With online life becoming more and more the “way”, we are finding the knowledge of what to do in this new life is not keeping up, other than with the potential perpetrators that would steal, encrypt and hold your data for ransom.

Two of our large clients have had very costly RansomWare attacks during the course of this week. Thankfully because they had a current and good backup strategy in place, their IT Company was knowledgeable and the Database was maintained (so the backup was known to be “good’), we were able to assist with the Companies becoming “Live” on Volume again with a minimum of down time.

Key Individual – duty to ensure the security of your data / files

In this vain we feel we need to offer the following information on.
“How to keep your computer and Data safe”

To our clients; Please distribute to staff, family and friends:

Locally on your PC:

  • Do not only store important information on your computer.
  • Have multiple backups of your data: local, external drive and cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive, MS OneDrive etc.…)
  • Do not leave the syncing option on permanently for Dropbox, Google Drive, and MS OneDrive. Open the program when you want to sync only.
  • Keep your Operating System and other software up to date.
  • Do not use a local Administrator account on a daily basis for daily mundane tasks. Use a guest account for normal work with limited privileges.
  • Turn off Macro’s for MS Office : Word, Excel, PowerPoint.

In Browsers:

  • Only use, activate and keep the add-ons / plugins that are NEEDED and keep them up-to- date. Disable extra’s like: Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, Java and Silverlight. Use the browser settings to Ask you each time one of these needs to be used.
  • Increase the Security and Privacy settings.
  • Use an AD-Blocker to assist with potentially malicious adverts. Some browsers do have these built in.

Online Behavior:

  • Never open SPAM emails or emails from UNKNOWN or SUSPICIOUS senders.
  • Never download attachments from SPAM emails or emails from UNKNOWN or SUSPICIOUS senders.
  • Never click on links in SPAM emails or emails from UNKNOWN or SUSPICIOUS senders.

Anti-Ransom and Malware:

  • Always use a reliable PAID anti-virus product that includes an automatic update module and a real- time scanner.
  • For Companies, understand the importance that having a Traffic-Filtering solution can provide pro-active Anti-Ransomware and Malware protection.

Database Support

In close collaboration with Watermark Technologies SA (Pty) Ltd, IBSurgeon, the official provider of Firebird SQL database support, optimization and recovery services has developed a special offer for companies which use Volume application on Firebird Database. They offer a comprehensive set of services which covers backup automation, database health, backup monitoring and if necessary, optimization services and recovery action. The service is intended for those Companies which consider stable work of Volume and Firebird database as a critical part of their IT infrastructure and want to be sure in its health and be prepared for possible upcoming problems.

PLEASE CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION:

(T) 031 717 2680
(E) bradley@watermarktech.co.za

PLEASE CONTACT OUR OFFICE FOR MORE INFORMATION:

(T)  031 717 2680