Here’s how!  A look at some of the upcoming SEO trends for 2017 With 2017 already underway, it’s important to know what SEO trends are going to successfully push your business into 2018. As 2016 did bring in some new changes to the usual SEO marketing tactics, 2017 is looking to tweak those changes a bit more. So to make matters easier for you, we’ve put together a list of the top SEO trends that your business should consider utilizing in 2017. Mobile First Indexing – Mobile continues to dominate the marketing world, and 2017 is no different. Since desktop searches were surpassed by mobile searches in 2015, there has been no signs of the mobile market slowing down. Google is well aware of the popularity mobile devices have and wants to make sure that more sites are mobile friendly, which made their mobile first index plans inevitable. Google’s mobile indexing puts mobile responsive website versions before desktop versions, which then converts into how the site is placed in search results. If your site happens to be mobile friendly, have no fear; If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, it’s time to get your site up to date in the next few months. Video Content – Facebook is claiming that video will be the primary type of content by 2020, so there’s no better time than now to jump on the bandwagon. With written content currently remaining the norm for sharing information, many businesses have added video content to see what their customers respond to. For example, Google has started to experiment with video advertisements in search results. What does this mean for your business? Well, creating videos such as Q&As, tutorials, or webinars on your website wouldn’t be such a bad idea when planning for the future. Voice Searches – With the mobile market only growing, voice searching is quickly becoming the new norm for searching. Between teens using voice searches on a daily basis and adults enjoying voice search capabilities, it’s safe to say voice searches are here to stay. As far as your business and voice searches are concerned, it’s important to re-format your headlines into questions so your service can be found whenever a potential customer utilizes their voice search engine for an answer. Structured Data – Structured data is incredibly important in the SEO world. If you want your business to be universally understood, you need to make sure that your information/data is structured. Long story short, structured data helps search engines understand websites easier – which gives sites better search ranks. So if you plan on making 2017 your breakthrough year, utilizing these marketing tips is the best way to make it happen. Thankfully, {company} is here to make it happen if you’re still feeling a bit lost in {city}. If you’re one of the many who wants to kick off their 2017 in high gear, don’t hesitate to contact us at {phone} or {email} today!

Ransomware was one of the most successful vectors for cyber attacks in 2016. Cyber security experts predict it will continue during 2017. What can business and private citizens do to keep themselves safe online? Cyber security experts predict it will continue during 2017. What can business and private citizens do to protect themselves online? “Ransomware is going to continue to be a major problem and, in fact, will probably get worse in 2017.”…USA Today, Jan. 3, 2017 Anyone concerned about security and having just returned from a year’s sabbatical in the Himalayas may not have heard about ransomware. Everyone else knows that ransomware is a sophisticated denial of service attack. The victim opens an innocent looking email attachment or clicks on a link, at which point the attached malware encrypts the victim’s files. The hacker demands a ransom in exchange for (maybe) sending the encryption key to unlock the files. 2017 will see more attacks The attacks will undoubtedly continue. Criminals go where the money is, and, according to this piece on Business Insider, an especially sophisticated ransomware strain has resulted in $325 million in ransom payments. The ransomware business model Ransomware has characteristics of legitimate business practices. Harriet Taylor writing for CNBC.Com points out that the hackers “business plan” employs the following: Ransomware criminals go after “large markets with affluent customers.” Rather than lose valuable business files, the victims balance a moderate (and sometimes negotiable) ransom payment against the time and cost of restoring their system. The cyber criminals provide a product “with a clear value proposition.” The value is that returning the seized data “alleviates a particular pain point,” i.e., the stoppage of business. Like most successful entrepreneurs, ransomware hackers “act with agility and stealth.” They outwit their anti-malware competitor software through ever-changing tactics. They employ a “profit-sharing” strategy through a new twist known as Ransomware as a Service. Low-tech criminals subscribe to the service, entrap unwary victims, and give the original ransomware coders a cut of the take. Cyber self-protection in 2017 The USA Today piece mentioned above has some sensible advice on what everyone can do in the new year to avoid having their data kidnapped as well as to be more secure in cyberspace: Employ the first line of defense by remaining suspicious of unfamiliar email links or attachments. Also be wary of innocent looking online ads, which can also be planted and tainted with malware on the web. Remember that ransomware also targets individuals as well as businesses and public agencies. Everyone is at risk. Institute strong password practices; e.g., dual authentication, letter-number-symbol combinations, passphrases, etc. Always backup everything regularly on an off-line, external hard drive. For extra insurance invest in secure cloud backup services. Businesses need to go a few steps further The Department of Homeland Security also recommends a “commitment to cyber hygiene” along with best practices for protecting enterprise networks. In addition to backups, these methods include: a cybersecurity risk analysis for the organization staff training on cyber security patching vulnerable system software allowing only approved programs to run on the network a realistic and tested incident response plan an efficient and compliant business continuity plan testing the system by periodically attempting to hack into it Should victims pay the ransom? It is entirely up to the victim to decide whether paying the ransom is preferable to continuing the “pain” of business stoppage. However, the Department of Homeland Security cites “serious risks” to consider before paying a ransom demand: Payment of the ransom is no guarantee that the criminal will give back the data. Victims can be re-targeted after paying the first demand. Paying the initial demand could result in demand for a ransom increase. Ransom payments encourage the continuation of the ransomware business model. Looking for the best defense against cyber attacks? {company} is your {city} leader in cyber security. Contact us at {phone} or {email}.

