Managed Services Articles

In the current digital landscape, cybersecurity is paramount. As a Managed Service Provider (MSP) serving small business clients, we understand the unique challenges faced by your organization. One critical aspect of cybersecurity is password management, and we are pleased to include a password manager in our standard service offering. Here’s why you, as a CEO, should embrace this essential tool:   Enhanced Security: Password managers generate and store complex, unique passwords for each account. This reduces the risk of password reuse and makes it exponentially more difficult for cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access to your systems. Simplified Management: With a password manager, employees no longer need to remember multiple complex passwords. Instead, they only need to remember one master password. This simplification enhances productivity and reduces the likelihood of password-related issues. Improved Compliance: Many industries require strict adherence to data protection regulations. Using a password manager helps ensure compliance by ... Read More

You remember Linus. He’s Lucy’s little brother in Charles Schultz’ famous Peanuts cartoon series. (I’d post a picture, but I don’t want to pay a royalty. We do everything possible to keep your costs down.) Anyway, Linus never went anywhere without his security blanket. He always held it in his left hand. As long as his security blanket was by his side, he never worried about anything. He could cope. He could maneuver. He could withstand any evil force with his trusty blanket. Like Linus, Only Better Fast forward 50 years to Fortinet’s newest innovation, the Security Fabric. Long an industry leader in firewall and network security solutions, the Fortinet has, well, created a solution like Linus’ security blanket, only much better. If you missed Carolinas Net Care’s Spring Technology Briefing on April 24, you missed Greg Aker’s presentation of some of the aspects of the Fortinet Security Fabric. If you want to dig into ... Read More

At our 2018 Spring Technology Briefing two weeks ago, we covered more of what seems to be our favorite topic these days: security. From time-to-time, we all feel as if it’s all we write and talk about. It’s not. But it is on our minds and our agendas every day. There are a lot of bad dudes out there. You came to Carolinas Net Care to help you ward them off. So, we take it seriously. I shared a few statistics with the group of 20 or so who attended: Some Security Facts and Figures 82% increase in detections in 2017 Worldwide, that represents 6,000,000,000 attempted exploits a day. (Sometimes, I like to write out a number just to emphasize its impact.) The bottom line is that while detections are on the rise, so are attempts. Carolinas Net Care monitors your system constantly so we can be aware when someone is attempting ... Read More

From time to time, we’ll use this blog to update you on specific security alerts of which you should be aware. This post regards a specific phishing attack that we are seeing with increasing frequency. This attack occurs when an email is received appearing to be from a known sender, and including an attachment. Attempting to open the attachment results in an immediate prompt for a username and password. Do NOT enter your username and password when opening an email attachment. Security Alert A successful attack results in a malware actor having access to email credentials allowing the account to be hijacked. Obviously a bad outcome. Note that a sender you know would notify you in advance if they were sending you a password protected file, if for no other reason than to advise you of the password. If you are ever in doubt, contact the sender to confirm the validity ... Read More

It wasn’t a great movie. In fact, it had almost been forgotten until George Clooney and his friends produced a remake in 2001. It was Ocean’s 11, starring Frank Sinatra, Angie Dickenson, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and a number of other famous Hollywood stars. The premise was pretty simple: a group of ex-military friends would rob five Las Vegas casinos on a single night. It was an exercise in logistics, primarily. And although there was some technological hurdles to jump, it was by and large a mechanical operation. The motivation? Money. Cash. Lots of cash. What's The Motivation? So, what motivates the cybercriminal? You know—that shady, unknown character (or entity) lurking in the shadows waiting to take advantage of a lack of security he, she or they hope you do not have. What motivates them? Chances are they probably don’t have the looks of Sinatra or Dickenson, or the suave ... Read More

It’s summer, and it’s hot. Really hot. The kids are out of school, and summer vacations are in full swing everywhere. Isn’t it good to know that Carolinas Net Care is never on vacation? Well, I should probably clarify that, in case you are tempted to report us to the Department of Labor. We do take vacations – and give all of our systems engineers and technicians time off, too. But not at the same time. And that’s the key to maintaining your systems with optimal performance and security—someone is always in place. So, YOU can go on vacation and not worry. Relax! We’ve got it covered. As a NetCare™ Operate client, everything continues to happen just as it does when you are working. Updates are pushed to you. Patches are tested and installed. Suspicious activity is monitored and flagged. It all happens summer, winter, spring and fall. So kick back. Here’s something I ... Read More