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myki-don't store password to your browser

Why You Shouldn’t Let Your Web Browser Store Your Passwords

myki-don't store password to your browserThe following is a reprint from MYKI:

When it comes to creating and storing passwords, a web browser just can’t compete with a password manager.

Although most web browsers offer you the options to remember, autofill, and even generate passwords for you, you may want to consider letting a dedicated password manager handle all that for you instead. Here are just a few good reasons why.

Identifying Bad Passwords

If you tell a web browser to remember your account passwords for you, it will do just that, regardless of what those passwords are. A password manager, on the other hand, will actually  let you know if any of the passwords you’re using are weak or reused. That’s exactly what MYKI’s Security Dashboard feature is designed for.

Generating Strong Passwords

When creating a new account, your web browser will suggest a strong and complex password you can use instead of having to come up with one yourself. But while a web browser will just present you with a suggestion, a password manager like MYKI allows you to customize these strong passwords and select the number of characters used and whether the password includes numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, or special characters.

Not Limited to One Browser

We’d all like to stick to one browser, but sometimes you just need to switch over to something different. For those who use their web browsers to store all their passwords, that means constantly having to export and import their passwords every time they make the move to a different browser. If you use a password manager like MYKI, all you need to do is install the MYKI browser extension that corresponds to your current browser to get immediate access to all your passwords, no matter what browser you’re using.

More Than Just Passwords

It’s true that web browsers can store your passwords for you, but that’s as much as they can do in most cases. Don’t let the name fool you: most password managers allow you to store a lot more than just passwords. With MYKI, you can store not only passwords, but 2FA secrets, payment card information, and much more.

When it comes to protecting your digital identity, there’s just no substitute for a good password manager like MYKI to prevent Phishing attacks.

Ask CPI Networks to set you up with a password management account. Contact us today at (416) 645-2469 or (905) 667-0441 or email us.

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Are Your Passwords Compromised?

News of a big brand suffering a data breach is all too common today. But if you don’t get an email from such a company, you could mistakenly be thinking it doesn’t affect you.

The thing is, large breaches are happening all the time. Cybercriminals then put access credentials online, and other bad actors buy and exploit those email addresses, usernames, passwords, etc.

Why do the bad guys care to buy these member details? Presumably, the victims of the breach quickly change their passwords to prevent security vulnerabilities. So, what good does that info do?

Take a moment to think about how many unique passwords you actually have. Many of us have dozens of different online accounts but only a handful of distinct passwords. That means a hacker can take that stolen data from, say, LinkedIn and try the same password on your banking site.

Cybercriminals have the capacity to keep on trying. They will take one stolen password and use that data to try and hit other accounts in a massive, brute-force effort.

What can you do about it?

Stop using the same passwords over and over again. Yes, unique passwords for every account are difficult to remember, but they are critical.

One solution is to use a password manager. Many browsers have a pop-up window offering to remember a password for a particular site. If you say “yes,” the browser automatically populates access credentials on your return to the site.

If you use Google Chrome, you can also check if your passwords have been compromised. Google Safety Check compares your saved usernames and passwords against over 4 billion compromised credentials.

To check for leaked passwords, head to “Settings” in the Chrome browser, then navigate to “Safety Check” and “Check Now.” You’ll get a report that identifies any compromised passwords, and allows you to review and fix leaks.

MacOS users will be happy to hear that Safari added similar functionality in its latest release, and Mozilla’s Firefox browser also has password checking built in.

Strengthen your passwords

Creating a strong password is challenging; almost as difficult as remembering all your different passwords. You’re aiming to come up with something a human or computer can’t guess!

Different sites will have different parameters. You need a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Having a different mix of these helps make the password more difficult to crack. And the longer the better; That’s why passwords a browser suggests to you look like a string of gibberish.

Pay attention also to warnings from the site requiring your credentials. If they say your password is weak, believe them. Safari and Chrome suggest stronger passwords when you create a new account.

