Human IT Errors

human it errors what the heck do they mean

Human IT Errors: What the Heck Do They Mean?

Human error is an inevitable part of any complex system, especially one as vast as IT. IT relies on humans to perform even the most minor tasks which unfortunately can lead to both minor and major mistakes under stress or pressure. Even just the slightest mistake can affect an entire organization and its users.

This post will explore what human error is, provide examples of human errors within IT systems, and the best practices to prevent them.

 

What is Human Error in IT?

A human error typically refers to an issue that was brought on by a human end-user rather than by computer technology or software. The abbreviation PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair) is occasionally used to designate a problem brought on by human mistakes.

Because humans are creatures of habit and occasionally choose to get around security protocols rather than adapt, human errors remain a problem.

Another cause is that people frequently feel both rushed and overworked, which can result in sloppiness, particularly while scrolling through emails. Most individuals by now have probably received some form of training when it comes to recognizing phishing emails. Still, sometimes the simplest of steps are frequently skipped because verifying links and manually typing known, trustworthy domains into browser windows takes time.

Fact check: According to IDG’s 2021 Security Priorities Study, employees falling prey to phishing or other non-malicious security policy violations were to blame for 44% of security incidents in 2021, up from 36% the year before. This was the case even though approximately 50% of respondents gave priority to personnel security awareness and training.

In terms of cybersecurity, the average human error costs roughly $133 per record. And it can take businesses 242 days to find and fix a problem caused by such unintentional actions.

 

5 of the Most Common Types of Human Error in the Workplace

Neglecting Safety

Employees tend to disregard even the most basic safety precautions overtime because they’ve grown either so accustomed to their jobs or they’ve garnered a lack appreciation. Workplace accidents that could have otherwise been entirely avoidable often originate from neglecting implemented safety protocols.

“Messing Around”

Workplace camaraderie can help to increase morale, but when it turns into horseplay, it can be hazardous. Physical and verbal horseplay can be dangerous, resulting in accidental equipment and product damage, co-worker conflicts, and even personal injuries. Aside from physical damage, standard protocols could potentially become slighted if an employee becomes distracted by another co-worker. This could lead to an employee accidentally skipping over a very important safety measure.

Fatigue

Employees are far more likely to have a workplace mishap when they are too exhausted to safely perform their fundamental job duties. Tired employees can disregard the basic safety precautions, nod off at work, or even click onto a link they otherwise meant to disregard. If this happens frequently, it could warrant a human error investigation.

Fast working

An individual who works quickly to finish a task or meet a deadline may intentionally omit essential details. A hasty worker may fail to stop and look over a potentially hazardous email or IT protocol.

Poor Training

Sometimes an employer can be liable for a workplace incident since human error is not just limited to employees. Workplace mishaps can be guaranteed when a manager rushes through employee training or omits crucial training matter.

 

Human IT Errors smallHow to Prevent Human Error in IT?

The most excellent approach for companies that want to protect their sensitive data is to take the proper steps in preventing employee error. It is not acceptable to maintain your cybersecurity policy in its current form only because there was no immediate harm to your company.

Utilizing a sophisticated, comprehensive approach for minimizing insider threats and boosting your cybersecurity is the only method to limiting human error. You can successfully safeguard your business against employee security mishaps by using the following practices and solutions:

 

Update the Corporate Security Policy:

Your security policy should detail how sensitive information should be handled including; who has access to it plus what security and monitoring tools should be used. Review your security policies and ensure the document adheres to all current best practices.

Educate Your Staff:

Inform your staff of the potential dangers and explain the potentially costly and dangerous results of any blunders. It would help if you informed your team of the security concerns that these mistakes entail. Ensure that everyone is aware of and willing to abide by the business security policy.

Apply the Least Privilege Principle:

By denying all access, you may secure data access quickly and effectively. Privileged access should only be granted when absolutely necessary. You can avoid accidental data breaches and data deletions caused by employees who aren’t allowed to deal with sensitive data in the first place if users can only access the data they need for their jobs.

Keep an Eye on Your Staff: To identify suspicious activity and protect your system from hacker attacks and data leaks, you need to use a user activity monitoring software. Staff monitoring software like Protected Harbor is the most dependable solution to guarantee precise identification and avoidance of security mistakes.

 

Final Words:

Don’t Blame the Humans!

This article shows that human error is only natural. It’s impossible to eradicate completely, but there are ways to minimize it. To do this, employ the right people for your open positions, create a culture where mistakes are encouraged but must be learned from, and create a streamlined environment. With these factors in place, you can significantly reduce the number of errors made within your IT department and across your organization.

The strategy we employ at Protected Harbor challenges you to reconsider the way you see human risk. Untrained end-users may be your organization’s weakest security link. Still, with the correct tools and training, you can make them your first line of defence against any attack or breach, protecting your company in the long run.

Effective security awareness training can lower human error. Find out how Protected Harbor helps businesses promote secure behavior with engaging, intelligently automated cyber security awareness training. Contact us today!

10 File Sharing Tips from The Professionals

10 file sharing tips from the professionals

 

10 File Sharing Tips from The Professionals

In today’s digital landscape, secure file sharing is more critical than ever. Whether you’re collaborating with colleagues or sending sensitive documents, ensuring file sharing security should be a top priority. Cyber threats, data leaks, and compliance risks make it essential to follow efficient file sharing practices.

When the topic of professional file sharing is mentioned, some people revert to the days of when programs like Napster were widely used to share music files illegally across the internet in the 90s. However, file sharing and file transfer security is now a crucial component for many companies and other use cases.

In this blog, we’ll explore expert-recommended data sharing strategies to help you share files safely, streamline collaboration, and protect your information from unauthorized access. Let’s dive into the top 10 file sharing tips from the professionals.

 

Key Takeaways

  • 39% of company data stored within the cloud are used for file sharing.
  • Over 800 web domains, including partners and vendors, share files with the average company.
  • A file sharing software receives about 60% of files used as backup copies that are never shared with anybody else.
  • Only internal users in a business receive about 70% of shared files.

