Cybersecurity Archives - Page 4 of 5 - LI Technology Solutions

Digital Transformation: What It Is and How It Helps Your Business

litechsol on April 25, 2022

Technology continues to evolve, and more companies than ever are pursuing digital transformation. They’re using new tools and processes to fully take advantage of the modern technologies and systems available to organizations of all sizes.

But what exactly is digital transformation, and how can it help your business thrive in today’s market? LI Tech Solutions answers both of these questions and more in detail.

Digital Transformations | LI Tech Solutions Breaks it Down

Digital transformation means different things to every organization. But overall, it involves transitioning your company’s current tech stack to a modern tech stack and embracing modern digital technology.

For example, a company might practice digital transformation by leveraging cloud technology and data storage. Using these tools, the company then enables most of its employee base to work remotely.

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It can include adjustments or alterations to processes and procedures, using new tools instead of old ones, and changing company culture to adapt to modern digital technology.

The Four Areas of Digital Transformation

Broadly speaking, there are four primary areas of digital transformation. Your organization may see changes in all or just some of them.

Collaboration Transformation

Digital collaboration transformation occurs as you use collaboration and project management platforms, such as Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365. Even communication platforms like Slack can help you enact a shift toward digital collaboration transformation.

Think of this element of transformation as shifting the way your team members collaborate and work together, even when they are not in the same office environment.

Business Transformation Consultant’s Guide: Microsoft vs Google Workspace in Long Island, NY

Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Transformation

Digital transformation also affects disaster recovery and business continuity. Cloud security, new antivirus software, and adaptable IT infrastructure are all some of the rewards that come from pursuing digital transformation.

Digital transformation processes enable organizations to be flexible, adaptable, and more secure. Furthermore, organizations can be more responsive and ensure that employees maintain productivity even in the event of a data crash, website failure, or security breach.

Cybersecurity Transformation

Speaking of security, digital transformations massively impact cybersecurity. As your business becomes increasingly digital, cybersecurity solutions such as digital hygiene processes, cloud security, and managed security services become more important.

This is just one of the many reasons why managed IT services providers such as LI Tech Solutions are valuable to modern organizations. Managed service providers can take care of your cybersecurity needs without massively ballooning your company budget or resource requirements.

Cloud Transformation

Lastly, digital transformation heavily impacts a company’s cloud usage. Cloud computing can accelerate digital transformation and help your business automate more processes than ever, freeing up additional manpower and leading to greater productivity.

Furthermore, cloud technologies enable you to upgrade your IT systems, streamline employee management and hiring practices, and enjoy greater digital security.

Each of these areas is important and should be pursued by your company at the earliest opportunity.

Trends and Predictions in IT Outsource Services for Microsoft AI

How Does Digital Transformation Help Your Business? New York’s Best MSP Answers

What about specific benefits that digital transformation brings to your company? There are six major advantages that you might see after transforming your company digitally in the above four areas.

Improved Resource Management

Firstly, your company could see improved resource management. As you leverage cloud technologies and other digital transformation tools, your data and important company files will be more secure and organized.

Your company will be better able to integrate applications and databases into centralized repositories. These repositories, in turn, will enable faster data access and management even from employees around the world.

Better Data Collection and Analytics

Furthermore, transforming digitally will allow your company to collect more data and analyze it with more accuracy. You can create systems to gather the right data, not just any data, and incorporate it into your business intelligence efforts at high levels.

Using automation tools, new data storage techniques, and other practices, you’ll better understand your target audience, track important KPIs more efficiently, and reap other benefits.

Better Customer Experience

Even better, digital transformation allows your company to provide a better customer experience overall. Tools such as chatbots, for example, enable faster customer service response times for your website visitors.

New digital tools also enable you to customize the customer experiences you provide to site visitors. Better customer experiences mean more profits for you in the long run.

Digitization of Culture

Your company’s culture will change for the better. For example, remote work tools and a digital-first workplace both allow your company employees to work anywhere around the world without compromising security or productivity.

This, in turn, may enable you to broaden your candidate search for top team members and make your company a more attractive place to work.

More Productivity and Profits

Digital transformation should also lead your company to more productivity and profits. As employees do great work from around the world and take advantage of streamlining tools, they’ll get more work done in the same amount of time and spend less time on rote, monotonous tasks best left to automation technology.

More productivity, of course, oftentimes leads to more profits both in the short and long term.

Increased Agility

Lastly, your company will benefit from boosted agility as it digitally transforms. You can improve your speed-to-market for new products, plus adopt continuous improvement or CI strategies.

The result? More innovation and adaptation to adjust to evolving market and customer demands.

Get Started With a Free, No-Commitment Consultation

Contact LI Tech For The Best MSP in Long Island, NY

Digital transformation is a net benefit for all organizations, including your own. You can accelerate this transformation for your company by using managed services providers like LI Tech Solutions.

As a trusted IT managed service provider in Long Island, New York, we’re well-equipped and ready to assist with your digital transformation efforts from start to finish. Whether you need managed security, cloud server administration, upgrades, or something else entirely, we can help.

Contact us today for more information and further details on how we can help your business transform.

5 Ways MSPs Can Support Hybrid Workplaces

litechsol on April 11, 2022

The hybrid workplace isn’t going away. The hybridization of many industries was already a growing trend prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the pandemic solidified that trend into a full-blown economic revolution.

In many industries, from tech to finance and beyond, hybrid workplaces allow employees to work some of the time remotely and the rest of the time in the office. The benefits are numerous, ranging from increased worker flexibility to reduced resource consumption and more.

However, hybrid workplaces can be even more beneficial for your organization when you employ managed services providers like LI Tech Solutions. Let’s take a look at five key ways that MSPs can support hybrid workplaces just like yours.

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Cloud Infrastructure and Support | New York’s Best MSP Explains

For starters, managed service providers can offer excellent cloud infrastructure and ongoing support. Cloud infrastructure, software, and other services are most important for hybrid workplaces.

