The internet has changed over the years, but people remain the same. See what’s different, what’s similar and how the past can define the future. There’s a famous clip from The Today Show in 1994 where the hosts try to figure out what the internet is. Millennials watch it and giggle as the stars puzzle over seemingly simple concepts like email and web pages. The hosts weren’t silly or stupid, they were only trying to come to terms with a disruptive technology that has since taken over practically everything we do. There are articles from experts in subsequent years that promise the internet would die off soon, much like Hula Hoops or flagpole sitting. We’ll look back at the results of a survey from the early days, and what the average person was doing when they used their precious phone line to connect. Email The Pew Research Center took a survey in late 1995 about how Americans were making use of the internet. People check their email on average 15 times a day in 2017, and some are always getting alerts as to every new piece of mail that pops into their inbox. But back in 1995, 29% of more than 4,000 people testified that they only checked their email once a day. On average, they sent three emails a day and received only about five. CD-Roms Vs. Internet If Americans had to choose between CD-ROMs at the time and the internet, it seems that people would choose CD-ROMs. Around half the people surveyed had CD-ROMs, and attitudes and usage patterns suggest that the web just wasn’t cutting it for them yet. Adult Entertainment Most people wanted to eliminate any type of adult entertainment from the internet entirely, though the margins were somewhat slim with a 52 to 41% vote for banning it. At the time, censorship seemed perfectly reasonable, much like the movies or television. Websites Only 1 in every 5 users had ever signed onto the web, even though the first website was already 5 years old. Survey participants appreciated connecting with strangers via chat and skipping postage costs via email, but the days of idle surfing weren’t quite here yet. Privacy Concerns The concerns over privacy have waned and waxed over the years, but it’s not a new concept. Half of the users admitted to worrying about someone invading their privacy in 1995. While that concern would filter out some in 2008 and 2009, it was revived again after Edward Snowden laid out the brutal truths he’d encountered in national security. Americans are more concerned about their privacy regarding businesses and government than they ever were before. Understanding the past is a good way to keep us moving forward — until the time another generation can ask questions that will seem obvious to the generation that follows. {company} is the trusted choice when it comes to staying ahead of the latest developments and can provide you with tips, tricks and news. Contact us at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for more information.

Don’t think a domain name affects SEO? Think again. Use these tips to make your domain relevant to local search engines. Domain names hold more importance to a business than most companies first realize. Domain names not only help your web pages get found by clients but also play a vital role in driving search engine traffic. When choosing a domain name for search engine optimization, you need to consider more than just relevancy. Page ranking and security will also need factoring in. Start at the Top A top level domain extension will be your website’s meet and greet for current and prospective clients. This is why you must aim to make a good first impression. Ideally, you want to choose a domain ending in .com, .co.uk, or .edu. Domains ending with .info or .biz are believed to be negatively affected by Google’s search engine algorithms. Newly developed domain names can also be detrimental to ranking. Be Keyword Friendly, Not Spammy Many new businesses make the mistake of trying to stuff their domain names with keywords related to their brand. If a keyword makes sense to your company then by all means, put it in your name. However, domain names like buyhighqualitycheaptiresnow.com are going to be recognized as spam by Google and will be associated with the low-quality content. Build your own brand recognition through your domain selection. When settling on your domain name, go for a memorable moniker your customers can easily remember without having to jot the name down. Try to avoid hyphens between words when possible as well. Too many hyphens decrease the chances of having clients finding your website quickly. If you do use keywords in your domain name, specific keywords will always perform better than their generic counterparts. For instance, people are more likely to click on a link titled racingscooters.com versus myscooters.com. Keep in mind too that generic website domains are also a less cost-effective choice overall for a business. Since a generically named domain is already likely owned, you’ll have to pay more to gain ownership. Brand significance will make the biggest impact when choosing an appropriate domain name. Even if you’re not yet well known in the industry, Google will eventually recognize your company page as a legitimate