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Top 5 Things to Look for in a Managed IT Service Provider

5 Things to Look for in a Managed Service Provider

As technology and threats evolve, hiring a managed IT service provider to support and manage your organization’s technology is a great investment. The right partner can simplify IT, helping your team get their work done while keeping data secure. In other words, they’ll offer peace of mind that technology is fueling your operations and allow you to keep focused on business results.

But what exactly should you be looking for when screening potential partners? Whether you’re already working with one or looking to hire for the first time, here are the top 5 things to look for in a managed IT service provider.

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Cheat Code: How To Use the Employee Ideas App in Microsoft Teams

Receiving valuable and consistent feedback from your team is an integral part of running your business. Sometimes it can be difficult to keep up with all of the incoming ideas. Luckily, there is a Microsoft Power App within Teams that allows you to do just that.

The Employee Ideas App allows you to effectively receive and manage any ideas that your team has. It also allows other team members to vote on the ideas, showing you a clear picture of what is considered to be a priority amongst your employees.

Check out this quick Cheat Code how-to video below to learn more! You can also continue scrolling to find a few of our previous Cheat Codes.

Related Videos:

How to Master Secure File Sharing

Staying on Track with Microsoft 365 Tools

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Celebrating our December Employee Anniversaries

Our team would not be successful without the dedicated, hardworking, and awesome folks that help to make it up.

Yes, they’re IT professionals, but they’re also amazing people who embody all of our core values to the fullest extent by making personal connections, staying curious, and always striving to do the right thing. 

Join us in celebrating our two December anniversaries! You can learn more about both of these team members below.

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SECURITY ALERT: Log4j Vulnerability

WorkSmart is aware of the critical vulnerability in Apache Log4j that can be used to launch cyber attacks. We continue to work with our vendors to identify any potential vulnerabilities and ensure our tools are secure.

Here are details on the Log4j vulnerability, including who it impacts and what steps you can take to reduce the risk to your organization and your customers.

What is the vulnerability?

Last week, a software flaw in Apache’s Log4i program, a library used to log functionality in Java-based software.

Widely used by many third-party applications, Log4J gives software developers a way to record activity that can later be used to help with things like troubleshooting.

By exploiting this vulnerability, attackers can remotely gain control over computers running any affected version of Log4J (versions 2.0-beta9 to 2.14.1). Once they have access to the computer, they can potentially gain access to other parts of the organization’s network.

Who is impacted?

This threat affects any Java application using Log4j. This logging tool is the most common for Java applications, and Java is used extensively in developing software. Unfortunately, this may impact many services and products, including major vendors.

What can you do now?

  • Keeping all devices and software up to date is a key defense in protecting against known threats. With this threat, you should make sure Java is up to date.
  • Check to see if your organization uses any affected software.
    • Even though Apache released a fix for the vulnerability (log4j-2.15.0.rc2), you may need to wait until the vendor releases a security patch.
    • Many software vendors have issued advisories with their plan for mitigating any potential risk. All organizations should be communicating with their software vendors and continue to monitor any potential risks and if/when any actions are taken to mitigate them.

NOTE: CISA is managing a community-sourced list of affected software here: https://github.com/cisagov/log4j-affected-db. 

For WorkSmart Clients:

Sophos has confirmed our managed firewall and anti-virus solutions have been actively updated to look for intrusion detections and to block malicious behavior associated with this attack.  

Related Resources:

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Marissa Explains IT All: How to Spot A Phishing Email

Email is one of the most commonly used methods of communication in the workplace, however it’s also one of the most targeted areas for cybercriminals. 

Phishing is a technique that hackers use to impersonate a trusted source and try to get any personal or sensitive information from you. These emails can come in many different forms, so it’s important to stay vigilant when it comes to keeping your account secure.

Check out the 60-second clip below to hear Marissa’s best tips on spotting these phishing emails before it’s too late. Continue scrolling for the full transcript and more cybersecurity tips to help protect your business. 

Marissa Explains IT All: Episode 7

“How do you spot a phishing email?”

Transcript:

  1. “Check who the email is coming from. Not just the display name – the actual email address. If you just look at the display name, you can get fooled.
    1. Look for misspellings.
    2. Is it actually coming from where you expected?
    3. Is it coming from a Gmail or another public domain? (Most companies have their own domain.)
  2. Look at the actual email itself. Poorly written emails are a big red flag. We’re not looking at spelling because we have spell-check and we have translation tools that help us get the right words. Grammar is actually a big red flag. If it smells like a threat, then it is a threat. 
  3. Check the links because they want you to do something. You can hover over the link to see where it takes you. If it’s not a good link – don’t go. If you’re on a mobile device, you can hold down and it will give you a preview of the link.”

More Cybersecurity Tips

4 Easy Tips to Strengthen Password Security

Best Cybersecurity Practices for Your Team

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Celebrating our November Employee Anniversaries

As November comes to a close, especially in the season of giving thanks, we wanted to take some time to recognize a few of the folks that are celebrating their employee anniversary this month.

Not only do these team members assist our clients day-in and day-out with any technical issues that arise, they’re also amazing people who exemplify our core values in everything they do.

Join us in celebrating eight employee anniversaries this month! You can learn more about each of these team members below. We appreciate them all!

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How to Protect Your Organization’s Email from Cyberattacks

Email is one of the most used methods of collaboration in the workplace. Unfortunately, it’s also become one of the most popular methods for cyberattack. From phishing emails to emails with malicious attachments, email can be as vulnerable as it is essential. 

That’s why teaching your employees good security habits is incredibly helpful in protecting against email-based threats. They learn how to spot potential threats, but with how much we rely on email, more can be more when it comes to cybersecurity.

Luckily, there are two tools that can provide big benefits to companies using Microsoft 365 and without big costs. Along with examples of common email security issues, here’s how multi-factor authentication and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 protect your organization’s email from cyberattacks. 

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Marissa Explains IT All: What is multi-factor authentication?

It’s no secret that securing all of your different accounts is crucial to keeping your data protected. Multi-factor authentication helps to provide an extra layer of security by requiring users to identify themselves using more than just a username and password.

How does it work? Check out Marissa’s 60-second explanation of multi-factor authentication below!

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Benefits of Using Single Sign-On and Why It’s Important for Your Business

Single Sign-On

The use of the cloud is growing with software-as-a-service making it easy for small businesses to adopt technology without managing and maintaining any infrastructure. Plus, in the ever-changing hybrid workplace, cloud apps give your team access to what they need from anywhere.   

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Celebrating our October Employee Anniversaries

As we near the end of October, we wanted to take some time and recognize our employee anniversaries for this month!

Our team is full of IT professionals who believe in our core values – doing the right thing, personal connections, and being curious. By building a team who exemplify these values to the fullest extent, we’re able to provide our clients a unique and valuable experience.

Help us celebrate each of these folks below – we appreciate them all!

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