Microsoft 365 Makes Multi-Factor Authentication Easier
Microsoft is planning to enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) directly in its Outlook app for many 365 business users.
What Is Data Protection? Why It’s Important and Why Cybersecurity Can’t Be Separate
A typical data breach in the United States costs around $9.44 million—more than twice the global average. Healthcare is the top sector affected by pricey data breaches, but any business can be severely affected. Data protection and cybersecurity should be a top concern for Long Island, NYC business owners. A data breach can threaten your profits, your reputation, your employees, and your customers. It can also put your enterprise at legal risk.
If you’re wondering exactly what data protection entails – and why you should make it a priority – this article will answer some of your questions. It can be hard to distinguish between data protection and cybersecurity measures, since the two are so intertwined. Some people view cybersecurity as a technical field, and data security as more direct safeguarding measures. But this view is an oversimplification of both. We’ll explore the relationship between data protection and cybersecurity, and we’ll also take a look at how LI Tech Solutions can help you shield your business from harm.
Streamlining Healthcare Data Management with Managed IT Services in Long Island
What Is Data Protection | Long Island Tech Solutions Explains
Data protection is the act of shielding your information from unwanted access. You need to take steps to make sure sensitive information isn’t altered or destroyed—or leaked to unauthorized parties. LI Tech Solutions is the best cybersecurity company in Long Island, NYC. So naturally, we handle all aspects of data loss protection, including:
- Backup solutions, such as cloud and on-site architecture, and centralized real-time dashboards
- Disaster recovery solutions, including end-to-end encryption
What Is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is a more generalized term that describes the “art” of protecting digital networks, devices, and data and ensuring their privacy and accessibility. Malware, hacking, and the exploitation of programming errors that cause vulnerabilities are just a few of the threats that cybersecurity experts have to combat.
Why Data Protection Is So Crucial for Businesses in Long Island, NYC
At LI Tech Solutions, we understand that if disaster or sabotage strikes your business, your quick response is critical. Your data doesn’t just sit motionless. It travels from one point to another, and it’s exposed to multiple vulnerabilities along the way. There’s no such thing as data that’s free from any possible threat.
These are some primary reasons you should invest in state-of-the-art data protection for your enterprise.
Keep Employee and Client Data Confidential
You probably have access to sensitive data about your team members and customers. Personally identifiable information is a broad category that includes direct identifiers and quasi-identifiers. In other words, it refers to data that can be used on its own to identify a person, or data that can be combined with other bits of information to build an identity.
Direct identifiers include information such as:
- Social Security numbers
- Driver’s licenses
- First and last names
Four types of indirect identifiers include:
- Race
- Gender
- Birth date
- Zip code
When you allow unauthorized users to access any personal information, you expose employees and/or customers to identity theft, fraud, and other serious threats.
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Stay in Compliance with Regulatory Bodies
The GDPR and CCPA are designed to protect individuals and consumers from harm by regulating entities that access and store their data. The GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation, applies to all businesses that conduct any transactions within the EU. The CCPA, or California Consumer Privacy Act, safeguards consumers’ rights to control their own personal information. Failure to comply with regulatory bodies that govern your business can lead to legal action and fees: up to $7500 per violation of the CCPA, and a wide range of penalties for violating the GDPR. Clearly, prevention is the best approach.
Build Consumer and Market Trust
A data breach can harm your brand’s value and reputation in ways that are hard to repair. Today’s consumers care more about whether their personal information is protected than ever before. If your clients are involved in a data breach, they’ll probably stop giving you their business. Investors are also likely to shy away from companies with a reputation for poor security measures.
Protect Your Intellectual Property
Businesses in the United States lose between $180 billion and $540 billion every year when their trade secrets are stolen. On top of that, they’re often subject to hefty legal fees as they seek to rebuild after the damage caused by a data breach. When you lose control of the things that make your business unique, it can be hard to measure the financial losses involved.
Why Data Protection Is So Crucial for Businesses | Find The Best Tech Solutions in Long Island, NY
Business owners often make the mistake of handling data protection and cybersecurity as two separate entities. However, this approach is costly since it involves multiple teams, and it’s also not the most effective way to ward off threats. Let’s examine a few key reasons.
Threats Are Complex and Evolving
As technology evolves, digital threats become more sophisticated to keep pace. Those with malicious intent will stop at nothing to gain access to your data, and their skill sets are more comprehensive than ever. To stop them, you need a multi-layered approach that integrates data protection and cybersecurity skills.
Cybercriminals Can Bypass Data Protection Measures
Data protection solutions are effective for what they’re designed to do. But cybercriminals can sometimes find a way around them. For example, MFA (multi-factor authentication) might protect your devices from access by non-employees. But cybercriminals can conduct a brute force attack to simply figure out both points of authentication through trial and error.