Types of File Sharing

You must choose the secure professional file sharing method and protocol you want to employ before you can begin sharing files. Your choice should depend on the types of data you are moving and the recipients of those files.

Let’s examine the types of best file sharing practices and file-sharing options and which one may be better suited for you.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

FTP was among the earliest file sharing techniques for transferring data over networks to be developed, and because of its dependability and effectiveness, it is still widely used today. A tool with a user interface or a command prompt window can be used to execute FTP operations. Simply specifying the source file you wish to relocate and the destination for where it should be stored is all you need.

Peer to Peer (P2P)

A P2P file transmission does away with the requirement for a central server to hold your data. Clients, instead, link up with a distributed network of peers and carry out the file transfers across their network connections. P2P could one day be utilized to build an impregnable TOR (The Onion Router. TOR is widely used to provide more secure online connections.

Cloud Sharing Services

One user uploads their data to a central base using a cloud file sharing service, and others can then download those contents to their own devices. Although users can choose the types of permission levels to apply to the files, all data is hosted by a third-party source.

10 File Sharing Tips smallEmail Providers

Some people are unaware that email can be a system for transferring files. You start a data transmission over the public internet every time you attach a document to an outgoing message.

Removable Storage

If there isn’t a network-based file transfer security solution that will work for you, you may always use a hard disk to handle file transfers and that’s the best way to share large files. This implies that you copy data to either an external hard drive or a USB flash drive that you then insert into the target computer.

10 File Sharing Tips For Businesses

You may either already be utilizing cloud-based file sharing security or you may have been thinking about doing so. Here are a few tips and best file-sharing practices to help you maximize your cloud storage file-sharing capabilities.

1. Set File Permissions:

You must ensure that only the right people can access your files on a file-sharing platform. You should restrict access to particular files or a whole folder.

2. Verify File Activity:

After sharing your files, you might want to view a summary of user activity, comments, and revisions for each file. When you right-click or hover over a file in your cloud storage root view, you can frequently get either a detailed pane or hovercard view of your file activity. With the help of this view, you can quickly find out who has viewed or possibly altered your file.

3. Use Sharing Links With Password Protection:

Virus screening upon download, ransomware protection, password-protected sharing links, at-rest, in-transit encryption, and two-factor authentication are some of the robust security features that the leading cloud storage providers offer. Use sharing URLs that are password and time protected.

4. Check the Shared Files Directory:

If you already use cloud storage, it most likely has a shared folder feature. In this single folder, you’ll find every file you’ve ever shared and every file that has ever been shared with you.

5. Maintain a Standard for File Naming:

Everyone you share files with will benefit from your use of uniform naming rules and short yet descriptive file names. When naming a file, please consider the search terms other people would probably use to find it.

6. Classify the Security Level of Your Files:

You must be aware of the dangers that can arise upon handling important files poorly and especially those with whom you share these files with. It is worthwhile to categorize your sensitive data and provide each of those files or folders with the proper level of security. When required, strictly regulate who has access to certain files.

7. Download the App:

Install the cloud drive app on your phone. There, you will be able to access, share, and modify all of your files when you’re on the move.

8. Create Offline Access for Important Folders and Files:

Usually, you can just right-click on a file or folder and choose “offline access,” which in turn means your device will keep a local copy of it. You can access and work on your files even if there is no Wi-Fi around you.

9. Designate Folders for Routine Backups

For your most crucial folders, including you Desktop, Documents, and Pictures, enable automatic synchronization. You won’t ever lose your work if you keep all of your files within these folders, even if you misplace your device. All of your work will be stored in the cloud and readily available to you via the web or an app.

Final Words

Nowadays, collaboration is the name of the game. People must collaborate in order to drive revenue generation and because of this, decision-makers must have an access control and data sharing strategies in place. Not all members of your workforce require access to every piece of information. If you give employees full authority over your file systems, things could go wrong, and data might end up in the wrong places.

For everyone to operate effectively and securely, make sure you specify permissions on your file-sharing system and only use the best way to share large files.

Although simplicity and access control will go a long way toward securing your file-sharing software, you might require other solutions for it to be completely safe. Your disks will be far more secure if you encrypt them. Using a virtual private network to send and receive files will prevent them from being intercepted by businesses that use remote workers.

Protected Harbor’s file-sharing solution allows employees to share and collaborate on documents and files from any location. It will enable secure file sharing across your organization, keeping your data private and safe while reducing the risk of information leaks. Features like MFA, Encryption, and Identity & Access Management allow you to set up secure and granular file sharing permissions for each file.

Contact Protected Harbor’s IT professionals right away if you’re seeking for strategies to enhance your organizational file sharing.

This Month, You Should Avoid the Top 5 Email Scams

top 5 email scams you need to look out this month

Top 5 Email Scams You Need to Look Out for This Month

Companies, especially in today’s modern world where hackers and scammers are on the rise, have been making increased efforts to train their employees in recognizing scams the moment they hit their inboxes. However, people still continue to fall for them.

The effects of data breaches are becoming more severe than ever. More than 15 million phishing emails were sent in 2021, and fixing them would have cost a business an average of $1.85 million and it’s among the top 5 online scams 2025.

So, why are people continuing to fall for these scams? Often for the same reasons they always have, such as carelessness, gullibility, curiosity, courtesy, and apathy.

Email is one of the most common ways for scammers to reach their potential victims and they are targeting all businesses, regardless of size. Hackers are becoming more sophisticated, making it increasingly difficult for companies to spot a scam before it’s too late. How to avoid email scams? The best way to protect your company from scammers is by arming yourself with not only security but more importantly, knowledge.

Below we will discuss the top 5 scams you need to look out for this month.

