Anyone who has adopted the responsibility of running their business’s IT systems will know that there is much more to it than “turning it off and on again”. As people are slowly easing back into the office, we have pulled together 5 IT habits that could save your business.
In fairness, we could turn each of these into an article itself, but for the sake of keeping things simple, we will avoid (where possible) deep diving into the details.
Easier to listen to our blog?
1. Test your backup (Actually try to restore something)
It is important to note, we are not talking about checking that your backup worked; we are talking about testing it! It is one thing to get an email sent to your mailbox every morning with the words “Backup Successful” but this doesn’t mean that it is going to work when you need it. Try to restore a few things. If it worked, great! If not… you will be glad you checked now instead of when you REALLY need them.
2. Every Company device that leaves the building should be encrypted.
This is a simple one, but often overlooked. Imagine your business stores very sensitive information, maybe about the business itself or client information. You wouldn’t let your employee’s take this information off the printer and stuffed into their bags. Well, this is what is happening if they take their laptop home without any precautions. Many data breaches are caused by devices not having adequate security measure in place. Encrypting any devices that leave the office is a great start.
You don’t even have to spend any money doing this, Microsoft has a built-in feature called “BitLocker” which can encrypt any Windows 10 Pro device.
3. Make Sure your email systems are setup correctly
“My emails keep going into junk” or “my clients never get the messages I send them?“ These are very common issues that I come across on a regular basis.
If you are constantly finding emails going missing, or they go to your clients junk mail, it is very possible that your email system is not setup correctly.
Here are 2 things that can alleviate your email problems.
1. Don’t use website hosting for your emails. Use Office 365 or G Suite. Using a modern email hosting system like Office 365 or G Suite can fix many issues as these are setup to fit modern IT best practises.
2. Check your SPF, DKIM and DMARK records. These are records to prove to the people you send emails to, that you are ACTUALLY you. If these are not setup correctly, you could find you have some issues. The best way forward is to contact your email hosting provider (or IT Support provider) to make sure that this is all set up appropriately.
4. Don’t use Passwords, make the jump to Passphrases
Finding the perfect password is no easy challenge! Make it too simple and it can be broken in an instant. To difficult and you will forget it just as quick!
One easy way to improve your password security is to move from passwords to passphrases. Think of 3 – 6 random words – put them together and you have an easy to remember and secure passphrase.
Let’s look at an example. Below is a password and a passphrase. Which would be easy to remember?
Bh^dak1@gdp%9y — Time it takes a computer to crack it?
204 Million Years
Bananas Kilo Pudding Dice— Time it takes a computer to crack it?
15 octillion years
Which one will you remember?
5. Periodically check who can access what.
Many businesses will setup permissions for their files when they first start up a new department or take on a new member. Our final tip is to periodically review who can access what. The last thing you want is for staff members to see sensitive HR documentation or internal accounts. Schedule some time to check access rights and it will never be an issue.
Hopefully, you will take away something from the above and improve your IT systems and processes. If you would like to stay up to date with the latest news and tips please sign up to our mailing list below.