Join DP Solutions & data protection experts Datto for a free lunch and learn to discover how to keep your business safe from malware attacks like Ransomware, Cryptolocker, Locky and more.
Date: Thursday, June 29
Time: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Location: DP Solutions (Columbia, MD)
Lunch will be provided
RSVP: www.dpsolutions.com/ransomwarelunch
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No matter how “bomb-proof” we make your network, you and your employees can still invite a hacker in if you click on a link or open an attachment in an e-mail sent by a cybercriminal. Some spam is obvious (can you say, “Viagra at a discount”?) but others are VERY cleverly designed to sneak past all the filters and trick the recipient into opening the door. Known as a “phishing” e-mail, this still is the #1 way hackers circumvent firewalls, filters and antivirus, so it’s critical that you and your employees know how to spot a threatening e-mail. Here are four types of e-mail ploys you should be on high alert for.
The Authority E-mail. The most common phishing e-mails are ones impersonating your bank, the IRS or some authority figure. The rule of thumb is this: ANY e-mail that comes in where 1) you don’t PERSONALLY know the sender, including e-mails from the IRS, Microsoft or your “bank,” and 2) asks you to “verify” your account should be deleted. Remember, ANY important notification will be sent via old-fashioned snail mail. If it’s important, they can call you.
The “Account Verification” E-mail. Any e-mail that asks you to verify your password, bank information or login credentials, OR to update your account information, should be ignored. No legitimate vendor sends e-mails asking for this; they will simply ask you upon logging in to update or verify your information if that’s necessary.
The Typo E-mail. Another big warning sign is typos. E-mails coming from overseas (which is where most of these attacks come from) are written by people who do not speak or write English well. Therefore, if there are obvious typos or grammar mistakes, delete it.
The Zip File, PDF Or Invoice Attachment. Unless you specifically KNOW the sender of an e-mail, never, ever open an attachment. That includes PDFs, zip files, music and video files and anything referencing an unpaid invoice or accounting file (many hackers use this to get people in accounting departments to open e-mails). Of course, ANY file can carry a virus, so better to delete it than be sorry.
Is Your Business Vulnerable to Attacks?
Contact us this month for a free Ransomware Risk Consultation and learn how to defend your business. Simply visit www.dpsolutions.com/ransomware-risk-consultation. Do it now... before a ransom demand -or worse - shows up in your inbox.
Keeper Security, a company specializing in secure password management, conducted a review of the 10 MILLION passwords that became public in 2016 from various hacker attacks. What they found was shocking. One of the most common passwords used was “123456” with the second being QWERTY, which are the top keys on a keyboard - and these were used by webmasters to “protect” the digital keys to your website’s kingdom!
Another very common mistake was that many passwords were six characters or shorter, which any brute-force password-cracking software can descramble in SECONDS. So while remembering all those passwords and changing them is a major pain in the butt, getting your website hacked or your bank account wiped out is even worse.
Our advice is to create a password that is at LEAST 12 characters, with uppercase and lowercase letters, and numbers and characters such as ! or #. Of course, if you need help in remembering and organizing your passwords, there are several very good password management software tools such as LastPass and RoboForm that can keep all the passwords secure AND make it easy to cut off an employee’s access to various passwords and sites simply if they are let go or they quit.
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Dr. Nido Qubein
How do great leaders inspire others to commit themselves to their goals? It’s not just that they have charismatic personalities, or that they give a lot of high-energy motivational talks. What they do is communicate their vision so effectively that other people adopt it as their own.
Inspiring people is what great leaders like John F. Kennedy did best. In the early ’60s, President Kennedy set his sights on putting a man on the moon and told the American people, “We can do it!” He said it with such conviction that people believed it and committed themselves to making it happen. And, sure enough, we made it to the moon. That’s the formula for any leader to inspire commitment: clear goals, a solid plan of action and a strong conviction.
Of course, leadership takes more than inspiration. One of the most insightful tips I learned about leading others is that people do things for their reasons, not for your reasons or for mine. So how can you move past the empty rhetoric and translate your vision into concrete actions your people can identify with and get excited about? Let me suggest five proven techniques for building a solid team:
Recognize outstanding performance.
Everyone likes to look good in the presence of their peers. When you find someone doing something right, make sure you give them public recognition. If they do really well, throw in a tangible benefit, bonus or gift. It will boost the whole team’s mood and productivity.
Constantly ask for input and ideas.
People are usually much more enthusiastic about supporting decisions and plans they helped create. So get ideas and input from any person whose job will be affected by any upcoming decision. When your team quits talking about the company, and starts talking about our company, you know you’ve got a team.
Give them proper coaching and training.
If you’re lucky, you’ll have one or two people who can plow into almost anything with little to no instruction from you. But most people need a lot of training, mentoring, coaching and guidance in the beginning. Without that, people can become frustrated quickly and lose interest in hitting a big goal.
Just be a nice person.
Make people feel valued and important by treating them with dignity and respect. If you have to correct someone’s mistake, do it privately, and counter it with a sincere compliment. Attacking someone and belittling them is never a useful way to get the most out of a team member.
Get rid of underperformers fast.
You’ve heard the phrase “Hire slow and fire fast.” This is a piece of advice we all need to keep in mind. Make sure you weed out the bad apples before they spoil your culture. That’s because keeping someone on the team who is not performing, is not trying and is clearly not doing their job sends a message that it’s okay – which is incredibly demotivating to high performers who are striving to hit big goals.
It takes a lot of patience and effort to build a solid team of people who will share and help you fulfill your vision, but the results will be well worth all you put into it.
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Have questions about ransomware?
Our Business Guide to Ransomware will answer those questions. Download your copy to learn about how malware is spread, the different types of ransomware proliferating today, and what you can do to avoid or recover from an attack.
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Xaverian Brothers is a consecrated lay Catholic order of Brothers, with Associates and Collaborators, who strive to fulfill the spiritual aspirations that their founder, Theodore James Ryken, had for his congregation. Through their ministry, in particular among the poor and the marginalized, they work to help others discover their own uniqueness so they, too, may, as it is written in their Fundamental Principles, “share the love of God with the world through their own giftedness.”
Xaverian Brothers place themselves in humble service to Jesus through their service to others. They aspire to realize their Founder’s vision of “a band of Brothers who mutually help, encourage, and edify one another, and who work together.” The order endeavors to integrate prayer and contemplation with growth in friendship within the community by means of honest and fraternal dialogue.
Xaverian Brothers is a long-standing client of DP Solutions operating under the Confidence Plus Managed Network Service plan, which provides proactive monitoring, maintenance and back up of their IT systems. Additionally, DP Solutions provides server and equipment upgrade installations to ensure that Xaverian Brothers are able to provide exceptional service to their community.
To learn more about Xaverian Brothers, visit www.xaverianbrothers.org.
DR. NIDO QUBEIN is president of High Point University, an undergraduate and graduate institution with 4,300 students from 40 countries. He has authored two dozen books and audio programs distributed worldwide. As a business leader, he is chairman of the Great Harvest Bread Company, with 220 stores in 43 states. He serves on the boards of several national organizations, including BB&T (a Fortune 500 company with $185 billion in assets), the La-Z-Boy Corporation (one of the largest and most recognized furniture brands worldwide) and Dots Stores (a chain of fashion boutiques with more than 400 locations across the country). As a professional speaker, Dr. Qubein has received many distinctions, including the Golden Gavel Medal, induction into the International Speaker Hall of Fame and as the founder of the NSA Foundation in Arizona. To learn more about Dr. Qubein, go to: