How to Properly Test Your Data Migration Processes

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Regardless of the business attempting it, data migration (or the process of moving data and systems to a new piece of infrastructure) is critical to get right. One way to improve your chances of success is to create and follow a migration strategy, evaluating it as you go. Let’s walk through some practices involved in doing so.

What Goes into Proper Data Migration Testing?

Data migration testing needs to address the various parts that any migration will inherently have: before the process takes place, what goes on during the migration itself, and what happens afterward. Being prepared to evaluate your process at all three stages based on predetermined metrics is therefore critical to your success, as there is no shortage of things that can go awry during any data migration.

It is also important to acknowledge that, before we go any further, data migration is something that requires some pretty advanced IT capabilities and skills. In short, it’s something that you’ll want to entrust to the professionals—professionals like the ones we have at Reciprocal Technologies. We urge you to reach out and consult with us before diving into any major processes.

That being said, we wanted to run through a few critical steps to attend to at each of the aforementioned three stages.

What Needs to Be Done Before Your Migration Starts

Your first step needs to be to determine how much needs to be migrated—otherwise, you’ll have no scope of reference as to your success once the process is finished. Planning this process and making the preparations for it—like making sure that your data is protected from any negative impacts by backing it up in a properly configured backup solution—will be an important next step. 

You also need to ensure that you and your team also know what your proposed timeline looks like, and have a sufficient budget to cover these plans. Finally, it is also important to consider your cybersecurity and regulatory compliance needs, so that you can be sure that all of your systems meet the requirements.

What to Do During the Migration Process

As you’re completing your migration, there are a few things you can do to assist the testing process. For instance, breaking up the data you’re migrating into smaller batches makes the testing process more efficient. This is also a good time to set access permissions for your employees to fit the needs that their roles call for.

What Should Come After Your Migration

Once your migration has been completed, you should go through and test your new solutions to ensure that it was successful, checking that your data all made it over and that it is properly formatted for your new system. You should also check your new systems’ performance and security, stress testing them and running penetration tests to confirm they are reliable and secure.

Reach Out to Us for Assistance with All This

At Reciprocal Technologies, we specialize in fulfilling the IT needs of our clients, from basic maintenance to advanced network configuration. Whatever it is you require, give us a call so we can help you out! Reach out at (317) 759-3972 today.

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/how-to-properly-test-your-data-migration-processes/

Tip of the Week: 3 Steps You Can Take to Keep Your Computer Clean

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Any machine needs regular maintenance which includes periodic cleaning. This includes any computer you use. We have put together three actions you can take to ensure that your machines aren’t going to break down from a lack of physical maintenance. 

Before we start we should say that these physical maintenance tips aren’t going to make your computer run faster or anything like that. What cleaning your computer will do, however, is significantly improve the experience of using it. It’s also just much nicer to have a clean workstation. 

To complete the cleaning process we outline here, you will need the following:

• A microfiber cloth for wiping down surfaces and screens
• Compressed air to clean out vents and other internal components
• Tools, in case you need to open your computer case (ask us if you’re worried about doing this yourself)

You will want to turn off and then unplug the computer you are going to clean and be in a place that has decent ventilation. 

Start with Your Monitors

Cleaning your displays is perhaps the most important part of cleaning your PC. After all, if you have stuff all over your monitors, it is distracting. You’ll want to avoid using any type of substance that could be corrosive. We recommend wiping the dust away with the microfiber cloth and then using a small amount of distilled water (you can find it at your local dollar store) on a paper towel to thoroughly clean the displays. 

Move to the Fans 

Dust generally accumulates inside your computer if you don’t clean it every so often. It also can build up in the fans and can get in the way of air circulation. This can actually have a negative impact on your PC’s functionality as the hotter it is inside your computer, the more wear and tear the components will endure. 

You will want to blow out the fan for certain with the compressed air, but if you are doing a thorough job, you can take the side panels off of your device and remove dust from internal components too.

