Fred Rappuhn, Author at NuTech Services LLC

Aug, 2018

UTM is a Strong Solution to Ward Off Hackers

When your employees think about hackers and network security, do they picture some cloaked or hooded figure in a dark room typing away at a keyboard? Do they see a recluse living in their mother’s basement? Popular culture has given many users a false sense of reality regarding hacking attacks and the culture surrounding them, and it can come at the detriment of your business.

While there are, of course, amateur hackers who aren’t necessarily well-versed in how to do it, there are other, more professional hackers who “know their stuff,” so to speak. This is similar to just about any kind of profession or industry. You have the hackers who have no idea what they’re talking about, and you have the seasoned professionals who know the ins and outs of how to infiltrate a network. Unlike other industries, however, the cybercrime industry is effective regardless of the proficiency of those involved with it.

If you think about it, this makes sense. It doesn’t matter what kind of threat is installed on your computer. A virus is a virus, and malware is malware. It’s troublesome at best and dangerous or downright threatening at worst. Therefore, if you don’t take network security seriously, you could put the future of your business at risk.

Traditional Hacking Attacks
Many users might look at hacking attacks and think about the more traditional threats. This includes the typical viruses and malware that users associate with suspicious online activity. These threats can have varying effects, but they generally make life difficult for businesses and individuals alike. This is about the extent of the average user’s knowledge regarding hacking attacks. They know they are bad, but they might not know the real ramifications of such attacks.

Emerging Threats
Nowadays, security threats are much more advanced and dangerous, capable of crippling entire networks. Some examples are dedicated spear phishing attacks in which hackers take on the identity of someone close to your organization, tricking users into downloading the wrong email attachments or sending a wire transfer to an offshore bank account. Other times, it’s installing a backdoor on a network that lets hackers access a network at their leisure. The most dangerous of all–ransomware–literally locks down your business’ files and demands a ransom for their safe return, putting businesses between a rock and a hard place. Suffice to say, these advanced threats aren’t always identifiable by the average user, and some can’t be identified until it’s far too late and damage has already been done.

Don’t let your business remain in harm’s way any longer. NuTech Services can equip your business with solutions that can both prevent hacking attacks and respond to them quickly and efficiently. We do this through the use of a Unified Threat Management (UTM) tool that combines enterprise-level firewalls, antivirus, security blockers, and content filters together to create a comprehensive, preventative, and proactive way to keep your network safe. It’s the best way to approach network security, hands-down.

To learn more about how you can get started with a UTM, give us a call at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2018

Reduce Setup Costs with IT Consulting

It’s always exciting when the idea of a business becomes real by finding a space to conduct operations. It’s extra exciting when a business has outgrown its space and has to move into a new space. Whatever situation you are encountering, it can be excruciatingly difficult to affordably move into new offices.

NuTech Services can do several things for any business, whether you are a startup or an established company that’s moving or expanding. Our consultants are trained IT professionals; and, as a result, they can work with you to plan an efficient (and connected) use of your available space.

Moving Offices
When your company becomes too big for its britches you have to get some new ones. The problem is that you can’t just move everything over at once over one day; it’s a process. There are things that you can do, however, to make the move less of a headache. They include:

Choosing your Internet service provider – Having the necessary bandwidth to meet your business’ needs is crucial to its ability to run efficiently. If your new place of business needs to be rewired it could take up to a couple of months for it to get completed. At NuTech Services, we have good working relationships with several area ISPs, and can make sure that when it’s time to move in to your new building, you’ll have access to the bandwidth you need.
Property Assessment – While there won’t be any furniture or technology in place, walking through the property with our team to get a sense of where the technology will go can be helpful. This will simultaneously provide a chance to ascertain what will go where, and to make sure that all connections are in place.
Plan the logistics – If you expect your business to remain functional during a move, you need to plan how it is going to happen. Who is moving the hardware? Do the phones need to be connected? Is all the furniture there? There are over a dozen vendors you have to deal with when you are moving to a new location and making sure everything is squared away logistically is essential to a successful transition.

At NuTech Services, we provide the kind of technological expertise and vendor management services that make us a perfect partner for a rapidly growing company. Call us at 810.230.9455 today to talk to one of our knowledgeable consultants about how we can help make your transition easier.

Aug, 2018

Tip of the Week: How to Find Success With Remote Workers

Thanks to mobile devices and remote access, businesses around the world are freeing their employees from the tethers of their desks and allowing them to work remotely. Some companies have employees that work remotely all of the time, which presents the question of how you keep them connected to the workplace, productive with their time, and part of your business’ culture. This week we’ll go over some tips to help your remote employees be as successful with their time as possible.

Accessible Solutions
Communication technology is important for your in-house workers, but it’s practically essential for your remote workers. Think about the following solutions before you implement any sort of remote work for your business:

Virtual private networks: If your employees need to access sensitive information while out of the office, a virtual private network is the best way to do it. A VPN provides an encrypted connection to keep prying eyes away.
Voice over Internet Protocol: A phone system makes communication much easier, but it’s a little messy to have employees use their personal phone numbers while they make calls to clients or contacts. Instead, you can have them use VoIP, a software-based phone system that can be used on desktops, mobile devices, or laptops.
Remote desktop software: Sometimes you have employees who only work remotely half the time. These employees likely still have computers on-premise, so they can use a remote desktop software to access important data and files on their work computers while out of the office.
Cloud-based applications: Applications hosted in the cloud are great for employees both in and out of the office, as they can be accessed on any approved device–not just the workplace’s desktops.

Ensure Proper Documentation
Project management is one of the keys to get the most out of your remote workers, as they aren’t always there to witness all developments on a project as they happen. Breakthrough moments happen all the time in the workplace, and the remote worker doesn’t get to witness these or be aware of them as they occur. This makes proper project management incredibly important, as without documenting all of the progress on a project, tasks could be repeated unknowingly and resources might not be available. Smart project management makes it easier to get work done while staying connected to the workplace.

Be Inclusive
Even if they aren’t in your office, you need to remember that remote employees are still a major part of your team. Since you don’t see them every day, it can be easy to forget they exist. Be sure to check up on them once in a while, as remote workers don’t receive the social aspect of the traditional workplace. They’re sure to appreciate the human interaction, and it will help them feel valued by your organization.

