Each day hundreds of thousands of people join the global Internet for the first time, with the proliferation of low-cost computing devices and availability of fast/low-cost Internet, global connectively is growing daily even in the most remote so-called “third world” countries. This means that cybercriminals never rest they can be busy working when you are home sound asleep.

IT security fatigue is a very real threat facing many Irish SMB’s they may be aware of the threats but choose to ignore them or find the whole area confusing. This can be a very costly mistake. The bad guys are much more motivated and incentivized than the good guys. We make cybersecurity simple!

IT Security is critical to every Irish SMB’s operations, many businesses fail to realize that Data is the lifeblood of every business and organization in 2019. Most see it as an overhead cost that can be put on the long finger and not actually of critical benefit and importance to the long term survival of the Business.

Overlooking IT maintenance and security can have extreme long term personal and professional implications. What costs and penalties would you’re business or organization face in the event of a major breach?

If you would like to discuss our fully managed IT plans contact us today!

Web: https://www.techie2u.ie/

As 2018 comes to a close we wanted to help raise even more awareness about the current state of Cyber Security in Donegal. As you may know we have been successfully keeping our clients from all over Donegal Cyber aware and secure for over 10 years now. In those years the threats facing your average home or work computer user have changed and actually increased dramatically.

Back over a decade ago the main threat to your computer was from viruses, in many cases they would just be an inconvenience that would slow down your computer or interfere with your Internet connection. Since 2010 there are many new threats to your computer as Internet speeds increase, the price of computers drop and especially with the availability of super fast fiber broadband it is easier now than ever for a cyber criminal to quickly attack your computer with a Ransomware virus or other similar method. In those years, what we would consider to be third world countries have developed and many tens of millions of these people now have computers and cheap Internet access, this means that the threats will keep on increasing exponentially each year as the temptation to scam money abroad from wealthier countries is too much to resist.

Devastating Phone Scams:

Phone scams are also very common in every Donegal town, parish and village, especially from large Asian call centres where staff are underpaid and not monitored correctly, (or at all) many of them have turned rogue and spend all day every day calling homes and businesses in every corner of Donegal. They have realised that there are many elderly people living in this area that has endured greatly from mass immigration over the intervening years of the recession so it is a rich hunting ground for potential victims for these criminals.

These phone scammers directly target the 50+ age ranges as they are well aware many of them are not that Tech Savvy and come from a pre-Internet and computing technology generation. They are well trained by there (unfortunate) employers in Indian and Pakistan in both the sales and the psychology of how to get people on the other end of the phone to do exactly what they want, which is usually to hand over there credit card numbers, actually log them into there Internet Banking account and transfer bogus virus removal fees to their personal accounts in Asia via money transfer services. They also frequently try to get people to scan or hold up to the computers web-cam there drivers licence, passport and utility bills so they can screen shot them in an attempt to steal their identity and sell them online to other cyber criminals on the dark web.

Over the last decade the reports of these attacks have gone from an occasional frantic call every six months or so too literally calls on a weekly basis. In many cases these scammers are so convincing and skilled at manipulating people that the victims spend hours on the phone handing over all there personal and financial information. The reason this happens is that once the scammer gets the person on the phone carrying out complicated tasks and pressuring them to complete the tasks, the common sense part of the brain is switched off, family members have repeatedly told me that they could not believe what they were seeing when they walked in and found there father or mother or elderly neighbour handing over all there banking and credit card details over the phone or computer.

The reason this keeps happening and the reported incidents keep growing is that they are unfortunately succeeding. So if you can please take the time to make all family members aware of this scam and let them know that they can pretend to be from any well known Irish company such as AIB, Bank Of Ireland, Eir, Vodafone etc, or American companies such as Microsoft or Dell or even The The Irish Revenue promising a bogus tax refund. None of these companies in the main will contact you by phone without you first making contact with them.

If you have any concern or have been attacked by these scammers then please feel free to contact us on 086 375 6907 we understand the stress and hurt this attack can cause you and will keep all reports strictly confidential and help get you back on track.

What is a Managed Services Provider?

A managed services provider is a more structured way for Tech Support companies to provide a higher level of service at a predictable fixed cost to their clients and more effectively meet the challenges of Business Technical Support in 2018 and beyond.