 

1. The PayPal Invoice Scam

Traditionally, scammers will send an email asking you to transfer money to a third party. However, these scammers are now impersonating PayPal and asking you to send money to them. Scammers create an online PayPal account in the name of well-known companies, such as Risenest Technology, Target, or GoDaddy, to name a few. They next send a customized invoice via PayPal using that account. At that instance, PayPal alerts you that an invoice has been received. This is one of the common email scams 2025.

The fact that the invoice notification is REAL makes it challenging. You may view and pay the scammers’ invoices on your PayPal app. The con artists want more, not just money. They can alter the invoice’s message to fraudulently indicate that you will be charged a subscription fee for their “service.” Then they tell you that you should phone a certain number if you have any questions.

The person who answers the phone if you call them will ask you to download “remote control” software to your phone. Avoid doing this! Scammers will access your device and take additional stored credentials along with your PayPal log-in information. With these, scammers can carry out other crimes like identity theft.

If you ever receive this email, call PayPal immediately to confirm whether the email in question is legitimate. Remember that an invoice’s source may be shady even if the email appears genuine. If they did NOT send this email, report it to the company as a scam so others can be warned. Check if a web address is safe, and never respond to any invoices or requests for money that you do not recognize.

 

Top 5 Email Scams small2. The Official Looking Email Scam

An email that appears to be from a government official, bank, or other company you may do business with is one of the most common email schemes. The scammers will try to make the email appear legitimate by using a similar email address to the one used by the actual organization. They may also use official-looking letterhead, logos, and other branding details to make the email seem real. If you get an official-looking email, inspect the email address carefully against any other email communications you’ve had previously with that company. If something seems a little off, do NOT open the email—scammers often use malicious links or attachments to steal your sensitive information.

If you are ever in doubt, call the company’s customer service department immediately to confirm the email’s legitimacy.

 

3. The Aging Accounts Scam

A company’s financial department uses aging reports, also known as accounts receivable schedules, to track clients who haven’t yet made payments on items or services they purchased on credit.

It was discovered during some recent engagements that BEC fraudsters were attempting to obtain a copy of an aging report by using the identity of the criminals’ preferred persona: the company CEO. These scammers sent a straightforward request for the document using free and temporary email addresses and display name deception.

Unlike previous BEC scams, this one did not demand that the victim transfer money to a vendor bank account or buy gift cards for performing staff. Instead, they requested that the target provide them a copy of the accounts receivable (or “A/R”) department’s aging report.

The scammers’ next targets would be the clients of our fictitious organization once they had this information—customer names, outstanding amounts, and contact details. They can use this information to make an email account alias that appears legitimate, pose as a member of our finance team, and ask them to pay the unpaid debt listed on the aging report.

The scammers will probably provide incentives to pay off their “debts” more quickly, such as lowering their total debt if they immediately pay off their unpaid balance. The only thing left for the actor to do at that point is to inform the payee that the banking information has recently changed and to provide them with the most recent account information for a bank account that the hackers control.

We advise using a multilayered strategy to prevent your employees, companies, and clients from falling prey to this attack. Strong email protections against advanced email attacks are a crucial foundation layer to neutralize the threat because, logically, none of this can happen if the original CEO identity deception misses the mailbox of the intended target.

 

4. The “Problem with Your Delivery” Scam

These scams can be spread in various ways; some demand delivery payment, while others ask for your email address to track a parcel. The hackers frequently utilize fictitious tracking numbers, delivery dates, and times.

You will often receive these emails from companies like UPS, FedEx, or the U.S. Postal Service, but they actually aren’t from these companies at all.

Sometimes, if you were to send a package, these scammers may even claim that there was a problem with your delivery and that the recipient could not be reached. They will then ask you to resend the package using a prepaid label they provide.

The way this works is quite ingenious. They expect for you to fall for their scam and send the package back out using their label as instructed. After a few days, you will receive the package you sent out with their label—and the scammer will have your money.

To avoid this scam, don’t fall for the pressure to act quickly. Instead, contact the real company to confirm whether there was a problem with your delivery.

 

5. The DocuSign Scam

Attackers are sending phishing links and documents through the electronic agreement management company Attackers are sending phishing links and documents through the electronic agreement management company DocuSign.

A hostile actor first creates a free DocuSign account or compromises another user’s account. Afterward, they add a file to the account. The attacker then mails their target a DocuSign envelope. DocuSign then sends the recipient an email invitation. It asks customers to click on a hyperlinked “View Document” button to review and sign an electronic document.

Since the email is technically sound, it avoids detection. The phishing link is hosted on DocuSign’s servers, making it possible to reach a recipient’s inbox.

The signature procedure is the same as it would be for a genuine file. The receiver is redirected after clicking the link, which is the only difference. They arrive at a phishing website meant to steal their Microsoft, Dropbox, and other account information.

This method works because DocuSign files, including PDFs, Word documents, and other file kinds, continue to be clickable up to the final page. (To prevent attacks, DocuSign turns other uploaded document file formats into static PDFs.) When offered the option to download the file, a signer can access the link and embedded files, even if those resources are dangerous.

Users can defend themselves from phishing scams that pose as DocuSign by refraining from opening suspicious email attachments. Additionally, consider hovering over embedded links to see where those URLs lead. Use the DocuSign website to access documents directly. These factors can be incorporated into an organization’s security awareness training programs.

 

Recognizing and Preventing Common Email Scams

With cyber threats on the rise, the common email scams 2025 have become increasingly sophisticated, targeting both individuals and businesses with alarming precision. Understanding the common phishing techniques used—such as fake invoices, impersonation of executives, or urgent password reset requests—is your first line of defense.

To stay safe, it’s critical to know how to avoid email scams. Always double-check the sender’s email address, look for grammatical errors, and never click on suspicious links or download unexpected attachments. These are simple but effective email security tips that can save you from falling victim.

Organizations and individuals should follow a few key email scam prevention tips: enable two-factor authentication, use spam filters, and educate staff on identifying red flags. Even a brief training session can significantly reduce the risk of a successful attack.

