OWC Pro IT Services

06/26/2025

Our team would like to thank all of you that attended our Mixer Tuesday the 24th.

08/26/2022

We at OWC Pro It Services would just like to give all of you small and medium size businesses out there a reminder of the stats.

A recent survey showed that only half of small businesses are ready to handle a cyberattack, even though the threat of one is a top concern. Small businesses can take action ahead of time to reduce their risk and increase preparedness to both prevent and manage attacks.

This is exactly why investing into a good MSP like us is essential. Most smaller businesses have a handy tech guy on hand that probably is good at helping you set up the basic components of IT in your business. However , Managing and monitoring the security of your companies information is a much different thing than setting up a printer for the office.


Check out this article by securityintelligence . com that goes over the details of just how many businesses aren't prepared for something as serious as a cyber attack of any kind.

Give yourself a break and invest in a quality MSP. You will not regret it. Stay strong out there everyone! Stay protected and have a good weekend!

A recent survey showed that 50% of small and medium businesses felt they were prepared for a cyber attack. Learn how to improve your organization's preparedness.

08/11/2022

Today were going to be dropping some knowledge on y'all in regards something called Zero-day attacks.

A zero-day is a computer-software vulnerability previously unknown to those who should be interested in its mitigation, like the vendor of the target software. Until the vulnerability is mitigated, hackers can exploit it to adversely affect programs, data, additional computers or a network.

Zero-day attacks that exploit unpatched software vulnerabilities saw exponential growth last year. According to cybersecurity researchers like the Zero-Day Tracking Project, 2021 saw more than 80 zero-day exploits recorded, versus 36 in 2000. There are already 22 such exploits on record for the first half of 2022.

As soon as a vulnerability becomes known, cybercriminals rush to exploit it before the software developer can write, test, and release a patch. That window may be hours, but more likely days or weeks long. So, it's important that you have threat hunters — humans, not machine-learning algorithms — scouring your infrastructure proactively for signs of a successful attack.

The risk of falling victim to a zero-day attack is considerable, and the consequences real. This is why we are here to do what ever we can here at OWC PRO IT SERVICES not only to serve business owners with the most comprehensive combination of IT services possible, but educate them as much as we can about things like Zero-Day attacks.

You can read more about Zero Day Attacks from this great article on darkreading.com.

We wish you a protected, productive , safe and secure rest of your week!

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/human-threat-hunters-are-essential-to-thwarting-zero-day-attacks?&web_view=true

Machine-learning algorithms alone may miss signs of a successful attack on your organization.

07/25/2022

Today we want to remind all you hard working companies out there of the importance of protecting yourself from ransomware. Ransomware is most often introduced into the workspace via user error. Clicking links you do not recognize in emails is one of the most frequent ways companies and people find themselves victims of ransomware.

When we help companies implement new security measures to help support there newly refreshed data centers, we stress the importance of training all of the employees in the company about being very careful before clicking links in different emails. One of the best ways for a hacker to get into a companies private data is through the very employees that work for the company.

We have another cool article here that explores ransomware and how its evolving, and the different things you can do to keep your business safe.

Let's have a focused productive week everyone!

A new variant of the Nokoyawa ransomware campaign has been improving itself by reusing code from publicly available sources.

07/12/2022

Did you know that Over 70% of small businesses fail to prioritize Cyber Security? What a harrowing statistic! Cybersecurity threats are a ticking time bomb for many companies, and yet small businesses don’t see it as a main budget priority.

Industries like retail, hospitality, and wholesale are especially vulnerable to these attacks do to there tendency not to prioritize things like cybersecurity. We here are OWC specialize in cybersecurity and the many fail safes that should be in place to keep your company and its customers and employees safe.

While providing cybersecurity is our speciality, educating companies on the importance of cybersecurity is another one of our largest goals. If you are armed the the knowledge and importance of these security measures , with action, your company can truly thrive versus your company loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars or worse yet, going under.

A lot of this research was conducted by the people over at Tech.co. Check out this article further detailing the information we provided you all here today, and remember to make sure to have valid cybersecurity measures in place for your company! https://lnkd.in/gVsTC7Qk

https://lnkd.in/gGCu8iPC

Despite the rise in threats to businesses, small companies aren't doing enough to protect themselves or their customers.

07/01/2022

A lot of people around this time of year are going on vacation and taking time with there families. This is the perfect time for criminals to take action and try to take your data.

