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Is Your MSP Company Helping Your Clients with the 4 Ps of Cyber Security?

Scott Anderton , , , , , , , , , , , ,

msp companyFor a business working with an MSP company has many benefits. One of those is that you can help them defend against cyber-attacks and keep their data and network safe. Cyber threats are constantly evolving and it’s difficult for a business owner to keep up on all the new ways that hackers are targeting businesses. When they work with an IT professional, you can keep track of the changing threat landscape and ensure that their company is protected. What does this mean? Many times, it comes down to explaining to them and implementing the four Ps of cyber security: patches, passwords, phishing and precaution.

Patches

Your MSP company should be very familiar with patches. Patches are also known as software upgrades and most people have seen them on their smartphones. Patches exist to keep systems running on the newest software platforms, which should be the most secure. However, many business owners or in-house IT teams ignore patches because they feel they don’t have time to install them. Others skip over them because they aren’t convinced they are important. In other cases, the patch comes too late and networks have already been infected or attacked.

When you are first contracting a new client the importance of patches should be first and foremost in your onboarding session: your team can proactively monitor their system and install upgrades they need as soon as all existing data has been backed up. This keeps their system constantly updated and armed against attack.

Passwords

As you know insecure passwords are still one of the major reasons why hackers gain access to secure networks and data. There’s a reason why people re-use passwords or make their passwords simple. The average person has 27 separate logins that require passwords and it’s impossible to remember 27 different unique, secure passwords. That’s why two of the most common passwords in 2016 were “123456” and “password”.

Many of the tools people use to remember passwords such as ‘remember me’ pop-ups on their computers or the old school way of writing them in a notebook can be the kiss of death if they are compromised. Your MSP company can help implement a secure, safe, and easy way for they and their team to create and access strong passwords.

Phishing

Most hackers get into business systems by using a phishing scheme. This involves an email that appears to be from someone they know and has a link or attachment that, once clicked on, gives the hacker access to their network. You would think that people would be savvy to these types of attacks by now, but hackers are constantly evolving the way they present themselves.
Using your MSP company to educate their team on dangerous downloads as well as continuous monitoring of their network are the two best ways to guard against phishing attacks.

Precaution

The saying “precaution is better than cure” couldn’t be truer in cyber protection – as one security hole can mean an attack that leads to huge losses for any business. The 4th P is mainly about using common sense. If something appears too good to be true, let your clients know it probably is.

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Scott Anderton

Mr. Anderton is the managing partner of an IT Support & Managed IT Services provider based in Orlando, ION247. ION247 is also one of the best IT Companies in Orlando that focuses on providing state-of-the-art and the surrounding area. Prior to starting ION247, Mr. Anderton held the position of Vice President for NTT Data Inc. the 6th Largest Information Technology (IT) service provider in the world with operations in 35 countries and over $16B in revenues. Mr. Anderton managed relationships and client engagements in Financial Services, Healthcare and Public Sector verticals in the Southeast US. Prior to NTT Data, Mr Anderton was a Vice President for the Revere Group. The Revere Group is a business management and information technology consulting company with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. In this position, Scott partnered with client CxOs, primarily in the Southeast market, to maximize investments in technology. Mr. Anderton has more than 25 years of business and Managed IT Services experience in Orlando. He has led multiple IT Strategy engagements and served as an interim CIO for several NTT Data and Revere Group clients. The first 10 years of his career were with Fortune 500 companies AT&T and Sprint. His positions included Manager of many like Advanced Network Services and Director of Systems Engineering. Prior to his role with the Revere Group, Mr. Anderton was President and founder of Technology Management Solutions (TMSI), a technology management consulting firm providing outsourced information technology services in the small and medium business markets. TMSI was acquired by the Revere Group in 2006, when Mr. Anderton joined as a principal. In addition to his technical background, Mr. Anderton has expertise in strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, business process design, IT due diligence, and IT Organizational Change Management, and Transition Services Agreement execution. Mr. Anderton received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Computer Information Systems from the University of Florida in 1990. He also has completed the Executive Management program at the Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College. He resides in Orlando Florida with his wife Lisa and 3 children. You can click here to visit the website.