When it comes to IT risk assessments, business owners have several misconceptions that leave them vulnerable. In this blog, we'll uncover common cyber risk assessment myths and discuss the reality. By the end, we'll also show you how to build an effective risk assessment strategy.

Every business, regardless of its size, aspires to grow. To make this happen, business owners work tirelessly to build the right strategy that will promote growth and drive profit. Unfortunately, many businesses find it difficult to keep up with the demands of a technology-driven space. 

We live in a digital age where data has become one of the most valuable commodities in the world. Businesses collect huge volumes of data every day from their customers, and this data plays a critical role in their day-to-day operations. If business organizations happen to lose their data under any circumstance, the consequences can be quite catastrophic.

Imagine starting your day with a cup of coffee, ready to tackle your to-do list, when an email that appears to be from a trusted partner lands in your inbox. It looks legitimate, but hidden within is a phishing trap set by cybercriminals.

Cyber insurance is an invaluable tool in your risk management arsenal. Think of it as one of the many weapons you have against cyberthreats. However, there's a widespread misconception that having cyber insurance is enough. The truth is—without a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, your insurance can offer only limited protection.

You might be thinking that you've done everything to protect your business from cyberthreats. You have the most advanced security solutions to defend against external threats, but are you equally protected against internal threats? 

Whether you're a small business or a multinational corporation, your success hinges on the integrity and availability of critical data. Every transaction, customer interaction and strategic decision relies on this precious asset. 

Imagine being the owner of the most popular coffee joint on the corner. Your loyal customers line up outside each morning, eager to grab their caffeine fix. But, one day, as your staff hustles to keep up with the orders, a sudden storm knocks out the power, leaving the café in the dark. Or worse, a cyberattack targets your billing system, leaving a long line of frustrated customers. 

Remote or hybrid work models are utilized by many businesses to keep their operations up and running. For all its benefits, hybrid work does present unique challenges as it exposes organizations to a whole new level of cybersecurity and compliance threats. With cybercriminals preying on vulnerable home networks and work-from-home employees saving files on local drives, businesses using a remote work model face a significant threat to proprietary data. 

Compliance and security are equally crucial for the seamless operation of your business. Although security is a prime component of compliance, compliance is not the same as security. Both are interconnected but still different.

Organizations face many security challenges. While external forces like hackers and cybercriminals are often in the spotlight, an equally important danger lies within the very walls of the organization. Insider threats are a hidden danger that can potentially cause severe damage to businesses, compromising sensitive data and the trust of customers. Let's highlight some concepts of insider threats and explore ways to reduce this risk!

WOODSTOCK, GEORGIA, August 15, 2023 – Technical Resource Solutions is proud to recognize its 20th anniversary this year. Established on August 14, 2003, Technical Resource Solutions (TRS) has specialized in business IT, website development and design, and digital marketing for two decades.

When you go home after a long, productive day at work, you probably give yourself time to rest, but what about your computer?  

It's not unusual to for a paperless office to make heavy use of the "scan to email" feature on their copiers. With this feature, it's easy to quickly convert paper documents into digital formats that can be backed up, tracked, and secured more than free-floating paper. 

Nowadays, computer connections can sometimes be less straightforward than keyboard, mouse, and monitor. With differing standards for different peripherals, ports, and cables, it can sometimes be hard to know what does what when looking at the back of your computer. To help make things a little more clear, the TechnicalRS team has put together a handy reference of common cables and ports on your computer, what they do, and how you can take some first steps in troubleshooting computer issues related to these ports. 

Nowadays, it seems that everything requires you to be logged in. Chatting with friends, changing your watch face, and even ordering a submarine sandwich are more convenient than ever through online portals, but you won't get very far without an account to manage the information those sites contain. And with all those accounts comes a massive library of passwords to manage. It's absolutely understandable that there might be too many to remember, but that doesn't mean you should resort to strategies like using a single multi-use password or keeping all your passwords written in a book. Password management programs come with a huge variety of benefits that will keep you and your data safe. 

One of the most important things about setting up a business is efficiently managing startup costs. For many companies nowadays, IT infrastructure is one of the larger upfront costs of starting a business, but an efficiently-spend budget can lead to an overall reduction in overhead related to maintenance costs and equipment replacements. Computers don't come at the premium they did in the 1980s, but a business-class machine can still run a pretty penny. A large sticker price might leave a business owner wondering why a consumer-grade machine can't do the trick for an employee who isn't running resource-intensive applications. As it turns out, there are a host of reasons a consumer-grade computer might lead to far higher costs to your business despite the initially tantalizing price tag.

 As the end of 2022 approaches in the coming months, so does the support for Windows 8.1. That's right, Windows 8.1 will reach end of support on January 10th, 2023, that means that technical assistance and software updates for 8.1 will no longer be offered. Not only will Microsoft halt software updates to Windows 8.1, but the company will be halting security patches as well.