By staying alert and informed, you can better protect yourself against this month’s surge in scam attempts. Don’t let your inbox become a gateway for cyber threats—take proactive steps today to secure your communication.

 

Conclusion

Top 5 online scams 2025 are becoming more sophisticated and difficult to spot, especially in the ever-changing world of technology. If something seems suspicious, don’t react impulsively. If you receive an email that seems off, do not click on any links or open any attachments.

Instead, report it to your IT department to investigate further and then delete the email.

Protected Harbor email security solution can protect users against malicious emails, zero-day attacks, and phishing scams. The best part about this email security solution is that it comes with a spam filter that has the ability to block more than 99.9% of spam emails. Thanks to its AI-based phishing keyword detection, it can identify phishing emails and block them before they reach the user.

Contact us today and get complete protection against email threats with zero trust security, MFA, and end-to-end email encryption.

Keep your email and company data safe from hackers.

How Video Conferencing Can Save Your Business

Conferencing Solutions for Modern Businesses

How Video Conferencing Can Save Your Business

The standard 10AM office meeting is no longer the norm for modern business practices. In today’s digital world, businesses need smarter, more flexible conferencing solutions that can be both accessed from anywhere and tailored to their operational needs. With the rise of cloud-based collaboration tools plus the continued integration of video across most other digital experiences; conferencing solutions must be able to provide security and scalability in order to adapt to the ever-changing environment of business technology.

In this post, we are going to explore some key conferencing trends that are shaping the future of collaboration plus share our selection of superior conferencing solutions.

 

Video Conferencing for Business

Whether you have offices around the globe or you’re a part of the expanding remote workforce, video conferencing has probably become your businesses new version of a phone call. Video conferencing became more prominent these last few years, especially in the world of business, with its ability to make collaboration easier as well as to boost company productivity whether at-home or in-the-office.

By 2022, video conferencing usage is predicted to increase by 20% annually, according to research from VC Daily.

 

Benefits of Video Conferencing Solutions

Video conferencing solutions provide a virtual space that supports real-time discussions between teams. Successful video conferencing solutions should be easily accessed from any device and integrated within other business tools/apps to create a seamless workplace experience. Some of the key benefits of video conferencing solutions include:

  • Improved Collaboration – Video conferencing solutions can be used to host real-time discussions between teams, providing an easy way to facilitate collaboration across offices.
  • Better Customer Experience – Video conferencing solutions can be used to host client-facing meetings for those more comfortable interacting with your team virtually.
  • Improved Employee Satisfaction – Employees can feel more connected to their team when they can quickly join-in discussions with colleagues.
  • Increased Productivity – Employees can focus on the discussion at hand and spend less time trying to find a meeting room or organize logistics.
  • Better Employee Retention – Employees are more likely to stay with your business if you offer a more convenient way to collaborate.
  • Cost-Effectiveness – Video conferencing solutions can be hosted in the cloud, making them less expensive than traditional systems.
  • Flexibility – Video conferencing systems can be used to host both scheduled meetings or impromptu discussions.
  • Scalability – Video conferencing solutions are designed to grow your business. You can scale to host discussions between either more teams or customers.

How to Determine the Best Conferencing Solution for Your Business

Conferencing-Solutions for Modern Businesses smallBefore diving into the world of telecommunications, you should first consider how your team is currently collaborating and how you can improve that experience. You’ll also want to think about how you want your business to grow over time so you can pick a solution that will scale with you and your goals.

Some key factors to consider when evaluating conferencing solutions include:

Tech Stack – The technology behind the solution matters. You’ll want to know which technology is helping to power your meetings so you can ensure it’s delivering a high-quality experience.

Meeting Types – How do you currently hold meetings? Is your team primarily virtual, or do you prefer an in-person discussions? This will help you to determine the “meeting rooms,” and tools you’ll need.

Workflow – How do your team members use these technology tools? Do they prefer text-based discussion boards or visual tools like whiteboarding? Are they more likely to share files or host video calls?

 

Wrapping Up

Conferences are ideal for business leaders to meet, collaborate, and exchange ideas. They’re also great for teams to meet with potential clients and for remote teams to meet “face-to-face.”

Modern businesses need modern conferencing solutions. Fortunately, there’s never been a better time to invest in telecommunication tools. With the conferencing landscape more competitive than ever, providers are investing in new features to attract new businesses.

Protected Harbor’s video conferencing platform is both cloud integrated, scalable, flexible, and secure. It enables enterprises to host their video conferencing solutions in their own data centers, giving them complete control over their data security. The software-based solution is easy to set up and deploy. With the help of Protected Phones, enterprises can boost their productivity, reduce operating costs, and increase their profitability by conducting virtual meetings over the Internet. Contact us today to try out the fantastic features our video conferencing solution offers.

The Hidden Costs of Microsoft 365

Hidden Costs of Microsoft 365

The Hidden Costs of MICROSOFT 365

What You Need To Know

In this always-advancing era of technology, every company should have a strategic plan for moving their applications and data to a cloud. Microsoft 365 is an excellent choice for companies that want the security and control of on-premises software with the flexibility and cost-efficiency of a cloud service.

If you’re considering Microsoft 365 for your company, read this post to find out if this is the right move for your business.

 

What Exactly is MICROSOFT 365?

Microsoft 365 is a subscription service-oriented for enterprises and businesses, combining many of Microsoft’s current products under one license.  It is effectively a package of services that contains all of the desktop apps and services offered by Office 365. So if you already use Microsoft apps like Exchange, SharePoint, or Skype for Business, or if you use any third-party apps that integrate with Office 365, Microsoft 365 makes it easy to combine everything into one cohesive experience. Microsoft 365 also simplifies setting up workspaces for any new employees, making the process near seamless for your IT team.

 

Cloud Services Have Hidden Costs – Know This Before You Move

The biggest thing to remember about cloud services like Microsoft 365 is that the initial costs are low, but there are hidden fees.

