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Archives for August 2019

Scam of the Week: Confirm Your Unsubscribe Request? Not So Fast

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If you’re subscribed to a large number of digital mailing lists, your inbox can quickly become unmanageable and the word “unsubscribe” becomes your new best friend. But not so fast!

Recently, there’s been an uptick in a phishing scam where the bad guys send emails appearing to be a confirmation of your request to unsubscribe from a mailing list. The subject lines of these emails are usually similar to: “Confirm your unsubscribe request,” or “Client #980920318 To_STOP_Receiving These Emails From Us Hit reply And Let Us Know”.

Should you fall for this trick and click the “unsubscribe” email link, it will trigger a “new email” window to appear in your mail client. This new email will be addressed to 15-20 recipients and will contain “Unsubscribe” in the subject line. Don’t click “Send” on that email!

The 15-20 recipients of this email are actually accounts set up for spamming purposes. If you send this email, the spammers will know your email address is a “live one” and they’ll add it to their list. Such lists can be used in other, more lucrative scams.

Follow these tips to avoid scams like this one:

  • The bad guys expect you to click and respond without thinking. STAY ALERT! Don’t be a victim.
  • NEVER click on links in emails that you weren’t expecting, or that are generally vague and lacking information.
  • Never reply to people you don’t know, or weren’t expecting an email from. Even if it appears to be from someone you know, it’s best to pick up the phone and call them to be sure.


Stop, Look, and Think. Don’t be fooled.

Get Paid As A Tech Support Consultant

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The technical support consulting industry is a vast field to train for as someone potentially interested in earning a living online. It never fails because business professionals and consumers always need technical support.

Many who choose this path also take training courses for hospitality. This training is necessary to make sure you assist consumers in a hospitable manner at all times. So is a tech support consultant path right for you? Let’s find out!

What Is A Tech Support Consultant?

A tech support consultant can work for a company or operate independently if he knows his field good enough. To get hired at a University, for example, you will be expected to know how to research, teach students, and achieve a high level of data processing and security.

The goal of your expertise is to keep excellent communication with the professionals and students in your unit to learn what problems they are facing. Are you able to work with groups to save Faculties resources on IT solutions? Some of the necessary qualifications you should know already would be the following:

Qualifications:

Know Latest Cloud Technology Dropbox and Google Drive

Provide Expertise For Units and Render Continual Recommendations For Improvements

Ability To Work Without Supervision

Fix Processes To Limit Duplication

Some of the additional skills that may land you your desired position are the ability to troubleshoot clients over the phone, and remotely using the latest technology such as Teamviewer. Teamviewer allows professionals to gain access to clients PC’s through remote connection.

The yearly salary you will earn or hourly pay you receive depends on your educational achievements. It is common for IT consultants to get paid anywhere from $19.00 per hour or more. The recommended degree level one should achieve is a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Earning Passive Income

Taking up a career in the IT consulting industry does not guarantee you will earn passive income. If you’re not familiar with the term passive income, it is the ability to make monthly from performing a task or completing a project one time. Each day you get up to achieve the same skill set you are earning active income. And this means once you are no longer active, you will no longer receive an income.

In the industry of IT support your pretty much analyzing computer functionalities to determine the best software and programs for accuracy. This means if you could develop software or tools to solve the needs that most Faculties have issues with, you could endorse your product and earn passive income from a common cause. Your earning potential is limitless because you know your field better than any software developer. You can learn more at ORAM Boston.

Hospitality Consulting Boston

Hospitality consulting is excellent to practice because it ensures all staff and professionals be treated with respect among one another. During a hospitality consulting meeting, qualified business professionals will meet and discuss moral conduct, staff relationships, and better business management practices as a team.

There is much hospitality consulting Boston career paths that one may consider. One of them happens to be the food industry. While it is easy to serve a consumer a plate of food, doing it the right way is critical. For example, helping a consumer with a bowl of hot soup that is drizzling outside of the bowl without first wiping it is not hospitable.

Taking part in the right hospitality consulting Boston careers that train you to work with consumers in the food industry serves its purpose. As an IT support consultant, don’t count yourself out. Many IT support technicians that work independently for restaurants will travel out to different locations to solve IT-related computer system failures. With any industry provide value and seek to solve problems. This winning formula will put you on the path towards earning a passive income amount beyond expectations.

