With the fact that 158 accounts are hacked every second on average, businesses need to be versed in what to do when you receive the alert that your or employee's credentials have been compromised. It is an unfortunate reality that once exposed on the Dark Web, your information cannot ever be completely removed or hidden. You cannot file a complaint or contact a support line to demand your data be removed. Your company should immediately start taking appropriate steps and measures to correct or minimize the risks and potential damages associated with this exposed data. We must identify, understand, and learn from past mistakes or failures, and adopt a more proactive and preventative approach to your business' cybersecurity strategies moving forward.

The Global pandemic which we are living has affected every aspect of our world. One area that many probably don't think about being affected is the Dark Web. The current state of the Dark Web has a significant impact on the security of our businesses. When considering the Dark Web and the threat it posed before COVID-19, the risk was high, but our world's uncertainty has pushed the Dark Web even darker. Before our Global Pandemic, there were more than 4.5 billion web pages. If you include the entire internet, including the Dark Web, the estimated size is 400-500 times larger. The Dark Web offers approximately 75,000 terabytes of data, and 57% of those sites include illicit material, and 60% of said data could be harmful to organizations. Now, if this doesn't frighten you enough, continue reading as the negative changes in the dark web post-pandemic are worse than a terrifying horror film.

The novelty of virtual meetings has worn off, but it is apparent they are our new “normal.” Our current need for distance and safety has made virtual meetings a must, although because they have worked, businesses are signing up to keep them long term. Big companies like Google and Facebook have announced that most of their employees will be working remotely until late 2021, demonstrating that most of us can do our jobs from anywhere. So we are thrilled that Microsoft is giving us as many options to make our virtual meetings even more productive.

2020 has been a year of change. For better or worse, we have seen a great deal of transformation. When we heard that Channel Futures was altering their judging criteria for the prestigious MSP 501 list, we were intrigued. As a five of five year winner of this prestigious award, we were eager and hopeful the new criteria would incent us as well as other MSPs to push themselves to the next level. We were pleasantly surprised. To take a look at how this has changed, let's first examine what the MSP 501 is and the original judging criteria.

As states start to reopen, we are positive that we will never forget these “Stay at Home” times we are experiencing. We were almost instantly thrust into this unknown situation where our work and home are entirely intertwined. With "Stay at Home" orders in place, we are experiencing more enforced restrictions than we have ever known in the United States. It is an interesting time to reflect on how work has changed and learn from these changes. It is essential to understand how these adaptations allowed us to continue to collaborate and what seemed to keep our teams positive and efficient.

Yesterday began a new trial as now entire families are now at home attempting to work, learn, and do their best to stay sane. Challenging is an understatement to describe what our country and the entire world is currently dealing with. So we wanted to take a little time and let you in on a couple of new tools that may help your new "normal" workday function a bit better. As you are attempting to conduct meetings out of a home that resembles a 3-ring circus, these tools can hopefully bring a bit more professionalism to your remote office.

Consistency is the name of the game, and when it comes to naming, Microsoft is King. Unfortunately, with such similar names as Office 365 and Microsoft 365, there is a great deal of confusion on the differences between the offerings. This month, we will compare and contrast Office 365 vs. Microsoft 365. We will break down the high-level differences between the two Microsoft offerings, the difference in pricing, which product will benefit your business, a glossary of terms involved with both offerings, and an essential Q and A regarding both Microsoft 365 and Office 365. Today, we will stay high-level and look and the key differences between the two Microsoft offerings.