The upfront costs are minimal because you are essentially renting the software—not buying it. An example of hidden fees would be, needing a high-speed internet connection to ensure smooth, efficient collaboration with your co-worker plus needing a robust backup and disaster recovery plan to prevent data loss in the event of a hack or natural disaster.

Cloud services like Microsoft 365 do not come with these necessary essentials at the base price.

 

How to Determine if Moving to MICROSOFT 365 is Right for Your Company

Hidden-Costs-of-Windows-365 smallTo determine if Microsoft 365 suits your company, start by understanding your business requirements and goals. What applications do you need to run? What are your security and compliance concerns? What are the current and future costs of on-premises software versus the cost of Microsoft 365?

Regarding security and compliance, Microsoft 365 brings the full power of Windows to the cloud. This means you have the same robust security and compliance features as on-premises software and end-to-end encryption’s added security. There are also low upfront costs when you make the switch to Microsoft 365.

You’ll likely save on IT support, hardware, and software licensing.

 

No Support, No Backup

Microsoft 365 offers no assistance with issues, problems, or concerns.

If a problem comes up that is too difficult for you or your IT team to solve, you are on your own and will need to find a third-party solution. Help is only available to customers who have signed an Enterprise Agreement or enrolled in a Volume Licensing Program. It is important to note that there are no phone support options available for Microsoft 365.

The support that comes with microsoft 365 may not even be enough for your needs, either. If you have specific needs or requirements for your network, you may want to hire an outside IT company to provide these support services.

Microsoft 365 doesn’t give the feature of a backup either, so to keep your business safe in the event of a disaster or outage, you will need to have a plan in place that ensures your critical data is stored in a separate location.

There are several clouds and on-site options available that offer backup solutions for Microsoft 365.

 

No Monitoring, No Help

Moving your company’s apps to Microsoft 365 gives you complete control and governance over your data. However, if you’re experiencing performance issues or have questions about how to best use your applications, you may not get the help you need. With most cloud services; monitoring and support are minimal. With that said, some cloud providers will offer managed services to address this problem.

You may want to investigate whether your specific provider offers managed services or if they can recommend a third-party provider that can help you get the most out of your applications.

 

Final Words: Is MICROSOFT 365 Worth It?

Microsoft 365 is a great way to give your business the best of Microsoft’s software. It’s packed with the best of Microsoft Office, offers all Microsoft features for your PC, plus it gives you access to a standard email client. It’s an excellent choice for small businesses and individuals who want to standardize on Windows software.

Free Microsoft 365 security may be appropriate in some situations, but it also has the potential to cause issues and end up costing more than you anticipated. Similarly, a sophisticated security solution can offer superior security and compliance defences in today’s complex cyber security environment.

At Protected Harbor, we’re dedicated to providing enterprise-level cloud security for businesses of all sizes. Our team of engineers and analysts works daily to stay on top of new developments in cloud security. We strictly focus on keeping your data secure from regular vulnerability scanning, to frequent updates, and 24/7/365 monitoring.

With the ever-increasing risk of cyberattacks, it’s more important than ever to have a secure cloud solution. Our team works tirelessly to keep your data safe and secure. Still confused about opting for a cloud- provider, consult one of our experts now, and get a free IT audit.

Behind the Scenes of the New York Small Business Expo with Protected Harbor

Behind the Scenes of the New York Small Business Expo with Protected Harbor

Behind the Scenes of the New York Small Business Expo with Protected Harbor

SUMMARY

Protected Harbor recently attended the New York Small Business Expo which was held on Friday, June 24th, 2022 at the New York Hilton Midtown. This was an incredible opportunity to showcase our products to a diverse crowd of small business owners and entrepreneurs that left our booth buzzing with interest.

As one of the top expo exhibitors, Protected Harbor was featured in a prominent position and given significant exposure. Our top-notch security system and remote monitoring capabilities were on full display for prospective clients to review.

The entire Protected Harbor team was there to support the New York small business community, which in all, had one common goal–to help small businesses in New York grow and succeed.

Though we assist clients with their technology issues, engineers at Protected Harbor also focus on prevention and protection, which helps to keep small businesses safe. By providing small business owners with the information they need to succeed, Protected Harbor helps to ensure a stronger economy for the entire region.

 

Attendee Survey

The small business owners attending the expo were allowed to complete a quick survey about their current IT problems and future business goals which also gave them the opportunity to receive a free IT assessment. The assessment was designed to identify any weaknesses within their business’s current technology and for us to create a customized roadmap to upgrade and improve the company’s current technological situation. The IT assessment was performed by Protected Harbor’s team of certified engineers and consultants, who were available to answer any questions during the expo.

With this survey making its way around the expo, we found that their most significant technology pain point was their inadequate IT and managed services;

 

New-York-Small-Business-Expo smallWorkshop with CEO Richard Luna

CEO Richard Luna hosted the workshop, “Does Your IT Suck? 2022 Small Business IT Trends.” In his presentation, he spoke about how small businesses can stay ahead of the curve and avoid the pitfalls of technology failing them. He discussed the do’s and don’ts of small business IT, and how to choose the right technology for your business. By the end of the workshop, attendees understood how to choose the right IT vendors for them, how to plan for future technology, how to nail down the best practices for vendor selection, and how to keep their data safe.

 

Does your IT suck?

Are you frustrated, pissed off, and fed up with bad IT support and MSPs? If your answer is yes, then you are not alone.

There are many businesses that have received poor support from their current IT vendor and are searching for new ones. Pick a partner like Protected Harbor that has a team of certified and experienced engineers who are passionate about helping businesses.

We’re a US-based company that specializes in cloud hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated servers, network solutions, and everything in between. Whether you’re an enterprise-level company or a start-up, we’ve got you covered. Thanks to our hands-on approach and an emphasis on customer service, we’ve earned a reputation as one of the most reliable hosting providers in the industry.

Missed the New York Small Business Expo for 2022? You can still get a free IT audit, contact us today!