Data Protection Skills Are Necessary When Cybercrime Strikes
After a major cybersecurity breach, your top priority is making your data secure again. This does mean implementing measures that directly address the source of the breach. But it also means taking a comprehensive approach and revisiting all your data protection policies to safeguard against the next attack.
Cybersecurity Consulting: Navigate Digital Threats With Expert MSP Solutions
How to Approach Data Protection and Cybersecurity Together | LI Tech Solutions From NY Explains
We’ve got a few tips that can help you form an integrated approach to protect your business.
Maintain a Company-Wide Culture of Data Safety
When data is handled carelessly, hackers can more easily gain access to your systems. The best way to safeguard your information is to have your data protection and cybersecurity specialists work together – and to frequently educate your entire team about proper procedures.
Ultimately, humans are often the vulnerable points in an organization that bad actors will exploit to access sensitive data. Everyone in your organization – not just your security specialists – is responsible to keep your information safe.
Opt for End-to-End Solutions
An end-to-end solution is one that provides a complete answer to a problem, without having to rely on external sources. LI Tech Solutions offers end-to-end services that protect your data from start to finish, anticipating and addressing threats on all fronts.
Partner With Specialists Who Have Multiple Services to Offer
Why hire a team of data loss protection specialists if they can’t handle other cybersecurity needs? Why invest in a cybersecurity partnership if you’ll need to find someone else to handle your data protection? If Long Island government systems are vulnerable to crippling cyberattacks, it’s clear that cybercrime is a significant threat to local businesses, too. Ultimately, the best cybersecurity company in Long Island, NYC will bring a comprehensive skill set to the table.
IT Services for Law Firms In Long Island Boost Productivity and Security
Handle All Your Data Protection and Cybersecurity Needs With the Best MSP Services in LI and New York City
As the best MSP on Long Island, LI Tech Solutions offers all the services you need, without the burden of maintaining full-time IT staff. Is it time to outsource your IT support needs to the experts? Call 516.210.6400 today and ask for a free consultation and technology assessment!
Charging in Public Places? Watch Out for “Juice Jacking”
Airports, hotels, cafés, even shopping malls, offer public charging points where you can boost your phone or laptop battery on the go. They’ve been in the news after the FBI recently tweeted advice to stop using them. Crooks have figured out how to hijack USB ports to install malware and monitoring software onto devices as they charge. The security risk …
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Criminals Are Exploiting AI to Create More Convincing Scams
One of the many cool things about the new wave of Artificial Intelligence tools is their ability to sound convincingly human. AI chatbots can be prompted to generate text that you’d never know was written by a robot. And they can keep producing it – quickly, and with minimal human intervention. So it’s no surprise that cyber criminals have been …
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Microsoft Hints at Some Exciting Windows 12 Developments
Windows 11 still feels like a new toy, yet we’ve already heard speculation about Windows 12 arriving as soon as next year. It’s all we can think about!
Best Practices for Optimizing Your IT Solutions on Long Island and NYC
As a Long Island, NY business owner, you know that IT solution optimization is more essential than ever. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us learned to do business in different ways. As many enterprises transitioned to remote work, we saw the value of capable, efficient IT solutions like never before. Now that the crisis is over, we’re left with the task of re-evaluating former practices and looking for new ways to achieve IT solution optimization on Long Island, NY.
Why Is IT Solution Optimization So Essential?
Why take the trouble to optimize your IT solutions? Quite simply, the health of your entire business can rise or fall on the success of your IT team. But striking the right balance between the costs of IT support and the team’s performance is not always easy.
Interested in finding the best practices to optimize your IT solutions on Long Island, NYC? The good news is that an MSP company like LI Tech Solutions can be the answer you’re looking for. Keep reading to discover more about IT solution optimization and the best practices you can employ today!
What Does It Mean to Optimize Your IT Solutions?
If you’re interested in IT solution optimization here on Long Island, NY, you probably want an effective IT team at an affordable cost. At its core, optimization means having your business needs met, while getting the best possible value for the funds you spend on your IT solutions. Is that really possible? With a managed service provider like LI Tech Solutions, the answer is yes!
The Changing Face of Optimized IT Solutions
The best practices for Long Island IT solutions are rapidly changing. IT is a constantly evolving field, and yesterday’s priorities aren’t always relevant today. Within the past few years, many employers have experienced a shift in the needs and expectations their IT partners must meet. Let’s take a look at a few of these growing concerns.