The Modern Office: Why a Strong IT Foundation Should Be the Basis of Your Business

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Business builds itself from the ground up. Your business internet technology (IT) is no different, which is why your foundation is so critical. The modern office revolves around having strong IT in place. From communications to automated business processes and protecting valuable company data, your foundation is imperative to your organization’s ability to not only thrive but survive.

Without a strong foundation, your business risks everything: Being hacked; watching valuable data be stolen, held ransom, or destroyed; and experiencing crippling downtimes when systems fail to function properly, costing your organization money every minute your employees can’t function. A strong foundation will help protect your company from experiencing such destructive problems and allow it to keep functioning smoothly even through inevitable IT bumps in the road.

What is Foundation in IT Terms?

At ORAM Corporate Advisors, we view the foundation as the nuts and bolts of your operation. We consider that to be your firewall, your switches, and your wireless access points. This is the core of your network. These are the things that have to be 100 percent reliable all the time and what literally makes the world go round for your business.

Firewalls as a Gateway

The gateway in and out of your network is your firewall. When it comes to the network security of the modern office, the firewall is your first and best line of defense. It monitors and controls both incoming and outgoing traffic on your network based on the security rules set for it. What rules are employed depends on how your company operates, the security it requires, and industry regulations. The best firewalls are “smart firewalls” which are capable of configuring, monitoring, and managing network traffic on the fly.

An average firewall is a hardware device or even a software program that is a barrier, a wall, between your systems and network and the internet. Its purpose is to limit unnecessary communication between your computer network and the internet.

Smart firewalls offer much to your business in terms of additional protections. Today’s modern office should employ smart firewalls as they include:

  • Antivirus, Antimalware, and Limited Spam Filtering
  • Deep Packet and Stateful Inspection
  • Packet, Adjustable Content, and “Default to Now” Traffic Filtering

The IT experts at ORAM can configure your smart firewall to maximize its protective benefits for the specific needs of your business. This ensures there are no gaps or vulnerabilities in your security settings that could allow a hacker to infiltrate your business system. We also take the time to keep your firewall current and patched.

Switches: Your Business Connection

Network switches are another important piece of your modern office network. This is the link, if you will, that connects devices on your network. It’s the switches that receive, process, and forward data moving in and out of your network so that it arrives at its proper destination.

The most common switch among business networks is one that handles Ethernet traffic. That is to say, the switches that connect your business to the internet. Without such switches, your business would become a proverbial island and your business data from email to invoicing may not function properly.

In addition to traditional managed switches, “smart switches” are an evolving option that can offer some management and security. They can be cost-effectively used in large networks as a supplement to managed switches or can be included as the main infrastructure in smaller networks. Smart switches can allow your business to segment its network into workgroups by creating a virtual local area network (VLAN).

Wireless Access Points

Wireless local area networks, or WLAN, are created by using a wireless access point device. These WLANs are typically found everywhere from homes and restaurants to modern offices and large buildings. They provide wireless access to the network for devices such as laptops, printers, and cell phones in a designated area such as your office. This enables your employees and customers to stay connected on a secure wireless network that is isolated from the core network in your office. You can also open or limit wireless guest access to specific applications or times of the day.

Recommended Foundation Hardware

The foundation of the modern office is also cloud-based. This allows you to know more about what your end users are doing and how traffic is flowing. Traditionally, you’d have to look back through logs and that is a time-consuming process. The modern office can’t afford to sit idle while the IT staff sifts back through logs to determine where things went wrong. Smart firewalls, switches, and access points provide real-time information through cloud-based systems that allow us to make the best decisions with up-to-date information.

At ORAM Corporate Advisors, we recommend using Cisco Meraki for all of those devices because it’s one of the most reliable cloud-based systems to date for business networks. This is important because it is the foundation of your business. User management, connectivity, and the like don’t matter if you and your employees can’t even access the internet.

Without a strong foundation, your business floor will drop out from beneath you. Commerce, trade, and services for your organization will come to a screeching halt without a strong foundation. Though integrating a strong network can be costly, it is the most important investment you will make to keep your business moving forward.