business and rank it as such. Even if your business has a common name, you can still rank high in search engines. For instance, type in “apple” and you’re not likely to come across any first page results related to the fruit. Keep in mind that the shorter the domain name you choose, the better. Ideally, your domain name will have no more than one or two words in total. Many of the top ranking domain names have fewer than 10 characters (not including the extensions). Subfolders Versus Subdomains Some developers have launched content on subdomains as a way to rank higher in SEO. An example would be blog.yourcompanyname.com versus www.yourcompanyname.com/blog. Research has shown subfolders will actually do better for your SEO than subdomains. The only exception to this rule seems to relate back to whether you have a foreign language version available on your website or not. In that case, a subdomain is preferred. Also, you will want to have a geo-specific extension for each of your websites. As an example, if you’re looking to target customers in Australia, your domain should end with .com.au. Security Considerations Phishing scams are a widespread problem. Cyber criminals create domains for the particular purpose of stealing valuable information from individuals browsing the web. The web developer will create content on the page to look strikingly similar to a legitimate provider. When choosing a domain, you want to steer clear of selecting an address with an URL that could easily be misspelled and land customers on a malicious website. Also, your IT security team should be responsible for keeping a look out for parked domains once your site goes live. A parked domain is a placeholder for future web content. By blocking parked domains, they prevent malicious content from going live. The biggest takeaway is to choose wisely before going live with your new domain name. The age of a domain will also affect SEO. Making a solid name pick beforehand helps you avoid changing the domain down the road and undermining your current SEO work.

Because Google always changes the algorithm that it uses to determine search engine rankings, your business’ website needs to stay on top of the current key features that can help move it to the top of Google’s search results. Many companies approach search engine optimization as a one-time challenge; once you have set up your company’s website with an eye to maximizing your Google search ranking, they think, you’re all set. In actuality, Google regularly makes changes to its algorithm that determines its search engine rankings. Keeping your business’ website at the top of Google’s search results requires constant attention to the changes in Google’s ranking factors and continuous tweaking of your site’s content. With that in mind, here are the four key features to utilize right now to improve your business’ Google search ranking. HTTPS Google first announced that HTTPS would be used as a factor in its ranking system back in 2014. MozCast, an online platform dedicated to tracking the changes in Google’s algorithm, has found that Google is keeping that promise; almost 46 percent of all of Google’s top ranking websites are HTTPS sites. Google has made this push based on their belief in the need for strong Internet security. Especially if your business offers any form of online shopping or information gathering features, moving to HTTPS is critical. Google AdWords While pay-per-click services like Google AdWords have not traditionally been a part of search engine optimization, MozCast has found a direct relationship between the two. Almost 53 percent of websites that appear on the first page of Google’s search results feature Google AdWords on the top of their pages. In short, paying for Google AdWords yourself won’t raise your search ranking, but becoming a part of Google’s advertising network and having ads embedded on your web page might. Reviews Google is upfront about the fact that it utilizes customer reviews in determining website rankings, so it should come as no surprise that almost 37 percent of businesses that reach Google’s first page of search results feature customer reviews. Indeed, Google itself now displays customer ratings right below text ads in order to connect customers with quality businesses. Knowledge Panels As MozCast has noted, approximately 38 percent of Google’s highest ranking websites have Knowledge Panels. Knowledge Panels appear as information boxes to the right of Google’s search results and are intended to help potential customers quickly find contact and other information for businesses. Unfortunately, you cannot directly put your business in a Knowledge Panel; Google itself makes the determination based on your company’s relevance to a potential customer’s search. However, you can influence the chance that your business will be included in a Knowledge Panel by increasing your business’ general prominence and local search engine optimization. Concerned that you’re not doing everything that you need to help get your business to the top of Google’s rankings? Contact us today at {phone} or {email} and we can introduce you to an expert from within our community of specialists.

