Tag: it security protections

IT Consultants in Los Angeles Can Help Provide You Proper Security Incentive

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IT consultants Los AngelesIT consultants in Los Angeles can do little to help your business secure itself if you don’t have motivation. Motivation is one reason cybercriminals currently dominate the IT world. Consider WannaCry, a North Korean attack which affected businesses in 150+ countries. North Korea has incentive to succeed, and through WannaCry, they certainly managed to net themselves some assets via bitcoin ransom. Consider also that cybercrime is expected to top $6 trillion by 2021.

Those who steal through hacking means are motivated by profit. To them, stealing from you represents their core industry–and they’re making bank. If you’re going to successfully safeguard yourself, you must rival their enthusiasm in terms of protection. Following are three “choke points” you can focus on to help you reduce vulnerability. These include:

  • An offensive defensive strategy
  • Doing vs. planning
  • Those who plan and those who implement

An Offensive Defensive Strategy

IT consultants in Los Angeles can help you go on the offense with your defense. As they say: the best defense is a good offense. What does that look like in terms of technology? Well, proactive monitoring support solutions continuously keep an eye on your network to ensure no underhanded, anomalous activity is going on. The latest patches are always applied–patching is all that was necessary to prevent WannaCry. If you’ve got patches applied as automatically as you can apply them, this will help save you a lot of trouble. Additionally, you want the latest firewall protections, the latest antivirus and anti-malware protocols, and the latest BDR solutions utilizing the cloud. These things are all “offensively” defensive.

Doing vs. Planning

Now it’s easy to plan for all of these things, but putting your plans into action is another thing entirely. It’s not enough to design the best plan in the world, it must be realistically and affordably implemented. Working with the right MSP can help you determine what is viable, what isn’t, implementation strategy, and how to maintain your defensive planning via successful implementation going forward.

Those Who Plan and Those Who Implement

Now there’s often a disparity between security planners who are looking at the organization as a whole and implementation personnel who are tasked with putting things together in a tangible sense. The right MSP can help you justify these two parties together. Sometimes, those who plan for security implementation across the entire organization aren’t aware of the time fallout which occurs from certain measures, like continuously reset passwords.

There is such a thing as going “too far”. A balance is necessary. Those who implement security should be classified as the entire organization— from custodians to temps, to managers, to CEOs, and everyone in between. Accordingly, this requires education. The right MSP can help train your organization pertaining to the best practices regarding security. When everyone is on the same page, then security plans from on high will have a greater likelihood of successful implementation.

Secure Operations

Advanced Networks have one of the best IT consultants in Los Angeles that can help your security solution go on the offensive, which will give you better defense than that which is sourced without informed planning. Contact us now for the latest defensive solutions in terms of IT and help your business remain operable despite driven cybercriminal aggressors.

How An IT Consulting Firm in Los Angeles Can Provide IT Security Against Former Employees

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An IT consulting firm in Los Angeles can help provide IT security to ensure everything goes as planned. Nowadays, employees come and go. While the vast majority of employees who are leaving will not harm your company, it is never a bad idea to have security measures in place to prevent a disgruntled former employee from causing havoc in your organization. Each employee has various levels of access to confidential files, so it is important to ensure that they no longer have access to these documents once they begin the process of leaving your company. An IT provider can help keep these files secure and prevent a disgruntled employee from causing massive damage to your organization. Here is how to protect your company from former employees who may cause harm to your business:

Always Change Passwords

Anytime an employee gets fired or puts in their two weeks notice, it is a good idea to review all the accounts that they have access and change each password. These accounts can include a wide variety of areas, whether it is email, social media, security clearances or private databases. It is imperative that all of these accounts receive new passwords. An IT provider can help you identify the specific areas that the employee could access. On the other hand, failure to change one of these passwords can allow an employee to erase vital information that may be impossible to recover.

Remove Internal & External Network Permissions

Another critical IT security measure that is provided by an IT consulting firm in Los Angeles is that they can help you remove network permissions for former employees. Preventing access to the network will ensure that everything continues to work correctly and eliminates the risk of a disgruntled employee trying to sabotage the company’s system. Access to these networks should be changed immediately. With this, an IT provider can help you ensure that only current employees have access to your organization’s network.

Develop an Exit Strategy

Another important concept is to develop an exit strategy for any employees who are leaving. An IT provider can help you create a plan that ensures the safety of your company is not compromised. These plans will ensure that the employee no longer has access to confidential data and will prevent them from causing any damage. Each exiting employee will be required to turn in any company devices and provide their login credentials. An IT provider can also ensure that the exit strategy remains up-to-date and always look for improvements.

Partnering with an IT consulting firm in Los Angeles can help provide your business with the highest levels of IT security against former employees. Advanced Networks is an IT provider that focuses on keeping organizations safe from internal or external threats. Our staff members will ensure that former employees follow strict protocols that will prevent them from having access to any restricted areas. Contact us today if you any additional questions. We will be happy to set up a meeting to discuss how an IT provider can help you take advantage of technology while also keeping your company protected from former employees or outside threats.

IT Support in LA Can Provide the Latest in IT Security Protections

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No Way Around It

IT support in LA is essential for your business’ IT security. There’s no way around it. Modernity has some of the finest technology known to man, but that tech has been created by modern man. Ergo, advantages and drawbacks will follow human trends. What’s a human trend that has always plagued mankind? Criminality. Following are several considerations pertaining to cyber-security— these will help show why continuous security tech solutions are necessary:

  • The fact that cyber-security will always be a challenge
  • Employee device considerations
  • Increasingly sophisticated attacks
  • Applications are the primary culprit of most breaches

Continuous Challenges

IT support companies in LA provide IT security understands that, as innovations come, find new innovative ways of cracking security. Many cyber-criminals are disgruntled technicians. They’ve, usually, worked in a professional capacity with one technology company or another. For whatever reason, they decided to go the “black hat” route. The most probable motivation is money. There is a lot of money in cyber-crime these days and that trend seems to be expanding. The truth is, as long as there is mankind, new technology will be compromised by cyber-security threats. Humanity does not bear the mark of perfection. Therefore, there will always be “backdoors” into any system. If you want to safeguard your business, you need to consistently replace the “locks.”

Employee Device Considerations

Through BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), businesses can save tens of thousands of dollars in equipment and even more in freed up facilities costs. If you can outsource your employees, why rent an office that will never be occupied? Now, you’re saving thousands every month. The catch comes in terms of cyber-security compromise. Different devices have diverse points of access that can be utilized by enterprising cyber-criminals. Getting around this can be done with multi-factor authentication, where an employee must prove their identity by entering data sent to multiple devices. Additionally, continuous monitoring and support solutions are recommendable here.

Increasingly Sophisticated Attacks

Cyber-crime is a trillion-dollar industry. As a result, there are hacking programs which have the sort of backing a company like Microsoft or Apple would. That’s a considerable reality you must defend against. The best way to do this is to employ a team of tech professionals whose operational core revolves around obtaining and providing cutting-edge security solutions.

Applications are the Primary Culprits of Today’s Breaches

In modernity, applications on mobile devices like laptops, tablets, or smartphones are commonly the primary culprit of data breaches. They usher in Trojan software, which remains hidden until hackers decide to exploit it. This is what caused a massive DDoS attack on the east coast in 2016. Ensure any apps you download are vetted by whichever security agency you choose to work with.

Securing Your Business

IT support in LA through Advanced Networks is dedicated to providing the latest in IT security solutions. Contact us to safeguard your operations cohesively, continuously, and reliably. New threats are always emerging and avoiding them will require top-tier professional support.