kinetik IT blog spot

Recently, we've been showing how small and medium-sized businesses can take steps to prevent cyber attacks and digital theft. That's because, even though you might not be as big a prize to hackers as a major retailer like Target is, there are probably lots of thieves who would love to gain access to your files. And that's not even counting the data loss risks that come from floods, fires, and other everyday disasters that can destroy your technology.

With that in mind, here are a few more great ways to keep your digital files (and reputation) from being lost:

Keep data backups offsite. By keeping backups in a remote location (and transmitted through an encrypted connection), you protect yourself in the event of a theft inside your company's walls. Plus, you'll have access to your files if you need them following a fire, flood, or other disruption to your office.

Have a trained team overseeing your data. Often, business owners and executives either don't know how to spot the signs of a cyber attack, or are too busy to look out for them. With the right hosting and IT security team on your side, you'll have somebody who knows what to look for and can take preventative steps at the first sign of trouble.

Don't overlook the little things. As we mentioned in the past, little things like changing passwords and updating hosting software can go a long way toward keeping you protected. Don't forget the simple steps, and you won't be vulnerable to the most obvious kinds of online attacks.

The bottom line on data security is that it starts with the right philosophy and lots of planning. Why not let the Kinetik team look for risks in your IT structure and show you how to protect your business? Call or email us today for a free consultation.

More and more, businesses are starting to realize that managing IT in-house isn’t the best way to get premium service or save money.

There are a lot of reasons for this, but most of them come down to scale and expertise – business owners and managers don’t know enough about IT to hire the right personnel and make the right investments, and even if they did, it would be cost prohibitive to get what they really wanted.

 It’s not surprising, then, that more and more new clients are coming to us for outsourced IT management. You might be considering the same. By using a specialized vendor as your “IT department,” you give your business a few important advantages:

Things Just Work

 This is simple, but it’s more important than a lot of business people realize. When you have the right vendor managing and monitoring your systems, you can stop worrying about the little issues (and accompanying workaround fixes) that suck so much time out of your daily schedule. When things just work the way they’re supposed to, you can get more done without having to worry about issues of hardware and software.

You Stay Ahead of Customers and Competitors

When you have someone who knows technology looking out for your business, they can help spot new hardware, practices, and apps that can help your business grow or save money. That saves you the time you would’ve spent doing the same, of course, but it also gives you the opportunity to anticipate what your customers may ask you for in the future and stay one step ahead of your competitors.

Your IT Partner Fixes Problems Before They Become Problems

With IT management, your vendor can stay on the lookout for potential problems or issues, identifying and correcting them before they affect your business. If you’ve ever lost access to telephones, email, or something else that’s crucial to the day-to-day operation of your company, you know how important it is to prevent these sorts of outages.

You Get to Stop Worrying About IT Staffing

Finding the right technology personnel is hard enough. Keeping them – and keeping them trained – is a whole other challenge, and one that can put a huge dent in your bottom line. With an IT management agreement in place, you can stop worrying about hiring technology staff, paying their bonuses and continuing education costs, or keeping things covered when they are away from the office.

IT management can be a constant headache, or it can be a competitive advantage. Which would you prefer?

Wondering what good outsourced IT management could do for your company? Contact the Kinetik team today and let us walk you through plans and options that might make sense for your business.

When news breaks that mega companies like Target and national banks had been the victim of a huge cyber security breach, business owners and executives around the country immediately started to wonder how vulnerable their companies were. 

That's a good question, and an extremely important one in the digital age. It goes without saying that very large businesses, and those with extensive e-commerce operations, need to have multiple security layers in place to protect customer data. But, even if you don't have millions of customers, or billions at stake, there are a handful of important tips you should follow to prevent data loss and theft:

1. Back up everything, and back it up often. Regardless of whether the data loss comes from a hacker or power surge, you should have backup copies of your most important files in place and ready to use.

2. Update your hosting software frequently. The kinds of cyber attacks that affect most small businesses aren't sophisticated. Instead, they rely on known exploits in software packages like WordPress. By updating yours frequently, you can often close the door to would-be opportunistic thieves.

3. Change passwords regularly and don't use obvious words or phrases. We've all heard this advice before, but it still holds true. In the same way that you shouldn't make your pin number "1234" (something that nearly one out of 10 people do), your company's passwords shouldn't be easy for automated software to guess.

4. Restrict access to trusted personnel. In a lot of small businesses, anyone borrowing the owner’s or manager's password can get access to anything on the company website, or in databases. That's a prescription for disaster. Set different security levels so that employees can access what's needed, but not more.

5. Keep an eye on your technology. Often, you can prevent digital break-ins before they happen, simply by paying attention to things like the number of failed logins to your website or server. The closer you’re watching things, the less opportunity thieves have to catch you napping.

Feel like your company’s online security isn't what it should be? Talk to a member of the Kinetik team today to see how we can help.