i-medIT Blog

Windows 10 might be the latest operating system from Microsoft, but despite its great new business-friendly features, many are still hesitant to upgrade. For those who don’t want Windows 10, there are reports of unwanted (and unexpected) Windows 10 updates. Now, here’s the big question: would you want your business’s software upgraded without your consent?

Hackers have proven to be a crafty and suspicious lot, and can take advantage of even the most benign technology to infiltrate networks. However, we don’t often associate them with objects in the physical world. Now, even something as simple as a decade-old communications device can be used to open the right garage doors.

Two things are true today: 1) having a good reputation is critical to the success of any organization, and 2) the Internet is a vast network where seemingly anything goes. How then can you make sure that what’s said online about your organization isn’t hurting your reputation? By taking some basic online reputation management actions, you can stay one step ahead of the virtual haters and keep your reputation intact.

Malware has traditionally targeted industries that are exceptionally profitable. For example, hackers like to target retailers for their wealth of financial credentials. One of the most profitable industries, entertainment, is also subject to similar torment, including Steam, the PC gamer’s most valuable tool for gaming binges.

Steam is a web-based distribution platform developed by Valve Corporation, which provides multiplayer gaming, among various other services, to gamers. In a way, it can be compared to cloud computing. With over 140 million active users, Steam is one of the most prominent online gaming retailers out there. In October 2013, it was estimated that 75 percent of all games purchased online were through Steam. If nothing else, Steam is a valid online computing outlet that hackers want to take advantage of.

Over time, gamers’ accounts can accrue a “value” of sorts, be it through a collection of purchased game titles, virtual items, or currency, all of which can potentially be stolen by hackers. These items might seem trivial, but they’re giving rise to a new type of hacker on the Steam scene; those who take advantage of Steam Stealer, a new type of malware that helps both experienced hackers and would-be chumps steal in-game items, currency, and other “valuable” assets from other users. This entrance to cybercrime could be seen as a slippery slope. If users find that they can steal in-game items and other valuables, they might one day decide to see if they can exploit other aspects of their rivals’ accounts, like their real-world wallets.

The most dangerous part of Steam Stealer is how easy and affordable it is to take advantage of. People who have no knowledge of malware can easily use Steam Stealer thanks to its included specializations, user manuals, APIs, and its price tag of $15. Other malware-as-a-service offerings are much more expensive and complicated to get involved with, while Steam Stealer makes it exceptionally easy to get a taste of the cyber crime scene. And once they get a taste of the proverbial slice of the Steam-pie, what’s stopping them from eating the whole thing?

In the end, these hackers won’t be satisfied until they hit the real goldmine: the wealth of financial information stored from purchasing games, and other products, through Steam’s online interface. Steam experiences its fair share of account takeovers (around 77 thousand accounts suffer from this every month), so it’s logical to assume that many hackers are after the lucrative information stored within these accounts.

As is to be expected, the best way to keep Steam safe from hackers is to practice a combination of two-factor authentication, and to remain vigilant for potential phishing scams. Changing passwords regularly also helps to keep your security in top order, and keeping a close eye on URLs can prevent potential account compromisation before it occurs.

Do these tips sound familiar? They are all, more or less, valuable tips to help you stay safe online, whether at work or at play. Just because Steam is a gaming platform doesn’t mean that there aren’t valuable lessons in cybersecurity that can be learned from it. Gamers see their precious inventories as valuable assets that cannot be replaced, much in the same way that a business owner must protect their organization’s network infrastructure and the data stored within.

If you’re concerned about the status of your data security, reach out to us at 630-549-6199. While we might not be able to help secure your Steam library, we can most certainly help with your business’s data security practices.

If someone asked you to throw your expensive smartphone high up into the air and risk dropping it, just for the fun of it, you would probably say no. However, for the hundreds of thousands of smartphone users who have downloaded an app designed to do just that, they may have fallen for one of the best (or dumbest) technology pranks of all time.

March 31st is World Backup Day! This occasion begs the question, “How much thought have you put into where your data is stored?” If you haven’t thought through your data storage options, then your files may be located in several different places. This could make accessing your data difficult, as well as jeopardize your network’s security. To get you started, let’s take a look at these four data storage options.

