This 5-Minute Video Could Save Your Practice

Almost every business uses a multi-function copy machine that copies, scans, prints and possibly faxes information. What most people don’t realize is that many of these machines have hard drives that store all information that the machine has access to. Think of these machines as computers that store a digital record of every copy it makes, every document it scans and every page it prints.

Copying patient information

If your organization copies insurance explanation of benefits (EOBs), patient insurance cards or uses a multi-function printer to print out letters to patients, all that information could be sitting on the hard drive of your copier. If this information is not properly destroyed before you return the machine to a leasing company, recycle the machine, sell the machine or throw the machine out; all that patient information might cause a HIPAA data breach.

Watch this video!

The below video from CBS news gives valuable information about the risks of copy machines.

Note: Affinity Health Plan who is featured in the video, received a $1,215,780 HIPAA fine (that’s right… $1.2 MILLION) because of one copy machine that contained 344,579 records with protected health information (PHI)

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**Warning** New Ransomware Targets Businesses

Security researchers from Emsisoft have come across a new ransomware family which they’ve dubbed CryptoLocker, or Trojan:Win32/Crilock. This particular piece of ransomware is designed to encrypt files on the infected device and keep them that way until a ransom is paid by the victim.

Interestingly, the files targeted by CryptoLocker are not ones that might be considered important by home users. Instead, the targeted files have extensions such as odt, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, mdb, accdb, rtf, mdf, dbf, psd, pdd, jpg, srf, sr2 ,bay ,crw, dcr, kdc, erf, mef, mrw, nef, nrw, raf, raw, rwl, rw2, ptx, pef, srw, x3f, der, cer, crt, pem, and p12.

This shows that the threat is designed to target businesses, to which the content of these files might be of great value.

According to experts, the ransomware is distributed via emails that inform recipients of customer complaints. The file that’s attached to these notifications is a downloader that’s designed to retrieve the actual malware.

Once it infects a device, CryptoLocker creates a registry entry to make sure it starts at every boot. Then, it establishes communications with its command and control (C&C) server. First, it attempts to contact a hardcoded IP address. If that fails, apparently random C&C domains are generated based on a domain generation algorithm.

After a C&C server is found, the malware starts communicating with it via traffic that’s encrypted using RSA encryption.

“Using RSA based encryption for the communication not only allows the attacker to obfuscate the actual conversation between the malware and its server, but also makes sure the malware is talking to the attacker’s server and not a blackhole controlled by malware researchers,” Emsisoft experts noted in a blog post.

Finally, CryptoLocker looks for the aforementioned files and encrypts them using AES. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to decrypt the files without the AES key, which is stored on the C&C server and accessible only to the attacker.

However, users are advised not to pay up. Remove the infection with an antivirus program and restore the encrypted files from a backup, assuming you have one.

How does your business or practice combat such a potentially devastating infection?  First, you need security and protection.  At the minimum we recommend a really good antivirus software along with monitoring to ensure it is always up-to-date and scanning as scheduled.  It does no good to have antivirus if you aren’t sure its performing properly at all times.  Second, you need a proven backup solution with versioning.  If you have never tried to recover from your backup then do you really know it will work?  We have plenty of backup and recovery horror stories I could tell.

If you need help in these areas give us a call.  We can help with managed antivirus, network security and backup/recovery solutions for any size business.  Don’t wait until you’re a victim, get help now.

Worker’s Reluctant to Follow Company BYOD Policy

Even at companies with BYOD (bring-your-own-device) policies, users may still be reluctant to officially register their tablets and smartphones with IT, instead preferring to covertly access the network. That’s according to a new study that shows employees are concerned about losing their personal data if they officially register their devices with the IT organization at their company. To ensure compliance with policies, managed services providers (MSPs) may need to win over small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) employees with promises to protect personal data.

Aruba Networks, Inc. (ARUN) conducted the survey of more than 3,000 employees around the world. American respondents, specifically, fear the loss of personal data more than other regions of the world, the study revealed. Around 66 percent of American respondents claimed that they fear the loss of data, compared to the 45 percent of Europeans and 40 of Middle Easterners who felt the same.

More than 50 percent of Americans said their IT department takes no steps to ensure the security of corporate files and applications on their personal devices, a concern that has forced many employees to keep personal devices away from IT departments. Seventeen percent of Americans have not told their employers that they use a personal device for work. If you think that’s frightening, keep reading.

Eleven percent of American respondents said they would not report a compromised device, while 36 percent said they would not report leaked data immediately.

According to the survey, these numbers come from a distrust of IT departments and employee fear about what IT may do with personal data. Forty-five percent of respondents in the United States worry about their IT department’s access to personal data.

Should MSPs include policies and guarantees to customers’ employees on personal data?

There need to be incentives from the company to persuade employees to follow BYOD policy.  Furthermore, there must be a culture of transparency and trust from IT to help calm the fears workers have.