Change your passwords immediately if you are advised to do so. Password management tools are continuously improving, but there is still the human element, and that’s often the weakest link. If you don’t practice healthy password hygiene, hackers are ready to take advantage of your ambivalence.

Need help checking your passwords and setting up a password manager for your business? Our IT experts can help. Contact us today at at (416) 645-2469 or (905) 667-0441 or email us.

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Ring in the New Year with New IT

For many of us, 2021 can’t come soon enough, and we’re hoping next year will be a better one. One way to get the best start in the new year? Take the time now to review business technology. There are several areas that you might improve to support 2021 success.

First, look at your website. In this digital age, your business website is your calling card to the world. It is where your prospects and customers will go to learn more and buy your product or service. Yet many business websites are at least a few years old. That won’t do these days. Whether you’re a B2B or B2C, your buyers are making a decision about your brand based on your website. If your website looks a decade old, they’re going to doubt you’re on top of your game.

When reviewing your website, priorities should be:

  • ease of site navigation – people have a low tolerance searching for information online;
  • mobile responsiveness – depending on industry, more than 60% of website visits are from mobile devices;
  • call to action – you’re making it clear what you want people to do on your site;
  • visual appeal – if it doesn’t look good, your credibility will be damaged;
  • search engine optimization – are you doing all you can to get people to your site?
  • security – customers care more and more about data security and privacy.

Updates in the Office Environment Of course, there are still people who will pick up a phone and call a business. Traditional phone systems are the reliable business workhorse. But settling for a plain old phone system could mean you’re missing out on a lot. Modern digital phone systems offer you access to a wide range of useful features. With a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone system, businesses of any size can get enterprise-level features. These include:

Updates in the Office Environment

Of course, there are still people who will pick up a phone and call a business. Traditional phone systems are the reliable business workhorse. But settling for a plain old phone system could mean you’re missing out on a lot. Modern digital phone systems offer you access to a wide range of useful features. With a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone system, businesses of any size can get enterprise-level features. These include:

  • interactive voice response (IVR) systems (e.g. “Press 1 to speak to sales, 2 to speak to tech support… etc.”;
  • call queuing that helps distribute incoming calls to the right party;
  • call recording that helps you track compliance, and provides training and sales script intel;
  • local phone numbers, free in-network calling, and consistent international-rate plans.

Also in the office, there may still be employees signing in to desktop workstations running Windows 7. This operating system reached “end of life” on January 14, 2020. That means Microsoft is no longer updating the software. Hackers know that, too, so sticking with the old system could make you vulnerable to cyberattack.

COVID-19 prompted businesses that might have been putting off cloud migration to move up their timetable, but some use virtual private networks or other remote access to enable work from home. It doesn’t look like we’ll be back in the office full-time, full-force at the outset of 2021, so this is also a good time to revisit the idea of cloud computing.

Making Your Business Secure in 2021

Start the new year off right with a resolution to make your business IT more secure. This could mean embracing two-factor authentication as an upgrade to password-only authentication.

Encourage employees to change their passwords. Most people have dozens of online accounts but only two or three unique passwords. So, it’s a good idea to require your people to update their passwords regularly. That way, if a site such as LinkedIn suffers a data breach, you aren’t vulnerable because of an employee’s duplicated password.

End-of-year downtime provides an opportunity to review any long-standing IT problems. Evaluate how much time or productivity was lost in 2020 while troubleshooting IT. It’s also a good idea to proactively plan your backup strategy and set up for disaster recovery. That way, if the worst does happen in 2021, you’re ready.

Keep your business secure and up to date with the help of a managed service provider. We’ll make sure you’ve got the best technology for your needs. We manage and monitor your IT tools, too. You stick to what you do best, and our experts will focus on your IT. Contact us today at (416) 645-2469 or (905) 667-0441 or email us.

