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Directive has been serving the Oneonta area since 1993, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

You Can Embrace Remote Operations Without Sacrificing Cybersecurity… It Just Needs to Be Done Right

Remote work has proven incredibly useful over the past few years despite many employers having various concerns about its implementation. While these concerns vary, one prevalent one is how remote operations impact cybersecurity.

If you’re utilizing remote operations to any degree and aren’t concerned about cybersecurity, you must adjust this mindset and correct your approach.

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Make a Complex Password with This Catchy Trick

You should always use strong passwords for each and every account. Cybercriminals don’t need to put much effort into cracking a password these days—it only takes a little software and standard computer hardware to crack millions of passwords in just a second or two.

The more complex and random a password is, the more secure it is.

But coming up with (and memorizing) complex passwords is really difficult. This trick should make it a whole lot easier.

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Network Security Made Simple in 3 Easy Ways

Network security is hard. That’s why so many businesses struggle to implement the solutions they so desperately need to stay safe and relevant. Today, we want to demystify some of these components and lay out in clear terms what your highest priorities should be for your business’ network security.

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Phishing: What It Is, and How to Avoid It

Potential data breaches are increasingly problematic for organizations, and the most common way that data is stolen is through phishing attacks. Phishing attacks are currently one of the most pervasive threats on the Internet, and you need to understand them to thwart their effectiveness against your users. Let’s explore what exactly a phishing attack consists of and some best practices you can use to defend your network against them.

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Cybersecurity Isn’t a Product, It’s a Strategy

Modern businesses—just like yours—cannot and should not operate without robust cybersecurity protections. This is a point we will emphasize at every opportunity. Let’s explore why security is so crucial and what steps you need to take to safeguard your business.

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Please, Please, PLEASE Don’t Include Sensitive Info in Your Emails

Email is a great communication tool. However, certain things are just unsafe to communicate via email.

Let’s go through a list of such things. Better safe than sorry, after all.

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The Office Printer: Your Overlooked Cybersecurity Risk

When it comes to cybersecurity, office printers often fly under the radar. They're seen as simple, innocuous devices. It’s easy to have the mindset that there’s not much at risk—what, are the hackers going to waste some of my paper?

But here's the truth: your office printer is a potential cybersecurity risk, and a serious one at that.

Just like your computers and smartphones, printers are connected to your network. This makes them vulnerable to the same cyberthreats.

An unsecured printer can be an open door for hackers. They can use it to sneak into your business network.

In this article, we'll shed light on the overlooked aspect of office printer security. We'll also provide actionable advice on how to fortify your office printers against cyberthreats.

So, let's dive in and explore the world of office printer cybersecurity.

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Let’s Review Your Facebook Privacy Protections

Last week we went through some of the issues that Facebook is dealing with in regards to its security and data privacy. Today, we thought it would be helpful to give you the tools you need to protect your privacy on Facebook.

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Let’s Remind Ourselves How Meta’s Security Has Failed

Facebook remains one of the most visited places on the Internet. Meta (the parent company to Facebook) also features WhatsApp and Instagram on their roster and has faced numerous security and privacy failings over the years. In this week’s blog, we’ll take a brief look at some of the most noteworthy.

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Microsoft Defender: An Example of Why Consumer-Grade Security is Not Enough

Windows Defender is Microsoft’s own antivirus solution, and it comes bundled with Windows, so it’s confusing to think that a business would need to pay for it, right? Well, there are actually two separate products called Defender, with a big difference between them.

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Five Password Best Practices You Must Keep in Mind for 2024

Passwords have long been one of the central pillars of account security on the Internet. Combined with a username, they make up the foundation of most login systems. Because of this, they are a hot commodity for hackers who want to steal credentials and infiltrate accounts or networks. In recent years, however, other security measures have exposed the weakness of poor passwords for security, leading to the adoption of other measures.

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Encryption is One of the Most Valuable Tools Against Hackers

Encryption is a powerful weapon against hackers that can prevent them from stealing your data and leveraging it against you. Encryption, in its most basic textbook definition, converts your readable data into an indecipherable jumble that can only be reassembled through the use of an encryption key. Small businesses absolutely must utilize encryption to protect customer information, financial records, and other important or sensitive business data. This ensures that it is as protected as possible against those that might do you harm.

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This Cybersecurity Professional is Out to Scam the Scammers

Scammers look to take advantage of someone else for their own gain, but there are some scammers out there who are trying to scam the scammers to teach them a lesson. One such individual is “Kitboga,” a content creator who calls themselves a “scam baiter.”

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How to Minimize Cybersecurity Sprawl

Obviously, we won’t tell you to cut down on your cybersecurity. That said, it can be easy to overinvest and overreach if you aren’t careful about what you’re implementing. This phenomenon is known as cybersecurity sprawl, and if not prevented, it can easily have serious consequences for your business. Let’s go into how to avoid this sprawl.

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This Guy Scams the Scammers for a Living

When you think of a scammer, you probably think of someone looking to take advantage of someone for their own gain. While this isn’t wholly inaccurate, another variety exists to acknowledge… those who aim to scam the scammers. Let’s consider one such white-hat scammer, or “scam baiter,” a content creator who uses the alias “Kitboga,” Kit for short.

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Research Shows Many New Cybersecurity Professionals are Doomed to Make Blunders

Unfortunately, cyberattacks will only continue in the weeks, months, and years to come, making it increasingly essential that businesses have access to cybersecurity expertise. Even more unfortunately, professionals with this level of expertise are becoming harder to find. Globally, we’re short almost four million people, and those we have are prone to make mistakes in their first few years. This comes from a report by Kaspersky, entitled “The Portrait of Modern Information Security Professional,” Let’s review what the cybersecurity developer found and what we can take away from these findings.

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With a Massive Botnet Recently Disrupted, Let’s Review What a Botnet Is

It was very recently revealed that a global law enforcement effort took down a massive botnet that was in action for almost a decade. In light of this, we wanted to review what a botnet is and how it works, drawing from these events for some context.

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The Impact Ransomware Has on All of Us

We’ve spent the last few weeks discussing ransomware's impacts on different subsets. First, we discussed how a ransomware attack impacts the customers of the infected business, and then we touched on the infected business itself. To end, we want to touch on ransomware's impacts on society, specifically regarding economic health and geopolitical security, known as third-order harms.

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You May Not Think You’re Popular, but Your Data Certainly Is

Data is extremely important in the way that most businesses conduct themselves. This results in other people wanting that information, too. Today’s blog will look at how seemingly everyone online is out for your data. 

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A Man-in-the-Middle Attack is Not to Be Underestimated

Have you ever heard of the “man-in-the-middle” attack or MitM? It’s a situation where your data is stolen by an onlooker who situates themselves in the right place at the right time. Data interception is a very real thing that your business should be prepared to fight against. Let’s discuss some strategies you can use to counter these sneaky attacks.

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Our business began its journey with the purchase of a personal computer back in 1992. This purchase ignited a passion with Chris Chase, our CEO, and there was no stopping its momentum. Less than one year later, he had his first IT support client (and...

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