The IT Advisor. Cost of Your. March Inside This Issue

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1 Tel: As a business owner, you may be too busy running your business to worry about the security, reliability, stability, or problems with your computer network. ASG Information Technologies can manage and support your technology. March 2015 Inside This Issue Are You At Risk For A Cyber Attack..... Pg. 1 Protect Yourself From Criminals When Filing Your Taxes Online..... Pg. 2 Are You Too Cheap About Protecting This Aspect Of Your Business?... Pg. 2 What If Your Server Suddenly Crashed & Your Data Was Erased Pg. 3 Want An Extra $100?... Pg. 3 Extra Gadgets Or A Necessity... Pg. 4 Spring Storm Season Is Upon Us, Are You Protected?... Pg. 4 FREE IT Security Seminar Pg South Broad St., Unit 13 Meriden, CT info@asgct.com The IT Advisor Technology Tips & Solutions That Support Your Business Goals While Making Your Business Run Faster, Easier And More Profitable Just Because You ve Been LUCKY Enough To Avoid A Cyber-Attack Doesn t Mean You re Not At Risk Free 9-Point Security Audit Will Reveal Where Your Computer Network Is Exposed And How To Protect Your Company Now Cost of Your Imagine walking into your office one morning to discover your computer network was breached by a hacker, exposing not only YOUR company s data, but also all of your client records and private communications. Imagine the embarrassment of having to notify your clients and vendors that, because of you, their business and possibly their personal information is now in the hands of cybercriminals. And hopefully that s the only damage done Operations could be halted or severely limited for days, possibly weeks. Your data corrupted to the point of being useless. Clients lost. Potential lawsuits and government fines for violating data-breach laws. The exorbitant emergency IT fees to get everything restored back to working order quickly. Then there s the risk of your bank account being drained and because you re a business, you are NOT protected by the banks in the same way individual consumers are. Any money stolen out of your accounts could simply be gone forever. I know you re tempted to think, That won t happen to us. We re just a small company. Who d want to hack us? Which is exactly what cybercriminals WANT you to think! With St. Patrick s Day this month, I want to take a moment to remind you that just because you ve been lucky enough to avoid an incident like this in the past doesn t mean you re not at risk. In fact, that s a very dangerous way for a business to think. That s why during the month of March, we are offering your business a FREE 9-Point Basic Security IT Audit. This will reveal common security loopholes cybercriminals use to get around firewalls and antivirus software to gain entry to your computer network. Normally we charge $497 for this service, but we ve decided to give it away to the first 7 lucky companies who request it by March 17th (St. Patrick s Day). All you have to do is call our office at or info@asgct.com to request it.

2 The ASG Advantage Our Company Way Our Focus: To make your business more profitable by making your IT investments work for you not against you. Our Commitment To Our Customers: A live person answers the phone during regular business hours. We will respond to your requests within 45 minutes or less. We pledge to keep your downtime at a minimum. Lightening fast support with our Help Desk services. No geek speak. A proven track record since To solve your business problems with technology solutions. Protect Yourself From Tax-Related Identity Theft With businesses collecting vast amounts of your personal information, identity theft is becoming more and more common. Help protect yourself with some simple steps you can take to reduce your risk of becoming a victim of taxrelated identity theft. For more information on how you can protect yourself from tax-related identity theft... Go to: Are You Being Too Cheap About Protecting This Aspect Of Your Business? Think back to the last time your server went down or you weren t able to get ; remember how frustrating that was? Or perhaps you experienced a virus or some kind of data-erasing disaster. Remember how painful that was to resolve? There are very few business activities that don t rely heavily on your computer network, and data and if any of these components stop working, business grinds to a screeching, frustrating halt. And with viruses and hackers becoming more sophisticated about accessing your network, you simply cannot afford to NOT monitor the health and security of your network daily. A network monitoring system is simply a way for a trained professional to watch over your computer network for slow or failing components, security alerts and alarms that signify trouble is brewing. It can also detect signs that your backup is not working, that you re running out of space on the server, or that a firewall is not functioning properly. Think of it like a security camera watching over your entire network 24/7/365. Now if network monitoring is SO important, why aren t more small businesses INSISTING that their computer networks be monitored and managed by an experienced managed IT service provider? One of the biggest reasons we see is lack of knowledge. The reality is that many businesses DO have their systems monitored for problems; and the bigger and more sophisticated the company, the more critical this becomes. But smaller businesses are often outsourcing their IT support and, unless their computer guy offers this service, they may not even know it exists. The second reason is complacency; the belief is that, If it isn t broke, why fix it? This is akin to saying, We don t need locks on our doors because our house has never been burglarized. The reason you HAVE the locks is to prevent your home or office from being robbed and the reason you have network monitoring is to make sure you DON T have problems. Network monitoring is only one piece of making sure your network is running properly. The second piece is proactive network support. Waiting for things to break is very costly for your business. Preventing problems from happening in the first place allows your employees to do their jobs more efficiently which saves your business time and money. If you would like more information on how Managed IT Support including network monitoring can better protect your business, please give us a call at

