Zasha, Director of Operations at Bellwether Technology, hasn’t always worked in IT. In fact, when she landed her first IT job as an assistant systems administrator for a government contractor, she didn’t have any experience in the field except for being her family’s go-to IT resource. During the course of the job interview, she didn’t know the answers to all of the technical questions that she was asked. But it turned out that how she did answer revealed a lot of about who Zasha is and not just what she knew. “I had no professional experience in IT and there […]
Read MoreCybersecurity Beyond the Basics: Network Segmentation
An employee gets an email that says their invoice is attached. Opening the attachment downloads a computer virus that encrypts the files on their computer in seconds. The virus spreads to other computers in the company and soon the entire network is taken down and a cyber-criminal is demanding a hefty ransom in return for the encryption key that’s required to release the data. This is what cyber experts call – a cold, dark day. It’s the day when you have a cyber-attack. While cyber-attacks like this ransomware scenario can happen quickly, these days it’s more common for the bad […]
Read More5 Benefits of Technology Strategy
The starting place for technology strategy is a mindset. It’s an awareness that IT is more than just overhead, an awareness that IT is not only integral to keep business operations humming along, but that it can be used to move the business forward. While technology strategy includes the utilization of best practices to create and scale high functioning IT systems, there is no cookie cutter template that you can use to create IT strategy. Strategy sets out a path to take you from where you are today, to where you want to go tomorrow and that’s unique for every […]
Read More3 Ways That Managed IT Services Enable Your Your Business Success
Wondering if your small business needs the benefits of a managed IT service provider is like asking if you need a guide to scale Mount Everest. Theoretically, you could do the climb yourself but how many years would it take for you to gather all the knowledge you need about the terrain? And how long would it take to get your technical skills up to the level that they need to be? And what’s it going to take to manage the whole expedition? By the time you get it all together you might very well have missed your chance to […]
Read MoreCybersecurity Beyond the Basics: The Principle of Least Privilege
With a Zero Trust strategy for cybersecurity, the presence of an intruder is assumed. That means that tactics are needed to limit exposure and the potential damage that the intruder can do. One of those tactics is the Principle of Least Privilege. Least privilege involves matching up permissions to access data with the job or tasks that need to be done. This starts with determining exactly what data is needed to perform specific functions and then establishing limits. Historically, companies have been quite relaxed when it comes to allocating permissions with user and even administrator accounts because opening up access […]
Read MoreCybersecurity Beyond the Basics: What is Zero Trust?
Imagine that you’re in charge of protecting a castle. The castle has a drawbridge and a moat around it. You have guards stationed at the drawbridge who monitor the people coming into the castle. The guards let citizens in and keep known bad guys out. Because the guards prevent the bad guys from coming into the castle, the citizens can safely go about their business. Now imagine that the bad guys have found other ways to get inside the castle besides the drawbridge. They’re scaling the walls unseen at night. They’re getting past the guards by disguising themselves as citizens. […]
Read More12 Essential Cybersecurity Measures for All Businesses
It used to be that cybersecurity for businesses meant creating a technical barrier around their network and data and they were good to go. Sadly, that’s not enough anymore. Cybersecurity risks for business have evolved and so has the technology that your employees work with every day. Your organization is probably using more cloud apps and have your people working from more locations than ever before and cybercriminals would love to exploit the vulnerabilities that you don’t know are there. The bottom line is that yesterday’s cybersecurity strategy isn’t going to address today’s challenges with IT security for businesses. The […]
Read MoreIT Not Serving Your Business? It’s Time for Managed IT Services
The term “Managed IT Services” isn’t new but unfortunately, there are a lot of companies that say they’re “managed” but they’re really not. How can you tell the difference and how do you know if that’s what your organization needs? Start by asking yourself, “Is IT serving our business?” Here’s what we mean by serving your business. Imagine that you hired someone to take half the workload off your plate. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Now imagine that instead of decreasing your work, it doubled because that person couldn’t do what you wanted them to do without your constant supervision and […]
Read MoreBellwether Technology Corporation Named a Top Workplace In New Orleans
Employee Survey Affirms that Managed IT Service Company is a Great Place to Work for Third Consecutive Year (October 19, 2021 – New Orleans, LA) –Bellwether Technology Corporation is on the Times-Picayune 2021 list of Top Workplaces in New Orleans. This is the third consecutive year that the company has received this recognition as a great place to work. Inclusion on the list is a sign of a positive work environment and a high level of employee engagement based on the results of an anonymous survey that considers 15 separate attributes of company culture that are critical to organizational success. […]
Read MoreIs this Website Address Safe to Visit or Login To?
Here are some ways you can decide whether to trust a website link or page in a web browser and tell when things smell phishy. Taking the time to look for signs of a hack attempt in links and websites is like washing your hands; it helps keep you and your co-workers safe, and every adult should know how to do it. We’ll start with the best ways to tell if a link or website is safe or a hack attempt. First, look at the link address you are about to visit. In many cases, you can hover your mouse […]
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