Companies of all sizes are able to benefit from technology as a data-driven prescription for improvement in productivity. If you talk to many business professionals, there is a consensus that advancing technology is the future for successful firms and industries alike. Productivity and employee engagement are paramount to a company’s success, and emerging technologies are recognizing and capitalizing on these industry needs. In fact, the two often go hand in hand, with technology serving as a bridge between, as well as facilitating a more cohesive drive towards unified goals, within the organization. With the proper hardware and software tools in place, companies can identify specific organizational challenges and strategically plan for improved results. Businesses of all sizes are able to benefit from technology as a data-driven prescription for improvement. Let’s examine particular advantages of an increased tech presence in the workplace. Transparency Regardless of industry, company size, or goals for the future, transparency on every level is the most critical component to an organization’s success. Transparency offers management teams insight into which processes, business tools, and assets are working, which aren’t, and provides the data to back it up. It ensures every member of the workforce understands the company’s goals, and their role in ensuring those goals are met. Through technology such as software, hardware, and mobile devices, our business tools are now able to better communicate both with each other, and our workforce, ensuring our workers are supported both now and into the future. Collaboration Organizations striving for long-term success realize the value of teamwork and collaboration. “Teams are made up of individuals, but the synergy that a team can generate to become far greater than the sum of its parts is what makes great teams” ~John Bowen, Chair of BIFM’s Procurement Sig. For optimal fluidity in collaboration, there must be a consistent flow of information at all times. Fortunately, today’s management teams have access to a bevy of technological tools that not only enhance but inspire teamwork and collaboration. Successful business leaders must leverage such technology to empower their workforce and colleagues. Flexibility Your workforce should strive to be able to perform under adverse and changing conditions. Often the best preparation for such tasks is to have your team regularly work outside of the parameters of normal company office settings. With the addition of technology in the workplace, employee flexibility is at an all-time high, allowing workers to range outside of the office, while still sending and receiving vital information. With mobile employees, problems can be met literally face-to-face. Plus, the tenants of transparency and collaboration are greatly strengthened through increased, regular contact between team members, even when miles apart. This continual flow of ideas and solutions strengthens your team, the decision-making process, and the overall effectiveness of your business. Enhanced Employee Engagement A 2014 Global Workforce Study, “more than 60% of employees are unsupported, detached or disengaged”. With over half the workforce disengaged, management teams recognized the need to implement tools that achieved transparency, collaboration, and flexibility. Tech tools supply a much-needed switch to the typical office routines. With regards to the immediacy in which social media gives feedback, a similar workflow model is currently developing and growing amongst the professional business community. The end result – a more engaged and productive workforce. Improved Efficiency Equally as critical to an organization’s success is its access to relevant, real-time information. Recent advances in technology allow disparate software systems to communicate with each other. Management teams have a clearer understanding of how the facility’s space and assets are being utilized and maintained. Realistic goals are defined and tracked. Employee success is monitored, allowing employees to be redirected to different roles should their talents be better used elsewhere. With this kind of precise monitoring, employees also avoid needlessly repeating tasks while finding more time to complete specific tasks, adding to the overall enjoyment of the workplace environment. Tracking and Analyzing Performance One of the hidden gems of progressive management is to empower employee progress through their own system of goals. Technology allows employees and management alike to follow productivity trends for individuals, teams, and organizationally. In turn, individual goals can be tracked and, despite the staunchest opponent’s objections, we all want to compete on some level. With the ability to assist, monitor, and streamline workflow for maximized production, technological solutions have signaled the epoch of a new era in business. There is truly a new method of communicating, conducting business and interacting with customers, which is blossoming before our eyes. This tool must be used with planning and purpose, though, to avoid wasting such a valuable resource. Conduct thorough research, design the proper system for your specific needs and set your wheel in motion.

