When a natural disaster or great tragedy occurs such as a massive hurricane or the Boston bombing, your immediate reaction may be to want to help those who are suffering during these circumstances by sending monetary donations. Unfortunately, cybercriminals know this and take advantage of people’s good will through phishing scams and the creation of fraudulent websites that ask for monetary relief. To best protect your technology from being exposed to malware, here are a few guidelines to follow in the wake of a disaster:

1. Highly question any individual plea for financial assistance. This includes solicitations on social media, direct emails and crowd funding websites. Even if it appears to come from a trusted source, always double check with the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information website or National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster website for guidance.
2. Beware of emails containing links that claim to lead to a website with “more information” or photos. Although the photos and information may be relevant, it is extremely important to double check if it is a trusted website before clicking on the link.
3. A good way to check to see if a website is legitimate is to scroll over the URL. If the URL says something different than where you are trying to go, you know it’s a fraudulent website. For example, you may receive an email that says donate here for hurricane disaster relief efforts at www.madeupdomain.org, but when you scroll over the hyperlink it would say www.madeupdomain.com.
4. Never even open a spam email, let alone click on the attachments or links inside, and never reply to an email with or give any personal information to a website that you are not 100% positive is legitimate.

You should always be following safe email practices, but in the wake of disastrous events it is especially important to be on the lookout for phishing and malware schemes since they routinely spike under these circumstances. Once your technology is compromised, it is expensive to fix, so don’t put yourself in that position. If you have any questions about how to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of a malware or phishing attack, don’t hesitate to give us a call here at OptfinITy at 703-790-0400 or visit us on our website at www.optfinity.com.

In the current technology age, every organization relies on a secure network to ensure efficient daily operations ranging from lead generation and sales to internal functions such as HR and accounting. That being said, if your network is infiltrated with malware, it isn’t just a problem for the IT department; it affects the entire organization and can cost them thousands of dollars. A recent entrepreneur.com article provides some suggestions on how to maintain a secure, malware-free network.

• Protect all your access points with strong, complex passwords. If you’re worried about forgetting them, check out our previous blog that provides an easy trick, or use a password manager such as LastPass.
• Ensure that all your software and systems are up to date. Cybercriminals are coming up with new ways to infiltrate systems and developing new viruses every day, so if you’re not constantly updating your systems and software, you’re leaving yourself vulnerable.
• Limit the amount of file sharing enabled devices and relegate all file sharing to one server. This allows for easy monitoring for unauthorized access and limits the number of targets for a breach.
• If your organization doesn’t already use private IP addresses, you should consider doing so. Having specifically assigned IP addresses for devices makes it easier to identify unauthorized network access by checking router logs.

While these suggestions are all great ways to prevent malware from infiltrating your organization, you should still constantly back up your data. That way, in the event of malware getting past all your defenses, you won’t lose everything in a breach, or be forced to pay in the event of a ransomware attack. If you have any questions or concerns about the security of your organization or how to stay malware-free, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 571-370-5777 or visit our cybersecurity division’s website at www.perusity.com.

Predictably, there have been reports of fake Equifax settlement websites in the wake of Equifax announcing their settlement. In order to prevent having your data stolen or your computer infiltrated with malware, it would be wise to take the following precautions:

• Double-check the website address and the URL. The correct starting point recommended by the FTC is https://ftc.gov/Equifax. While checking the URL, be on the lookout for any typos or other minor discrepancies. The following URL should be the one you see for the web page mentioned above. https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/refunds/equifax-data-breach-settlement. If you were to type in Equifax settlement in Google and a similar URL came up with a misspelled word or missing punctuation such as “gov.enforcement” instead of “gov/enforcement” you should NOT use that website to file your claim.
• Beware of phishing emails or phone calls from criminals claiming to be Equifax or government officials asking you for personal information or payments. It is free to file and process your Equifax settlement claim, so if someone is asking for a payment, it’s illegitimate.

If you have any questions or concerns about fake websites or phishing email scams, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 703-790-0400 or visit either of our websites at www.optfinity.com or www.perusity.com.

If you were one of the 147 million people affected by the Equifax data breach that occurred back in 2017, now is the time to file your claim to receive compensation according to a recent CNET article. If you aren’t sure whether or not you were affected by the breach, you can go to the FTC and official settlement site and use their online tool.

Everyone has until January 22, 2020 to file their claim and receive up to $125 for credit monitoring fees, and up to $20,000 to compensate for money spent to recover from the breach. As the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan area’s leading MSP and Cybersecurity expert, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 703-790-0400 if you have any questions or concerns about cybercriminal activity that may be threatening your organization.

NOTE:  MAKE SURE YOU ARE ON THE LEGITIMATE WEBSITE. There have been many fraudulent websites created in the wake of the announcement of the Equifax settlement.