Before you run anything through SQL Server 2016 for your Dynamics NAV database, make sure you update everything. Before you export a database to the .bacpac format, if you are using the SQL Server 2016 for your Dynamics NAV database, you need to make sure you are running the latest update from August 2016 or later. You should check with your Microsoft SQL Server Data-Tier Application Framework (DacFx) or SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). If you don’t you run the risk of exposing your system to a bug in the tools around SQL Server that Microsoft has located. The Error Message During one of their tests, Microsoft found out that the Dynamics NAV 2017 demo database couldn’t be exported to a .bacpac file. “c:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL Server130DACbinSqlPackage.exe” /Action:Export /TargetFile:nav-test.bacpac /SourceServerName:10.0.0.10 /SourceDatabaseName:”Demo Database NAV (10-0)” /SourceUser:sa /SourcePassword:blablabla Connecting to database ‘Demo Database NAV (10-0)’ on server ‘10.0.0.10’. Extracting schema Extracting schema from database Resolving references in schema model Validating schema model Validating schema model for data package Validating schema *** Error exporting database:One or more unsupported elements were found in the schema used as part of a data package. Error SQL71564: View: [dbo].[CRONUS International Ltd_$Service Shipment Buffer$VSIFT$0] contains a statement that is not supported on Microsoft Azure SQL Database v12. The specific error is: Incorrect syntax near “CRONUS International Ltd_$Service Shipment Buffer$VSIFT$0”. Error SQL71564: View: [dbo].[CRONUS International Ltd_$Calendar Entry$VSIFT$0] contains a statement that is not supported on Microsoft Azure SQL Database v12. The specific error is: Incorrect syntax near “CRONUS International Ltd_$Calendar Entry$VSIFT$0”. … They found that the view that had the erros in code was used for a SIFT index. They were not sure where exactly the problem was in the code but they had a hypothesis that it might be hidden in the .bacpac report. They then tested it by creating an empty database with a table and a view using the same syntax that was found in the view with the error. IF OBJECT_ID(N’id_v’, N’V’) IS NOT NULL DROP VIEW id_v GO DROP TABLE IF EXISTS id GO CREATE TABLE id(n int) GO CREATE VIEW id_v AS SELECT “abc”.n FROM dbo.id “abc” GO But this export still triggered the error. “c:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL Server130DACbinSqlPackage.exe” /Action:Export /TargetFile:nav-test.bacpac /SourceServerName:10.0.0.10 /SourceDatabaseName:dacpac-test /SourceUser:sa /SourcePassword:blablabla Connecting to database ‘dacpac-test’ on server ‘10.0.0.10’. Extracting schema Extracting schema from database Resolving references in schema model Validating schema model Validating schema model for data package Validating schema *** Error exporting database:One or more unsupported elements were found in the schema used as part of a data package. Error SQL71564: View: [dbo].[id2_v] contains a statement that is not supported on Microsoft Azure SQL Database v12. The specific error is: Incorrect syntax near “abc”. The error message indicated that the sqlpackage had a problem with quoted identifiers and Microsoft immediately contacted the SQL Server Team to report a bug. The team confirmed that this was, in fact, a bug and that it had been fixed in the July update of DacFx. If you haven’t already, you need to install the update. You can run this to get the latest update: Register-PackageSource -Name NuGet -Location https://www.nuget.org/api/v2 -Provider NuGet -Verbose Install-Package -Name Microsoft.SqlServer.DacFx.x64 -MinimumVersion 130.3485.1 -ProviderName NuGet -Force At {company}, we are always here to help. For more information about this and other issues you may be having, be sure to contact us in {city} by calling us at {phone} or emailing us at {email}.