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Why MSP Support Beats a Break-Fix Approach

Computers break at challenging times. Always. And there’s no worse time than the holiday season. Your employees want to spend time with family and friends, relaxing and reminiscing. They do not want to wait around for a fix or to find a replacement. That’s one reason a managed service provider (MSP) is a good choice year-round.

Many businesses have more work at the end of the year. An employee saddled with a laptop that won’t load necessary business applications is not productive. A wider system problem is even more costly. According to Gartner, “the average cost of network downtime is around $5,600 per minute.” Do you want to lose about $300,000 an hour during your busy season?

Even businesses that close the office for the holiday season have employees trying to get work done before the vacation. A broken computer is not going to help them meet their deadlines.

Relying on the break-fix model of computer care isn’t going to serve you well during the holiday season. Even those companies with a dedicated IT person could struggle when something goes wrong if that individual is already away for the holidays.

At many times of year, you’re patient: you can wait for someone to come in and fix that desktop or deal with the printer that’s acting up. But, if you’re calling a company in sporadically, they have no obligation to be available when you need help. If they’re backed up, you’ll need to try the next option for computer repair that came up in your Google search.

Also, computer help hired at short notice won’t know your particular setup or business needs. Their focus is on getting you up and running now. They won’t weigh short- and long-term approaches that fit your specific objectives.

Prepare for the Worst with MSP Support

Partnering with an MSP gives your business a different experience. For one thing, there is always an IT expert on call to assist you. They have also learned your IT setup and may even have installed your computers in the first place. That means there’s no steep learning curve to figure out a unique system configuration. They can quickly identify the problem and get you back up and running.

Additionally, an MSP will understand your business objectives and your unique technology considerations. For example, they’re not going to suggest you replace a broken laptop with a desktop, not when your people move around to meet clients and brainstorm with colleagues.

Contracting with an MSP, you won’t have to worry about exorbitant fees for computer help during holidays. You’ll pay a fixed monthly fee that offers financial and strategic predictability.

Your MSP partner is also invested in your business success. Knowing you are approaching a peak period, they can prepare your setup to be more resilient. They will also know to scale up cloud computing services when you’re bringing in more people to get the job done. Or, recognizing your business is on a break, they could schedule time-consuming upgrades or integrations for the lull.

At any point in the year, an MSP can also help your business reduce costs. By providing the best technology for your tasks and putting disaster protection in place, an MSP doubles operational efficiency, too.

Sign on with an MSP early, and go into every holiday season knowing there are IT elves on call if you need them. Don’t wait until disaster strikes to start looking for help. Learn more by calling us today at (416) 645-2469 or (905) 667-0441 or email us.

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That’s So 2010: Why Upgrade Your Office Software

Are you still using Office 2010? It may have served you well over the past decade, but this software reached its end of life in 2020. It’s time to upgrade. Here’s why and what to consider.

Software has a typical life span, after which the manufacturer turns its resources to supporting a more recent release. Support for Office 2010 ended on October 13, 2020. Microsoft no longer provides tech support, or bug or security fixes. That means there’s no protection from harmful viruses, spyware, or other malicious software. The software won’t be updated, and there’s no more phone or chat support if you run into trouble.

Cybercriminals know that Office 2010 users are on their own. They’re on the lookout for businesses relying on this legacy software. Without updates, you risk opening a document designed to leverage an unpatched exploit.

What can you do?

Move your business computers to one of the more modern Microsoft software offerings. You can choose to upgrade to the latest version of Office as a one-time purchase, or buy a Microsoft 365 subscription to the latest features, security updates, and other improvements.

The currently available version of Office, Office 2019, is available for PC or Mac. You can install Office only on one device, and you’ll get support and fixes during its lifecycle period only. New features aren’t offered.

Tip: Know that Office 2019 came out in September 2018 and is due to be succeeded by Office 2022 in the second half of 2021.

