Introducing Parrish Todd. By now I think that most everyone has met Parrish and you’ve provided favorable reviews of his work thus far. Soon we’ll begin assigning Parrish to accounts so he can become a select groups “IT guy”. Parrish comes to us with 13 years experience in a wide range of areas, which is critical when working with small businesses. Parrish has worked in both small and medium networks; both consulting and as internal IT.
We are still hiring. We’ve narrow down the current crop of candidates and will be testing their technical skill on some real world problems then making our decision. So expect another new face. We like to get our new staff around to meet everyone, to see the full range of clients and get the broadest possible exposure to all of the things that we do.
More Scams Target Small Business. While many businesses are still battling Cryptolocker, the scammers have not been resting. New attacks seem to have a theme around social engineering. Social engineering is when someone calls to convince you of something by gaining your trust. For example:
- The State of Michigan sent out a scam alert that there’s a company trying to sell you on supposedly required compliance auditing.
- Microsoft is warning people that you’ll never receive a call from a Microsoft support person out of the blue. If one calls hang up on them right away. They just want your credit card and other personal information.
- One of our clients alerted us to a local “ambulance chaser” IT firm that is using the end of life date for Windows XP as a method to scare people into buying their services.
- Oakland University employees found out the hard way that their information was stolen. When filing taxes they are finding that someone already filed in their name and got a fraudulent refund!
The way to beat social engineering attacks is to simply not believe the person on the other end of the phone line or the letter writer. If you get any suspicious calls, email or letters give us a call before you give them any information. We can help you determine whether it’s legitimate or not.
Meanwhile over on our Facebook page:
*OneNote is now FREE for all platforms. Android, MAC and Windows
*New technology from Microsoft combines Kinect and projection to come up with an immersive experience. If you thought 3D was cool you have to see this.
*Microsoft Surface now available with 4G built-in from AT&T. Still comes with Office, 200GB One Drive and a year of free Skype calling. All at less than an iPad.
*Received a nice letter from Microsoft today
*Apple devices needs to be patched right away.
And more! Come follow us facebook.com/harborcomputerservices
– Amy Babinchak