Why? Because through the cloud, organization employees can access the same resources, use the same software, and use all the same files whether they work from home or at the office. Cloud access means that all employees can work together, no matter where their computers or end terminals are.

Of course, a dedicated IT team is needed to manage cloud infrastructure and offer 24/7 support. That’s where a managed services provider comes in.

MSPs can help your cloud infrastructure work for your company by:

Ensuring that software updates happen consistently and regularly
Monitoring the cloud for potential glitches or cyberattacks
Helping team members learn how to access the cloud or how to download the appropriate software to their devices
And much more

On top of all that, managed services providers can ensure that your cloud resources scale with your organization. Therefore, if you want to stick with a hybrid workplace over the next few years, your cloud infrastructure can grow with your company. An MSP can make that future a reality more easily than ever.

Microsoft Business Applications 2026 for SMBs on Long Island

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Security Updates, Monitoring, and Training

Perhaps more importantly, managed service providers can provide regular security updates for key antivirus and anti-malware solutions. These include antivirus software, firewalls, phishing protection for company emails, and more.

The cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving, so security updates must be implemented and installed as soon as they become available. However, it can be tough to keep track of which programs or security software need updates. Your MSP can do all that for you, freeing up your people to work on other tasks.

Digital Hygiene & Long Island Tech Solutions

In addition, MSPs like LI Tech offer 24/7 monitoring for your cloud infrastructure and company systems. This monitoring will ensure that you are alerted whenever there is a potential cyber breach and that cyber breaches are much less likely to succeed.

In the event of a successful cyberattack, the monitoring from a managed services provider will help you prevent it from occurring in the future.

Of course, many cybersecurity breaches occur because of employee mistakes. To that end, MSPs such as LI Tech Solutions offer security training for your employees. These training seminars can teach the basics of good digital hygiene, such as how to build strong passwords and avoid logging in to workplace computers via vulnerable public networks.

10 Things to Consider Before Hiring an IT Support Company in Long Island, NY

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Workforce Analytics

On top of all that, MSPs can provide crucial workforce analytics services for your growth and understanding. For example, MSPs can gather data about:

How your employees use their time
How your software benefits your company
How your data is stored and how it is retrieved
And much more

All of that data, once properly analyzed, can help you make better decisions for your company. Managed services providers can even help improve your data management and storage policies so they’re more efficient for your workers. This will improve productivity for your hybrid workforce.

Project Management Services and Software

Any manager or executive who oversees a hybrid workforce knows how difficult it is to ensure that all employees are on the same page. Project management becomes a little more difficult when employees work from different locations, despite the other benefits of a hybrid workplace.

However, managed services providers can offer project management and organizational services, or connect you to cloud-based project management software. Either of these solutions will help your remote and in-office employees collaborate just as efficiently in a hybrid workplace as they would in a traditional office environment.

Project management services and software help ensure that:

Everyone knows what projects they should be working on
Project deadlines are met properly
Project reports are sent to the appropriate leaders or supervisors when needed
Supervisors can reassign individuals or rebalance workloads as necessary
And more

All of those benefits will make your hybrid workforce just as good as it was before you made the transition. MSPs support hybrid workplaces to help your organization’s productivity flow.

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Increased Organizational Productivity

Lastly, MSPs can support your hybrid workplace by improving overall organizational productivity. In effect, MSPs take much of the busy work and manual tasks of cloud support and cybersecurity off your team’s plate.

Instead, your employees can focus on the core aspect of your business that nets you the most profits. Imagine what you could do if your IT personnel could focus on building a new website or online marketing instead of having to monitor security 24/7.

In addition, MSPs support hybrid workplaces by providing value through oversight of your cloud infrastructure. This way, your workforce can take advantage of cloud technologies without continually updating and monitoring them for stability.

The bottom line is that hiring an MSP will give your hybrid workplace greater operational flexibility. Your employees, meanwhile, can be reassigned to other parts of your business as needed.

Get Started with a Free, No-Commitment Consultation

Contact LI Tech Solutions For The Best MSP in New York

Ultimately, managed services providers are valuable for any company that uses hybrid workplaces. If you’ve decided to give your workforce the flexibility and other benefits of hybridization, consider hiring an MSP to achieve even greater improvements.

As a well-known managed IT services provider in Long Island, we’re well-equipped and ready to assist your hybrid workplace today. Contact us for more information!

Why Outsource Your Cyber Security Needs?

litechsol on March 28, 2022

Modern cyber security is more important than ever, but it’s also more expensive and resource-intensive. These days, many companies find it tough to maintain in-house IT or cyber security departments, especially if they aren’t focused on cyber security themselves. There may be an alternative solution: outsource your cyber security needs. Today, let’s break down the benefits of outsourcing cyber security to managed service providers like LI Tech Solutions.

More Predictable Costs | Long Island Tech Solutions Explains How:

For starters, outsourcing your cyber security may lead to more predictable – and therefore manageable – costs for online security. When your in-house team handles cyber security, they’ll produce bills sporadically for things like software updates, training the team on new initiatives, and for purchasing new security products.

If you pay a flat, regular fee to a managed service provider, your cyber security costs are more predictable. For smaller companies or organizations whose budgets are already thin, this can be a major benefit.

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Regular Updates and Improvements

Furthermore, outsourcing your cyber security needs to a managed service provider may help you benefit from more regular security updates and improvements.

Malware evolves constantly, so security efforts must also evolve in tandem with cyber threats. This is often accomplished through updates and patches. But it can be tough for your team, especially if they have other things to juggle, to remember these updates and shore up your cyber defenses regularly.

A managed services provider will ensure that cyber security software is updated when needed and improvements are implemented ASAP. In this way, your business will use the most appropriate digital security at all times. But your team won’t have to worry about it since these concerns will be handled by your managed services squad.

