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Endpoint Security vs Antivirus: What’s the Difference?

As a business owner, you understand the importance of securing your company’s digital infrastructure. However, with the ever-increasing complexity of cyber threats, it can be challenging to navigate the sea of security solutions available. Two commonly used terms in the realm of computer security are endpoint security and antivirus. While they may sound similar, they serve different purposes and offer unique layers of protection. In this article, we will unravel the mystery behind endpoint security and antivirus, empowering you with the knowledge to make informed choices and safeguard your business from potential cyber risks.

Importance of Endpoint Security and Antivirus

Endpoint security and antivirus solutions provide a multi-layered approach to safeguarding your business from various types of cyber threats. Antivirus software focuses on detecting and removing known malware, viruses, and other malicious software from your systems. It acts as a first line of defense, scanning files and programs for any signs of malicious activity.

On the other hand, endpoint security goes beyond traditional antivirus by monitoring and securing all endpoints within your network, including laptops, desktops, mobile devices, and servers. It provides advanced threat detection and prevention capabilities, such as behavior monitoring, intrusion detection, and data loss prevention.

By implementing both endpoint security and antivirus solutions, you create a robust defense mechanism that can detect and neutralize a wide range of cyber threats, ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of your business data.

The importance of endpoint security and antivirus solutions extends beyond data protection. Cyberattacks can have severe financial implications for businesses of all sizes. The cost of recovering from a cyber incident, including data recovery, system restoration, legal fees, and potential fines, can be substantial.

By investing in endpoint security and antivirus measures, you can significantly reduce the risk of falling victim to cyber threats and mitigate potential financial losses. These security solutions act as a proactive defense mechanism, detecting and neutralizing threats before they can cause significant harm.

When ensuring the continuity of your business operations, you can maintain customer satisfaction, meet deadlines, and avoid the negative consequences of prolonged downtime. Additionally, a successful cyberattack can have long-lasting effects on your business reputation. Customers, partners, and stakeholders expect their data to be handled securely, and any breach of trust can result in a loss of business and damage to your brand image.

When prioritizing endpoint security and antivirus measures, you demonstrate your commitment to protecting sensitive information, instilling confidence in your stakeholders, and maintaining a positive reputation in the market.

Overall, endpoint security and antivirus solutions are essential for business owners to protect their valuable assets, mitigate financial losses, ensure business continuity, and safeguard their reputation in today’s digital world.

Endpoint Security vs Antivirus: What’s the Difference?

Here are the key differences between endpoint security and antivirus in comparison:

Scope of Protection

Antivirus software primarily focuses on detecting and removing known malware, viruses, and other malicious software from your systems. It scans files and programs for any signs of malicious activity. On the other hand, endpoint security provides a broader scope of protection by monitoring and securing all endpoints within your network, including laptops, desktops, mobile devices, and servers. It offers advanced threat detection and prevention capabilities, such as behavior monitoring, intrusion detection, and data loss prevention.

Approach to Security

Antivirus solutions rely on signature-based detection, where they compare files and programs against a database of known malware signatures. If a match is found, the antivirus software takes action to remove or quarantine the threat. Endpoint security takes a more proactive approach by using various techniques, such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and behavioral analysis, to detect and prevent both known and unknown threats. It focuses on identifying suspicious patterns and behaviors to stop potential attacks before they can cause harm.

Protection Beyond Malware

While antivirus software primarily focuses on malware detection, endpoint security provides additional layers of protection. It includes features such as firewall management, application control, device control, web filtering, and email security. These features help prevent unauthorized access, secure network traffic, and protect against other types of cyber threats, such as phishing attacks, ransomware, and zero-day exploits.

Management and Control

Antivirus software is typically managed centrally, with updates and scans scheduled and controlled from a central console. It provides basic reporting and management capabilities. Endpoint security solutions, on the other hand, offer more advanced management and control features. They provide centralized visibility and control over all endpoints, allowing administrators to monitor and manage security policies, conduct vulnerability assessments, and enforce compliance across the network.

Integration and Compatibility

Antivirus software is often a standalone product that can be installed on individual devices. It may have limited integration capabilities with other security solutions. Endpoint security solutions, on the other hand, are designed to integrate with other security tools and technologies, such as network security appliances, threat intelligence platforms, and security information and event management (SIEM) systems. This integration allows for better coordination and correlation of security events, enhancing overall threat detection and response capabilities.

Is Antivirus Software Sufficient for Protecting Endpoints?

