The Help Desk Newsletter

April 2013
In this issue:

■	Accepting Online Payments!
■	Get Smart About Security
■	Big Data: Why it Matters
■	Spring Cleaning
■	Tune Up Your Telephone Skills
■	Windows 8
■	Worth a Click!
■	Quote and Cartoon
■	Archives
■	What to Do if You're a Victim
■	Data Growing Pains
■	Advice to Managers

● Worth a Click!

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.

~ Hal Borland

● Archives:Click here to view past editions of our newsletter.

What to Do If
You're a Victim
used with permission from Norton by Symantec

There is a nonstop flood of Trojan horses, bots, and phishing attacks assaulting the Internet every day. Crimeware attacks and identity theft can happen to anyone. If you believe you have been a victim of crimeware or online fraud, there are a series of steps you can take in each instance to respond to and recover from the incident.

We’re Now Accepting Online Payments!

PCI compliance is becoming a big thing; even vendors as small as us (processing less than 20,000 e-commerce transactions per year) fall under PCI guidelines for how we handle customer credit cards, and non-compliance can bring fines from $5,000 to $100,000 per month. Because of these issues, and simply a desire to make certain we’re handling customer information correctly, we’ve invested in some new technology to allow PCI compliant handling of customer credit card and bank information for bill payment.

The short version is that we now have a PCI compliant website that you can log into and securely pay your Infinity invoices. It will process ACH payments, e-check payments, and credit cards for any invoices. Further, for agreement invoicing, the system can be set up to auto pay those invoices on a schedule basis with stored information, so that you don’t have to handle it each month.

Our New Payments Portal is the perfect way to:

View and print your current invoices
Pay your invoices by e-check or credit card
Access invoice history and payment history
Set up AutoPay for monthly services
Schedule future payments

Get smart about security
used with permission from HP Technology at Work

Congratulations, you've taken every step to secure data on your networks and PCs against increasingly malicious worms, Trojans and viruses. But don't rest easy. All infrastructure elements, including printers, servers, storage, Wi-Fi networks and cloud computing are just as susceptible to surprising security threats. Forget them and your sense of security is nothing but a dream.

Big data: Why it matters to the midmarket
used with permission from IBM ForwardView

Big data. The concept has been ubiquitous lately. It seems everyone has been talking about the use of big data to advance scientific research, perform complex number crunching, and predict presidential elections. There’s little doubt that the chatter around big data has reached a fever pitch. Read more

Spring cleaning? Don't forget your PC
used with permission from HP Technology at Work

With the hint of spring in the air, your energy level is up and so is your productivity. You’re on a roll at work and suddenly—it starts freezing. And we’re not talking about the weather.

Tune Up Your Telephone Skills
by Debra J. Schmidt

How do you sound to your customers and co-workers? First impressions are lasting impressions. That's why every telephone conversation counts. The impression you make on your co-workers and customers is based on your tone of voice, energy and attitude.

Windows 8 – fast and fluid touch technology
used with permission from HP Technology at Work

Ever wondered why you can download a song instantly to your smartphone but then have to wait hours, even days, to install new computer software in the office? With the new Windows 8 operating system, Microsoft has broken the barrier between our professional and private worlds and produced an operating system that offers instant access to exactly the apps we need, both in and out of the office, at the touch of a fingertip. Read more

Data growing pains?
used with permission from HP Technology at Work

Virtualization. Like other technology buzzwords, some users work this term into business conversations without really understanding its meaning or how its strategic application can streamline operational efficiencies, improve resource allocation, enhance network security and reduce costs.

It’s worth learning. Careful evaluation of existing non-virtualized environments is the most vital first step toward choosing the best virtual server and storage solutions for any given environment. This evaluation should be done with an eye on present and anticipated computing and power requirements, as well as the number of existing and future users.

Growing data storage requirements are always a major concern of large corporations and institutions. But "big data" has become an issue for small businesses, too. Varying operating systems, a growing number of applications and the increased use of mobile, BYOD and other technologies threaten to overwhelm existing physical server and storage solution capacities.

Advice to Managers: Five Ways to Simplify Your PCI 2.0 Compliance
used with permission from the Cisco Small Business Resource Center

If the acronym "PCI" makes your heart race, you're in good company.

"Small and medium-sized businesses can feel blindsided by all that PCI requires them to do," says Aaron Reynolds, an author of the 2011 PCI Compliance Report by Verizon Business Services. "They have to comply with the same standard that initially was targeted at larger merchants and service providers." Complying is complex.

"Unless the business has expertise in PCI and network security technologies, it will have a hard time controlling its compliance costs," says Sean Walls, managing senior security consultant at Presidio Networked Solutions.

Help is at hand. Cisco and many of its partners offer cost-effective PCI compliance services--including helping SMBs complete their self-assessment questionnaire or assess PCI readiness.

Infinity, Inc. | 4131 Ogeechee Road, Suite 127 | Savannah, GA 31405 | 912-650-1816