October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month!

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October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month!

This year is the 18th year celebrating October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month across the United States. Started by the National Cyber Security Division within the Department of Homeland Security and the nonprofit National Cyber Security Alliance, the month raises awareness about the importance and relevance of cybersecurity. It is a collaborative effort between government and industry, and Affinity is proud to participate.

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How The Supply Chain Issue May Affect You at Home and the Office - From Middle Tennessee to Around the Globe 

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How The Supply Chain Issue May Affect You at Home and the Office - From Middle Tennessee to Around the Globe 

What’s the Issue?

This summer’s recent chip shortage has affected nearly all manufacturers. The supply of semiconductors was disrupted due to Covid-19 related lockdowns, while simultaneously the demand for laptops and gaming consoles increased as people worked (and played) from home.

The shortage has impacted everything from auto production to consumer tech -- from Ford trucks to laptops and smartphones.

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Domain Name Social Engineering

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Domain Name Social Engineering

If you have received an email recently inquiring about your domain name, beware! It may be a criminal social engineering tactic to collect money from you for a worthless service.

Cyber criminals can look up public information about your domain name registration and exploit that information to try to collect money from you. Despite accurate information and very convincing impersonations of legitimate correspondence, this notice is likely a scam.

The email may look like a bill from your domain registration service, but it could very well be a fake. Verify with your domain registration service to make sure.

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What Does the Pipeline Hack Look Like for Cybersecurity in Middle Tennessee?

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In early May, the sudden demand for gas along the East Coast revealed more about our nation’s cybersecurity than its supply of gas. On May 7, the Colonial Pipeline halted operations after discovering a ransomware attack on their company’s information technology systems. This type of attack gives anonymity to the attackers as they seize important corporate data while demanding a ransom.

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Why Restarting Your Computer Actually Works

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Why Restarting Your Computer Actually Works

The odds are high that if you have ever faced computer issues at home or work you have heard these words from a friend or IT support before:

“Have you tried restarting it?”

While it might be easy to take this answer as a lazy (or rude) cop-out, there are valid reasons why restarting your computer can actually solve or prevent performance issues, especially when done routinely.

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Affinity vCIO J.Mac Brown Featured in the Nashville Post

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Recently, J.Mac Brown, one of Affinity’s virtual CIO’s (vCIOs), sat down with the Nashville Post to share some of the insights he and Affinity have gained throughout this pandemic era. Businesses of all stripes have had to pivot on a dime over the past year to adapt to the logistical and economic challenges posed by COVID-19. And Affinity’s vCIOs have been at the vanguard of helping small and mid-sized businesses in Middle Tennessee adapt and grow during these changing times. Click below to see some of the insights J.Mac has gained in a truly unprecedented year.

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Microsoft Exchange "Zero Day" Vulnerabilities: What You Need to Know

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You may have seen reports of "zero-day" vulnerabilities discovered in Microsoft Exchange. These vulnerabilities have been exploited to gain access to the email and networks of some Exchange Server users. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued an emergency directive following the release of fixes for these vulnerabilities.

Affinity is aware of these vulnerabilities and is responding accordingly where relevant across our client base. Here is what you need to know:

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Holiday Shopping at the Workplace

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Happy Holidays! As you make online purchases, and try to make the extra stressful 2020 shipping deadlines, please remember to be extra vigilant about online security. We thought the tips below from our vendor partner Zix/AppRiver* would be helpful to share with your staff:

Stormtrooper ornament on a Christmas tree

Majority of SMBs estimate employees are holiday shopping with a business-use device

  • 82% of all SMB executives and IT decision makers surveyed estimate “many” of their employees will shop online this holiday season using a work computer or a business-use device, on which business and customer data are also stored and transmitted .

  • Holiday shopping online using a business device appears to be highly prevalent . Education, Financial Services and Insurance, Government, Manufacturing, Media, Nonprofit, Technology and Telecom, and Transportation and Logistics are among key industries in which over 85% of all executives surveyed estimate “many” employees would be using a business device to shop online this holiday season .

  • The propensity for executives to believe many of their employees will shop online at work or using a business-use device is even higher among those at larger-sized SMBs . 88% of executives at medium-sized SMBs with 50–149 employees and 90% of executives at largest-sized SMBs with 150–250 employees believe many of their employees will be doing so this holiday season .

SMBs know the practice is a security risk, but most have no plan to stop it

  • Among the majority of IT decision makers who know employees would be holiday shopping using a business-use device, 61% admit they know this increases cybersecurity risks for their business and customers, but they believe it is a fact of life, and there is not much they can or plan to do about it .

  • 64% of executives at medium-sized SMBs (50–149 employees) and 68% at large-sized SMBs (150–250 employees) say there is nothing they could do to stop the practice they know to be risky .

3 in 10 are not aware the practice is in fact risky

  • Perhaps equally troubling as executives who know it is risky but plan to do nothing, 32% of all IT decision makers surveyed were not previously aware shopping with a business-use device could expose their organization to higher cyberthreat risks .

