Just this past week, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) reported that a federal agency was hit with a malware attack from an unknown source. This proves that even federal agencies can have vulnerabilities. The attack first started with a set of an internal user’s Office 365 credentials.

On Monday, September 21, a number of our i3 employees received a seemingly harmless email from Microsoft. It looked like this:

Mike Ritsema, after seeing the email, forwarded it to our security training professional, Benny, and asked to confirm if it was part of a security test for the week.

 

We all make mistakes. It’s a fact of life. But as we all know, some mistakes can have serious and lasting consequences – especially when it comes to business, cyber security, and the constant cyber threats that are out there.

While some businesses have invested heavily in cyber security, many have not.

Last week week, the Family Business Alliance featured i3's President and Principal, Mike Ritsema, on their #FamilyFocus podcast. Take a few minutes to listen in on Mike's story today:

0:33 Introduction of i3 Business Solutions

1:53 i3 and working with family

2:40 How COVID-19 has affected i3 Business Solutions

3:48 What types of customers i3 serves

4:11 What types of IT services we provide

5:23 i3's values and community involvement

9:00 Three mandates for business and cybersecurity

13:05 How the i3 team stay connected during COVID-19

15:06 Last thoughts and advice to owning a family business

Family Business Alliance · #Family Focus with i3BusinessSolutions
If you'd like to get to know i3 Business Solutions, reach out to us here to schedule a 15-minute consultation.

The remote office: what i3 Business Solutions has learned
When the pandemic first struck us in March, did your business have a disaster recovery plan? Who would have thought that a physical virus would have interrupted business operations? While everyone's office buildings were completely intact, employees were forced to go remote in a matter of days.

A few days ago...

A regular employee with good intentions went about her day and wired close to $400,000 to a real estate renovation project. Little did she know that she had sent it to a email phishing scammer.

The money belonged to Barbara Corcoran,

New York Real Estate genius and Shark Tank host.

 

You might read the headline of this article and think, “That has to be an exaggeration.” Unfortunately, it’s not. Every single day, small businesses are targeted by cybercriminals. These criminals look for vulnerable victims, then attack.

 

We all know how easy it is to cut corners in business; we’ve all done it somewhere. But we also know we shouldn’t. You’ll eventually have to face the consequences, whether they’re small or large. The same applies to IT. When you cut corners, the consequences to your business can be major.