access tool.
If you have any concerns about an email, check that its email address domain (last 2 elements: xxxxxx.xxx) matches the real company’s website and is spelled correctly. If the email seems bogus, don’t open it; just delete it. You can always use the real company’s website to contact them.
Never call a phone number on an email. If you want to call a company, go to their website, and get their real phone number.
Always be extremely skeptical. Better safe than sorry. When in doubt, give Click Away a call also you can search for the shop click away near me.
Back up your data frequently to reduce potential financial risk.
If you think you have been successfully phished, immediately contact any financial institutions where you have accounts that might be affected, turn off your device, and bring it in to Click Away for a free malware scan.
Resource URL: - https://clickawaytech.blogspot.com/2023/11/what-is-phishing-and-how-not-to-get.html