By -- 2017-10-18 in Blog

The Hidden Threat to Wireless Networks

Most of us use wireless networks (Wi-Fi) daily, but many don’t realize that every wireless device is at risk of being hijacked. Wireless networks initially relied on a protocol called WEP, which proved insecure. This led to the development of WPA2. While WPA2 was designed to protect networks and devices, a newly discovered vulnerability, “KRACK” (Key Reinstallation Attack), has exposed its flaws.

What is KRACK?

KRACK allows hackers to eavesdrop on compromised network traffic. To exploit this vulnerability, hackers must be within physical range of a device. Once connected, they can decrypt network traffic, hijack connections, and inject content into the traffic stream. This threat doesn’t come from overseas hackers but from individuals who could be nearby, such as someone at a cafe or outside your office.

Secured Connections Offer Some Protection

The good news is that connections between your device and secured websites, such as your bank, remain safe. These sites use HTTPS, which adds an extra layer of protection. Additionally, because the vulnerability exists at the software level, fixing it is straightforward. Major vendors, including Microsoft, have already released patches to address this issue.

Steps to Protect Your Devices

Update Your Devices

Ensure all wireless devices have the latest security patches. This includes desktops, laptops, routers, wireless access points, and mobile phones. Businesses should rely on trusted IT management companies to handle device updates and maintain ongoing security. Optfinity has already updated or is in the process of updating all client devices to safeguard against KRACK.

Practice Safe Browsing in Public

When using public Wi-Fi, switch to your cellular data network or use your phone as a password-protected hotspot. If that’s not possible, use a VPN to secure your connection and limit your exposure to hacking.

Stay Informed and Protected

For more information on protecting your devices, sign up for our newsletter or contact us for a free security assessment. Reach us at sales@optfinity.com or call 703-790-0400.

By -- 2017-10-6 in Blog

Voice over Internet Protocol, more often referred to as VoIP or Voice over IP is a technology that utilizes your internet connection to make and receive phone calls. VoIP is a popular technology option among small to medium sized business to replace their traditional phone system or landlines since it provides more features and cost benefits.

These added features and benefits are possible because VoIP utilizes software on servers meaning that features can be developed and added as new technology develops.  We’ll discuss the benefits and features of VoIP that traditional phone lines lack and why they’re important to businesses.

Extra Features

VoIP has a few extra features that regular landlines don’t. In addition to making/receiving calls, transferring calls and voicemail, VoIP also has caller ID, video conferencing and phone extensions. A VoIP feature that really impresses users is the ability to have your phone extension at your desk or on your mobile phone. For companies that have remote users or people constantly out in the field, it’s a big plus.

Enhanced Flexibility

VoIP’s flexibility makes it compatible with almost all networks and can be used over WiFi! It can use data types in different combinations to make and route calls, a tool that can be extremely useful when developing and deploying applications across various computers.  This flexibility greatly diminishes any need to worry about incompatibility and can support many types of communication.

Real-time Faxing

Setting up and maintaining long distance fax services can be more expensive than what it’s worth, not to mention the less than stellar data quality. The traditional fax service is also faced with equipment incompatibility causing more delays in the process. VoIP can replace your fax machine altogether with a fax interface by converting the data into packets to deliver data faster and more reliably.

Cost Benefits

Traditional landlines are more expensive than internet calling lines, so utilizing VoIP can help you reduce long distance calling costs.  Since it is scalable, you can adjust your plan to fit your business needs by adding or removing features and lines as needed.

OptfinITy has partnerships with many different VoIP providers. We can compare different providers with what you need and find a solution that is perfect for you. If you have any questions or are interested in switching to VoIP, give us a call!

By -- 2017-09-28 in Blog

Spear phishing campaigns make up 90% of cyberattacks and most employees are still unable to discern these scams from innocent emails. If you want to improve your company’s cybersecurity education, you might want to consider phishing your own staff.

Before making the campaign public, companies should take a baseline measurement of how employees react to one of the phishing exercises, according to Carl Leonard, principal security analyst at Forcepoint. Then, you have a metric to measure improvement against.

“A company’s most accurate results will arise from tests conducted when employees have not been forewarned,” Leonard said. “Ideally, they will be in a typical frame of mind and not in a heightened state of alertness knowing that a test will be conducted soon. This allows companies to more accurately baseline current status.”