Why Microservices Will Revolutionize IT in the Future

Why microservices are a game changer for the future of IT

 

Why Microservices Are a Game-Changer for the Future of IT

New IT solutions must handle the ever-increasing volume of data and information while remaining flexible enough to adapt quickly and efficiently to changing business demands.

The need for agility has never been more urgent for today’s businesses. The pace of digital transformation is getting faster and faster with no apparent end in sight. To meet these challenges, enterprises must find solutions that can keep up with the speed of business change. This blog will explain what microservices are, how they can help your organization remain agile, and how they can help you achieve a more nimble IT system as you move forward into the future of your business.

What Is a Microservice?

A microservice is a software system built as a set of small independent modules with particular concerns and functions. Each microservice can be built and deployed independently and work together with other microservices to deliver a complete product or service. The main challenge when building software systems is to find the right balance between functionality, quality, and time-to-market. One option is to build an extensive application that can meet all the requirements from the get-go, but this approach is often challenging and costly in terms of resources. Another option is to break down the project into smaller, more manageable pieces and build a set of microservices that can be released and deployed independently.

Why Are Microservices a Game-Changer for IT?

With growing complexity and the need to scale in mind, organizations are now moving towards microservices architecture (MSA) to break down IT systems into smaller, more manageable parts. MSA is essentially a distributed system approach, where applications are broken down into smaller modules (microservices), and each service is hosted in its separate container or virtual machine. The essential factor to note here is that each microservice can be scaled independently, enabling you to handle the growing demand for particular parts of the system without scaling the entire system. By using microservices, businesses can deploy new software solutions much faster and achieve quicker time-to-market. At the same time, microservices are also helping IT systems become more reliable and scalable.

Microservices Are a Game Changer smallWhat Are The Benefits of Microservices?

As microservices help you build more flexible systems, they also help you achieve several important benefits for your business. These include:

  • Greater agility – The ability to quickly change and adapt to your customers’ needs is vital for future business success. With microservices, you can respond much quicker to market changes, new requirements, and customer feedback, thanks to the more elegant nature of the system.
  • Greater scalability – Microservices are particularly useful when you need to scale your system on the fly, especially in cases of high demand. You can scale up or down specific parts of the system as required, and therefore avoid downtime.
  • Improved quality – By designing with quality in mind, you can build a reliable and robust system. End-to-end testing is particularly important when working with microservices, as it helps to ensure the system works as a whole.
  • Improved security – When designed and implemented correctly, Microservices can help make your systems more secure. For example, microservices that handle sensitive information can be securely isolated from non-critical microservices.

When to Use Microservices?

Microservices are particularly useful for complex projects that require scalability, agility, and high levels of flexibility. They make sense, especially in situations where you are working with large and complex organizations where communication between different departments and teams is challenging. Microservices can also make sense in cases where you should be able to scale up or down quickly depending on the level of demand for a particular part of the system.

In general, to decide whether to use a microservices architecture, you should think about the following questions: What are the project requirements? What type of functionality does the system require? Is your team capable of designing a system that meets these requirements? In other words, microservices make sense when you have a large, complex project with significant functionality. At the same time, the project is also highly flexible and can easily be scaled depending on the requirements.

Key Takeaway

Microservices help you build more flexible systems that respond quickly to your customers and business needs. With microservices, you can scale up or down individual parts of the system as required, avoiding downtime. At the same time, microservices are easier to maintain and manage.

Small, autonomous services that are easy to change and upgrade are the new standard in a digital world. The ability to develop, test, and deploy small services faster can impact a company’s bottom line by reducing overall development time and quickening the delivery of new features to customers. The good news is that there are several techniques to speed up the development process of your business. Protected Harbor provides expert-level microservices to help you stay on top of things. We specialize in providing a software development approach that focuses on breaking down large systems into smaller pieces to improve efficiency, maintainability, and flexibility and help businesses achieve improved scalability, reliability, and agility. And that’s not it. We are currently providing free IT audit to the companies. Contact us today for one.

How to Prevent Cyberattacks Against Law Firms?

Cyberattacks against law firms and how to prevent them

Cyberattacks Against Law Firms and How to Prevent Them?

No company of any size, including law firms, can afford to ignore the extensive media coverage of cyber security and its hazards. It would be a mistake to believe that smaller firms are not being targeted. On the contrary, according to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report,

  • Human error was responsible for 85 percent of the breaches.
  • Phishing was implicated in 36% of breaches, up 11% from the previous year.
  • Ransomware was used in 10% of breaches this year, up from 5% last year.

Due to the large quantities of money, information, and customer data that law firms hold, cyber-attacks against them are becoming more common. According to the American Bar Association, more than 25% of law firms have experienced cyber-attacks. This proportion was 35% among law businesses with 10 to 49 attorneys, implying that over one-third of small law firms had been hacked. During the poll, 99% of participants said their legal firm employs password management security.

The fact that 25% of survey respondents said their legal business had been hacked at some point is perhaps the most surprising number. Law firms are an obvious target for cybercriminals; with so much data on so many people and businesses, law firms are a one-stop-shop for harvesting a wealth of data.

Why Are Law Firms More Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks?

Law firms are vulnerable because they often deal with sensitive information on behalf of their clients. This includes client files, billing information, and other confidential data such as intellectual property rights or personal information about employees or associates.

In addition to their vulnerability to cyberattacks, law firms also have network security issues because many rely on third-party vendors for cloud storage or email services. A single breach could expose all of their data at once if it is not adequately secured.

Types of Cyberattacks Against Law Firms

The following are some of the most common types of cyberattacks against law firms:

1.    Malware Infections

Malware is software used to gain access to private computer systems and networks. According to an American Bar Association research, 29% of law firms reported a security breach, with more than 1 in 5 unsure if there was a breach and 36% reporting previous malware attacks in their systems.

2. Ransomware

This malware locks down files on your computer until the victim pays a ransom. It’s become an increasingly common tactic among cybercriminals in recent years.

Law firms, unfortunately, are more vulnerable than other types of enterprises. According to a research issued in May by security firm BlueVoyant, 15% of a global sample of tens of thousands of legal firms had indicators of infiltrated networks, and all organizations were targeted by focused threat activity.

3. Phishing attacks

Phishing attacks are one of the most common types of a cyberattack against law firms. These attacks occur when an email is sent out to employees with a link to a fake website or attachment. This attack aims to get confidential information from the victim, such as usernames, passwords, and bank account details. By 2021, Phishing attacks have climbed by 11%, causing the law firms massive trouble.

4. Insider Threats

According to Egress, insider breach risk is a crucial worry for 96% of IT leaders in the legal sector. It’s simple to dismiss these risks as “your staff.” It’s correct, yet it’s also lacking. Insider threats are divided into two categories.

  • These employees are deliberately causing hurt, devastation, and turmoil in your organization.
  • Employees who acquire access due to carelessness, negligence, or inadequate systems and processes.

5. Credential theft

This attack involves a hacker obtaining valid login credentials from someone who has legitimate access to a law firm’s network or system. Last year, credential theft was used in 61% of data breaches, posing a significant risk to businesses. It usually begins with a phishing email intended to dupe partners, lawyers, or employees into revealing login credentials.

6. Fraudulent invoicing

Law firms receive invoices for services rendered by other companies. Attackers can send fake invoices to law firms and request payment using a fraudulent bank account or routing number.

Cyberattacks Against Law Firms smallHow to Protect Your Law Firm Against Cyberattacks

Here are some ways you can protect your law firm against cyberattacks:

Improve your security culture

The most important step you can take in improving your organization’s security culture. Make it clear that everyone in your firm is responsible for the security and that there will be consequences if they don’t follow proper procedures.

Implement basic cybersecurity measures

Install antivirus software on all computers and servers, set up firewalls, encrypt sensitive data and conduct regular audits of your IT infrastructure. These basic measures will go a long way toward protecting your firm from cyberattacks.

Practice secure file sharing

A critical first step for safeguarding your firm from cybercrime is practicing secure file sharing. This means using a secure connection when uploading files such as Word documents and PDFs onto an online storage service like Box or Google Drive. It would be best if you also use two-step verification whenever possible, which requires users to enter an additional passcode sent via text message each time they log in from an unrecognized device or location.

Budget for Security

Law firms often prioritize cybersecurity because it seems like something that can be dealt with later. However, it’s important to remember that this is not just about protecting confidential information but also protecting client trust and business relationships with other companies. And when you lose those things due to a data breach, they’re tough to regain.

Encrypt sensitive data

Encryption is one of the most effective ways to protect your sensitive information from hackers. It’s important to note that encryption doesn’t just apply to emails and other documents

s containing personal information but also to files containing sensitive client information such as names and addresses. The more secure your data is, the harder it will be for hackers to access it.

Be Proactive

Hire an outside firm to conduct security audits and provide recommendations for improvements. You should also invest in advanced technologies, such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems (IDS), which can help prevent attacks.

Protecting your network with firewalls

Firewalls are software programs that filter incoming traffic on a network to prevent unauthorized access and block malicious traffic such as malware or viruses. Firewalls should protect all devices on your network so unauthorized users can’t access them remotely.

Installing antivirus software on all devices

Antivirus software scans files before they’re opened or run to ensure they’re not infected with viruses or malware (including ransomware). All computers used by employees should have antivirus software installed on them and any mobile devices used by employees outside the office (e.g., laptops, smartphones).

Final Words

In today’s online world, hackers look for loopholes in organizations’ IT infrastructure. Law firms particularly need to take a proactive approach when it comes to cyber threats. They should implement robust cybersecurity measures to secure client data, employee and company information, contracts, and valuable intellectual property. By doing so, they can protect themselves and their clients from cybercriminals targeting the legal industry in the future.

Protected Harbor prevents malicious actors from gaining unauthorized access to your data and systems, keeping your clients’ data secure and your company out of the headlines. It also keeps your employees safe from phishing scams and malware. With a robust data backup system in place, your law firm will always have a backup plan in case of disaster. You can keep your team focused on serving your clients and growing your business instead of worrying about keeping themselves and your data safe from hackers. We are giving free IT audits and tests for law firms. Contact us today, be secured.

What is Site Reliability Engineering? A Definitive Guide

What is site reliability engineering a definitive guide

 

What is Site Reliability Engineering? A Definitive Guide

As the world is rapidly moving towards digital services and more organizations are adopting cloud-based services, site reliability engineering practices have become essential. The reason is that IT experts and engineering teams operating software have changed drastically. These practices let organizations meet the service level agreements for performance, availability, business KPIs, and user experience.

In this article, we’ll learn about site reliability engineering, key practices, benefits, roles, and responsibilities of a site reliability engineer, and tools used for SRE. Let’s get started with the basics of site reliability engineering.

What is Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)?

Site reliability engineering or SRE is applying software engineering principles to infrastructure processes and operations to help companies create highly scalable and reliable software systems. As a discipline, site reliability engineering focuses on optimizing software systems’ reliability across categories, such as performance, availability, capacity, latency efficiency, and incident response. And those who perform these operations are known as site reliability engineers.

Google was the first who task its software engineers with making large-scale sites more efficient, scalable, and reliable by implementing automated solutions. SRE is a way to bridge gaps between IT operations and developers, even in a DevOps culture. The primary purpose of SRE is to develop automated solutions and software systems for operational aspects.

What does a site reliability engineer do?

A site reliability engineer generally has a background in software development and business analytics and substantial operations experience. They monitor systems in production and analyze performance to detect areas that need improvement. This observation helps them calculate potential outages cost and plan for contingency.

Software reliability engineers split their time between software or system development and operations. Their on-call responsibilities include updating tools, software, and documentation to prepare IT teams for future incidents. Moreover, they build and deploy services to optimize the workflow for the IT and support departments.