Clean the Keyboard

Oh man, we’ve seen some pretty nasty keyboards in our time. If you want your keyboard to avoid this fate, you need to be diligent when cleaning it. After all, if you work at your workstation full time, you probably have dead skin, food, hair, and all types of other stuff situated between the keys. Cleaning your keyboard is probably the grimiest part of the job. Take keys off of your keyboard and get in there with some cotton swabs. If you don’t feel like getting that involved you can just shake the keyboard off and be disgusted at the things that appear on your desk. 

A Clean Workstation Can Still Be Dirty

While you may have a spic and span workstation, it may be infested with malware, adware or some other type of problematic code. That’s where Reciprocal Technologies comes in. Our technicians can clean the inside of your computer and monitor it around the clock to keep threats off of it. Give us a call at (317) 759-3972 to learn more. 

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/tip-of-the-week-3-steps-you-can-take-to-keep-your-computer-clean/

The Basics of a Secure Network

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Unfortunately, some businesses have had to learn the hard way in order to pay attention to their business’ cybersecurity efforts. These cautionary tales aren’t lost on many business owners, but in some cases, they are still ignored. That’s where we come in. Today, we thought we would go through some basic things that any organization needs to know to keep their business safe. 

Reliably Secure Wireless 

These days, a lot of business is done on a wireless network. When a business sets up its Wi-Fi, they can make some pretty serious mistakes that can cause real problems if they aren’t caught and corrected. Best practices dictate that any business that sets up a wireless network for their business should change their router credentials regularly, ensure that any firewalls have been updated, and create a guest network that is separate from the main Wi-Fi network that can be accessed by employees.

Up-To-Date Antivirus

Antivirus tools are one of the most important cybersecurity tools an organization can have, but only if they are regularly updated with threat definitions that represent the attacks a network would have to confront. The entire point of antivirus (and other anti-malware tools) is to identify and quarantine potentially malicious code, so if it doesn’t have the latest definitions to accomplish this, it will inevitably let malicious code onto the network; a real problem for any business. 

Keeping Firewalls Current

The same goes for firewalls. Security-minded companies set up multiple firewalls between elements of their computing infrastructure. If the firewalls’ threat definitions aren’t up-to-date, they won’t be very good at catching the malicious code that comes in and out of parts of a network. 

Utilizing Password Management

Password management promotes better password practices. It does so by encrypting the numerous passwords that any user has to have in the course of their work. This means a user only has to remember one password instead of dozens, and removes excuses to not create complex passwords for every account. The more complex the passwords are, the more secure the accounts associated with them are. 

Multi-Factor or Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication (2FA or MFA, respectively) is a useful security addition to any password-fueled account. Instead of gaining access to an account or profile after they enter a username and password, the user is asked to authenticate their password using a code or other method. This can be something as simple as a text message sent to a user’s email all the way to a biometric scan of a user’s fingerprint or iris. The idea is to add another layer of security to password-centric accounts, as they are the ones that are most vulnerable to attack.

At Reciprocal Technologies, we work with Indiana businesses every day to improve their business’ security processes and their overall efficiency. To talk to one of our consultants about your business’ cybersecurity, give us a call today at (317) 759-3972.

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/the-basics-of-a-secure-network/

Reduce The Amount of Battery Life Chrome Uses

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Google Chrome consumes your battery a lot faster than you might think, but Google has started to take steps toward implementing a feature that could potentially help users get more battery life while using their web browser. This new feature, an experimental one implemented with Chrome version 108, could potentially be a game-changer for both personal and professional Chrome use.

How to Use Your Energy Saver Feature

Before you try to turn on your Energy Saver feature, you’ll first have to make sure you’re using the right version of Chrome. To check this, you can use the triple-dot menu in the top right corner of the browser window to navigate through Settings > About Chrome. You can see your browser information here, and if you’re not using the appropriate version of Chrome, you can push the update from this screen. Alternatively, you can have a professional like those at Reciprocal Technologies handle this task for you, just to be on the safe side.

Again, we want to reiterate that this Energy Saver feature is an in-development feature and, thus, not available to the general public in an easy-to-find location. Chrome has it hidden away with its other experimental features for only the most ambitious users to try using.

