Cyber Security

Five Common Social Engineering Tactics

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There is no denying that the internet has become an amazing extension of our world. However, with such new advances that have taken place recently, people can now do more good, or bad, than ever before. Unfortunately, there are people who have chosen to do harm and they are quickly learning how to take over companies through using the internet. These Social Hackers are different from your average hacker. While average hackers tend to take over company information through malware, these hackers are intent on using their charm and investigation skills in order to get company information from employees. These techniques are all part of a bigger company attack that is known as social engineering.

Social engineering is the practice of using company information on the internet and using it to manipulate employees to provide more company information that can be used to fraudulent purposes. In this blog, our Business Technology Solutions team will talk about the five most common practices that social engineers use.

Phishing

The idea here is to obtain information by trying to seem legitimate and creating fake sites that are clones of legitimate sites to retrieve passwords and other personal information. The social hackers use these methods for emails and social media as well. Some social engineers have multiple Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, all of which claim different identities. With these multiple identities, social engineers look through company and employee profiles in order to learn more information about you. They take the information that they know about you and use it to manipulate you into trusting them.

Pretexting

This system works by creating a sense of trust between the victim and the attacker in order to gain access to valuable company information. Social engineering attacks usually start over the phone, after the social engineer usually has found your social media and learned more about you. The social engineer begins to interact with the people on the front lines (such as the receptionist or the sales team). The social engineer uses the information they found online to their advantage. As they talk to the employee, they gain the employee’s trust so they can later use it to get to company information.

Baiting

Baiting is a technique that tricks people into giving company information. The most common way that a social engineer can do this is by creating an email that mirrors a typical company email and asking for something valuable, such as credit card information or a wire transfer. They can also pose as someone from a different company and use regular email phishing techniques to give your computer a virus. With this method, they can access your company information faster.

Quid Pro Quo

This social engineering technique is all about creating a sense that both you and the person contracting you will benefit from your interaction. This social engineering attack allows the hacker to hide under the guise of a company that they could have very easily made up. The social hacker could use their disguise either to ask you for company information directly, or to go inside the building.

Tailgating

Tailgating is the practice of following someone into a protected facility. The social hackers do this so that they may enter a protected facility without needing to show any form of identification. Someone can have more chances of tailgating if they start a conversation with a company employee while they are entering the building. The best way to avoid tailgating altogether is to make sure that company security verifies the identity of everyone who walks into the company facility, with no exceptions.

Protect Your Company With Business IT Support in Miami

The best way to protect your company from social engineers is to educate your employees about keeping company information safe. However, the best way to keep your company safe is to hire a knowledgeable & experienced IT Support team, like Nerds Support. Our IT Support Miami team has made strides in helping companies across South Florida stay secure. If you need any help making your company  safer, feel free to fill out the form here or call us at 305-551-2009.

IT Support Miami

Data Protection 101: Keystroke Loggers

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Keystroke Logging is a software that tracks the keys that you type on your keyboard, as you type them. In example, if you were to start typing a document, a keystroke logger would be able to use their own special software to be able to monitor each key you have typed and figure out what you typed.

While this may seem a little shocking to hear, Nerds Support’s experienced business IT support team has been aware of programs like these for quite some time. In fact, hackers that carry keystroke logging programs are called Keyloggers. In the hacking community, Keyloggers have developed Keystroke Logging software that can access any type of computer. Nerds Support’s IT support Miami team would like to advise that this also includes highly monitored business computers.

Who uses Keystroke Logging?

Believe it or not, keystroke logging is an open secret. Even regular business owners, with a good sense of computer knowledge, access keystroke logging software for everyday use. Generally speaking, companies are more commonly use keystroke logging software to monitor their employee’s computer productivity. That means, that as a business owner, you can use this type of software to see what your employees are doing on company computers.

However, there is a community of hackers who would use this keystroke logging software to do some serious harm to your company. Keyloggers disable antivirus software on unsuspecting computers in order to install keystroke logging programs. Often, they use social engineering tactics, such as email phishing, to trick employees into downloading the malware onto company computers. They use their own special software to access company computers and disable the antivirus.

From there, keyloggers can find now configure everything that you type in your keyboard. They can access valuable information that can be used against you. Such data includes:

  • Important email login information
  • Very Important company files on clientele and analytics
  • Super Important company financial information

This information is only a fraction of what a keylogger can access if they were to ever hack your business computer to find company information.