NuTech Services can help your business’ remote employees stay connected to your workplace. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2018

The Major Points of A Secure Email Solution

It’s not out of the ordinary for employees to not know the best practices surrounding email management, but it’s something that any self-respecting employer needs to consider. How are your employees using their email, and are they putting your organization at risk? The best way to address these issues is taking a two-pronged approach involving training employees on proper best practices, as well as taking technical measures to keep the risk of a breach to a minimum.

We’ll go over some of the most viable options for keeping your email communications as secure as possible, including encryption, spam protection, and employee awareness.

Email Encryption
Encryption is extremely important for keeping your data safe from prying eyes. Encryption is easy to understand when it’s explained in terms that aren’t mind-bogglingly complex. Data that’s sent through a connection that isn’t encrypted can be intercepted. When data is sent through an encrypted connection, it’s scrambled so that it can’t be read by those who might steal it while it’s in transit. Only those who hold an encryption key can unscramble it, making it a much more secure method of sending and receiving important data. Some industries, such as healthcare and government organizations, mandate compliance standards that may include encryption to send and receive email.

Spam Protection
Employees are almost certain to encounter email hazards like spam messages and phishing attempts, and if they don’t know how to identify these dangerous messages, they could expose your organization to data breaches. This is because hackers can ask employees for various information, such as passwords, usernames, and other credentials that aid them in infiltrating your carefully laid-out defenses. The best way to keep this from happening is to keep spam and phishing messages from hitting the inbox in the first place with spam protection systems.

Phishing attempts are a bit trickier, as they will need to be handled in a careful and calculated manner. Scammers often personalize messages to optimize their odds of the message being opened or an attachment being downloaded. Therefore, you need to consider employee training to properly defend against it.

Conditioning Your Employees for Security
Your network’s security can’t be complete without taking care of the ones actually using the technology. Since your end users are going to be using the organization’s email, it’s only natural that you prepare them for the act of keeping it secure. You can provide your users with a list of best practices for them to keep in mind while going about their duties. They are the following:

Check the sender: Who has sent the message? Is it a suspicious email address that can’t be traced to any of your contacts? Does it come from a strange email domain? If the answer to any of these is in question, you might have a spam message.
Identify the intent: Hackers want you to click on their spam messages as quickly as possible. Therefore, they will often try to incite immediate action to prevent you from thinking twice.
Check the spelling and grammar: Many hackers come from countries where English isn’t the hacker’s first language, making their messages quite identifiable compared to others. If you receive messages filled with these inconsistencies, you can bet they are either unprofessional or likely a hacker.
Don’t open unrequested attachments: Attachments are a big way for hackers to spread threats, as a lot of people don’t think twice before downloading a supposed receipt or statement. Double-check who sent the attachment before downloading it.
Don’t click sketchy links: Before clicking on any links in an email, make sure it’s going where you expect it to. You can do this by hovering over the link without clicking on it. If the link goes to a weird URL or an IP address (a string of numbers and periods), it might be a phishing attempt. The destination might look legitimate and ask you to log in, but it will capture your credentials and give access to the bad guys.

Of course, the biggest thing to keep in mind is when in doubt, ask your IT department about the message. For more information on how to keep your organization safe from spam and email threats, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2018

As Augmented Reality Grows, More Applications Appear

“Augmented reality” is likely one of those terms that you’ve heard before, but that’s more or less your experience with it. However, A.R. has likely been a bigger influence than you may have imagined – especially with the prevalence of smartphones being what it is. Let’s examine augmented reality and how it might be used later on.

Modern A.R.
As we have inferred already, the smartphone has been instrumental in bringing augmented reality to the masses. In A.R. applications, the camera is used to capture the likeness of the user’s surroundings, while a virtual overlay is added for the user to interact with. This overlay incorporates stimulus from the Internet, the captured surroundings, and the user’s activity all at once.

This technology has been leveraged by developers to try to develop apps, some for fun, and some that are more practical. There have been plenty of examples of each thus far. Augment, the furniture application, allows users to “test-drive” a model in the environment it will be used in, which is much easier than buying said furniture only to return it when it clashes with the base molding. As for entertainment, one only has to look at the success of the Pokémon Go app. There are even browsers, like Argon4, which incorporate A.R.

What May Be Coming Next
Admittedly, not much has been developed completely just yet, but that hasn’t made A.R. any less promising. For example, imagine how much easier tutorials could become for particular tasks if A.R. was leveraged. Any task that can be broken into steps could be developed into an A.R. walkthrough.

Take auto maintenance. Most people spend significant amounts of money keeping their engine tuned up and their vehicle road-worthy by bringing it to an auto shop. While some issues are certainly better resolved by the likes of a professional, some fixes are very doable for a novice – assuming they had a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to show them how to do it right. An augmented reality application could be that guide, teaching these novices how to change their oil or replace a spark plug. We may see these kinds of apps change the way that schools teach their students, allowing lessons to be learned conceptually and practically.

Of course, more is also being developed now:

eCommerce: Using digital overlays, real-time and lifelike shopping experiences can be developed, boosting consumer satisfaction.
Gaming: Pokémon Go was just the beginning. A.R. has proved that video games and gamification can not only get people out of the house, they can get them interacting with other people, forming stronger communities.
Marketing: By incorporating A.R. into the consumer’s experience, marketers can add additional impressions and make their efforts more impactful.

While A.R. may not be everywhere just yet, we wouldn’t be too shocked if it started to pop up in more places sooner than later – and if it doesn’t, we’ll focus on making sure you get the best use out of whatever does. If you’re interested in hearing more about any of the services or technologies that we at NuTech Services are familiar with, give us a call at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2018

Know Your Tech: Social Media

You see the term “social media” thrown around all the time, but what does it mean for both individual users and whole businesses? Organizations that understand the importance of social media have a unique advantage over other businesses in the same industry, be it a way to attract more consumers or a way to protect against common security threats that find their home on these websites.