To access these in-development features, type the following into your address bar and search: chrome://flags. You’ll see a page open up with all of the Experiments, i.e. features that are very much in the works, but not ready to be implemented on a grand scale. Search for “battery” and you’ll find the option to Enable the battery saver mode feature in the settings. All you have to do is set this to Enabled, then relaunch Chrome using the prompt.

After you’ve relaunched Chrome, you can go to your Settings to find a new option called Performance, where Energy Saver is housed.

The setting provides better battery life by limiting certain parts of the user experience. According to the setting, “When on, Chrome conserves battery power by limiting background activity and visual effects, such as smooth scrolling and video frame rates.”

Once the feature has been turned on, you can set it to Turn on only when my battery is at 20% or lower or Turn on when my computer is unplugged.

If you’re ever unsure of a feature on your device, be sure to ask us at Reciprocal Technologies what we think. We can give you a solid rundown of the pros, cons, and options you have at your disposal. To learn more, contact us at (317) 759-3972.

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/reduce-the-amount-of-battery-life-chrome-uses/

How Phishing Has Evolved Over the Years

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As the business world becomes increasingly digitized, an ever-increasing number of cyber crimes are being perpetrated. One particularly insidious crime is phishing when someone attempts to steal sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers. Unlike a virus or ransomware attack, which can cause your computer to behave erratically and become unusable, phishing scams are often tough to detect. Phishing is one of the most dangerous cyber crimes, but how has it changed over the years? Let’s look at some examples to see what new techniques cyber criminals have come up with over time.

1. Gaining the Victim’s Trust

The first evolution of phishing was the realization that perpetrators needed to instill trust in their victims before they could get them to give away their passwords. Over the years, scammers have only become more effective at this. As a result, phishing scams of all kinds have has become quite sophisticated, even in the most basic form. Fake websites are now being created that look exactly like the real thing, using realistic templates and designs. This makes for a phishing scam that is dangerously easy for the victim to fall for.

2. Gaining Access to Account Credentials

The next technique that phishing scam perpetrators began to implement was gaining access to seemingly sensitive accounts. This is especially dangerous because when an individual gives away their login details, hackers will often have access to other accounts if they are connected or if the credentials are reused. This scam has become more sophisticated nowadays, as victims often submit their login credentials through a fake form under the belief that they are accessing a real account. To get past fake verification questions and onto the actual site, users have now been asked to provide information such as credit card numbers and bank details.

3. Installing Malicious Computer Programs (Malware)

As the Internet has grown, so has the range of methods used by hackers. One type that is increasingly common in phishing attacks is malware. This can take the form of a program designed to spy on their victim’s activities and pass information back to a third party. As more and more people gain access to the Internet, it becomes more difficult for them to tell which sites are real and which are fake. Malware is also extremely hard for an individual to detect because it can be loaded onto your machine without you even knowing about it.

4. Changing the System’s Settings

The final method that the creators of phishing attacks have implemented is to change the system settings. This means that along with the malware, they can also gain control over some of the computer’s functions. This way, they can open up their victim’s email service and send messages to specific people. In this way, hackers can pretend to be someone they’re not.

Key Takeaway

These four ways phishing has changed over the past couple of years show that hackers have become more sophisticated daily. However, a lot can still be done to protect yourself from this kind of scam. First, make sure you never send sensitive information over a public Wi-Fi connection. If you need to make an important transaction or log into your account, try not to do so from a public place. Avoid responding to any emails you believe may be suspicious, and always check on the company website if you have any doubts about the legitimacy of an email.

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/how-phishing-has-evolved-over-the-years/

Tip of the Week: How to Copy Excel Data

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So, you’ve spent a ton of time and energy transcribing data into Microsoft Excel, only to find out that you need this same data elsewhere in your spreadsheets, too. Bit of a bummer, unless you know how to accurately and easily copy all of this data. Let’s go over how you can do so.

The first thing you need to determine is whether you’re just copying an existing worksheet in the same workbook or you want to duplicate your worksheet into a completely different file. Fortunately, both are totally possible.

