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Security technicians at Microsoft have compiled intelligence from a billion user systems worldwide in an effort to establish an important new metric called The Encounter Rate.

Electronic signature methods are becoming increasingly popular. While e-signing services vary from provider to provider, all services allow users to upload documents to an online service and apply special annotations where signatures are necessary. Then, the user sends this file to the recipient who signs the document and sends it back.

The HIPAA Security Rule was enacted in 1996, designed to establish national standards to protect individuals’ electronic personal health information (PHI) used and/or stored by a covered entity.

Many healthcare organizations have complex technology environments, thus making it difficult for healthcare providers and business associates to comply with the HIPAA Security Rule policies and procedures.

Do you share personal information via private Facebook messages? If so, it’s time to consider what you’ve written before you hit the send button. A complaint filed in California claims that:

“Facebook misleads users into believing they have a secure, private mechanism for communication, when in fact, Facebook mines user data, and profits from this data by sharing it with third parties.

Many organizations plan to continue running Windows XP after April 8th, 2014. If you’ve neglected to begin the migration process, it’s important to consider the security threats involved with running an unsupported and unpatched operating system. Most cybercriminals are hoarding Windows XP exploits until April, when Windows XP systems will become vulnerable to malware and hacking attacks.

Automated teller machines, commonly known as ATMs, are essentially computers. While they’re not traditional PCs, there’s a user interface, a screen, a processor, various hardware, and an operating system. Did you know most financial institutions are running Windows XP on their ATMs? This is a recipe for disaster when it comes to the end of support for Windows XP on April 8th, 2014.

Many banks, credit unions, and other ATM operators are scrambling to upgrade their systems to Windows 7 in order to maintain compliance with industry security standards, however, versions of Windows XP power roughly 95% of the world’s ATMs.

After April 8th, 2014, ATMs running Windows XP will no longer receive regular security patches.

Cloud computing is becoming a popular trend for businesses looking to increase agility and lower costs. There are three categories of cloud computing:

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a Service is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted and managed by the service provider and end users access the applications over a network.

Apple’s FaceTime video calling feature was one of the most popular features on the iPad 2. In July 2010, rumors claimed FaceTime calls weren’t encrypted, however, Apple dismissed those rumors and told the public that the entire FaceTime conversation stream is encrypted.

Dropbox is one of the most popular cloud applications for law firms. As a legal professional, you must consider the ethical obligation to maintain client confidentiality while using the cloud. This means employing reasonable measures to ensure security of data stored in the free, multi-user sync app.

As a business owner, the decision between outsourcing vs. in-house IT support can be difficult and time consuming. Ultimately, you want to choose the most effective way to support your IT systems and end-users. But how do you know which option is the most effective for your business?

Let’s start by defining the word “outsourcing,” which happens to be an inconsistently used term.