FAQ & Jargon Buster

  • Initial meeting with Amanda to find out where the business is heading and how we can help you achieve those goals
  • A plan of action, based on your budget and requirements
  • A slick onboarding process managed from start to finish by our team.
  • From meeting your team to installing our support tools – your journey to better productivity and less IT headaches start here

Broadband is the provision of internet to your business premises, but won’t necessarily give you access to this broadband using a WIFI connection, unless the router has a WIFI antenna. Typically it stops in the comms room and allows cabled equipment to access the internet.

WIFI allows you to use the broadband connection using a wifi enabled device, so without cables. It is usually given out over your business network by wireless access points (WAP’s). The best solutions are cloud managed, enabling your IT to be able to fix and secure these quickly and remotely, often before you know there is a problem

Connecting your ipad or laptop to your phone is a much more secure way of working rather than connecting to public wifi* which can be infiltrated by hackers. Depending on the device, it is usually in settings and called Personal Hotspot or Hotspot. If you then ‘allow others to join’ please make sure the password is secure, and then just choose this WIFI from the list of WIFI points shown on your device as you would do with any other WIFI.

*Unless you have our secure Ringfence technology where you can use public WIFI with confidence.

Cyber crime that uses your phone to steal personal information. Uses social engineering to make you think the person at the other end of the phone is actually who they think they are. Often used by criminals pretending to be from banks

Our Illuminate Secure Plus product can educate your staff on all cyber threats and how to avoid them

Home networks were not designed for people to be working from home. Most use low quality routers that don’t have great security, or lack the functionality needed for staff to work with VPN’s or VoIP systems.

Cloud IT has helped businesses send their workforce to work from home, but there are a lot of security concerns with this.

Using our Ringfence technology protects business equipment whilst using home networks, but there are other security you should be taking into account. Give us a call to discuss how we can help further secure your business.

Working from home is now part of the new way of working, but printing can be a pain, isn’t it always! However, investing in a cloud printing solution where all office and home printers are always setup and always ready to go can save a huge amount of time and frustration for you and your staff.

  • Have a culture of cyber security within your organisation
  • Look at implementing certification within your business. Not everyone has the time or budget to implement standards like ISO27001, but
  • Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus is a good place to start your journey and proves to staff and customers that you are taking cyber security seriously
  • Setup MFA for all systems you have access to
  • Ensure all passwords within your organisation are secure, not used in lots of different sites and think about implementing a password manager
  • Run those windows updates
  • Ensure your anti-virus and malware protection is updating and scanning daily
  • Make sure you have good, offsite backups and that they are tested regularly.
  • Engage with an IT provider that can give you up-to-date advice on emerging threats

Passwords should not be changed regularly! I know, that is new news, we were all used to changing every 30 days, but lets face it, how many of you just updated the number at the end of a very well used password? So best now to have AT LEAST an 8 digit password, or even better 16 and only change it if you think it has been compromised

Recent studies found that a 5 character password with mixture of numbers and letters could be hacked instantly, where those with 12 characters and a mixture of letters (1 uppercase), 1 digit and 1 special character would take 34,000 years to crack

There is no better way to help prevent a cyber attack than training your staff on how to spot them first. Regular, bite sized training that is mandatory, but engaging and not time consuming that can be reported back to management is vital for the security of your business. Combine that with regular fake phishing attempts and you’ve gone a long way towards cyber hygiene for your staff.

No idea what is the best product for your business? Be it printer, tablet, laptop, PC, Mac, server, firewall, router, access point – or even advice on broadband, VoIP or cabling, we can help you make sense of what is required, cost it to budget and get it ordered and on your desks

What are you trying to achieve with new software, what are the benefits to your business and your staff? Is there a better way, or even software you already use that could do the job? Many businesses implement new tech without really understanding the capabilities or spending the time training.

