HUB TechMinutes

Small business owners are always looking for a way to shave some of that overhead off of their budgets. While this is probably true for most business owners, the more capital a small business can save, the more it can do. Outsourcing its IT management is one way to either cut down the company’s technology maintenance costs--or, if your company doesn’t currently have a dedicated technician--can keep you from paying way too much to keep your business running smoothly. 

Ransom: a sum of money is demanded in order for the release of goods.
Software: the programs and other operating information used by a computer.

What do you get when you combine the two? Ransomware. 

Your business’ servers are extraordinarily expensive machines. Maintaining them isn’t cheap, but if they fail, it can be very bad for business. What does the small business that doesn’t have tens of thousands of dollars to throw into a server do when they need to stretch their IT budget? 

People’s exposure to cybercrime has been increasing for some time. Today, people with very little coding experience can infiltrate systems and steal data. There is demand for data, and now there is a supply of low-cost--or even free--hacking tools available on the dark web that allows people to get closer to that data. In fact, according to a report by Deloitte entitled Black Market Ecosystem: Estimating the Cost of “Pwnership”, there is a complete economy built around these readily-available hacking tools that are relatively easy to use.

The smartphone is the defining invention of our time, and as a result, it has to be used for more than gaming, social media, and messaging. The smartphone is a great device to supplement your productivity efforts while you are on the go. Since these devices can do more than they ever have, more can be done by using mobile apps designed specifically to increase interdepartmental collaboration and business-to-client communications.