StillWater I.T. Solutions

Source: Forbes.com today Garmin reportedly paid millions to resolve its recent ransomware attack. Recent reports detailed that fitness device maker Garmin paid millions of dollars in response to an outage the company dealt with last month due to a ransom attack. The attack impacted several of Garmin’s systems, taking many of them offline. Although it is unknown who was responsible for the attack and who the ransom money went to, individuals researching the attack s...uspect the event could be connected to Evil Corp, a cybercriminal organization from Russia. (Source: Engadget) Why this is important for your business: Think about it: Garmin is a big company with plenty of IT resources and yet they fell victim to a ransomware attack and had little choice but to cough up the cash. What does this mean for your small business? It means that if hackers can extort money from a company like Garmin they can do it to you tooand probably easier. Backup your systems. Get your employees trained. Install security software on all devices. And for goodness sake makes sure every device everywhere (yes, even at your employees’ homes) are running the most recent operating systems.

Had a fantastic hike in Golden Ears. Love having this trail in my back yard! #stillwaterwalks #soulcleansing #naturelover

Having a great time relaxing at Timothy Lake with our bubble family!

Another fantastic hike at the Lower Falls Trail. Everyone, get away from those screens for some water, wilderness and wonder!

During the COVID-19 crisis, many employees are working from home and are not operating within the protection of their company network. Hackers see this as an opportunity to send fraudulent emails for the purpose of stealing information or money known as PHISHING SCAMS. Here are 5 ways to spot a phishing scam when you receive it: 1) The message creates a sense of urgency... If the email begins with "Urgent request" or "Your account will be closed", waitdon’t panic. This is designed to get you to act now and click on a link to submit your account information. 2) Look at the email address, not the sender In most cases, a phishing email will come from an email address that appears to be authentic. Look at the actual sender’s email address and not just the Display Name. You may find it very similar to a company official email address but not the same - for instance: @mail.netflix.123work instead of @netflix.com. 3) Email is not personalized Fraudulent emails are usually not personalized. If you do business with an organization, the first line of the email should always contain your name. Don’t trust impersonal introductions like Dear Customer. 4) Look carefully at the attachments or links In the case of an attachment, cyber-criminals will place malware that will infect your computer when you open it. This document can be an invoice or an org chart to review for example. If you are not 100% confident the message is authentic, it is best to contact the sender directly by phone, email or chat if available. If the email encourages you to click on a link, first hover over the URL to see the actual hyperlinked address. If the domain name doesn’t seem correct or is not the same as the genuine site, then this is likely a fraudulent email. Go to the website directly from your browser and login rather than clicking on the link/button. 5) Rely on common sense A legitimate business will never ask you to send your login credentials or credit card information by email and Microsoft will not send you an email to say they will close your account or have detected a virus on your computer.

Hello everyone! During these changing times, I wanted to post a couple of links to help with free remote PC access and Zoom, the 2 most popular services being used right now. GOOGLE REMOTE DESKTOP A simple to use free remote desktop tool for individuals and small businesses.... How to Install bit.ly/HowToInstallGoogleRemoteDesktop ZOOM FOR CLIENT MEETINGS Zoom is a cloud based service that offers Meetings and Webinars and provides content sharing and video conferencing capability. How to Install Zoom bit.ly/HowToInstallZoom How to Join a Zoom Meeting bit.ly/HowtoJoinaZoomMeeting How to Host a Secure Zoom Meeting bit.ly/HowtoSecureYourZoomMeeting Please share this post so everyone ensures their personal and business security!