While there are many options out there, a company can do this for free by designing their own emails to mimic a phishing attack and utilize their current software or exchange platform to track metrics. But if you don’t have the time or knowhow to accomplish this, Optfinity has a solution for you.

Through our relationship with KnowBe4, we can send out customized phishing emails and scams, gather the information, track their performance, and send regular reports. Training is also provided in this package, both before and after they are alerted to the software. If you have more questions about this topic or want a free assessment, contact Optfinity today!

By -- 2017-09-27 in OptfinITy News

CMS Works

For the tenth consecutive year, as Alexandria’s premiere business organization, Old Town Alexandria Connection, OTAC, is hosting a FREE reception to foster relationships among regional business professionals who will meet, mingle, and connect with potential clients and business opportunities. Invitation-only admission with complimentary food, cash bar, scholarship raffle, & multiple prize drawings.

One hundred percent of all of the proceeds from this event, including the event fee, the reception sponsors, and the onsite auction directly supports the Peter Williams Memorial Scholarship; given to college-bound high school seniors who embody the community spirit that the late Peter Williams, attorney and past OTAC President, practiced throughout his lifetime.

Optfinity is not only a proud sponsor of OTAC and this event, but Michael Drobnis, our President and CEO, is also the current OTAC President. So please click here to register as a guest of Optfinity and we look forward to seeing you at this highly anticipated event.

WHAT:   Food, drinks, door prizes, auction, networking, business opportunities, & great conversation
WHEN:   Wednesday, October 11th, 2017 | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
WHERE:   In the heart of Old Town Alexandria at:
                 Chadwicks – Second Floor Dining Room
                 203 Strand Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

By -- 2017-09-27 in Blog

5 Features You Never Knew Existed

1. Window Shake and Shrink
If you’ve ever worked within multiple Microsoft® windows, you know that bouncing back and forth between them can be a pain. To fix this, click on and hold the title bar of a program and give it a little shake with your mouse. All other windows will minimize, and the one that you tossed around like an old polaroid photo will remain in the foreground. Go on and try it!

2. Problem Steps Recorder
This tool can be used to record your screens and document the steps taken for a specific task. With this feature, you can create how-to videos or document the process taken toward something for you or someone else to refer to later. From the Start Menu, click in the search bar and type “psr,” then press Enter. You will see this program open, and all you have to do is click record. From there, you can go ahead and work through your task, and this application will record all of the steps taken. It’s for sure a true hidden gem for Windows!

3. Calculator
Many people underestimate the functionality of the calculator tool. Sure, you can use it for simple operations, but what about easily finding out how much your mortgage payment will be? Or how much your vehicle will cost you after interest? Open up the Calculator, click “View,” then hover your mouse over “Worksheets”. You’re welcome!

4. Pin to Taskbar
This is a simple one, but it really comes in handy. At the bottom part of your screen, to the right of the Start Menu, is called the taskbar. You can place or pin commonly used programs to it to easily launch when needed. If the program is already open, simply right click on the logo in the taskbar and choose “Pin to Taskbar.” You can also do this from the Start Menu by right clicking on the program name and choosing the same option.

5. The Windows+T
Now that you have your taskbar customized, hold down the Windows button on your keyboard and press T. This will navigate you through all open and unopened programs on the taskbar. Once the one that you want is highlighted, open or display it by simply pressing Enter.

By -- 2017-09-27 in OptfinITy News

Our President and CEO, Michael Drobnis, will be the moderator for the Cybersecurity Panel at this year’s Vendor Forum hosted by Fairfax County on October 5th, 2017. The Cybersecurity Panel will focus on various electronic threats that small businesses are increasingly confronting and address how to prevent them. We are proud to have Optfinity not only represented at this year’s event, but also to be leading the discussion on such a hot topic.

The Vendor Forum is an annual event hosted by Fairfax County created to provide a forum for small businesses to interact directly with county procurement representatives. Hosted in conjunction with the Fairfax County Small Business Commission, the Vendor Forum provides an intimate and interactive setting for suppliers to:
*Network with Fairfax County agencies and their large contractors
*Discover marketing and business fundamentals that can help grow your company
*Explore alternative options for funding your business
*Learn how to properly and effectively pursue work with Fairfax County

Click here for more information on the event and to register to attend to see OptfinITy’s President in action!