Refocused Productivity

By freeing up that manpower in your team, you’ll be able to refocus the extra productivity on other elements of your business, including product design and development, marketing, or something else entirely. It’s up to you!

That refocused productivity can save you a lot of money in the long run, and may also lead to increased profits later down the road. Refocused productivity is crucial for startups that have small teams. For example, if your organization only has 50 people, can you really afford to have 10 of them dedicated to IT security 24/7?

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Instead, outsourcing your cyber security needs to a managed service provider allows everyone on your team to be focused on your business goals. You can still rest assured that your cyber security needs will be taken care of.

Managed services providers employ experts in the field. In most cases, you will find that the cyber security results from a managed services provider are superior to what you can produce with your own, in-house team.

Get The Best 24/7 IT Security with LI Tech Solutions

Speaking of IT security 24/7, managed services providers offer maintenance and security responsiveness 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Even if the rest of your team is out of the office, your managed services provider can:

Respond to sudden attacks or security threats on your business and digital infrastructure
Communicate with executives when needed
Ensure constant vigilance, even during the late hours of the evening or early hours of the morning

This, in turn, allows you to ensure that your staff enjoys a manageable schedule and that someone doesn’t have to be on hand at midnight to oversee a security patch. Plus, 24/7 security oversight means that malware or other digital attacks will be less likely to succeed and breakthrough digital defenses.

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Resource Scalability

As your business grows, IT security scalability will become a more important concern. After all, the more business architecture you have and the more files you need to protect, the more robust your cyber security efforts need to be as well.

Fortunately, outsourcing your cyber security efforts to a managed services provider means scalability comes with the package. As your resource needs grow, your managed services provider will update your software, offer new security measures, and assign more people to your business.

Iterated Threat Detection/Responses

One of the big benefits of outsourcing your cyber security needs is improved cyber security results. As your managed services provider learns your business and the types of threats you encounter, it will:

Continually iterate on its threat detection methods, enabling it to counter cyber threats before they become real issues
Continually iterate on its response times and effectiveness. If a cyber threat does take hold, your managed services provider will be able to respond more capable as it gets more practice

In other words, the longer you stick with a managed services provider, the better security responses you’ll see across your organization. Remember, your business’s team can focus on other aspects of your organization all the while.

LI Tech: More Experienced Responses | The Best MSP in New York

On top of that, managed services providers employ experienced IT security professionals. If your business is not focused on IT security or does something completely different, the security specialists from a managed services provider will be far and away better for intercepting and fixing security issues.

This is more important than ever, especially given the increased sophistication of modern cyber threats.

Digital Transformation in Healthcare: MSPs’ Role in Long Island

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Regulatory Compliance Assistance

Perhaps most importantly, outsourcing cyber security also means outsourcing compliance with the CCPA, GDPR, and other current or prospective legislation. Many organizations need to be careful not to break these regulations, or else they may face heavy fines.

But compliance is an evolving thing. When you outsource cyber security, your managed services team will ensure that you always remain compliant regarding consumer data privacy and protection policies.

Outsource Cybersecurity with Long Island Tech Solutions | New York’s Best

Ultimately, outsourcing your cyber security needs is a great choice, even if your company works in the IT industry. Giving cyber security responsibilities to a specialized, 24/7 team could be the best thing you can do for your budget, your team management, and your goals.

Fortunately, LI Tech Solutions offers expert cyber security protection. If you need managed IT services in Long Island, we can help. Contact us today for more information!

Costly Ransomware Threats to Business

litechsol on December 27, 2021

These days, it seems that half of the online business management revolves around cybersecurity, and for good reason. Malware attacks and ransomware threats are expensive, time-consuming, and can even lead to bankruptcy in isolated scenarios.

Indeed, several costly ransomware threats to businesses may be unknown to enterprise executives. LI Tech Solutions breaks down some of these threats in detail so you can grasp the full danger that even a single successful ransomware attack may pose to your company.

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The Ransomware Payment Itself

By its very nature, any ransomware attack will include a ransom payment. Most ransomware attacks are unreported, and many enterprises are advised not to accept any demands. But plenty of firms do so regardless. Some estimates indicate that average ransomware payouts are over $300,000.

Some enterprises may have no choice when paying a ransom fee. If sensitive company data is on the line, they might not have enough time to devise an alternative solution to prevent sensitive information—such as customers’ credit card numbers or other identifying information—from leaking to the public.

In this way, ransomware attacks may cost a business money twice: once when the business pays the ransom fee and again when it repairs any damage caused by an attack.

Read more in our blog: 4 Dangerous Ransomware Attacks Proven False

Downtime and Disruption | The Best MSP Provider in New York Shares Insight

In addition to the cost of the ransom payment, ransomware also typically costs companies thousands of dollars at a minimum from disruption and downtime. When a company’s website or database goes down, it impacts its customers, their operations, and more.

In short, it tanks productivity and may have downstream effects for weeks, months, or even years to come. The cost of downtime is sometimes estimated to be much higher than the cost of even the most exorbitant ransom demands.

For example, an international currency exchange named Travelex was attacked by ransomware. The costs of disruption were so great that the company later had to file for bankruptcy.

Downtime to company services or websites costs more than money. Many online consumers don’t have patience for websites that crash. Companies may lose cash that they would otherwise receive as revenue when their customers go to their competitors or stop patronizing their online establishments.

Callout 2- Ransomware payment-facts to know And Downtime and disruption facts to know

Data Loss (and Fees)

In this day and age, enterprises that do online or international business must be very careful about their data security. Not only is it important for their operations, but it’s also crucial for the safety and security of their customers.

Data loss can be very costly for ransomware attack victims. Some estimates indicate that 90% of ransomware attack victims don’t get all their data back, even if they pay the ransom fee.

