31 Jul

NIE Achieves Blue Partner Status with Datto

Network It Easy, Inc. Achieves Blue Partner Status with Datto

Lisle, Illinois July 31, 2018 – Network It Easy, Inc. (NIE) today announced it has achieved exclusive Blue partner status with Datto, the world’s leading provider of IT solutions delivered through managed service providers (MSPs). Datto Blue status represents the top 5 percent of the company’s partners, worldwide.

Datto develops business continuity solutions that secure business data for over 100,000 companies around the world. Its suite of services includes backup and disaster recovery (“BDR”), cloud-to-cloud backup services for SaaS applications and network continuity services.

A Datto Partner since 2015, NIE has successfully deployed hundreds of Datto solutions for small and medium sized organizations, helping them secure the critical data they need to successfully run their operation.  “As an Adaptive Managed Service Provider, NIE strives to source and provide the best of breed technology solutions for our customers”, said Witold Stanislawski, company President.  “Our experience has shown the Datto solutions to be the most cost effective and reliable backup, disaster recovery and business continuity products available for small and medium sized organizations”.

“It is our understanding that NIE is the only Datto partner in the Chicago area to attain this status”, continued Stanislawski.

 “We are thrilled to recognize Network It Easy, Inc. as a Blue Partner,” said Rob Rae, vice president of business development, Datto. “We are committed to providing NIE and all of our partners with the necessary capabilities to develop deep relationships with their customers and keep growing their brands and businesses. We look forward to more success from NIE, as we continue to roll out new partner services.”

About Network It Easy, Inc.
Network It Easy helps small and medium sized organizations focus on making those organizations successful by providing a cost-effective combination of outsourced technical support and IT Technologies tailored to their size. Combining superior customer service with highly advanced and automated technology tools, NIE supports hundreds of organizations while providing products from industry leading manufacturers including Datto.

About Datto
At Datto, our mission is to empower the world’s small and medium sized businesses with the best in enterprise-level technology. We do it by equipping our unique community of Managed Service Provider partners with the right products, tools and knowledge to allow each and every customer to succeed. It’s an approach that’s made us the world’s leading provider of MSP delivered IT solutions. Datto is headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., with offices worldwide.

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13 Jul
03 Jul
29 Mar
16 Mar

5 Compelling Reasons to Replace Your IT Tape Backup

By Ray Miner, Technology Solutions Adviser

 

Is your business still relying on an outdated tape backup solution to recover files in an emergency?  Below are 5 compelling reasons to consider upgrading to the current technologies and achieve full Backup, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BDR) capabilities as a protection against a catastrophic server failure.

Recovery Time: Tape backups only store a copy of your files. If your server fails and requires replacement, the new server must be replaced and manually configured from scratch.  This process takes days. 

Current technologies can store a complete image of your server configuration in addition to your files.  If your server fails, the entire server configuration and your files can be restored from the back-up.  This process takes minutes.

Combined On-site and Cloud Backup: Users of tape backups must live and die with the tape that files have been stored on.  In most cases, there is no way to verify that all files have been saved or whether the tape works at all.

Current technologies can store a copy (including the image referenced above) of the backup on what amounts to a mini PC on-site.  The data is then replicated and on a scheduled basis, the copy is automatically and securely transmitted and stored to “The Cloud”.

Hybrid Virtualization Technology: Tape backup units have zero capability to function until the server has been replaced.

In the event of a catastrophic failure, current technologies include the capability to “virtualize” and run a protected server either through the on-site storage device or remotely, in the cloud until a permanent replacement server is obtained.

Security: Tape backups provide no security capabilities.  If a tape is lost or stolen, the person that takes possession of the tape can access the files and have complete access to all of the data on it.

Current technologies include encryption of files on the storage device, encryption while in transit to the cloud and encryption in the cloud

Amazingly Inexpensive Pricing: While tape backups cost virtually nothing, their value in a catastrophic failure is also virtually nothing.

Current technologies, which deliver all of the benefits listed plus many more, are available for a relatively low monthly fee.  Some providers also include the cost of the unit, upgrades/replacements and monthly support in this fee.

In today’s competitive business environment, virtually every type of business is heavily reliant on its data infrastructure and continuous access to the data on it.  That information drives everything from sales through shipping and everything in between.  Many businesses simply cannot afford to be out of service for days.

Can your business afford to be out of service for days?

