Great Lakes Blog

August 1, 2017 By Bob Martin

A Modern Office and the Integration of the Cloud

cloud computing Business IT is more interconnected than ever and it’s certainly a boon to our productivity. We have talked about the many ways you can use the cloud to grow your business, but it’s mostly been in reference to your computing power and data processing. There are several ways a business can integrate the cloud from apps to phones.

- Cloud-based ApplicationsYou may not think that your operations utilize the cloud because you have a server room, but I’m guessing you’re wrong. Do you use any of these: Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, Zendesk, Dropbox, DocuSign, or GoToMeeting? These are all apps hosted in the cloud. They allow us to work collaboratively from anywhere with an internet connection on any device. You may not have video conference-enabled phone system, but no worries. There’s an app for that.
- Backup & RecoveryData may be our most valuable commodity. If you lose access to yours, can your business survive? The cloud allows your data to automatically update as you work and also creates copies of your data off-site where it will be safe from any local natural disaster, theft, or malfunction.
- Hosted Phone (VoIP)“Nothing cements relationships more effectively than an actual conversation. Better yet several conversations where data from those calls is saved, analyzed. and then parsed to any front- or back-end business application that can use it. The only way to do that is to integrate a flexible voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephony system with your customer-facing, back-end systems, especially customer relationship management (CRM). Having an IP-enabled and feature-filled telephone system is highly important for any business, particularly one that’s capable of being fully integrated into your sales, marketing, and general business initiatives at a software level.” (PCMag)
  A VoIP system may be on-premise using a traditional PBX or hosted in a cloud environment. There is no clear cut division on which type of business should use which type of phone. You need to find the solution that best suits your needs and budget.
- Mobile WorkforceThe 9-to-5 is less and less common in office environments. The younger generations have an unshakeable value system based around work-life balance. They need access from home or when they’re on the road. The cloud fosters mobility by allowing access to your apps and data from anywhere with an internet connection.

Of course, there are increased security risks as you allow your data to be accessed outside your four walls. The key to maintaining the integrity of your security is training and policies. Read our article 8 Network Security Practices Your Staff Needs To Know.

If you’re interested in finding out if a hosted phone solution is right for you, sign up for our free telecom audit:

If you’re interested in a total cloud shift, check out our CompleteCloud solution:

July 27, 2017 By Bob Martin

5 Ways a POS System Can Enable You to Work Smarter

Retailers have it tough. They need to be open when customers aren’t at work and that means weekends, nights, and holidays. They need to manage schedules, monitor inventory, analyze sales, and simultaneously meet and exceed the expectations of the customer. If they want any type of personal life, they need to do all these tasks at the same time while the shop is open. But, there is a way to streamline a huge portion of that workload – a Point-of-Sale (POS) system. Here are five ways POS systems can help you work smarter.

Cloud Functionality.

Modern POS Systems can function in a cloud environment. The cloud is a powerful tool that creates instant data backup and built-in disaster recovery. It allows managers to access that data anywhere. It can also connect the POS systems from multiple locations so your sales people can find the inventory a client needs, even if it’s not on site. The cloud also eliminates storage capacity concerns over in-house server equipment.

Employee Accountability.

POS systems assign each user a unique ID that is used whenever an employee accesses the system. This can help you keep track of who is selling what and how many dollars each member is driving. It also can help you identify those users that may need additional training in using the system or in sales. Having each employee accountable will also reduce the likelihood of shrinkage.

Inventory Accuracy.

POS systems adjust your inventory as you scan the items. When you sell a widget, your inventory automatically accounts for that. Real-time inventory accuracy can be a great asset for a positive customer experience. You may even have the ability to let customers know the date an out-of-stock item is coming back in.

Enhanced Reporting.

Your POS system software can provide a thorough and accurate picture when it comes to reporting. All of the data you need is in your system to be examined in the ways that help you work best. Being able to analyze the reports instead of spending lots of time compiling them will allow you to focus on improving the business.

Improved Efficiency.

When all of your data is centralized, current, and accurate, you can work more efficiently. You can work smarter. It’s simple.