If customer data is compromised, it can also lead to legal injunctions, particularly in light of legislation like the GDPR and CCPA. These fees can be quite exorbitant, just like ransom demands themselves.

Even after fees are paid, companies may be forced to undertake additional cybersecurity practices, adjust their procedures and policies, and implement other expensive fixes by legal mandate. All of those requirements can add up quite quickly, especially if a company’s security was subpar beforehand.

All told, the complete cost of data loss and security breaches can’t be fully tallied. In some cases, companies may lose the trust of their customers so much that they have no choice but to go out of business.

Find The Fastest Forensics and Recovery Team at Long Island Tech Solutions

Enterprises must also consider the costs for forensic investigations and recovery when tallying the total cost of a ransomware attack. No company wants to be hit by the same attack twice, which means in-depth investigations are always required.

It often means hiring detailed cyber forensics specialists, leveraging certain types of expensive software, or shutting down company operations for some time while the investigation proceeds. Such adjustments may also cost the company in terms of productivity and customer loyalty, leading to further losses down the road.

Furthermore, recovery efforts, even when disaster recovery or business continuity plans are in place, can still cost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Depending on the quality of forensic equipment and processes used, the investigation alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

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Infrastructure Repair and Recovery

Some ransomware attacks incur additional costs in the form of broken or damaged infrastructure, such as decimated servers, irreparable platforms, and more. On top of that, you’ll have to purchase or rent infrastructure to recover after a ransomware attack, costing you more money in the short term.

Furthermore, in the immediate aftermath of a ransomware attack, many companies find that their cybersecurity insurance premiums have skyrocketed. They may choose to purchase additional infrastructure and security measures to prevent the same attack from happening again.

Reputational Losses

All these factors don’t even touch the potential reputational losses an enterprise may face when it is the victim of a ransomware attack. Even a single attack is enough to shatter the public’s perception of a company as safe and secure, especially if the public stores a lot of sensitive financial or personal information on its servers.

International customers, B2B clients, and other involved parties may simply stop doing business with an enterprise if they discover that it was the victim of a preventable ransomware attack. Even if the attack wasn’t preventable or was novel, the reputational losses are often impossible to stem.

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The Best Data Protection in New York | Contact LI Tech Solutions

Ultimately, no company wants to be the victim of a ransomware attack. That’s why high-quality IT security and managed IT services are more important than ever before.

When it comes to IT security in Long Island, look no further than LI TECH. As experienced data protection specialists, we offer a number of cloud management services, ranging from data protection cloud services to cloud infrastructure services and more. Get started with a free, no-commitment consultation.

We follow all the cybersecurity best practices for securing a cloud environment and prioritize our clients’ safety and peace of mind in each operation. Contact us today for more information.

Think Beyond Basic Backups to Tackle Ransomware

litechsol on November 23, 2021

Although ransomware has long been a serious concern for business owners all over the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has created new opportunities for this threat to flourish, and the attack vector is likely to become even more dangerous in the coming years. We discuss the need for additional backup to tackle ransomware.

According to a report, 304 million ransomware attacks occurred globally in 2020, with ransomware affecting over 65% of global businesses. Experts suggest that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, even though SMBs continue to be disproportionately affected by these nefarious attacks, reporting and notifications rarely make the news.

When it comes to cybersecurity and ransomware, the biggest mistake SMBs make is assuming hackers only target large enterprises. This is why many SMBs still rely on simple backups and don’t have a solid ransomware backup strategy in place.

The truth is that hackers are counting on smaller businesses to have fewer security measures in place, making it easier for them to get into your systems. While it’s good to have a data backup, it’s high time you take its security a step further.

4 Dangerous Ransomware Myths Proven False

The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy for Your Business

This is an industry best practice for reducing the risk of losing data in the event of a breach. The 3-2-1 strategy involves having at least three copies of your data, two on-site but on different mediums/devices, and one off-site. Let’s examine each of the three elements and the issues they address:

Three copies of data

Having at least two additional copies of your data, in addition to your original data, is ideal. This ensures that, in the event of a disaster, you will always have additional copies. The first backup copy of data is usually kept in the same physical location as the original, if not the same physical server.

Two different mediums

Storing additional copies of your valuable data on the same server/location won’t be helpful in the event of a breach. Keep two copies of your data on different types of storage mediums such as internal hard drives, and removable storage like an external hard drive or a USB drive. If this isn’t practical for your business, keep copies on two internal hard disks in separate storage locations.

One off-site copy

Keep one copy of your data off-site, far from the rest. This helps safeguard against worst-case scenarios.

In addition to the 3-2-1 backup strategy, consider applying the concept of layered security to keep your data and backup copies secure.

Importance of Layered Security in Cyber Defense

Most SMBs have an antivirus or firewall installed, but this is usually insufficient to combat today’s sophisticated threat landscape, necessitating the application of a layered security approach.

Because no security technology or measure is flawless or guaranteed, layered security assumes that attackers will infiltrate different layers of an organization’s defenses or have already done so. The goal of this approach is to provide multiple security measures so that if an attack gets past one security tool, there are others in place to help identify and stop the attack before your data is stolen.

The THREE ELEMENTS of layered security are:

Prevention

Security policies, controls, and processes should all be devised and implemented during the PREVENTION phase.

Detection

The goal of DETECTION is to discover and notify a compromise as soon as possible.

Response

A quick RESPONSE is crucial for the detection phase to be meaningful.

Layered security is divided into seven layers by security experts. Hackers seeking to get into a system must break through each layer to gain access. If you want to keep cybercriminals out of your systems, concentrate on improving these seven layers:

1. Information security policies

Implement security policies that restrict unauthorized access because the security and well-being of IT resources are dependent on them. This will help you raise information security awareness inside your organization and demonstrate to your clientele that you’re serious about securing their data.

2. Physical security

Physical security measures, such as fences and cameras, are critical to prevent unwanted intruders from breaking in. It also helps monitor employees with access to sensitive systems.