 

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28 Feb

Network IT Easy Named to CRN MSP 500/Pioneer 250 List

Network IT Easy (NIE) is pleased to announce that it has been named to the CRN®, (a brand of The Channel Company) 2018 Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the Pioneer 250 category. This annual list recognizes North American solution providers with cutting-edge approaches to delivering managed services.  The list is divided into three categories. The MSP Pioneer 250 category recognizes companies with business models weighted toward managed services and largely focused on the SMB market.

“We are honored to be named to this prestigious list of outstanding IT Managed Service Providers for 2018 and especially to be one of the few to receive the reward from the Chicago area. Network IT Easy is continuously looking at ways to adapt and improve the types of services we provide to our SMB customers.  Receipt of this award from CRN recognizes and endorses that approach,” said NIE President Witold Stanislawski.

 

The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

 

 

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09 Feb
07 Feb

Why it’s time to add more layers to your standard IT security and to protect WITHIN

By Witold Stanislawski, Technology Solutions Advisor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No business with Internet access is immune from the threat of compromised passwords, unauthorized electronic resource access, data breaches and other activities performed INSIDE the network.

Statistically, more than 70% of cybercrime incidents target the Small Business space. 60 – 65% of those business will close their doors within 6 months from such breaches. Most attackers tend to “watch” the network activities and e-mail communications for a few weeks before they strike. During that time their activities are usually undetected.

 

You mostly likely already have some layers of security like firewall, anti-virus, web browsing protection and anti-spam filters. Those are ‘must have’ 1st layers of defense against modern cyber-attacks.

 

Firewalls, anti-virus, and anti-malware software are an equivalent of a perimeter protection at an organized event, where attendees must go through metal detectors and randomly show their IDs. The layers above do just that for computer networks.

 

However, until now, there hasn’t been a practical and inexpensive way to know if any of the security policies were being breached from INSIDE of the network. Economically, it was out of reach for the Small Businesses. NIE MSSP Total Proactive Network Protection technology provides the missing layer of internal network security. Don’t hesitate to contact us to get the conversation about network security started.

 

QUIZ your IT STAFF

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How do you know if your computer guy is doing everything possible to secure your network from downtime, viruses, data loss, or other frustrating and expensive disasters?
Could your current technician actually be jeopardizing your network?
These are some common question most SMB owners ask themselves. Sign up below and get your questions answered.

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Network IT Easy Named Allworx Silver Partner
05 Feb

Network IT Easy Named Allworx Silver Partner

Network IT Easy (NIE), an IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) based in Lisle, Illinois, is proud to announce it has been awarded Silver Partner status in the Allworx APEX partner program.  Wildly successfully at fighting the trend toward hosted telephony, Allworx provides premise based VoIP (Voice over IP) telephone systems designed for Small-and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs).

About Network IT Easy

Network IT Easy helps Chicago area small and medium sized companies (SMB) focus on their business and gain a competitive advantage by providing a cost-effective combination of IT technologies and outsourced technical support tailored to the SMB community.  Combining superior customer service with highly advanced and automated technology tools, NIE supports hundreds of SMB companies while providing products from industry leading manufacturers including Allworx.

For more information on our services, or to check out our recent blog post on a creative (i.e. no out of pocket expense) way to fund your new telephone system, visit our website at https://networkiteasy.com.

About Allworx

Allworx provides a complete portfolio of VoIP telephone systems, IP phones, network switches and advanced software options to help SMBs create solutions tailored to meet their unique needs. The company has deployed more than 40,000 VoIP systems and more than 600,000 IP phones across more than 25,000 business customers to date. These systems provide cost-effective, innovative voice communication features that enhance the user experience at their desks, on their mobile devices and on their PCs.

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Replace Your Old Nortel Phone System – UPDATE and Positive News
02 Feb

Replace Your Old Nortel Phone System – UPDATE and Positive News

By Ray Miner, Technology Solutions Adviser

Update:  As a follow-up to our original post on a creative way to fund the replacement of your old phone system by upgrading your telephone service and internet access with less expensive and more capable service.  I am happy to report that we found $746 PER MONTH in savings at the first company that took us up on our offer of a free analysis.  More than enough to fund a new phone system…

Although it may sound too good to be true, companies with older Nortel phone systems can get a state of the art VoIP (Voice over IP) solution and pay for all or most of it using the savings realized from updating their telephone and internet access service.  During the course of our analysis, we also find that companies are paying significant sums of money for services they either no longer need or no longer use.

If you still have an old Nortel system, you haven’t been able to upgrade your phone service to a relatively new technology called SIP (Session Initiation Protocol).

Your old Nortel system couldn’t use SIP technology.

Instead of using separate, dedicated lines like you used to get from “The Phone Company”, SIP comes in over your existing internet access circuit. And it costs a fraction of what you are currently paying for your current phone service.

Even “new” phone service from companies like Comcast, uses old technology and costs significantly more.

 

Lease a new premise-based system or pay for a cloud hosted solution, on a monthly basis, and fund it out of the savings on your new SIP phone service.  Contact us for a complimentary analysis of your current phone service.

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Attention Office 365 Users: Protect Your Email from this New Hacker Tactic
25 Jan

Attention Office 365 Users: Protect Your Email from this New Hacker Tactic

By Witold Stanislawski and Ray Miner, Technology Solutions Advisors. 

Continuous access to e-mail communications is at the core of every Small and Medium Sized Business (#SMB) today. There is an emerging vulnerability, which could allow a hacker to encrypt your email system data within seconds and make all your information inaccessible.

If successful, these hackers could:

  • Demand a ransom to unlock the access to your email.  Companies are paying $100,000+ in many cases.
  • Block users from accessing email for hours until the ransom is paid .
  • Delete all email messages whether the ransom is paid or not.  They can’t be trusted….
  • Bankrupt your company.

How do you avoid and/or mitigate the impact of this attack?  Network It Easy, Inc. recommends:

  1. Disable a capability within O365 that allows “Integrated Apps”. “Integrated Apps” allows a third-party applications to read user profile details, edit or delete their files, read items contained in the collections and send email as that user.  In essence it gives those applications control of your email.
  2. Enable Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) for all your mailboxes which requires the entry of an automatically generated, temporary and unique verification code that is sent to a separate device like a cell phone.  MFA is included with Office 365 but not enabled. It must be enabled and configured.
  3. Sign up for a cloud mailbox backup (Office 365 does not provide a mailbox backup). This backup will allow you to restore the mailbox data and go back as far as your backup retention policy allows for, even if the e-mails get encrypted.  This will allow you to NOT pay ransom.
  4. Engage with a Managed Services and Security Provider (MSSP) like Network It Easy, Inc. and get all the above plus pro-active security and vulnerability scanning and training as a monthly subscription.

For additional information, contact us at (630) 435-4000.

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Network IT Easy Becomes Partner of Illinois Manufacturer’s Association
23 Jan

Network IT Easy Becomes Partner of Illinois Manufacturer’s Association

Network IT Easy is pleased to announce it is now a B2B Partner of the Illinois Manufacturer’s Association (IMA).

About Network IT Easy

Network IT Easy helps small and medium sized (SMB) manufacturers focus on their business and gain a competitive advantage by providing a cost effective combination of IT technologies and outsourced technical support tailored to their business.  We take complete responsibility for every facet of the IT infrastructure including 24X7 monitoring, security protection, proactive Microsoft patching, remote and on-site technical support, data back-up/disaster recovery and ongoing technology planning.

About the IMA

The IMA is the oldest and largest state manufacturing association in the United States. Founded in Chicago in 1893, the IMA represents nearly 4,000 companies and plants that operate in Illinois. IMA support includes lobbying, informative seminars and training, continuing education courses, and a number of affinity programs designed to help your company grow and prosper.

 

 

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Replace Your Old Nortel Phone System at No Cost
09 Jan

Replace Your Old Nortel Phone System at No Cost

By Ray Miner, Technology Solutions Adviser

Although it may sound too good to be true, companies with older Nortel phone systems can get a state of the art VoIP (Voice over IP) solution and pay for it using the savings realized from updating their telephone and internet access service.  If you still have an old Nortel system, you haven’t been able to upgrade your phone service to a relatively new technology called SIP (Session Initiation Protocol).

Your old Nortel system couldn’t use SIP technology.

Instead of using separate, dedicated lines like you used to get from “The Phone Company”, SIP comes in over your existing internet access circuit. And it costs a fraction of what you are currently paying for your current phone service.

Even “new” phone service from companies like Comcast, uses old technology and costs significantly more.

 

Lease a new premise-based system or pay for a cloud hosted solution, on a monthly basis, and fund it out of the savings on your new SIP phone service.  Contact us for a complimentary analysis of your current phone service.

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May this festive season sparkle and shine, may all of your wishes and dreams come true, and may you feel this happiness all year round. Merry Christmas! and Happy Holidays
21 Dec
7 Key Benefits from Outsourcing Your IT Support
19 Dec

7 Key Benefits from Outsourcing Your IT Support

By Ray Miner, Technology Solutions Adviser

Beyond the obvious cost savings of outsourcing IT support to a Managed Service Provider (MSP), there are a number of really significant, but hidden, benefits for small and medium sized business owners who use them.  Among these benefits are:

Timely Responsiveness:  Quality MSP’s initially responds to requests for assistance within 15 minutes.  Any business owner that has waited hours for their part-time “IT Guy” to finish his real job and return their call knows how important responsiveness is.

Proactive, Remote Monitoring:  If you have never used an MSP, it might surprise you to learn that remote monitoring tools are utilized to automatically and immediately notify them of most critical system issues.  In many cases, this happens before you even know a problem exists.

Automated Problem Resolution:  In conjunction with monitoring, most MSP’s also utilize tools that automatically resolve many issues without any manual intervention.

Automated Patching:  Often overlooked and undervalued, keeping software patched and protected is one of the most important ways to protect a business’ critical data.  Utilizing an automated patching solution, MSP’s keep their clients protected from known software issues and protected from outside intruders.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity:  To most small and medium sized businesses, having their primary server “crash” is a disaster.  In those situations, simply having file back-ups is no longer sufficient.  MSP’s provide a full disaster recovery and business continuity solution that can restore functionality of your data network within minutes.

Technology Planning:  Avoid waking up one morning to discover that all your computer hardware and software is obsolete and no longer supported by the manufacturer.  Professional MSP’s include annual technology planning as a part of their service offering.

Awareness of Technology Updates:  When faced with a decision between supporting their network and learning new technologies, in-house resources must keep the network running.  MSP’s continuously keep abreast of new technologies and adapt their service offering to include them.

With a combination of advanced tools and deep pool of technical resources, a quality MSP can provide so much more value to your business than simply reducing costs.  Contact us if you are interested in learning more.

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Ransomware: BIG Threat for Small and Medium Sized Businesses
04 Dec

Ransomware: BIG Threat for Small and Medium Sized Businesses

Most small and medium business (SMB) owners do not yet realize the level of threat and potentially devastating results associated with ransomware.

Ransomware is literally the act of somebody holding your data, software, PC or computer system hostage until you pay them a ransom to get it back. What happens is that you suddenly have no access to a program or file and a screen appears announcing your files are encrypted and that you need to pay (usually in bitcoins) to regain access.

Recent studies that explored the frequency, impact, cost and other factors associated with ransomware attacks in the SMB arena showed more than one-third of businesses have experienced a ransomware attack in the last year. For roughly one in six impacted organizations, a ransomware infection caused more than 20 hours of downtime, with some organizations reporting an outage of more than 100 hours.

SMBs tend to most frequently get infected with ransomware via phishing emails (either in an attachment or a link) and shared USB drives.

Several steps can help minimizing the risk of getting ransomware, including staff education and awareness.  Train your staff to be cautious of suspicious messages and files, even if they come from a trusted source.

Ransomware also most frequently infects computers running older operating systems (i.e. Windows XP) that Microsoft no longer supports or updates. By upgrading to a newer, completely supported operating system (i.e. Windows 10), an ongoing stream of updates respond proactively to new security threats.

Work with a reputable Managed Service Provider (MSP).  For a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee, SMBs can outsource network support and avail themselves of the latest endpoint monitoring tools, data back-up and recovery solutions and a full team of people available to fully support their computer system.

Here are some ransomware tips for SMBs and their customers to provide some level of protection against cyber-attacks:

  • Always keep your security software up to date, since new ransomware variants appear on a regular basis.
  • Keep your operating system and other software updated – Software updates usually include patches for newly discovered security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by ransomware attackers.
  • Be wary of unexpected emails, especially the ones containing links and/or attachments.
  • Backing up important data is essential, it is the single most effective way of combating ransomware infection. In case of cyber-attack, if company has backup copies, its files can be restored once the infection has been cleaned up. However, organizations should ensure that backups are appropriately protected or stored offline so that attackers can’t delete them.
  • Using cloud services could help mitigate ransomware infection.

 

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Perpetually thankful for great customers and employees
20 Nov
We are covered! And so are our customers
06 Nov

We are covered! And so are our customers

Please note that Webroot customers are protected from the Bad Rabbit – malware that is affecting computers across some Eastern-European countries, as well as Russia, Ukraine and Japan.

Here is what we know about Bad Rabbit thus far:

  • it is a well-made piece of malware that uses a lot of clever tricks to spread; in many aspects, it is similar to NotPetya, which affected customers across the globe this summer;
  • it has been successful as it has worm-like behavior, using embedded usernames and passwords to move laterally through the network;
  • attackers used compromised websites, most of which are news sources local to the APAC/Eastern European region, as watering-hole infection vectors;
  • When Bad Rabbit tries to restart your machine and encrypt data, Webroot SecureAnywhere, will prompt you with a warning about unauthorized Master Boot Record alternation. Webroot also blocks the files responsible for Bad Rabbit through the BrightCloud Threat Intelligence Platform.

Although Webroot customers are protected against Bad Rabbit, all users are recommended to maintain good cyber hygiene, including:

  • limit Admin account usage to only employees who need it;
  • don’t use easily guessable passwords;
  • update Windows – Ransomware authors take advantage of unpatched systems;
  • backup your data – Ransomware is crippled entirely if you have a backup copy of your data.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/ybu7arlt

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Is malvertising the newest threat?
19 Oct

Is malvertising the newest threat?

As you may remember, in May 2017 Equifax, a provider of consumer credit reports, said it experienced a data breach affecting over 140 million US consumers after hackers exploited a vulnerability on its website. That’s about 44 % of the US population! The data exposed in the hack included names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and, in some cases even driver license numbers. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the last time Equifax’s website was breached. The site was maliciously manipulated last week, this time to deliver fraudulent Adobe Flash updates. Visitors who clicked the link had their computers infected with adware, which only three out of 65 antivirus providers managed to detect.

If you come to think of it, this is really worrying; the site which previously lost personal data of so many US citizens with a credit history was once again attacked, this time to trick visitors into installing malware, called by Symantec Adware.Eorezo. Usually, in order to avoid being caught, attackers provide malicious downloads only once to just a select number of people. Surprisingly, this time the bogus Flash download links were served to the same visitor at least three times in a row. The Equifax site was redirecting users to the centerbluray.info page which delivered MediaDownloaderIron.exe file. Sometimes browser was redirected to at least four domains before finally opening the Flash download file.

Unfortunately, only Panda, Symantec, and Webroot were able to detect the file as adware. Luckily for our customers Webroot is part of our Managed Services Provider package, so we know we keep you safe. Malwarebytes flagged the centerbluray.info site as one that pushes malware, while both Eset and Avira provided similar malware warnings for one of the intermediate domains, newcyclevaults.com.

It’s not yet clear how the Flash download page got displayed. Researcher Kevin Beaumont in his twit suggested that Equifax was working with a third-party ad network or analytics provider that’s responsible for the redirects. This could mean that the breach isn’t on the Equifax site and may be affecting other websites as well.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/10/equifax-website-hacked-again-this-time-to-redirect-to-fake-flash-update/

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Disaster recovery vs. security recovery plans: Why you need separate strategies
11 Oct

Disaster recovery vs. security recovery plans: Why you need separate strategies

Many enterprises blend their disaster recovery and security recovery plans into a single and easy-to-implement package. But such an approach not necessarily makes sense. Undoubtedly security and disaster plans are related but not always the same things. Disaster recovery and security recovery have inherently different objectives: the former is more about business continuity and the latter about information asset protection. With disaster recovery plans we tend to focus on data quality in the first place and with security plans we rely on capability of protective control, we focus on “protecting forward”.

Many SMBs combine their disaster and security strategies as a matter of convenience, lured by so many similarities of those plans. Both types of plans include procedures to minimize the impact of a malicious event, that are followed up by procedures to recover from that event, as well as procedure to test and return to business as usual operations. Furthermore, both disaster recovery and security plans have an option that allows to minimize the possibility of a similar event occurring once again.

But if we dive deeper, we will find that the disaster recovery and security plans are fundamentally different:

  • Disaster recovery plans focus on recovering IT operations and business continuity,
  • Security plans focus on preventing or limiting IT interruptions.

Security recovery strategies need to be revisited and updated more frequently than disaster recovery plans. Events such as fires, floods or blackouts are unpredictable but we generally understand their nature. Security threats are also unpredictable, but their nature is often hard to be understood. Nowadays new external cyber threats are mushrooming, they become more and more technically developed and harder to detect, that is why it’s more difficult to keep a security recovery plan up to date. The number of natural or man-made disasters that can possibly threaten our business is relatively static. Keeping that in mind, all SMBs should implement separate disaster recovery and security plans for best protection.

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