Wow, 2016 is done already!  Where did the time go?  We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone as safe and happy new year this weekend.  See you all in 2017.

Bad outsourcing decisions are often the cause of damaging data breaches, learn how to minimize your company’s risks Arguably, the whole world is aware of the global issues of data breaches, from Wikileaks to Yahoo. The ramifications of once private or encrypted information falling into the public sphere has implications for individuals and businesses around the world. Trustwave, a digital security firm, has found that poor outsourcing decisions leads to at least two-thirds of data breaches. In 2013, the firm released a report linking third-party IT system providers or administrators to 63% of the 450 cases of global data breaches the company was investigating that year. The research points to weaknesses in third party IT support, maintenance and development that have been quickly exploited by computer hackers. This proves the need to make considered and researched decisions when choosing an IT service provider to outsource your business to. Often times businesses fail to fully understand the price of security risks that could impact on their operations, and they aren’t stringent enough in considering how third party suppliers might handle their sensitive data. Instead many consider the most economical provider that can deliver on the bottom line, but this could cause long term issues down the road in terms of protecting digital information. Many large Fortune 500 companies give consideration to digital security risks in their annual reports, but many companies fail to demonstrate this right down to the level of procurement and negotiation. It is also rare that IT security providers and managers are included in negotiation talks when signing off on IT service outsourcing. Most conversations revolve around price and service level agreements (SLAs) and fail to encompass security concerns. This can be improved upon by establishing protection expectations and searching for third party proposals that give consideration to your concerns. Asking critical questions is a great start, but it should be backed up with a full evaluation process that will properly collate information and confirm security claims in acknowledgement of your questions. This should be both backed up by paper-based evidence and conversations to ensure proper accordance to standards. Cutting corners with an IT service provider may seem like a wise short term decision, but in the long run, data breaches could cost vast amounts of time and money in the future. Third party providers do offer the benefit of specialist knowledge and servicing to properly handle your IT solutions, but a certain level of trust should be managed between your provider and your organization. Educating yourself on potential weaknesses will help you establish a preferred mode of working with your provider. Looking for third party verification that your provider is both honest and well informed on security methods is essential. If your organization deals with payments and card systems, your provider should be able to demonstrate evidence of PCI DSS (payment card industry data security standards) compliance by a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA). By understanding your risks and working to minimize breaches through smarter IT service provider selection you can help to safeguard your business from damaging data leaks in the long run.

