ZR Systems Blog

File storage is a staple in the office, and chances are that even your work desktop is jam-packed with files and folders that could use a bit of sorting. This might include moving all of your files to different locations, but you don’t have to move each one individually. We’ll go over the many different ways that you can move files, many of which can save you considerable time and effort.

A vulnerability has been discovered that affects all versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, including the long-unsupported Windows XP, going all the way back to Windows 95. The vulnerability, called BadTunnel, allows attackers to directly bypass system defenses and initiate a man-in-the-middle attack. The vulnerability isn’t limited to just Windows, either; it also affects Internet Explorer, Edge, and other Microsoft software.

In a world where mobility is king, it can be challenging at best to implement new solutions without first taking into account how they can affect your business’s mobility. Especially with the cloud gaining ground, companies have their eyes on mobility and the requisite security, hoping to achieve greater flexibility and profitability by doing so.

Microsoft has been looking to cover more ground in the business environment by offering a new Technology as a Service (TaaS) offering, which will allow small businesses to purchase Surface products, accessories, and support for their devices, all with a monthly payment plan. Also, when it comes time to upgrade, customers can easily make the switch, as per their lease agreement.

It’s well-known that publishers are a major component of an author sharing their work with the world, but recent innovations threaten to disrupt the status quo of the industry. Like many industries, the publishing industry has been changed significantly by the introduction of new technologies that afford writers more liberty when producing their work. What can the business owner learn from these changes?

In a recent hack attack, Twitter had 33 million user login credentials stolen. This is unfortunate, but not surprising; an incident like this routinely makes the headlines. Although, what is surprising is what this hack reveals about people’s poor password security habits.

Sitting at a desk all day is probably the worst thing you can do for your health. The average office worker sits for 9.7 hours each day and after one hour of sitting the production of enzymes that burn fat declines by as much as 90 percent, significantly slowing metabolism. Then there’s ongoing back pain and eye strain. What’s the modern office worker to do?

A data loss incident is considered a major disaster scenario, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. All it takes is one moment to lose your business’s entire data infrastructure. We’ll walk you through a story that should serve as a cautionary tale, one that hopefully teaches you to adhere to data backup and disaster recovery best practices.

The longer you use Facebook, the more personal content you hand over to the social media empire. Sharing content is what drives the social media experience, but what if you want your content back? Surprisingly, Facebook makes this easy.

Your business’s productivity suite, be it Google Apps for Work or Microsoft Office 365, is a critical component for your success. These services, when implemented in the cloud, can be major game-changers, and it’s thanks to the convenience of mobile data and application access that have led to such vigor in the development of the cloud.

When it comes to cybersecurity, maintenance is key. Whether you choose human-based security or an automated security solution, running into shortcomings is still possible. Human security tends to rely on the word of experts, and anything that doesn’t fit into the guidelines is missed and may therefore get through and wreak havoc. Network security can be a touch overzealous, in a way “crying wolf,” with an excess of false positives that ultimately require human analysis, leading to human frustration.

Everyone loves a good vacation, especially if you have the good fortune of having a reliable staff on-hand that can handle the administration of your office while you’re away. Although, it might be tempting to just cut yourself off from technology and enjoy your time off, doing so might cause problems down the line that could easily be prevented by simply checking your email or calling home-base once in a while.

The cloud is deeply-seated in the way that the modern business handles its day-to-day operations. It’s great for managing access to critical data and applications, making it vastly easier for businesses to optimize operations. With so many great technology innovations revolving around the cloud, how does your business plan on implementing the cloud in 2016?

Do you have Windows 10 on your workstation or PC? You’ve probably realized that it’s a pretty sweet operating system. Still, there’s a reason why so many people have been bothered by it, and it’s because of its practically omnipresent attempts to advertise to consumers.

We often talk about how important it is that your business use the most recent and up-to-date versions of your software solutions, but it’s not often that we get to say that people using Internet Explorer 11 have the right idea. As it turns out, nearly a quarter of all Windows PCs are still using unsupported versions of Internet Explorer, with half of them being found on computers still running Windows XP. What has this world come to?

If you’re like every other small business out there, you know that the more employees you hire, the more technology that you have to procure. However, when you have more end-users, you provide more avenues for threats to slip into your network infrastructure unnoticed. When all it takes is one simple mistake from a single end-user, how can you minimize the chances of falling victim to an untimely hacking attack?

We’ve put together ten honest mistakes that any end-user can make, and how they can be prevented.

