Professional IT Services that Andromeda Provides for Elk Grove Village, IL Businesses:

Managed IT Services
Elk Grove Village,IL

Andromeda offers a range of IT support plans—anything from month-to-month "time & materials"-based assistance to fixed IT service contracts that permit "no-brainer" conformance to an annual budget. Beyond the functions you would expect from a full-service MSP, you'll have a dedicated C‑CATs team that includes an Account Coordinator directing the same field and remote technicians day-to-day, month-to-month, and even year-to-year to manage your IT network needs.
This isn't simply a glorified Virtual CIO offering. Imagine the cost of hiring your own CIO AND tech team for this same level of customized service and knowledge of your particular (and evolving) network setup!

Cloud Services & Migrations

Typically, the biggest issue you'll face when initiating Cloud IT services is not the services themselves, but rather the proper migration of your existing IT services to the Cloud without loss of functionality, downtime, and scores of other details that could undermine the whole process. Andromeda has a long history of expertise in physical on-premises systems. Don't make the mistake of turning all your current systems over to a "Cloud expert"; we'll save you from a lot of heartache and pain with a virtually seamless Cloud migration from your current setup— whatever it is.

Data Backup & Recovery
Elk Grove Village,IL

It's a crazy world. Literally thousands of people you don't even know attempt to break or steal from systems like yours every day. Good 24/7 monitoring is a first line of defense, of course. But no matter how great and state-of-the-art your defenses are, you'll almost certainly succomb to a successful attack in time. That's why advanced data backup and data recovery need to be tools that you and your IT partner have at the ready from Day 1. Don't be tempted to "shortcut" this element of your network in the name of expediency or to save a few dollars. Ultimately, you'll lose out on both counts with that thinking. You need a complete and integrated solution that addresses every contingency as well as IT professionals who know how to make that happen.

Cyber Security

Not only do we provide multi-tier approaches to your network security, but Andromeda also provides built-for-you solutions for disaster recovery and business continuity devices. We provide, manage and monitor a variety of devices including physical hardware, Cloud-based and hybrid options. Our team actively monitors over 403 servers and 101 physical backup devices in the field. All with 100% local engineers and technicians.

Onsite/Remote Support
Elk Grove Village,IL

Andromeda's team is completely staffed by local technicians near Elk Grove Village,IL. No matter the hour, your issue is resolved quickly and professionally. In fact, 68% of incoming calls are connected to a live technician for immediate response. When a technician isn't available, our average response time is less than 30 minutes. And if that isn't impressive enough, emergency after-hours support response times average less than 10 minutes!

IT Network Management

IT networks are our bread-and-butter. We have provided these services to clients since 1994. Some have continued to rely on us for their evolving network needs since the very beginning. We stand behind our work day to day and year to year because we foster relationships with our client-partners that absolutely demand that of us. It's in our DNA and how we prefer to do business.

AndroPedia Tech Library

As part of our service, it is important to keep our client-partners well informed on IT developments, news, and best practices. Here is just a sampling of typical items from our AndroPedia^SM library archive:

We’ve spent some time over the last two months dedicating our articles to the Dark Web. Specifically, what it is and how your information is stolen and sold on the elusive Dark Web.

Part 1 – What Is The Dark Web & Why It Matters To You

Part 2 – 5 Ways Your Information Gets On The Dark Web

In this final article in our three part series, we thought it would be valuable to introduce our readers to some of the popular strategies and tools used both professionally and personally to reduce risk and protect you from losses related to data theft and the Dark Web.

One of the things we make sure to talk about with our clients in regard to cyber security and the Dark Web is that no matter how secure you make yourself and your business, these criminals are always going to come up with something new. It’s what they do.

With that in mind, there are still things you can do and one tool that you should put in place as your failsafe against all cybercrime and data theft.

How To Protect Yourself From The Dark Web

Identity Theft Protection

You invest time and money into data security at the office, but what do you do to make sure that your personal data is secure?

Personal data is very valuable to hackers and criminals. They can use it to steal your identity, open up lines of credit, purchase goods and more.

This isn’t a new story . . .

According to the Department of Justice, the average identity theft victim incurs over $1300 in personal damages. Not to mention reputational damage, time, stress and credit damages.

