Review twice, Implement once. Doing IT right the first time.

October 2014

Innovations

A good backup strategy needs to have several components to it: Consistently and reliably run every day Include a complete image backup of your system in the process Have the backup data stored locally for quick restoration Have the backup data offsite in case of a facility disaster Run automatically without your intervention Daily notification of success or failure of backup

If you are missing any of these components, you are at risk of missed backups and lost data. And if you think lost data is not important, just imagine your reaction if you lost all your emails and contacts? What if your accounting data were to disappear? 93% of companies that lost their data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster and 50% filed for bankruptcy immediately (Source: National Archives & Records Administration in Washington). If BSSi2 did not setup your backup solution, let us take a look at it so you can know what risk, if any, you have. As a service to our clients, I wanted to make sure their cloud backups were safe. So I took a visit to one of our cloud providers on a recent visit to Alaska. I am glad to report that backups are running on a continual basis and safely making it into the cloud. As to be expected, the more you have, the longer it takes to move in and out of the cloud. But be assured, it is in fact moving quite well.

Backup of Your Data — Do You Know Where Your Data Is? The Lighter Side… This could be us …

Hospital regulations require a wheel chair for patients being discharged. However, while working as a student nurse, I found one elderly gentleman already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet, who insisted he didn't need my help to leave the hospital. After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly let me wheel him to the elevator. On the way down I asked him if his wife was meeting him. 'I don't know,' he said. 'She's still upstairs in the bathroom changing out of her hospital gown.' —————–-—————————- Morris, an 82 year-old man, went to the doctor to get a physical. A few days later, the doctor saw Morris walking down the street with a gorgeous young woman on his arm. A couple of days later, the doctor spoke to Morris and said, 'You're really doing great, aren't you?' Morris replied, 'Just doing what you said, Doc: 'Get a hot mamma and be cheerful.'' The doctor said, 'I didn't say that.. I said, 'You've got a heart murmur; be careful.'

BSSi2, www.bssi2.com, 847-551-4626, sbernstein@bssi2.com

Page 2

Innovations

BSSi2, www.bssi2.com, 847-551-4626, sbernstein@bssi2.com

Could The Dog Days Of Summer Be

A Threat To Your Business? How To Ensure The Heat Doesn’t Fry Your Server

(And Your Profits!)

With the “dog days” of summer upon us, most business owners are looking for ways to keep their company’s sales and profits HOT, while keeping their IT expenses COOL. But if proper attention is not given to your server and network equipment during the summer, all that heat outside can actually bring your company’s growth to a grinding halt and increase your IT expenses significantly. Excess heat can be a big problem for small to mid-sized business servers, since a server that becomes overheated usually costs more in energy, fails more often and is more likely to crash. For most companies, a server crash can mean hours or days of downtime, unproductive employees, HUGE amounts of stress and thousands of dollars in lost opportunity.

“7 Steps Every Business Owner Must Take To Prevent A Server Crash”

Here are a few simple things you can do to prevent your server and network equipment from overheating and crashing this summer:

1. Tidy up the server room; a neater room will increase airflow.

2. Keep the doors to the server room closed and seal off the space.

3. Make sure cold air reaches all the equipment.

4. Have a redundant A/C that is specifically designed for computers.

5. Buy a rack enclosure where the cooling is built into the bottom of the rack.

6. Keep the temperature at no more than 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

7. Consider virtualization or cloud computing so that you are generating a lower amount of heat in the first place.

Warning: If You Are Using WordPress For

Your Company Website, There Is A 73%

Chance Your Site Is Vulnerable To Be

Hackers are crazy busy right now, and WordPress websites are their favorite target! So far this year, hackers have broken every record to date. In 2012, there were roughly 192,000 WordPress sites worldwide. In March 2014 alone, a single hacker used 162,000 hacked WordPress websites in just one single attack. A recent study by EnableSecurity concluded that 73% of the 40,000 most popular websites that use WordPress software are vulnerable to attack. WordPress is the most popular blogging and content management system in the world and powers 1 out of every 5 websites. The main culprit in these vulnerabilities is violating the first rule of WordPress security - not running the most up to date version of WordPress. In fact, if you’re not running the very latest version of WordPress, then the chances that your site is vulnerable to any hackers using simple, free automated tools.