Why choose an MSP to work with you?

By having an MSP yearly contract with a Tech Support company it helps you by reducing instances of technical difficulty within your company by allowing the Tech Support company to keep a closer eye on your security, computers, and backups. The company you partner with will have a much better understanding of your requirements as they will be visiting your premises with on-site visits a couple of times a year and have 27/7 access to your office computers via remote monitoring software, this frequently allows the Technician to know about technical problems even before your staff do. They can then quickly issue you with a support Ticket to remediate the issue saving your staff from not being able to carry out their daily tasks curing many problems before they occur.

Why MSP is superior to AD HOC Break-fix?

With a traditional pay-as-you-go/ad hoc break-fix Technical Support company you will have a greater chance of being affected by and having downtime in your company this can lead to lost productivity and issues with your own clients. A break-fix company’s primary goal is to respond to your issue after it has happened, this band-aid after the fact approach is not going to prevent it from happening in the first place.

An MSP will have a much greater understanding of your company network and computers what your operational requirements are as they will be continually servicing and using preventative maintenance on your systems. They will also not need to be continually educated on what your requirements and systems are every time you have an individual issue.

This allows for quicker diagnosing and repairing of emergency issues that could disrupt and affect your company. Your staff will also have a more familiar relationship with an MSP provider and they are obliged to give you a higher level of service and much faster response times. This will help to reduce staff stress and your own headaches as well as possible serious revenue loss.

Do break-fix companies really understand the importance of GDPR and Data Backups?

Keeping your company information private and safe has never been more important or potentially devastating if there is and instance of data loss or a security breach, studies have shown that 7/10 clients would no longer be prepared to work with or buy from a company that lost, or worse still leaked their confidential information. This confidential information is exactly what hackers now are going after, This can be even more damaging than a Ransomware Virus that can permanently lock up your company entire information.

There are now billions of people in the world, each year hundreds of millions of them in poorer third world countries that are now getting access to lower cost computers and faster Internet connections as prices reduce and the market matures. This means that in very real terms the real world threats to information security inside any company in Ireland in any Industry is increasing exponentially each year.

Is an MSP service agreement more expensive?

The answer to that is yes if you consider proper security and preventative maintenance as a cost, not a minimum security baseline, many companies in Donegal frequently do not have enough computers or network requirements to hire there own qualified in-house I.T. Support staff, they sometimes even rely on existing Admin staff that in some instances can oversell there own experience and ability’s, many of them are in no way qualified or even experienced to safely resolve issues without causing even more serious problems, as the saying goes..YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW!

Frequently the business owner does not see their I.T. systems as a money making part of their operation however that is not the case as most communications with clients and day to day operations are carried out on the company’s computers and network. If they go down so does the company, you are effectively paying for staff to sit around as most tasks now require Internet access this can become expensive if the issue is not resolved quickly enough.

This can seriously impact your business when it makes your company appear incompetent to the many clients that you depend on for revenue. Telling your clients that you have been hit with a Ransomware virus, have been hacked or have lost or leaked there information or that the computer is broken down can have a serious impact on the company both in the short-term and long-term through loss of client confidence, actual clients and even in some cases GDPR penalty’s and expensive legal ramifications.

Sometimes we all need advice and help to move forward, feel free to contact us if you require a no obligation free company I.T. review.

Contact us today to ask about our budget-friendly managed IT service plans that can save you time and money. We’re here to chat at 0863756907.

Many Donegal small businesses are too small in staff number’s to justify having a full time Tech Support department of there own. That is where we come in, we love helping small businesses and professional services meet and overcome all there Tech challenges. We provide same day Tech Support Services to a wide variety of Businesses with our onsite call-out or remote support service offerings. Chances are we already work with similar businesses to you in your Industry or profession.

We can quickly eliminate your stressful Computer, Network or Printing problems that are stopping you and your staff from doing what you and they do best, working efficiently, successfully running your business and keeping your own clients happy.

We believe we are competitive, offer greater value in saving you and your staff time and hassle, we are always striving to be the best we can possibly be by continuously improving and offering unbeatable customer service to all our clients. We are there for our clients when they need us most, we feel very much part of there Team!