How to optimize your IT solutions: Understand today’s employees
Over the past few years, employers on Long Island (and across the country) have been prioritizing their employees satisfaction with every aspect of their work lives. Trends like “quiet quitting” and “career cushioning” reflect the new face of employee-employer relationships. It’s important to understand that today’s employees value workplace satisfaction more than ever before. If your employees don’t feel supported and respected, they will be less productive or go elsewhere.
Optimizing your IT solutions to improve internal customer service
What do the shifts in employees’ relationship to work have to do with your Long Island IT solutions? Quite a lot, it turns out! Gone are the days when rude, uncommunicative IT professionals were acceptable. Your IT professionals will likely be interacting with your employees on a regular basis. If they’re unprofessional or unhelpful your employees will take notice.
Even if your IT support team is friendly, they can create problems if they’re hard to reach or slow to act. Your employees expect a seamless, timely response when they need IT support. Choosing the right Long Island, NY IT partners is vital for if you want to implement optimal IT solutions. A managed service provider like LI Tech Solutions can guarantee the professional, responsive support you need.
Optimizing your IT solutions to create meaningful work opportunities
Too many Long Island businesses make the mistake of hiring full-time IT support when they cannot provide them with an optimal work experience. If working for your company’s IT team is not a strong career move, you’re unlikely to attract quality candidates. If you have full-time IT employees, do they spend most of their time simply waiting for problems to occur? Do they have opportunities for advancement within your organization? If you need to revisit your IT solution, LI Tech Solutions could be the answer. Our IT partners are available to help your organization succeed, without joining your staff full-time.
Optimizing Your IT Practices to Prioritize Cybersecurity and Data Protection in Long Island NYC
The importance of enterprise data protection is growing exponentially. A key aspect of IT solution optimization on Long Island, NY is preventing cyberattacks before they occur. Business is the US sector most often targeted by data breaches. When your cybersecurity is breached, the costs can severely disrupt your business operations.
Did you know that around 68% of all US companies have paid ransoms as a result of ransomware attacks? Clearly, it’s more cost-effective to get the IT support necessary to prevent data loss before it occurs. LI Tech Solutions provides highly efficient, affordable solutions to protect your data from accidental loss and cybersecurity threats.
Optimizing Your IT Solutions: Consider Moving to the Cloud
Remote and mobile work became the norm for many NY businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Today, your employees still expect the flexibility and agility that the cloud provides. If your enterprise needs accessibility, efficiency, and the ability to innovate faster, cloud computing can deliver. With LI Tech Solutions’ innovative cloud services, your business can experience the win-win of cloud computing. Our service offerings include:
- Private clouds
- Public clouds
- Hybrid
- Multi-clouds
Optimize Your IT Solutions by Choosing the Best Software for Your Business Needs
Software has always evolved rapidly. Today, innovation in business software is happening faster than ever before. Many Long Island companies find themselves using outdated software, because selecting new software can be overwhelming. The transition to a new software app can also create temporary challenges. However, these will be outweighed in the long run by the benefits of choosing the right software for your business needs. Optimizing your IT solutions and practices on Long Island often starts with your willingness to be flexible in a rapidly evolving environment.
Best practice: Select your software with professional help
What to optimize your IT solutions? Make sure to consult with trusted Long Island IT professionals about the best software to meet your needs. Rest assured–LI Tech Solutions’ Hosted Services can handle the complexity of the software you need.
Read more in our blog: Digital Transformation in Healthcare MSPs’ Role in Long Island
Why a MSP Gives You the Best of Both Worlds
Often, working with a Long Island managed service provider is your best option if you want to optimize your IT solutions. This option allows you to partner with qualified professionals, without the costs of adding full-time staff to your payroll.
Choosing the Right MSP and Avoiding Pitfalls
However, choosing the right Long Island, NY MSP is vital for optimizing your IT practices. Partnering with IT professionals who are unequipped to help your business succeed–or don’t care about your success–can have devastating consequences. When choosing an MSP, keep an eye out for red flags such as:
- Limited references
- A very narrow range of service options
- A lack of interest in your business’s needs
- A reactive approach that focuses on “putting out fires” instead of preventing them
LI Tech Solutions: The Best Long Island, NY MSP for IT Solution Optimization
What is the best practice for optimizing your Long Island, NY IT solutions? The first step is partnering with LI Tech Solutions. We’ll handle your full array of IT needs, from hardware to software to networking. As industry leaders, we can provide peace of mind to small and medium sized businesses who want to leave their IT support needs in capable hands. We serve a broad spectrum of industries, including:
- Healthcare
- Labs
- Professional Services
- Architecture
- Engineering
- Public Relations
- Advertising
- Non-Profit Organizations
When you partner with LI Tech Solutions, you’re on the road to the best IT solution optimization in Long Island, NY. Let us handle your tech needs, so you can focus on running your business. Call (516)210-6400 today, and get started with a free consultation and technology assessment.
