Cybersecurity & Business Continuity

You’ve no doubt heard about the worldwide outbreak of “ransomware” from the WannaCry malware attack that crippled computers, networks and organizations. Hopefully your business hasn’t been impacted, but it provides a great reminder of the importance of maintaining your computer networks and keeping them up-to-date. This particular malware targeted legacy Microsoft systems such as Windows XP & Windows Server 2003. Unfortunately, these are also the systems used by many smaller organizations with little to no technology staff – hence they didn’t apply the patches that were made available.

As a small business owner, our computer networks & systems are the backbone of what we do. Without them, we can’t serve our clients – see what happened with the NHS in Britain. So, this is really a business continuity issue rather than an IT issue.

So, what’s Odyssey done?

We’ve utilized the services of an outside IT firm, Now IT Works, for many years. This partnership allows us to focus on our core business knowing that our systems are always up-to-date, backed up & secure. Recently, through this partnership with Now IT Works, we moved our IT infrastructure to the Cloud with US Signal. While it allows us the ability to work from anywhere, a key benefit is business continuity. If a system is corrupted, ransomware is requested or a building is destroyed, we can simply “flip a switch” and our systems and files are booted to another server in the Cloud so we can continue serving our clients with minimal interruption.

These recent ransomware attacks provide a wake-up call and warning. More will follow. Use this opportunity to review your procedures, validate your systems and ensure that you’re protected. It’s not just data – it’s the survival of your business!