There are many precautions that you’ve probably already read about that employees can take to prevent putting their organization at risk of a breach. Precautions such as not clicking on phishing emails or suspicious links, or using weak passwords are frequent topics of discussion in the world of cybersecurity. One topic, however, that doesn’t appear to be get enough attention, is employees’ careless use of social media while at work and the company information they could be handing to cybercriminals on a silver platter. A recent fastcompany.com article discusses how to be more cognizant of your social media activity while sharing work related posts.

The culprits who expose company information on social media tend to be the younger generation who grew up with social media as a part of their everyday lives. They are accustomed to posting pictures, videos, and other updates of their personal life on the social media for everyone to see. Since a new job or internship is usually a big life event for someone, people will often post a picture of themselves with their new coworkers either inside their office or while wearing their badges, or both, with a hashtag such as #newjob. This makes it very easy for cybercriminals to search a hashtag and immediately gain access to confidential information such as badge numbers or even company plans written out on whiteboards in the background. Employees also give criminals access by way of video; for instance, when they record their entire workday and upload it as their Instagram story. Finally, posting complaints on public websites gives cybercriminals great phishing email content. For example, if everyone is complaining about company benefits, a criminal would craft an email announcing a new companywide benefit package with an attachment titled “Description of Benefits,” and more than likely get someone to click, giving the hacker access to the network.

The best way to prevent criminals from accessing company information is through awareness and training. OptfinITy and PerusITy both offer extremely effective cybersecurity training and awareness programs. If you have any questions or would like to learn more, give us a call at 571-370-5777 (PerusITy) or 703-790-0400 (OptfinITy), or visit our websites at www.perusity.com or www.optfinity.com respectively.

We’ve all at some point in time had to stop working on an important project or playing a fun game because our laptop battery runs out and we’re not near an outlet. Given that at least for the time being, there won’t always be a charging station available where you would like to do some work or browse the internet, it’s helpful to know how to maximize your laptop battery’s lifespan. While all batteries naturally deteriorate over time, here are a few ways to keep your laptop battery “healthy” and enhance its longevity.

1. Don’t leave your battery completely drained and never keep it plugged in once it’s fully charged.
2. Refrain from exposing your battery to temperature extremes, high or low. Keep between 41 and 70 degrees, Fahrenheit.
3. If you are going to keep your laptop plugged into a power source for a long period of time, remove the battery to prevent damage caused by the heat from being plugged in.
4. Never store your battery for long periods of time, for this can result in extreme discharge. If you plan to store away your battery for a few weeks, recharge it to 40% and remove it from your laptop.
5. Last but not least, don’t drop it! Batteries are constructed of sensitive materials and any physical shock can affect the long-term performance.

OptfinITy has been working with small businesses and organizations for over 18 years and helping them to find the best technology to optimize operations and productivity. If you have any questions about laptop recommendations or which technology is the best fit for your organization, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 703-790-0400 or visit us on the web at www.optfinity.com.

With cyberattacks becoming increasingly costly and frequent, organizations can no longer afford to not prioritize cybersecurity in their budget. We have seen attacks in the past few years ranging from small businesses and organizations to large cities. While larger organizations have the budget and resources to handle cybersecurity internally, smaller organizations usually do not. Luckily, the option of using an MSP (Managed IT Service Provider) is available for these smaller businesses so that they too can maintain the same high levels of cybersecurity as their larger counterparts.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute, the percentage of small businesses that experienced cyberattacks rose 6% in 2018, up to 67% from 61% the year before. Additionally, more than half of small businesses and organizations experienced a data breach in 2018 with catastrophic financial consequences of these attacks averaging between $1.43 million and $1.56 million in cost to operations.

While there are a variety of possible cyberattacks, the most common types are phishing schemes, malware, stolen devices and denial of service attacks. The most efficient and affordable way to combat these malicious threats is through partnering with an MSP. At OptfinITy, we provide proactive IT support that includes around the clock monitoring, threat prevention and elimination, firewall and network protection, and security awareness training. We also recently launched a new division dedicated to cybersecurity, PerusITy, that will focus on HIPAA compliance audits, vulnerability assessments, IT and security audits, security cameras, managed SOC, penetration testing and business continuity.

Taking initiative and locating cyber threats before they destroy everything you’ve worked so hard to build is the only way to prevent an attack on your business. While you likely don’t have the time required to effectively seek out and pinpoint these threats, OptfinITy can. We ensure high quality IT support by providing a dedicated group of IT professionals ready to assist you 24×7, but we also are more budget friendly than hiring an in-house IT department and our services are offered at a flat monthly rate. If you have and questions or would like to learn more about our managed IT services or our new cybersecurity division, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 703-790-0400.