With cybercrime growing more and more sophisticated, having a robust email security program in place is mandatory.

There are several ways to approach email security, each with different benefits for small-to-medium sized businesses.

If you are looking for an email security program for your DC-area company, take a look at the options below and call Solvere One at (202) 905-2722 to learn more.

Email Encryption for Business

Encryption prevents emails from being accessed by anyone other than the sender and intended recipient.

You can use an encryption program to only encrypt messages that have specific content (attached files, personally identifiable information, etc.). Another option is to encrypt all of your outgoing email.

The challenge for most small-to-medium sized businesses is that encryption software can be complicated to the point of becoming a hindrance to efficient communication. This is why Solvere One encourages clients to apply a user-friendly email security program like Encryptics for Email.

Making Email Encryption Easy

Encryptics for Email can be used with Microsoft Outlook to secure communication with all recipients and senders. A simple software download is all that is needed for outside parties to have their replies encrypted. This program also allows you to subject your sent messages to certain protocols—like disallowing printing, forwarding, copying, and saving.

Companies whose employees work via mobile device or remote office can use Encryptics for Email just as easily, as also protects mobile communication and can function as the data security component of a broader Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution.

Email Security for DC, Maryland, and Virginia Businesses

Solvere One can help you determine what level and style of email security is right for your company or organization. Contact us for effective email security solutions!

More Network Security Solutions from Solvere One

• Virus and firewall protection and monitoring for business
• Secure instant messaging
• Content filtering

Get a free network security review from Solvere One!

The IoT, as it’s referred to, is expanding rapidly and is expected to reach far beyond watches that track our health stats and thermostats that learn our comfort levels. The IoT is in cars, hospital equipment, shoes, cash registers, trains, and on and on. We are finding new ways to connect things, collect their data, harvest that data, and feed it to other things. So what does this mean for you and your business?

The Internet of Opportunities

Businesses need to figure out how to translate this hyper-connectivity to the customer experience. The move to the cloud is intrinsic to the IoT. This means less hardware, more data, and easier customization.

To take advantage of this pivot, ask yourself these questions:

• Can your offerings be purchased via subscription? The rise of the subscription model will continue to influence how consumers view commerce and convenience. The sale of physical products will decrease in importance as services become more and more prominent. More and more, your revenue will come from the services you offer.
• Can everyone in your company get the data they need? The IoT will bombard your business with information. But unless you know how to organize and distribute that info to the right people on your team, it won’t help your business grow. You’ve got to have the business intelligence in place to make it work.
• Are you ready to educate your staff? The growth of the IoT will be fast and inconstant. The learning curve might look like a roller coaster. In order to keep your team engaged and informed, you’ll need to place a high priority on training. Encourage your people to keep their eyes on emerging trends.
• Are you willing to re-up your security? All connected devices can be hacked. The IoT requires a security force field and an ever-present vigilance. If you can’t put the most secure measures in place, you won’t be able to compete.
• Have you embraced the cloud? The IoT doesn’t work without cloud computing. If your company has been hesitant to make the move to the cloud, it’s time to rethink your resistance. The cloud makes it possible for your company to adapt quickly, take on more capacity, and offer more options to your customers—all at a lower cost, as additional physical infrastructure is no longer necessary.

Roll with the Changes: The Internet of Things Is Now

If you think your business could benefit from the impending ubiquity of the Internet of Things, the time to get on board is now.

Need a solid IT team to lead the effort? Solvere One is ready to take on the challenge. Call us at (202) 905-2722 or contact us online to learn more about our IT support services.

When businesses start thinking about moving to the cloud, their first concern is typically “is the cloud secure enough?” It’s an important consideration.

A few years ago, many IT experts insisted that no, the cloud was not secure. But the technology has advanced quickly, and so have the needs and attitudes of business owners and managers.

Data Security No Matter Where the Data Is

If you or your management team is skeptical of the cloud’s security, you may want to assess your on-site system’s security. Is everything there as secure as it could be? (You can find out by taking advantage of our free network security review.) Chances are, your data might be more secure in the cloud.

Best Practices for Cloud Security

Cloud security, when done correctly, is incredibly robust. Make sure your cloud provider is fully implementing the following:

• Antivirus and intrusion detection solutions
• Application firewall
• Attack mitigation tools for DDoS attacks
• Content delivery network
• Firewall segregating environments
• Intrusion detection tools
• Log correlation
• New generation firewall

For cloud-based email:

• Anti-spam and antivirus protections
• Creation of specific rules for blocking
• Data leak control
• Email monitoring

Your code must also be secured, and you must have a strictly-adhered-to access management policy in place.

