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June2013
In this Issue
Safe OOTO Messages
Upcoming Secant Events
Dropbox Dangers
Are Your Prepared For Disaster?
Is Your Facility Safe?

Did U Know

Secant now offers 

Solutions For Healthcare including Enterprise Content Management and Vendor Neutral Archiving.  Contact our Healthcare Imaging Consultant for more information. 

 

practical tip

Safe OOTO Messages

OOTO

It's time for that long awaited vacation... you've got your tickets, packed the sunscreen and you're off to the beach house. Just one last task...set your Outlook Out-of-Office Auto-Reply message so clients or coworkers know how to contact you while you're away or who to contact in your absence.


Just remember that Out-of-Office auto-replies can be a security risk if you reveal too much information to anyone who sends you email in your absence.

 

For example, you set the following auto-reply to go out to everyone who emails you: "I'll be at the beach house in Florida from June 24-28.  If you need assistance with billing issues, please contact my supervisor, Betty Somebody at 555-xxxx, or you can reach me on my cell at 555-xxxx.  Signed Joe Invoice, Ops Manager, ABC Company, Kalamazoo, MI, 555-xxxx."

 

Tactful and pleasant, but in a few short sentences, you just gave a potential attacker some very revealing information. Read more...

Green Tip

FILE SHARING!

Rather than printing documents to share with colleagues, collaborate with group-share files via  SecantSTOR Sync!

 

Event Calendar 

We have an exciting lineup of events in the planning stages. Check our events page soon for more details.

 

Dropbox...Not A Problem, Right?
 
With the advent of BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device), CloudStorage many organizations have turned a blind eye to employees' use of consumer-class services such as Dropbox, GoogleDrive, SugarSync and Skybox to sync files between desktops, laptops and all the mobile devices they haul around.  In fact, the use of these services is likely even more prolific than you realize. But just how secure is the data stored with these types of services? 

 

Dropbox has had numerous well-publicized security breaches including: users' files becoming publicly accessible for several hours due to an authentication bug; user names and passwords stolen and used to gain access to unencrypted stored files; users' email addresses hacked from a Dropbox employee's unencrypted document and used to generate a spam flood potentially loaded with malware.


Dropbox is not alone in security shortcomings.  GoogleDrive users really need to read the fine print.  Here's how serious they are about the security of your data as noted in the privacy policy of the GoogleDrive agreement:  "When you upload or submit content to [Google] services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, communicate, publish, publicly perform and distribute such content." 

Here are some serious questions to consider about the use of these services:  Read more...
 
Are You Prepared For Disaster? 
 
The iconic "fish in the windowpicture taken in a Grand  Rapids office building during the April Grand River flood demonstrates that disasters can and do happen right in our backyard. 
As rivers all across the Midwest reached flood stage, buildings were closed, roads were underwater for days and some businesses still have not fully recovered. The devastation in Oklahoma is another stunning reminder of just how damaging natural disasters can be.  Although Michigan doesn't fall into "Tornado Alley", we do experience an average of 15 tornadoes annually. 
 

But disasters are not limited to the wrath of Mother Nature.  Blackouts, viruses, hackers, and acts of terrorism can all impact your business due to lost revenue, customers and valuable data. Consider some of these statistics:

  • 40% of all companies that experience a major disaster will go out of business if they cannot gain access to their data within 24 hours.
  • Every year, 1 in 5 businesses experience a severe disaster.
  • Over 40% of businesses that experience a disaster never re-open and 29% close within 2 years.

What is a 'disaster', anyway? It is an event that substantially disrupts "business as usual" and it is likely to hit your business, sooner or later.  It's more a question of when, not if.  So how would you answer these questions?  Read more...

 

How Safe Is Your Facility?

 
PhysicalSecurity
In the wake of tragic events in 
Newtown,  Connecticut and  elsewhere around the country, many of Secant's clients have asked us: "What can we do to make our facility more secure?"  Whether you are a school administrator chartered with providing a safe environment for staff and students, or a business owner who needs to protect not only staff but company assets, there are many considerations to answering this question.

 

Effectively securing your building involves implementing countermeasure to deter, detect, delay and respond to intrusions and unauthorized entry.  Every organization has different requirements for an effective building security plan, but it definitely involves more than just locks and an alarm system.  

 

While there are a plethora of security solutions including intrusion detection, access control, and panic systems, first you need to look the current state of security for your facility. Read more...

 

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We hope you find The Secant Sentinel Technology Newsletter to be a useful and informative tool.  If you have comments or suggestions on how we can make The Sentinel more valuable to you, please email  [email protected]

 

If you would like additional information on products or services featured here, please email [email protected] or call us at 800-375-4222.