5 Cybersecurity Tips for Shopping Smart on Black Friday
Spread the loveEvery year, the cultural phenomenon that is Black Friday and Cyber Monday rolls around. Wallets (and sometimes punches) are thrown in all different directions, trying to get the best deals for Christmas gifts. Most people get through it unscathed, but high stakes, time constraints, and emotions make for a vulnerable shopper. This unstable
Spread the love
Every year, the cultural phenomenon that is Black Friday and Cyber Monday rolls around. Wallets (and sometimes punches) are thrown in all different directions, trying to get the best deals for Christmas gifts. Most people get through it unscathed, but high stakes, time constraints, and emotions make for a vulnerable shopper.
This unstable atmosphere creates the perfect opportunity for hackers to take advantage of both you and the stores you shop at. Let’s set the scene- say you shopped all day on Black Friday. Out of the 10 stores you bought gifts at, one of them had a compromised Point of Sale system (the machine you swipe your card in). Once you swipe your card- your credit card information, your name, and other personally identifiable information is taken by the hacker. They may take some money from your account, but that’s not the worst that could happen. Hackers can do things like open accounts in your name- negatively affecting your credit score- and sell your information on the dark web.
Maybe this seems far fetched to you- nearly everyone has a “that won’t happen to me” mentality, but it literally just happened to Macy’s. Their online checkout pages had malicious code that harvested customer’s payment information. It happened to Target a few years ago with millions of victims. And it happens to smaller businesses far more often.
The point isn’t to scare you though- we’re here to help, so we created a list of ways to beef up your cyber smarts while shopping this holiday season.
1. Don’t make your retail account passwords the same as every other login. If your Old Navy login is the same as your bank login, you’ll be in trouble. An astounding amount of people use the same passwords for every account- and criminals know that- and they’ll try to get into your more important accounts.
2. Monitor your credit and debit card activity to check for unauthorized purchases.
Check your card activity for suspicious purchases once or twice a week. Report the ones that seem out of the ordinary.
3. Freeze your credit score to block hackers from making hard inquiry’s and opening accounts in your name. Freezing your credit score doesn’t keep your score from going up or down, and there’s no penalties. It prevents all hard inquiry’s on your account in the case of identity theft or exorbitant purchases.
4. If shopping online, make sure that all checkout and payment pages are SSL certified. SSL certifications ensure that your credit card and personal information are encrypted (secured) throughout the duration of the transaction from beginning to end. If compliant, a website’s payment page will have a SSL secure badge somewhere to show that they are safe to use, like the example on the right.
5. Use your credit card instead of your debit card. While they function the same, there are less protections with debit cards as there are with credit cards. Check with your bank for specifics, but typically, a credit card is more suited for online purchases and should you become a victim, the credit card companies will be more flexible with the fraudulent purchases and the assistance they offer.
Cyber threats like these are increasingly more common, but you don’t have to avoid online or in store shopping because of hackers. Keep these tips in mind and keep your eyes and ears peeled. Common sense goes a long way.
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Business Physiology
The operational needs of your network infrastructure are crucial for your business’s overall health. Baroan Technologies provides Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) to ensure the proper function of your hardware, software, and network. Our Smart Monitors dynamically adjust to your infrastructure needs, and our software suite includes tools for network management, wireless site survey, and IT documentation. We invest in professional services to optimize our use of each tool and offer a ticketing system with custom workflows for efficient communication. Let us help you avoid costly downtime and wasted resources by scheduling a review of our Statement of Work.
Business Safety Needs
Baroan provides comprehensive business safety needs for organizations looking to protect their valuable assets. Our NIST-based tiered strategy, including tools, services, and best practices, ensures compliance with cybersecurity insurance requirements. Our sophisticated approach to security employs a five-stage NIST Framework, which includes identifying, protecting, detecting, responding, and recovering from cyber threats. We also offer a wide range of tools, such as endpoint protection, zero-trust protection, secure DNS filtering, phishing filtering, and dark web scanning, as well as ongoing education for your staff. Baroan is dedicated to implementing and supporting network designs that emphasize security, compliance, and privacy protection, ensuring the safety of your critical infrastructure.
Connected Employees
Our collaboration platform allows clients and internal staff to access the same information, such as asset life cycles, roadmaps, and budgets, using dashboards and detailed reports. It builds long-term relationships and helps prioritize tasks with scoring gauges. We offer a tour of the platform to showcase its features and benefits.
Employee Satisfaction
We help businesses improve employee satisfaction and reduce turnover by creating an organized work environment with improved workflows and processes. Our approach involves gathering employee feedback through the 10-Point exercise and involving them in the analysis to determine their future day-to-day tasks. This leads to improved employee esteem and recognition.
Business Actualization
Digital transformation refers to a business becoming the best version of itself, achieving its mission through the use of technology. Take a look at the analogous pyramids below and click through to learn more about…
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Baroan’s Business Hierarchy of Needs
Business Self-Actualization Through Digital Transformation
Esteem, respect, and recognition needs
Connection needs through collaboration
Need for data safety
Operational needs of your network infrastructure
A business owner’s goals are achieved.