Antivirus software is an essential component of endpoint security, but it is not sufficient on its own. While antivirus software can help detect and remove known malware and viruses, it may not be effective against newer and more sophisticated threats.

To ensure comprehensive protection for your endpoints, it is recommended to complement antivirus software with additional security measures. Here are a few key considerations:

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP): Consider implementing an Endpoint Protection Platform that combines antivirus software with advanced features such as behavioral analysis, machine learning, and exploit prevention. EPP solutions provide a layered defense approach to identify and block both known and unknown threats.
Firewall: Deploying a firewall helps to monitor and filter incoming and outgoing network traffic, providing an additional layer of protection against unauthorized access and malicious activities.
Patch Management: Keeping your operating system, applications, and software up to date with the latest security patches is critical. Ensure that your endpoints receive regular updates so that attackers cannot exploit vulnerabilities in outdated software.
User Education: Employees play a crucial role in maintaining endpoint security. Provide regular training and awareness programs to educate them about common security threats, safe browsing practices, and the importance of strong passwords. This helps prevent social engineering attacks and keeps your endpoints secure.
Data Backup and Recovery: Implementing regular data backups and keeping a strong recovery plan in place can lessen the harm that ransomware or other types of data loss incidents cause. Regularly test your backups to ensure their integrity and availability.

Remember that no single security solution can provide complete protection. Establishing a multi-layered security approach that includes antivirus software, along with other complementary measures, helps to significantly enhance endpoint protection and safeguard your business assets.

How Does Endpoint Security and Antivirus Relate to Cybersecurity?

Endpoint security and antivirus solutions play a critical role in the realm of cybersecurity. They are essential components of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy aimed at protecting businesses from various cyber threats.

Endpoint security focuses on securing all endpoints within a network, including laptops, desktops, mobile devices, and servers, by implementing advanced threat detection and prevention measures.

Antivirus software, on the other hand, primarily focuses on detecting and removing known malware. Together, these solutions provide a multi-layered defense against cyberattacks, helping to safeguard sensitive data, prevent unauthorized access, mitigate financial losses, ensure business continuity, and maintain a positive reputation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, understanding the difference between endpoint security and antivirus is crucial for business owners who want to effectively protect their valuable assets from cyber threats. While antivirus software focuses on detecting and removing known malware, endpoint security provides a comprehensive approach to security by monitoring and securing all endpoints within a network. Endpoint security goes beyond malware detection and includes features such as behavior monitoring, intrusion detection, and data loss prevention. By implementing both endpoint security and antivirus solutions, businesses can create a robust defense mechanism that mitigates the risk of cyberattacks, protects sensitive data, ensures business continuity, and maintains a positive reputation. With the ever-evolving nature of cyber threats, investing in these security measures is essential to safeguarding the integrity and confidentiality of business operations in today’s digital landscape.

Final Thoughts

Protecting your business from cyber threats is our utmost concern at Buzz Cybersecurity. Our comprehensive suite of services, including managed IT services, cloud solutions, disaster recovery, and ransomware protection, offers a complete cybersecurity solution. With our unwavering dedication to exceeding expectations and delivering exceptional cybersecurity solutions, businesses in neighboring states trust us for unmatched protection. Take the proactive step of partnering with Buzz Cybersecurity today and ensure the highest level of security for your business.

Sources

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-view-of-system-hacking-5380792/

8 Ways Managed IT Services San Francisco Can Help Your Business Thrive

So you’re a business owner and you’re always looking for ways to improve operations and grow your company? We have got you covered, because we understand that Managed IT services are vital in helping you achieve your long-term business goals. But there are so many different solutions available in the market, how should you choose? It can be challenging to know what is right for you and your business and take action, but it’s 2023 and cyber threats are real. That’s why we are excited to introduce you to Buzz Cybersecurity, the #1 solution for managed IT services San Francisco.

We are super excited about this blog post, because we’ll cover what managed IT services are and how they will help your business thrive. Let’s do this together, and take a deep dive into the specific ways managed IT services can help your business stay current with the times and propel risk in this ever-evolving atmosphere.

What Are Managed IT Services?

Managed IT services can be a serious lifesaver in the event of technological issues. If you have dealt with any type of Internet or data loss issues then you know how important it is to outsource your business’s IT infrastructure management to a third-party provider with special skills and talents in cyber security. It makes a lot more sense to outsource your IT needs so that your employees can focus on the work that your company specialized in and not their password issues. An IT service provider takes care of the management and monitoring of your entire IT infrastructure, so that your employees can stay focused on the work that they specialize in (instead of the website issues).