What is Social Media?
Social media can be considered any website or service that is used to interact socially with other people. Some common examples include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even Instagram. All of these services have common ground in regard to features that allow people to communicate or learn more about one another, whether it’s in the form of a terribly-worded Facebook post or a bite-sized glimpse into someone’s soul via Twitter. LinkedIn allows business professionals to learn more about each other by providing information about their work history or current situation, which can be quite helpful for learning more about a company or a prospective client.

Social media is generally used more for the former, though. It’s likely that your employees have at least one account on a social media platform, so it’s important that your organization understands what it means for the purposes of security.

Security Issues of Social Media
One of the biggest issues regarding social media is that it can provide hackers with a way to get into your organization’s network–or, rather, trick your employees into providing information that could aid them in their attack. Hackers can create fake accounts where they can impersonate people you may know. They then use this process to weasel information from your employees such as usernames or passwords. You need to make sure that your employees are aware of the telltale signs of social media attacks so you know they won’t be an issue for your organization.

Social Media as an Outreach Method
Many organizations have turned to social media as a way to directly interact with consumers. Take, for example, Verizon. If you tweet at their support account, there is a solid chance that they will address any problems you might be having with your mobile service. You can use social media in this regard to directly reach out to customers and get their feedback about your products or services.

How does your business use social media? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to our blog.

Aug, 2018

The Best Way to Approach Data Backup

All businesses hope that they’ll never have to use their data backup and disaster recovery plan, but the point stands that each business should have one, just in case of a worst-case scenario. For a small business with a limited budget, the prospect of investing in a solution they might never need is daunting. To help you get started, we’ve put together a couple of basic backup practices that you should keep in mind for your business.

Back Up As Much Data as Possible
If you’re wondering what data your organization should prioritize, the correct answer is all of it. Data is invaluable in the business world, and even if you think you can make do without some of it, chances are that you can’t guarantee it won’t be useful somewhere down the road. You should never accept data loss of any kind. Tape backup systems tend to take complete backups, but they often can only be performed once a day, making it difficult to take and deploy them adequately without running the risk of either operational inefficiency or losing at least some data from the past 24 hours. We recommend a cloud-hosted backup system that takes snapshots of data that has been changed recently, guaranteeing that all files are kept as up-to-date as possible.

Take Backups as Frequently as Possible
In the event your organization suffers from a disaster, you want to make sure that your backups are as recent as possible. This is to make sure that you lose as little progress as possible when disasters do happen. Imagine finding out that the only data backup you’ve taken was last month. This is why we recommend that your organization take backups as often as every fifteen minutes, guaranteeing that you’ll lose minimal data.

Restore as Quickly as Possible
Let’s imagine that your organization is struck by a disaster. To get back in the game following such an incident, you have to restore your data. However, if you don’t have an infrastructure or device put in place to get this happening as soon as possible, you start to suffer from downtime. This is any time that your organization isn’t functioning as intended, so it should include situations where your technology is failing, your employees can’t work, and your organization can’t take care of customers, among anything else that your business is responsible for. It quickly becomes clear that one of the biggest causes for businesses failing following a disaster is the crippling costs of downtime.

Notice a trend here? Time is of the essence when disaster strikes your organization, and the faster you can get back in action following a disaster, the less money you’ll waste on downtime. The traditional data backup solution isn’t as helpful in this regard as a hosted BDR solution from NuTech Services. Our BDR device can rapidly restore data directly to itself so that your organization can keep chugging along in the face of adversity.

Aug, 2018

Don’t Be Fooled When Scammers Threaten to Spill a Dirty Little Secret

What would you do if a stranger claimed to have compromising webcam footage of you and threatened to share it with your contacts? A new, very convincing email scam is making some users very nervous.

The Sextortion Scam
It’s as screwed up as it sounds. A scammer emails you saying that they got access to your passwords, and then started to run amok to see how much trouble they could get you into. They even show you one of your passwords to prove it (the password will likely come from lists found on the dark web from online businesses and services that have been hacked and stolen over the years). Then the scammer admits they’ve been watching what you do on your computer and recording your webcam, and they happened to catch you at a very inopportune time… Well, let’s let the email explain it for us.

“You don’t know me and you’re thinking why you received this email, right?

Well, I actually placed a malware on the porn website and guess what, you visited this web site to have fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching the video, your web browser acted as a RDP (Remote Desktop) and a keylogger which provided me access to your display screen and webcam. Right after that, my software gathered all your contacts from your Messenger, Facebook account, and email account.

What exactly did I do?

I made a split-screen video. First part recorded the video you were viewing (you’ve got a fine taste haha), and next part recorded your webcam (Yep! It’s you doing nasty things!).

What should you do?

Well, I believe, $1400 is a fair price for our little secret. You’ll make the payment via Bitcoin to the below address (if you don’t know this, search “how to buy bitcoin” in Google).”

The reader is then given the address to a Bitcoin wallet, where they are to send the ransom.

The email continues:

“Important:

You have 24 hours in order to make the payment. (I have an unique pixel within this email message, and right now I know that you have read this email). If I don’t get the payment, I will send your video to all of your contacts including relatives, coworkers, and so forth. Nonetheless, if I do get paid, I will erase the video immidiately [sic]. If you want evidence, reply with “Yes!” and I will send your video recording to your 5 friends. This is a non-negotiable offer, so don’t waste my time and yours by replying to this email.”

This email comes in a few different versions in the wild, but all of them follow the same pattern and end with the same threat… fork over the cash, or everyone will see you in your most private moments.

Is This a Serious Threat?
This is a very real concern for many people, who will be relieved to hear that, no, there is no indication that these threats are for real. The first clue is the fact that the passwords that the email provides are usually a decade old, indicating that they came from some (relatively) ancient database from some long-forgotten hack.

However, in some ways, this is even worse news, because this threat has made a tidy sum of money: as of the 31st of July, the scam had brought in $250,000, as compared to just over $50,000 by the 19th. Clearly, this scam has been plenty effective for the perpetrators, and this won’t deter others from following its example.

Keeping Yourself Safe from an Actual Attack
Granted, this attack is just an unfair wager, but scams like this are more than possible for a criminal who actually means what they say/threaten. As a result, the security lessons we can take away from this particular attack still apply.

