Stay Clear of Hackers This Thanksgiving Weekend

by Jacob Acker | Nov 24, 2021 | Cyberattacks, Hackers

According to pcmag.com, “U.S. Warns Hackers Will Try to Strike During Thanksgiving Weekend“. Moreover, US cyber authorities are urging companies, especially operators of critical infrastructure, to shore up their defenses during the coming holidays.

IT’S ALL ABOUT TIMING…

The root cause of the prediction is entirely based on employees being out for a given period of time, leaving technical infrastructure alone. They also state, “Recent history tells us that this could be a time when these persistent cyber actors halfway across the world are looking for ways—big and small—to disrupt the critical networks and systems belonging to organizations, businesses, and critical infrastructure,” the agencies said.

Ultimately, the authorities are nervous about hackers spreading ransomware to a victim’s network. As you may know, the idea behind ransomware is to cripple your files so that you have little to no access – to which hackers request a “ransom” (money) to open your network back up to you. And of course, there’s always the sweat about having your employees personal data, files, and the businesses most confidential information stolen.

“There haven’t been any specific events made by hackers thus far, but authorities also have noticed these attacks coming during holidays or weekends”, the agencies said.

As a result, the ongoing issue has prompted the Biden administration to make fighting ransomware a national security priority.

With that being said, we recommend your company take action to protect yourself against smaller, minor acts of ransomware and attacks from hackers. It’s only becoming more popular, and the time to protect your company’s assets is now. Get ahold of us today to see how we can help.

Say Hello to Windows 11

by Jacob Acker | Nov 3, 2021 | Software

PCs are now part of every day, and being in that central position, means you need them to offer various features for maximized productivity. Windows 11 does just that, to bring you closer to what you love.

Windows is always on the front line of the world’s innovation, pushing global business ahead with productivity features. After all, even the web grew out of Windows. It is the place you go to create, connect, learn, and achieve goals.

Windows 11 is ready to take this to another level. Here are some of the highlights that will empower your productivity and inspire creativity.

WINDOWS 11 FEATURED HIGHLIGHTS

Work with ease on fresh, clean, and beautiful new design with modern sounds.
At Start, you have all your content in a single interface. It uses Microsoft 365 powers to show all recent files and all devices you viewed them from.
Multitasking is effortless with the Snap Groups, Desktops, and Snap Layouts.
Connect seamlessly with colleagues, friends, and family using Microsoft Teams integrated into your taskbar.
You also experience the power of AI with the new widget’s features, where you get fast access to the information you need. With the improved performance of Microsoft Edge, you enjoy speed and fast productivity features, allowing you to use the web more efficiently.=
Gamers benefit more from the full potential of the system’s hardware with technologies like Auto HDR, DirectStorage, and DirectX12 Ultimate.
Enjoy a whole new Microsoft Store allowing you to search and discover all your favorite games, apps, and movies in a trusted location.
Windows 11 has new accessibility tools that allow people with disabilities to access it better than ever before.

As the most trusted managed IT service provider, ICS Data strives to keep you up to date with the changes in technology. Although we still don’t offer Windows 11 services, stick around for its rollout soon. Contact us today for any queries.

10 Little-Known Google Docs Features

by Jacob Acker | Oct 13, 2021 | Cloud Services, Google

We’ll admit, we can’t take credit for finding these Google Docs features (as anyone could discover them, and someone did). We’re here to communicate it to you.

If you use Google Docs, you’re one of G-Suite’s 2,000,000,000 monthly active users.

However, you may not be using it to its full potential.

Here are 10 little-known features that will save you countless hours (so you can work faster):

CHECK OUT THESE GOOGLE DOCS FEATURES:

1. Need to create a new document?

Simply type docs.new in the browser.

When in need of a new Google Doc, open a fresh new document instantly:

Control + N on Windows (or Command + N on Mac)
Type docs.new
Start writing

See example…

2. Have multiple Google accounts?

One of the most frustrating things with Google is switching between accounts. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you with some shortcuts:

Adding a number after the docs.new URL will create a new document under that account.

Here’s how it works:

docs.new/1 creates a new Google doc in your primary account
docs.new/2 creates a new Google doc in your secondary account

It’s mind-blowing stuff…

3. Also, this works for all G-Suite apps:

4. What happens if you’re not connected to the internet?

Make your doc available offline, and use it like Microsoft Word

5. Tired of typing? Use voice.

Instead of tiring yourself typing and continually thinking of the next topic or idea, use Voice Typing.

To enable it, click Tools → Voice Typing.

It’s smart to outline your topic and thoughts prior to attempting to type.

6. Keep your word count while writing.

Jump over to Tools → Word Count (and check the box “Display word count while typing.”)

Now, it’s pinned to the bottom of your Google doc.

7. Working inside of a large Google doc?

It’s super easy to lose your spot in Google docs.

Keep organized with a table of contents so that you’ll never lose where you’re at.

Click Insert → Table of Contents

Now, you’ll always know where you’re at!

8. Looking to find where you left off in your previous Google Doc change?

When you’re finished with your Google doc session, highlight your last sentence and leave a comment.

Be strategic and write a note of where you’re currently at. But best of all, save your thoughts for the next day: as questions, answer them, and set yourself up for success.

Stay ahead of the game.

9. Adjust access for collaborators

Access by File → Share

Access control is great if you need to share your Google doc with others.