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Can Your Business Go Green by Switching to the Cloud? Cloud Services NYC
Cloud computing has quickly become a popular option for businesses that want to streamline their operations, reduce costs, and become more flexible. But are you swayed by the idea that cloud services are automatically better for the environment? Could the need to do your bit ‘cloud’ your decision-making? Sorry. Bad pun. It’s true that cloud services have environmental benefits compared …
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Ramping Up the Fight Against Ransomware
If you own a small or medium-sized business in Long Island, NYC, you may already know that ransomware could present a significant threat to your business. What is ransomware, exactly? Ransomware is software designed to render your files impossible to use. If you’re infected by ransomware, you won’t be able to use the information on your device or network until you pay what the attackers demand. This article details actions to help your business stay protected from ransomware.
Ransomware is constantly on the rise. It affects large corporations as well as smaller businesses in the Long Island, NYC area and across the globe. Ransoms are getting higher, too–the average payment rose 82% in 2021 from the previous year.
Working with an experienced IT team like LI Tech Solutions can help you protect your assets from ransomware attacks. However, there’s also a lot you can do to minimize risks. Let’s take a look at how you can effectively partner with your IT team and keep your business safe.
How can I prevent ransomware attacks? LI Tech Explains the basics
You can do a lot to keep ransomware attackers from impacting your business in the first place. Here are a few common-sense precautions you should never overlook in the fight to keep your business protected from ransomware.
Keep your software updated
Don’t ignore that software update prompt! Patches and updates can be annoying, but they are necessary to protect your devices and networks. It’s much harder for attackers to target a device that’s up to date. Automated patch management can make this much easier since you won’t have to remember to check for updates.
Keep your data in a secure location
Storing important data on just one device is asking for trouble. You should keep information on a separate device as a back-up. If ransomware attackers successfully target your primary data source, your information won’t be lost forever–and you won’t be stuck playing their games.
Educate everyone in your organization about social engineering strategies
What is social engineering? Simply put, it refers to techniques that trick users into giving attackers access to your information or systems. Social engineering can take many different forms. Here are a few of the most common.
- Phishing is a deceptive message, such as an email, that tricks users into clicking on a malicious link
- Baiting is any technique designed to use curiosity or greed to get users to grant restricted access to systems or information
- Pretexting occurs when a person with malicious intent pretends to be someone else, like an IT professional or auditor
Remember to avoid opening messages or clicking on links that seem suspicious. Frequent training will help everyone on your team know how to watch out for new strategies. Also, be sure to require proper email inbox filters to keep emails from attackers at bay.
Be proactive about following password guidelines
Using the same password everywhere you go is a good way to fall prey to ransomware attacks. Everyone in your organization should change their password frequently and follow proper complexity guidelines.
Where can I learn more about taking basic precautions?
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is an American government agency devoted to cyber defense. Their website offers guidelines, resources and tools to help you stay protected.
What are some more advanced steps I can take to protect my business from ransomware?
You know how to spot scam emails a mile away, and you’re aware that “12345” is not an acceptable password. However, there are also some less familiar steps that you should strongly consider to protect yourself from ransomware.
Monitor networks and endpoints to spot threats
What is an “endpoint”? In this context, it’s a device like a laptop or phone that might fall prey to attackers. Endpoint detection and response (EDR) is a process that can help you spot attacks on these devices quickly. You should also monitor your network routinely to avoid any blind spots. It’s important to perform routine scans to check for vulnerabilities in your systems that you may have overlooked.
Limit access to systems and data as much as possible
If everyone in your organization can access all of your information, you may need to improve your identity and access management techniques. Making sure your users have only the access they truly need is a great way to minimize threats.
Break your network into smaller parts
The more spread out your network is, the harder it is for attackers to deal a crushing blow. Segment your network into small pieces so that malicious attacks can only do so much damage.
4 Dangerous Ransomware Myths Proven False
How can my organization stay protected from ransomware while using devices that connect to the internet?
Everyone knows that the internet can be a dangerous place. When someone from your organization connects to the internet, they should take several precautions to prevent attacks.
- Install antivirus software and update it as needed
- Only use secure browsers to access the internet
- Always browse the internet with a firewall enabled
- Never use a public network to connect to the internet
- Never download a file if you can’t verify the source’s credibility
LI Tech Solutions: The Best NY MSP Partner Keeps You Protected From Ransomware
When you partner with LI Tech Solutions as your managed service provider, you’re working with industry leaders in data protection. We can help you effectively respond to attacks, but we can also ensure you take the proper protective measures to avoid ransomware attacks in the first place. Call us at 516.210.6400 today, and start working with the top IT service providers in Long Island, NYC.