Before deciding to wait until 2021 for the next release, consider Microsoft 365 (MS 365). MS 365 gives you access to Office’s cloud-connected features across devices, plus, 1 TB of OneDrive storage, Office mobile apps, Skype minutes, and access to support.

As new MS 365 features become available, all subscribers get access on a monthly basis. With a business account, the administrator can control when you are able to see them.

Is MS 365 for Us?

You may want to keep everything on-premises for compliance or regulatory reasons, or perhaps you feel better with everything where you can see it. You can upgrade to Microsoft 365 and use offline versions of their software.

Still, for many, MS 365 appeals because it’s on the cloud, or both on-premises and in the cloud. Employees can use familiar tools such as Word or Excel installed on desktops, then save files to the cloud. This makes work available anywhere, from mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and other devices.

Microsoft 365 also adds in Teams. Enjoy video conferencing, screen sharing, group chat, calling and Teams collaboration software.

Then, you always have the latest version of Office, Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype. Your subscription sets you up with the latest version without the need for a major migration.

MS 365 comes in several different business packages. The Basic version provides free Web and Mobile only, along with Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams. If you don’t need those four services, save money using the free, web-only Office 365 Online version.

Ignoring Office 2010’s end date could be costly. Don’t risk a disaster. Upgrade your old-school Office software today.

If upgrading seems overwhelming, our IT experts can take it on. A managed service provider can suggest the best software for your business needs and set it up, too. Let us help! Call us now at (416) 645-2469 or (905) 667-0441 or email us.

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Facing the Five Top Cloud Computing Fears

The public cloud service market is growing. Software, infrastructure, desktop, and other service numbers are all on the rise. Yet some businesses are still holding back from migrating to the cloud. This article addresses common resistance to this highly scalable and cost-effective solution.

#1 Fear of Losing Control

“I want full responsibility for my IT.” Moving to the public cloud means partnering with a vendor. Some of your existing technology can move as is, whereas other tools your people rely on may need replacement or redesign.

One solution is to migrate to a private cloud. This allows you to continue to control the data environment but will be a more costly solution than a public alternative. When partnering with a public cloud service provider, establish clear responsibilities. Ensure you’re both on the same page about who is accountable for what.

#2 Fear of Change

“If it ain’t broke, why fix it,” especially when it comes to business computing, right? Transitioning from one datacenter to another requires preparation and effort.

Yet the resulting greater flexibility makes the work worthwhile. Cloud migration is appealing because the technology offers, among other things:

  • scalability;
  • increased effectiveness;
  • faster implementation;
  • mobility;
  • disaster recovery.

The cloud allows you to store data, run applications, deliver content, and more – all online. Your business doesn’t have to invest in the hardware or networking tech on-site.

#3 Fear for Data Security

Any downtime for a data breach can cost business revenue and brand reputation, and productivity can suffer, too. And that’s only the beginning. So, you don’t want to move to a solution that expands your vulnerability to attack.

There are two ways to get attacked: digital or physical. Working with a cloud provider, you gain a partner focused on security. They know the mitigations and countermeasures for cloud-computing-specific capabilities. They know the frameworks, architectures, and approaches to best protect against digital attack. Microsoft spends $1 billion annually safeguarding Azure, its cloud offering, from cyberattack. Can your IT budget compete?

As for physical security, cloud datacenters are secure facilities: we’re talking guards with keycards, fenced perimeters, power backups, and server redundancy. They have the works. Your office is probably less secure.

#4 Fear for Interoperability Challenges

We’re always told to play nicely with others, but what if existing business technology doesn’t play well with the cloud? Business leaders may fear they’ll be stuck having to reinvent the wheel.

The good news? There have been great strides in interoperability. Many application programming interfaces are available to help. Cloud providers want your business systems to exchange and use information seamlessly.

#5 Fear of Cost Increases

Before giving in to cost concerns, take stock of your current IT operating budget. The time and money you could save may surprise you. For example, the software provider takes charge of updates, patching, and new capabilities, which alone can increase IT’s productivity in other areas.