The first thing to remember is also the first rule of passwords – change them frequently. Again, this scam has made quite a bit of money based on a total bluff… a bluff that, paid in increments of $1,400, was worth $250,000 and counting. From this, we can infer that quite a few people who received this message had online activities that they wanted to hide, and more critically, that their passwords had remained the same for all those years.

This is an excellent example of why it is so crucial to regularly update your passwords, without repeating them – if an old database is hacked, as happened here, you won’t have to worry if your password is revealed – it won’t be any good anymore.

The second thing to remember? If you aren’t actively using your webcam, keep its lense covered up.

For more best practices to follow, including those that will improve your business’ security, make sure you keep checking back to this blog – and if you want to take more action, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2018

Tip of the Week: Cloud Software for File Sharing

Businesses have a lot to gain by personal file storage and sharing, but then again, so does the individual user. After all, even the most ambitious business owner has a personal life and people to share information with. How can you share files with people without leaving them vulnerable to data theft and worse? Here are some options that you can use for your personal file sharing solution.

While there are a lot of products on the market for this purpose, some of the best are those that can also be utilized for business purposes. Most of these file sharing services take advantage of the cloud so they can be used more readily for collaboration or sharing. Here are some of the most popular storage systems at a consumer level.

Google Drive
Google Drive is an extremely helpful tool that can be used by both businesses and personal users alike. It makes it very easy to share files and collaborate in a cloud-based interface. You can share documents, spreadsheets, images, videos, and just about any other file you want to share with other people. You can control permissions for these files as well, controlling who can do what with it. This includes sharing and editing, among other things.

As far as pricing goes, the average user with a Google account can take advantage of Google Drive free of charge, with the option for increasing storage space for a modest fee.

Microsoft OneDrive
Just like Google Drive, Microsoft’s flagship cloud storage system OneDrive is a great solution that integrates Microsoft office applications with their OneDrive cloud storage. The neat thing about Microsoft OneDrive is that it can sync with your Microsoft Office to always update files that you might have stored locally on the device you’re accessing it from. Just like Drive, OneDrive can be an excellent tool for both a business and individual user, with many different plans available for both power users and casual users alike.

Ultimately, the choice is yours on how to proceed with a cloud service for your personal needs. Let us know which one you decide on in the comments below.

Aug, 2018

Reduce Your Costs By Outsourcing Your IT Management

Your business deals with all types of troubles, but one trouble that can be extraordinarily costly is when your organization’s technology doesn’t work properly. That’s why many businesses hire an IT staff who work to mitigate technology-related problems. One issue you should be cognizant of is cost. Typically, IT professionals have training, certifications, and experience and demand an above average salary. If you have a small or medium-sized business that is working with tight margins as it is, it can be extremely difficult to take on new personnel costs; especially ones that don’t directly result in bringing revenue through the door.

A popular solution to this quandary is to outsource your organization’s IT management to a managed IT services provider (MSP), like NuTech Services. Our certified technicians will first assess your business’ information systems to get a good idea where your inefficiencies lie, then they’ll go to work devising a customized technology and management plan to fit your business’ needs. Starting a relationship with a baseline of knowledge we can deliver value through our cost-saving managed services that include:

Hardware & software support: We are the IT guys after all. We have relationships with some of the most notable vendors in the industry so our clients can get the hardware and software solutions they need to be the best version of their business. We’ll also ensure that any software you use will be up to date with the latest threat definitions.
Around the clock monitoring: In order to provide the ROI we intend to, our services have to reduce or eliminate your organization’s downtime. That’s why we monitor and proactively maintain your network and infrastructure with our state-of-the-art monitoring software. In doing so, if there is a threat to your network, or your hardware, we’ll know about it immediately, and we can take steps to remediate the issue. This allows you to get more from your hardware and avoid the operational problems that comes when you have to stop to deal with network and infrastructure issues.
Backup and disaster recovery: Your business’ data is an extremely valuable asset, and as such, it has to be protected against situations that arise where you may lose it. Anything as benign as a storm could wipe out a lot of hard work. Our backup and disaster recovery platform not only backs up your data periodically, it creates copies that are sent off-site into the cloud, so that no matter what is thrown at your business, your data will be safe.
Network security: Along with our monitoring and management program, we also ensure that your network is secured from the literally thousands of threats that face it every day. From malware to corruption to infiltration, our network security platform keeps your data available and your network working properly.
Vendor management: Along with having access to a myriad of top industry vendors, we also can help you manage your vendors, whether we use them or not.
Around the clock IT support: We offer a comprehensive help desk where technicians who have remote access to your end-points can solve situational computing problems for your staff 24/7.
Options: We also offer a whole cache of powerful IT solutions including cloud computing, communications, printing, conferencing, and physical security solutions that work for any-sized business.

If you are looking for a way to get the technology that can help you grow your business, you are just looking to reduce your IT management costs, or you are thinking of attempting to get your footing on a new IT initiative, call the IT professionals at NuTech Services today at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2018

Why It’s Great that Managed Services are Managed

One of the key benefits of managed IT services is right in the title. It’s managed, meaning that you don’t have to worry about maintaining or configuring your systems. Many small businesses see these kinds of advertisements out in the world but don’t necessarily understand what services are being marketed to them. We’ll take a deep dive into what you can expect from “managed” services for your organization.

Defining Managed Services
Managed services are any services your organization takes advantage of that aren’t managed directly by your company. Perhaps the best example is comparing it to the way the average consumer uses their email. Let’s say you use Gmail as your preferred email service for personal use. Do you manage the mail server running Gmail? Probably not, making the average Gmail user a patron of managed services. If you think about it in this sense, any service that your organization doesn’t manage on its own could be considered a managed service.

In the case of managed IT services, the term “managed” means anything that’s not hosted on your infrastructure or maintained by your on-site employees. This can be anything from cloud-based data storage and web applications to entirely hosted hardware infrastructures that are accessed virtually through the cloud. If you can think it, you can build it–the technology infrastructure of your dreams, without all of the frustration of managing and maintaining it on your own.

The rise of managed IT services has its roots in break-fix IT, where businesses would take their technology to a specialist in order to get issues resolved. This approach meant that they didn’t need employees to maintain the technology on-site, but it also came at a steep cost. Break-fix IT companies would take advantage of businesses that came to them in this fashion, taking care of immediate problems without taking measures for the long term. This meant that businesses would often experience even more issues without addressing the overarching problem, leading to wasted dollars and wasted time.

