Your Portland & Vancouver IT Information Source

The University of California, Irvine Student Health Center has been the victim of a HIPAA breach.  Nearly 2,000 pieces of PHI (protected health information), including financial data, were stolen via a keylogger attack.  The keylogger collected this information for over a period of a month before being discovered.

SEO is one of the most popular topics when it comes to online marketing in the modern age. The online world is fast and ruthless. If you’re not willing to adapt then your business, whether it’s small or large, will be punished. Google algorithms have shaken-up the playing field and imposed two key updates: Panda, affecting low-quality content—and Penguin, affecting sites involved in link-building schemes.

EBay’s parent company E-commerce, is asking all their users to change their passwords after a cyber attack compromised their database. So far they haven’t reported any stolen financial data, but to be certain you aren’t affected, it’s best to change your password.

When looking for a victim, cyber criminals will go after small businesses that lack security controls. Hackers don’t want to go after the big companies that have layers of security in place — They want the easy targets. Unfortunately if you don’t have the proper security solutions in place, your small business is an easy target.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proven that they’re serious about HIPAA infractions.  They recently imposed the largest monetary fines for HIPAA noncompliance on two well-known New York City institutions — New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center.

Microsoft has officially stopped delivering technical assistance or software updates for Windows XP.

They warn us: "These include security updates that can help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal information.

Security software giant, Symantec, recently admitted that their antivirus software is no longer effective against today’s sophisticated cyber threats.  Antivirus software on your desktop is still required, but your business must have a complete network security protection plan deployed and monitored every minute of the day.

If yours is like most businesses today, you convey data via email messages. Just like other forms of information, if your email data fell into the wrong hands, it could be used against you and your clients.  This can be remedied with a comprehensive email encryption solution.

Email marketing is a reliable tool for small businesses to boost their bottom lines. In fact, the average return on investment is surprisingly high – about $40 for every dollar spent! If that’s not enough to convince you, consider the average Internet user who engages with 11.8 brands through email but only 9.4 brands through Facebook.

While the iPhone 5S is less than six months old, there’s been a lot of rumors about its replacement. And if previous versions are any indication, the replacement will be called the iPhone 6 – and it’s expected to be up to $100 more expensive than previous versions.