Microsoft 365 is like the Pic’n’Mix at Woolworths for hackers and ‘bad
actors’.
June 2024
Like a shoe shop for me or homing in on the best sunbed by the pool!
I never get the best sunbed, I just can’t be bothered, the effort involved is too much for a weeks chill. Even if I managed, it be like those Penguins on TV fighting over their own spot endlessly. It’s funny how you people watch; all the same sorts in every resort you go to.
Imagine you’re lying on by the pool in Majorca and we call your office to ask if you’re in Majorca.
Seems a bit Baby Reindeerish, but our security monitoring for Microsoft 365/email sends us alerts on all your company logins from geographic locations out with the norm. 24x7. Allowing us to check you’re business hasn’t been hacked.
Say yes and you can go back to your cocktail or Estrella, say no and we’ll be blocking your Microsoft account as you watch the couple in the pool telling each other ‘it’s nice once you’re in’
Microsoft 365 - The most popular solution for email and collaboration worldwide and naturally the most targeted.
Why? Because it’s easy as it’s on the ‘cloud’ , they just need to get login details by using some clever trickery and then the 6 digit code by even clever trickery.
Just imagine, an email gets through your spam filter, as it’s from a legit person familiar to you or your staff member. (they don’t know they’ve been hacked)
Something like ‘I’ve shared this on Dropbox for you’, or ‘I’ve shared a Word/Excel file with you’ … You get the drift. Person opens it, pop up asking for Microsoft username and password, pop up asking for 6 digit code – grab mobile and type it in.
Bingo the hacker is now in to the Microsoft account, with access to emails, OneDrive and SharePoint files. And often no one will be any the wiser, now the hacker is in your business with access to loads of sensitive data – which you’d need to report to ICO and tell your clients, oh and the hackers probably use your account to send more phishing emails out to your clients !
You can add tons of security features in but human error can trump them all – apart from ONE !
We use a 24x7 monitoring tool that can detect new logins from outside your designated country or risky actions within a MS 365 account. It can then either automatically lock the account or alert the IT helpdesk depending on your choices.
Better to be locked out your account for 10 minutes than have a hacker in there without you knowing. And yes we may call your office while you sip your Espresso and ask if you are actually in Sorrento – lucky you if you are.
If you don’t want to risk reputational and financial damage to your business, don’t wait till it’s too late and the hacker’s rumbling around your business – all for the price of a choca mocha cappuccino per person per month.
bCertain your business is safe! Don’t think; we’re a small business, we’ll be fine! Have a chat with me over a coffee to find out a bit more and a FREE 14 day Trial
PS I’ve been looking at swim up rooms, to avoid the sunbed drama, seems like the way forward, a bit indulgent but any good suggestions are most welcome.
There seems to be a few ‘meanings’ to dreaming that your teeth are falling out
May 2024
A horrible dream for sure, google this and you’ll discover a maze of theories and interpretations.
None of which meant the Tooth Fairy was coming! 😁
My grans 21st birthday present was a full set of false teeth, that would hop between being her smile each day and into a box each night for cleaning; for 57 years.
Today’s 21st present could well be a new set from Turkey, bonus being no box needed. Only sunglasses.
We all know the drill (PTP), go to the dentist every 6 months, brush and floss. Or don’t; and deal with the consequences.
Imagine there was some sort of 24x7 monitoring for your teeth, that reported back to an App and a wee online AI Dentist told you tooth 18 had a brewing abscess. (bonus points if you know what this tooth is).
At PURITY IT, 24x7 monitoring is our mantra. Done as standard for all our clients IT systems – picking up things you’d never be aware of without it - such as backup failures, cyber security breaches, Microsoft rogue logins, hack attempts to name just a few. Our App reports trouble before it causes sleepless nights and damage to your business.
A happy smile and peaceful dreams could be all yours.
PS me and my friend earlier this week. Bonus she's also my dentist, and I much prefer our horse riding catch-ups !
I’ve seen some
interesting Out Of Office
messages...
May 2024
by people on the day they were leaving.