Now, back to the “managed” part. When a business isn’t managing its own IT, they don’t have to worry about these issues because they are being addressed by a company that A.) Knows how to take care of technology, B.) Takes proactive measures to ensure issues don’t reoccur, and most important of all, C.) Can save your business precious time and resources that can be better spent on other tasks. Imagine having enough time to invest in new outreach initiatives for potential clients, or finally having enough in your budget to not only invest in new technology solutions but implement great ways to increase your bottom line.

NuTech Services specializes in providing small businesses with the managed services they need to stay competitive with larger organizations. Managed services often come at a better price point than hiring an entire internal IT department, making it an attractive option for both businesses that don’t have resources to maintain an on-site infrastructure and those that have enough of a staff to manage one, but not enough to maintain it properly. We can either supplement your current help or function entirely as an outsourced IT provider. All you have to do is reach out and ask what we can do for your business.

To learn more about the managed IT business model, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2018

Know Your Tech: Encryption Key

Security is a necessity. Every technology professional will tell you this, but in an age where employees are taking information on the go, it’s trickier than it’s ever been before. Encryption is one of the ways that businesses are attempting to shore up their security, but this also requires having an encryption key. This week’s technology term is all about encryption, as well as how encryption keys protect your business’ data.

Defining Encryption and Encryption Keys
Encryption is the act of scrambling your organization’s data so that it can’t be seen by prying eyes. Anyone who doesn’t have the encryption key will see nothing but a bunch of nonsense. Through the use of algorithms, these keys are guaranteed to be unique, meaning that there are no two patterns that are alike. Of course, depending on the type of encryption being used, there could be one or two keys needed to decrypt information.

Symmetric algorithm: Symmetric algorithms are often called secret key encryption. This uses one key to encrypt and decrypt data. Since this makes for an efficient encryption method, it can be used to encrypt large amounts of data. The bad side of this encryption is that it only uses one single encryption key, so you need to make sure that it remains in your possession at all times.

Asymmetric algorithm: Asymmetric algorithms are commonly used in public/private encryption, in which there are two keys involved. The public key–the one used to encrypt data–can be shared, whereas the other–the private key–is private, and used to decrypt the data later. Asymmetric is considered the more secure of the two options, since the private key that decrypts the data isn’t actually shared.

What Are These Keys Used For?
Encryption keys are used for a variety of objectives, but the ultimate goal is still the same: security of both the data and the encryption keys themselves. The strength of the encryption key depends on several variables, including the length of the symmetric keys and the algorithm used to create it. These keys usually have short shelf lives called a crypto-period, meaning that you should understand details about how the encryption key will be used before committing to it and expecting it to work for you indefinitely.

Data encryption keys: These keys prevent data from being read by anyone who isn’t authorized to view it. These keys are also held onto for a bit past their crypto-period.
Authentication keys: An authentication key is used to determine that the data encrypted has not been altered at all while it’s in transit. This is ideal for sending and receiving data so that authenticity is guaranteed.
Digital signature keys: Digital signature keys are similar to authentication keys, but they take it a step further by applying a digital signature to the user. This means that someone who digitally signs a document can’t actually deny that they’ve done so.
Root keys: The public key infrastructure is used for authentication and digital signatures, and the root key is the highest level of key in this infrastructure. Due to the importance of this key, it’s generally protected by a hardware security module.
Master keys: A master key can be used to encrypt multiple other keys. This means that they need to be extremely secure with a hardware security module, and they should last for a long time, if not forever.
Key encryption keys: These keys can transport other encryption keys. They should be long-lasting and unchanging.

Does your organization want to take full advantage of encryption? To get started, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Jul, 2018

Increased Network Complexity Necessitates Shifts in Monitoring Strategies

Businesses of all sizes have come to depend on their IT for productivity. IT administrators that constantly monitor their network and infrastructure reduce downtime, leading to higher resource availability. With the increasingly complex makeup of an organization’s network this becomes quite the task.

What Makes a Network Complex?
First we should mention that computers are complex machines and if you’ve ever tried to fix one without the specific knowledge it takes to do so, you more than likely ended up like everyone else who has tried, and called a professional. The traditional computing network was made up of centralized servers, end points in the form of workstations, and some networking equipment that allowed these machines to communicate with one another. Adding the availability of the Internet to that equation makes the network much more complex, mostly due to the breadth of the Internet as it exponentially increases your business’ exposure to threats.

Expanding that even further with the growing number of endpoints on a network due to the deployment of wireless networks that connect all the smartphones, laptops, and tablets to the network; and, all the other connected devices that are out there today… there is a lot of ground to cover. That’s not even considering virtualized data, cloud platforms, a website, and other higher-bandwidth applications such as video streaming or communications systems.

Network Monitoring Best Practices
Before we start listing ways you can monitor your network and infrastructure more effectively, we should mention that as trained professionals, we recommend entrusting your network monitoring to people who are versed with the makeup of your business’ network and infrastructure. Our managed IT services platform is a perfect complement to a large complex network filled with potential problems.

5 Monitoring Practices to Consider

Pay Attention – This goes without saying, but by keeping the health of your network at the top of your list of priorities and monitoring components in real-time, you can be more proactive in fixing issues before they become downtime-causing problems.
Find an Overreaching Solution – By integrating an end-to-end monitoring strategy, it gives you the power to coordinate efforts and present technicians with one version that they can act upon. Find a solution that handles both wireless and wired networks, virtual and physical environments, databases, and applications and supports all necessary protocols and languages to be able to monitor any device or program.
Optimize Bandwidth – Data flow bottlenecks can absolutely hinder your business’ ability to utilize all the tools effectively. Monitoring bandwidth levels can bring about favorable results.
Prepare to Scale – For the modern business, scalability is key. To ensure that the staff of your business has access to the productivity systems they require, being able to scale up or back–depending on the situation–is essential.
Ensure Your Solution Is Flexible– When you choose a monitoring platform, be sure to choose one that doesn’t have inflexible licensing models as you need it to be able to work across all types of devices and applications.