Managed IT services can include things like cybersecurity, data backup and recovery, network support, and more. Managed IT services allow you to use your own IT equipment and provide you and your team with some serious peace of mind surrounding the technology that helps you run your day to day.

Why Does My Business Need Managed IT Services?

Whether you are a small business or a large corporation, we all know that technology runs our world. The truth is that any business can benefit from a managed IT partner that has their back in the event of a technological emergency.

Let’s take a look at why your business needs managed IT services no matter the size:

Cyber-threats are increasing every year and can pose a severe threat to small and mid-sized businesses.

Technology equipment needs regular maintenance and updates to perform effectively.
Managed IT services offer reduced labor costs, as you no longer have to employ an in-house IT team.

Now that we’ve touched on what managed IT services are and why your business needs them, let’s keep going, because we have got the ultimate guide on why and how managed IT services can help your business thrive.

How Managed IT Services Help Your Business Thrive

We here at Buzz Cybersecurity truly want your business to thrive, that’s why we are going over the eight ways to ensure that it does. To ensure that your day-to-day operation never stalls.

1. Managed IT Gives Your Business a Competitive Edge

Managed IT services offer small businesses and big corporations alike access to vital technology that protects their assets and online data.It is so important that your business stays competitive in a rapidly changing business landscape that contains ever-evolving technology. Are you ready to have the latest technology solutions and cybersecurity in place? We promise that putting safety and security at the head of the curb is going to give you an edge over the competition every time.

2. Minimize Your Risk, and Be Stress-Free

Proactively managing and mitigating risks is like the middle name of managed IT services. With a partner in managed IT, your business can utilize advanced security solutions. This means that IT service providers can identify and eliminate security vulnerabilities before they even begin. Now that is powerful. With a managed IT service provider, you get peace of mind knowing that your network and data is not only backed up but protected against risk.

3. Your Time is Important, Save It

As a business owner, your time is valuable. Managed IT services allow you to focus on growing your business instead of worrying about technology. With an experienced IT service provider, you can expect prompt responses and quick resolution to any issues that may arise.

4. Lower Your Operation Costs

Outsourcing your IT management can result in lower costs. With managed IT services, you only pay for what you need. You can scale your services up or down as your business needs change, resulting in lower operational costs.

5. Scale Your Network

Managed IT services can help you quickly scale your network as your business grows. You don’t have to worry about outgrowing your in-house IT capabilities; managed IT services can grow right alongside your business and into the future.

6. Stay Up-to-Date with Compliances

Depending on your industry, your business could be required to stay up-to-date with regulations such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA, or GDPR. Compliance can be challenging to navigate, but with managed IT services, you’ll have experts on your side every step of the way that make sure your company stays compliant on the cyber front.

7. Reduce Risk and Data Loss with Managed IT Services San Francisco

Managed IT services will save you a serious headache by preventing data loss and offering backup and recovery solutions for any data that has been lost. Utilizing cloud backup services is like purchasing insurance for your data. Trust us when we tell you that you will want the peace of mind in knowing that your team can quickly recover data in case of a natural disaster or cyber attack.

8. Stay Up-to-Date on Company Hardware

Keeping hardware updated is essential to maintaining a secure network and avoiding security vulnerabilities during the work day. With managed IT services, your hardware will always be up-to-date and free of security leaks.

Contact Buzz Cyber Security for Managed IT Services San Francisco

By investing in managed IT services, you take the power in your hands to help your business thrive within a technologically evolving atmosphere. You already know that it’s important to stay competitive. So what are you waiting for? Start saving time and money, and get some seriously needed peace of mind knowing that your network and data are protected. Buzz Cybersecurity is the #1 solution for managed IT services in San Francisco. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business thrive.

10 Things to Know About Managed IT Services for Small Business

In today’s fast-paced business world, technology plays a critical role in driving success. Small businesses, in particular, rely on IT systems to manage their daily operations. However, many small business owners need more expertise to manage their IT infrastructure, leaving them vulnerable to security breaches, data loss, and downtime. This is where managed IT services for small business comes in – they provide affordable, reliable, and proactive IT support to small businesses.

But how do you choose the right managed IT service provider for your small business? In this blog post, we’ll discuss the ten things you should look for when evaluating managed IT services for small businesses.

24/7 Support for Your Employees and Company Computer System

One of the most critical things to look for in a managed IT services for small business is 24/7 support. Your employees and computer system need to be supported at all times, and you want to be safe if an issue arises outside of regular business hours.