One was the full lyrics to a Frank Sinatra song My Way and another claiming they had won the Lottery, find them on a beach in Maldives! Lucky them. And another had some rather rude backchat about the company they were leaving.
What's your procedures when people leave your business?
We all hope for graceful exits, no hard feelings and wish them well on their new journey. Whatever the parting, you’ll have some basic details to attend to such as payroll, pensions, P45s, getting their laptop and mobile back.
One more thing to add to the exit process.
Disabling all their accounts the minute they saunter out the door.
This is often overlooked.
Never mind the embarrassment of a dodgy out of office message to your clients, It’s no big shocker by not disabling the account means they’ve got full access to all your files, portals, email but also it means you’re probably still paying for unnecessary licences too.
🔒Advise your IT company/Department a few days in advance of leaving date
🔒Have the account disabled or password changed the minute they leave
🔒Save yourself some money and free the licence up or cancel it if you can
🔒Still want email to come into the leavers account ? – then convert it to a FREE Shared Mailbox, which someone else can check
🔒Oh and put your own OOO message on if appropriate!!
Save money and avoid any embarrassing situations or security breaches – deal with Leavers promptly.
Is yours turned on ?
May 2024
The chile said to the banana you don’t need protection.
THE END.
What a story!
As quick as that. Could be the end of your Facebook, Linked In, Instagram and you probably won’t get it back. All those lost posts, followers, contacts, messages, sales – gone forever if you get hacked.
Please turn on MFA (multi factor authentication)
It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a ‘strong’ password.
Consider using an Authenticator app; something like Duo Security or Authy [download the App from Google Play or Apple Store] or at least setup MFA as a text message to your mobile phone. *Keep the backup codes safe in case you lose your phone.* Yes it may be 10 minutes of your life, but truly worth it.
Worst still, is Microsoft 365 for Email, SharePoint etc with no MFA. This could result in a lot of financial pain and reputational damage to a business if a hacker gets in.
We’ve seen it first hand and it wasn’t pretty. £30k lost as the business owner refused to have MFA on as it was too much hassle. There were more than tears and snotters. Police, Professional Indemnity Insurance and their business being sued by the end client who’s money they lost from an investment.
Like the brilliant Genesis Song - Turn it On Again
https://lnkd.in/eq-XcrB5
🎵…Turn it on, Turn it on, Turn it on again
Turn it on, Turn it on, Turn it on again…..🎵
At PURITY IT we do weekly double check for every single client to make sure their MFA is Turned ON and nothing has slipped through the net. A bit of paranoia is good ! We also scan all the logins for odd locations / sign ins /IP addresses and disable accounts with suspicious logins.
We can also setup things like restrictions for logins only by georgraphical location.
If you’re not sure the status of your MFA or overall security in your business and want a sanity check, happy to chat. DM me
We’ll turn it on again !
I cut my hair yesterday
May 2024
It was pretty easy; longer version of bowl cut.
Didn’t cause anyone any harm, my hairdresser may tut and roll her eyes though.
I could have just tied it back, ignored it, but nope, 3 inches of frayed mess gone. It’s addictive, I can see why they keep cutting when you are screaming STOP inside…
I don’t think I’ll be changing careers anytime soon mind.
Now and again I’ve been asked to quote for IT Support for companies who ‘we do our IT ourselves, the MD /chap in accounts /office manager, is pretty good with IT’.
There’s two kinds;
🙋♀️ the hold our hands up, we’ve got in a pickle – we need your help to fix it.
And the
👎 DIY IT tug of war. You want our help? Yes, no, yes, no. No actually we think we’re fine doing IT ourselves.
Any of these happen this morning in your office and it’s stressing you out?
💻 PC keeps losing internet connection (but its more complex than just the cable)
💻New person has started, but you’ve run out of Microsoft licences
💻Someone is off but forgot to put OOO on, but now you have to reset their password and sort an OOO
💻Can’t figure out how to install that program on the Server, cos 3 people need it, so you’ll install it on PCs and hope for the best
💻Someone’s working at home but their Outlook profile is corrupt
💻Wifi in meeting room is playing up and someone has a TEAMS / ZOOM at 9.30am
These are the sort of problems we fix for our clients, here at PURITY IT on Monday mornings too !
