Sony, Home Depot, Target.    All are big companies with huge market value, large customer databases, strong brand names and plenty of budget to spend on data security.  The same cannot be said for organizations in the small business community.   But are there lessons from these breaches that can provide learning to the owner or manager of a small business?  Yes, there certainly are.

What would happen to your business if the lawn or leaves weren't picked up wasn’t cut this week?   Would business continue?  Would employees be able to access key applications, files and documents?    Most would answer YES.
What would happen to your organization if the office area was not cleaned and vacuumed according to the usual schedule? Would business continue?   Would customers be able to reach you and order products and services?   Most would answer YES.
What would have happened to your business last winter if the parking lot was not plowed after that four inch snowstorm? Would your business continue?   Would your employees be able to conduct sales activities that bring your new customers?  Most would answer YES.
What would happen to your firm if the kitchen area was suddenly out of coffee, tea or water?   Would your business continue? Would your employees be able to produce the products and services to meet the demands of your customers?   Most would answer YES.
What would happen to your office if the business periodicals and other magazines that regularly arrive in the mail did not appear for a period of time? Would your business continue?  Would your team be able to formulate business plans or schedule new appointments?  Most would answer YES.
What would happen to your organization if you lost all your key business data, files and applications?  What would happen to your firm if a virus caused your network to crash?   What would happen if your computers were down for an extended period of time?   What would happen if your Server was suddenly flooded with water or ruined in a fire?  Would the business of your business continue?  Most would answer NO. 

There are many business leaders, owners and managers who would answer YES to the first five questions and NO the sixth question.

Recently we met with a middle age business owner and conducted our proprietary and highly valuable free assessments of his computer network.   Candidly, this business owner was on top of his technology to a fair extent. He was knowledgeable, kept things up to date, and was aware that he would need to upgrade his server within a year as it reaches its "End of Life.

A new version of the CryptoWall ransomware has been released called  CryptoWall 2.0 that includes numerous "enhancements" to the previous version.

CryptoWall has been a huge threat for computer users since its release.  Silently, it encrypts all local data and any data it can see on network shares.

Would you let your son or daughter get into a car and drive away without fastening their seat belts?  Would you let your husband or wife buy a new car that did not have air bags?    Would you think nothing of going off on a long trip knowing that your front tires are bald or your brakes are in dire need of replacement?    The answers to all those questions are obvious:  Of course you would not!  A reasonable man or woman would certainly not.

September is National Disaster Preparedness month and there's no better time to consider telecommuting solutions.  IT Radix has helped many of its clients select the right telecommuting solution for their business.  Choices include accessing information and application in-house via VPN to cloud-based options.

IT Radix is pleased to welcome Windsor Strategy Partners to its growing list of happy and satisfied clients.   This unique company provides a range of actuarial analysis and consulting as well as software products and services with a focus in the healthcare cost management arena.

We got a call yesterday from a prospective client, a mid-sized organization with a number of computers. We had spoken with them previously three months prior.

The reason for the call was that their entire network had been hit and crippled by the Crypto Locker virus and they were looking for our help.

Have your own internal Exchange mail server?  Can't afford to be down?  Ask us about SPAM Soap.

In the event your mail server is down, SPAM Soap is still up and running.  For outages like what happened with Hurricane Sandy, you will be able to access your new email messages and send new messages through the SPAM Soap’s web interface.

Let’s face it, bad things happen.  Since September is National Disaster Preparedness month, it’s a good time to “brush up” on some simple things you can do to protect your business.

Review your business insurance.  Make sure you have sufficient coverage to replace all of computer equipment, electronic devices and the like in your office.