Broadcasting your password on national television may be the easiest way to invite hackers, but common password mistakes make it almost as easy for your data security to be compromised. Password safety may not be one of the most interesting topics in the realm of cybersecurity, but having a strong password is one of the easiest ways to protect your business’ data integrity. The importance of a robust password has been emphasized by many experts, yet often users who think that they are utilizing a secure password are actually opening themselves up to attacks. You may not be broadcasting your password on national television, but if your password falls into one of the following categories, you could be just as vulnerable to hackers. Short and Simple Short, simple passwords may be easy to remember, but they are also easy to guess. In general, the longer a password is, the harder it is for hackers to break it. Each additional character that you add to your password increases the possible combination of letters, numbers and symbols exponentially. Remember that hackers tend to go after low-hanging fruit, so any steps that you take to make your password harder to crack increases the likelihood that someone trying to break in will move on to the next target instead. Lacking in Numbers or Symbols Letters-only passwords may be more intuitive for you–but they are for hackers as well. Just as adding additional characters to your password exponentially increases the number of the possible combinations, so does using numbers and symbols in addition to letters. Just think about it: using letters, symbols and numbers means that each character in your password has almost twice as many options as if you only use letters. Based on Personal Information As highlighted in the clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live, using personal information such as a pet’s name or a birthday is incredibly common. Including personal details in your password, however, makes you very vulnerable to hacking. You may think that “Fido111379” is secure and difficult to guess, but blog posts discussing your dog or Facebook comments wishing you a happy birthday can broadcast your personal details to anyone who cares enough to look for them. Simplistic Patterns Being able to remember your password is, of course, necessary and utilizing a pattern might seem to be an easy solution to commit it to memory. Complex patterns that use letters, numbers and symbols within a long password are not a security risk. However, most people who use patterns in their password rely on overly simplistic ones, and this makes you vulnerable to hackers, particularly if your password is short. One particular type of pattern that you must avoid is keyboard-based patterns, such as “123qwe” or “1qaz2wsx.” Worried that your business’ data might be vulnerable to hackers? The experts at {city}’s {company} can help you evaluate your security procedures to see if you have any glaring holes. Contact us today at {phone} or {email} to learn more. Used by permission

Criminals want your company’s financial data, customer lists including credit card information, intellectual property, and anything else they can sell. Cyber crime is a huge endeavor with severe consequences for organizations that are victimized. Criminals want your company’s financial data, customer lists including credit card information, intellectual property, and anything else they can sell. Besides the immediate impact on your business’ ability to operate (for example ransomware can shut you down), there are significant costs associated with a data breach. These costs include: Potential fines from regulatory agencies for failure to protect personal identification data (PI) or personal financial information (for example a credit card number). Some fines have been in million dollar multiples. The cost of notifying all persons and businesses that had their data breached. Costs of providing credit monitoring and identity theft protection for all involved. The potential cost of defending a class action lawsuit against your company for failure to adequately protect sensitive information. Loss of customers Loss of business reputation Inability to attract new customers or clients Following are Best Practices for securing your computer system and company data. Best Practices for Computer System Protection The following list is the Best Practices for keeping your business’ computer system, programs, and data, safe from prying eyes. Make sure your firewall is on so that intruders cannot access your system from the internet. Install security software and keep it updated. Filter all email for computer viruses. The more popular a program used by your business is, the more appealing it is a target for cyber criminals. Criminals know that many users do not regularly patch their programs against malware infections, so popular programs give them a wider pool for targeting. Make sure that your computer programs are updated as soon as a security patch is released. Exercise caution when using free 3rd party software claiming they check for software updates. Free software may be bundled with malicious software. Instruct employees that they should never open emails from unknown senders since they might be a source of infection to your company’s computer system. Attached malware might be anything from a virus to ransomware. Tell your employees they should check with senders they know if an email has a suspicious attachment. A phone call to the sender can help avoid the consequences of a data breach. Inform employees they should not open websites they are not familiar with and they should make sure the address bar is the site they want to visit. A random click could take them to a website that is just waiting to download malware onto your company computer system. Buy your software from a reputable buyer and never use pirated software as it may be infected with malware. Before using thumb drives and other portable media, scan them with security software to ensure they are virus free. Computer security may surpass your company’s IT capabilities. Accordingly, consider a computer managed services provider with a strong background in computer security. For more information about managed services and how an MSP can help your company contact {company} in {city}. {phone} or contact us by {email}.

