Coleman Technologies Blog

When your employees are engaged, they are more likely to invest in the future of your company, as well as their own future within your company. Research doesn’t see this situation as likely as you might think, though. The numbers from a 2015 poll from Gallup place the number of engaged employees at about 30%, while 50% claim they aren’t engaged with their work, and an additional 20% claim that they are actively disengaged by their workplace. So… where does your business fall?

There are several ways to improve employee engagement, but we’ll focus on just three of them: digital signage, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and cloud-based communication solutions.

Digital Signage
Some offices have monitors placed around the office that give statistics, reminders, and directions to those wandering around the office. These monitors can be used to give workers an idea of how they are doing, as well as display important information that they all might need to do in order to get their jobs done in a more efficient manner. Examples include deadlines, key performance indicators, and who has closed the most deals (or another important factor for your business) to spur on a little friendly competition. You can even use it to offer incentives to employees who perform above and beyond.

Bring Your Own Device
Some employees would rather work using their own devices rather than the ones you provide them with. This is because they are more familiar with their own devices than the ones your business gives them to get their work done. Maybe their own devices are simply better than the ones provided, too. Either way, a Bring Your Own Device policy solves several issues that your organization might face, such as the revenue used to purchase these devices… as long as the policy is handled correctly to address the potential security issues caused by this.

Cloud-Based Communications
Employees are more productive when they feel their feedback is valued. To this end, collaboration is critical, as everyone who puts forth ideas and information will feel like they are at least being listened to--even if their ideas don’t make it into the finished product. This can also create a sense of camaraderie between your employees and improve teamwork on a fundamental level.

Coleman Technologies can help your business break boundaries and improve employee engagement through the use of technology. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

Part of the problem for many healthcare institutions is that there is a staggering amount of physical documents that are used to keep track of patients, processes, and procedures. As reported by SiliconAngle, Dr. Vasi Philomin of Amazon Web Services claims there are 1.2 billion medical documents created every day in the healthcare industry, in the United States alone. With so many documents, it’s no surprise that it’s difficult for people to manage them.

And what’s a way to take out the menial tasks done throughout the workday, or organize countless documents accumulated in a collection that is impossible for humans to go through on their own? That’s right--artificial intelligence. While it might seem like a weird way to use A.I., it is certainly a viable option, and one that industry professionals are considering to boost efficiency of care and ease of use.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) complicates this issue, but Amazon Web Services is hoping to challenge this with new initiatives. A service called Academic Comprehend Medical aims to help narrow down candidates for clinical trials--something that is impossible without the help of computers and artificial intelligence. Of course, this is only a small amount of what could be accomplished through the use of A.I. in the medical industry, so the future could potentially be very bright for any organizations that utilize this technology.

You can count on Coleman Technologies to keep our fingers on the pulse of any interesting technology developments in the industry. For more information about healthcare solutions, call us today at (604) 513-9428.

The Basics: Viruses and Malware
Your computer depends on software to run, whether it’s the operating system or the software solutions on the device itself. Viruses are created to make changes to this code, and the results can vary in scope and scale. They can go from being minor annoyances to major time wasters. Malware is a bit more dangerous in scope. It stands for “malicious software,” and its intentions are right in the name. Hackers develop malware for various purposes, but for the most part, it’s with the intention of stealing, altering, or destroying data, depending on what nefarious plot the hacker is using it for.

The More Dangerous: Ransomware and Spyware
There are other more specialized types of malware that are designed for specific purposes. Ransomware, for instance, is designed to extort money from unsuspecting victims. It encrypts files located on the infected device, only decrypting them when a ransom has been paid to the hacker responsible. These kinds of threats are quite popular with hackers as they can be used to target a considerable number of victims in a short amount of time. Spyware is also a popular threat that allows hackers to steal information in a covert manner through various means, including backdoor infiltrations, keyloggers, and so much more. This is particularly dangerous to your business’ intellectual property.

The Vehicle: Spam and Phishing Attacks
Cybersecurity threats are the most dangerous when they can be concealed. After all, you never hear in the news about how a brute-force attack exposed millions of health records or passwords to the world. No, the most devastating data breaches are typically those that occur over an extended period of time, shielded from the eyes of security professionals and network administrators. Spam and phishing attacks that deceive users into clicking on links or downloading suspicious files play a key role in allowing threats into a network. It’s more important than ever before to be cautious while online, as there is no telling who might try to trick you into exposing your network to threats.

Protect Your Business with Proactive Tools and Best Practices
Thankfully, while it’s easier for threats to make their way through your defenses, the defenses put into place by businesses are much more substantial than in previous years. A Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution is easily the most comprehensive security tool on the market today, combining well-known methods of cybersecurity into an easy and accessible package. This includes a firewall, antivirus, spam blocker, and content filter to minimize the chances of threats manifesting on your network in the first place, as well as solutions to mitigate threats that do make it through your defenses. This can be further augmented through industry best practices that dictate how and when to share data.

To learn more about how your organization can take advantage of security solutions, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

Of course, it’s not entirely the fault of the user, even if they do represent part of the blame for this. Internet of Things devices are well-known security threats, but it’s largely because of the way they are designed and developed. Even if the user was aware of the security issues presented by these devices, the truth is that there isn’t anything they can do about it barring just not using them outright.

This is due to the fact that the security issues found in Internet of Things devices are built into them, particularly because the developers of the devices don’t build them with security in mind. If you think about it in terms of what they are used to building--devices that don’t have any kind of connectivity--it all begins to make sense. A manufacturer who produces a smart blender isn’t a software engineer or a security professional. Up until that point, they just made blenders, so they had no need for software development or security. Unfortunately, this creates a device that is made with functionality in mind over security, much to the detriment of businesses.