3. Network security

All it takes is for hackers to exploit a single vulnerability to get access to a company’s network. They can easily break into computers and servers after they’ve gained access to your network. Therefore, establishing effective network security measures is essential.

4. Vulnerability scanning

Vulnerabilities that occur because of factors such as inadequate patch management and misconfigurations open the door for cybercriminals. However, vulnerability scans help detect these missed patches and improper configurations.

5. Strong identity and access management (IAM)

Because of technological advancements, acquiring passwords and hacking into networks is easier than ever. IAM restricts access to critical data and applications to certain workers, making unauthorized access hard.

6. Proactive protection and reactive backup + recovery

Proactive protection detects and fixes security risks before they lead to a full-blown breach. The goal of reactive backup and recovery is to recover quickly after an attack.

7. Continual monitoring and testing

Failure to regularly monitor and test your backup and disaster recovery strategy is a major oversight and can result in a breach.

While it’s your responsibility to make sure your business doesn’t get sucked into the quicksand of data loss, it’s easy to become overwhelmed if you’re attempting to figure out everything on your own. Working with data protection backup providers at LI Tech gives you the advantage of having experts on your side. We’ll make sure your backup and security postures are capable of tackling ransomware threats. Li Tech Solutions offers clients in Long Island and Brooklyn the mission-critical services every business needs to succeed. Reach out today to schedule a consultation.

How Can Cyber Resilience Protect SMBs?

litechsol on October 19, 2021

Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) usually invest less in cybersecurity, making them easier targets for cybercriminals. Close to 30% of businesses experience a cyberattack at least once per week. This article looks at why and how to implement a cyber resilience strategy for your business.

1-The need for constant vigilance and defense against hackers has led many SMBs to complicate cybersecurity matters. Though the percentage of businesses that have adopted formal, business-wide incident response plans has increased from 18% in 2015 to 26% in 2020, the ability to contain an actual attack dropped by 13%.

2- This is because: (a) businesses do not consistently test threat-readiness of incident response plans and (b) many of them use too many security products that hamper the ability to identify and respond to a cyberattack.

It is here where a cyber resilience strategy can help organizations protect uptime and recover from incidents faster. Some people use the terms cybersecurity and cyber resilience simultaneously, but the meanings are different.

While cybersecurity primarily aims at blocking nefarious cyber players from attacking your network, cyber resilience is more about planning, defending, responding to and recovering quickly from a cyberattack. Endpoint protection, email security, network security, backup and data recovery, identity and access management and a host of other critical solutions together fuel a comprehensive cyber resilience strategy.

Arm Your Business with Cyber Resilience

The cyberthreat landscape is evolving at lightning speed and traditional security measures cannot keep up with it. Experts have predicted that a ransomware attack will occur every 11 seconds in 2021. The only way forward for businesses, including yours, is to draft a cyber resilience strategy that highlights ways to move forward in the face of a cyberattack.

Your business is cyber resilient when:

You’ve implemented measures to guard against cyberattacks
Proper risk control measures for data protection get deployed
Hackers cannot severely disrupt business operation during or after an attack

The major components of a cyber resilience strategy are:

Threat protection

By deploying efficient attack surface management and risk management, you can easily take your business through the path of cyber resilience. Doing so helps you minimize first-party, third-party, or fourth-party risks that arise because of data leaks, data breaches, or misconfigurations. Additionally, assessment reports identify key risk areas that require attention.

Adaptability

Cybercriminals are shapeshifters who constantly change their devious tactics. Ensure your business can adapt to emerging cyberthreats.

Recoverability

To quickly bounce back after a security incident, your business must have all the necessary infrastructure, including robust data backups. Conducting mock drills that let you understand the employee readiness to counter cyberattacks is also important.

Durability

Your IT team can improve the business’ durability through constant system enhancements and upgrades. No matter what strategy the criminals use, prevent their actions from overwhelming you through shock and disruption.

5 Ways Cyber Resilience Protects SMBs

Adopting cyber resilience proves beneficial before, during, and after cyberattacks. Five ways it protects SMBs:

1. Enhances system security, work culture, and internal processes

By implementing a cyber resilience approach within your business, you can easily design and develop strategies tailor-made for your existing IT infrastructure. Additionally, it improves security within each internal process, so you can communicate desired behavior to employees.

2. Maintains business continuity

Cyber resilience ensures that operations are not significantly affected and business gets back to normal after a cyberattack.

3. Reduces financial loss

The financial damage caused by a breach can be so severe that businesses go bankrupt or even close. This resilience strategy keeps threats in check, reducing the chances of business disruption as well as limiting financial liabilities.

4. Meets regulatory and insurance requirements

It helps keep your business out of regulatory radars by satisfactorily following all necessary criteria. Also, complying with regulations can be beneficial to your business for cyber insurance claims.

5. Boosts company reputation

Having cyber resilience by your side gives you better control in the event of a successful cyberattack. It helps you block attacks, bounce back quickly if an incident happens and minimize the chaotic aftereffects of a breach. This improves your business reputation among partners and customers.

Don’t worry if the concept of cyber resilience is tough to crack. We can guide your business to and through this strategy. Start with an assessment to check your business’ cyber resilience level.

Contact us now!

Li Tech Solutions offers innovative managed IT services to clients in Long Island and Brooklyn.

Article curated and used by permission.

Sources:

Infosecurity Magazine
The 2020 Cyber Resilient Organization Study
JD Supra Knowledge Center

How Data Compliance and Cybersecurity Differ

litechsol on September 3, 2021

When you run a business, compliance and cybersecurity are two essential factors. Both are equally important for the seamless operation of your business. While compliance helps your business stay within the limits of industry or government regulations, security protects the integrity of your business and sensitive data.

It is worth noting that although security is a prime component of compliance, compliance does not equal security. This is because compliance does not consider the growing threat landscape and associated risks. What it considers, however, is a set of pre-defined policies, procedures, controls, etc.