What Does the Cloud Offer Small Businesses?

The cloud is:

• Elastic– Cloud computing services are completely elastic. You can pay for as much or as little service as you need—making your IT department more cost-efficient.
• On-Demand– Cloud computing services are delivered to you and billed on demand.
• Fully Managed– Solvere One manages your cloud services, meaning less demand for your in-house IT department.

Cloud computing services have revolutionized the way companies are doing business. IT departments leveraging cloud services can provide superior IT support with lower costs, increased accessibility, and more flexibility.

Learn more about cloud services and cloud security. Call Solvere One at (202) 905-2722 with questions—we are here to help.

The term “web-scale IT” has been batted around among tech insiders in the recent aughts. It was put into official parlance in May of last year by information technology research juggernaut Gartner, who named it as one of the top IT trends for 2015.

So what is this concept and what does it mean for business IT? Web-scale IT is “all of the things happening at large cloud services firms such as Google, Amazon, Rackspace, Netflix, Facebook, etc., that enables them to achieve extreme levels of service delivery as compared to many of their enterprise counterparts,” says Gartner’s vice president of research, Cameron Haight. He goes on to lay out the six elements of web-scale IT:

1. Industrial data centers
2. Web-oriented architectures
3. Programmable management
4. Agile processes
5. Collaborative organization style
6. Learning culture

How Small to Mid-Size Businesses Can Benefit from Web-Scale IT

For smaller businesses competing with corporate entities, embracing web-scale IT can help them be more agile and proactive. For instance, cloud computing can help a company be more available to its clients and provide more useful and flexible services. The cloud lays the foundation for a system that allows employees to communicate, collaborate, and serve customers across multiple platforms.

Haight explains how smaller companies can use some of the elements of web-scale IT to their benefit. “Through a mixture of cloud services and in-house equipment that is right for their organization, a Web-scale approach can turn IT into a tangible competitive advantage for smaller companies in the way it has for internet giants. Web-scale techniques are applicable to organizations of many sizes, and can be adapted to support a wide range of business outcomes.”

Cloud computing can be a game changer in retail. Imagine doing what Apple does in its stores—completing customer transactions via mobile device so that no one has to wait in line. Web-scale IT is making that possible even for small businesses.

When you can respond faster to customer needs, you can start taking advantage of opportunities to grow your business in ways you may have thought impossible before.

Small Biz Web-Scale IT Starts with the Cloud

If your company isn’t on board with cloud computing, you may be missing out on the chance to use web-scale IT to broaden your business horizons. To learn more about the cloud for small business, contact Solvere One.

Smartphone Security Risks

Smartphones, with all their convenience and utility, are at high risk for data breach. Common risks include:

• Physical theft – Even Apple employees leave their phones—even prototype iPhones!—unattended long enough to get stolen. When a phone’s data isn’t properly encrypted, a thief, no matter how tech-savvy, can access not only the phone owner’s personal information, but company data including emails, documents, and more.
• Data theft from discarded phones – When someone gets a new phone, it’s typically easy to transfer data from their old phone to the new model. But it’s not as simple to completely erase, or wipe, data from the old phone. When data isn’t properly removed and destroyed, it is up for grabs to anyone who gets access to the device.
• Unintentional or unknowing disclosure – Smartphone apps and location services can gain access to a lot of a phone or phone user’s information. Your employee may not realize how much access they are allowing when they download an app or upload a photo while using location services.
• Phishing – It happens on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones—phishing. If an employee isn’t knowledgeable about phishing scams, an attacker can access and collect a great deal of data.

How to Keep Employee Smartphones Safe

• Require employees to use a password, PIN, or other means to control access to their phones. Encourage them to change the password often and keep it secret.
• Consider requiring employees to install anti-malware and anti-virus on their phones.
• Have your IT support set up SSL VPN access to company systems. When you establish a Secure Socket Layer virtual private network (SSL VPN), it will encrypt smartphone traffic while in transit between the device and the company network.
• Ask your IT support team what the best wireless security measures are and have those measures in place.
• If you issue company smartphones to employees, consider using device identification technology, which assigns a unique number to each phone and allows your IT support team to remotely disable the device if necessary.
• Encourage your employees to only download applications from trusted sources, such as their phone service providers’ app stores.

Your IT Support Can Help Protect Smartphone Data

Stay productive and secure with wireless security from your trusted IT support team. To learn more about employee smartphone security and best practices for your business, call Solvere One at (202) 905-2722.