On July 2nd of this year, a Russia-based, professional hacking group called REvil hit the managed IT service provider Kaseya with a massive ransomware attack, affecting roughly sixty managed service providers and nearly 1500 businesses worldwide. REvil asked for $70 million in ransom to decrypt the files at first, then later dropped their demand to $50 million.

The BBC reported this week that several schools on the Isle of Wight in the British Isles were hit with a string of ransomware attacks. Ransomware is a form of cybersecurity breach in which a cyber criminal either threatens to release private information to the public or block access to their data altogether until they pay some kind of ransom.

Quick Announcements:

-Microsoft has released official system requirements for Windows 11, and is teasing an October release date for a free downloadable OS upgrade for existing users. Check out our write up on Windows 11 here.

-Shortly after President Joe Biden signed his recent executive order, the FTC voted unanimously to uphold right to repair-style regulations across the country.

There are numerous cybersecurity risks that any enterprise leader needs to consider when planning out their organization's IT infrastructure. Security breaches can come from something as simple as a bad password, or--even worse--a bad password that's repeatedly used for multiple accounts within the firm.

5G, as the fifth generation of broadband internet technology is called, was first made available to the public in 2018. Now in July of 2021, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless all tout 5G networks as new 5G compatible devices, such as the iPhone 12, become more readily available.

When he was a boy growing up in the 90s, Danny’s dad ran a small consulting business in town.  The firm had about 18 employees working in the office, all of them connected to the same computer system.  Dial-up internet was considered a luxury, and one Danny’s father did not provide his firm.

Computers don’t just manage themselves. As sophisticated as they’ve become, they still need a human touch to keep everything running properly. Given time, all IT processes and equipment will fail. Businesses employ managed IT services to fix broken systems and -- more importantly -- to prevent them from breaking in the first place.