Additional things to look for when evaluating 24/7 support:

Live support from a real person (not an answering service or automated system)
Rapid response times for urgent issues
An escalation process for complex issues
Support for multiple communication channels, including email, phone, and instant messaging

Friendly Help Desk Support

Another important thing to look for in a managed IT service provider is friendly help desk support. Your employees should feel comfortable reaching out for help without worrying about being judged or belittled for their lack of technical knowledge.

Some things to look for when evaluating help desk support include:

Polite and patient technicians who take the time to explain issues and solutions
Clear documentation and tracking of support requests
Multiple tiers of support to ensure the right person is handling the issue
Regular training and knowledge-sharing among technicians

Budget Planning

As a small business owner, you have to be mindful of your budget. When evaluating managed IT services for small businesses, make sure you understand the costs associated with the service and how they fit into your overall IT budget.

Here are some things to look for when evaluating budget planning:

Transparent pricing with no hidden fees
Flexible pricing models that fit your needs and budget
A detailed explanation of what is and isn’t included in the service
Guidance on optimizing your IT spending

Data Backups and Cloud Storage For Your Business

Data loss can be catastrophic for a small business. It’s essential to look for a managed IT service provider that offers robust data backup and cloud storage solutions.

Take a look at some key signs to look for when evaluating data backups and cloud storage:

Automated backups to prevent data loss
Regular testing and verification of backups
Secure cloud storage options with encryption and redundancy
Clear policies on how data is stored and accessed

A Plan for Disaster Recovery of Files

In addition to backups and storage, your managed IT service provider should have a disaster recovery plan in place. This helps ensure that your business can quickly recover from any data loss or system failure.

Here are some things to look for when evaluating disaster recovery plans:

A detailed plan for recovering lost data
Regular testing of the disaster recovery plan
A designated person or team responsible for executing the plan
A plan for communicating with employees and stakeholders during a disaster

Business Technology Vendor Relationships

Managed IT service providers should have relationships with key business technology vendors. This ensures that they have access to the latest products, tools, and expertise needed to support your business.

Check out these green flags when evaluating vendor relationships:

Partnerships with industry-leading technology vendors
Regular training and certification of technicians on the latest products and tools
A deep understanding of how vendor products work together to support your business
Access to vendor support for complex issues

Continuous Monitoring and Proactive Testing

Managed IT services for small businesses should be proactive, not reactive. Your service provider should continuously monitor your systems and perform proactive testing to identify and fix problems before they cause downtime or security breaches.

Be aware of the following when evaluating continuous monitoring and proactive testing:

Automated monitoring tools that run 24/7
Regular vulnerability scanning and penetration testing
Patch and update management to keep systems up-to-date
Review of system logs and alerts

Regular Upgrades & Maintenance

Technology constantly evolves, and your managed IT service provider should stay on top of the latest trends and best practices. Regular upgrades and maintenance ensure that your systems are secure and running optimally.

Check out these key signs to look for when evaluating regular upgrades and maintenance:

A schedule for regular upgrades and maintenance
A detailed process for upgrading and maintaining systems
Regular reporting on the status of upgrades and maintenance
Integration of upgrades and maintenance into the disaster recovery plan

On-Site Support

Sometimes, your employees need in-person support to resolve IT issues. A managed IT service provider should offer on-site support to ensure that your employees can get the help they need when needed.

Here are some things to look for when evaluating on-site support:

Clear policies on when on-site support is available
Rapid response times for urgent issues
Flexibility to work around your business schedule
Technicians who are trained to work in your specific environment

Transparent Cost and Billing Structure

Finally, managed IT service providers should have a transparent cost and billing structure. You should know exactly what services you’re paying for and how much they cost.

Key signs when evaluating cost and billing structures:

Transparent pricing with no hidden fees
Regular reporting on prices and services
Flexibility to add or remove services as needed
Customizable plans to fit your specific needs

Partner With Buzz Cybersecurity for Managed IT Services for Small Businesses

At Buzz Cybersecurity, we understand the unique challenges that small businesses face when managing their IT systems. That’s why we offer comprehensive managed IT services for small businesses that provide 24/7 support, help desk support, budget planning, data backups and cloud storage, disaster recovery, vendor relationships, continuous monitoring and proactive testing, regular upgrades and maintenance, on-site support, transparent cost and billing structures.