These devices are most vulnerable to threats that could be patched, if only the Internet of Things devices were easily patched by the developer and the user. This isn’t currently the case. It’s practically impossible to distribute patches to all Internet of Things devices manually, so if the developer hasn’t enabled automatic updates, you can forget about the user actually doing it, unless it gets in the way of the core functionality of the device. While this responsibility would fall on the developer, some have also suggested the implementation of unique default passwords, as users often see no need to change the default password on their new device before putting it to work.

To counteract these threats, businesses have to implement measures to keep their networks safe from the wave of additional devices entering the office. Whether you’re aware of it or not, it’s likely that employees are bringing new devices to work every day, whether it’s a tablet or a smart watch. A Bring Your Own Device policy with clear-cut rules on what’s allowed and what’s not will go a long way toward keeping unwanted devices in the workplace, and it can help to provide a general outline for how these devices should be used in the office as well. Remember, it’s about the future of your business, not about inconveniencing anyone.

If your business could use a hand with implementing a BYOD policy, Coleman Technologies can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

The Good
Let’s start with the resoundingly positive attributes of the Internet. Firstly, it makes life extraordinarily easier. Banking, shopping, and direct communication with other individuals and businesses are all simpler and faster. People can get more done in a shorter amount of time. It makes people smarter by providing them access to a knowledge base unprecedented in human history. It provides the opportunity to connect with like-minded people from anywhere in the world at minimal cost, giving people the ability to do wonderful things for others whom they may have never met. It provides businesses and individuals, alike, the access to better opportunities, more knowledge, and interactions with people that matter to them.

Speaking of business, it has changed things for entrepreneurs precipitously. Data storage and retrieval is faster. Cloud platforms of all types offer software, hardware, security, and development platforms that reduces the enormous capital costs many organizations were spending on their IT. It gives organizations access to a glut of resources, no more important than a growing mobile workforce that is available around the clock, promoting better productivity. It provides the opportunity to streamline all types of work, whether it be reducing face-to-face interactions with your vendors, or utilizing tracking software that helps administrators build more efficient business practices.

The Internet has provided a social outlet to people who didn’t have one. The use of social media has revolutionized the way people share and communicate. Each person has the freedom to do whatever they choose online, and often this results in positive action. Many important groups that have been marginalized for one reason or another are now able to promote their platforms thoroughly.

The Bad
There are some things about the Internet that many people can give or take. In fact, for every benefit listed above, there is a drawback. The easier access to information opens the door for more misinformation. For all the ease of banking, shopping, and communication there are threat actors looking to steal resources and personal information for profit. For every like-minded person that you meet, you meet all manners of Internet trolls and other unattractive people.

Social media has had an amazing amount of influence, but for all the good that it does, it also promotes individual freedom from convention, sure, but also creates what is known as a “toxic mirror” effect. This is the concept of making people feel bad about themselves by constantly being exposed to information that would make them create negative opinions about themselves. The toxic mirror makes anything that isn’t physical, emotional, and mental perfection, ugly and bad.

Beyond the toxic mirror, many people use social media in ways that hurt the people around them. The manifestation of a social persona can often present the opportunity for a user to put out very public misinformation. This break from reality, further muddies people’s ability to properly identify risk, putting them in harmful situations. The Internet is filled with trolls, stalkers, and bullies. These groups are allowed to run rampant, as people don’t have a lot of resources to ward against them. These individuals hide behind their Internet persona, making civil action against them extremely difficult. Cyberbullying, specifically, can cause great harm to people of all ages.

For the business, the Internet is a true double-edged sword. On one hand if you don’t utilize its features, you could be hindering the manner in which you conduct business, since more people are exposed to your business on the Internet than in any other place. A problem with this is that you then have to spend a lot of advertising capital to try and get your business exposed to potential customers. For some businesses this may be advantageous, but for the lion’s share of businesses, it increases the capital that is required without any assurance that it will provide additional sales.

The Ugly
The Internet is actually a pretty dangerous place; and, it’s a lot bigger than people think. While the usable part of the Internet is catalogued by most of the major search engines, there is a massive part of the Internet that is filled to the brim with risky behaviors. The deep web, and more specifically, the dark web, is filled with problematic content. While users can’t just access this part of the Internet, the people that do are often the hackers and dissidents of the world. Some are evil, some just unfortunate, but most of the dark web is filled with a black market that makes available goods and services that the average person has no use for. Murder for hire? Check. Drug catalogues? Check. Hacking resources? Check. It’s essentially an anti-social person’s playground filled with hate, and illegal material. Think of the dark web as a city. It just so happens that some places in that city (like many other cities) are very dangerous, and while you may just find something you can’t find anywhere else, staying far away is a good way to avoid the negatives altogether.

For the business, the ugliest part of the Internet are the countless hacking collectives and individual hackers that are almost constantly trying to gain access to their network. Computer viruses and other malware, including ransomware are such a big threat that businesses spend billions and billions of dollars a year trying to protect themselves and their clients from people looking to steal their data and sell it off.

The Internet is a lot of good to a lot of people, but as more derision, more hate, more criminal behavior, and more strategic subversion happen on the Internet, the more it becomes something it was never intended to be. The saving grace is the hundreds of millions of users that still use the Internet to make their lives, and the lives of people around them, better.

The IT professionals at Coleman Technologies are serious about making others’ lives better. If your business wants to utilize the good and secure itself against the bad and the ugly, contact us today at (604) 513-9428. We can help your organization protect your data and scan the dark web to see if any of your accounts (or your employees’ accounts) were already stolen and leaked on the dark web.