NEWS FROM THE EDGE

In today’s interconnected digital world, terms like “Dark Web” may sound like they’ve been plucked straight out of a spy novel. However, for small business owners, understanding what the Dark Web is and its potential implications is critical to safeguard valuable information. In this brief article, I define the Dark Web, describes its origin, identify its most frequent users, and recommend ways to determine if your business’s data is there.

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Since 2004, the President of the United States and Congress have declared the month of October to be Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a dedicated month for the public and private sectors, and tribal communities to work together to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) partner to create resources and messaging for organizations to use when they talk with their employees, customers, and memberships about staying safe online.

2023 marks the 20th annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month and this year CISA is launching a new awareness program that encourages four simple steps every American can take to stay safe online. These simple actions are good advices not only during Cybersecurity Awareness Month, but also the rest of the year.
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Growing up in Michigan, I considered myself both a car and computer guy. In the sixth grade, I took my family’s Tandy 1000 computer apart to install a 300 baud modem. I vividly remember my older brother being certain the computer would no longer work after I had disassembled it to get to the motherboard. Much to his surprise, it did work and I was able to dial into a community bulletin board system (BBS) and connect to my friend’s computer so we could play chess. (Why anyone would want to do either of these things is a great mystery, but I did officially earn my Nerd Card.) On the car front, I subscribed to Car & Driver magazine and eagerly read about the newest automotive technology in each month’s issue.

Jumping forward to modern times, my father-in-law and mother-in-law each drive Hyundai Sonatas, 2015 and 2018 respectively. I should say “drove” because in October 2022, my mother-in-law’s was stolen from the parking structure of a Las Vegas casino. Then in January 2023, my father-in-law’s was stolen from their driveway! What a crazy coincidence!
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Dynamic Edge is proud to announce the winners of its 2023 Women in STEM Scholarship essay contest.

Please congratulate Allison Prentice of Brandon Township, MI and Bailey (Kat) Johnson of Cleveland, TN! Dynamic Edge awarded $2,000 each to Allie and Kat.

In its third year, the annual Dynamic Edge Women in STEM Scholarship awards cash to two women (one in Michigan and one in Tennessee) who plan to pursue STEM degrees or certifications. Today’s U.S. STEM workers remain male-dominated. While women comprise nearly half of the workforce, only 27% of the STEM workforce identifies as women.
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Each year, I speak at numerous conferences and company board meetings, most often about cybersecurity, the latest threats attacking small businesses, and sophisticated technological solutions to meet those challenges. The conversations summarize current scary statistics and help stakeholders prepare a proper strategy to protect their assets. However, at some point in every conversation, I must pause… reset… and remind the audience about the importance of data backups. While backups aren’t as sexy as a “passwordless environment” or “Managed Detection and Response,” they remain the single best protection against a security incident.

Unfortunately, when engaging with a new client, I almost always encounter two issues. First, the client thinks that their backups have been configured optimally. Upon review, I find that they are not. Second, the client thinks that they have good backup data. Upon testing, I find that they cannot restore from backups they think completed “successfully.”

To help avoid these common, yet dangerous misconceptions, this article identifies three critical issues related to backups: immutability, an air gap, and proper testing and verification. At the end, I provide three simple questions to ask your tech team to ensure your data is properly secured.
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In the hybrid work environment established my most organizations during the pandemic, Microsoft Teams remains the most prominent communication and collaboration platform. Like so many applications, though, most of us utilize just a few of the basic features. This brief article highlights five useful – though uncommonly used – tips to optimize your use of Teams. (1)
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