The scalability of cloud solutions also counterbalances cost concerns. With cloud technology, you know your tools are always evolving. Plus, you can quickly add or reduce licenses or data storage size as needed, because there’s no waiting for hardware to arrive and be provisioned by an overworked IT team.

Conclusion

With cloud migration you also avoid training employees to support the technology. Plus, you’re not paying to use office space, power, and cooling to house the equipment. The cloud also provides end users with immediate access from almost any device.

The one challenge is migrating to the cloud securely. 

Give us a call us today at (416) 645-2469 or (905) 667-0441 or email us to get you migrated swiftly and ensure you’re using cloud computing safely.

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Disk Encryption Protects Your Personal Computers

Always wanted to feel like a secret agent? Well, here’s your chance! Did you know you can encrypt your hard drive to protect the data on your computer? This is a good way to secure your information, whether at home or on the move with a laptop.

Setting up encryption scrambles your data so that only authorized parties can understand the information. Without the encryption key, anyone trying to read your information would see gibberish.

You’re already using encryption when you visit any “https” website. The lock symbol beside the URL shows that encryption is protecting your connection with the site. You’ll see it when shopping or banking online, and it’s protecting the data in transit.

You can also encrypt the data on your computers.

Password Protection Is Not Enough

Many people at this point have a password for their user account on a home computer or laptop. Some of these passwords are even complicated, although the number-one password people use continues to be “123456” – seriously – followed by “123456789” and “qwerty.”

Regardless of its strength, the logon password doesn’t stop anyone with physical access. You might have your browser remembering usernames and passwords (it’s not a shared computer, right?), and anyone with access can use those pre-populated credentials to access your accounts.

If someone really wants to get to password-protected files on a physical device, they can do so. The attacker might bypass your password by booting your computer up to a new operating system. Or the bad guy might even remove your hard drive and put it into a new computer. All they need is a second computer and a screwdriver!

Full disk encryption protects those files, even if the attacker has physical access and even if your laptop is lost or stolen, your home is burglarized, someone seizes your computers.

Encryption Is Not a Silver Bullet Of course, we need to be clear. Encrypting your hard disk doesn’t make your computer invincible to cyberattackers, although does force them to work a lot harder.

Attackers can also still exploit services running on your computer, such as network file sharing. Plus, encryption doesn’t stop a nefarious agency from spying on your online activity in transit.

Nevertheless, it does beef up your physical security. You can encrypt an external hard drive or your system’s entire hard drive. Then, when you turn the computer on, you’ll need to unlock the disk to boot up your operating system. The computer won’t work until the user supplies the encryption key or passphrase. You can also create multiple unlocking keys if you have several user accounts for that device.

Again, you’re going to want to come up with a strong password. If your key phrase is “password,” (the fourth most common choice in 2019), there’s little point in encryption.

You also don’t want to walk away from your laptop, leaving it open and accessible. You’ll want to set your encryption program to lock again after a certain amount of idle time. Otherwise, you’ll find encryption doesn’t impact your computer’s performance.

Make sure your computers and laptops are always physically secure. With disk encryption, only people you trust can access your data and files.

Ready to set up disk encryption on your home devices? We can help. 

Call us today at (416) 645-2469 or (905) 667-0441 or email us to talk about implementing disk encryption.

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Keep Your Firmware Safe and Secure

Most of us can differentiate between hardware and software. But how many know what firmware refers to? More importantly, is your business securing its firmware against security vulnerabilities?

Your business knows it needs to keep its operating systems (OSs) up to date. Installing patches as they are released helps protect your OS and software applications from attack.

Yet firmware can be easily overlooked when setting up cyber protection. You’re opening up Explorer every day, and your business relies on its Excel spreadsheets, but you don’t think about the basic software that runs the hardware as intended – that’s the firmware.