But if your team have got other work to do, then we can certainly help take the heat off you.
If your business would like some help before the shit hits the fan......
maybe an audit, outsource your IT Support or fix something that’s keeping you awake at night, I promise we won’t tut or roll our eyes!
DIY IT in your business is a more dangerous hobby than lopping off a few inches of hair.
What does easy to work with look like ?
May 2024
Out of the Big 5 personality traits; Extraversion, Agreeableness, Openness, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism….
It’s widely believed that CONSCIENTIOUSNESS is a predictor for success in many areas of life. [I hope spell check got that right, what a word !]
We are definitely easy to work with here at Purity.
You know, like your great team members: - the ones that take the heat off you, you can rely on them to get stuff done, they communicate – they’ll actually be assertive and tell you why something is a problem and isn’t going to work. You trust them when they suggest an improvement and that they’ll care of it without a drama.
Great client retention and relationships are testament. Many have been with us 10, 15, 20 years.
'The whole team at PURITY IT are approachable, professional and responsive, and we know we can rely on them to be proactive in meeting our requirements.' Ralph Riddiough FRSA Director at Holmes Mackillop Solicitors
I’m not a psychology buff – people are fascinating. Personality is a blend of all traits, at different levels – a bit like those sound engineers you see on TV blending music with the slide buttons. Different blends make for being suited for different roles in life. With each personality trait having it's advantages and disadvantages from what I've read.
We're easy to chat with too !
Mind the chat as a kid;
big birds could break your arm
April 2024
…I always thought what a load of rubbish. The damn geese are back.
Our very own security guards, they’ve now upped their game and are boldly hissing at me and the dog.
They make a right racket, and they fly at you – I’ve changed my mind about my arms, since they’ve taken over under the balcony.
Once used in Whisky bonds across Scotland for guarding against intruders, these geese were known as ‘Scotch Watch’. Myth also tells a tale of how they saved Rome in 390 B.C. with their honking, alerting the Romans as the Gauls attempted invasion.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but if you don’t want something invading and destroying what you’ve built in your business; we've got guarding and cyber security monitoring 24x7
Everyone wants to protect their territory. PURITY IT will make sure of that:-
✅ daily Backups reports
✅ laptop encryption incase of loss or theft
✅ enable remote wipe of mobiles if lost or stolen
✅ daily checks that Antivirus is on all machines and up to date
✅ daily checks showing Security patching is up to date
✅ checks to make sure all staff have secure MFA turned on
✅ Spamfiltering
✅ Advanced Threat Protection, checks every link /attachment you're sent isn't
malicious
What’s good for the Goose is good for the Gander – we’ll stamp out those fowl IT gremlins before they cause grief in your business.
Let's chat if you're concerned about your IT security
Bethpage Black to Buchanan Castle
Golf season is back
April 2024
Lucky golfers have been rolling their eyes and balls over winter with a sneaky wee week in the sunshine.
Spring has finally Sprung in the northern hemisphere, the HowdididoApp’s taking a pounding.
Hang in there if the trousers are a bit tight, a few rounds of 5 miles and not too much indulgence at the 19th hole, will see you good. All trimmed up in time for summer holidays.
I don’t play golf and never will (my hobby is things that have 4 legs 🐎), but I hear all the tales of new drivers, longer shafts, regripped and digital swing analysis.
I even know what the Short Game and the Long Game are.
What does every golfer know, but doesn’t want to hear ? Fix your short game.
Why….because it’s boring, takes patience and doesn’t hit the dopamine reward system like a 300 yard drive.
You paid the Golf Pro. Now it’s up to you. Go up yourself, unwind after work and practice, or keep pretending whilst you practice on the living room carpet or a strip of astro turf in the garden. Or worse, whacking an imaginary golf club in the living room whilst watching your swing in the mirror ! 😉
You can’t get someone else to do the work on this boring bit, but you can get someone else to do your boring business IT ! DM me ‘cos I find golf boring but not IT !
IT Security, IT Support, Cloud, Backups, 365, and other ball aches – PURITY IT is here to help.