Our Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions allow our technicians and engineers the ability to monitor and manage the mobile device but they do not have access to personal items such as text messages or pictures.  If there is ever a question of what we can or can not do, we give the client a complete tour of our MDM platform.

The importance of a highly secure IT environment coupled with the lack of adherence of workers to BYOD policies gives rise to major concerns.  Companies of all sizes need to rethink their policies and procedures regarding BYOD.  Also, ensure the MSP or IT provider is trustworthy and operates in complete transparency.  The goal is to protect your company, your IT environment, your customers and your employees.

Companies, especially small businesses, that ignore BYOD are playing Russian roulette.  Everyday workers are using secure business networks to do things on their mobile devices which are highly unsecured and dangerous to the IT environment.  For some verticals, such as healthcare, these oversights can led to a breach and bring disastrous implications.

Want to have a discussion about protecting your business and your employees?  Give us a call find out how we can help.

10 Reasons to Use CRM software Within Your Business

When it comes to using CRM software, there are a number of reasons why you want to use it. You need to do all you can to give your business the edge within the marketplace. Customer relationship management software allows you to focus more on your customers, which in turn will fuel your business for success.

1. More information. When you use CRM software, you have more information about your customers. This includes learning about where they are, what age category they fall into and much more.

2. More customer details. Customer details can help you reach out to customers at more times throughout the year. When you have their birthday and anniversary dates, you can send them emails and reminders, which will help your business be thought of in a more personable way.

3. Better demographic information. There is a lot of demographic information available within CRM software. You need to know who your target audience is. If you didn’t know it prior to using the software, you will by the time you have used it a few times because of the data it is collecting with each order that you take and with each new customer you establish.

4. Create marketing promotions. When you have more information about your customers, you can create more effective marketing promotions. This includes putting specific items on sale as well as deciding how you want to market to your customers – be it Facebook, mobile phones, direct mail or some other strategy.

5. Make suggestions. Suggestions can be made to customers when you use CRM software. When you see what the buying patterns are, you can use your inventory of products to determine what it is that they are likely to want. As you make suggestions, you can increase your sales and become more profitable.

6. Sell more. Suggestive selling is a great way to sell more. Just as restaurants use suggestive selling, you can do the same within your own business.

7. Compete with other businesses. You need to compete with the other businesses out there and CRM software helps you do that. Customers will stray to the competition from time to time – unless you are doing all you can to keep them focused on you and your business.

8. Stay on the brain. When you send more emails specifically for specific groups of people, you can stay on the forefront of your customers’ brains. This way they won’t drift off to go to other businesses throughout the year.

9. Customizable. When you use CRM software, it is customizable based upon what you need it for. You can even choose software that integrates into your other software, such as Microsoft Outlook. This ensures you aren’t entering the same information over and over again.

10. Easy to use. It’s also a good idea to use CRM software because it’s easy to use. When it’s easy, you and your entire staff can benefit from the information housed within the program.  When I started out in business I used a huge dry erase board, make-shift excel spreadsheets and a desk calendar to try to accomplish this.  It is so much easier now with good CRM tools.

For help finding the CRM tool that is right for your business, give us a call.

Go The Extra Mile

If you want a quick way to boost your profits, you need to make sure you are going the extra mile to look after your best customers, before someone else does. 

Think hard about your biggest clients or customers. Can you think of something you did that they would say shows you have over-delivered for them? Not just things they would expect as standard, but really going the extra mile? Have you ever sent them your product and given them free samples of something else? Have you supported them in a charity venture they were undertaking? Have you helped them get through a crisis in their business just because you could rather than because you had to? Or have you phoned and taken them for lunch just to talk about how you can help them? 

If the answer to those questions is no, start thinking about how you can differentiate your business and what you can do to show how important those customers are to you. People often go the extra mile when they are trying to win new business, but often forget that retaining customers is more important than winning new ones. 

Don’t mistake these things for the standard “corporate entertaining” stuff. Everyone has been invited to work dos, races, parties and so on – and most people would never make a decision based on these things. I’m talking about personal, relevant and wow things that really show that you are going the extra mile for your customers – not that you have big budgets to spend! 

Keep these principles in mind: 

• Always under-promise and over-deliver, never the other way round;

• Never tell your customers no because that’s “the policy”;

• Have quicker response times to everything than your competitors;

• Think about the long term value of these customers, not what this might cost today;

• If they are in a hole, do whatever you can to get them out of it – even if you aren’t obliged to;

• Be personal in what you do – people do business with people, not faceless companies.

If you haven’t done these things, now is the time to get busy quickly. Customers need to be reminded constantly that you value them and are doing more than just giving them what they pay for. People hate being taken for granted and being treated as if you have the right to their money and you need to make an emotional connection with people to get them to stick with you and your business. 

So, take action NOW – this week, find a way to go the extra mile this week for at least one of your key customers, whenever or however you can.

Article Source:  http://www.articlebiz.com/article/1051611307-1-go-the-extra-mile/