If an audit concludes that these pre-defined elements are adequate and your business adheres to them, everything is considered “okay” from a compliance standpoint. However, you still may not be up to scratch from a security standpoint, which only goes to show that you can be compliant but still fall short on security.

In other words, because compliance requirements take a predictable path and change slowly, the compliance landscape lags behind the rapidly changing, unpredictable security landscape.

Now, let’s find out how your business can benefit by combining compliance and cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity Solutions for Long Island Businesses: Managing Compliance and Mitigating Risks

Get Covered With Security and Compliance Solutions

There are multiple security loopholes that you must proactively fix to stay out of danger. You can do it by deploying suitable security solutions. A few common security loopholes and related solutions are:

1. Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)

APTs across three attack pillars — endpoints, network and the cloud — are capable of paralyzing hybrid/remote/on-site work environments. Experts estimate the global APT protection market to be worth close to $6 billion in 2021 and $12 billion in 2025.(1) This statistic highlights the trouble caused by APTs. The best way to tackle it is by deploying a solution that can:

Offer 24/7 monitoring and threat hunting
Efficiently block malicious actors that evade firewalls and antivirus systems

2. Insider threats skyrocketing at alarming rates

Over the last two years, insider incidents have increased by 47%.(2) What makes the scenario even worse is the fact that insider threats are tough to detect. That’s why it is advisable to have an advanced internal threat detection solution that combines machine learning and intelligent tagging to identify anomalous activity, suspicious changes and threats caused by misconfiguration.

3. Lack of clarity about the network

Keeping track of all the computers, mobile phones, printers and servers on your business’ network is challenging, especially in today’s increasingly remote-first approach to work. But without knowing the devices on your network, it is not possible to know your IT network’s health. To combat this problem, you need an automated assessment and documentation solution capable of identifying risks to all assets, including those not physically connected to the network.

4. Untrained employees and credentials getting sold on the dark web

When your employees are untrained and are unaware of risky actions, it could lead to severe security setbacks. For example, an employee carelessly clicking on a phishing link could lead to a full-blown ransomware attack on your business.
Another major cybersecurity issue that you may encounter is when your credentials get sold on the dark web. Experts estimate that 60% of the information available on the dark web could negatively affect most businesses’ security and financials.(3)
Remember that inadequate data access protocols are not just a security issue but can also land you in hot water with regulators.

Tackle all the above issues by deploying industry-best solutions for security awareness training, dark web monitoring and identity/access management.

Just like security loopholes, you must also fix compliance loopholes the moment you spot them. Non-compliance can even lead to regulators levying penalties as high as 4% of your company turnover.(4) Beyond financial loss, you will also have to face stakeholder dissatisfaction, drop in market share, etc. To avoid such trouble, use a solution that automates compliance processes and generates insightful reports that document compliance.

Long Island’s Best IT Company Offers MSP Data Protection & Recovery Tips

Convergence of Cybersecurity and Compliance

Most companies have at least minimum protection in place, such as an antivirus on workstations/active firewalls. However, you must make sure that your business’ security posture can withstand the growing cyberthreat landscape. With some effort, you can incorporate your security solutions into your compliance strategy as well.

By carefully bringing both security and compliance together systematically, you can reduce risks significantly. To ramp up your organization’s security posture, you can implement strong authentication, data protection, access monitoring, network-to-edge defenses, etc. By routinely validating the effectiveness of these solutions once they’re in place, you can ensure your organization is taking the necessary measures to avoid non-compliance and security breaches.

Ready to take the next step? We can help. Contact us today.

Register for a consultation to learn more about how LI Tech Solutions can help you combine compliance and cybersecurity to prevent data compliance issues.

Sources:

Statista
2020-Global-Cost-of-Insider-Threats-Ponemon-Report
CSO Online
GDPR Associates

2021 Top Cybersecurity Trends

litechsol on August 23, 2021

Cybersecurity trends are continually evolving and growing within the powerful frameworks of information technology, the cloud, and network technologies. Over the last few years, rules and procedures have been revised to modernize business operations.

Companies of every size must recognize that cyber threats are a legitimate and ongoing concern that will remain part of our everyday lives for years to come.

SolarWinds

Cybersecurity in 2021 and Beyond

Final Word

There are no magic bullets for achieving success in business. Owners must now adapt their approach to managing cyber activities to stay ahead of the curve. There has been a flurry of new threats and technologies targeting the new stay-at-home mobile workforce.

The remote workforce model has no network boundary, and more applications are written for the cloud than ever. These new network devices, and in most part, poorly written code, give attackers the green light into your business.

Callout 1- global network background-Title: Rules & Procedures Have been rewritten to modernize business

Three Cybersecurity solutions help remote workers control their network.

The world has shifted, and hackers have found lucrative new areas of access to a company’s network. In response to the lack of network borders, the adoption of new cybersecurity technologies has accelerated.

SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) is a real-time context policy for a continuous assessment of risk. SASE is a cloud-delivered service based on WAN and network security policies.

SASE policies can benefit a corporation in several ways, including flexibility with cloud infrastructure, reduced complexity, and cost savings.

Zero Trust has been part of the technology lexicon since 2010, when the phrase was first introduced. A few years later, Google implemented a Zero Trust Policy for its network. Zero Trust is an approach in which organizations do not automatically trust any device or human access, whether inside or outside their network.
XDR (Extended Detection and Response) is in the early stages of development by several elite vendors. XDR uses machine learning techniques to house multiple security mechanisms. Risk managers are continually overwhelmed with security alerts; XDR helps alleviate these daily pressures.

XDR helps companies improve threat detection and response by centralizing their activity and reducing false positives.

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SolarWinds

Washington DC’s worst cybersecurity hack, SolarWinds Orion, has company executives around the world shaking in their loafers. Cyber experts believe there simply aren’t enough skilled workers to track down all the damage done to business and government networks.

