Your Portland & Vancouver IT Information Source

The year has barely gotten off to a start and we’re already dealing with a variety of security breaches such as those with Target and Shapchat. Now the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), a Syrian computer hacker conglomerate, is kicking off the New Year with a variety of cyber-attacks.

If you use photo-sharing application Snapchat, hackers likely captured your phone number and username. Millions of Snapchat users throughout the U.S. and Canada were exposed to a leak caused by a major security hole in the application. A database containing 4.6 million phone numbers and usernames was posted on: http://www.

Most businesses find themselves torn between two imperatives: the need to limit the amount of money spent on information technology, and the need to make sure their IT budget is sufficient enough to improve overall productivity and profitability. How do you know when you’re spending too much, or too little, on technology? How do you determine an appropriate spending level?

There are two important steps to take before you can develop a technology budget.

{company} New Year’s Resolutions

Not everyone honors their New Year’s Resolutions, but at {company} we do. Why?  Because we work at always improving our services.  We’re not perfect, but we try to be.  In an effort to improve our services in the year to come, these are the Resolutions we promise to keep for you.

According to ESET, an IT security company in Slovakia, a lack of cyber security and cyber-threat awareness amongst Gen-Y professionals within your company could be exposing you to data breaches and cyber-attacks!

Survey’s reveal that 38% of Gen-Y professionals between the ages of 18 and 30 years aren’t sure if their company has an IT security policy.

Server virtualization is becoming commonplace for businesses today. It partitions your physical server into smaller virtual machines (VMs) to maximize server resources. Virtualization allows you to virtualize your entire IT infrastructure or just specific aspects of it, and simplifies your overall IT infrastructure to promote efficiencies.

Update to a newer Windows operating system before it’s too late!

Microsoft has continuously warned us about the end of support for Windows XP on April 8th, 2014. Microsoft will no longer release security patches or updates for Windows XP making it non-compliant with HIPAA/HITECH. Unsupported systems are insecure and protected health information (PHI) shouldn’t reside on machines running XP. Plus, if you aren’t HIPAA compliant your at risk of not meeting meaningful use security requirements.

We found this very interesting video about privacy of personal information in the workplace or an employee using personal devices for work related functions.  Watch the video below.

Attorney Wendy Lazar of Outten and Golden, LLP in New York talks with the Employment Law Channel about the rights of both employers and employees when it comes to workplace communications using a company s computer, mobile device and the like.

Windows 7 has become the world’s most popular operating system, especially amongst businesses. Windows XP will reach its end-of-life date in April 2014 — after that point, security patches and updates will no longer be available. If you haven’t already, you need to upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8.

But which operating system should you choose? Here’s some help — Windows 8 was recently redesigned however it continues to fall behind Windows 7 in popularity.

Law firms use technology to maximize productivity and revenue. In fact, law practices are embracing mobile devices more than ever before.  Mobile phones help attorneys keep in touch with their clients and colleagues so they are accessible at all times.