Here are 5 quick tips on keeping your WordPress website secure:

1. Always run the very latest version of WordPress.

2. Be conservative in your selection of plugins and themes (and run the latest versions of these).

3. Make sure every user has their own strong password.

4. Put a Web Application Firewall (WAF) in front of your website.

5. Force logins and admin access to use HTTPS.

October 2014

There’s much to remember to be a successful leader. Sometimes

leaders get so busy and engrossed with day-to-day operations that they forget some critical activities. Here are 5 items that need to be on your leadership agenda: 1. Grow a replacement. Your employer can’t promote you until they have someone to replace you. You can’t move up in the organization if you’re the only one who can do that job where you’re at right now. And if you’re the top boss, you can’t let succession planning languish or the fate of your entire organization hangs in the balance. 2. Anticipate problems. Most problems simmer on the back burner before they start to boil over. Like a professional pilot, you’ve got to be scanning all your instruments and the horizon to make sure you don’t get slammed by a potential problem (or at least be completely ready for the problems you can’t avoid). 3. Exploit opportunities. Most leaders know what (and who) is wrong, but they become oblivious to opportunities. Who are the star performers who need recognition and development? What are the great opportunities just waiting to be seized? It isn’t simply positive/negative thinking: it is about being as focused on the good and opportunistic as you are on the bad and problematic. 4. Change before it is necessary. We all know about the power of disruption and its potential to ruin us. Why do we wait until the last moment to change? Why not preempt? Staying successful isn’t based on your ability to change: it is based on your ability to change faster than your competitors, the needs of your customers and the demands of the marketplace. If you have to change just to keep up, you’ve lost whatever competitive advantage you could have enjoyed by changing sooner. 5. Stay relevant. What does it even mean to be relevant? Relevancy is about being closely connected: your colleagues, your customer and vendors, and your marketplace. You are deemed relevant when others believe you affect them and their success, and that therefore you and your work matter. In business, customers make the evaluation as to a firm’s relevance. What are you doing to stay up-to-date and salient about what matters most to those you lead and serve? With so much to do, you need to keep a clear and up-to-date agenda of the truly important things you consistently need to do. To work without an agenda - and forget to the 5 things—puts you at risk as a leader.

5 THINGS LEADERS FORGET TO DO THAT PUT THEM AT RISK

How To Stop Cyberbullying

Page 3

BSSi2, www.bssi2.com, 847-551-4626, sbernstein@bssi2.com

When I went to school, the biggest threat on the playground was getting roughed up by the class bully who was twice as big and twice as hairy as every other kid on the block. (What WERE his parents feeding him?) But cyberbullying is something very different. Cyberbullying is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides because once adults become involved, it is plain and simple cyber-harassment or cyber-stalking. Turns out digital devices and the web make it much easier for a bully to harass someone; the anonymity and use of social-media sites often make them bolder than they would be in a face-to-face confrontation, and give them more opportunities to badger their target. As a parent, this is just another good reason why you should be monitoring your child’s PC and cell phone, as well as their Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat and other social-media site usage. Most social-media sites have a way for you to report this type of abuse and get violators and hateful commentary taken down from their sites. If your child becomes the target, you can try to get your school involved, but many schools have been shot down, even sued, for trying to interfere. If the abuse becomes physical, sexual or threatens physical or sexual harm, call the police. The schools aren’t equipped to handle that level of abuse. The police are.

Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE, is president of Sanborn

& Associates, Inc., an idea studio dedicated to

developing leaders in business and in life. Mark is an

international best-selling author and noted authority

on leadership, team-building, customer service and

change. Mark is the author of 8 books, including the

best seller The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your

Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into the

Extraordinary, which has sold more than 1.6 million

copies internationally.

Learn more about Mark at www.marksanborn.com

October 2014

35 Aztec Court

South Barrington, IL 60010

(847) 551-4626

www.bssi2.com

“We make all of your

computer problems go

away without the cost of

a full-time I.T. staff”

Review twice, Implement once. Doing IT right the first time.

Inquiring Minds...

Smart Phone App Of The Month

www.spothero.com

Parking in downtown Chicago is a pricey ordeal. Every get away paying under $25 for 3 or more hours? I don’t remember it, unless I get to a parking lot very early in the morning . And that is assuming you find a parking lot near where you want to go. Search no more. SpotHero is the app for you.

BSSi2 (847) 551-4626 www.bssi2.com

Feel like your computer is out of gas? Having network issues

that are delaying your daily operations? Give our IT professionals

a call today for your FREE Network Assessment. We will

inventory your current technology, check network security,

review your back-up solution and deliver a report including

outstanding issues and possible solutions. It’s amazing how a

simple review of your current operations can reveal cost and

time saving opportunities.

Claim your

FREE Network Assessment today!

SpotHero

The app uses your location to find the closest and least expensive spot near your destination. You even have the option to prepay for parking from your phone. Here is how it works. When going downtown, enter your destination and get a instant list of parking options, with their cost. No more endless driving looking for the right parking lot. You can even use SpotHero for monthly parking. They limit the number of spots sold each month so if you have a standing reservation, you should always have a place to park. SpotHero is not just in Chicago. It is currently in 8 cities and I have no doubt more will follow.