Without firmware, your computer wouldn’t know how to detect its hard drive, and the gears on the business printer wouldn’t spin to pull the paper through the device. There’s firmware in network and sound cards, routers, range extenders, keyboards, and more. Firmware also makes your webcam or surveillance camera work correctly.

The Need to Update Firmware

Cybercriminals aren’t known for their lazy reliance on just one tactic. Instead, they are constantly finding new ways to exploit business devices and systems, and this includes attacking firmware. Without securing your firmware, you run the risk of bad actors:

  • spying on business activity;
  • stealing business data;
  • taking control of your business computers.

You may think you’re safe because you have antivirus scans in place, but hackers can get around those by embedding their malware in your firmware. In the past, they could guess firmware manufacturers weren’t prioritizing security. That’s changing now that firmware exploits have gained attention.

Manufacturers release firmware updates for at least a few years after initial release. The goal is to ensure the stability of that device your business depends upon.

Find firmware updates online at the manufacturer’s website. You might also look on the device support page. Make it a policy to consistently seek out firmware release updates. That way, the business is up to date with new patches to fix holes or fresh vulnerabilities.

Taking Care of Business Firmware

Too many people aren’t thinking about the firmware threat; it’s a set-it-and-forget-it problem. Once people set up their devices, they don’t think about the possibility of a future compromise.

For example, in last year’s Avast Threat Landscape Report, 60 percent of users had never updated router firmware. Yet router hijackers can inject malicious HTML and gain access to usernames and passwords.

Businesses are growing more reliant on technology, particularly connected technology. (Thank you, Wi-Fi and Internet of Things.) This is also expanding the attack surface available to cyber bad guys. Don’t become complacent. Apply patches when issued to all business connections and technology.

Now you know what firmware is and why it matters, that doesn’t mean you’re any closer to being able to actually update it all. Partner with one of our technicians. We can do an audit of all your firmware and find any holes that need plugging. 

Give us a call today at (416) 645-2469 or (905) 667-0441 or email us to talk about updating your firmware.

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Get Your IT Ready for Holiday Shopping

Holiday shopping will have a new look this year. Many retailers are closing their brick-and-mortar doors for Black Friday, and the big “doorbuster” sales are moving online. With the busiest shopping period of the year going virtual, there’s going to be greater load on the business IT.

If your business wants to be part of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, prepare for a sudden surge in traffic volume. If your technology can’t handle the traffic, you’re going to lose revenue. A crashed system could be catastrophic for your bottom line, plus, it’ll hurt brand reputation and customer satisfaction long term.

Consider these strategies to get ready for the online crush of shoppers.

#1 Migrate to the Cloud

Your current server may do the job on a regular given day, but is it going to be able to handle 100 times the activity in a single day? You need the ability to quickly scale up as needed. That’s one of the great advantages of cloud services.

It’s difficult to predict your growth rates and seasonal demand shifts; however, using cloud services helps with increased demand for applications, storage capacity, or bandwidth. Your business doesn’t want to waste money on technology infrastructure it doesn’t need. Instead, partner with a cloud provider to add the resources required on a temporary basis. Scaling up in the cloud can take only minutes!

#2 Take a Stress Test

You may think your business is ready for an onslaught, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Run stress tests on your site and systems to ensure you’re fully equipped. Even big-name retailers have suffered Black Friday outages.

In advance of the peak shopping period, test performance in areas such as:

  • Latency
  • Error rates
  • Number of time-outs
  • Length of response time
  • Availability

Performing OK may not be enough to match the need of holiday sales. Based on the Salesforce findings above, it’s safe to say you could be facing 15%-35% increased traffic.