Having a team like OWC Pro IT on your side ensures that regardless of the time of year, your are protected with 24/7 surveillance of your companies data and network.

Check out this blog about 6 things you can do during your vacation or holidays to protect your business from a data breach. It goes over some basic steps you can take to make sure that you and your business are protected.

https://lnkd.in/g3Ns8aGC

Have a great 4th of July weekend everyone!

06/20/2022

Let's talk about a little bit about how hackers choose there victims. One of the most important things to remember is that the primary motivating factor of hacking is usually money. In this case your businesses hard earned money.

The average cost of a data breach was $3.86 million in 2004, according to IBM, and that number has since risen to $4.24 million as of 2021. It's even expected to rise even more in forthcoming years.
An important thing to note is the fact that it is not only larger companies that are targeted in this way.

We at OWC Pro IT Services cannot state enough the fact that small to medium sized businesses are just as likely to be attacked as a big company like Apple or Google.

Cybercriminals are utilizing a wide range of attack vectors so that they can infiltrate your system or take custody of it by using ransomware attacks like IP address spoofing, phishing, email attachments, and hard drive encryption.

These are just a few of the ways that hackers will attempt to hi-jack your system and steal your information. We found an excellent blog at thehackernews.com diving into the details of different ways and methods a company could find them selves being subject to a cyber attack.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/hacking-scenarios-how-hackers-choose.html

We hope all the best for the many companies out there doing there best to bring value to their communities and hope you do all you can to keep you and yours protected, safe, and efficient as possible with the proper cybersecurity measures! Let's have a killer week!

06/10/2022

Backing up your data is an extremely important task that any business should see the value in.

We work with Datto for many of the data backups we provide to our customers. Check out this blog on some of the core component's that you should look for in a proper backup of your companies data.

Have a great weekend, and remember to do whatever you can to keep your customers and company data as safe as possible!

When a large-scale data loss recently occurred at a backup provider, it shined a new spotlight on data safety.

05/31/2022

Let's hone in on a more specific topic today! Multi-Factor Authentication and its importance! Many people overlook this very critical protective layer in there business and daily lives.

As the name implies, MFA blends at least two separate factors. One is typically your username and password, which is something you know. The other could be something you have.For example , a cellphone, keycard, or USB could all verify your identity. Lastly, something you are can be used as a factor. Fingerprints, iris scans, or some other biometric data that can prove that you are who you say you are.

These secondary factors drastically improve the security in any given system you regularly access on a daily basis be it your computer ,phone or server.

The next time you decide to omit the implementation of MFA in your business or personal life for that matter, remember that the very minor inconvenience of setting it up is saving you a lot of heart ache in the future statistically, as it dramatically reduces the risk of data breeches/ data loss.

We hope you all had a great memorial day and wish you a productive, safe, protected week!

05/13/2022

Have you heard about the The FTC Safeguards Rule?

One of the most important things an MSP (Managed Services Provider) can do for there customers aside from bringing them efficiency and security, is keeping them up to date on all of the necessary fail-safes that must be in place for there business. One great example of this is ,The FTC Safeguards Rule!

This rule and went into effect on May 23, 2003. The original Rule was subjective i.e. financial institutions (which included most dealerships) were supposed to implement “reasonable” safeguards to protect customer data that were “appropriate” to their operations. This made the Safeguards Rule difficult to enforce, and adoption of the Rule within the dealership community was inconsistent.

On January 10, 2022, an updated version of the Safeguards Rule became law. The biggest change was abandonment of the “reasonable” standard. What was once undefined became objective. This means that certain task have to be undertaken and demonstrated, whether it is reasonable or appropriate in the dealership environment or not.

This pertains to processes such as Multi-Factor Authentication,Continuous network monitoring,Data encryption, and many other security processes built to protect the customers of your business.For more information on these new safeguards , you can read more about it on the FTC website by following the link below.

https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/safeguards-rule

We at OWC PRO IT SERVICES bring you this information in hopes that you are doing whatever you can to keep your customers and business as safe as possible! Have a great weekend and remember to make sure that all of your IT needs are being done PROPERLY!

The Safeguards Rule requires financial institutions under FTC jurisdiction to have measures in place to keep customer information secure. In addition to developing their own safeguards, companies covered by the Rule are responsible for taking steps to ensure that their affiliates and service provide...

03/22/2019

Come visit us this weekend at Crystal Lake South High School.