We can do an audit and take time to understand the processes and people in your business and advise where and if new software is required

Calendly

If you haven’t discovered Calendly yet, then look it up – easy way to book out chunks of your calendar without tedious emails back and forth. Your attendee can cancel and rebook at leisure and you can choose the hours of the day you want to have booked for certain events. Syncs with your Outlook and emails you so you are always aware what is happening and when. You can also use it to book teams meetings and organise your team more efficiently

www.calendly.com

Still prefer pen and paper, but then have to spend hours at the end of the day transcribing back into a system to ensure you have it all saved? Take a look at Remarkable, it isn’t quite paper, but its lighter than a laptop and will transcribe your scribbles into text and your diagrams into any documentation you need. Great for those who hate traditional technology and prefer to just write.

www.remarkable.com

Picture the scene, you have a teams meeting with half your staff in the board room and the other half working from home. Which is your scenario:

  1. All go into the board room with your laptops and listen to screeching feedback between team members speakers and microphones, with the constant on and off mute issue
  2. You spend 20 minutes trying to get the PC that was left in the board room to speak to the TV, fiddle with the connections and swear as the speaker doesn’t connect or the camera doesn’t show everyone in the room.
  3. You try connecting your laptop to the TV in the boardroom tech, only to discover it needs 2hrs of windows updates and starts doing so 5 mins before the meeting starts

Using a Teams Room allows you to connect effortlessly. The integrated speaker and camera are always connected to the teams room controller. Just invite the teams room user (purchased with a teams room licence) to the meeting and your meeting will appear on the controller. Click to enter, and control the meeting from it – mute all, invite people in, connect people instantly. Or if you are having an ad-hoc meeting from the board room and need someone’s quick input, just call them from the controller and they are in the room. It’s that easy and its always ready to go with great quality audio and video that will impress clients.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/microsoft-teams-rooms

Do you sometimes need to explain something in a proposal or something you are sending to a client, but find it difficult to get hold of the client to call and talk it through? Using a video recording can add real professionalism to your communications. Something like Jumpshare allows you to record a portion of your screen with a voiceover (with or without your face) where you can highlight certain points just as you would in person or on a call.

www.jumpshare.com

Vishing – telephone cyber crime, social engineering to make you feel at ease and give away personal information

Smishing – Using SMS messages or other forms of social media to gain your trust and get information from you

Ransomware – Cyber attack where your data is encrypted and you are asked to pay a ransom to get it back. Often the data can also be sold on or uploaded to the internet, even if you do pay the ransom. The money gained is used to finance other organised crime.

Emails, often marked urgent where you are asked to click on a link and/or enter credentials to gain access to personal information

Where the ‘big fish’ of an organisation are targeted for a phishing attack – usually they are busy, the hackers know this and know that they are more likely to succeed. Once they have gained access to the head of the organisations emails, they will wait until a good time (ie when they are away on business or holiday) to send an email to others in the organisation, usually asking for money or goods to be transferred. As it comes from the authority, they are often paid without checking first.

  • Initial meeting with Amanda to find out where the business is heading and how we can help you achieve those goals
  • A plan of action, based on your budget and requirements
  • A slick onboarding process managed from start to finish by our team.
  • From meeting your team to installing our support tools – your journey to better productivity and less IT headaches start here

Broadband is the provision of internet to your business premises, but won’t necessarily give you access to this broadband using a WIFI connection, unless the router has a WIFI antenna. Typically it stops in the comms room and allows cabled equipment to access the internet.

WIFI allows you to use the broadband connection using a wifi enabled device, so without cables. It is usually given out over your business network by wireless access points (WAP’s). The best solutions are cloud managed, enabling your IT to be able to fix and secure these quickly and remotely, often before you know there is a problem

Connecting your ipad or laptop to your phone is a much more secure way of working rather than connecting to public wifi* which can be infiltrated by hackers. Depending on the device, it is usually in settings and called Personal Hotspot or Hotspot. If you then ‘allow others to join’ please make sure the password is secure, and then just choose this WIFI from the list of WIFI points shown on your device as you would do with any other WIFI.

*Unless you have our secure Ringfence technology where you can use public WIFI with confidence.

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