Partnering with Buzz Cybersecurity means that you can focus on your business while we handle your IT needs. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your small business thrive.

Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan: A Two-Fold Approach to Data Security

In today’s digital era, businesses thrive on storing and maintaining accurate, comprehensive, and reliable data. Without access to their data, most businesses would be unable to operate. And if something were to happen that permanently erased or corrupted their data, those same companies would face many consequences that could ultimately put them out of business.

However, there’s an alarming number of businesses inadequately prepared for these kinds of security incidents.

It’s important to keep in mind that not all data losses are the direct result of a cybercrime attack. Data losses can also occur due to natural disasters, hardware system failures, user errors, corrupted software, and data corruption during transmission. While some of these can be mitigated, it’s still important to secure your data against every possible scenario.

That’s why you need a backup and disaster recovery plan. Though it’s common for these two terms to be used interchangeably, there are some key differences between these two methods for data protection. And because each plays a different role in data security, you should use a combination of both to make sure that your data can always be restored.

What Are the Differences Between Backup and Disaster Recovery?

As mentioned above, both of these techniques play a crucial role in having a comprehensive data security plan in place. Let’s take a look at the details for each of these to gain a better understanding of how they contribute to the overall backup and disaster recovery plan.

Backup

When you back up your data, you’re creating a record of all of your data that can be restored at a later time. You should take a backup of your data at least once per day, but some businesses take backups much more frequently.

Backups can be taken manually by IT staff, or they can be taken automatically at predetermined intervals by implementing certain kinds of software. However, when taking backups, it is important to store them in a secure location. This will ensure you can access them if something should happen to your normal system.

For example, many businesses choose to operate from a single in-house server. Rather than storing data in individual computers, all of their data is stored on one server that is located somewhere in the company’s office.

If you store your backups on the server you are backing up, you’ll lose access to your data if the server goes down. When your backups are stored in a separate location, they can be restored if the business’s IT infrastructure experiences a major incident.

It is important to note that, although they should be part of your data security strategy, taking backups comes with some limitations. Backups are snapshots of your data from a specific point in time. This means that new data will be lost when your backup is restored.

This is why you need to add disaster recovery to your data protection approach.

Disaster Recovery

Rather than taking periodic backups and storing them in a separate server, a disaster recovery system is essentially a redundant or duplicate system that is on standby in case something should happen to your primary server.

With a disaster recovery system in place, all of your data will be continuously transmitted to your disaster recovery system in real-time. That way, if your primary server were to go down, your disaster recovery system would be ready to go online immediately.

It is possible to automate the switch from your primary system to your disaster recovery system, but the process is often handled manually by a company’s IT staff.

Because the disaster recovery system is standing by while receiving all of your business’s data in real-time, all it needs is to be activated in order for it to be fully operational. Once the switch is made, your company can continue operating normally.

The main benefits of a disaster recovery system are that you will experience minimal lost data and much shorter downtime. Backups, on the other hand, take additional time to retrieve and restore, which can result in longer downtimes and damage your company’s reputation.

Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan

A thorough backup and disaster recovery plan will include regular backups taken at least once per day, along with a redundant server that is ready to go in case of a system-wide failure.

An effective backup and disaster recovery plan relies on redundancy, which means that it is important to store your backups in multiple secure locations. It is advisable to have your backups stored on separate computers or servers while also utilizing cloud storage. Similarly, it is also recommended to house your disaster recovery plan in the cloud. While having a separate server for your disaster recovery plan is the ideal approach, it can be expensive to have a dedicated server solely for your business.

One popular solution for creating and implementing a backup and disaster recovery plan is working with a third-party cybersecurity provider who can back and host your data for you. This is a much more budget-friendly solution than purchasing and maintaining a second in-house server since these companies already have the personnel and infrastructure to implement this kind of solution.

Third-party managed IT companies will be able to automate many aspects of your backup and disaster recovery plan, which means you will be up and running again with minimal loss and downtime.

Restore Confidence in Your Data with Buzz Cybersecurity

Buzz Cybersecurity is a managed IT service provider that assists companies across Southern California in securing and managing their IT infrastructure.

Our experienced IT security team employs cutting-edge cybersecurity technology to manage all of our client’s data security needs.

If you need to improve your data’s security, or if you have any questions about what managed IT services can do for you, feel free to get in touch! We would love to meet you in person and show you how our managed IT services can improve your business!

Financial Cloud Computing: Servers That Power The Future

There are many concerns for privacy and security when it comes to the use of cloud computing the in financial services industry.

