So, like millions of others, you’ve taken to making purchases and paying your bills online. The speed of delivery, the ease, and the convenience are truly remarkable considering where we were just a couple short decades ago. But, have you ever considered what exactly makes up the technology that protects your personal information--and your money--from theft while operating on the Internet? We’ll take a short look at the technology that is constantly working to protect your Internet transactions.

Uh oh. One of your employees sat down at their workstation and was presented with a pop-up telling them that Microsoft has detected a fatal issue with their workstation, and if they don’t let someone remote in to fix it, all of their data will be lost. This could be a serious problem… especially if your employee falls for this scam and lets in a threat.

Thanks to the advent of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity professionals have to reconsider how they approach these threats. Machine learning is one option, as it can help today’s modern solutions learn how to be more effective against advanced threats. On the other hand, what’s stopping the other side from also taking advantage of artificial intelligence? The answer: nothing, nothing at all.

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.

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.

The Internet of Things is constantly changing and evolving, but this also means that it might be growing a bit too fast for its own good. So many devices these days have connectivity that it’s difficult to keep your business secure from them. We’ll discuss whether or not the Internet of Things is outpacing the efforts of security organizations and businesses, as well as what you can do to make sure that your business doesn’t fall victim to it.

Managed service is a relatively new concept, but that doesn’t mean that the industry hasn’t grown rapidly. You can now get a managed service contract for your household appliances and one for your automobile. The truth is that not having access to a large cache of capital needed to make proactive investment used to be the bane of the small business. The service model has changed that completely. It has certainly revolutionized the IT deployment and support models. In fact, from hardware support to cloud computing, there are service options for most IT products. This month, we will take a long look at the Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), and the circumstances that need to happen to gain value from one.

Information technology, in many ways, is a necessary evil. Sure, modern businesses more or less require it to remain competitive, but it also opens up your business to a multitude of threats. Maintaining your security is made much easier with automated monitoring tools. Today, we’ll discuss how to use these tools to protect your business.

It only makes sense that you would want only the best security for your organization. It’s natural to want to eliminate risk entirely. However, this simply is not a realistic viewpoint to take where your security is concerned, and it can even contribute to greater security issues as a company holds out for the best solution.

These days everyone has a smartphone; and, they can do some pretty incredible things. One place that the average smartphone may seem to be a little loose is in the arena of data security. Today’s smartphones do, in fact, come with encryption by default, so there is some semblance of device security on every device. What does this mean? We’ll break it down.

The more people use technology, the more they have to deal with the negative aspects of doing so. One of the most prevalent problems users experience today is cybercrime that leads to identity theft. What can you do to prevent this from happening to you?

The do-it-yourselfers of the world have enjoyed the autonomy that the Internet brings into their lives. They can now look up how-to guides and YouTube videos on how to do just about anything. However, the Internet has also given hackers and other cybercriminals access to all sorts of technology that makes using malware and other threats easier than ever before--even for inexperienced users.

One of the crazy things about hackers is that they will do whatever it takes to ensure that they steal as much information and sensitive data as possible. One of the more innovative ways that hackers spread threats is through spam. Unwanted messages have grown from simple annoyances, to the spread of unwanted software and malware, all the way to sophisticated attacks on targeted individuals known as phishing attacks. Do you have ways to secure your business?

The IRS has issued a warning to tax professionals to step up their cyber security to prevent sensitive taxpayer information from being stolen. CPA firms, large and small, are being targeted by hackers and identity thieves, especially during the high traffic tax season.

Have you ever felt like someone was watching you while you’re doing your work from somewhere outside of your business’ infrastructure? If you’re working from a remote location, this situation might not be far from the truth. If you’re not using a private connection, onlookers could see everything that you’re doing or steal data. How can you keep your business secure while working out of the office?

Would you just give your bank account information to anyone who called you up and asked for it? Probably not. For the same reason, you wouldn’t just download attachments from your email messages without a second thought. This can be a dangerous practice, as some of the most common threats nowadays spread themselves via unwanted email attachments. It’s important that you can identify when it’s the right time to download an attachment, and when it’s best to just leave it be without exposing your business to unnecessary risk.

With data security becoming paramount for almost everyone, encryption is one of the more important technology terms you will need to know. Since data security has to be a priority--not just for your business--but for you, understanding what encryption is, and how its used can put you in a better position to understand tomorrow’s security solutions. For this week’s tip, we will take you inside cryptography, and more specifically, data and network encryption.

A new exploit is making the rounds in the security environment, and this time, it affects virtual private networks. According to Cisco, the flaw affects its Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) tool, and it should be patched as quickly as possible. If you don’t do so, your organization could be subject to remote code exploitation as a result of this vulnerability.

Do you know who manages and maintains your business’ technology? In most cases, it will be either a small in-house IT department or technical individual, but often times small businesses simply don’t have the assets to throw around on this. More importantly, they often ignore technology maintenance, either because they can’t afford it, or there’s nobody to do the work.

The Internet of Things has become one of the central parts of connectivity in a tech-centric world. Despite the incredible convenience that these devices offer to users, they come with considerable security risks that absolutely need to be kept in mind. We’re going to discuss some of the ways you can keep the IoT from being a security hazard while optimizing how much you get out of it.