How to Secure Your Online Surfing

Securing your online connectivity has to be one of the top priorities while surfing the internet.  Although tools such as anti-virus, tracker-disabling extensions, ad blockers and VPNs, are helpful, receiving the best IT support and security from your ISP should be top priority as well.  ISP and networking solution providers take the first major step in securing their user’s online access by employing such techniques as online encryption, filtering of harmful suspicious content before it reaches you and using several other technologies at hand.  Always seek the best IT support Melbourne networking and IT company to be 100% safe from online pirates and hackers, along with following these important tips below:

Avoid Similar Passwords Everywhere On The Web
This goes especially for the heavy social media users who have a tendency to create similar passwords on every social site they use.  Avoid this habit as using similar passwords makes your social profiles prone to getting hacked in the event a hacker strikes the big names.  There are many cases in the past in which thousands of social media profiles were compromised in social media hacking cases.  Most of the users who got their personal data stolen were those who used similar passwords on their social media profiles.

Avoid Becoming Click-Baits On Unknown Links
As we dig through our email inboxes and numerous highly attractive ads on websites, we often become click-baited to those spam links which turns into an install of malicious Trojan infections, viruses or adware on our device.  Along with avoiding these spam links you can also ensure your protection by installing extensions for online security in your browser.  Plus, you can obtain services from the best IT support firms in Melbourne who can protect your identity and data online by putting effective IT technologies in place to guard you against web-based unethical programs.

Be Cautious When Online Shopping
One of the most dangerous and risky things to do on the web is online purchasing, which most of us have now become accustomed to due to its comfort and ease.  Most people do not bother to check the authenticity or reviews of a particular online store before buying from it.  The result is that you could leave your credit card details exposed.  Just this year, a hacking case was reported in Korea where more than 10 million customers’ confidential financial info was hacked by an individual.  The investigation is still underway to get the culprit.

So to avoid such a situation, only use the best networking protection technologies provided by IT support firms, as well as avoiding making purchases from any site without first doing your research.  CtrlIT, one of the most renowned IT Support firms in Melbourne, provides their customers with state-of-the-art security services to make their online shopping activity safer and worry-free.

If you follow these steps you can enjoy the limitless capabilities of the internet without getting worried about the hackers.

A History of Cisco

When it comes to IT security, no company is quite as successful Cisco. This multinational giant in the technology industry has been providing IT support and equipment to businesses and individuals for over thirty years now. Cisco configuration is often the first step a new company takes to establishing themselves, ensuring their IT systems are at the top of their game before opening for business. Here’s a brief overview of how this company came to dominate the market today.

Cisco was founded in 1984 by married computer operations workers at Stanford University, Sandy Lerner and Len Bosack, but it wasn’t until 1986 that their first product was released: The Advanced Gateway Server Router. There were initially some problems with cash-flow, despite the company selling approximately $250,000 worth of routers per month by 1997. In 1998, Bosack and Lerner brought Donald T. Valentine on board, a venture capitalist. But he required the couple to give him a majority stake in the company and at once placed John Morgridge as president and CEO, side-lining Bosack and Lerner to chief scientist and head of customer services respectively. By the time it went public in 1990, Cisco was worth $224 million. At this point however, Lerner was fired and Bosack quit (the sale of their combined stock totalled over $170 million). Over the next few years, Cisco acquired or merged with several important companies, including Crescendo and Kalpana, expanding both as an expert in IT security and IT support.

From the millennium onwards, Cisco configuration became standard for the majority of businesses, with new and better products coming out all the time to keep pace with the ever changing technology. The Catalyst 6500 launched in 1999 was followed by the Integrated Services Router in 2004 which sold mover 7.5 million units by 2009. Also in 2004, the CRS-1 system enabled IT support of up to 1.2 terabits per second of bandwidth. The Nexus 7000 hit the market in 2008, further bolstering Cisco’s dominance of the IT support market. And Cisco kept pushing the boundaries, creating the Unified Computing System in 2009. In 2013, Cisco was awarded its 10,000th patent and continues to control the router market today.