10. Learn keyboard shortcuts to have full control over your Google docs

In order to keep yourself working fasters, you’ll want to master Google Docs’ shortcuts:

What You Need to Know About the Facebook Outage

by Jacob Acker | Oct 7, 2021 | Cyberattacks, Facebook, Hackers

A few days ago, there was an interesting series of events that caused a Facebook outage. According to Facebook Engineering, “their teams learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between their data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication. This disruption to network traffic has a cascading effect on the way their data centers communicate, bringing their services to a halt.”

So, if you noticed that your Facebook and/or Instagram page was down on Monday, that’s the explanation as to why. In the same article, they provide an apology to “all of the people and businesses around the world that rely on them.” It’s a shame to see communications errors, but as we realize, they sometimes happen to even the largest of giants.

Let’s dive a little deeper into what exactly happened…

THE FACEBOOK OUTAGE EXPLAINED

As baffling as it seems, this did actually happen. Stacked Marketer mentions, “it could have been a deal of a century.”

Because Facebook-owned properties were offline, someone performed some DNS magic on Facebook.com causing it to appear “for sale” on many registrar websites. Twitter’s founder, Jack Dorsey, was one of the first to offer to buy the domain (see image to the right).

ICS Data - Jack Dorsey's Twitter Post About Facebook Outage

WHAT DOES THIS ALL ENTAIL?

It’s true, even the biggest tech companies in the world can have failures that cause catastrophe. That’s why it’s important to understand that live [hot] changes can affect outcomes at any stage of your technological process. Meaning, it’s better to test [stage] processes before doing anything to affect internal measures.

This Facebook outage cost Mark Zuckerberg billions of dollars. Now, we’re not saying that it could cost you that much, but you would lose time, money, and possible assets in the same situation.

Let’s talk today and see what other technical adventures we can help with.

The Ultimate Guide for Hiring a Virtual Chief Information Officer

by Jacob Acker | Sep 3, 2021 | IT Services

As a top business decision-maker, not all decisions are within your control. One of them is technology. You have less say on which software or IT solutions are emerging, getting invented, or trending. However, businesses, especially SMEs, must keep up with this ever-changing technology landscape to remain afloat and competitive. But, maybe, as you might have discovered already, technology is expensive. So, how do you meander around such conditions to keep expenses lower without giving technology a blind eye? Opting for a Virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO) could be the answer.

WHO IS A vCIO?

Traditionally, companies hired an internal Chief Information Officer to oversee their IT teams and technology strategy. Large enterprises still do. But this is because they have the financial muscle to pay for full-time CIO and IT support teams.

On the flip side, small-to-medium-sized businesses rely on less-qualified, or tech-savvy employees they think knows something about computers. That’s not only unsustainable, but also very risky, especially where confidential data or system security is involved. This is where a vCIO comes to the rescue.

A vCIO, sometimes referred to as vCIO, is a part-time employee or managed service provider company like ICS Data that offers IT Solutions at a fraction of the cost. vCIOs are backed by an array of experts who can offer 24/7 support and all technology solutions competitively. vCIO is less expensive than hiring a conventional CIO and can provide your business with complete services like formulating deliberate IT goals, IT budgeting, and facilitating technological changes (e.g., relocating data to the cloud).

WHY HIRING A vCIO MAKES SENSE

1. LESS COSTLY

To continue being profitable as you expand, you have to always look for ways to scale down your business’s expenses. Outsourcing IT services from a vCIO company ensures you get the same expertise of a CIO at a fraction of the cost. Additionally, you experience predictable costs, enabling effective risk management. This is because they charge at flat rates or monthly subscriptions, which is much cheaper and convenient for SMEs.

2. FLEXIBILITY

One of the key perks of a vCIO is that they offer the flexibility SMEs require. You only pay for what’s needed. Whether it is a data backup, security, or another facet of technology you require, you have all the freedom to choose what best suits you. This also provides the benefits of hiring when there is a need. For example, if you want to develop/acquire a new software/portal, the vCIO company will provide all the proficiency from their team to get the changes faster and at a much lower price. Then later, once the more significant part is done, you can keep the maintenance service at an even lower subscription rate.

3. KNOWLEDGEABLE

A vCIO has a ton of experience and typically work in a number of different business environments. Meaning, they understand how they fit into your technology portfolio and they’re able to explain how, or if, new or differing technologies can improve an organization. They meet with their customers (on-hand / when needed) weekly, and are able to explain how technologies come into play when your demand calls for them.

vCIOs are extremely interpersonal and will make your IT solutions seem completely effortless. They streamline their solutions from A to Z, and serve as an extension of your team, keeping your IT goals in line with your businesses growth.

4. SUPPORT

An IT support company like ICS Data has a team of IT experts at its disposal. This means that you’ll not be dealing with just a single professional, but actually, it’s like having an entire IT team at a much lesser fee than it’d cost to build an in-house one. The results: 24/7 support, automatic updates, and security mitigation precautions to detect/prevent cybersecurity threats before they can cause havoc.

ICS DATA PROVIDES vCIO SERVICES

Our business exists so that yours can thrive in all matters of technology without a hassle. It has never been this easier to plan how to expand or ensure the business continues with our predictable pricing for services. At ICS Data, we believe in quick response time to ensure no situation ever escalates to unpleasant extremes. Whether it’s VoIP, security, cloud, or IT services, we promise a personalized and uniquely tailored solution to blend with what you have or stand for seamlessly. Contact us today to meet with our helpful vCIO specialists.

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