June 5th, 2024 → 6:43 am @ kamind // No Comments
At the present time, M365 is predominantly being used by both businesses and even the Federal Government. But, there are many different flavors of it that exist, especially between the private and the public sectors. In this article, we take a closer look at two of them: The Commercial M365 and the M365 for the GCC. The Commercial M365 This is the version of M365 that most people know about. With this kind of subscription, long gone are the days when you had to get the standalone versions of Microsoft Office anytime that you purchased a new device. With the M365, everything is now available in the Cloud, and you can download whatever apps that you think may need, either for personal or business usage. In fact, the most popular apps are as follows: Word PowerPoint Excel Access Publisher With a typical M365 Commercial Subscription, you or your business can […]
June 4th, 2024 → 10:22 pm @ kamind // No Comments
If your business is large enough, it is quite possible that you will require many licenses to procure for your end users. Getting them in bulk, or even using just a couple of licenses on many wireless devices and/or computers is known as “Volume Licensing”. In this article, we examine some ways in which you can do this straight from your M365 Administrative Center. Assigning The End Users For Volume Licensing To get started with the management of Volume Licensing, you first need to take a look at your employee roster in your M365 subscription, and from there, decide who will need to have licenses assigned them. To do this, follow these steps: Log into the Admin Center, at this link: https://admin.microsoft.com/ Once you are logged in, follow these steps: Go to the “Navigation Menu”. Select “Billing”, then “Your Product” Then hover over to “Volume Licensing”. This is illustrated below: […]
May 31st, 2024 → 1:49 pm @ kamind // No Comments
Steve Wozniak was asked in an interview what he would have done differently if he had been Apple’s CEO instead of Jobs. He said he would have been “a lot nicer to people,” but then quickly added that IF he had been CEO, they might never have released the Macintosh. Jobs was known for being ruthless and controlling, rude and ill-tempered, driven by a desire for perfection and pushing people to bring products out before they were ready, creating enormous strain within the organization. The OG “mean girl.” Many people couldn’t tolerate working for him, and I’m sure he missed out on a lot of talent for this reason. But in spite of that – or more possibly because of that – he was able to build one of the world’s most iconic brands and successful companies. I’m not sure that level of “disagreeableness” is necessary for us mere mortals […]
May 31st, 2024 → 1:49 pm @ kamind // No Comments
In recent months, the alarming cybersecurity breach at Change Healthcare, the health care payment-processing company under the health care giant UnitedHealth Group, has thrown a spotlight on a chilling reality: cyberthreats can lurk undetected within our networks, ready to unleash chaos at a moment’s notice. The breach, executed by the notorious ALPHV/BlackCat hacker group, involved the group lying dormant within the company’s environment for nine days before activating a crippling ransomware attack. This incident, which severely impacted the US health care system, a network with a large budget for cybersecurity, underscores an urgent message for all business leaders: a robust cybersecurity system and recovery plan are not optional but a fundamental necessity for every business out there. The attack began with hackers using leaked credentials to access a key application that was shockingly left without the safeguard of multifactor authentication. Once inside, the hackers stole data locked it down, and […]
April 26th, 2024 → 5:25 pm @ kamind // No Comments
In a statement released by the largest telecommunications company in the United States, AT&T, they shared that they recently discovered a dataset for sale on the “dark web” that contained information for about 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former users, totaling approximately 73 million affected accounts. AT&T shared that the data released contained passcodes (PIN numbers) and Social Security numbers from 2019 or earlier and did not contain any other personal financial information or call history but could possibly include e-mail and mailing addresses, phone numbers and birthdates. AT&T has reached out to all customers via e-mail or mail to let them know of the breach and to reset their passcodes. If you’re an AT&T customer, it’s important to be highly critical of any e-mail asking you to change your password. Please make sure it is from AT&T, as it’s suspected other cybercriminals will attempt to […]
April 26th, 2024 → 5:23 pm @ kamind // No Comments
Another day, another cyber-attack! In early April, Omni Hotels & Resorts was the victim of a cyber-attack that brought down the entire IT system and led to a company-wide outage. The organization took immediate action and brought the entire network offline to isolate the issue, protect its data and prevent further damage from occurring. Unfortunately, this process heavily impacted the hotel’s operations and day-to-day functions, such as managing reservations, unlocking hotel room doors manually and using point-of-sale (POS) systems in restaurants and shops within the hotel. Some estimates expect this attack to cost the Omni over a million dollars. While unconfirmed by the hotel, several sources speculate that the type of cyber-attack was a ransomware attack similar to what happened to MGM in Las Vegas several months ago. While most customers were aware of the inconveniences of the Omni outage, many weren’t aware of the dangers associated with cyber-attacks. When […]
April 22nd, 2024 → 6:33 pm @ kamind // No Comments
In the business world, we often hear the adage “time is money,” and for good reason. Every minute counts, especially for small and medium-sized businesses where resources are precious. That’s where Copilot comes in – a revolutionary tool from Microsoft that’s changing the game for companies striving to maximize their productivity. Several elements impact our productivity and guide our daily decisions: the true cost of time, personal efficiency, and business savings. We delve deeper into each of these below. The True Cost of Time Let’s break it down. Imagine you have an employee on a salary of $50,000 per year. If we consider a standard work year of 2,080 hours (which is 40 hours per week for 52 weeks), each hour of this employee’s time is worth roughly $24. Now, if Copilot can save just one hour of this employee’s time each month, that’s a direct saving of $288 annually. […]
March 1st, 2024 → 4:24 pm @ kamind // No Comments
Tax season is around the corner, which means so are tax scams. Without fail, every year, individuals and business owners alike fall victim to tax scams, resulting in the loss of substantial amounts of money and sensitive personal data. According to the Better Business Bureau, taxpayers lost $5.7 billion due to tax scams and fraud in 2022 alone. In today’s article, you’ll discover the top scams you need to be on the lookout for to reduce your chances of becoming these scammers’ next victim. The IRS has specific methods of contacting you One way to lessen your chances of falling for Internal Revenue Service scams is to know how the IRS will contact you. Per the IRS website, the IRS will not initiate communication with taxpayers through e-mail, text messages or social media platforms for the purpose of soliciting personal or financial information. The IRS’s main method of communication is […]
March 1st, 2024 → 4:18 pm @ kamind // No Comments
A concept image showing a one hundred dollar banknote used as bait attached to a treble fishhook and fishing line on an isolated white background What you are about to read is a real story showing you how a business can be devastated by cybercriminals in the blink of an eye. Most importantly, I’ll share several ways this could have been avoided. Make sure to forward this to anyone who might be making online payments and, better yet, your entire staff. The name of the company and principals have been withheld so they don’t become a further target. $43,000 Gone In The Blink Of An Eye Imagine, on a normal Friday night after a long week of work, you glance down at your phone and see an alert from your bank. You open it to find that you’ve just paid a company you’ve never heard of $43,000! This was an […]
February 1st, 2024 → 4:38 pm @ kamind // No Comments
Each year on February 1st, we celebrate Change Your Password Day. While it’s not a holiday that gets you off work, it serves as a good opportunity each year to do a quick check-in and make sure you’re using strong passwords that will keep your accounts protected. The suggested ‘rule’ used to be to change your password every three months. With advanced tools like password managers and data encryption, experts now say the type of password you use is more important than how often you create a new one. We’re sharing up-to-date advice on how to create a strong password that will keep your account secure and hackers guessing. Make It Complex Aim for complexity by combining uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. Avoid easily guessable information like birthdays, names or common words. The more intricate and unique your password, the harder it is for hackers to crack […]