  • Nearly half (48%) of all IT decision makers at nonprofit organizations admit they did into know the practice could increase their security risks .

Half do not trust employees could detect a fake retailer link

  • Compounding the risks of shopping online using a business device, nearly half (49%) of all surveyed estimate most of their employees would not be able to spot an illegitimate link posing as an online retailer in potential phishing attempts .

  • Among these executives and IT decision makers, 4 in 10 lack confidence that they themselves could consistently distinguish an illegitimate link from a real one .

  • In several highly regulated industries where employees have access to sensitive data — including Financial Services and Insurance (52%) and Healthcare (63%) — over half are pessimistic and believe most of their employees would not be able to distinguish a fake retailer’s link in a phishing attempt from a legitimate one . 92% in Financial Services and Insurance and 78% in Healthcare believe many of their employees will be holiday shopping using a business-use device .

Many employees are expected to shop online using a business-use device this
holiday season. 6 in 10 employers are aware this imposes cybersecurity risks, but are not doing anything about it.

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Nearly half of all SMBs surveyed lack confidence that most employees can tell the difference between an illegitimate link from a cybercriminal posing as a fake online retailer and a legitimate one.

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*The Zix | AppRiver Cyberthreat Index for Business was developed by independent firms Idea Loft and Equation Research, in consultation with the University of West Florida Center for Cybersecurity, using survey data collected online in October 2019.

The survey has a + / – 3% margin of error. The national sample of respondents comprises 1,049 C-level executives and IT decision makers in small-to-medium-sized businesses and organizations with 1–250 employees (SMBs). 74% of these SMBs have compliance requirements.

Your Affinity Team: Seth Sanders’ Holiday Gift Picks

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Affinity team member, Seth Sanders

If you are an Affinity Technology Partners client, you have most likely had the pleasure of working with Seth Sanders. He has been a support team member for five and a half years and has resolved countless tickets for our clients during this time. Recently, he has been promoted to Systems Engineer and has started working with our proactive team as well, performing technical alignment reviews. 

Seth has a few tech holiday gift suggestions below that might be helpful as you are shopping:

Microsoft Surface Duo

Tablets are not a new trend, but the Surface Duo seems to be a promising evolution. It’s a phone that folds out to become a tablet. It runs on the Android operating system.

Microsoft Xbox Cloud gaming (ultra-pass)

With over 150 games, and a library that is always being updated, all of Microsoft’s exclusive games will be part of the cloud gaming framework -- think Halo, Fallout, Elderscrolls. In this model, you don’t own the game, but instead rent it.

Google Stadia

Like Microsoft Cloud gaming, you can play games from the web browser. Stadia is a bit more developed in their current platforms, but the games are not as new. The games differ from XCloud in that you buy the games instead of rent them, although they do come with a few free games that are included with the monthly subscription cost.

New Affinity Team Member: Meet J.Mac Brown!

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New Affinity Team Member: Meet J.Mac Brown!

Affinity Technology Partners is excited to announce J. Mac Brown has joined our team as Virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO). This position is a key role in Affinity’s service offering, working closely with our clients to understand their business needs and how technology can help them best achieve these needs. We are confident J. Mac will help Affinity achieve our mission to “bring high value to our clients via innovative technology solutions with consistent execution.” Before joining Affinity, J. Mac served as Vice President of Operations for local branding company Advent.

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Welcome Austin and Melissa to the Affinity Team!

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Welcome Austin and Melissa to the Affinity Team!

Overdue introductions! In the midst of the Nashville tornado, Covid 19, and an office move, Affinity dropped the ball on introducing two key team members – Melissa Istre and Austin Edwards. Melissa and Austin both joined earlier in the year, and we could not imagine the events of 2020 without them on our team. Melissa is Affinity’s Senior Accountant, managing the company’s financial responsibilities both internally and externally. She has a wealth of experience working with businesses and non-profits in several states before moving to Nashville. Outside the office, Melissa enjoys spending time with her husband and 3 kids.

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Please help us welcome Paul Shelton to the Affinity team!

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Please help us welcome Paul Shelton to the Affinity team!

Please help us welcome Paul Shelton to the Affinity team. You will find him helping our clients on the support team, getting issues taken care of and getting our clients back to work. Paul has deep experience in the technology world, from healthcare to other managed services providers. When he’s not helping clients, Paul enjoys spending time outside with his family, especially exploring in the woods. Like many of us, Paul has been busy with home projects during Covid 19, building a firepit for family “s’mores” nights and building a zipline for his twin boy and girl.

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Affinity Welcomes Leslie Armstrong, Client Service Representative, to the Team!

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Affinity Welcomes Leslie Armstrong, Client Service Representative, to the Team!

Affinity Technology Partners is excited to announce one of the newest additions to our team Leslie Armstrong. Leslie has joined us in the new role of Client Service Representative, an advocate for Affinity’s clients, ensuring they receive excellent and timely service from our service delivery teams. Her role is an integral part of achieving our mission to “delight our clients with an excellent experience.”

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