This cyberattack scheme hasn't garnered nearly as much attention as the usual "break-in-and-steal-data-to-sell-on-the-Internet version," but it can be even more debilitating. Ransomware attacks have begun appearing in the last few years and its practitioners are so polished that in few cases they even have mini­call centers to handle your payments and questions. So what is ransomware? Ransomware stops you from using...

Maximizing Resources: How Smaller Schools Can Benefit from Economies of Scale Smaller educational institutions and schools suffer from the problem of “economies of scale,” making it hard for them to stay relevant and support their mission. This is especially true in the area of IT infrastructure. Small schools need, but generally cannot afford, a completely robust 24/7 monitored, redundant infrastructure. As...

You hear on the news all of the time about big cyber attacks on large corporations, and even government agencies. The trouble with this news coverage is that is suggests a distorted view of where cyber attacks are taking place. These attacks are not solely hitting large organizations. Small firms represent a significant portion of those who face cyber attacks....

Hearing "all of your confidential information is extremely vulnerable, we know this because...

Three common sense data safety reminders When it comes to smaller and medium sized businesses, anything that distracts from the day to day concerns about bringing in revenue tends to fall by the wayside. With that in mind, we have put together a list of seven things that a small business needs to prioritize if you want to keep your business...

No matter how much people hear “data safety,” they still can get sloppy about their cybersecurity. One of the reasons is that there are so many constant reminders that the warnings just become that much more background noise. Today, let's do a quick review of the one you hear most about ( and most likely to forget about) Passwords. Passwords As annoying...

While you can purchase and install Windows 10 in your existing PCs–the ones currently on Windows 7 OS–it is not recommended. According to Microsoft, Windows 10 has the following minimum requirements Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC. RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit. Hard disk space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS 20...

As a professional you are in education because you have a vocation. You have the commitment and drive to succeed, and keeping your school successful requires all of your attention. However, you didn't go into education to be an expert in emerging technologies. Managing technology can be a real distraction and pull energies away from running your school. In addition,...

As Microsoft stops supporting Windows 7 from January 2020, what choices do you have as a Windows 7 user? While Windows 7 will work after January 2020– it won’t just “shut down”–as a business, you cannot afford to use the older version because it makes you vulnerable to security threats. That leaves you with only 2 options. Option 1: Purchase extended...

We talked in an earlier blog about how not benefiting from economies of scale can hurt a small school’s abilities to take full advantage of technology. In addition to the cloud, another resource to get around these problems is the the outsourcing of certain tasks, including strategic technology planning to optimize the use of new technology. As background, the term economies...