Copying a Worksheet Within a Workbook

Copying a worksheet is a very simple prospect. All you have to do is right-click the sheet tab of the worksheet you want to copy, and from the menu that presents itself, select Move or Copy… Once you’ve done so, make sure you select the Create a copy option in the window that appears. Click OK, and you will have a copy of the worksheet along with the original that you can edit and rename freely.

Copying a Worksheet into a Different Workbook

If your needs would be better suited by having a worksheet duplicated into an entirely different workbook, that’s entirely possible—in fact, there’s a few options available to you.

First, Excel’s user interface has this functionality built in. To use it, you’ll need both locations—the sheet where the original data is present and the sheet the data is to be copied to—open. In the original worksheet’s window, again, right-click the sheet tab. Select Move or Copy… once again, selecting To Book as the target. You’ll be presented with a list of open workbooks to select from. With the Create a copy option selected, click OK.

Likewise, with both the source and the target workbook open, you can simply drag one worksheet from one to the other to copy it. Under the View tab, select View Side by Side in the Window group. This tells Excel to split the display between the two. You can then click and drag the sheet tab you want to copy from one workbook to the other while holding down the Ctrl key. Without the Ctrl key, you’ll just move the sheet over.

Hopefully, this helps you cut down on some of the time you might otherwise spend manipulating Excel. Our managed services can help you save time in other ways, too, enabling you to better utilize it. Give us a call at (317) 759-3972 to learn more.

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/tip-of-the-week-how-to-copy-excel-data/

Apple Devices Have a Significant Vulnerability (So Here’s How to Fix It)

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Do you remember the “Hello, I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” commercials that aired from 2006 to 2009? These ads, which featured actors Justin Long and John Hodgeman as Mac and PC, respectively, were put out by Apple to promote their line of computers, highlighting the advantages that Macs had over the PC. One advantage the ads referenced repeatedly was the idea that Macs “don’t get viruses,” something that research conducted by Elastic Security Labs has disproved beyond any doubt.

Let’s examine what Elastic Security Labs has discovered, and what can be done about it.

Macs Can Get Malware, Albeit Less Often

According to Elastic Security Labs’ research, 54% of malware impacts Windows devices, as compared to 6.2% being found on machines running macOS. However, a full 48% of macOS devices are infected via the same app.

Somewhat ironically, the app responsible is MacKeeper—a utility that provides assorted tools to help maintain a computer’s privacy and security, which requires it to have somewhat nebulous access permissions. 

MacKeeper is legitimate software, but it has been hijacked and used for malicious intentions.

For this reason, it is likely wiser to remove it.

Here’s how to do so:

Deleting MacKeeper from macOS

• Navigate to the Finder app
• Select Applications
• Locate MacKeeper
• Make sure you have This Mac selected and click the plus sign
• Open the dropdown by selecting Name
• Select Other
• Tick the checkbox next to System Files
• Click Name and select System Files
• Change aren’t included to are included
• Right-click and select Move to Trash for all files in the folder
• Right-click the Trash icon and select Empty Trash

Hopefully, this will help eliminate a big source of threats from your macOS device. We can help you with the rest of your technology as well. Give us a call at (317) 759-3972 to learn more about our managed services.

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/apple-devices-have-a-significant-vulnerability-so-heres-how-to-fix-it/

Tip of the Week: Save Your Battery with This Android Setting

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Google Chrome can really eat away at your battery if you let it, and with Chrome being such a high-use application, Google has a feature (albeit a hidden one) that can help users consume less battery life with Google Chrome active. This new feature, available in Chrome version 108, is called Energy Saver. What do you need to know about it before implementing it?

How You Can Turn On Your Energy Saver

To turn on your energy saver, you first have to make sure you have version 108 of Chrome installed. To check your version, you can tap the triple-dot menu in the top right corner of your browser window. From here, select Settings > About Chrome. You should then see your browser information, like the version currently installed on your device. You can then push the update or decide that it’s the job for a professional—whatever you are more comfortable with.

Before we get too much further, we should state that the Energy Saver feature is an in-development feature, and as such, Chrome has it hidden away for the more adventurous types to experiment with.