There are viruses that can be implanted on a computer in 2017, and lie in wait until a network becomes vulnerable before attacking. Unfortunately, viruses have come a long way from 20 years ago. The term virus was coined early on in computer history, but it’s every bit as relevant today as it was then. Just like biological viruses adapt to Purell and antibiotics, so too have viruses learned to adapt to new security measures. Brain in 1986 Brain was the first reported computer virus on DOS, and was announced in January of 1986. It spread via floppy disk, and spawned generations of hackers with its ability to move from computer to computer. Brain appeared to be little more than a prank (courtesy of two developers in Pakistan), a joke in which the hackers actually revealed their real location in the text of the virus. Because the virus did little to harm people’s data or machines, it often went entirely unnoticed by users. The Evolution Today we refer to viruses as a specific kind of malware, one that can self-replicate and continue its destructive path indefinitely. While Brain may be one of the famous early viruses because it came about when computers were experiencing more ubiquity, self-replicating programs date back to the 1940s. Programs in the early days might slow down processing time, taunt users with cryptic messages, or severely impact performance. Once Brain was no longer a news items, new forms started to pop up. The ones that followed famously infected files from Yale University, destroyed files in Jerusalem, and exploited computers that were known to have buffering vulnerabilities. Viruses could be the product of hackers, or sometimes of legitimate company’s software. Viruses Today Viruses have gotten faster and more efficient to make them a force to be feared. They can delete photos, files and entire storage libraries. They’re developed to target Word, Outlook, Windows OS, Mac OS — nothing is safe. They can be designed to affect Facebook or Twitter users, or programmed to steal credit card information straight for the source. Hackers may be out for pure destruction or chaos, or potentially for ransom. The more the average person understands them, the faster hackers create new tricks to get in. Viruses can come in the form of a pop up, an email from a coworker, or a completely undetectable program that waits until the time is right. Protection for Everyone The physical world will never provide total safety, and the same holds true for the virtual world. But there are preventative measures you can take to safeguard your company from viruses that go beyond anti-malware and perimeter protections. Security needs to have layers to fend off the intelligent viruses of 2017. {company} is the trusted choice when it comes to staying ahead of the latest virus developments and can provide you with tips, tricks and news. Contact us at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for more information. Used by permission

Facebook provides highly refined tools that allow advertisers to double dip on targeted consumers. Social media and search engines have emerged as the ultimate platforms for targeted advertising. They track our every keyword and it’s quite common to see ads show up on our screen after researching a topic, event or product. The incredibly personalized social networking that we conduct on Facebook has given the platform the tools to track consumers every interest. It also provides Facebook advertising campaigns the ability to double dip on leads by retargeting people again and again. Facebook Targeting Tools Whether it’s Mark Zuckerberg’s friendly public persona or the relaxed type of interaction between “friends” on Facebook, many users don’t realize that this massive corporation employs highly focused tracking tools. Things such as cookies, JavaScript, iframes and pixels are hard at work profiling your every consumer interests. One person’s spying is apparently another’s “targeting.” Regarding advertising, that mined information can be brought to bear in perhaps the most cost-effective ad campaigns available today. Event pages