Preemo IT Support

You're probably going to get a noisy alert on your cell phone tomorrow. Don't worry, it's only a test.

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Communications Commission will be conducting a Nationwide Emergency Alert Test tomorrow, August 11th. Test messages will be sent to TVs and radios, along with select cell phones that have opted-in to receive test messages.

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The IPAWS National Test FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for August 11th. Test messages will be sent to TVs and radios, along with select cell phones that have opted-in to receive test messages.

You are not Colonial Pipeline, and that should scare you. (warning, this post is kind of long)

You've probably read about the recent ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline. Basically, Colonial is a huge pipeline operator that handles 45% of the East Cost's fuel delivery. 5500 miles of their network was shutdown because of the attack, and the company ultimately forked over $5 million to restore their systems. The president was briefed, and offered the governments resources to help. They were given unlimited funding to solve the problem. This was a "resume at all costs and efforts" operation.

And it STILL took them 5 days to get online, and there are STILL intermittent service interruptions.

Why should this be important to small business owners? It's because your business is likely not a nationally strategic pipeline. Nor with the government show up to save you. Nor do you have unlimited funding to solve such a massive security breach. Nor should you assume that you'll "only" be down for 5 days.

So what can we learn from this? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Preventing a ransomware attack is far less expensive (even if it means deploying tools, systems, and policies that seem costly and time consuming) than going through an actual breach. This might include AI-based endpoint protection (MDR), security awareness training, multi-factor authentication, and enterprise-grade business continuity/backup systems (and more).

Colonial Pipeline Paid a $5M Ransom—and Kept a Vicious Cycle Turning Stopping payments would go a long way to stopping ransomware. But the choice is never quite so easy.

It's Friday. Make sure you uncheck that "Nothing Works Right" option.

Is your Outlook acting funny, and not displaying emails properly. You might be getting a white screen where your email text should appear in Preview Pane.

It's not you, it's everyone. The issue is a Microsoft patch that was rolled out worldwide. If you're a Preemo client, we've already applied a fix for it. Otherwise, check the article below for a quick solution (rolling back to previous version of Outlook).

Microsoft Outlook bug prevents viewing or creating email worldwide A Microsoft Outlook update released today for the desktop client introduced bugs that prevent users from creating or viewing mail.

Have you said to yourself "my business is too small to make sizable investments in cyber security" or "I don't really have that much data or risk, so it's not worth the money"?

This is a great article on cyber security pitfalls that small businesses make. Investing in your cyber security systems and processes can save your business.

15 Cybersecurity Pitfalls and Fixes for SMBs In this roundtable, security experts focus on smaller businesses offer real-world advice for actionable ways to shore up defenses using fewer resources.