For access to these development features, you just type in chrome://flags in the address bar and search. You’ll be brought to a page with a list of available and unavailable features titled Experiments. If you search for “battery,” you should see the option you are looking for: Enable the battery-saver mode feature in the settings. Set this to Enabled, then relaunch Chrome using the prompt.

Once you have done this, you can go to your Settings to see the new option called Performance. This is where the Energy Saver feature can be found.

The setting itself gives you the ability to limit certain aspects of your user experience to keep battery consumption low. The setting claims, “When on, Chrome conserves battery power by limiting background activity and visual effects, such as smooth scrolling and video frame rates.”

Once the feature has been turned on, you can set it to Turn on only when my battery is at 20% or lower or Turn on when my computer is unplugged.

Not sure if you want to commit to this feature? Ask us about your other options to improve device performance by contacting us at (317) 759-3972.

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/tip-of-the-week-save-your-battery-with-this-android-setting/

Investing in Your Business’ Internal Communications Will Pay Off

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Without sufficient communications within your business, you won’t be able to accomplish nearly as much as you potentially could with the proper systems in place. Let’s review a few tips that will help you to stretch your business’ collaboration that much farther.

Give Team Members the Opportunity to Share Information

One of the simplest ways that you can enable your team members to properly collaborate and communicate is to give them a platform to do so. Encourage your team members to share any insights or observations they’ve picked up. It may not hurt to conduct brief meetings at the start of the workday within each department to help urge this information sharing along.

You should also remind your team members that they are there to support one another, suggesting to them that they should be working collectively on more of their projects. If your team leans on one another as a means of taking advantage of one another’s skills, your business ultimately benefits. Try to incorporate a policy of open communications (where appropriate, of course) into your company culture.

Put the Proper Tools to Use

Of course, your team will also need the means to communicate effectively in a variety of circumstances. They may not always have the opportunity to simply turn to a coworker and ask a question, after all.

To enable this, you need to equip your team with a variety of collaborative solutions so they are sure to have the appropriate tool at their disposal. Instant messaging, email, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony, customer relationship management platforms, even an intranet solution are all viable options that should each go into a business’ unified collaboration strategy. We can help you determine which of your available options are most effective for your operational needs, just give us a call at (317) 759-3972.

Make It Simple to Access Need-to-Know Information

Similarly to allowing your team members to share information they’ve acquired, you need to make it as simple as possible for your employees to reference key processes, procedures, and data on a need-to-know basis. Not only will this help move operations along quicker, you can use these records as another means of reinforcing collaborative habits by involving them in the processes this documentation outlines.

This is all just the tip of the iceberg, in terms of advancing your business’ communications. Reach out to Reciprocal Technologies for assistance in implementing and maintaining the essential tools and solutions necessary to support your ongoing internal collaboration. Give us a call at (317) 759-3972.

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/investing-in-your-business-internal-communications-will-pay-off/

What Changes Should Be Expected from CIOs?

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Technology is a major player in today’s business environment, and in most cases, companies have someone in their executive suite whose sole purpose is overseeing their technology systems. This individual—the Chief Information Officer, or CIO—is incredibly important to the everyday operations of businesses.

They might not all be called CIOs and their duties might vary, but there are common threads among them that can give you a glimpse into what you can expect from someone in this position.

What Should Your IT Leadership Focus On?

This year should be a turning point for your business, and if you haven’t already done so, consider ways you can pay closer attention to the following parts of your IT systems:

Budget Defensibility

There are certain signs indicating that the economy is not doing so well, and this puts strain on already-stretched budgets. When money is tight, IT departments are often one of the first to feel the brunt of the impact due to the resource-intensive nature of technology systems.

To keep these impacts to a minimum, we recommend that your IT leadership understand how the business invests resources into its technology and the return on that investment. This individual should also be able to produce data backing up these claims so as to justify funding—especially come budgeting season.

Data Security and Protection

No matter how much time passes, it’s a safe bet that your business will always be at risk of a security breach in at least some capacity. Economic impacts and geopolitical struggles often come with security breaches attached, and they don’t care how big or how profitable the companies they target are. They simply want to make money or cause chaos through any means possible, and the CIO needs to be aware of how to protect their organization.

