Facebook is making headlines — again — with yet another revelation of privacy failure. A recent security audit found that, since 2012, hundreds of millions of user passwords have been stored in a plaintext format, exposing them to the view of more than 20,000 of the social media giant’s employees.

If you’re a small business, you don’t have the budget to hire full-time employees to handle security, maintenance, and employee support. And as cybersecurity threats become more sophisticated and prevalent, it’s safer and more cost-effective to outsource your IT support.

Unless you live under a rock, almost everyone knows to be extra cautious on April Fools’ Day. Still, though, many of us fall as prey to a prank every year. With over 4.3 billion users in March of 2019 alone, the internet is an unlimited library for creative prank planning, making it more challenging to see a mischievous trick coming at you until you're already an April Fool.

"To Server and Protect"
As the middle of March approaches, there is a not-as-well-known holiday that The Purple Guys find worthy of a grand celebration that pairs well with wine and Cheers! The month of March is widely known for green because of Ireland’s St. Patrick, but have you heard about Finland’s St. Urho?

Finland’s Patron Saint Urho is famous for fighting off grasshoppers who were destroying the nation’s grape crop and therefore threatening their beloved wine production.

Any business that handles consumer data is a potential target for hackers, but small businesses are especially vulnerable. When customers willingly hand over sensitive personal information, they’re showing they trust you to keep that data safe. A breach quickly erodes that trust.

Let's talk about your business data (financial, business, operations, employee, and customer data + intellectual property, etc.). What would happen to your business if one of your employees caught a ransomware virus and not only they but your entire company became locked out of all of your data today, halting all business operations?

How much downtime, frustration, and financial burden would that cost your company? On average, small businesses lose around $8,500 per hour when down due to a ransomware attack (Source: Datto). However, there are several ways to avoid a cybersecurity attack to your business.

Let's talk about Computer and Network Privacy. Do you know if your computers and networks are strongly defended? Do you have a Firewall, AntiVirus, and AntiSpam? Do you know what tools your business uses for these? Do you know if they routinely updated, maintained, and tested for quality?

If the answer is no or you're not sure because an internal IT person or outsourced IT Guy or IT Support company manages it for you, let us help you answer these questions.

With more than 4 billion internet users currently worldwide, the internet is an incredible way for people to stream information and for businesses to make immense profits through online services and sales. It's also the leading cause of security breaches that put 61 percent of small businesses out of business within six months of a cyber attack.

Do you know how to spot a phishing email and are you training your employees on this as well? Why, we ask? Because email phishing is still the #1 cause of malware infections for small businesses.

According to the Wombat 2018 State of the Phish report, 92.4 percent of malware is delivered via email, 76 percent of organizations say they experienced phishing attacks and 49 percent of successful phishing attacks resulting in malware infections.

If your information or credentials have been hacked and you use the same password for multiple personal and business accounts, you and your small business are at high risk for a security breach. Don't worry, here's our EASY 5 Step Plan to Better, Safer Passwords which also means a safer business with less risk for cybersecurity threats.