TeamIT advanatage newsletter

 

SEPTEMBER 2013   IN THIS ISSUE   Click to jump to a section: Trends in the Marketplace Personally Speaking Keep Your Business Identity Safe Tech Tip   The Logical Advantage is a monthly newsletter published by TeamLogic IT   Call 650-336-7500 Email AWong@TeamLogicIT.com Web TeamLogicIT.com/MountainView CA Taking the Worry  out of your technologyTM Trends in the Marketplace Delete Data before Trashing Old PCs     As many as 150 million computers are trashed each year, often without having their hard drives erased. In his book Database Nation, Simson Garfinkel writes that drives purchased on eBay regularly contain sensitive or confidential data, such as credit card numbers data, pin numbers, financial spreadsheets, etc. Clicking delete, emptying the Recycle Bin, or even formatting the drive doesn't necessarily get rid of files; often, it's only the pathway to a file that's removed while the data itself is reserved for overwriting with new content. This is known as data remanence—the residual representation of data that remains even after attempts have been made to remove or erase it. Why does data remain? Many operating systems, file managers, and other software provide a facility where a file is not immediately deleted when the user requests that action. Instead, the file is moved to a holding area to allow the user to easily undo a mistake. Similarly, many software products automatically create backup copies of files that are being edited to allow the user to restore the original version or to recover from a possible crash. According to the U.S. Department of Defense standards, secure deletion requires three complete rewrites on the drive before it's considered clean. Unfortunately, some of the newer forensic data mining technologies can potentially retrieve material that's been treated to even higher levels of erasure. If the wrong people were to gain access to sensitive data that was assumed deleted, they could cause a lot of problems for that business.   Personally Speaking As summer winds down, we wanted to take the opportunity to thank our customers for trusting their IT well-being to us. We recognize that your business depends on our team. We do our very best to give you personal service, whether it is documenting the service work we did or following up on new issues.  We love working with our customers to get their technology infrastructure smoothed out and working efficiently.  Here's our September update: We now have a staff of 6 support specialists to better respond to your needs.  Joe joined us in September from Barracuda Networks. You probably have met our hardworking team: Ryan, Ben, Joey, Harish, and Joseph, who recently converted from intern to help desk. Our business is growing, thanks to our customers.  We have had 5 consecutive record months of revenue. We will continue to be responsive to your needs.  Please let us know how we're doing. It's a great time to look into video-conferencing or large screen PCs for your conference room.   We now have the newest 5-touch Mondopad optimized for touch screen use. Back to Top   Keep Your Business Identity Safe Identity theft can affect businesses as well as individuals. Identity theft is not just a consumer-affected crime. According to businessidtheft.org, business identity theft is not an information security breach, or the loss or theft of confidential consumer information that a business may possess. Rather, like its consumer crime counterpart, business identity theft involves the actual impersonation of the business itself. Business identify theft can occur through the theft or misuse of key business identifiers and credentials, manipulation or falsification of business filings and records, and other related criminal activities intended to derive illicit gain to the detriment of the victimized business; and, to defraud creditors and suppliers, financial institutions, the business' owners and officers, unsuspecting consumers, and even the government. Here are some key areas to pay attention to in your company to help prevent business identity information from being used by criminals: Business bank accounts Business information and identifiers (EIN/TIN numbers) State business registration information Business credit card, supplier and trade accounts Your business credit file Your business computers and networks Know the risks in your company and train your employees Watch for fraudulent (large or unusual) orders Protect your business's online and public presence Be alert for suspicious activity. A variety of IT technologies can be implemented to ensure your business is protected. An IT service provider trained in IT security can assist you with keeping your computers, networks and data safe. Back to Top   Tech Tip With more and more demands on wireless networks due to the influx of mobile devices tethered to networks, the strength of wireless signals can vary greatly. Here are several ways to help boost wireless access and speeds across your office. 1.     Location. Make sure your access point is in a central location. 2.     Materials matter. Keep the router away from metal objects 3.     Use the antenna. Find the position that works best for reaching users' devices. 4.     Avoid overload. Add more routers and access points if it gets to be too much. 5.     Update regularly. Make sure to keep your firmware up to date. 6.     Manufacturers matter. Ensuring the router and adapter are from the same manufacturer can make a difference. 7.     Test and test. Keep and record a log for how much your signal strength changes over time. Back to Top      TeamLogic IT, Mountain View, CA  94043 | P 650-336-7500 | F 650-332-3001 | TeamLogicIT.com/MountainViewCA This email was sent to you by TeamLogic IT. Click here to unsubscribe from our mailing list.

 

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