Although there is little regulation regarding financial services institutions’ (FSIs) use of cloud computing, there are many conversations taking place among various independent and regulatory bodies concerning the increased security risks involved with FSIs’ use of public clouds.

In the United States, the financial services industry is overseen by several government agencies and councils, including FINRA, FFIEC, and the OCC. However, these regulatory bodies have yet to issue a set of hard and fast rules concerning cloud computing in financial services.

Most of the official statements and literature regarding this topic comes to us in the form of “guidelines” rather than official policy or laws, which means it is incumbent upon FSIs to ensure that their data, and more importantly, their customers’ data, is safe and secure.

The good news for consumers and FSIs is that there are many advanced security measures that can strengthen cloud security in the financial industry and protect sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands.

Why Do Financial Institutions Choose Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing has skyrocketed in the last few years, and many businesses are taking advantage of the cost-effective scalability cloud computing offers. Gartner, a leading tech consulting firm, estimates that 85% of businesses in the US will adopt the use of cloud computing by the year 2025. And the financial sector is no exception to this.

FSIs collect and process massive amounts of data to carry out their business functions, and cloud computing services offer an unparalleled solution for streamlining FSI business operations.

In addition to the growing use of cloud computing in financial services, FINRA is now also partnered with AWS (Amazon Web Services). FINRA chose AWS as their primary cloud computing solution to manage the massive amounts of data that they collect and analyze every day. In a speech given by Saman Michael Far, the Senior Vice President of Technology at FINRA, he stated that through the use of cloud computing to improve FINRA’s operations, the federal government is projecting a cost reduction of $10 million to $20 million annually.

It’s clear to see that in terms of savings alone, migrating essential systems to the cloud is a game changer, and that’s not even considering the additional resources and computing power provided by cloud computing solutions.

What Are the Security Risks Associated with Cloud Computing?

When you use cloud computing services, there will be some inherent risks involved. Here are a few examples of these potential liabilities.

Data Breaches

Although cloud computing service providers usually have extremely stringent security measures in place, there are some factors that can potentially allow malicious actors to access a business’s cloud data. These can include weak authentication, unsecured APIs, and poorly configured security settings.

Data Loss

Another potential risk of cloud computing in financial services is lost data. Data can be lost as a the result of faulty hardware, software issues, or user error. However, most large cloud computing providers will have redundant systems and regular system checks in place to prevent these kinds of occurrences.

Shared Infrastructure

When financial services institutions (FSIs) utilize cloud computing for their daily operations, they often share server resources with other clients. Also, some of the applications that run on these servers, such as virtual machines, could potentially expose FSI data to other users who are trying to exploit weaknesses in the server’s systems.

It’s important to note that there are many other security risks we haven’t mentioned here. However, this list serves to highlight a few examples of the security risks involved with using cloud computing in financial services.

What Can Financial Institutions Do to Protect Their Cloud Data?

There will always be certain risks associated with conducting any form of business online, whether on the cloud or otherwise. No matter where financial institutions choose to store and manage their data, malicious actors may be trying to access their systems and gain control of their information.

However, there are many security measures that financial institutions can put into practice in order to stop these attacks from being successful. Many financial institutions turn to managed IT services providers to plan and implement security practices that will keep their data safe.

While it is impossible to completely stop attacks from occurring, there are advanced cybersecurity measures capable of detecting and stopping the propagation of attacks within your system.

Managed IT service providers will design a customized approach to continuously monitor and manage your data both in the cloud and within your internal network to ensure that your operations continue to run smoothly and securely.

A managed IT service provider will incorporate advanced machine learning technology to analyze all of your system’s activities to establish a baseline for healthy network and cloud environment behaviors. With an established baseline, your managed IT service provider can immediately detect deviations from normal patterns and deploy a predetermined response based on the severity of the security incident.

Furthermore, your managed IT service provider will already have the necessary infrastructure to store all of your data on their highly-secured servers. This ensures that access will only be given to those who have been cleared to handle your information.

And one of the best aspects of working with a managed IT service provider is the money that your business will save! When you work with outsourced IT services, your data security and system infrastructure will be managed at a significantly lower cost compared to establishing an in-house IT security department.

Secure Your Cloud Environment with Buzz Cybersecurity

Buzz Cybersecurity offers advanced cloud cybersecurity services for businesses across Orange County, California. We believe in taking a personalized approach to cybersecurity, and we strive to understand our clients’ goals to better meet their needs.