According to Microsoft’s President, the SolarWinds Orion hack was the most powerful and sophisticated cyberattack ever.

Bruce Schneier, a cyber expert and Harvard fellow, states, “We have a serious problem. We don’t know what networks they are in, how deep they are, what access they have, what tools they left.” The only way to know these infected networks are clean is to burn it down to the ground and rebuild it.”

Three cybersecurity trends have emerged since the SolarWinds attack.

Microsoft was one of the prime recipients of the mayhem created by SolarWinds. According to authorities, hackers exploited limitations in the software giant’s authentication architecture and protocols. Microsoft has since rebuilt the vulnerabilities and taken issue with the government’s insistence that more could have been done.
Cyber Insurance premiums have surged 29% since 2020. Policies for cyberattacks have been in place for a lot longer than most people realize. In 1997, AIG wrote the first cyber insurance policy. Since the SolarWinds incident, cybercrime has increased dramatically, and cyber insurance premiums have risen approximately 11% annually, with no signs of slowing.
The cloud, with advanced services and advantages for remote work, has skyrocketed the targets for attackers. Following SolarWinds, attacks on cloud applications have increased and are expected to continue at a torrid pace well past 2021. Misconfigured cloud settings were a significant cause of breaches in 2020, resulting in an average cost to the enterprise of over $4 million.

Callout 3- side lock icon -Solar Winds-with three trends listed.

Cybersecurity in 2021 and Beyond

Every company is now being urged to be proactive in its cybersecurity approach and to address the myriad cyber threats that are on the horizon. Organizations must come to terms with the fact that security is no longer an optional expense but a budget line item.

Companies must prioritize a cybersecurity workforce. 56% of organizations report a scarcity of personnel for 2021.
Data continues to multiply every day. Businesses must automate their security processes whenever feasible. In 2020, IBM found a nearly $ 4 million discrepancy in the cost of a data breach between automated companies and those that were not.

Machine learning and AI technologies continue to experience a meteoric rise in complexity and usefulness. These technologies are being developed as part of the enterprise infrastructure to automate security and replace human intervention.

AI influences both sides of cybersecurity trends. Criminals exploit AI and machine learning techniques. Cybercriminals are automating their attacks using data poisoning and model stealing.

Top Cybersecurity Concerns for Long Island Businesses in 2025

Callout 4-digital matrix background-Cybersecurity in 2021 and Beyond - with 4 descriptions

Final Word on Cybersecurity Trends

Decades ago and still today, business success requires long hours, sweat equity, and plenty of sacrifice. In this digital age, most business owners believe an antivirus program will suffice, and their data records are secure.

Cybersecurity should now be one of the first steps in preparing your organization for success. A healthy distrust of cybercriminals goes a long way toward keeping company data, intellectual property, and digital assets safe from them. If you’re unsure where to start, LI Tech Solutions provides clear, pressure-free cybersecurity assessments designed to help you understand your risk level without technical jargon.

Schedule a call today and get straightforward answers, honest advice, and a clear path to stronger cybersecurity for your business.

Global Impact of Cybercrime: What Every Business Needs to Know

litechsol on August 9, 2021

Cybersecurity companies are having a banner year on Wall Street, and why not? Deadly threats to business are popping up almost daily, threatening people’s lives and income. The global impact of cybercrime requires a business to understand the emerging trends of cybersecurity.

Cybercrimes’ threat to business costs the global economy over $445 billion each year, while intellectual property theft exceeds $160 billion. Threats against small businesses are alarming. One in five fall victim to cybercrime, and of those, 60% are out of business in 6 months.

Cybercriminals went on a crime spree during the pandemic and have taken advantage of the world’s dependence on technology.

Li Tech Solutions (516) 210-6400

Will the Constant Threat of Cyberattack Ever End: What New York’s Best MSSP Thinks

What began as a small network for scientists and researchers a few short decades ago has turned into an $8 trillion behemoth connecting over 3.5 billion people. The internet has become an essential aspect of people’s lives around the globe.

Businesses of every size rely more on the internet than ever before. Data and connectivity are the lifeblood of small businesses. The internet allows the smallest firms in remote locations to have a global impact.

As networks expand and new technologies come online, cybercrime is expected to grow. According to Cisco Umbrella’s 2021 Cybersecurity Trends, the statistics are alarming. These numbers are from Cisco devices and services that process over 620 billion internet requests daily.

86% of organizations had at least one user try to connect to a phishing site.
70% of users were served malicious browser ads.
69% experienced some form of unsolicited crypto mining offer.
50% of every organization encountered some ransomware activity.
48% found information-stealing malware activity on their network.

Li Tech Solutions (516) 210-6400

A majority of experts queried on “Why are businesses so vulnerable to cyberattack?” The single gravest answer – Human Error!

Businesses are vulnerable and have the most to lose. In the latest round of ransomware attacks, the cybercriminals target large infrastructure companies with a lot to lose if their operations were interrupted. They are holding companies hostage.

According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report for 2020, email scams reported to the bureau accounted for most of the damage to businesses. The FBI’s report described several devastating scams, such as the BEC/AEC email hoax, which dealt with the fraudulent transfer of funds.

Cybercriminals gained access to business accounts through social engineering techniques and direct computer intrusion.

Long Island Tech Solutions Explains What You Should Know About Cyberattacks

Small businesses with limited resources are lucrative targets for cybercriminals seeking credit card numbers, bank accounts, and employee financial data. Smaller companies tend to have weaker security measures because more transactions are online via the cloud. Small businesses generally ignore the dangers and impact of cybercrime in favor of daily profit.