Because of how big of an issue personal identity theft is, there are services available that monitor your personal information for suspicious activity.

Services like LifeLock, IDWatchdog or IdentityForce are available to you among many others.

These services provide monitoring tools and alerts so when a criminal gets ahold of your info and attempts to use it, you are alerted and can cut them off before the damage is done. Some of them also provide insurance as well.

Andromeda doesn’t provide consumer solutions for identity theft protection but these services are a great asset to you for your personal protections.

Password Management Service

Password management is a necessity when it comes to keeping track of and maintaining strong passwords.

As you probably know, you want to have a unique password for every account you login to. So that means you should have a different password for Facebook, your personal email, your professional email, your primary bank account, any other bank accounts, Netflix . . . you get the idea.

On top of making sure your passwords are different, you should also make sure that they are STRONG.

• No Personal/Guessable Phrases
• Both Upper and Lower cases
• At least 8 Characters
• Include numbers
• Include other characters – !@#$%&

Do you think that you’d be able to keep track of all of your passwords if each one were unique? Do you think that you’d be able to keep track of them AND change them every 90 days (at a minimum)?

If you answered no, you aren’t alone.

That is why so many people use the same passwords across many accounts.

But that is also how a hacker can get access to your Facebook or Gmail password and then log in to your bank account.

To avoid this, get your hands on a professional password management solution.

There are a lot of options out there and they offer different features. Some are free and some are subscription based.

If you want a great comparison of the leading options, check out this side by side comparison from PCMag here.

Add Cyber Security Tools to Your Data Security Arsenal

The previous two tools are great for protecting you both personally and professionally but Andromeda specializes in protecting and service your business so of course, we need to pay attention to professional tools too.

In respect to cyber security and your business, there are many different tools you need in place. Things like a professional firewall solution, spam filtering and professional anti-virus software (NOT Freeware) are the basics. Nonetheless, there are added layers of security you should request from your IT Service Provider.

Some of these might include:

• Professional Disaster Recovery/Data Backup & Recovery Solutions
• Dual Authentication Software
• Patch and Update Management (we recommend weekly updates)
• Employee Cyber Security Training

These are just a few things you can have a professional technology partner handle for your business. Once you have these in place, you’ll be more secure and hopefully you’ll sleep a little better knowing you are proactively fighting off the criminals who want to ruin your day, interrupt (or even destroy) your business and steal your data.

Dark Web Monitoring Services

The Dark Web is an area of the web most people can’t or don’t regularly access. As discussed in previous articles, the Dark Web is an area where cyber criminals go to sell and purchase digital credentials (email addresses, passwords, personal information).

You won’t know a criminal has access to this data or whether they are using it against you until it is too late.

Unfortunately, with all of the different ways hackers and criminals can steal your data (Read our previous article for more on that – here), it is pretty much impossible to guarantee your data will NEVER be breached.

You should invest in password management, superior cyber security tools and identity theft monitoring. All of those services and tools will build up a strong defense system. However, you want to make sure that you are also proactively defending yourself from the attacks and strategies of tomorrow. You want to make sure you are defending yourself from the threats that haven’t hit the market just yet.

A tool that can help you defend yourself in this way is a Dark Web Monitoring Service.

In a nutshell, this tool scans the Dark Web for your businesses domain.

When an email address with your domain is found, an alert is sent out to your technology partner and appropriate actions are taken.

Password information changes before a criminal can get into your network and compromise data.

Andromeda Technology Solutions provides Dark Web Monitoring services to clients. We would love to discuss how we can help secure your info before compromise turns into catastrophe.

If you’re interested in taking a look at your current cyber security solutions and figuring out whether you are truly protected, give us a call or send us an email at Contact@WeNetwork.com. Mention this article when you contact our team and you’ll receive special pricing.

Interested in reading more? Check out:

 Part 1        Part 2

The post HOW YOU CAN PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LOSSES RELATED TO DATA THEFT & THE DARK WEB appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

With the average American adult maintaining over 130 different accounts online, the risk of a data breach or data being stolen continues to grow. Between social media, financials, productivity applications, email, business applications, online shopping and countless other accounts online, your “online life” becomes more and more a part of your day to day physical life as time passes.

