Are YOU Making These Terrible Mistakes?

According to a survey of 2,100 businesses conducted by Applied Research and commissioned by Symantec, the vast majority of businesses are frequent victims of cyber attacks, data loss and non-existent backup and recovery systems. Here are just a few of the shocking facts discovered:

74% of the businesses surveyed were affected by cyber attacks – including hackers, viruses, worms, etc. – in the past 12 months.
• 62% had lost at least one mobile device in the last 12 months, and 100% admitted they had no password protection on these devices.
• Less than 1/3 of the devices lost had a way to wipe these lost devices clean to prevent unauthorized access to confidential data.
• 42% of businesses have lost confidential data in the last 12 months and 40% reported a direct financial loss because of this.
• 47% of those survey said they STILL do NOT backup their data!

To be perfectly blunt, this is just plain stupid and irresponsible behavior on the part of businesses who allow these attacks to happen. Even worse, it’s a black eye on their PR if the confidential information is CLIENT data, such as credit card numbers, bank account information, medical records or other important identity information like social security numbers, birth dates, passwords, etc.

ALL businesses know of the threats to their computer network, be it viruses, hackers or internal employees; not taking some simple measures to protect against theft and loss of confidential data is completely foolish – not to mention expensive!

If you have any doubt whatsoever about whether you’re backing up your data properly, protecting mobile devices and maintaining up-to-date firewall, patches and security updates, NOW is the time to get this fixed! Call us for a free, no-obligation consultation, and we’ll be happy to review your current network security and backups to see if you truly ARE protected, or if you’re more likely to end up another statistic.

There once was an old farmer who grew award-winning corn. Every year he entered his corn into the state fair and won the blue ribbon.

One year, after winning yet another competition, a young newspaper reporter requested an interview with the farmer to try and uncover the farmer secrets to his prize-winning corn. Although he expected to be turned down, the farmer welcomed the interview. He asked the old farmer several questions about his techniques and then discovered something interesting about how he grew it: the reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors!

“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering their corn into the same competition with yours every year?” the reporter asked. “Why sir,” said the farmer, “didn’t you know? I can’t afford not to! The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it around from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn as well. It’s one of my secrets to success.”

The moral of the story is simple: If we are to grow “good corn” in our businesses, we must be willing to help our fellow business owners grow “good corn” too. When times are tough, it affects us all. That’s why we’ve decided to offer a FREE “Network Tune Up” to any business in during the month of December.

At no charge, we’ll send our technician onsite to conduct a complete 27-point audit of your computer network to make sure your data is secure, protected from hackers and viruses and being backed up properly. We’ll also look for ways to cut costs and save you money on hardware, software and services.

While this may not make a huge difference in any one company’s success, it’s our way of helping our neighbors “grow good corn.” To request this service, simply call or e-mail our office and ask for the “good corn” offer. There is zero cost or obligation; and if you know of someone who could use a little technical support during these tough economic times, please forward this on to them!