and adjoining advertisements provide highly refined direct marketing. A campaign can be set to “engagement,” which prompts potential consumers to take action such as committing to attending an event. And, events don’t have to occur in the real world. They can transpire right online. But, consider the Facebook targeting options that are supported by the mass culling of consumer information. Radius: You can interact with people within a few miles, statewide, nationwide or globally. Age and Gender: Campaigns can target people most likely to engage with the event. For instance, military video games might best target men under 35 while an Indigo Girls concert makes more sense for women over 30. If you know you’re demographic, Facebook can connect directly to them. Interests and Behaviors: Facebook puts it’s treasure trove of consumer activity to work for you with these targeting categories. Under each, you’ll find highly refined sub-categories that include things like “buyer profiles” and “purchase habits.” The possibilities for tailoring ads falls nothing short of amazing. Regarding direct response marketing, event-oriented campaigns garner success because consumers are given a decision to make. Are you in or out? That approach tends to draw potential customers in ways that passive promotions do not. However, for Facebook ads to be effective, images, videos and content must prompt a user response. This social media mega-corporation can bring you to the consumer’s doorstep, but you must close the deal. Double Dipping Think about the various forms of advertising available. Do any really retarget customers or consumers in a cost-effective way? Radio splashes the airwaves with messages that are heard by randomly tuned-in listeners. Most stations mix genres and their demographics reflect that. Television takes a similar approach and each show or sporting event competes against another for a targeted audience. The worst part about those ad delivery systems may be that we tend to change the channel when boring ads are aired. But with social media, ads can become part of the natural landscape based on targeted interest and Facebook opens the door to revisit consumers. There are several options for double dipping with Facebook ads. One of the simplest approaches is to save the targeted audience demographics in your advertising account. If you’re selling widgets to seniors, name it “senior widgets,” and retain all the categories and sub-categories under one heading. If you’re pushing modern dance lessons to high schoolers in Montana, give it a name. When you run the next ad, the people in that demographic and those who interacted the first time will be re-blanketed. Do the work once, reap the benefits twice or more. The Ads Manager will allow you to edit and rerun the campaign again. When double dipping, you want to create new visual and content enhancements to prompt another direct response. Keep in mind that Facebook does place some limits on the engagement objectives. But there are some clever things you can do regarding content and campaign length, among others to ensure ongoing benefits. Dynamic Product Advertising For companies with extensive product lines, setting up a sale or launch event may be too time-consuming. Facebook, like other platforms, provides dynamic retargeting that delivers relevant product-oriented ads to profiles and news feeds. Companies can add a Facebook pixel to their website and upload a list of all the products in the campaign. Again, this puts Facebook’s mined consumer data to work and the unique products will flow to the feeds of likely consumers. The accounts of potential consumers that click through to your website are captured and retargeted periodically. This type of double dipping can be highly effective for retail, travel and service industry providers, among others. Once Facebook captures a consumer’s interests and purchases, it can revisit that profile over and over. The scattershot methods of direct mail, radio and even purchasing bulk email lists pale in comparison to Facebook’s ability to target and retarget consumers.