The IT professionals at NuTech Services are experts and monitoring and managing business networks. Call us today at 810.230.9455 to find out more about how we can help you run a more efficient business with technology.

Jul, 2018

How Technology is Transforming the Way Students Learn

To educate the leaders of tomorrow, using technology from the past isn’t going to cut it. While some schools are still using technology from the last century, others are moving forward. Today, we will take a look at classroom technology innovations, and how to get this exciting new technology in the hands of more students.

The Modern Classroom
Like the modern office, the modern classroom is beginning to run on technology; and as a result, it is changing the way teachers need to teach. Teaching strategies that have been the same for decades are being questioned and altered, making the children of today more-or-less guinea pigs in the new way of learning. They are well-equipped for this alteration, however, as they are the first generation of people that have lived in the age of social media and are likely well more advanced at using technology to solve problems than previous generations. So while there are some inherent problems with kids growing up in the age of social media, for education, the concept is a major win.

One strategy modern teachers are using nowadays is called flipped learning. This is where children are asked to watch online lectures, videos, and other materials at home, then do what used to be called homework during class. The classwork isn’t just people sitting quietly at their desks with their five-pound textbook open any longer, it’s now a chance for the children to work collaboratively to solve problems and hone practical skills that can be used throughout their lives. Best yet, flipped learning allows for a more analytical approach to teaching, whereas in the past kids that had trouble with certain concepts would work on problems they didn’t understand at home, away from educators, leading to frustration and higher degrees of failure.

For the school that isn’t ready to flip education completely on its head, there is blended learning, which is a strategic combination of using traditional face-to-face teaching with technology-based assignments to get more out of each lesson plan. So, while there are still in-class lectures, and individual assignments, integrating the use of technology to find answers, present homework, and introduce concepts can go a long way toward getting the children using technology and gaining the skills they are going to need as a member of the future workforce.

What Are Some of the New Technologies?
There are several technologies that are being developed to help students (and people in general) learn more about the world around them. Let’s start in the classroom. One technology that is starting to become common in the classroom is the smartboard. If you haven’t seen one, it is in essence a whiteboard that is hooked up to a computer and has multi-touch capabilities. This provides a more immersive educational experience than the old overhead or slide projector. One feature that a smartboard has is that it can be mirrored to any Internet-connected computer, giving students (or whomever is viewing this content) the chance to follow along when they are out of the classroom or on their personal device within the classroom itself.

Another great tool is the smart table. Smart tables are computer-based, and Wi-Fi connected touchscreen tables that typically have many multi-touch points, some have as many as 80 unique touch points at the same time. Since the technology is more accessible, the smart table is great for younger students that need more hands-on learning.

Another technology that the classroom of tomorrow will almost certainly feature is virtual and augmented reality glasses. These technologies are just in their infancy, but the more applications they begin to create, the more they will be found in schools. AR specifically is a technology that many students can benefit from. Since it is a digital overlay over real life objects, it makes instructional learning more immersive and provides a student practical instruction rather than providing conceptual instruction. It won’t be surprising to see apps developed for tablets and smartphones that will provide step-by-step instructions to students in a wide variety of disciplines.

Securing the Technology
The process of getting students and teachers more connected and modernized isn’t just about acquiring new hardware and software. It’s also critical that teachers and administrators are taught how to use the technology and how to use it safely. Without proper security measures, sensitive information could be at stake, and putting a student’s identity or privacy at risk has deep ramifications. It’s critical that schools consult IT experts who understand IT security before deploying technology that connects to the Internet or the network in general.

How to Get Kids the Technology They Need
One big problem facing a lot of public schools is that they simply don’t have the funding to get enough of the technology into classrooms to make a difference for the students. Most school boards won’t propose major tax increases in order to fund classroom innovation, and it’s unreasonable to expect that educators foot the bill for this technology. For situations like this, teachers have turned to crowdsourcing and social media. The most popular platform used by educators is DonorsChoose.org, which was started by a teacher and can be used by educators to raise funds for school supplies and technology.

Another form of funding can come from social media. Reddit does a gift exchange for teachers. There are people from all around the world looking to help kids get a better education by providing them technology. Another is Digital Wish, where teachers can purchase donated technology and software. The site allows donations that can go into their Digital Wish account to help them purchase the technology they need.

Of course, you can always go the traditional route: writing to your congressman/woman, but a lot of times you’d be better off turning to Adopt a Classroom, a foundation set up for teachers who, on average, spend nearly $600 a year on classroom supplies. Go to adoptaclassroom.org for more information.

The world has seen its technology change quickly and education is going to have to represent where we are in society. Do you know of any technologies that students use nowadays that we didn’t touch on? Leave your thoughts with us in the comments section below and return to our blog for more great technology-based content.

Jul, 2018

Tip of the Week: Why You Shouldn’t Just Kill Power to Windows

There’s a big difference between turning off any other appliance, like a stereo or a television, and turning off a computer. A computer takes much more time to shut down than your average device, but why is this the case? Is there a way to speed up this process? This tip will explain these processes and provide some ideas for how you can make this process much faster.

Why Shutdown is So Slow
Let’s take a look at this process as a whole. As a computer is running, there are many components that are doing different jobs. When a computer (or any computing device, like a phone or game console) is shut down, it needs to follow a procedure to make sure data doesn’t get lost. A full shutdown will aim to minimize damage to internal components, empty the RAM, wipe the virtual memory on the hard drive, remove all cached data, close all open applications, and turn off the operating system.

If your computer shuts down without going through this entire process, it could cause file corruption or other damage to its contents that could create issues.

Steps to a Proper Shutdown
It’s important to remember that even though there are a lot of different stages to the shutdown process, but it should go pretty quickly.

The first step in this process is that any applications that are opened are checked to make sure that the data has been saved. If not, the process is interrupted to inform the user. The computer then initiates a sequence that shuts down all services and programs, and it has to confirm that they have indeed been closed before eliminating any unneeded program data. A log is made of anything strange happening during the process, so the user can consult it later. All users are logged out of the system and the computer shuts down on an operating system level. Once this happens, any updates are installed, and the machine is turned off completely.