#3 Optimize Your Site and Services Beforehand

In e-commerce, every second, even millisecond, counts. There are several things you can do in advance to make sure you’re putting your best e-foot forward:

  • Make sure that every page of your site and all your images are rendering quickly.
  • Identify where you are seeing shopping cart abandonment, and do what you can now to stem that drop off.
  • Revise site navigation to ensure it is as simple as possible for shoppers.
  • Allow users to buy without registering and to use as many different payment options as possible.
  • Remove unnecessary forms, sidebars, headers, and footers.
  • Make your site as mobile friendly as you can.

You also want to be sure that your order and inventory systems are in sync. Promoting Black Friday items and then selling out will sour customer experience.

#4 Prepare Your Troops, Too

Along with readying your technology, prep your people, too. Need more hands-on deck to handle order fulfillment and customer service? Get on that hiring and training now. Having IT support on call can help respond to any unexpected issues.

Need IT support preparing for the e-commerce influx? Our technology experts can prepare your business for more traffic and transactions. Call us today at (416) 645-2469 or (905) 667-0441 or email us to talk about the IT you need to meet your goals.

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Cloud Storage or Local Server – The Best of Both

Cloud computing is the biggest buzzword in business today, and for good reason too. The cloud provides many a new-found freedom to do and achieve more than ever before. Greater collaboration, unlocking work possibilities in new locations and often reducing costs provides a healthy boost for many companies.

Every business is unique however, and cloud solutions don’t fit for every scenario. Connection issues, internet plans, or technical requirements can rule it out as an option in some instances. In these situations, we might install a Network Attached Storage (NAS) solution instead. Which is a very small server with lots of hard drives.

A NAS is particularly popular in small, mid-sized businesses, and even home environments. Due to their low power consumption, small footprint, and low cost, they often represent an ideal upgrade. Power users and businesses can enhance their networks and get more out of their systems by employing a NAS device to do the heavy lifting.

Reliable, Fast Access

When a property can’t achieve lightning fast internet speeds or services aren’t reliable enough to run a business on; a NAS solution is ideal for the job – serving files locally rather than from a remote server can save vast amounts on uploads and downloads.

Many of the benefits of the cloud can be created locally inside your home or office. Network storage allows you to save and retrieve files from multiple devices with fast local network speeds. Rather than being limited by the speeds offered by your ISP; you can complete file transfers, backups, and sharing at the speed of the hardware you purchase yourself.

A NAS gives you many advantages of the cloud with the level of control, speed, and accessibility of a local server. All this is achieved for a fraction of the cost and maintenance overhead typically associated with conventional servers.

One Device, Many Uses

NAS devices can act as a centralized backup location for active files and devices across the network. Using the device as a file store allows you to share projects easily, collaborate on files, and keep up-to-date copies while revisions change.

The device can be set up to allow redundancy across multiple hard drives. This means backed up data is never vulnerable to only a single hardware failure.

A fully redundant NAS is capable of handling a hard drive failure, or even removal, without interrupting your workflow. Simply replacing the affected hard drive with a new one will backup your files again and rebalance your device as if nothing had happened at all.

Lightweight File Access

Even retaining access to your files away from the office isn’t an ability exclusive to cloud services. NAS devices can be configured to provide secure access to files and folders on remote connections. Working remotely, using a NAS solution, can be done just as easily as if you were sat in the office.

Even when the rest of the office IT is shut-off and shut down, a NAS device can remain on and connected to the network, so access is never interrupted.

A NAS device can run 24/7 without issue. Their low power consumption makes it practical to leave the device powered on for regular backups and easy data access. Devices don’t require the heavy maintenance or large footprint of a bulky server. As a simple solution, a NAS device allows you to focus only on the data.

The Best of Both Worlds

A NAS provides high-speed file access and configuration of a local server and combines it with the low footprint and ease of use of a cloud service. Without relying on a bad ISP, weak connection, or power-hungry hardware, a NAS could be the solution that supercharges your business.

Find out if network storage is the right fit for your business. Call us today at (416) 645-2469 or (905) 667-0441 or email us to talk about the IT you need to meet your goals.

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