Managed IT Services based in Keswick Georgina Ontario, Canada
What is Managed IT Services?
Managed IT is basically monthly preventive computer maintenance. Although some tasks are done daily, some weekly and alerts are received within a matter of minutes to your IT provider who is managing and monitoring your IT.
Are you running a business that needs reliable computers and don’t have an in-house I.T. department? We’re sure you recognize the fact that your computers are actually tools you use in your business and that you need to have up to date properly tuned tools to do your job effectively. We can help with monthly preventive computer maintenance.
Why should I care about computer maintenance?
- Security: Growing concern of hackers and cyber security. Virus protection isn’t enough anymore.
- Stability: Have you checked the health of your hard drive lately? Do you recognize signs of potential problems?
- Performance: Do you know if your computer is performing as best as it can? You’ve gotten used to your computer as it gradually degrades over time. Time is money and if your computer isn’t performing well, you are not performing well.
Hackers are constantly looking for vulnerabilities in software you are running so they can exploit those vulnerabilities. Once they get in, they can attack the rest of your network. Here are two websites for resources which you can type in what software you use and see what vulnerabilities it has.
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list http://cve.mitre.org/cve/search_cve_list.html
Vulnerability and Exploit database https://www.rapid7.com/db/
The EC Counsel has developed a course for technicians to become Certified Ethical Hackers (CEH) as a result of all this hacking. CEH’s or Penetration Testers find vulnerabilities so you can patch them. Usually only large financial organizations can afford this, but we can maintain your network without running any penetration tests first.
Why hackers hack?
- To steal information from you. Maybe a totally random hit.
- To turn your computer into a robot or zombie so they can use your computer in their attacks. DDOS attacks specifically like you’ve likely heard in the news. It’s usually completely random hits, compromising as many computers as they can as fast as they can. You are not the target of attack, they are recruiting you to attack others, and you don’t have a say in the mater.
- Hacker on a mission: Like the Anonymous hackers group going after terrorist groups and other groups, you do not want to be a target of hackers. They will never stop until you are out of business and stay out of business.
Keeping your computers maintained can lower risks of the first two points, but if you are dealing with the third point; it doesn’t matter how much time and money you invest, they will not stop. You can only keep on top of the never ending battle of patching, securing and adding new tools and firewalls to protect you better.
If you rely on technology to keep your business running, you need to at least ensure a series of basic maintenance is done to keep your computers secure from virus and hackers, stable and reliable so it’s not crashing when you need it most, and keep the performance optimal so you’re not losing productivity. We do all this for you without bogging down your computer with a bunch of “crapware” which many people do and they blindly assume it’s working as it should. We also do this remotely and after outside of your normal business hours whenever possible.
What’s involved in maintenance?
First off, here’s a great video by Bright Side that gives you 12 signs your computer is hacked and what you can do to help prevent it. We do a lot more than just hacker prevention with monthly maintenance including security, stability and performance.
We check several things including but not limited to:
- Checking unusual CPU and RAM usage
- Checking unusually high temperatures
- Ensuring virus protection is working
- Ensure updates are running for everything from the operating system to the various software packages you have installed.
- Make suggestions for software that has expired support. Although still runs it is a vulnerability that can be exploited by a hacker.
- Hard drive running out of space affects performance
- Hard drive health can be detected in advance if needs to be replaced
- Missing drivers could be signs of problems if not already creating a problem you didn’t have time to report because it’s a low priority.
- Ensure Firewall is working
- Ensure system restore points in place and working incase you ever need to use it.
- Ensure backups are being done.
- Ensure disk defrag schedule still running
- Test internet speeds
- Test hard drive speeds
The scary truth about Public Wifi (Video by CNN Money)
The major problem is once you’ve been hacked, if by a professional, it is virtually impossible to detect by the average person; and if you think for a second your anti-virus will detect anything, think again. It’s not a virus! It’s a hacker! The only way to know for sure your system is 100% clean is format the hard drive and reinstall everything. Prevention is key!
What’s next?
Ask us for a Security Assessment and information package.
Protect your business computers with preventative maintenance. Although you may have anti-virus software running on your computer and automated backups, they may not be running and you wouldn’t know there was an issue in some cases. However, there is allot more to maintenance than just virus protection.
Learn how our monthly preventive computer maintenance services and managed IT services can help protect your business. Call us at (855) 777-TWIN.