Discover and create the best version of what your business can be. Our certified advisors guide you through our platform and systems to help you discover new opportunities to leverage technology for your business’s ultimate Digital Transformation (Dx). We use a well-defined, comprehensive platform, so you’re not left in a black hole of vagueness and endless consulting hours. Our weekly peer group collaboration with other consultants keeps us current with ideas. The list below shows how we utilize the platform to help you.
It starts with a Business Improvement Review (BIR), where we work with the executive team to help you score your current state and opportunities for business improvement. In the BIR, you create Business Capability Quick Scores, Digital Maturity Quick Scores, and a score for your Technology Capabilities. The BIR is free and takes less than an hour to complete. You receive a report outlining the scores and conversations from the session. If an area warrants immediate attention, you can move directly to a Dx Discovery Workshop and scope out what is needed.
The next step in our system is the Digital Maturity Assessment (DMA). This is more in-depth but with a fixed fee. You have detailed conversations about the seven areas of your business: Marketing, Operations, Finance, Management, Services, Sales, and HR. Working through the platform, you will see the initiatives you want to prioritize. Scores and reports are made available to help you decide. Again, you can act on any one item and move directly to a Discovery Workshop to scope out the work. Or you can begin building a more comprehensive portfolio to help you plan.
The Discovery Workshop is the foundation for successfully completing projects for our clients by eliminating reactive, ad-hoc experiences. We follow a specific process with specific deliverables for a Project Vision Statement, Timeline Plan, and Execution Plan. Our process helps uncover all the stakeholder needs and the vision of what the project is supposed to accomplish. And most importantly, a return on investment for the project. Workshops typically have a fee associated with them, depending on the size and complexity of the project.
The next step is to perform Dx Strategic Planning, which produces a clear vision and plan with accountability to execute the required business technology initiatives. After the BIR and DMA have addressed all the “low hanging fruit,” which were initiatives that needed immediate attention and were successfully delivered by the Discovery Workshops, it’s time to think about the long-term for the sustainability of your business and your competitive standing in your market. The Dx Strategic Planning Deliverables are the Dx Vision Statement, Dx Strategy Map, Dx Roadmap, and the Dx Execution Plan. The pricing on the planning depends on the opportunity size. However, it’s defined ahead of time, so there is no need to worry about the consulting “black hole” catching you at this point in the transformation of your business. If you’re thinking, “I don’t really need this planning,” consider that you could never properly build a house without a blueprint/plan. Does your business plan account for your digital maturity? Remember, everything in business touches technology, so you should have a strategic plan in place.
Lastly, we offer ongoing Dx Leadership to keep your team on track, helping you revise plans, set goals, review milestones, and keep a check on accountability. Not everyone has a VP of Dx. But if your company does, what better MSP to work with than Baroan Technologies? We understand Dx and are ready to work with you and help you succeed. We can fill that spot on your organization chart if you don’t have the resources. Either way, you are leveraging an organized system to attain your goal of Self-Actualization through Digital Transformation. Dx Leadership has a monthly fee for keeping your team on track to successfully execute your digital strategy.
Begin your journey today with a complimentary Business Improvement Review.
Nothing motivates employees like accomplishment. We help remove the barriers to getting things done.
Creating an organized work environment free of hassle and bottlenecks allows your employees to enjoy meaningful work. That satisfaction is passed onto clients and vendors. This helps build a strong bond between management and staff as they collaborate to create improved workflows and business processes together. What better way for employees to feel respected and important than for you to announce that you want to understand what they go through every day and improve their lives? Your employees are typically on the front line doing the client-facing work. Reduce employee and client turnover by implementing our Digital Transformation systems such as the 10-Point exercise to discover ideas from your employees on how they think the work can be improved. Empower them with a voice while you conduct a Discovery Process that:
Identifies problems and the process for resolution.
Works to gain team buy-in during group meetings.
Conducts interviews for a deeper dive into issues and uncovers potential solutions.
Has them be part of the Analysis to determine what their future looks like for their day-to-day tasks. (Who knows the work better than they do?)
Get final alignment with the team about the vision for improvement, timeline, and execution plan.
You don’t have to do team-building exercises involving closing your eyes and trusting that someone will catch you from falling. You accomplish what everyone wants, esteem, respect, and recognition.
Our collaboration platform gets everyone on the same page – our clients’ internal staff and the client with Baroan.
You can access the same information as your Baroan account manager. Find out about asset life cycles, roadmaps, and budgets. Easily view information and be on the same page utilizing dashboards and detailed reports to facilitate planning. Having access to information on more than a need-to-know basis builds long-term relationships. Many of our clients have been with us for more than ten years and up to 20+ years because we communicate and share information freely. We keep evolving by improving our reports to review all account information. However, our new platform takes it to the next level with scoring gauges for quick views of where to set priorities. The information is organized in logical groupings with attached quotes for each grouping which builds the budget and timeline. Behind the scenes, there are multiple tools for discovering warranties and subscription status information, which provide a complete picture of your assets and where you can improve.
Call today and ask for a tour of our platform so you can see sample reports and how the platform is structured to give you the best connection to what you have and where you should be with your hardware, software, and network infrastructure.