3 Visit Our Website Like Us On Facebook! asgtechnology Connect On LinkedIn asginformationtechnologies ASG s Blog Recent Blog Topics: The Importance of Employee Background Checks Is Your Business Prepared for the Next Weather Disaster? How Would You Rate Your Current IT Support Company? Know a Business Who May Be Struggling With Computer Problems? We Can Help! Refer that business to us and for each referral who becomes our business client and we will give you $100.00! To refer a business call or info@asgct.com If Your Server Suddenly Crashed And ALL Your Data Was Erased, How Long Would It Take Before Your Business Was Back Up And Running? If you aren t sure, or if you think it would only be a short period of time, read on. Below are 3 common, costly misunderstandings most business owners have about their data backup that give them a false sense of security: Misunderstanding #1: Believing That Tape Backups Are A Reliable Way To Secure Your Data...Wrong! Tape backups have an average failure rate of 100% (no, that s not a typo). What makes this even worse is that tape backups will APPEAR to be working, giving you a false sense of security. Misunderstanding #2: Relying On An Inexpensive, Automated Online Backup Provider To Backup Your Company Data. Tread carefully here and make sure that you ve really done your homework on your chosen solution. Here are a few questions to ask of any offsite provider before you trust your company s data with them: 1. Ask if you have the option to have your initial backup performed through a hard copy. With the amount of data on most company s servers, an initial backup performed over the web can take months to complete. 2. Make sure that database files can be stored and recovered easily. Many cheap online backup services only hold simple office or media files, while ignoring your most important database files or making those incredibly difficult to recover. 3. Demand daily status reports. Any reputable backup service will send you a daily to verify that everything is backed up. A more professional solution will allow you to notify more than 1 person (like your IT guy) in addition to you. Misunderstanding #3: Trusting Their Backup Is Automatically Working Without Doing Periodic Test Restores. We see this happening a LOT a business owner thinks their backups are working because they don t see any error messages or obvious problems. Then, when they need to restore a file (or their entire server), they discover the backups stopped working MONTHS ago and all that data is gone. Luck Is For Leprechauns! Want To Know For Sure If Your Data Is Safe? Our FREE Disaster Recovery Audit Reveals the Truth During the month of March 2015 we are giving away a FREE Data Backup Audit a $250 value. At no cost or obligation, we ll come to your office and review your current backup to see if your data is being backed up properly and could be restored in the event of a disaster. To claim your FREE Disaster Recovery Audit, call or info@asgct.com. This offer expires March 31, 2015.

4 Extra Gadgets Or A Necessity?! Dual Monitors As a business owner, you should always try to find ways to improve the productivity and efficiency of your employees. An easy way to do that is to set up dual monitors for their computers. They will spend less time flipping through open files, s, programs, comparing data sheets to one another, etc. They will be able to look up information in a web browser on one screen while they are typing info into a another document side by side. Try it! You will never go back to using just one monitor again! Holly s Recommended Reading Corner 6 Daily Practices That Will Make You A Better Listener - From Inc.com Mastering the Rockerfeller Habits What you must do to increase the value of your growing firm. Verne Harnish Spring Storm Season Is Upon Us Are You Protected? We know it doesn t feel like it but Spring begins on March 20th! It s not too late to prepare for those pop-up storms that occur randomly at this time of year, often resulting in everything from ice damage to lightening fires. During the spring time of year the threat of snow, fire, flood, severe storms, power surges, water damage from office sprinklers and even theft is very real. One of the most valuable assets for any company is its data. Hardware and software can be replaced but a company s data cannot! As a reminder, here are some simple things that you should do to make sure your company is ready for most common disasters. Back Up Your Data Remotely! Everyone knows that data should be backed up on a daily basis, but many people still use in-house backup systems that will get damaged in a natural disaster or fire, and can easily be stolen. We recommend backing up all data to an off-site location, and we offer this as a service to our clients. Use A Quality Surge Protector With Uninterruptible Power Supply Battery. A high-quality surge protector combined with an uninterruptible power supply battery backup (UPS) will go a long way in protecting sensitive electronic equipment from surges and other electronic irregularities that can destroy your computer s circuitry. Make Sure Your Servers Are Off The Floor Or In The Cloud. If your office gets flooded, having your equipment off the floor will prevent it from being completely destroyed. Server racks can be purchased and installed very inexpensively. Have A Disaster Recovery And Business Continuity Plan. Every business should have some type of plan in place for continued operations after a disaster. In the event of a disaster, would people know where to go? Who to call? How to log in and access the business data remotely? Hopefully you ll never need it, but having a simple plan will make you sleep a lot easier at night knowing you have a way to continue to operate when disaster strikes. FREE Report: The 10 Disaster Planning Essen als For Any Small Business. This report will reveal important planning strategies you should have in place now to protect your business from common data-erasing disasters including power failures, human error, cyber criminals, natural hazards, hardware failure, so ware corrup ons and other IT failures. To receive your report call or info@asgct.com

5 Attention Local CT Businesses! FREE IT Security Seminar Wednesday, April 22, 2015 What Every Business Owner Must Know About Cyber-Criminals & How They Target Your Business To Steal Your Data, Cash, and Clients Personal Information! Who Should Attend: Business owners, C-Level executives, and those who want to ensure they are making the best decisions regarding their IT security. Have you been affected by some form of cyber-threat? Would you recognize if you had? Is your business a low hanging fruit and an easy victim for cyber criminals? Do you have questions about the IT security for your business? Ever wonder how to safeguard your business from security threats? Attendees can Register to Win a Network Vulnerability Test A $700 Value! Door Prizes Too! Event Details: When: Wednesday, April 22, 2015 Time: 4:00 pm 5:30 pm Attend This Seminar & You Will Learn: Why IT Security Has Become A Critical Must Have For Your Small Business What Financial Impact Hackers, Cyber Threats, Viruses & Malware Can Have On Your Business Why Internal Security Is Just As Important As External Security And What Is The Difference Top 5 Things You Can Do To Protect Your Business Where: Attend For FREE REGISTER TODAY! Seats are limited! Information Technologies 477 South Broad Street, Meriden, CT In the Meriden Wine & Spirits Plaza The Presenter: David Dempster ASG s Senior Engineer & Security Specialist Appetizers, Wine, & Beer Will Be Served To Register Go To: security-event Or Call: info@asgct.com ASG Informa on Technologies. Phone: South Broad Street, Unit 13, Meriden, CT info@asgct.com