With its vast array of products Cisco configuration can be adapted for every company’s needs and requirements. Of course IT security and IT support is of vital importance for every business, especially small ones who can be targets for hackers due to their reputation for having poor IT security systems in place compared to bigger companies. By getting Cisco configuration for your business, you’ll not only be gaining access to their extensive IT support services but you’ll also be benefiting from over thirty years of experience in the field, leading to the best quality and performance products on the market today.

If you think your company may benefit from a full Cisco configuration, contact Ctrl I.T. today and discuss your technological options with our expert, specialist engineers.

How to create the perfect password

Everyone needs to be careful when it comes to online security today and creating new passwords can become almost a daily occurrence. But with so many different stipulations and requirements for each site or account which asks for passwords it can be incredibly difficult to remember them all. Although there are now many different ‘password managers’ available, there is also a free and equally easy way to create unique but entirely memorable passwords for every single account using one base password. And here’s how to do so in two simple steps:

1. Firstly, pick a base password which is easy to remember but not easy to guess. Online security tips all tell us to avoid using your name, a pet’s name, your birthday etc as these can be easily guessed by hackers. One suggestion is to select a regular word (preferably at least eight letters long) and swap out some of the letters for numbers or symbols. For example: Password can become Pa$$w0rd. This way a ‘dictionary attack’ won’t identify the characters as forming a real word. You’re also assured to comply to any account’s requirements when it comes to upper and lower case letters, symbols, and numbers.
2. Now comes the clever bit: when you create a new account, you are going to incorporate the name of the website/server into your passwords. To create this unique password, you take the first four letters of your base password, add in the first four letters of the website, and then finish off your base password. For example, say you’re setting up a Facebook account. Your password would become: Pa$$facew0rd. Or maybe you need a new Gmail: Pa$$gmaiw0rd. Both of these combinations scored 99% on the Password Meter’s online strength test (http://www.passwordmeter.com) and would take a computer 34 thousand years for a computer to crack each one (https://howsecureismypassword.net).

Using this very simple technique, every single one of your passwords will be different, completely nonsensical to someone trying to hack your system, and, perhaps most importantly, easy to remember. They’ll also tick all the boxes when it comes to including upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. From Pa$$twitw0rd to Pa$$amazw0rd, your Twitter and Amazon accounts will be secure and you’ll never have to worry about forgetting passwords or online security ever again!

It takes time to go through all your existing accounts and change your passwords to follow this technique but, believe me, it’s worth it. Think of all the time you’ll save in the future thanks to the fact that you’ll never lock yourself out of an account again!

Protect Your Business With Help From IT Security Melbourne Experts

Last year Hewlett Packard sponsored a report on malicious activities online and their impact on businesses. Titled, 2015 Cost of Cyber Crime Study, it was conducted independently by Ponemon Institute and is a very detailed report into to the detrimental effects these attacks can have. If you are running a business it would be worthwhile reading the report and ensure you are suitably protected against potential cyber crime with the assistance of a qualified IT security Melbourne professional.

The study was conducted globally and investigated a range of businesses within the following countries: Germany, Japan, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Brazil and Australia. Statistics were complied and then separate reports were generated for each country. The United States had the highest total average cost of cyber crime with over $15 million dollars estimated to be lost by the business involved in the study!

In Australia the study found that cyber crime had risen 13%  since the previous year. The 28 organisations taking part had an estimated loss of revenue between $792,932 to $18 million. The average cost being estimated at $4.9 million per year! These are extraordinary figures which highlight the need for your business to be suitably protected. An experienced IT support Melbourne technician can conduct a security audit to see where weaknesses are in your system.

Cost of Cyber Crime Annualized Total Cost

Other important findings that the Cost of Cyber Crime Study report found were:

• Cyber crime costs differ between the size of an organisation. Unfortunately small businesses suffer higher costs per capita than larger businesses.
• No industry is exempt from cyber crime. Some of the most targeted organisations include energy and utility services, financial sectors, technology industries, media, consumer products and retail stores.
• Cyber attacks can be very costly to a business is not rectified quickly. Keep in mind the average time to resolve a cyber attack was 31 days. Some malicious attacks may lay dormant to reappear at a later stage, causing more havoc.

To alleviate any worries and be able to focus on running your business successfully and smoothly, leave IT Security Melbourne to the professionals who can close any loopholes in your current system. Don’t let your business become another victim of cyber crime!