Cyberattack Methods:

Hacking: email and system hacking are the two of the most common methods for cybercriminals to gain access and manipulate company information.
Phishing: Unsuspecting employees pass along personal and sensitive information to fraudulent websites.
Social Engineering: employee trust is built with fraudulent interaction to gather more information.
Malware: malicious software is increasingly more effective and dangerous as employees do not recognize the threat.
Keylogging: software tracks employee keystrokes and is dangerous because some anti-virus programs cannot detect the threat.
Identity Theft: stealing an employee’s personal information and using it to commit fraud is becoming easier for cybercriminals.

So much has been written about cybersecurity, it is becoming difficult for individuals and businesses to know how to proceed. The single best step a business can take, partner with Li Tech Solutions and let them guide you in the right direction.

Li Tech features five modules that can help a small business have a global impact.

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Get The Best Protection From Long Island Tech Solutions | #1 MSSP in New York City

Understand evolving risks and emerging trends of cyber-security and be prepared for the vulnerabilities in your business. Know what is valuable to a cyber-criminal; credit cards, asset accounts, intellectual property.

Develop a security plan; no matter how big or small your business is, the best offense is a good defense. Make sure every digital protocol is covered when making your plan. Cover the routine actions employees perform daily, like data backups. Include newer technologies that impact your operation, such as social media and cloud computing.

Keep hardware, software, and security protocols up to date. Li Tech Solutions can be a big help.

Educate your employees on the impact of cybercrime. Every piece of advice written about cybersecurity includes some form of educating an employee. Mainly because employees are the single most significant leak a company can have, IT staff and management should not be the only ones concerned about cybersecurity.

Regulations for Securing the Internet of Things

litechsol on August 5, 2021

We are living in the era of Digital Transformation and witnessing first-hand the proliferation of assistive technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT). It is estimated that the global count of IoT devices will reach around 80 billion by 2025 — a figure that will outnumber the human population across the globe tenfold.

This IoT network of physical devices — “things”— designed with embedded sensors, software and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet, has generated greater access to data and analytics across all industries and can increase the efficiency and agility of business operations.

The downside of this rapidly emerging technology is in the ability to secure and protect the integrity and privacy of the personal and sensitive information being collected, processed, stored and shared by these IoT devices every day.

Cybercrime is also growing at exponential rates, increasing the risk at which IoT devices and the data they access could fall victim to cyberattacks and unauthorized exposure. To date, security for IoT technology has not been a priority or a required part of manufacturing.

However, as hacking incidents and data breach disasters continue to flood the headlines, we are starting to see many global regulatory bodies take action to implement some comprehensive guidelines and security standards aimed at improving the security of IoT devices in order to ensure that the data they interact with is protected.

Some noteworthy global IoT regulations already in effect include:

The EU Cybersecurity Act and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute ETSI TS 103 645 technical specification are currently leading the charge in European standard frameworks on cybersecurity controls for digital products and services, including consumer Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

In the USA, the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020 is a key milestone in securing IoT by establishing minimum-security requirements for any federal procurement of IoT devices. Additionally, it requires NIST to publish guidelines and standards on the management and use of IoT devices.

In the UK, the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)’s Code of Practice for Consumer IoT Security includes 13 guidelines recommended for IoT devices aimed at protecting consumer privacy and safety, simplifying their secure use.

Best Practices and Strategies to Manage IoT Risks

While more new regulations are being implemented around the world, no global or industry universal standards or requirements for Internet of Things (IoT) security currently exist. Nevertheless, your business network and information assets are still at risk. It is imperative that you proactively begin implementing more preventative security controls to block unauthorized access to your IT network and ensure the protection of customer data or business IP connected to IoT devices.

Adopt Ongoing or Regular Risk Assessments

Every business using IoT should undergo a thorough risk assessment to identify and address any security gaps that might expose their network environment and systems to a cyberattack. A Business Impact Analysis will also help evaluate and measure the potential impact of disruption or downtime stemming from a data loss or breach incident — as well as identify which of your business-critical operations or processes need the most priority.

Establishing ongoing risk assessments and impact analysis as a standard part of your business operations is the best way to maintain strong cybersecurity defenses. However, these should be performed annually at a minimum. You can determine the frequency of these assessments based on the unique risks/needs of your business.

Keep Inventory of Your IoT Devices

One of the most important best practices to ensure safety of your Internet of Things (IoT) environment is to discover and maintain an updated inventory of all the IoT devices on your network and those connected to any remote or mobile devices. Make a point to regularly check for security patch updates for all devices manually, but leverage automation whenever possible. Integrating a solution that helps you discover, manage and monitor all systems and endpoints, including IoT devices, will increase visibility and enable better control of your business infrastructure and security posture.

Implement Principles of Least Privilege and Zero Trust as Standard Policy

Implementing the principles of least privilege and zero trust ensures that the right users have only the minimum access and permission settings necessary to perform their job responsibilities. It also ensures that no internal or external threat actor can take control of your network or IoT devices using compromised credentials by taking advantage of a user with excessive privileges within your organization. This is a good security practice to follow in general since it provides layered chokepoints for a hacker trying to establish a backdoor foothold.

Provide Thorough and Frequent Security Awareness Training for Users

The human factor has always posed a challenge for IT and data security. However, while employees can be a significant weak point in cybersecurity systems, a frequent and comprehensive user training program can prepare your entire workforce to become your secret weapon against cyberthreats. Regular training across a variety of IT security and data protection topics will arm your users with both knowledge and confidence, making them more cautious and vigilant in their daily activities, thereby reducing your overall risk and vulnerabilities.

Prioritize Security & Data Protection in Your Business

Loss of private customer data or business-critical data can not only result in major operational disruptions but also lead to reputational damage and even loss of customers. That said, doing your part to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the data collected, processed and stored by your IoT devices is vital to long-term success.

Given the speed at which IoT is penetrating our everyday lives, it only makes sense to ensure that your business and its users follow the best practices needed to keep your IoT environment guarded against emerging cybersecurity risks and threats.

Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help secure your IoT environment.