Options. Who doesn’t love options? This is why when selecting new monitors for our new Pendello Solutions office, we picked Samsung’s 36-inch curved monitors. Large monitors are not a new phenomenon, although one which allows so much customization is something new. Much like most of you, no day at Pendello Solutions is the same. Every client is different, and every problem which arises requires a different solution. Our new Samsung curved monitors give us the power to concentrate on one massive screen or have six screens in view at one time. These monitors put the power in each individual’s hand to have complete control over the desktop and the variability to modify as you change tasks.

Some of you may be aware that Pendello Solutions recently moved offices. With the new space, we took the opportunity to try out some new technologies. A few of these cool new devices will be our blog focus for September. One of these devices in our office, the Intel Compute Stick, is an accurate representation of how far technology has come. The Intel Compute Stick is a computer that is the same size as an Altoids box. (See image below)

One of the exciting announcements from last month’s Microsoft SharePoint conference is that Microsoft will soon be releasing Homesites. Homesites will be a fully customizable homepage where the existence of your SharePoint contents will reside. To fully understand the impact that this addition will have, we need to understand the current view of a SharePoint page. To begin, SharePoint is essentially your company’s internal communication site, which is referred to as an intranet. This is where you find all of your saved documents and files. Up until this point, your SharePoint site was fairly generic and not exactly pretty or easily navigable. It essentially is a simple page with a list of files. Understandably, we are beyond excited about this announcement. Now, anyone who currently uses the Microsoft SharePoint Intranet will be able to customize their Intranet “Homepage,” creating an aesthetically pleasing homepage with your company’s voice and branding.

The cloud is always a hot topic and with good reason as it is continuously evolving. There are many questions about the cloud. Is it safe? Is it for me? Will it save me money? But, before we can explore these critical questions, we have to cover the basics being, what is it? We have all heard of the cloud, but very few truly understand what the cloud is or where it resides.

Real-life examples of BECs

If you have been following the news, you should know that we are all at risk of Business Email Compromises (BEC). You may be growing tired of hearing this fact although it is a fact that we need to keep in the front of our minds at all time! Timing is a factor that these cybercriminals are continually accessing and know how to attack when your guard is down. Below are real-life examples of BECs that illustrate how easily these attackers researched, planned and struck at the right time and were able to victimize educated, experienced business people.

Business Email Compromise and Education

This month at Pendello we have been focusing on Business Email Compromise as the risk is definitely on the rise. If you remember, Business Email Compromise (BEC) is when an organized crime group gains access to your email through deception with the use of spear-phishing, identity theft, email spoofing, malware, and social engineering. In the past two weeks’ blogs, we introduced BECs and the different types of attack attempts. This week we are delving into how to recognize attack attempts. As 93% of all investigated data breaches can be traced back to a specific employee, we at Pendello Solutions know that end-user education is your best defense. So this month Pendello is bringing you some guidelines to look for when dealing with your day to day communications.