If you are the owner or decision-maker of a financial institution in need of cloud security services, feel free to give us a call! We’re happy to set up a meeting and show you why our clients love working with us!

Check Everything IT off Your List with IT Managed Services

Growing businesses face a number of challenges when trying to scale their operations. In fact, scalability is one of the primary bottlenecks that companies will have to overcome, and it is often an ongoing effort that can determine whether or not the company succeeds.

In order to scale successfully, business owners and leaders need to find solutions that address their growing needs while also striking a delicate balance between cost effectiveness and performance.

It’s simply not feasible for most businesses to hire a new person, pay for new equipment, and buy new software every time a new requirement for growth presents itself. This is why many businesses choose to outsource certain aspects of their business to third parties who are already established and equipped to handle specific tasks.

Traditionally, this method was most commonly used to meet a company’s needs for accounting, customer service, and human resources, but in recent years, outsourcing IT and cyber security is becoming an increasingly common practice.

When a business outsources its IT needs, they gain the knowledge, experience, and infrastructure of an entire IT department without needing to hire and train additional employees, allowing businesses to cross several things off their lists with a single solution.

In today’s article, we will be exploring the benefits of managed IT services, as well as how you can seamlessly incorporate managed IT services into your daily operations to help you scale your growing business. After reading this article, you should have a better idea of what you can expect when hiring a third-party IT company to handle your digital infrastructure.

Why Choose Managed IT Services?

Managed IT services can play a critical role in securing and streamlining your online and in-network operations, but your unique needs will depend on the size and scope of your business. This is why managed IT services is a practical and scalable solution, since it can be customized for your specific needs, no matter what you do or how you do it.

Here are some of the reasons why managed IT services might be right for you.

Scalability

Although we already mentioned this in passing, we want to reiterate this point and look at it in some more detail to highlight its importance. When talking about this point, it is important to note the differences between growing and scaling your business.

When your business grows, your revenue increases as more and more people buy your products, but this also results in busier employees and a need for better resource management. In order to keep up with the demands of your growing business, you may need to hire more employees, acquire more assets to handle your operations, and expand your physical footprint, but these efforts will be for not if you don’t have an adaptable plan for managing these changes.

This is where scalability comes into play. Having a scalable business plan means that you have access to the necessary resources to make your human capital and infrastructure continue to run smoothly as they increase in size, but this must be accomplished without over-extending your budget and putting your company in a weaker financial position. When you have scalable operations, your infrastructure will grow alongside you organically, eliminating the need to create and maintain a larger infrastructure that you can grow into.

Managed IT services are a perfect solution for overseeing your company’s digital assets without creating an entire IT department from scratch. When you keep your IT efforts in-house, you will not only need to hire new, well-paid employees, but you will also have to acquire the physical resources needed for these employees to carry out their jobs, such as computers, software, desks, chairs, and a work space.

Although professional managed IT services are not cheap, they are much more budget-friendly than the alternative. Rather than paying for all of the things we mentioned before, you will have one monthly bill to cover all of your IT needs. And as you continue to grow, you can simply change your service level agreement with your managed IT services partner.

Increased Security

Cyber security is a growing concern for businesses, and statistics show that many companies who fall victim to cyber attacks are unable to recover. According to a study conducted by the US National Cyber Security Alliance, more than half of the businesses that experience a successful cyber attack are forced to shut down within six months.

When a business suffers an attack, honesty is the best policy to reestablish trust with customers and partners, but this causes irreparable damage to a company’s reputation and public perception more often than not.

Furthermore, cyber attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and diverse, especially through the use of AI and machine learning. As technology advances, malicious actors are able to improve the means through which they are able to gain access to a network and steal or corrupt sensitive data.

Working with a managed IT services provider will give you access to a large team of seasoned IT security experts. Through a combination of their insight and the security measures they have at their disposal, these experts will equip your system with all of the latest security measures to protect your infrastructure and data.

It is impossible to completely prevent attacks from occurring, but having a managed IT services provider in your corner can mitigate many of the risks involved with running crucial aspects of your business online.

Managed IT services will not only install security measures onto the devices in your network and cloud environment, but they will also continuously monitor activities on these devices to identify malicious activity and prevent it from propagating throughout your system.

Improved Efficiency

As you probably already know, computers and other devices can get bogged down when they are used to process and store large amounts of data, and businesses are certainly not immune to this. Since employees and business owners use their computers day in and day out, excessive amounts of unnecessary data can be stored on these devices, ultimately resulting in slower speeds, longer loading times, and system crashes.