• Clicking on malicious links: With so much information on the Internet, it’s easy for an employee to search through countless pages without any regard to the sites and links that they’re clicking on. You need to emphasize the importance of safe browsing, including double-checking the destination of a link before clicking on it. You can do so by hovering over the link and looking in the bottom-left corner of your browser.
• Using weak passwords: Employees frequently use passwords that aren’t strong enough to keep hackers out. Often times, they’ll simply use something of personal significance, like the name of their pet or a specific date. This isn’t the right way to approach password security. Instead, users should attempt to put together passwords that are private, randomized strings of numbers, letters, and symbols.
• Ignoring mobile security: Even if your company has the latest and greatest security solutions installed on its desktops, you should also be thinking of your mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets. It’s arguably more important that your mobile devices have solid security solutions implemented on them, as they are often on the road, connecting to potentially dangerous hotspots. You need to make sure that security is a top priority in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy.
• Accessing sensitive data through unsecured connections: If your employees are using the local café’s free wireless Internet to get some work done on their lunch break, it could be a dangerous gambit. Public Wi-Fi hotspots are notorious for being cesspools of online threats. Implementing a virtual private network (VPN) can be a handy investment that can encrypt data while it’s in transit, mitigating this risk somewhat.
• Losing unencrypted devices: It’s not unheard of for an employee to use company devices in public places. If they accidentally leave their smartphone on the bus, or their tablet on a park bench, there’s always the risk that it can be stolen. Unless you practice proper encryption protocol, any information available on the device can be accessed by the person who finds it, be it a good samaritan or a tech-savvy thief.
• Implementing unapproved solutions: Some employees simply prefer to use solutions that aren’t provided by the company to get their work done. The problem here is that the employee is moving forward without consulting IT about it, and that your data is being used in a solution that you can’t control. Plus, if the employee is using free or open-source software, these often come bundled with unwanted malware that can put your data in even greater peril.
• Targeted business email scams: Phishing and spear-phishing attacks are growing more common. One example of this is an HR employee checking their inbox to find what looks like a job application or employment inquiry. All of the right information is there and nothing appears out of the ordinary; that is, until a malicious link contained within it starts to download malware or other nasty threats to your infrastructure. Other types of phishing attacks will ask end-users to confirm personally identifiable information or sensitive account credentials. Educating your team on how best to identify phony email messages is imperative to keeping your network secure.
• Personal email use: It’s one thing to check your personal email account while at work, but another entirely to use your personal email account to perform work purposes. As the recent debacle with Hillary Clinton shows, people don’t take kindly to sensitive information being leaked via an unsecured email server that their organization has no control over. Add in the fact that personal email accounts are often not as secure as those in a professional productivity suite, and you have a recipe for disaster. You need to reinforce that your team should keep their work and personal email separate.
• Leaving workstations unattended: Besides the fact that some tech-savvy employees are practical jokers, it’s a security risk to leave a workstation unlocked and unattended for long periods of time. Imagine if someone from outside of your organization walked into your office and accessed confidential files without authorization; that’s on the employee who got up and left the device unattended. Encourage your employees to always log off of their workstations, or at least lock them, before stepping away from their computer.
• Using external storage devices: Your organization should only be using IT-provided USB devices and external storage. Otherwise, anyone with a random flash drive can connect it to your network, unleashing a horde of who-knows-what into your infrastructure.

User error is a primary cause for concern among businesses, but it can be mostly avoided by providing your staff with the training required to do their jobs properly. For more information about IT best practices, give us a call at (808) 369-1000.

Not that long ago, the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange was filled with business-tie clad gladiators, climbing over each other in what looked like a capitalism-induced mosh pit. The Open outcry pit had its language, its own weather, its own smell. Nowadays, these pits are more subdued. They still are populated with people, and some are gesturing to buy and sell, but most of the transactions are done digitally. It is this role where the computer has changed the way financial markets work; from the ground up.

We’ve all become so adapted to the conveniences of the Internet that it’s difficult to remember what society was like before it. This becomes especially obvious when watching old movies. How odd is it to see characters do pre-Internet activities like go to the library to research information and use a phone book? These are just some of the ways that the Internet has dramatically changed society, for better and perhaps for worse.

Perhaps one reason why Google is so popular is because the company knows how to have fun and not take themselves too seriously. One way that Google shows us their silly side is with Easter eggs they’ve incorporated into their search engine. Here’s a list of ten of our favorites.

Your business takes advantage of several different types of technology every day, but there comes a time when your tech needs to either be upgraded or replaced with better tools. This is part of the natural order of things; no technology solution can (or should) last forever, but if you don’t catch issues before they become major problems, you could be putting your data at the risk of hardware failure, software hiccups, or even hacking attacks.