Great Lakes offers POS System Repair and Maintenance

Great Lakes Computer ensures peace of mind with POS Systems uptime through our specialized on-site POS repair services. We fix the problem the first time and avoid costly interruptions to your business. We carry on-site spares to secure a quick and cost-effective response to your POS Systems repair needs. Our POS Depot Repair Services will provide you with a substitute POS System to keep you going while your POS equipment undergoes repair.

July 25, 2017 By Bob Martin

6 Biggest Concerns of IT Experts Today

Security is one of the biggest issues IT professionals deal with. Regardless of how perfectly constructed your network architecture is, if your security is weak, it’s all for naught. With all of the headlines about ransomware and major breaches, cybersecurity is certainly at the top of the list, but it’s not our only concern.

According to our partners at Asigra, here are the top 6 issues IT professionals are worried about:

1. Cybersecurity: Recent reports found that cyberattacks/web based threats have been growing quickly over the last couple of years, and there’s nothing to indicate they won’t keep increasing. Even with all the advancements in cybersecurity, most professionals are aware that these advancements are not making systems and networks any more stable. They also realize that their systems can be hacked at any time as employee negligence is still the number one reason for cyber security breaches.

Here are three other concerns relative to cybersecurity:

– General lack of knowledge and awareness about cyber security

– Too many versions of technology. Most companies have a combination of old/outdated software with new technologies making IT systems within organizations complex to manage

– Lack of time, money and general resources to implement a comprehensive security solution

2. Ransomware: This form of cybercrime has grown exponentially since 2015. Criminals are much more sophisticated in coding, system and network configurations, making ransomware more difficult to detect. The fear of ransomware is prompting most IT professionals to ask not if they’ll encounter a breach but when they’ll encounter an attack.

3. Data classification: Although data classification is a fairly simple concept, it is quite difficult to implement and can cost your company thousands if not done correctly. Many organizations face the fundamental problem of not having any data classification systems in place and not being able to classify what information is deemed critical for business operations on an on-going basis. Not knowing this information can be detrimental to your business operations.

4. Protecting Endpoint Devices: According to a Promisec survey 89 percent of VPs and C-Level IT professionals are concerned about security breaches on endpoint devices, while a mere 32 percent actually have endpoint protection in place. The reasons why endpoint device protection is such a concern is because:

– IT professionals do not know all of the endpoints within their corporate environment. They don’t have full line of sight into who owns and manages these devices, what types of work and data are on them, and how they will be protected. Without this endpoint visibility, the chance of protecting corporate data are slim to none.

– There are gaps and vulnerabilities in endpoint protection (i.e. the lack of complete and regular rollouts of software patches, gaps in blocking applications, etc.)

– Up-to-date antivirus software is not sufficient to ensure proper coverage of endpoints

5. Compliance: Whether it’s the healthcare, financial or legal verticals, many industries have strict regulations on how organizations handle their business-critical data. Within the last few years, there have been enormous changes to the way data can be acceptably classified, and IT pros admit they’re not ready for these key changes due to the fact that they don’t really understand what exactly is being asked of them to comply with these ever-changing regulations.

6. Data Breaches: As data breaches continue to increase, more organizations are at risk of losing confidential consumer and corporate data. Studies have shown that less than 25 percent of professionals are confident in their company system’s ability to mitigate the risk of security incidents. This number is frightening, as data breaches can mean you’ve lost one crucial element to your business – your customer’s faith (and most likely their business).

Do these issues resonate with concerns you have about your business technology? If so, Great Lakes Computer offers a full range of services that can ensure your data is protected to safeguard the future of your business.

July 21, 2017 By Bob Martin

Invasion of the IoT: Your Kid’s Toys Can Spy On You

data security The Internet of Things is intended to make life easier by getting all of our devices interacting and working as a team. Our devices even collect data to learn our preferences so they can better suit our needs. It’s a wonderful, magical symbiotic interaction in a perfect world environment. But our world isn’t perfect and there are plenty of people who wish to use this tangled web of connections as a backdoor into our data. We’ve talked about how your Alexa might be listening to you, but it turns out your kid’s toys may be listening too.

