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Donna Aplin
Antivirus is a piece of software that needs installing on every PC, Laptop, Tablet & Server in your organization. There is also an argument to install it onto mobile phones. It is designed to detect and remove viruses and other kinds of malicious software from the devices that it is installed on. It is also used to remove computer viruses where machines have already been infected.
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Donna Aplin
In the current climate, businesses in Sheffield and across the UK have all manner of expenses to contend with and those cost centres are constantly increasing. These relate to all different aspects of the business, from Gas and Electricity, through to Vehicle costs and others. One that stands out though is IT equipment. The cost of IT equipment is relatively high and coupled with the other IT related expenses such as Software, Security and Outsourced labour, it can be difficult to find the cash to purchase the IT equipment outright. One potential solution is leasing IT equipment.
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Donna Aplin
What should I do about a data breach? GDPR came into force back in 2018 (on the 25th of May actually!). Data breaches were still ‘a thing’ before that of course, but the GDPR requirements mean that businesses need to do much better at protecting the personal data that they store about people. Of course, data breaches are still going to occur, in both small businesses and huge enterprises. If governments and massive, multi-national conglomerates can’t protect their networks 100% of the time, then of course small businesses in Sheffield and around the whole UK have a difficult job!
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Donna Aplin
Cybersecurity insurance is still a pretty new concept for many SMBs. It was initially introduced in the 1990s to provide coverage for large enterprises. It covered things like data processing errors and online media.
Since that time, the policies for this type of liability coverage have changed. Today’s cyber insurance policies cover the typical costs of a data breach. Including remediating a malware infection or compromised account.
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Donna Aplin
The global home security market has been growing by leaps and bounds. By 2026, experts expect the market to expand at a rate of 20.1%. This is on top of an expected increase of 21.6% from 2021 to 2022.
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Donna Aplin
Who are the best IT Support Providers in Sheffield, Yorkshire? -
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Donna Aplin
The new year has just begun and it’s a time of renewal as we plan for the possibilities to come in 2023. It’s also a time when you need to plan for resiliency in the face of ever-present cyberattacks.
Sixty-eight percent of surveyed business leaders feel that cybersecurity risks are getting worse. They have a good reason. Attacks continue to get more sophisticated. They are also often perpetrated by large criminal organizations. These criminal groups treat these attacks like a business.
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Donna Aplin
One constant struggle in offices is the balance between productivity and security. If you give users too much freedom in your network, risk increases. But add too many security gates, and productivity can dwindle.
It’s a fine balance between the two, but one you can achieve. Organizations need to recognize the importance of both. And not sacrifice one for another.
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Donna Aplin
It seems that nearly as long as passwords have been around, they’ve been a major source of security concern. Eighty-one percent of security incidents happen due to stolen or weak passwords. Additionally, employees continue to neglect the basics of good cyber hygiene.
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Donna Aplin
Bring your own device (BYOD) is a concept that took hold after the invention of the smartphone. When phones got smarter, software developers began creating apps for those phones. Over time, mobile device use has overtaken desktop use at work.
According to Microsoft, mobile devices make up about 60% of the endpoints in a company network. They also handle about 80% of the workload. But they’re often neglected when it comes to strong cybersecurity measures.
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Donna Aplin
Firstly, what is the duck and where did it come from? Well, we decided that we should have a pet, here at ESP Headquarters. Unfortunately, we’re always very busy delivering best in class IT Services to businesses in and around the Sheffield area to be able to look after a real-life one properly. So, we decided that we should pick one that is a little more simple in the effort stakes (no need to feed or walk!).
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Donna Aplin
Microsoft Teams is a lot of things. It’s a video conferencing tool, a team messaging channel, and a tool for in-app co-authoring, just to name a few. During the pandemic, the popularity of Teams skyrocketed.
User numbers for MS Teams jumped from 20 million in November 2019 to 75 million in April 2020. As of this year, Microsoft reports a user count of 270 million for the platform. This makes it the most popular business tool for team communications.
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Donna Aplin
Have you ever bought a new computer and then had buyer’s remorse a few months later? Maybe you didn’t pay attention to the storage capacity and ran out of space. Or you may have glossed over memory and experienced constant freeze-ups.
An investment in a new PC isn’t something you want to do lightly. Doing your research ahead of time and consulting with a trusted friend or IT shop can help. It will keep you from making major mistakes that could come back to haunt you later.
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Donna Aplin
Endpoints make up much of a company’s network and IT infrastructure. This is a collection of computers, mobile devices, servers, and smart gadgets. As well as other IoT devices that all connect to the company network.
The number of endpoints a company has will vary by business size. Companies with less than 50 employees have about 22 endpoints. Small businesses with 50-100 employees have roughly 114. Enterprise organizations with 1,000+ employees average 1,920 endpoints.
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Donna Aplin
One of the most difficult types of attacks to detect are those performed by insiders. An “insider” would be anyone that has legitimate access to your company network and data. This would be via a login or other authorized connection.
Because insiders have authorized system access, they bypass certain security defenses. Such as those designed to keep intruders out. Since a logged-in user isn’t seen as an intruder, those security protections aren’t triggered.
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Donna Aplin
Data entry can be a real drag for salespeople. The time they spend on administrative tasks is time away from customer interactions. But that data is vital.
It’s important to capture customer orders, quotes, needs, and more. Lead and sales reporting help sales managers know where to direct their attention. Analytics also help drive more efficient ways of closing the deal.
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Donna Aplin
The holiday shopping season is taking off. This means that scammers have also revved up their engines. They’re primed and ready to take advantage of all those online transactions.
Don’t forget to stay safe online during the buying frenzy that occurs this time of year. An ounce of cybersecurity prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure. It can also save you from a financial or privacy nightmare.
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Donna Aplin
Microsoft 365 is the most popular of all major office productivity software. It has 48.8% of the global market share, just edging out Google’s apps, by a couple of percentage points.
It’s used by individuals, small & mid-sized businesses, and larger enterprise organizations. It does everything a modern office needs. Including from word processing and spreadsheet work to cloud storage and video conferencing.
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Donna Aplin
When you hear about Microsoft adding security apps to M365, it’s often the business versions. But the pandemic has changed the way that we see the workplace. It’s now a hybrid world. One made up of several connected “mini-offices” located in employee homes.
The outsourcing market has also contributed to the change in company networks. Freelancers are often contracted to work the same hours as employees. This means less overhead and taxes to pay. Approximately 68% of large consumer products companies outsource a part of their workforce.
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Donna Aplin
Software vulnerabilities are an unfortunate part of working with technology. A developer puts out a software release with millions of lines of code. Then, hackers look for loopholes that allow them to breach a system through that code.
The developer issues a patch to fix the vulnerability. But it’s not long before a new feature update causes more. It’s like a game of “whack-a-mole” to keep your systems secure.
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