Computer monitors have been getting bigger and brighter for years; improving on picture quality, responsiveness, and energy efficiency. However, working in a dark room in front of a bright screen can lead to eye strain and even headaches. You can avoid these side effects by lowering the brightness on your screen. Furthermore, lowering your screen’s brightness can save you precious battery life on your laptop, so it’s worth keeping these tips in mind for that fact alone.

Is your business using the cloud in 2016? If not, you should know that it’s a great tool that’s designed to help your business better manage its data and application deployment. However, the cloud can be used for so much more, and it’s quickly becoming an indispensible tool for SMBs.

Have you ever been in a situation where you have to continuously hit the refresh button in your browser? Maybe you’re waiting for an online sale to go live, or you’re waiting on an online forum for a critical response. Or, maybe you’re just waiting for an important email. Either way, manually refreshing your browser multiple times can be both annoying and inefficient. We’ll show you how you can refresh it automatically.

Do you remember the good old days of Windows 95? The nostalgia factor might be one reason to bring this up again, but the fact remains that Windows has changed significantly over the past twenty years; so much so that teenagers who were born just twenty years ago, after the introduction of Windows 95, may have no clue what they’re looking at.

Consumer technology continues to grow more versatile and connected, allowing users to perform functions previously unheard of. One such piece of consumer tech is the latest in rolling security bots, the LG Rolling Bot. Basically, what you see is what you get; it’s a rolling security robot that can be controlled remotely through a smartphone.

Modern businesses are reliant on certain parts of their infrastructure to keep operations functioning. For example, if your building’s electricity were to go down, what would you do? What about if you lost Internet access? Would your business be able to keep your employees busy, or would the downtime experienced be enough to cause panic?

With approximately 5.5 million new devices being connected to the Internet everyday, the Internet of Things presents the biggest security challenge to date for IT professionals. Essentially, an IoT device that’s not secured can easily fall prey to hackers, and with so many different devices being connected, it’s easy to overlook a device or two, like your security cameras.

The Internet is a fascinating and wonderful place full of great, informative resources and websites, but it’s also home to online markets for illegal and unethical practices. These hotbeds of criminal activity are a danger not only to your business, but to everyone who uses the Internet.

Your business takes advantage of several different types of technology every day, but there comes a time when your tech needs to either be upgraded or replaced with better tools. This is part of the natural order of things; no technology solution can (or should) last forever, but if you don’t catch issues before they become major problems, you could be putting your data at the risk of hardware failure, software hiccups, or even hacking attacks.

Modern ransomware is exceptionally dangerous, even by malware standards. Ransomware is capable of locking down important files on a victim’s computer, displaying a massive threat to both business professionals and their networks, as well as the average PC user. While other types of ransomware like CryptoLocker and CryptoWall are somewhat manageable, a new variant called CryptoJoker makes it borderline impossible to recover your files.

Artificial intelligence might be quite a ways off, but despite this, the push continues to make driverless cars a regular occurrence on the roads. Just look at how Google has its driverless cars rolling across testing grounds in Mountain View, California, and if they have their way, we might see a lot more of these vehicles hitting the roads in the near future.

Laptop touchpads can be rather fickle. You may have experienced the frustrating situation where you’re using the laptop and then an unexpected glitch causes the mouse to jump across the screen. This error can actually cause data loss if it happens at the worst possible time, but it’s also just plain unproductive. Here are five troubleshooting tips to keep your touchpad in good working order and prevent this all-too-common issue from happening.

2015 saw a significant increase in high-profile hacking attacks in organizations of all disciplines: healthcare, government, and even large entertainment companies all fell victim to data breaches. In light of these attacks, valuable lessons can be learned through analyzing the types of records that were stolen. In 2015, over half of all records exposed to hackers were passwords and email addresses.

It’s clear that your IT department should have administrator privileges with your business’s technology, but the average employee is another story altogether. Administrator privileges provide users with the ability to do many things, such as install programs and access admin settings. Administrator privileges are exactly what you want to keep users away from, and it turns out that the majority of flaws in the Windows operating system depend on these privileges.