Adaptability

The workplace did a u-turn to accommodate remote work policies during the pandemic, proving that flexibility is imperative to any successful IT business strategy. In fact, remote work was such an experience for some employees that they are now upset that they have to return to the workplace. The modern CIO needs to understand that there is value in remote work and that technology can accommodate it in whichever way it must.

We Can Be the IT Help You Need

A managed IT provider can help with just about any technology need your business has, including the ability to function as a CIO as needed. We can also work alongside your CIO to ensure that your business makes the best decisions possible regarding technology implementation and solutions. To learn more, call us at (317) 759-3972 today.

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/what-changes-should-be-expected-from-cios/

While Crucial to Your Business, Cybersecurity Can Be Tiresome for Some

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Cybersecurity definitely needs to be a point of emphasis for any business who relies on technology, after all if you suffer a data breach, it can have a direct impact on the way your business is viewed by potential customers or it can even have an effect on the way that you are able to operate. In order to keep your business secure online you need to depend on your staff. Like it or not, they are a major part of your business’ cybersecurity system and if they aren’t trained properly and understand their role, your business is low-hanging fruit for hackers. 

Unfortunately, security can be problematic for your staff. Consider for a minute that even if they do understand the role they play in your cybersecurity, that even the most experienced employee may find it difficult to keep up with all the computer security requirements that your IT administrator has set up. This phenomenon is called security fatigue. Today, we will talk a little bit about what causes it and how you can do your best to keep your staff from experiencing it. 

Security Fatigue is Real

According to the National Institute of Standards in Technology (NIST) a majority of those served in a poll admitted to having some type of security fatigue. Basically, there is so much made about cybersecurity that they can’t keep it straight; or, worse yet have become ambivalent about it due to the sheer number of security protocols they are asked to navigate. Either way, employees and vendors that have access to your business’ IT infrastructure need to actively be doing their very best to help keep your organization’s computing infrastructure and data safe. Doing things that put technology at risk include:

• Getting successfully phished – Those people who are dealing with security fatigue generally don’t pay mind to what they click on. In this day and age, that can be extraordinarily bad for the organization they work for. Over 90 percent of today’s cyberattacks start with a phishing message of some sort so if you have staff that routinely falls for these tactics, you need to do something to ensure those people know how dangerous phishing is. 
• Poor password hygiene – People who care about cybersecurity understand the role that their passwords play in it. Since most accounts require passwords as a part of their login strategy, using the same passwords in multiple accounts can be a serious problem. About four-in-five people admit to using a password on multiple accounts. This is just unacceptable for work-related accounts. 
• Using software that doesn’t have active support – If you don’t pay any mind to your cybersecurity, you probably won’t pay attention to updates surrounding your software. Many types of software are routinely updated by their developers and some just so happen to be on users to update (think internet browsers). For the people suffering security fatigue, they don’t pay any mind that their OS or browser is out of support and that can have some serious repercussions for your business as a whole. 

Remedies for Security Fatigue

The best way to keep people from dealing with security fatigue is to have a strategy in place that takes into account both viewpoints. Obviously, network and cybersecurity are essential parts of your workplace computing strategy, but you have to understand that people don’t like having every little issue brought up every day. It’s a balancing act to be sure, but you will want to get your people to use password managers, which will encrypt all the passwords and make it easier for your organization’s staff to easily use secure passwords.

Another way to help with the overwhelming security posture is to invest in a single sign-on solution. There are plenty of solutions out there today that allow your staff to have one username and password. Through the use of multifactor authentication these solutions work to simplify the authentication process, while also having a comprehensive tool designed to keep unauthorized users off your network. 

If you would like to learn more about security fatigue and some of the security solutions and strategies Reciprocal Technologies uses to keep our business and our clients secure, give us a call today at (317) 759-3972.

from: https://reciprocaltech.com/blog/while-crucial-to-your-business-cybersecurity-can-be-tiresome-for-some/