BlackCSI Blog

You always read that “business has changed”. This is true because society has changed; and technology supports this new normal. More people use their mobile devices for a majority of their communication, their browsing, and a lot more, and it is changing the way business is conducted; it’s just not always easy to separate work use from personal usage. Let’s take a look at some of the ways mobility has changed the way people approach work, and how that shift in perspective has changed business.

Your desktop can often become cluttered with files and programs while you’re going about your workday, and those files and programs will all have desktop icons associated with them. It’s a good practice to clean it up from time to time, but you can get immediate relief from the clutter by adjusting the size of the icons.

The smartphone app ecosystems today are extraordinarily vast. The Google Play store has over 3.5 million apps available, while the Apple App store has over 1.6 million apps. The question becomes, with so many different applications available on these platforms, how can you be so sure that the apps you are downloading to your mobile device are secure? Let’s take a look at mobile app store security and why it’s become more than just a security issue. 

So, you’ve spent a ton of time and energy transcribing data into Microsoft Excel, only to find out that you need this same data elsewhere in your spreadsheets, too. Bit of a bummer, unless you know how to accurately and easily copy all of this data. Let’s go over how you can do so.

Do you remember the “Hello, I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” commercials that aired from 2006 to 2009? These ads, which featured actors Justin Long and John Hodgeman as Mac and PC, respectively, were put out by Apple to promote their line of computers, highlighting the advantages that Macs had over the PC. One advantage the ads referenced repeatedly was the idea that Macs “don’t get viruses,” something that research conducted by Elastic Security Labs has disproved beyond any doubt.

Artificial intelligence has become a popular topic to discuss in the business world, and like just about any current technology trend, you know Microsoft has to hop on the bandwagon with its own solution. Microsoft’s new AI-powered image generation tools will be integrated into many of their applications moving forward.

It’s often the case that the demand for new software outstrips the stock of available coders, a trend that has led to many businesses looking to adopt what are called “no code” tools to help them build the software they need. Let’s take a look at these no code tools and how they can help businesses stay ahead of the game.

Sometimes security breaches and hacking attacks come from the most unlikely of sources, even going so far as to utilize trusted applications to infect an endpoint or network. This is the case with a new phishing attack which uses the Calculator application that comes built-in with Windows in a very creative way. This is just one example of how hackers have been forced to innovate to combat the increasingly secure systems which businesses and users rely on today, and it should be a testament as to why you can never be too careful.

Mobile devices are crucial to the productivity and success of modern businesses, but they bring with them countless opportunities for security risks and issues. To combat this, you need to be cognizant of these risks and manage the permissions of your applications. Let’s discuss how you can manage the permissions you grant applications on your Android smartphone.

There are numerous reasons to update your business’ technology—particularly if this technology is crucial to your business’ processes. However, many businesses still rely on legacy systems. This makes it a challenging prospect to update them appropriately, unless you know what you’re doing. This week, we’re devoting our tip to helping you do just that.

How much time does your business invest in software and its management? There are some that you can’t really go without, like email solutions and productivity suites, but you might have other specialized software that also requires attention. When you acquire new software, you can either go the traditional route or you can go the Software-as-a-Service route. Which path is the best choice for your business?

Today, collaboration software’s use is widespread, no doubt as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the hands of businesses everywhere to implement them while operations were still remote. However, now that many workers are returning to the office environment, businesses are finding that these collaboration platforms still offer immense value. What features can you look for and expect from your collaboration platforms?

Have you heard of Log4j? If we asked you a week ago, you almost certainly did not. Now it is dominating headlines as one of the largest cybersecurity risks we’ve ever known, and your business needs to act immediately to make sure you aren’t at risk.

If your business could make money based on its process, you’d never need to worry about results. Unfortunately, things don’t work that way. You need to bring a product or service to market and sell it in order to make enough revenue to continue doing business. With the results-based nature of things, it becomes essential for the good of your company that you optimize your team’s ability to get things done. Today, we’ll talk a little bit about how collaboration gets better when your team is organized. 

Some businesses struggle to obtain the appropriate software solutions, especially if they are on a budget. Some even choose to take advantage of free, open-source software simply because it helps their bottom line. There are some benefits to using open-source software, but there are also dangers involved.

Businesses and their employees ultimately need a lot of different online accounts, which means there are a lot of passwords that need to be sorted. To assist with this, many have turned to using password managers—applications that store passwords in an encrypted vault. There are a lot of reasons that these password managers are a popular choice. Let’s go over a few of them.

There is a lot to say about having the right IT, but at some point, you have to ask if you are receiving diminishing returns on your investments. Implementing too much technology can be a very real problem, especially in terms of the software you choose to implement. Let’s take a look at some of the warning signs and see what you can do about them.

With the release of Windows 11 on the horizon, it is important that businesses looking to implement it start to consider not only their hardware, but their strategy to upgrade away from their current operating system. But that’s a topic for another day—we’re focused today on the folks who don’t even have Windows 10 yet and are still stuck in the days of Windows 8.1, an OS expiring in 2023. Don’t get caught unawares without a plan to upgrade.

Ransomware is such a major problem for computing-dependent organizations that even government agencies are getting involved, equipping businesses and organizations with tools to help themselves identify whether or not they are at risk of these attacks. The most recent addition to this group, the United States’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have made their Ransomware Readiness Assessment, or RRA, available as part of its Cyber Security Awareness Toolset.

A new ransomware threat has surfaced, this time targeting unpatched and end-of-life products in SonicWall’s line of Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 100 series and Secure Remote Access (SRA) products. The threat is currently being exploited in the wild, so if you utilize these devices in your business, it is your responsibility to take action to mitigate damages caused by these ransomware attacks now.