Practice, play or pray for perfect putting this summer
Super Nanny
Where chaos meets timeout!
March 2024
If your IT is silently seething and like a child that’s gone quiet – it’s probably time to check what it’s up to.
There may be trouble ahead, (But while there's moonlight, And music and love and romance....🎶) from problems you don’t even know you’ve got.
Are team members moving desks to wind you up or are they actually desk hopping to find a PC that’s working every morning.
Dismissing your own cruelty at giving everyone a tiny monitor ( anything smaller than a 22 inch screen is cruel btw ! )
Do you treat guests to the office like VIPs and casually give them access to your private Wi-Fi
Given up forcing staff to use secure MFA for Microsoft 365 because of pushback they gave at having to use their personal phones to get the codes.
The team mantra is ‘just hit IGNORE’ on every pop up about Antivirus expiring
What about your Todo list – any of these on it : –
1. Find out which is older; favourite mug or the Server
2. Do our backups ACTUALLY work
3. Check if leavers accounts have ever been deleted
4. Check if there’s an easier way for staff to work at home than emailing documents to themselves (and other mad workarounds you aren’t even aware of )
5. Get prices for new PCs & Monitors at some point for the budget
6. Sort Antivirus when get
to point 5.
7. Have a chat with us 😉
If you’re taking the easy way out with workarounds – rather than address the actual causes, then your IT may end up on the Naughty Step
Fancy some Time Out chat. Before your IT has a tantrum in public and embarrasses you.
NOTHING’s getting you out of this one
March 2024
Waiting for updates to finish with a Teams/Zoom in 5 minutes….
You’ve hit the Not Now / Later / Delay / Go Away button too many times, everyone's been there. The bane of one's life.
💡 use a workaround using your mobile, not ideal if you’re planning
on doing screenshare though!
💡switching on your laptop before you pop in the shower might work.
With any luck it’s finished the damn updates by the time you’ve brushed
your teeth.
💡don’t bang the lid shut at 5pm as there may be a little help available in
Windows 11 Pro – often allows change Active Work Hours, so you can run
security updates outside those hours
SETTINGS >WINDOWS UPDATE>ADVANCED OPTIONS>ACTIVE HOURS *
Considering Cyber Certification for you business?
Then there's probably alot more to talk about than patches, but one of them is a good start; Auto Patch Management.
It'll push out a wide range of security updates and patches to all your office and remote machines - at set time each week. No human intervention needed.
BUT you’ve gotta work with us on this one, it can’t find switched off Laptops in briefcases, car boots or Boardroom tables. You'll loop round to the start again!
Security Patch Management heaven not hell?
DM Monique Goodwin to chat over how we can help.
*may not have that option if on a Server Domain or Entra ID (Azure AD) as it will be set by a central security policies to keep businesses safe 😁 ✔
Help! My Server's a Squatter...
March 2024
It's a bit of a shame - it's served you well.
It's taken a heavy load on it's shoulders, day in day out on average of 43,829 hours. Dishing out whatever data you ask for and politely taking it back, stacked neatly in order.
It's had no days off, never seen the light of day stuck in an old cupboard.
It eats electricity for food (and dust we've noticed), but it demands life support in terms of warranty and private IT health care to keep spinning.
If your server(s) is hinting at retiring, or you're contemplating a redundancy package, let's explore Cloud options.
Bye bye Server
❌ no more expensive hardware costs (accountants call it CapEx)
❌no more eating your electricity
❌no more praying incase it throws a tantrum
❌no more long-winded backups / costs [you are doing backups right? ]
❌no more healthcare expenses in warranties and IT support costs
✅Your data now resides securely in the Cloud (you now have OpEx !)
✅Your team can access the data from anywhere in the world
✅Bonus; get infinite backups on the Cloud too hashtag#dattosaas365😁
✅Plus a whole load of security frills and thrills
Don't ignore the buzzwords you've heard - keep up or be left behind.
'Cloud' 'Azure' 'SharePoint' '365' 'InTune' 'Saas' 'MFA'
Want to ditch that bitch of a Server ?
We'll take it to the dump and you to the Cloud ⛅
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