Making sure you have the best practices in place to better protect your business from cyber attackers is necessary. These are the best practices around that will help you even when attacks change. Cyber security should be a major concern for any business. One of the most common attacks that is found today is ransomware. Ransomware is a type of attach that involves the lock down of files for a ransom. Once the ransom is paid, then the decryption key is provided. The problem is that these attacks is that it is not recommended that you provide any payment for your files and the payment is generally too expensive for companies to manage anyway. Instead, you should work on trying to increase your cyber security and your defenses against all kinds of cyber attacks. Back Up Your Files The best way to prevent these types of attacks from really affecting you is by backing up your data. That way, even if you do fall victim to a ransomware attack, you will still have all of your files available to you in a different and secure location. You will have your second copy and can ignore the attackers. You will not have to find the money to pay for the decryption key. You can simply go on about business as usual. You also need to schedule regular backups. If you have your files backed up but do not regularly back them up, then it will be useless to you. Depending on how often you files change, you may want to back them up weekly, daily, or hourly. Find something that works for your business and schedule regular backups to happen automatically. Educate Your Employees Phishing scams are emails that have infecting links that will allow attackers into your system. While you can put up defenses to keep these kinds of attacks at bay, you also need to take the precaution to educate your employees on what to look for so they can avoid failing victim to these attacks. Tell them what to look for and also educate them when new types of attacks are discovered. Keep Software and Operating Systems Updated While it may seem like it is a waste of time to go through and update your systems when prompted, it is always smart to do that as soon as possible. When systems are updated, it is usually because there is a patch that can help protect your business by fixing the vulnerability in the system. You do not want to leave these vulnerabilities open so encourage all employees to make these updates as soon as possible. Secure Personal Devices If you allow your employees to use personal devices for work, you need to take the time to develop a policy and a way to better protect all data that is used on these devices. You should only allow certain data to be reached and also encrypt the data. You should make sure all devices have a password set on them. You should also try to separate personal and corporate data as much as possible. For more information about how to protect your business in {city}, be sure to contact {company} by calling {phone} or by reaching out via email at {email}.

The largest breach in history was just discovered by Yahoo. While it is scary, these are the details you need to know and how you should move forward. Cyber attacks happen on a regular basis and we usually do not hear about them unless they are big or have affected many people in the process. Well, the biggest breach in history just happened to Yahoo. It is possible that up to one billion user accounts were affected, which is unprecedented. The Reveal of the Breach Yahoo revealed the breach on December 14th via Tumblr. They said that they believe the breach occurred in August of 2013. This is not the first time that Yahoo has experienced a breach. In fact, they had a data breach in 2014 but they believe that the two breaches are unrelated. Yahoo revealed the 2014 breach in September of this year and that breach is thought to only have affected 500 million accounts, half of what is expected with this latest breach. The discover of the 2014 breach did lead the company to discover this breach as part of the investigation. Yahoo believes that the attackers accessed their proprietary code and learned how to forge cookies so they could gain access to the system. The Information Believed to Have Been Taken There is a lot of information that can be placed in Yahoo accounts but the chief information security officer, Bob Lord, says he believes that quite a bit was taken during this breach. So far, they have been able to confirm that names, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, and even hashed passwords were taken. They have even found that it is possible that encrypted and unencrypted security questions and answers were accessed. The company does think that bank account information as well as payment data was not accessed because it is not stored within the same system. It is stored on its own separate system. What You Should Do Now Yahoo is contacting all of the affected account holders that they are aware of. However, even if you are not contacted by Yahoo, there are a few steps you should take to ensure your security. First, you should change your password on your Yahoo account and any other accounts that may have similar passwords. You should also update your security questions and answers on your Yahoo account and any others that may use the same ones. Keep an eye on all of your accounts for any suspicious activity. You should also beware of any communications that you have not initiated. They may come as an email, phone call, social media message, or other channel. If you do get unsolicited emails with links in them, do not click the links. You should never download any attachments unless you are 100 percent sure they are secure and you know where they are coming from. This is the biggest breach we have ever seen and we will likely see more large breaches as cyber attackers become more savvy and start reaching for larger corporate targets. For more information about how you can protect yourself from cyber attacks, be sure to contact {company} in {city} by calling them at {phone} or reaching out via email at {email}.

Best wishes for a happy holiday season and our sincere thanks for your loyalty and goodwill throughout the year.

Every successful IT operation has one thing in common: strategy. Years of working with multiple organizations across several industries have taught our team one thing – no two businesses are alike. That means you need an IT plan that is strategically aligned with your distinct requirements to help you achieve real success in business.

Educate your employees about online threats and how to protect your business’s data, including safe use of social networking sites.  Depending on the nature of your business, employees might be introducing competitors to sensitive details about your firm’s internal business. Employees should be informed about how to post online in a way that does not reveal any trade secrets to the public or competing businesses.  Hold employees accountable to the business’s Internet security policies and procedures.