The FBI released a PSA on July 17th warning about this new data security threat:

The features and functions of different toys vary widely. In some cases, toys with microphones could record and collect conversations within earshot of the device. Information such as the child’s name, school, likes and dislikes, and activities may be disclosed through normal conversation with the toy or in the surrounding environment. The collection of a child’s personal information combined with a toy’s ability to connect to the Internet or other devices raises concerns for privacy and physical safety. Personal information (e.g., name, date of birth, pictures, address) is typically provided when creating user accounts. In addition, companies collect large amounts of additional data, such as voice messages, conversation recordings, past and real-time physical locations, Internet use history, and Internet addresses/IPs. The exposure of such information could create opportunities for child identity fraud. Additionally, the potential misuse of sensitive data such as GPS location information, visual identifiers from pictures or videos, and known interests to garner trust from a child could present exploitation risks.

They also provide a list of ways to address this issue:

- Research for any known reported security issues online
- Only connect and use toys in environments with trusted and secured Wi-Fi Internet access
- Research the toy’s Internet and device connection security measures
- Use authentication when pairing the device with Bluetooth (via PIN code or password)
- Use encryption when transmitting data from the toy to the Wi-Fi access point and to the server or cloud
- Research if your toys can receive firmware and/or software updates and security patches
  - - If they can, ensure your toys are running on the most updated versions and any available patches are implemented
- Research where user data is stored – with the company, third party services, or both – and whether any publicly available reporting exists on their reputation and posture for cyber security
- Carefully read disclosures and privacy policies (from company and any third parties) and consider the following:
  - - If the company is victimized by a cyber-attack and your data may have been exposed, will the company notify you?
    - If vulnerabilities to the toy are discovered, will the company notify you?
    - Where is your data being stored?
    - Who has access to your data?
    - If changes are made to the disclosure and privacy policies, will the company notify you?
    - Is the company contact information openly available in case you have questions or concerns?
- Closely monitor children’s activity with the toys (such as conversations and voice recordings) through the toy’s partner parent application, if such features are available
- Ensure the toy is turned off, particularly those with microphones and cameras, when not in use
- Use strong and unique login passwords when creating user accounts (e.g., lower and upper case letters, numbers, and special characters)
- Provide only what is minimally required when inputting information for user accounts (e.g., some services offer additional features if birthdays or information on a child’s preferences are provided)

One of our biggest vulnerabilities lies in our reliance on Wi-Fi and our willingness to sacrifice security in order to hook in. One of the easiest ways to expose a business network is via an employee’s unprotected device connecting to your system, creating an opening for cybersecurity risk. In your home and in your office, it is up to you to ensure network security best practices are known and upheld. If you think your business data safeguards aren’t enough, contact Great Lakes Computer. We can assess vulnerabilities and get you the protection you need.

July 19, 2017 By Bob Martin

Restaurant POS Terminal Business Continues to Boom Globally

POS System Restaurant Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems are no longer the simple registers of days old. The new systems integrate mobile devices, assist with inventory and staff management, and operate in the cloud. McDonald’s is even introducing a POS with a customer facing interface allowing customers to input their own orders. With the new trend towards quick service dining, or fast casual, an outdated system that slows down the checkout process could impact your bottom line. A recent report tells us just how big the restaurant POS Terminal business is in 2017.

According to a report on PRNewswire

The global restaurant POS terminal market is expected to reach USD 24.7 billion by 2025

The growing demand for POS system among the restaurant operators for billing and management solution such as inventory management, cost management, labor management is a major factor that is expected to drive the market growth.

Cloud-based POS systems are projected to gain traction over the forecast period owing to the benefits such as the ability to access real-time, enterprise-wide restaurant data from web-enabled devices. Moreover, to this, the cloud-based POS system quickly meet the PCI compliance as all data is stored on the cloud which makes it a suitable option for the restaurant owner.