Key Practices in Site Reliability Engineering

Site Reliability Engineering small

Here are the key practices to implement software reliability engineering in your organization.

  • Availability_ The SRE team is responsible for maintaining system and service availability once they are in production, initiated by service-level agreements (SLAs), service-level objectives (SLOs), and service-level indicators (SLIs) for the underlying services.
  • Performance_ After stabilizing availability, the SRE team can focus on optimizing service performance. They assist development teams, fix bugs, and identify performance issues across the system.
  • Monitoring_ SRE teams have to monitor operations and implement appropriate solutions based on how respective services measure performance and uptime.
  • Incident response_ Site reliability engineering is critical for incident response. The SRE team should be available to respond, review, and explain incidents occurring within the system. It includes auditing processes, production workflows, alert criteria, and other factors.
  • Preparation_ The integration of SREs into IT and development allows developers to learn more about the production environment and help IT and DevOps teams get involved earlier in the development lifecycle.

Roles and Responsibilities of an SRE

Here are the leading roles and responsibilities of a software reliability engineer.

1. Monitoring

Software reliable engineers ensure that underlying infrastructure is running smoothly and that tools and systems are working as desired. Moreover, they monitor critical services and applications to reduce downtime and ensure availability.

2. Automation

Software reliability engineers build automation tools to manage IT operations. Therefore, rather than performing these tasks manually, they aim to automate them. These functions include

  • Incident response
  • Continuous integration
  • Continuous delivery
  • Monitoring
  • Alerts

3.Cross-team collaboration

Software reliable engineers work across different teams, particularly development and operations. By developing a reliable system and offering support to these teams, they give their teams more time to focus on building new features and get these out faster to consumers.

4. Issue resolution

Software reliable engineers work closely with the development team, especially when problems arise. They collaborate with the developers to help with troubleshooting and offer consultation when alerts are issued. Following the incident resolution, SRE will revisit the situation and determine the cause to ensure it does not happen again.

Benefits of Site Reliability Engineering

Site reliability engineering aims to enhance high-scale systems’ reliability through automation. The main goal of SRE is to fill the gap between the infrastructure and development teams. Incorporating aspects of software engineering into infrastructure and operation functions has several benefits, the most notable being more service resiliency and constant uptime. Here are some other benefits of SRE.

  • Filling the gap between infrastructure and development teams
  • Automate processes
  • Planning and maintaining operational tasks
  • Continuously analyzing and monitoring application performance
  • Managing emergency and on-call support
  • Contribute to the overall product roadmap
  • Ensure that software has proper logging and diagnostics

Common Tools used by SREs

Here are some of the most common tools used by software reliability engineers.

1. DataDog

Datadog is a monitoring and analytics tool used by system reliability engineers and DevOps teams. It can determine performance metrics and event monitoring for cloud and infrastructure services. You can see across systems, services, and applications, get complete visibility into advanced applications, analyze and explore log data in context, and proactively monitor your user experience. Moreover, Datadog lets you visualize traffic flow in cloud-native environments and get alerted on critical issues.

2. AppD

AppDynamics puts your IT teams at the center of business success. It’s a tool that provides a common view across server and database infrastructure, providing real-time actionable insights. SREs can track numerous metrics for their SLI. However, its core APM product gives valuable metrics. AppD includes many additional tools delivering deep insights, such as End User Monitoring and Browser Synthetic Monitoring. Site reliability engineers can measure SLI, SLA, SLO, and error budgeting to tie them to their business objectives. It lets them prioritize the most critical business aspects and take action in real-time.

3. DynaTrace

Dynatrace software intelligence platform empowers DevOps teams and site reliability engineers to detect issues before they occur by providing intelligent and automatic observability for the most complex distributed cloud environment. Moreover, continuous automation delivers precise root-cause answers to site reliability problems at all software development lifecycle (SDLC) steps. Dynatrace helps software reliability engineers improve availability, reliability, and latency and mitigate the impact of service outages and downtimes.

Conclusion

Site reliability engineering requires strong skills to succeed. There should be a sense of trust between the teams, and being responsible for SRE is more about taking ownership of production operations. It’s a specific approach focusing on IT operations, and if you want to adopt an SRE culture in your organization, go ahead and train your IT team by following the best practices. However, it’s a myth that you can achieve 100 percent perfection, but you can make things better using suitable tools and best practices based on your organization’s requirements.

With a team of experienced engineers from Protected Harbor, you can rest assured that your site is in good hands. We provide a range of site reliability services including monitoring, capacity planning, incident management, and security. Protected Harbor’s engineers are experts in Ruby on Rails, Python, Node.js, and other popular open-source technologies. They have experience with many enterprise-level technologies, including Apache, Nginx, Kafka, etc. We are giving free IT audits to the companies and site reliability consultation. Contact us today!

Success for Protected Harbor at the 2022 Small Business Expo

Protected harbor excels at small business expo 2022

 

Protected Harbor excels at Small Business Expo 2022

Small businesses know that the road to success can be a tough one. Finding reliable, affordable services and resources can be challenging too.

Winfree tshirts AirPods and apple watches small

To help them get through the rough spots and reach the business expansion goal, businesses of all sizes should participate in a Small Business Expo like this. This free event is held at New York Hilton Midtown, Americas Hall, packed with helpful resources for business owners. Protected Harbor at Booth 3524 is giving away all the industry secrets IT companies don’t want you to know. Learn how to pick the right provider for your company, the best questions to ask, and what tech trends are helping businesses grow in 2022.

Booth 3524 is a one-stop-shop for all your IT needs. Our experts can help you select the right cloud, virtual, data center, security, and network technologies to meet your company’s needs. The best way to choose the right technology for your company is to speak with an expert and narrow down your choices. Ask about the benefits and drawbacks of each technology and which one best fits your needs.

Also, we are giving away free t-shirts, Apple AirPod Pro’s, Apple MagSafe Wireless Portable Battery Pack, and Apple Watches. So what are you waiting for? Come win!