By -- 2017-09-12 in Blog

While the linked article focuses on the need for security teams to think like criminals, leverage Artificial Intelligence technology, and understand that machine learning will lead to more jobs, the important part for you is to know that you need to invest well in cybersecurity to keep yourself and your business safe, whereas a cybercriminal only needs to get lucky once.

This main point cannot be over-emphasized enough. Many small businesses and organizations will put the bare minimum into their technology security and back-up, assuming that the issue of being hacked is something to be dealt with when the time comes.

What many don’t understand is it is too late once you’re the victim to be able to mitigate the problem and it will cost you more than it would have if you were proactive instead of reactive.

Can your business or organization survive without your computers and data for more than a week? What would happen if your clients’ data were violated and news got out that your business was compromised? Large retailers often face backlash and a loss of revenue, but they are so big, they can ride out the storm.

Having a reliable and trusted IT company looking after your needs and ensuring your safety should be your number one concern.

If you really want to know how secure or vulnerable your systems are, contact Optfinity today. We provide no-cost, no-obligation assessments on virtually any technology aspect you can think of. We would love the opportunity to sit down with you and give you sound advice, whether you choose to rely on us or not for your IT needs. This is too important an issue to worry about sales or numbers. We honestly care more about your business’ well-being and the technological security of your whole team.

By -- 2017-08-28 in Uncategorized

If you’re using a standard email provider like Google or Yahoo, and you delete an email, after a few days your email is gone forever. This is, of course, unless you’ve saved it in a separate folder or archived it.

While this may suit your personal needs, there are many reasons why you, as a business, should be archiving all emails, even those deleted by you and your employees.

Compliance and legal requirements are the biggest reasons why all your emails should be archived. In the event that you find yourself under audit or investigation, you definitely want to be able to provide these as soon as possible.

If you’re relying on Google, there is no way to ensure all your emails are kept and may find yourself in trouble if you can’t find that one email from 3 years ago.

This is why paying a reputable and reliable company to archive your emails for you and your entire organization are so important. Read the full article to understand all the reasons why you should be archiving. And remember not only do we provide online archiving for all email services we offer, we can also provide you with free email assessments to help give you peace of mind whether or not your current provider has your archiving needs covered.

By -- 2017-08-22 in OptfinITy News

The President and CEO of Optfinity, Michael Drobnis, will be making a presentation to the Rotary Club of West Springfield. They asked Optfinity to provide our technical expertise on IT security issues pressing to the businesses community as well as society as a whole. Michael jumped at the chance to educate others as well as make new friends in our community.

If you belong to a group or organization and would like someone to provide some training, guidance, or education on a specific technological topic such as websites, mobile apps, cloud service, or even the best way to use Microsoft products, please feel free to reach out to us anytime. We would love the opportunity to assist our friends in the community.

The Rotary Club meets on Wednesday mornings at 7:30 for breakfast at the Springfield Golf and Country Club (8301 Old Keene Mill Road). Most members start to arrive around 7:15 for coffee and fellowship, and the buffet breakfast begins at 7:30. Optfinity will present at 8:00 for roughly 20 minutes, and the meeting will adjourn at 8:30am. Some embers may stay after the meeting to ask additional questions.

By -- 2017-08-15 in OptfinITy News

The Leadership Fairfax program is designed for those already in a leadership role from mid-level to senior, from all walks of life and representing all the gears that drive the area’s engine–nonprofits, public service agencies, private corporations, educators, executives and volunteers. To ensure the most advantageous learning environment for these busy students, only 45-50 applicants are accepted into the program each year.

Leadership Fairfax trains successful leaders to use their skills and influence to improve their community. Based on an experiential model, each class member learns about community needs and how to address problems and seek solutions. Alumni have logged over 300,000 volunteer community service hours serving nonprofits and Fairfax County advisory boards and commissions, providing direct resource development and program services, and becoming elected officials.

We are proud to now say that Michael Drobnis is a distinguished member of this great organization and we look forward to all his hard work and dedication to the Fairfax County as a representative of Optfinity. We know he will represent us all as the professional with the kind heart he has always shown himself to be.