The front-end application segment holds the largest share of restaurant POS terminal market in 2016 and is expected to reach over USD 15 billion by 2025. The quick service restaurant (QSR) is one of the largest segment of the food service industry. The QSRs are facing high competitions within the food service industry from fast casual, casual and full-service restaurant.

Additionally, there is high pressure on the QSR owner to provide faster service at the comparatively low price. The restaurant POS system helps these operators in order management, improving inventory buying decision, staff management, increase customer satisfaction with faster payment processing and others.

If you are running a great new lunch spot, but it takes ten minutes to pay for it, you’re going to lose sales. A great customer experience can be wrecked in the blink of an eye with a poor Point-of-Sale (POS) System interaction. Ensure your customers’ expectations are being exceeded by keeping your POS up-to-date and running smoothly.

July 14, 2017 By Bob Martin

Move Over Ransomware, Wiperware Is Coming to Town

malware We’ve talked a lot about ransomware this year. The WannaCry attack was certainly the most notable, recently. Ransomware is a nasty piece of code that takes your system hostage until you pay the hacker whatever they demand. Then, most people assume, you get the pass key and regain control. However, it’s often advised to not pay the ransom because there’s little guarantee that the data will be released and you just empower the attackers to keep it up. It’s a pretty mean trick, but there’s a worse one: Wiperware.

On June 28th, the world got its first major viewing of wiperware in the form of a virus called Petya. While, initially, it was reported that the Petya virus was ransomware, it turned out the ransomware claim was just to garner media attention and there was a much bleaker intent than holding data hostage. The objective was to permanently wipe as many hard drives as possible on infected networks. The attack infected thousands of systems across the world, including massive multi-national corporations like Maersk, Rosneft and Merck.

How does it work?

The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (USCERT) said the “Petya variant encrypts the victim’s files with a dynamically generated, 128-bit key and creates a unique ID of the victim. However, there is no evidence of a relationship between the encryption key and the victim’s ID, which means it may not be possible for the attacker to decrypt the victim’s files even if the ransom is paid.”

How to prevent an attack:

- Scan all incoming and outgoing emails to detect threats and filter executable files from reaching the end users.
- Ensure anti-virus and anti-malware solutions are set to automatically conduct regular scans.
- Manage the use of privileged accounts. Implement the principle of least privilege. No users should be assigned administrative access unless absolutely needed. Those with a need for administrator accounts should only use them when necessary.
- Configure access controls including file, directory, and network share permissions with least privilege in mind. If a user only needs to read specific files, they should not have write access to those files, directories, or shares.
- Disable macro scripts from Microsoft Office files transmitted via email. Consider using Office Viewer software to open Microsoft Office files transmitted via email instead of full Office suite applications.
- Develop, institute, and practice employee education programs for identifying scams, malicious links, and attempted social engineering.
- Run regular penetration tests against the network, no less than once a year. Ideally, run these as often as possible and practical.
- Test your backups to ensure they work correctly upon use.
- Utilize host-based firewalls and block workstation-to-workstation communications.
- Ensure anti-virus software is up-to-date.
- Implement a data backup and recovery plan to maintain copies of sensitive or proprietary data in a separate and secure location. Backup copies of sensitive data should not be readily accessible from local networks.
- Scrutinize links contained in emails, and do not open attachments included in unsolicited emails.
- Only download software—especially free software—from sites you know and trust.
- Enable automated patches for your operating system and Web browser.

How Great Lakes Computer Corporation can help.

There is no guaranteed solution to prevent data theft and malware. Hackers are coming up with new variants on old attacks everyday. However, you can decrease the likelihood of an attack by making it harder to gain access to your data. The biggest weakness in your security will always be your staff. Read our article 8 Network Security Best Practices Your Staff Needs to Know for some helpful tips.

Great Lakes Computer offers a wide range of services that can help safegaurd your data from remote server monitoring to cloud computing to antivirus software to data backup and recovery. We have also partnered with proven providers of services like digital forensics and cyber liablity insurance to ensure our clients have all the tools they need to prevent, detect, remediate, and recover from attacks on their systems. We can help you build the strongest defense possible.

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A Modern Office and the Integration of the Cloud