Welcome to our January 2017 Newsletter
Can we already be in a new year? It is hard to believe, but 2017 is already upon us. Everyone here at Gulfcoast Networking wants to wish you and yours the absolute best in the coming year.
NEWS FROM THE SHOP
2016 was easily our best year since the start of the Great Recession. Your referrals of new clients made all the difference. Thank you.
A lot of what we did during 2016 was “under the hood” stuff that wasn’t particularly apparent to a casual viewer, but it was important nonetheless.
The single most important project was to develop a new disaster recovery process for our corporate clients. We’ve tested it on our own network and we had one client that actually had to use it. Needless to say, being able get a business network back up and fully functional on a backup server in a very sort time frame and then roll them back to their primary production server overnight with no data loss is a MAJOR accomplishment.
Last year saw us update our remote support tools, making it even easier to fix most issues without you having to unplug everything and bring it to the shop or have us make an expensive trip to your home or office.
Watch for more changes in the coming months. We’re looking to make 2017 an even better year than 2016.
CLASSES
We are looking at the possibility of offering some computer classes in 2017. Please let us know if there is a specific topic or topics that we should cover.
RUSSIAN HACKERS
There has been a lot of press over the past few months about Russian hackers attacking various computer systems. Vladimir Putin’s army of hackers are not the only ones out there. China, North Korea, and Iran, to name just a few, are all looking for ways to hack into US systems. Sometimes it is political, sometimes it is financial. The key is that it is continuous.
Our public IP addresses and those of our clients are probed regularly by computers from all over the world, rattling the digital door knobs to see if anything is unlocked. We also get our share of bogus emails trying to trick us into giving the bad guys the keys to the kingdom. You have no reason to believe that you and your computer are immune.
Is this important to you? Absolutely. As a computer owner, you need to take steps to make sure that your computer doesn’t become one of the “zombies” that the bad guys use for attacking critical US systems. Theft of your identity is painful and clearing up your credit after your identity has been stolen is an involved process, but it is nothing compared to what may happen if your computer is hijacked by the bad guys.
Consider the mess you’ll have if various three letter federal agencies descend on your home because your computer was being used to hack a military network, the White House, or a power company. Watching guys jump out of black SUVs, automatic weapons drawn, is not something you want to see as you open your front door first thing in the morning.
Protect yourself: At a bare minimum, you need to run a QUALITY anti-malware program. We recommend commercial products from the likes of Avira, F-Secure, and AVG. The free stuff typically comes with limitations that are simply not acceptable in today’s dangerous cyber environment.
You also need to THINK before you click on a link or open an email attachment. Don’t fill out forms supposedly sent by your bank or credit card company. Call them using the number on your statement. Don’t let some stranger into your computer. Practice Safe Computing. When in doubt, CALL US.
Business owners face some special challenges. If you have a business network, let us help you secure it and train your employees on how to avoid disaster. We can also show you how to tell when someone is rattling the digital locks that protect your network from the outside world. Better yet, let us monitor your network for you.
AROUND TOWN
The West Pasco Chamber of Commerce’s annual Business Development Week will be coming January 21st through January 27th. We should have flyers at our shop early this week. Feel free to drop by and pick one up. There will be lots of free programs for business owners and some exciting meal events as well (you have to pay for the meals). The BDW will kick off on January 21st with a Business Expo and Health Fair at the Gulfview Square Mall.
We hope you found this newsletter to be informative. It’s our way of keeping you posted on the happenings at our shop.
Thanks for your business!
Best regards,
Rob Marlowe, Senior Geek
Gulfcoast Networking, Inc.
6335 Grand Blvd
New Port Richey, FL 34652
727-847-2424
(We have used our best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein. However, we do not assume, and hereby disclaim, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.)
©2017 Gulfcoast Networking, Inc