Speed Up Your Shutdown (and Startup) Times
There are ways your business can improve shutdown speed, but they are somewhat complex and difficult to do on your own with limited IT experience. This is why we recommend working with a provider like NuTech Services to make the process easier and more efficient for your organization. We can help your organization make sure that the shutdown process is as streamlined as possible. The same goes for your computer boot times. If you or someone on your staff has a laptop that seems to take forever to ‘wake up,’ there are steps we can take to investigate why and resolve it.

We recommend that your computers get restarted regularly (based on their performance) so as to help the computer keep itself in top working order. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Jul, 2018

A Better Way to Be Rid of Old Cables

Are you drowning in old computer cables? Do they sit in a drawer and take up space? Chances are that you’ll have quite a lot of old cables that are sitting around collecting dust due to your organization picking up new devices that come with even more new cables. Sure, you might think you still need that old 25-pin serial cable for that legacy scanner from 1997, but it’s probably time to let go. While there is some merit to keeping old cables around just in case, the proper alternative to throwing out unneeded cables is to recycle them.

Take an Inventory
First, you need to see what cables you have on-hand. This includes cables, wires, and adapters. Basically, keep an eye out for anything that might be of value to your organization. This doesn’t mean to hoard them–rather, keep an eye out for anything that could potentially be useful, but not obsolete in the near future. For example, smartphone chargers with USB Type-A and Type-C cables might come in handy for travel or to keep as spares for staff.

Recycle (Don’t Discard) Your Unwanted Cables
If there are any cables remaining, you should always, always recycle them rather than throwing them in the trash. Modern computer and video cables are typically made out of valuable materials, such as copper and gold. On their own, they might not be worth much, but if everyone recycled their old cables instead of throwing them out in the trash, it would have a pretty large impact.

You can reach out to NuTech Services for assistance with getting rid of your unneeded and unwanted hardware. This goes for more than just cables–if you have anything at all that you simply don’t need, we’ll take it off your hands. If you just want a place to drop off your unneeded hardware, just call 1-800-RECYCLING or visit the National Center for Electronics Recycling website.

For help with recycling your unused technology, give us a call at 810.230.9455.

Jul, 2018

5 Useful Cloud Apps for Small Businesses

The cloud is a great tool that lets businesses take advantage of goods and services in never before seen ways. How does your organization use the cloud? Developers are trying to leverage the cloud to best assist businesses just like yours with their day-to-day functions, all the while improving flexibility and access to important information. Here are five cloud-based applications that your organization can benefit from.

QuickBooks Online
Quickbooks is one of the major accounting and payroll services out there, and Intuit has developed the platform for use in the cloud environment. QuickBooks Online can help your business build out invoices, track sales and expenses, manage accounts, download bank transactions, and schedule your invoices. QuickBooks Online is also compatible with many different devices, and it works well with over 300 other cloud-based applications. This provides your business with a dynamic and affordable solution.

Evernote
Evernote, a note-taking application, is now accessible through the cloud. Following this migration, users have discovered that Evernote is more functional and quick than ever before. Evernote can even save, and archive information found online so that it can be accessed at any time. Evernote has also added encryption to keep stored information safe.

DocuSign
You sign countless documents year after year. If you could get rid of all the meetings and time spent traveling to locations just to sign specific documents, how would you use this extra time? DocuSign makes this dream a reality by providing an application designed for this express purpose. You can remotely sign documents for a myriad of purposes, cutting down the time spent in between getting to a meeting location and signing the actual document.

Slack
Slack is a great communications system that can integrate with other project management and productivity cloud apps. Slack includes many features designed specifically to help your projects finish as quickly as possible, all while including various features, like message boards and instant messaging, so that all users can be kept in the loop on progress.

Asana
Asana is a cloud-based project management software that can be used for collaboration between projects, allowing you to set parameters and milestones that can be worked toward. This gives your team a way to visually gauge how much progress they are making on a project, as well as provides them ways to meet their deadlines, share files, be more productive, and create opportunities for success.

What are some cloud apps that you use to get more work done throughout the day? Let us know in the comments.

Jul, 2018

Tip of the Week: Excel Features for the Power User

As useful as a spreadsheet can be to convey information, they can be a little drab and disengaging if the full capabilities of Microsoft Excel aren’t understood and leveraged. For today’s tip, we’ll go over a few little-known and underutilized features that can help you create spreadsheets with both more style, and more utility.

Visible Zeros
There is a fair chance that, at some point, you will need to input data into Excel that begins with zeroes, whether you’re documenting serial numbers or what have you. The trouble is, Excel has a habit of hiding these zeros, so 0056907 would display as 56907. This unfortunately renders the data inaccurate. However, an easy fix to this is to just add a quotation mark in front of the number. This prevents the zeros from being omitted, so instead of resulting in 56907, you would keep your original “0056907.

Adding a Drop-Down List
Adding a drop-down list to a spreadsheet is a simple, yet effective way to limit the input a particular cell will accept. The first thing you have to do is select the cell that needs to have drop-down capabilities, and then click Validate in the Data tab in the header menu. On the Settings page of the window that pops up, there will be a menu labelled Allow. From that menu, select List and highlight the cells that make up the options you want in your drop-down, and finally, click OK.

Accessing Tools on the Developer Tab
Depending on your needs, you may require some more advanced capabilities in your spreadsheet, like creating option buttons, creating macros, and other features. These can all be found in the Developer tab, which is hidden by default. In order to access it, you will first have to access the Excel menu at the top of your screen and select Preferences. Once you’re provided with the Preferences menu, select Ribbon & Toolbar. You will then see a list of the various options that you can add or remove from your Tabs. Selecting Developer will give you access to the tools that tab contains.

Shading Every Other Row
If spreadsheets have any faults, the eye can easily wander when one is looking at them. Adding shading to the formatting, more specifically, to break up individual rows can be very helpful to someone trying to read the information the spreadsheet has to share. To do this, you will need to highlight the area where you want to display the effect or use the Select All shortcut (Ctrl + A) to apply the effect to the entire sheet. In the Home tab, click into Conditional Formatting and select New Rule from the drop-down menu. You will then have a Style drop-down menu to select from, from which you should pick Classic, after which you should select Use a formula to determine which cells to format. Enter the formula =MOD(ROW(),2) and pick your desired color, and your spreadsheet should be striped quite nicely.