Baroan’s cybersecurity services protect your data, your money, your people, and your business.
In Maslow’s personal hierarchy, safety is second only to air, water, and food. You need to protect your business, satisfy industry compliance, and cybersecurity insurance requirements. Many sophisticated businesses employ the best of the best hackers who are endlessly trying to find ways into your business. We will help prevent breaches with our NIST-based tiered strategy that includes tools, services, best practices, and ongoing education. Cooperation with the client’s staff is important because your staff represents a gateway to your network and critical data. At Baroan, security is emphasized for our implementations, support, and network designs. The five-stage NIST Framework includes – Identify – the organizational understanding to manage cybersecurity risk to systems, assets, data, and capabilities. Protect – develop and implement the appropriate safeguards to ensure delivery of critical infrastructure services. Detect – develop and implement the appropriate activities to identify the occurrence of a cyber security event. Respond – develop and implement the appropriate actions for a detected cybersecurity event. Recover – The recover function aims to get back any data that might have been lost as a result of a breach or attack. It also deals with restoring services to critical systems that may have been damaged because of the incursion.
The following is a high-level list of tools employed for your safety.
Advanced Endpoint Protection
Zero-Trust Protection
Secure DNS Filtering
Vulnerability Scanning
Firewall Security
Phishing Filtering
Dark Web Scanning
Monthly Simulated Phishing Campaigns
User Awareness Training
Daily Cyber Incident News Feed
NIST Risk Assessments
Managing Microsoft 365 Licensing
Microsoft 365 Security (Depending on Licensing)
Email Spam Filtering
Advanced Security Network Monitoring
Compliance and Privacy Protection Assistance
Two Factor Authentication
Active Directory Review and Remediation to confirm all users and what they have access to
Backup and Disaster Recovery with scheduled testing for confirmation
Are you safe? Call us today to schedule a risk assessment.
How your hardware, software, and network function is the “physiology” of your infrastructure health.
Similar to air, water, and food for your body, you need to get this right to survive. Nothing else will function properly without the proper Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) of your IT infrastructure. Baroan Technologies has invested seven years of research and development. This focused work evolved into a software company that has hundreds of other managed service providers (MSPs) utilizing the software solution that was created within Baroan Technologies. Working with these MSPs (and IT departments), we found a common theme. A tool is purchased, the standard templates provided are installed, the software is “turned on,” and the service provider or IT department is flooded with alerts. Eventually, the IT team turns the alerts off because they can never address the flood, and they miss critical alerts. They end up using the software for remote access and some basic features. However, they are not monitoring and maintaining as they should. We have addressed every nuance and detail related to RMM, starting with our Smart Monitors. Instead of applying static templates that quickly become obsolete, our Smart Monitors detect what you have and dynamically make the adjustments. Any MSP that purchases an RMM tool needs to create hundreds of scripted procedures. Most MSPs don’t have the time or necessary talent to do so, and the development never happens. Our program www.mspbuilder.com includes hundreds of dynamic scripts and procedures that evolve with each update. Each software tool we add to the suite of tools we use to maintain your network requires training, time, talent, and money to do it right. After we vet out a support tool, we select one of our Level Three engineers to become the expert in that software. They do the training, gain experience, and then they pass that knowledge onto the rest of the team. We also invest in professional services from the software vendor of the tool to review our installation and our use of the tool to make sure we are doing everything correctly and maximizing capabilities. Some examples of the suite of tools we use:
The following is a high-level list of tools employed for your safety.
Base RMM tool enhanced with custom automation scripts/procedures. (Servers, desktop, laptops) Ask to review our Statement of Work listing our services. (There are too many to mention in this space.)
Separate Apple device management RMM.
Network management and monitoring and mapping. We can detect network issues quickly, down to the device level, and provide apped diagrams.
Drive mapping for OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and Microsoft Teams storage.
Wireless site survey and planning software that also helps us troubleshoot where wireless issues are occurring and how to provide better coverage.
IT Documentation Platform for devices that feed information into our account management software. This helps our engineers quickly troubleshoot.
Software that captures system configuration documentation across cloud services, network devices, and on-premises systems, applications, and services.
Professional services automation ticketing system with custom workflows for individual clients supported with bots for automation.
Ticketing system schedule automation to make it easy for clients to schedule an appointment with an engineer to reduce phone tag.
Interactive mapping to show client locations for quick and efficient dispatching.
Synchronization and reporting with ticketing system and third-party applications.
Incident management platform for after-hours notification working in tandem with a call center service to ensure a timely after-hours response.
IT and assessment reporting.
Automatic network scanning for vulnerabilities, anomalies, and malicious activity.
Email relay services.
Website availability monitoring
Baroan Technologies adopted RMM very early in the history of MSPs and has invested heavily to make sure you have your air, water, and food to function properly. Remember that payroll is the biggest line item on the Profit & Loss statement for most businesses. Having your people wasting time looking at a “spinning wheel” preventing them from working or being on helpdesk calls about performance is a huge cost that adds up minute by minute. The dollars add up very quickly.
Call to schedule a review of our Statement of Work which is a specific legal document that lists everything we deliver for your business in the RMM category.