April 2020 - The BSS Advisor Page 1

www.bssconsulting.com

April 2020

THE BSS

Business System Solutions

Monthly Newsletter

Lafayette Office 1211 Cumberland Avenue West Lafayette IN, 47906 (765) 742-3440

Business System Solutions is your

IT Partner providing

Total Care support for all your

technology needs. We provide

exceptional Customer Service and

the best IT Solutions to make your

business more productive and

profitable!

Hackers Targeting People Seeking Coronavirus Information On Health Sites

Some people just want to watch the world

burn. That seems to be the reason behind

the recent attacks on the US Health and

Human Services Department website,

which serves as a clearinghouse for

information relating to the Coronavirus

outbreak.

As the virus has spread, more and more

people have been heading to the HHS.gov

website for news, advice and information.

The hackers, seeing this, decided it would

be great fun to bring the site down. As

such, an as yet unknown group decided

to launch a DDoS (denial of service) attack

against it.

Fortunately, the attack didn’t have the

desired effect, as reported by Bloomberg.

When their original plan didn’t bear

fruit, the hackers shifted gears and

began spreading rumors of a national

US quarantine and causing the hashtag

#quarantine to spike. Things got so bad

that the National Security Council (NSC)

sent out a tweet in an attempt to quash

the rumor. The NSC stated emphatically

that there is no national lockdown

and that any text or tweet bearing the

hashtag #quarantine was spreading

disinformation.

Sadly, this has become an increasingly

common occurrence. Hackers around

the world are taking advantage of the

Coronavirus in a variety of ways. They’re

sometimes offering what appears to be

health advisories that appear to come

from legitimate sources in order to get

malware installed on target systems.

In other cases, nefarious groups are

offering to sell masks or miracle cures

and collecting payment information

from people desperate for those things.

Naturally, once the payment information

has been collected, no mask or cure is

actually sent. Of course, the hopeful

person who placed the order has to spend

the next year or so of his or her life dealing

with the fallout of identity theft.

Worst of all, we can expect to see a lot

more of this as the pandemic grinds on.

Make sure the people who report to you

are aware and stay vigilant.

ADVISOR

Kokomo Office 3138 S Lafountain Street Kokomo, IN 46902 (765) 507-9583

info@bssconsulting.com

Proverbs 12:24Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in

forced labor.

April 2020 - The BSS AdvisorPage 2

Contest Corner | Monthly Trivia Win a $10 Gift Card

This Big 10 school in Indiana kicked off in 1869, named for one of its early financial supporters

A) What is Indiana University B) What is Wabash College C) What is Purdue University D) What is Lincoln Tech The winner will be selected randomly from all correct trivia entries. To submit your answer, email jeff@bssconsulting.com

Last month’s question was: This restaurateur was born Sept 9, 1890 in Indiana, not Kentucky, & his title was honorary. The correct answer was A) Colonel Sanders. Congratulations to Anita J. for being drawn as the winner!

Over 1 Billion Android Devices No Longer Get Security UpdatesAccording to the latest statistics, there are more than 2.5 billion Android devices in use around the world. That’s a lot of devices by any reckoning. According to statistics gathered by Consumer Watchdog Which?, more than a billion of those devices are no longer receiving security updates.

That is scary. That puts an awful lot of devices at grave risk.

The reason is much simpler than you might expect. According to Google’s data, some 40 percent of the Android devices in use today are running Android 6 or earlier. Those versions of the operating system are out of support and no longer getting security updates at all.

It begs the question then, what version of the Android OS are you running.? If you don’t know, it pays to pull your phone out right now, go into your system settings and find out. If you’re running 6.0 or earlier, it’s well past time for an upgrade.

When smartphones first came out, people traded up to the latest and greatest model every year. These days, that’s much less common. People are simply holding onto their phones for significantly longer periods of time than they used to. That’s having the side effect that long before they

upgrade, their phone stops getting security updates, which puts them and their data at increased risk.

It’s something most people just don’t think much about, sadly. If you’re in that camp, we urge you to check your phone right now while you’re still thinking about it. If you’re running an

older version of the operating system, download the latest and greatest, which is Android 10.

Nobody thinks they’ll ever be the victim of identity theft until it happens, and by then, of course, it’s much too late. Check your phone. You’ll be glad you did.

Report Stolen Smart PhonesThe major wireless service providers, in coordination with the FCC, have established a stolen phone database. If your phone is stolen, you should report the theft to your local law enforcement authorities and then register the stolen phone with your wireless provider. This will provide notice to all the major wireless service providers that the phone has been stolen and will allow for remote “bricking” of the phone so that it cannot be activated on any wireless network without your permission.