Do you know any other tricks to improve the use of Microsoft Excel? Share them in the comments!

Jul, 2018

The 3 F’s of a VoIP Solution

Communication is pivotal to the success of your business, but it’s hard when you have a telephone system that seems like it was built for an age long past. A modern telephone system that utilizes the cloud is the ideal way to approach collaboration in the workplace. You have some options for this, but the easiest to take advantage of is a cloud-hosted Voice over Internet Protocol solution.

Compared to the traditional telephone system, a VoIP phone solution provides substantially more freedom to go about your business as you see fit, as well as the flexibility to adjust needs on a whim and the functionality you expect from an enterprise-level modern phone system.

Freedom
If all you’ve ever known are corded desk phones with a limited reach, then you don’t know the heightened experience of putting on a wireless headset and taking your business on the road. Traditional telephone systems are limited in scope because you’re tied to your desk or within a certain radius of your handset. VoIP phone systems can be used on any connected device, be it a desktop, a laptop, or even a mobile device. Since it’s a cloud-based application, your business can make use of it wherever and however it pleases.

Flexibility
When you implement a traditional telephone system, chances are you have a specific setup in mind that caters to your current needs. Now imagine that your organization is growing at a staggering rate and you don’t have enough phones for everyone. Knocking down walls, running cables, and changing your physical infrastructure just to add a few phones to your network is an overly complicated and expensive process. A cloud-based VoIP system allows you to add new numbers and users when they are needed. As long as your network can sustain the bandwidth (have the IT professionals at NuTech Services consult your Internet service provider for more information on this), you can add as many users as you need.

Functionality
A traditional telephone system is subject to the whims of phone providers. This in itself isn’t inherently bad, but the fact that so many of them bundle together unnecessary services makes for a frustrating and expensive system. For example, your business certainly doesn’t need 300 channels of cable television in addition to its phone system. Instead of bundling unnecessary services together, a VoIP solution offers you the opportunity to customize the solution to fit your specific needs. This includes additional options like instant messaging and video chat, in addition to all of the tried and true basics like conference calling and voicemail. Basically, you only pay for what you actually want and need, not what the provider thinks you want and need.

Could your organization use hosted VoIP? NuTech Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Jul, 2018

How a Data Backup Can Be Used, No Disaster Necessary

Data backup may not directly help you boost your productivity, but it is a core component of any responsible business’ continuity plan. Each year, thousands of businesses that don’t take threats into account are forced to close their doors because they didn’t have a contingency plan in place. For every business that plans for the worst there are two that don’t, either because they see the strategy as too cost prohibitive, or because they just don’t understand the amount of threats that could put their business in the position where they would need to close.

There are several aspects of a backup and recovery strategy that business owners (who do see reason to implement one) have to square away. By breaking the strategy into three core parts, your organization can secure a positive ROI from a backup and recovery system that, with any luck, you’ll never have to use.

Data Backup
Deciding on a backup platform is obviously the first step in the process. There are several strategies a small business can use to cover its assets. They could use cloud storage, network attached storage facilities that use hard disk drives or tape backup drives, or even a manual system where people protect the data by backing it up to a hard drive and then take a copy with them when they leave. No matter what platform you choose to utilize, you have to understand that if you look at your data as an asset, it stands to reason that you would want to protect as much data as you can. At NuTech Services, we offer a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery service that utilizes network attached storage that pushes copies to the cloud in real-time. This not only provides the kind of data redundancy every organization needs, it allows our clients to thoroughly plan their data recovery strategies.

Before we go into recovery, we’d be remiss not to mention that some data simply isn’t important. Small businesses often have a lot of data they collect but don’t do anything with, so it just sits on their infrastructure taking up space. Some businesses look to data analytics to cut down on dark data, but for the small business that doesn’t have a backup strategy, it might just be putting the cart before the horse.

Data Recovery
If you are looking for a positive ROI, this is where it begins. A business needs to establish acceptable parameters for the recovery of their data. To do this, an organization is going to have to establish what are known as their recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO). Before we elaborate, we should say that if you are in a position where you need to restore a large portion of your data–whether it be because of malware, natural disaster, sabotage, or blatant negligence–you absolutely have to have these plans made (and tested).

The recovery point objective defines how much data your business could reasonably afford to lose in order to be able to sustain operational effectiveness. Recovery time objective is the maximum time you believe you can go without your data before your business fails. Each figure isn’t static throughout your business. Some of your data is more important than other data, of course, and has to be weighted this way. Therefore, some systems that hold more crucial data will have different RPOs and RTOs than less critical systems.

How the System Provides a Calculable ROI
This is where you can put it all together. How do you calculate the return on investment on systems that you hope you will never ever use?

Establish your organization’s hourly realized revenue. To do this you take the amount of revenue your organization has taken in over the past year and divide it by the total working hours you and your staff have logged for that time.
Figure out how much you would stand to lose both with and without a backup and recovery system in place.
Multiply the hourly realized revenue with both scenario-specific figures you’ve calculated in step 2 and take the difference. This number represents the total avoided loss, in dollars.
Finally, plug that figure into this formula to measure your backup system’s ROI:

ROI = (Avoided loss – Cost of backup and recovery system x 100%)

Without a disaster hitting your business, you may think that backup and recovery strategies are a waste of time and resources, but the ROI is clear.

If your business is looking for a backup and disaster recovery solution that can seriously save your business in the event of a disaster–something no ROI calculator will ever tell you–call the IT professionals at NuTech Services today at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2018

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As Augmented Reality Grows, More Applications Appear

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Aug, 2018

Why It’s Great that Managed Services are Managed

Aug, 2018

Know Your Tech: Encryption Key

Jul, 2018

Increased Network Complexity Necessitates Shifts in Monitoring Strategies

Jul, 2018

How Technology is Transforming the Way Students Learn

Jul, 2018

Tip of the Week: Why You Shouldn’t Just Kill Power to Windows

Jul, 2018

A Better Way to Be Rid of Old Cables

Jul, 2018

Tip of the Week: Excel Features for the Power User

Jul, 2018

The 3 F’s of a VoIP Solution

Jul, 2018

How a Data Backup Can Be Used, No Disaster Necessary

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