A managed IT services provider can configure your devices and install software to ensure that they run smoothly and efficiently. Managed IT service providers use advanced techniques for trimming the fat from the devices that populate your network, allowing the available processing power to be allocated to critical functions.

Easy Communication

When you partner with a managed IT services provider, you will have 24/7 access to the organization responsible for overseeing your network, and you can talk to them as much or as little as you need to.

Additionally, all of your communications will go through a single point of contact, which reduces the amount of redundancy in your relationship. Since everything will go through one person, you won’t need to explain yourself to a new representative every time you call. You will have one dedicated expert who knows your business and IT needs in and out.

In addition to ongoing support, your managed IT services provider will get to know your specific needs and make customized recommendations based on your IT setup. After creating a plan to address all of your vulnerabilities and improve your operations, your account manager will walk you through the entire process of implementing your new IT solution. This is the best time to ask any questions and raise concerns to avoid future misunderstandings.

Also, if a security issue arises that you need to be aware of, your managed IT services provider will notify you immediately through whichever medium works best for you.

One-Stop Solution

No matter what your unique IT needs are, your managed IT services provider has a solution that will cover your entire system. Managed IT services will have the knowledge and tools to adapt to your network and operations, allowing you to continue your everyday activities while they manage everything in the background.

Managed IT services providers tend to work with companies that are located in the same general geographical area, which allows them to make onsite visits as well. Onsite visits will sometimes be necessary for IT to address hardware issues, install new devices, and configure some types of network settings.

Managed IT Services

In addition to being aware of the benefits of managed IT services, it’s also important to be aware of the services they offer.

Network Provisioning and Virtualization

Network provisioning is the process of setting up a network and configuring it to allow access for the necessary users and devices. This will typically need to be performed onsite by an experienced IT professional who can install and configure everything correctly. This process can include running the necessary connection cables, setting up routers and switches, installing security software, connecting the network to the server, and anything else that goes into establishing the physical infrastructure of the network.

In addition to provisioning, managed IT services can also provide virtualization services to bring additional software and hardware resources to a virtual environment.

Web Hosting

Hosting your company’s website through your managed IT services provider rather than through a commercial hosting service will ensure a more dedicated level of service, as well as more advanced security measures.

In case you are not familiar with the term “hosting” or what it actually means, a host is simply the server or computer that houses your website. All of the traffic going to or from your website will be processed by the host computer, which makes it one of the most critical elements of a website.

Although commercial hosting providers usually provide solid “uptimes,” there are several drawbacks that come with choosing cheap hosting providers over more individualized solutions. For example, the server where your site is hosted through a commercial hosting platform will also have thousands of other websites that are sharing the same resources. This can present problems such as slower loading times and increased security risks.

Another downside of hosting your website with a large commercial provider is that they have millions of customers. This will often translate into lower prices, but those cheap prices can come at a premium. When you call to speak with someone about your service, you will likely end up speaking with someone in another country who knows nothing about you, your website, or your business.

On the other hand, when you host your website with managed IT services, you will be working with a company who knows you and your brand by name. Also, since your managed IT services already have access to your network and are aware of your ongoing needs, they will be able to find quicker and more efficient solutions for any issues that come up regarding your website.

Network Testing and Monitoring Facilities

When we talk about network testing and monitoring in the realm of cyber security, we are referring to the process of testing your network for vulnerabilities and monitoring it for intrusions. This is a continuous process that is made possible through the use of advanced automated software.

By using this software and programming it to meet your specific needs, managed IT services can contain and neutralize most security threats before they become an issue. Automated security software provides several benefits, but one of the most important of these is the fact that they can respond to threats automatically. This gives IT more time to investigate the attack while also ensuring the attack is unable to spread.

Managed IT services can also deploy specialized security software for database management. This will ensure that sensitive information regarding your customers and internal operations will remain confidential and secure.

Buzz Cybersecurity Is in Your Corner

When you work with Buzz Cybersecurity, you won’t be thought of or treated as a customer – but rather as a partner.

Buzz Cybersecurity is a growing managed IT services provider in Southern California, and we service businesses all over Orange County, CA and the surrounding areas.

Buzz is ready to take on all of your IT and cybersecurity needs, whether it’s setting up a network from scratch or installing an advanced security strategy across your entire system.
Also, if you know you need IT but aren’t very computer savvy, we’re happy to meet with you in person to create a customized approach for your business. Click here to give us a call or send us a message!