How to Combat Keystroke Logging?

It can be frustrating to fight against keystroke logging software. It might even be hard to prove that such a software is installed in your work computers. But one suggestion to combat keyloggers is that your company have Nerds Support’s Miami IT support data protection team to take care of keyloggers and ensure the safety of your company.

Having a reliable IT Support Miami team has become essential to a company’s survival. That’s why Nerds Support’s data centers are so secure. Your company would have heavily monitored data centers that conduct daily scans on their servers. When a heavily monitored data center conducts their scans, they make sure that their servers are clean and free of any trace of hackers or malware. Such a team would even alert your company of what is happening and remove the threat immediately.

A good business IT support plan should come with the latest firewalls and antiviruses. That would mean that so that business’ protection against malware can be guaranteed. That means you, the business owner, can focus more on your business and maximizing profit. So if you are in need of a great business protection plan, contact Nerds Support & find out how we can help you achieve your business goals!

Prepare Your Miami Business for World Backup Day

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One of the most important days for every Business in South Florida is World Backup Day. World Backup Day occurs every year on March 31st and it is a time to reflect on business safety and the importance of backing up company data. Considering that 2017 gave us a year of plenty cyber attacks, there is a lot to reflect on for this year’s World Backup Day. Every single day you have spent millions of hours, as a workforce, on the computer and internet. There were times when files were lost, hard drives crashed or even cases of viruses infecting your system. World Backup Day was created to remind every tech user to backup the data stored in their system. So that when disaster strikes, you are prepared.

What is the World Backup Day and Does it Affect Miami?

The phrase “Save early and save often” holds true when it comes to Miami data recovery. In the most basic form, backup is simply copying your existing files to a secondary location, using either an automated process or a manual one. This process will allow you to save drive storage space.

If these things don’t interest you, then definitely the fear of losing the most important documents stored on your laptop or computer surely will. Everyone might have heard a story about friend’s tragic hard drive crash, a night before assignment submission. As per statistics, more than 70% of organizations have experienced data loss at the workspace and small businesses reported that a single loss of data significantly affected their business.

Actually, data is SO valuable, that data records are lost, or stolen, every minute and 93% of businesses file for bankruptcy within 12 months if their data has been lost for more than 10 days

You might not think these kinds of attacks would happen in your business, but they are more common than you know. As of right now, the city of Atlanta has been working non-stop for the past six days to recover City government information from a ransomware attack. If an entire American city can become the victim of a ransomware attack, then what is stopping a hacker from accessing your business information?

Do I Need to Backup my Data on the Smartphone too?

If you do not want to lose your irreplaceable digital memories, then go ahead and do the data backup. The data loss can happen anytime and anywhere, it usually occurs when least expected. Therefore, yes backing up data on the smartphone is also essential; backup it either on your computer or on any other application, which can be easily accessible.

How to Do Data Backup?

One can create a secure data recovery according to the 3-2-1 rule. The rule creates triple redundancy for your files, which means if your one backup fails, you still have two left. Follow the below-mentioned process to do the data backup.

1. Download and install the backup software.
2. Select the files you want to back as some online services just backup all available files.
3. Schedule your data backup at least on a daily basis.
4. The downloaded software will upload your files to the server and data Centre.

Your Data is Valuable than Your Device

Make sure while doing the backup, your business technology solutions provider should offer local encryptions with a private encryption key that you only own. This feature will ensure complete safety on the server. In addition, the business IT support provider should use SSL encryption technology when duplicating the files onto the server. Once the upload is done, your provider should offer another security layer with an AES- 256-bit encryption technology to safeguard all the uploaded documents.

In a nutshell, backing your data won’t only save your time and effort but will also reduce future cost and World Backup Day is a summary of the future. Contact Nerds Support if you’ve any query regarding our data recovery plan.

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Hosted Solutions Makes the Most of Your Miami Business

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To some people, hosted solutions seems easy enough to comprehend. However, hosted solutions is such a generic term, that most people seem to have a different definition for the term.

Hosted Solutions refers to a plethora of solutions and services that is meant to serve end users in the giant world of the cloud. Thousands of different businesses need different types of applications and hosted solutions helps the cloud figure out which user needs what kind of application.

CPA firms might need a cloud that works with financial applications, while law firms may require a cloud that can hold a large quantity of documents and contracts. In the article below, find out what makes a hosted solutions plan good.