Ensuring a Strong Foundation

There are several key components to developing and maintaining a strong IT foundation in the modern office. Those include the following:

  • Make sure your firewall(s), switches, and wireless access points are current, up-to-date, and are running the latest firmware.
  • The hardware needs to be current as well. Is it still being supported and warrantied by the manufacturer?
  • Can your network handle your current business needs and still allow room for growth?

For everything you do or that your employees do, your foundation is key. By ensuring that you have the major components from your firewalls to switches and wireless access points in order, you can keep your business moving forward smoothly at all times. If you need assistance with building or bettering your business foundation, contact ORAM online or call us today at (617) 933-5060.

This Week in Breach: National Baseball Hall of Fame

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Exploit: Malicious code script

National Baseball Hall of Fame: American History Museum for Major League Baseball

Risk to Small Business: Severe:The notorious hacking group MageCart infiltrated the National Baseball Hall of Fame, compromising the personal information of customers shopping on their e-commerce store. Hackers had access to shopper information for seven months, beginning in November 2018. The hackers injected a malicious script into the checkout page that forwarded user information to the hacking group. Now, the museum will incur the inevitable repair costs that always accompany a data breach, and the reputational damage to their online store will likely cost them revenue and loyal customers moving forward.

Individual Risk: Severe: MageCart scams steal customer data at checkout, and online shoppers between November 15, 2018 and May 14, 2019 could have their information stolen by the hacking group. This data involves customers’ names, addresses, and payment information, including CVV codes. Customers who made purchases at the online store during this timeframe are encouraged to contact their credit card company and monitor accounts for fraudulent or suspicious activity.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Business: Online shopping is quickly becoming the go-to buying method for many shoppers, and SMBs rely on this revenue stream to compete with major corporations. Therefore, securing IT infrastructure is critical to stay competitive in today’s digital-first environment. To mitigate the damage after a breach, businesses should strive to provide proactive customer care to ensure that they can quickly and completely recover from a breach.

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In Other News: Canadian Government Launches Cybersecurity Certification Program for SMBs 

A recent survey by StaySafeOnline.org found that 71% of data breaches occur at small businesses, a prolific problem that the Canadian government is trying to solve. Consequently, they’re instituting an incentive program for SMBs prioritizing cybersecurity initiatives. 

The new initiative, CyberSecure Canada, allows organizations to prove that they meet specific security criteria, then awards the organization with a certificate and logo that they can include on their website and promotional material. 

To become CyberSecure certified, SMBs must demonstrate compliance with 13 security controls that collectively create a safer internet experience for businesses and their customers. The program strives to encourage Canadian SMBs to spend time and resources on cybersecurity initiatives. Not only will this help shore up their own long-term viability, but it also supports customer data security, a top priority in the digital age.

Interestingly, the survey found that many companies aren’t equipped to defend against these threats. The research found that 64% of small businesses don’t have a security team, and only 1/3 provided cybersecurity training to their employees.

Notably, SMBs don’t have to tackle this priority alone. Partnering with qualified cybersecurity professionals can help augment your cybersecurity posture and transforming weaknesses into strengths.

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Scam of the Week: Watch Out for Rebate Scams

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Internet criminals are posing as trustworthy sources so they can trick you into thinking you have earned a reimbursement or rebate. If you fall for it, the bad guys will end up with your banking information or credit card number. They will pretend to be from the government, a bank, or another trusted organization, and they’ll ask you to make a small, initial “administration fee” in order to claim the amount that is supposedly owed to you. If you provide your banking or credit card information, not only will you not receive the rebate, you’ll also lose a lot more money than the initial “administration fee”.

To protect yourself, reach out to the organization directly and verify that they are giving out rebates. But remember to never use the contact information found in the message that was sent to you. Look up the organization’s contact information yourself to be sure it is legitimate.

Stay safe out there!

Stop, Look, and Think. Don’t be fooled.

Scam of the Week: Watch Out for Jeffrey Epstein Scams

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Internet criminals never shy away from an opportunity to exploit the death of celebrities or well-known individuals. They use the “shock factor” to create fake controversy and trick people into falling for their dangerous click bait. You’ve likely heard about the apparent suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, who was recently found dead in his jail cell. Be on high alert for any communications related to Epstein’s death: emails and attachments, social media platforms (messages, posts, etc.), texts on your phone, or anything else. There will be a number of scams related to this.

Stay safe out there!

Stop, Look, and Think. Don’t be fooled.