Professional IT Services that Andromeda Provides for Saint Charles, IL Businesses:

Managed IT Services
Saint Charles,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
Saint Charles,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
Saint Charles,IL

Andromeda's team is completely staffed by local technicians near Saint Charles,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.

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. You can’t trick the system, you’ve got to travel the distance from point A to point B to get where you want to go – or at least that’s what we’ve all been told by physics and geometry.

In most cases, this concept also applies to our workdays and careers. The grind is long, the work keeps coming, the tasks continue to pile up but at the end of the day, you are consistently working on taking the necessary steps towards point B – whatever that may be for you and your business.

But what if there were tools available to you that might give you and your team an edge. Wouldn’t you want to take advantage of strategies and applications that improved productivity, helped you get more done and saved you time?

Did you know that Microsoft Office builds their tools with time saving, productivity boosting, organization strategies in mind?

Let’s take a look at some of these tools to help you get more done during your 9-5.

5 Productivity Hacks for Office 365

1. The Tell Me Function

Ever wonder how to do something in Word or forget where to find a specific function in a Microsoft Office program? The Tell Me function is located in the main navigation bar and can perform many useful functions for you. This function speeds things up and prevents you from having to Google how to do things like create columns in Word, pull up your recent commands, resend messages in Microsoft Outlook and more.

As mentioned, the Tell Me function is located in your main navigation – to the right of the ‘View’ section. You can see a faint blue lightbulb with the phrase “Tell me what you want to do…” next to it. You can also use the key combination alt + q to pull it up if you want to be even more productive!

For more information on this function and its’ use – check out this quick video

2. Real Time Collaboration

Have you ever tried to open a document at work when a popup informs you that you have to open a ‘read only’ copy because another user is currently in the file?

This can be a pain when you are trying to get work done at the same time as one of your teammates. It can also be frustrating if you have a teammate that regularly forgets to close files when they are done working with them (we’ve all done that right?).

With Office 365 you can take advantage of live collaboration. This means that multiple members of your team can be in a document, editing and making changes at the same time. For instance, if you have an upcoming presentation, your marketing staff can be editing content while your sale staff adds their spin.

Additionally, Microsoft has built other tools such as Microsoft Teams to help departments and teams in your organization collaborate via conversation and shared documents. You can also take collaboration outside of your office to work with vendors, clients and business partners via Inter-Tenant Collaboration which allows you to set up shared calendars, documentation spaces, IMs and more.

For more on how Office 365 can enhance collaboration in the office look here.

3. Microsoft To-Do

Do you have a list of tasks and to-do’s that never seems to end? Or maybe you just have a hard time organizing all of your tasks in one place?

With Microsoft To-Do you have an intelligent, cloud based task management system that is with you no matter where you are and accessibly on a variety of devices. The application is mobile friendly and synchs directly with Outlook.

To-Do allows you to take your larger list of tasks and review them daily to add them to your ‘My Day’ feature. By doing this you are able to locate which of your tasks have priority and knock them out one by one.

Where To-Do really shines is it’s security and compliance features. Microsoft has done a great job with the Outlook integration to make sure that your To-Do list is secure and compliant across the board.

You can also segment your To-Do’s into “steps” meaning you can break down a larger task into the sub-steps required for completion. You can even share your tasks with peers, friends, family or coworkers thanks to a recent update.

4. Automate Key Workflows with Microsoft Flow

Many businesses turn to Sharepoint to securely store, access and manage company documentation, Microsoft Flow can actually help you create workflow automation with integrations to other software as well.

For instance, you can set systems up so that when a document is uploaded, an email is automatically sent to a staff member to review the document. This can be useful for things like Time Off requests but can be applied to larger, more demanding tasks like onboarding or off boarding clients/vendors. Microsoft Flow is also integrated into SharePoint so that you can start flows directly from lists and libraries making it a great productivity booster, time saver and addition to the Microsoft Office Suite.

5. Microsoft Sway

Microsoft Sway is a presentation tool that some believe may replace PowerPoint. It allows users to put together professional presentations quickly with a drag and drop function for photos, documents, text and more.

It should be mentioned though that you cannot create charts or graphs in Sway – it is more geared towards visual presentations. So if you need to share numbers, statistics or charts, probably best to stick with PowerPoint.

You don’t have to have Sway installed on a device to present your work which means it is widely accessible as well as easy to use and intuitive. Sharing your presentation with another is as simple as sharing a link.

Microsoft wants to help you get your job done and they build tools/functions to help you get more accomplished in the office and on the go. With new Office applications and Office 365 you open a variety of doors to your business with respect to collaboration and remote capabilities.

You don’t have to have Office 365 to get the productivity boosts described above. Many of these programs and tools are available in the traditional license model. You may lose out on some of the cloud functions, live collaboration capabilities and accessibility though.

To discuss what migrating to Office 365 would mean for your business, simply give us a call at the office (815) 836 – 0030 or send an email to Contact@WeNetwork.com. You can also feel free to reach us if you want to learn more about a specific application not included in your current Office 365 Subscription.

The post Get More Done with 5 Productivity Hacks for Office 365 appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

If you're among the masses of people using WhatsApp, for either Android or iOS, be advised that the Israeli hacking consortium known as the NSO Group may have installed spyware on the device you use WhatsApp on.

A massive security flaw identified as CVE-2019-3568 has been discovered and weaponized by the NSO Group.

This allows them to install spyware and steal a variety of data from impacted devices.� Worse, the group is installing their Pegasus spyware, which is among the most advanced on the planet. It's very good at hiding itself, deleting incoming calls, and other log information in order to remain hidden.

The good news is that Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, has patched the flaw with an update. As long as you're using the latest version, you're protected.� Unfortunately, not everyone keeps their apps up to date. Prior to the patch being released, all 1.5 billion of the app's users were considered vulnerable.

According to the official company statement:

"The issue affects WhatsApp for Android prior to v2.19.134, WhatsApp Business for Android prior to v2.19.44, WhatsApp for iOS prior to v2.19.51, WhatsApp Business for iOS prior to v2.19.51, WhatsApp for Windows Phone prior to v2.18.348, and WhatsApp for Tizen prior to 2.18.15."

Although millions of users have already updated their software, the sad reality is that for most people, keeping apps up to date generally ranks quite low on their list of priorities. That means there are still untold millions of users who are vulnerable.

If you use the app or if you know anyone who does, the best thing you can do is to update to the latest version right away and have your phone thoroughly scanned to be sure you don't have the Pegasus Spyware already embedded in your system.

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