April 2020 - The BSS Advisor Page 3

Crank Up The Communication While Working Remotely At Home

Coronavirus or not, the key to working from home is clear communication with your boss – and knowing exactly what’s expected of you.

“Have really clear-set expectations for communications day to day,” says Barbara Larson, a professor of management at Northeastern University in Boston who studies remote working. “Ask [your manager] if they don’t mind having a 10-minute call to kick off the day and wrap up the day. Often times, managers just haven’t thought of it.”

Most people spend their days in close proximity to their boss, meaning communication is easy and effortless. But that’s all out the window with remote work, and communication breakdown is even more likely if your workplace isn’t used to remote working. Your manager might not be used to managing people virtually, for example, or your company might not have a ready-to-go suite of tools for remote workers, like the chat app Slack or video conferencing app Zoom, Larson says.

FUN FACTS

There are now just two countries in the world where Coca-Cola cannot be bought or sold - at least, not officially. They are Cuba and North Korea, which are both under long-term US trade embargoes (Cuba since 1962 and North Korea since 1950

It might seem safe to assume that the Canary Islands were named after canary birds, but the location was actually named after dogs. Although it’s off the coast of northwestern Africa, the archipelago is actually part of Spain. In Spanish, the area’s name is Islas Canarias, which comes from the Latin phrase Canariae Insulae for “island of dogs.”

The flag of Nicaragua features a rainbow in the center that includes a band of purple, while the flag of Dominica boasts a picture of a sisserou parrot, a bird with purple feathers. These elements make them the only two flags in the world that use the color purple.

Tokyo is the world’s largest city with 37 million inhabitants.

But even for those accustomed to it, working from home can feel unstructured and isolating. Last year, a study of 2,500 remote workers by online brand development agency Buffer found that loneliness was the second-most reported challenge, one experienced by 19% of respondents. Loneliness can make people feel less motivated and less productive.

So when you do communicate with your boss and team from home, it helps if as much of it as possible can be “richer” communication that’s face-to-face and instant, Larson says: video calls, Skype, Zoom, Teams.

“Out of sight, out of mind can be a real problem for remote workers,” says Sara Sutton, CEO and founder of FlexJobs, a remote job listing site. “The very best remote workers will reach out to coworkers and managers regularly” through a variety of tools.

1211 CUMBERLAND AVENUE WEST LAFAYETTE, IN 47906

PHONE: (765) 742-3440

EMAIL: INFO@BSSCONSULTING.COM

BSS ADVISORTHE

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

• Hackers Targeting People Searching For Information on Health Sites

• Over 1 Billion Android Devices No Longer Getting Security Updates

• Crank Up The Communication While Working Remotely From Home

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YOUR TOTAL IT PARTNER

WEEKLY SECURITY TIPS

Because IT security is such an IMPORTANT topic, we’ve put together a series of weekly IT security tips to show you and your employees how to drastically reduce your chances of being a victim of cyber crime.

These weekly emails - and the strategies they contain - could save you from getting your bank account wiped out, getting your clients’ personal information stolen, losing critical data and having your systems down for extended periods of time (not to mention the bad PR), and civil or criminal lawsuits and fines that can result from a data breach.

Every week we’ll focus on a single, simple thing you can do to avoid a data breach. Sign up by visiting the link below.

www.bssconsulting.com/tips

“Business System Solutions keeps us worry free. I am confident in knowing that our data and its transmission is secure, our systems have off site backups, we don’t get viruses, and we are never down or offline. When we call BSS a real person answers the phone and any issues we have get solved immediately”

-Ken Thompson, Saint Anthony Rehabilitation & Nursing Center

MAY 20-21 8AM-5PM

Electronic WasteRecycling Drive

All items are free to recycle EXCEPT old CRT Monitors and Box TV’s are $10 each (cash only).

Some of the items we are able to accept include:

• Batteries (any kind or size)• Cables• Cameras• Cell Phones• Computers (any type)• Computer Monitors• Consumer Electronics Equipment

• DVD Players• Network Equipment• Phones• Radios• Remotes• & much, much more

We are unable to accept light bulbs, wood, furniture, paint, or chemicals.

For more information and a full list of electronics accepted for recycling, please visit www.bssconsulting.com/ewaste

Our recycling drive was originally scheduled for April 29-30 but has now been rescheduled to May 20-21.