As more of our lives and data are shared online, criminals are focused on breaking into these databases to steal the valuable info they hold:

• Personal Info such as name, address, dates of birth, social security numbers etc.
• Financial information such as bank info, credit cards etc.
• Social Information on social media accounts

This is a real problem facing consumers globally but the impacts span beyond individual damages and stolen identities (though, those damages are bad enough).

When a criminal steals your password, or the password of a coworker, chances are – they’ve gained access to many pieces of your “online life”.

Here’s an example to illustrate how a third party data breach can lead a criminal back to your business.

Your HR manager helps book travel for employees at the business. He set up a business account at a national hotel chain to book rooms for whatever the business travel needs are. The hotel chain’s database suffers a breach and cybercriminals steal thousands of email/password combos including your HR manager’s credentials.

Your HR manager used the same password he uses for all kinds of sites online when he created the login at the hotel company site. This means that the criminals who have this breached data, now have access to your payroll software, servers and all the other things your HR manager interacts with.

The criminals either use this data themselves or take it to the Dark Web to sell for a few dollars (password/email combinations go for $3-$5 on average on the Dark Web).

Breaches like these happen daily and criminals use the information they steal to do as much damage as they can.

This creates a unique problem for business owners and managers because what can you possibly do to protect yourself from a data breach happening at a hotel chain or some other account online?

Things get even trickier when the average span of time between a data breach and disclosure to the public reaches 15 months. Meaning, criminals have a 15-month head start to get to your business and do damage before your are notified on the 5 o’clock news or your social media feed.

So, how can you defend against this kind of thing?

First, implement a password policy at your business:

1. Strong Passwords Required
2. Change Passwords Regularly (90 days minimum)
3. Dual Authentication
4. Lockout Procedures

Second, roll out a password management tool across your organization.

As mentioned earlier, the average adult in America manages over 130 accounts online. It is no wonder that we have a hard time creating strong and unique passwords for each of those accounts. It would be nearly impossible to remember all of that without writing things down – which isn’t secure.

To bridge the gap between security and memory, implement a password management tool. Look for something that is encrypted, secure and be sure to consider mobile capabilities. We recommend LastPass as a great option to start.

Third, invest in Dark Web Monitoring

Dark Web Monitoring is still a newer service offered to businesses and professionals. This is a monitoring solution designed to scrub different areas of the Dark Web (chatrooms, discussion boards etc.) for data connected to your domain.

If we apply Dark Web Monitoring to the example above with the HR Manager for instance – when the criminals stole data from the hotel chain and went to sell/share it on the Dark Web, the monitoring tool would identify your IT company to have the HR manager change passwords. That way, the criminals have useless data and you are protected well before you learn about the breach 15 months later.

The post How A Third-Party Data Breach Impacts Cybersecurity At Your Business appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

Big changes are in the works for Apple's venerable MacOS, as the company prepares for a future where the desktop OS shares increasing amounts in common with both iOS and iPadOS. A recent preview of the latest desktop OS reveals an interface that has been completely overhauled, along with redesigned app icons and a number of long overdue changes and improvements to the desktop Messages app.

The latest update, dubbed Big Sur, is the first version of MacOS to support the company's new Arm-based silicon processors. It is being described by Apple's management team as the biggest update and overhaul in more than a decade.

Among other things, we'll see the introduction of a floating dock, icons that share a uniform shape, and a revamped Control Center that can be accessed from the desktop itself. It can be accessed in a manner similar to the way it is accessed from inside iOS.

In addition to that, the MacOS Notification Center was badly outdated and beginning to show its age. It's slated for a number of updates that will give it a similar look and feel to the iOS/iPadOS versions. The changes will allow users to pin conversations, and see search results organized into links, photos and phrases.

On the messaging front, one of the many coming changes will be that users will be able to make use of @mentions and can opt to receive notifications only if they are specifically mentioned. The upgrade will also allow fast searches for trending GIFs and other images and include a Memoji editor and an extensive collection of Memoji stickers.

As of this moment, the Big Sur update is available as a developer beta, but if you want to get your hands on it, sometime next month, the company will be offering a public beta release on beta.apple.com. Check it out, the new changes should be interesting, and then some!

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