Hosted Solutions Should Provide all the Applications that You need

A great hosted solutions plan should be able to provide all the applications you need from one cloud, which is why Nerds Support is a great IT support Miami team to keep your business running efficiently. Take CPA Firms in Miami, for example. When an accounting firm uses Thomson Reuters’ cloud, they are only able to use Thomson Reuters’ applications. This means that if an accounting firm wishes to utilize Microsoft or Quickbooks, they will have to turn to another cloud in order to use these tools.

With Nerds Support’s Miami Cloud Computing Solutions, Miami CPA Firms would not have to use two separate clouds, but rather one reliable and flexible cloud to make cloud services for CPA Firms look effortless.

Hosted Solutions Should Provide a More Flexible Cloud

Having all of your business applications on one cloud means that your employees do not have to remember as many passwords to access their files, as they would if they were working on two separate clouds. Having one cloud would also make it easy to work remotely. If you own a freight forwarding company, having all of your business applications on one cloud can help any employee that is always on the go. Since employees in freight forwarding companies may be constantly on the road, it can be annoying to have to sign into two different clouds through a phone.

Employees working at home will also have a hassle-free experience, thanks to Nerds Support’s Miami cloud solutions! Nerds Support’s cloud hosting solutions holds almost all business applications, remote workers will save themselves from downloading two clouds to their laptops. The space that they will save will not only make their laptops faster, but make them more productive as well.

Nerds Support Provides Award-Winning Miami Business Hosted Solutions

Nerds Support’s Miami Hosted Solutions helps Freight Forwarders, CPA/Accounting Firms and Law Firms in South Florida. The team works with companies in order to provide the best solutions for their businesses. State-of-the-art technology will protect your businesses, and all the applications you need, from data breaches and hackers. Our highly advanced Miami cloud solutions also assure companies that they will be able to keep all of their business applications on one cloud.

If you would like to learn more about hosted solutions, you can fill out a contact form here or you can call us today at 305-551-2009.

Business-IT-Support

Miami Law Firms NEED Data Protection More than Any Other Industry!

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Over the past couple of years, Law firms and attorneys have become the industry that are most prone to ransomware attacks, data breaches and other forms of cyberattacks. In other industries, most companies are able to recover their information and run their business once again. Some companies are even able to do this without having to pay a ransom to their attackers. However, in the law industry, the sad truth is that most companies never fully recover from the attack and as a result, they are forced to go out of business.

During this time, our IT Support Miami team feels it is important to highlight the need for business data protection plans in Miami, especially for Law Firms and Attorneys in South Florida. Below, our Business IT Support team lists three benefits of having a data protection plan.

Automatic Data Backups in Miami

Nerds Support’s automatic data backups ensure that your law firm will never lose information. Our data backups are completed once a day to ensure that if your company has any type of incident, our Business IT Support specialists will always have a copy of your information, ready for you to use at any time. This assures that you will always have access to your information.
Business Technology Solutions across South Florida

Our Business IT Support team is equipped with the best skills needed to keep your law firm safe. Our 24/7 IT support is paired with Data Centers and our signature Hardware as a Service (HaaS) to make sure your business is one of the most efficient and secure businesses across South Florida.

Nerds Support’s highly monitored Miami Data Centers keep your law firm information completely secure. Our data centers are always being guarded from the servers to the facility itself. Nerds Support’s IT Support Miami servers are constantly scanned to make sure there are no data breaches or malware in the system. The facility is also heavily guarded to make sure that only authorized personnel come in and out of the premises.

Nerds Support’s Hardware as a Service (HaaS) adds on to South Florida data protection in the sense that our Business IT Support team provides the most up to date technology for your business. Our 24/7 IT Support Miami team also makes sure your technology comes with the latest software to fight ransomware and other malware.

Disaster protection for as Far as West Palm Beach

Another huge advantage that a data protection plan has is that Miami data protection can really help business owners across South Florida with business continuity. From hurricanes to power outages, our Business IT support team has, time and time again, proven themselves capable of protecting businesses across South Florida and keeping them running 24/7.

At Nerds Support, our Business IT Support team is passionate about keeping your Miami law firm safe and secure. If you would like to learn more about our Hardware as a Service and business protection services, please feel free to fill out our contact form or call us at 305-551-2009.