Sound Hacking: A Potentially Big Problem in The Tech World The act of hacking something simply implies the object, either a computer or other device, is accessed without the owner’s permission or a program or software therein is altered in some way without consent. Although more and more technological advancements are being made every day to keep our devices and computers save, it seems that hackers are always one step ahead of software developers, consistently figuring out a way around any safety features that might have been implemented. Unfortunately, this seems to be an issue that has no reliable or effective solution. How Bad is The Problem of Hacking? If you have ever wondered how bad the problem with hacking really is, take a look at these statistics/facts to get an idea of the scope of the problem at hand: By December of 2016, there had been over two billion records stolen within the year’s time. The career site LinkedIn had 117 million records stolen and accounts affected from a hacker, eventually caught in the Czech Republic. Social media site Tumblr was hacked, which led to 65 million accounts being leaked. Hundreds of point-of-sale terminals (card machines) located in retail outlets were compromised through the installation of malware. This breach allowed hackers access to username and passwords. Did You Know Hackers Might Not Stop With Security Breaches Affecting Your Personal and Financial Information? More than likely, you already knew about some of the above hacking incidents. However, you probably didn’t know that even devices like Fitbits have been found susceptible to hacking. That’s right. According to recent research done in collaboration by teams from the University of South Carolina and the University of Michigan, these devices can be hacked. However, the fact that they can be hacked isn’t the most surprising element of the research findings. The fact that the researchers successfully hacked these devices utilizing sound was even more surprising. More About The Sound Hacking Research Findings: Researchers were able to manipulate accelerometers in devices like Fitbits through acoustic attacks. They simply added extra step counts and the like. However, getting credit for a step you didn’t take is far from the most worrisome issue with this research. The fact that researchers were able to use sound to do so presents a new potential problem that will need to be dealt with in the future. The Dangers of Acoustic Hacking: Hacking via acoustics is obviously not the most commonly employed way of data manipulation. Kevin Fu, who is the associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan, explained how it works: “It’s like the opera singer who hits the note to break a wine glass, only in our case, we can spell out words.” These words are entered as commands that manipulate the device, altering data. As was stated earlier, although changing a Fitbit to show more steps than were actually taken is trivial, the ability of researchers to do so shows a potential weakness in all such devices. This weakness is one that has not previously been considered that being the danger or acoustic or sound hacking. Thankfully, now that this research has taken place, software and device developers will be aware of the potential issue and will most assuredly create protections against it if it becomes a security issue. Call {company} in {city} today at {phone} or contact us via email at {email} to learn more about potential new security threats like sound hacking.

The number of security issues and malware risks that your company must contend with continues to grow every year, but one of the most potentially devastating threats that your business faces is surprisingly low-tech in nature. Spoofed emails don’t rely on complex ransomware or sophisticated keystroke loggers. Instead, your company’s bank account and sensitive information are at risk simply by your employees attempting to perform their job duties. Training your team to spot spoofed emails is key to avoiding falling victim to common scams. What types of spoofed e-mail scams are out there? Examples of two common types of spoofed email scams played out in recent weeks. The first, an instance of the CEO fraud, involved an Internet criminal passing himself off as the head of a small Kansas construction company. The fraudster pretended to be the CEO of Cornejo & Sons and emailed the finance department of Sedgwick County to request $566,000 in payment. Because the county actually owed the construction company money for services rendered, they submitted payment as directed–only to later find out that the payment request hadn’t come from Cornejo & Sons and the construction company never received any funds. A similar scam aimed at a Wyoming hospital system sought to obtain employees’ W2 forms. In this case, the Internet fraudster posed as an internal executive at Campbell County Health and requested the W2 files for all staff from the hospital group’s finance department. The finance department complied, exposing the hospital’s 1,300 employees to potential tax return fraud. Can you and your staff spot a spoofed e-mail? No longer completely confident that your employees won’t fall victim to one of these commonly spoofed e-mail scams? Luckily, there are steps that you can take to train your staff to spot a spoofed e-mail. Conducting training sessions to alert your employees to the existence of such scams is an important first step. Putting in place internal practices to verify the veracity of any request before responding will also help your employees understand how to deal with any potential scam emails that your business receives. However, some employees don’t understand the real threat that accompanies spoofed emails until they have actually been the recipient of a fake request. For this reason, some businesses choose to initiate a simulated attack to reveal to their employees firsthand how easy it is to become the victim of a spoofed email. Some services exist that make it easy to carry out a pretend to attack. Some of these services such as PhishMe allow you to target the attack to match the real threat each of your employees is likely to face, such as an email sent to marketing asking them to provide their SharePoint credentials. Experts assert that it is fundamental to follow any simulated attack with further training as your employees will be particularly receptive to in-depth lessons on avoiding spoofed emails after falling for your staged attack. Concerned that your employees might be vulnerable to spoofed emails? The security experts at {company} can help you discover your business’ weak spots. Contact us today at {phone} or {email} to learn more. Contact us today at {phone} or {email} to learn more.